Reflection Three. 2 Kings 5:1-15

2 Kings 5:1-15

Well, I am not convicted AT all by this story (insert sarcasm here). So, it's about this man Naaman who has leprosy and goes to Elisha the prophet for healing. Elisha sends a messanger out & tells him to dip into the river (a certain river) 7 times & he will be healed. Naaman thinks this is ridiculous & pretty much that he knows better. He is absolutely set on not following God's direction given to him through Elisha.

But his officers tried to reason with him & said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, 'God and wash and be cured!'" 2 Kings 5:2-3

Naaman cannot argue with this. He goes and dips into the river 7 times, "and his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child's, and he was healed!" 2 Kings 5: 14

Here is a little insight into my world 6 years ago. I was getting ready to move up here to wonderful Seattle and I asked God what I needed to do. I got an answer. It wasn't jump into Lake Washington 7 times, but it was simply to simlify my life. My reaction was much like Naaman's. "That's it? You want me to simplify my life? That's crazy! It's too simple." God must have repeated this a thousand times over the last 6 years. I ignored it for quite awhile. I became depressed, and really lost out on my college expereince. I kept piling more things onto my life to hide the sadness I felt while God just wanted me to peel the layers away & let him restore me. After about 3 to 4 years of fighting I gave in. Slowly. I let little things go first. So little that I can't really recall them. I gradually work my way up. I have a lot farther to go. Let's be serious, I have marathons to go, but I am happier than I have ever been in my life. Don't think this means my life is perfect. I still have terribly hard days. No one's life is perfect...that is kind of what this process is all about. Being OK not being perfect.

All I had to do was let go and let God. Cliche? Absolutely. But it has proven to be true.

The more I simplify the more I feel at peace with myself. God is restoring me to the daughter he intended me to be. EXACTLY how he restored Naaman.

God was telling me how he was going to heal & restore me. I just had to choose to listen.

Photo compliments of Giselle's feet...Thank you Gelle for bringing so much joy to my life!

Reflection Two. Judges 16:1-31

This story about Samson is CRAZY! A woman asks him three different times what gives him his super natural strength. Three times he lies,  and three times she tries to turn him over to the Philistines. You would think that he would get the picture: this girl is trying to get him captured. He doesn't. The fourth time she asks him where his strength comes from he actually tells her that it is in his hair. What does she do? She cuts off his hair of course. The Philistines capture Samson, pay his lady friend for helping them, and he dies a blind slave (there was some torture that went on). 

I can't help but think he had some "blind" issues when it came to women even before the Philistines gouged his eyes out. Why else would he eventually give up his secret that took away the strength the Lord gave him? He succumbed to his flesh. To his sinful nature.

I can most definitely relate to this. I walk around "blind" all the time. My head fills itself with thoughts of what other people think of me, if society considers me successful, if that new fashion line would make me desirable. Talk about self-centeredness. What I forget is that my heart is full of what Christ thinks of me. He makes me worthy.

For today I want to help my heart along and not my head. That is why I'm here writing this now. Giving in to my flesh will lead to my death as well. If not physical then spiritual. I am powerless without the help of Christ. Thankfully I have him if I want him. I want him.

The Gum Wall, Post Alley, Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington

"As we learn to acknowledge our powerlessness over our addictive/compulsive tendencies daily, we will become more aware of behaviors that will likely lead us to destruction."

- Life Recovery Bible, NLT

Relection One. Genesis 16:1-15

One of my biggest fears is that I won’t be able to have my own children. I have no basis for my fear except that having children is one of my heart’s biggest desires. Let’s be serious, I am nowhere near even thinking about having children, but reading about Sarai’s & Abram’s struggles brought this fear to the forefront of my mind. Imagine being so desperate to have children that you suggest your husband sleep with your servant. Abram sleeps with Hagar, Sarai’s servant, and she becomes pregnant. Tension, resentment, contempt build up and Hagar runs away. An angel appears and asks her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replies, “I’m running away…

The angel obviously knows where Hagar came from and is going in a geographical sense. That isn’t what is being asked. The angel is reminding Hagar to remember her faith in God. Her roots in God. She came from God and needs to go to God with all of her struggles.

My answer to life is so often to run away. Just like Hagar. I loose sight of God. I forget all of the times He has taken care of me. I fear being turned away. I’m aware it is an irrational fear. I will never be turned away just as no one else will. God’s love, grace, compassion, direction, provision…it is all there for the taking for anyone who asks.

Hagar returns to Sarai and Abram and births their child. He is named Ishmael which means “God hears.”

Hagar didn’t need to run away from her troubles. She just needed to talk to God, because as her son’s name reminds her, “God hears.” God took care of her. She was able to face her life with God's help.

Today, I choose to talk to God instead of running away. Instead of enveloping myself in the media, daydreaming, dwelling on the past, worrying about the future, or wishing I were a better version of me I will just talk to God about how I’m feeling. There is peace in talking to God. I’m going to find peace today. 

 

“We need to learn to express our pain to God instead of just trying to escape it. He hears our cries and is willing to give us hope for the future.”

- NLT Life Recovery Bible