Judging Suicide

 

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Hmmm… That’s Romans 8:1. Anytime I see “Therefore” in scripture I wonder, “What is the ‘Therefore’ there for?”. So, we have to look back at Romans 7 and what do you know, there’s Paul’s speech about warring with the “flesh” (sin nature). He says basically the things he doesn’t want to do he does and the things he wants to do he doesn’t do. Check it out:

After all the talk of sin and the law and warring against the flesh and serving God with his mind, we arrive at Romans chapter 8! Freedom! No more bondage! No more condemnation FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. So many are now asking, how does taking your own life and any of this Romans 8 business have to do with each other! Well, please, let me enlighten you from my perspective.

I’ve recently been searching out the matter of suicide and the judgment of others.  I think it comes down to the HEART of the matter. No one knows another person’s heart except God and if someone has a mental disorder that culminates in suicide, shame on us when we point a finger! Or take a person whose journey in life has come to an end. See what Ecclesiastes has to say about life and death:    Proverbs 3:5-6 is clear that if you trust God and not yourself and acknowledge Him in all your ways, He will make your paths straight. So what happens when your path has run out of dirt and the only thing left for you in your journey is waiting in eternity? The first thing people usually say is that suicide is so, “Selfish.” And I say, “YES!” if those people are giving up because they are making an impetuous decision and the aftermath is small children without a parent or a spouse with a million questions and as many financial concerns. But still, who are we to sit in the seat of judgment of those who have taken their own lives simply because we’ve been left behind to mourn their loss? Only God can judge the heart of man. My own doctor had to back off when I admitted how real my struggle had become and my resolve in how God would view my decision.

When a person is “terminal” and doctors and nurses are medicating to make the patient “comfortable”, no one is prosecuting them like they did Dr. Kevorkian for assisted suicide. I see no difference really. Both methods expedited the inevitable end of life except the difference is in who gets to make the choice in the medication process. Family members who are left to make the decision to increase the morphine drip on their children dying of cancer are also facing emotions of grief, guilt, and “what if’s”. These are the sterile suicides or self-induced deaths.

Recently, I was viewing a program called Cold Justice and the episode was “The Case Behind the BillBoards”. The family has been waiting 27 years for justice for the death of a daughter/mother of two little girls. The accused killer in the case was her estranged husband and the girls’ father. At the time the show aired, the enormous impact it had taken on the family was obvious as they interviewed the family for facts. About two thirds through the show the viewers were informed that one of her daughters had taken her own life. At the time I viewed the show, I was struggling with my own issues of self-induced death. I saw the pain her absence created for the family. I am in no way passing judgment on this young lady, because I did not walk one day in her shoes nor do I know what other issues she may have dealt with. I am strictly looking at the living. They were scratching and clawing for hope in front of cameras and it wasn’t scripted. It was real, raw emotions.

As I’ve been in this tug-of-war between life and death, I had a dream. I was in my wheelchair and with very little upper body strength I typically fall over without support. In my dream, there was this big trough full of wet cement. I carefully leaned over to look at the cement, but I lost my balance and went head-first into the thick, wet mass. I immediately stuck my arms in to push my head up so that I could breathe, but the cement was starting to set already. I knew at that moment I was going to die.

I had only shared my deepest thoughts on self-induced death with two people and I knew that they would think I had done this on purpose. I had no way of letting them know it was a REAL accident. When I woke up, I began to ask God does this happen often. Do people that have embraced depression to the point of euphoria have accidents that appear they’ve caused their own death? Is it self-fulfilled prophesy? The questions began to invade my thinking and God began a work in my mind.

I still believe everything about the end of life for the terminally ill and their right to choose rather than family members being made to choose or doctors given that right. I still believe that judgment lies with God and not man. I still believe that when life gets hard you don’t just quit. You push back. I still believe in the “BUT GOD” of situations. Remember this above all things, there is a certainty in life: CHANGE. God is faithful and He will change you or your circumstances even when it appears that your journey has come to an end. I write this from experience and live to roll in His grace another day.

Authenticity is Raw

“I swore to God that I’d never be what I’ve become” Beth Hart

@officialbethhart

Her delivery isn’t always PG-13 but it is always raw, brash and TRUE. She has lived every word she sings. Beth will draw you into her life story with each song she grinds through her vocal instruments. Her language may not even be “welcomed” inside your traditional church, but I’ll tell you one thing about Beth Hart; She gives God the praise for being alive and being able to do what she does.

“What does she do?” Well, she tells of a life lived hard with many wrong choices and the scars of those choices you may or may not be able to see. That’s why I was drawn to her music so long ago and then when I revisited my “old friend” last year I heard “Mama This One’s For You”. Wow! Beth must have a relationship with her mother like I do with mine! I saw that she was going to be in concert close to the date of my anniversary so I thought about trying to go because she doesn’t tour much in the US. As it were, life happened and we didn’t make it to the concert. I did however, find on YouTube where some of the songs were recorded.

One of Beth’s songs I had heard years ago, but this time she sang it differently or I listened more intently. I’ve found over the past year that I don’t like the person I thought I was or pretended to be. I’ve hidden behind status, reputation, and titles as a safeguard from facing myself. When all is stripped and you have nothing left to hide behind, you are faced with a decision at that point. In the song, “Leave the Light On” the line, “I swore to God I’d never be what I’ve become” is exactly where I found myself. With tears running down my face, I thought, “It’s happened…” Sitting in a church nearly 20 years ago, I remember looking around at the faces that were from one Sunday to the next beginning to disappear. Eventually, they didn’t bother to impress the padded pews anymore and I remember praying I wouldn’t become one of them. I swore…

Authenticity is not only raw, it’s vulnerable. Exposing yourself, true self, to the Light demands that you become real. The facade that I had hidden behind for so many years is gone. The truth is I’m a weak person. I’d like to think I’m a strong person for all that I’ve come through, but I look back at my life and shake my head. I look forward with hope, however, knowing that I don’t have to be strong and find so much comfort in knowing this. God’s Word reminds me that His name is a “strong tower” and that as His child I can run in to Him (Proverbs 18:10). It’s all about His grace. He said that His grace was sufficient, but we need to be careful when we take God’s Word out of context.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul clearly has a “problem”. God chooses to leave that an unknown for us, but Paul asked God to remove it three times and He didn’t. Paul’s conclusion was that His grace was sufficient because power is perfected in weakness. Paul’s attitude is the real lesson I believe. He says that he would rather boast in his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ would dwell in him. Verse 10 is the kicker, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I’m no longer polished, but I think I shine more purely. I certainly don’t have it all together, but I relinquished my need for control to the One Who has had it all along anyway. My past still haunts me, but when it does I turn the Light on.

A.C.T.S.

I enjoy watching birds. I believe that behavior was passed down from my Papaw Bigelow. I remember sitting out on the front porch with him calling in a “Bob White” bird. I had no idea what we were doing, but I could whistle just like Papaw and then he’d say, “Listen!”. Off in the distance, you could hear a bird repeat his call, “Bob, Bob White!” Then Papaw would wait for a few seconds and whistle his call again…This went on until Papaw would point and say, “Look…” Yeah, I can call a Bobwhite in but not like Papaw. And he is definitely the one that passed down my appreciation of God’s creation in an applicable way. I once asked him why God made mosquitoes and he replied, “So we would learn to appreciate the good things in life even more.”

My husband, Todd, and I were friends nine years before we decided we would try dating and the first time we met we prayed together. That set the tone of our relationship then and is true to this very day. We start the day with prayer. It’s our routine. Our prayer time together looks like A.T.S. instead of A.C.T.S. We spend to lifting our Adoration (worship), our Thanks, and our Supplications (requests/needs). Confession is left for our private time with our Father and when the need arises our accountability partners (And no, he is not my accountability partner).

Looking out my dining room window

A few mornings ago, we were praying and there happened to be a break in the rainy days. I thought I’d pray with my eyes open, as I often do, and on the bank of the bayou are some tall oak trees that haven’t started budding out yet. When I pray, my eyes are automatically drawn upward and so I scaled the trees. “The Eastern Bluebirds are so vibrant in early Spring, and the female Cardinal is even more colorful this time of year”, I thought. And then something large flew in and caught my eye. A Pileated Woodpecker was on the scene and he had stolen the show! Of course, all of this took place in the span of seconds, BUT GOD was being glorified by the creatures He had made. I stopped Todd in mid-prayer, “God just showed me a Pileated Woodpecker!” I’ve got a long way to go y’all because that beautiful bird wasn’t necessarily there for Lori but since he was in view I enjoyed him for all of three seconds. All creation is for His glory and that includes me. There needs to be a whole bunch more GloriFYING (*implied wink inserted here) of my Creator!

Recovered Memories

I was organizing some old journals and wedged between them was a CD marked “photos”. Having no idea what could possibly be on this CD, I ask my husband, Todd, to put them on his computer so that I could see whether I would be tossing this disc. The sound of the disk drive indicated the disc may not be damaged and sure enough, images were enumerated in order on his computer. He tried to get thumbnail print so that we could view what was on the disc. Finally, he began to randomly click on the pictures and I saw pictures of my graduation from 2010. There were several shots of different angles but all from the same story. Then I saw someone sitting in a wheelchair that looked familiar in a strange home. I was confused.

Masters in Psychology from the University of Louisiana at Monroe

Between trauma and illness, so much can happen to your brain. Psychologically, I think it’s called amnesia. Waking up isn’t fun because you must realize you’ve been asleep. I’m fully awake now and staring at those images has made me more aware of the unknown and of recovering even more lost memories and the magnitude of the emotions attached. I must admit today was not fun. It was not comfortable knowing I had lost not only the memory but something very precious that was given to me by some people that mean even more to me.

The next picture. Then the next. And then another. I saw the faces and they were very young versions of yesterday. And then it dawned on me, “That is me in the wheelchair and in my old house.”  I broke. Something inside of me snapped. It is hard to explain when you look at a photo of yourself and you don’t recognize the person, the clothes, the item you’re holding, your surroundings, and barely the people. For 2 years, I have been recovering memories and maybe it is better said that I’m realizing how many memories I have lost.

I would like to report that today was my first experience at recovered memories, but it is not. I was scrolling through Facebook looking for some photos of a little girl and saw some photos of myself. I was wearing clothes that I suddenly remembered. I asked a very close friend of mine that helped me move if she knew where my clothes were. Her response was quite telling of my state of mind during that time. She could not say for sure where anything went when it left the house. I can say the same about my mind.

Today is a new day and I’m thankful God has restored my mind, my spirit, and my heart. It was at the beginning of 2018 when God restored me out of depression and healed my body that I began a journey of recovery in so many ways. But I am surely not perfect. I try not to look at the past. I do try to focus on the future…mainly my eternal future and how God would have me serve him in the remainder of my days here. Days like today seem like a setback but I must remind myself it’s one day at a time.  

Make Your Move

Man, I love live music. Christ-centered and in small venues is my favorite but those are hard to find. So the next best thing is the large auditorium and coliseum type spaces to supply my desire for live music. I went to a Christian concert to see Trevor Morgan, Tenth Avenue North, and Third Day. The name of the concert and Third Day’s newest album is “Make Your Move”. The Singles’ group from my church went and we had an absolutely wonderful time…in the end. We all bought tickets at different times, but we were able to sit fairly close together. My friends and I were able to get there early and “pick” our seats and so we did…front and center! Being in a wheelchair, my visual lines are often limited and so during the “meet and greet” time with the guys in the bands, we opted to grab our seats. and in my case, move a chair because…I bring my own!

It wasn’t long before the coliseum began filling up and so we were glad we had decided to get our seats early…until we were told to move. What?! By this time, all the other seats had been taken and the ones we were in were reserved for the Third Day fan club, “Wired”. I said, “I’m a fan!” The lady said, “Oh? You’re Wired?” I said, “No…” then she proceeded to escort us down to the end of the outside section. I was almost instantly reminded of… 

“8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.” Luke 14:8-9 (ESV)

I said to myself, “I hear You loud and clear, Lord.” Was I embarrassed? Oh yeah! Did I hear the voice of the Lord? Definitely! I had been rebuked and I was perfectly fine to sit where I had been moved, but one of my friends was not. She went to one of our friends that was a “somebody” at the concert and started asking questions. Seems “asking” where to sit works better than just choosing where to sit.

The issue, at this point, had nothing to do with where I sat, but it had everything to do with the Lord teaching me a lesson. In fact, when the concert was over, I thought how I really wish I had been able to give my tickets to someone that didn’t know Him. Tenth Avenue North’s lead singer, Mike Donehey, did an incredible job of presenting the gospel in such a way that anyone could “get it”. Most Christian concerts that I have attended have been “churchy”, but not this one though and it was still Christ-centered!

Just out of view (except for his arm) is
my now husband Todd Turn,
Sharon Hamner Bennett, Kathy LaCaze,
& I at the “Make Your Move” Tour

The concert was GREAT and I did end up getting seated in an awesome seat (there had been a mix-up…yeah right! God knew exactly what He was doing). Seems the “Make Your Move” theme applied to me as well. I was moved, both physically and spiritually.

Commit?

25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 
John 12:25 (ESV)

Louisiana Crawfish Boil

A few years ago, a friend stopped by for a few minutes. We were celebrating my mother’s 73rd birthday by eating one of her favorite foods…CRAWFISH! Oh yeah! And, they were some more good, yeah! Hot and spicy. The corn and potatoes had soaked up all those good seasonings. Whew! My mouth is watering, even now! My friend couldn’t stay long so we just continued eating and she grabbed a couple for herself. That’s just how we roll down in the deep-south. We are comfortable at our friends’ home and our friends’ friend’s homes, as well!

We attend the same church, but we never see each other there. We attend a church with three services and two worship centers and a kicking Singles’ ministry! She began questioning me about the Singles’ ministry at our church as she is single “again”. I told her about the many opportunities we offer to get connected and ministry opportunities where she could serve. It wasn’t a volley of conversation, but rather it was me bombarding her with information. And then it came…the statement that I could not keep from repeating over and over…she laughed at herself, but she HAD said it…”Well, I’m gonna commit to try to maybe come to Life Group soon.” Really? And she was SERIOUS! She was ready! Well, to try…maybe.

Sad thing is she said herself that she “knows” what she needs to do. Before I committed or COULD commit, I had to be brought to a place that I recognized my need for Him to be LORD of my life and not just my Savior. Oh, I trusted Him as my Savior, but when I realized that I was nothing without Him in my everyday “walk” of life is when my life really began! I was an energetic young mother, wife, and student with aspirations and dreams of medical school. I thought I was living! It was after I lost MY dreams and aspirations by praying for God to teach me how to love Him that I began to know what real life was about. When Jesus says to you to lay down your life that you might live, He means it! I never knew excitement, joy, peace, love…in the world. My old life dulls in comparison to the life I have now.

You know the Word is clear about being straddled across a fence. This was a great word picture to show us just how uncomfortable we can be when we don’t fully commit to Him. When part of your life is lived doing exactly as you want to live it and a small part is left to live for the Lord, you can experience the pain in the seat just as if there were a fence post riding there! So I would say to, you (my friend), hop off that fence and fully commit to the One that fully committed to you on the Cross.

So, are you committing to try to maybe make Him the most important part of your life? Maybe, if you stop trying and just realize YOU can’t, then you finally will!

It’s in the Waiting

It’s in the waiting.

Some of you are in the third trimester of pregnancy just as Mary. Mary was expecting a baby any day. She traveled on the back of a donkey fully ripened for birth. When she reached Bethlehem, her time had come.

Have you reached Bethlehem: your Bethlehem? Has your time arrived to deliver the promise of God in your life?

She reached the cave/manger in time to begin the travailing that comes with the waves of contractions. As each contraction came, imagine Mary thinking, “Will this be the one that my precious baby will finally arrive?“. Is that where you are today? Are you going through the pangs of your situation and wondering, “Will (blank) finally happen or change?” “Will this be the last time I have to approach this situation before the deliverance?

It’s in the waiting…

It’s in that moment that another contraction hits Mary and she travails in the night and the sheep and the donkeys and the cows are awakened once more by her moans and cries in the night because though she is about to deliver our deliverance; the ripened fruit of the Holy Spirit, the promised One, she is fully human and a virgin. Her body is being pulled in directions it is never been pulled before. She is in a place not fit for humans, and yet the creator of it all is being delivered there. Do you see the irony?

A body untouched by a man about to give birth in the most unsterile of environments…And she waits.

Another wave comes, and she wails and the calves bellow. The little lamb baa as if interrupted once again by some strange bedfellow that only if they knew how closely their fates would ultimately be. And there she is writhing in the dung laced straw. Oh sure, I’m sure Joseph did his very best to find her the choicest spot in the manger. He may have found new hay but as Mary’s body fought against the pain she likely found the “underneath hay”. We, too, clean up our space. Try as we might we fight against the situations and circumstances in our lives. They may be a result of our choices or choices put on us, but either way Holy Spirit is in the center of our “manger”.

It’s in the waiting…

The time has come. One more contraction. One final push. Holy Spirit has acted as Mary’s Midwife all along. He had visited her body nine months prior and Jesus grew inside her body until it was time for…wait for it…wait for it…wait…

the Deliver to deliver our Deliverance.

As we approach the last few days before Christmas, be expectant in the waiting regardless of your situation, circumstance, or environment.

He’s in the waiting…

Hidden in Christ

“A woman’s heart should be so hidden in Christ, that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.” Maya Angelou

For the last few years, I have tried to state how I felt about possibly remarrying someday. Being single has been very rewarding for me because I am learning about myself; not only who I am, but Whose I am. Maya Angelou has nailed it! My heart is precious to God. He wants the very best for me. And, He wants the very best for all of us.

It is a woman’s desire to feel protected and safe. If our hearts are hidden in Christ then that is the safest place to be. He is: my strong tower (Psalm 61:3, Proverbs 18:10,), a strong arm (Song of Solomon 8:6), and a strong fortress (Psalm 18:2, 31:2, 144:2). It will take a man strong in his faith to seek for a woman strong in the Lord. God’s desire is for us to have the longings of our heart, and if our desires are rooted and grounded in God, then get ready, He will meet those desires according to His divine plan for your life.

It is in our impatience that we began to settle for less than His best for us. Whatever your station in life…single or single-again…if you will live Isaiah 40:31 and wait, just wait, He will give you gold instead of bronze, diamonds instead of crystal, and the best instead of good.

Spiritual ADD

I am the parent of a child diagnosed with ADD and so when I was getting my M.S. in Psychology I naturally wanted to study what makes up ADD. As I read article after article about studies of children and adults with ADD, I began to think about the way God sees His spiritually ADD children. The writer of Hebrews is talking to a bunch of spiritually ADD people! In 12:1-2 he says, “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.” Every weight. Sin. Every weight. Sin. Things that hinder our relationship with our heavenly Father.

When I was fourteen, I gave my heart to Lord. I remember it was real because I wanted others to have the same peace that I had been given. I even started taking my Bible to school and if you knew me back in those days, that was huge. I knew I had been rescued and I wanted others to experience what I had come to know to be real. I started reading my Bible every night and every day at school. I started going to the devotions that were held on the school campus and even LED one. Huge! I mean HUGE for me.

I lived out in the country in a community called Fiske Union. It was a suburb of the parish seat, Oak Grove. When you live as far out in the country as I did, communities blended together much like a 3-year-old’s finger paint. It was a great place to grow up. The church I attended was in one of those blended communities called Beulah. It was in that little church that I came face to face with my need for a Savior.

One Saturday night in the Spring of my fourteenth year, I was invited to a party in Beulah community. Since I had been saved by Jesus, I was not on the popular list very much anymore. I had gone from very popular to “not so much” in seconds flat! So, when I got the invitation to go to the party, I went. Oh, I took my Bible! I sure did! And I left it sitting on the front seat of the truck. Now can you say “ADD moment”! I took my eyes off of Jesus and looked at what I was “missing”. All my old friends were gonna be there and it was a senior party and I was a mere freshman. Can you sense the dilemma? I went telling myself the whole way there that I would not participate in ALL the party, but I could at least be sociable. And sociable, I was! When I left to go home, I barely even noticed my Bible, but by the time I made it home, I realized just how far and quickly I had fallen back in the race! I was far behind in the race. I may as well have been chasing a rabbit because I wasn’t keeping a slow and steady pace.

You’ve heard it said that it takes years to build a reputation, but one act can tear it down. This is precisely what I did that night. I had been “sold out” to Jesus until it started costing me something. My attention was firmly fixed on Jesus, until…It doesn’t matter what draws your attention away from Jesus, the results are detrimental. If worry, dissatisfaction, prestige, etc. draw your attention away, they have a way of making you hyper-focus. This is another trait of ADD. When you ruminate on the worries of the day, how can you focus on the faithfulness of God to provide for all your needs? If you are dissatisfied with your life and your circumstances, aren’t you spitting in the face of God Almighty Who holds you in His hand? And if prestige and wealth have your attention, how can our God Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills bless you? I’m “preaching to the choir” as the old saying goes!

Yes, we are all ADD when we look at it from a spiritual perspective. So, what do we do about it? How can we “medicate” our condition? I tell you, a routine is the answer. I have seen first hand that routine can help someone with ADD, but they were intrinsically motivated to change. That says that first, you must want to change the depth of your relationship with God. And second, just start DAILY spending time in His Word and praying. I suggest you pick a time and make it the same time everyday. Routine will lead you to a deeper relationship. How could someone spend time reading His Word and conversing with Him NOT fall deeply in love with Him?

When I was developing my daily quiet time with God, I didn’t have a cell phone competing for my attentio–nevermind social media. It’s insane how many messages and “notifications” will be on my phone after my quiet time. If I were to try and keep up with each one during God’s designated time with me, then He would want to prescribe me the latest ADD medication to help me focus and who knows what form the medication would come in… God’s prescription: a new valley to go through, another mountain to climb, a new chapter to write. But whatever the situation, I would HAVE to have Him in the middle of those trials and so…He would have my full attention. So with that,

One last word of caution…….

Rabbit!

…to be continued

 

 

 

Angry at God

Are you struggling through a nasty divorce or custody battle? Maybe yours is not “nasty” and I hope that is the case. Not so with me. My divorces were so painful. I could not understand why the God of all creation would not “fix” my marriages.

I was angry…

Angry at my husband for not being the man of God that I thought he was.

Angry at God for not fixing my marriages.

I did not want a divorce! Because I was not getting my way, I was angry.

However, But, Nonetheless (all three words are my favorites when they pertain to God’s hand), God has allowed each situation to show me my mistakes and character flaws! I sure could not live with me then. There is some major reconstruction happening at my “house” and since He is the carpenter, I’m trying to trust Him.

Allow the architect of creation to be the builder of Whose YOU are and recognize that His hand IS in your circumstances if you are in His will (Matt 22:37-39). You may be looking at the other person like they are Judas Iscariot, but had it not been for Judas; we would not have had the glorious cross. God uses ALL circumstances, pleasant and difficult, to His marvelous and ultimate glory. 

Do not just read, Phil 4:8. Meditate on God’s Word for as long as it takes for your attitude to take on that of Christ. It may not last long, but if you can do that every day, you may just find that your new attitude lasts longer than just getting out the front door every morning!

Birds of A Feather

 

I love getting up early to watch the sunrise.  It has to be the most miraculous part of my day.  I especially like to see the sun come up when there are sporadic clouds on the horizon because the sun plays against the clouds and creates colors that only God can create.  Sometimes the reflections are like silver linings and others are deep purple’s.  I often say to myself that there is not an artist in the world that can re-create that kind of beauty that transforms right before my eyes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

On this particular morning, it was rather cool out and is often the case; blackbirds appeared by the thousands. I have a pecan orchard and the birds were landing in the tops of the trees making quite a racket. Suddenly, birds by the thousands began moving in lines and swirls with the cadence of chirping that would make an orchestra conductor envious.  At that moment, I saw God.  No, not literally, but in his creation.  I also saw the equivalent of our human nature.

God created all things great and small.  He created the sunrise for me to enjoy and reflect on His Majesty.  God allowed me to witness the Symphony of blackbirds this morning to reflect on the natural behavior of something as small as a bird.  Since God created us in his image and creation is a reflection of His glory, I recognized that humans are not much different than the flock of blackbirds.

In Proverbs 27:17, Solomon tells us that iron sharpens iron.  We’re told to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. I think in Galatians 5 Paul explains how we are stronger together. In verse 7, he asked the people in Galatia “Who cut in on them?” He goes on to state that a little yeast leavens the whole dough.  Theologically, the book of Galatians is jam-packed with information about the law and grace, but in these few verses, Paul realized that someone was preaching a different gospel other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified, resurrected, and ascended.  If iron sharpens iron and it is our nature that “birds of a feather flock together”, Christian singles that fellowship together are stronger together.

The Christmas season is here (*drawing near) and it is a time of potential loneliness for single adults and especially for those whose children will be with the “other” parent or for those whose spouse has gone on to be with the Lord. Let’s be extra sensitive during this season to realize that though it is the most joyous time of the year, there are those that will battle depression and loneliness. The enemy has come to steal our joy, kill our ministry, and destroy our witness…let’s be warriors for each other (and to the least of these) and “flock” to their sides!

(*Originally written 11-24-11 in Blogger, Living La Vida Single)