I love talking about the ๐นโฏโฏ๐ stuff.
I cherish ๐ถ๐๐๐ฝโฏ๐๐๐พ๐ธ๐พ๐๐ that walks hand in hand with ๐ โด๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐.
Thereโs nothing like having a conversation with a friend where you have permission to be open and honest with them, and they with you, and you know on the other side of it, even if it gets messy for a moment, love will prevail.
Thatโs a โโ๐โด๐๐พ๐โ ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ธโฏโ ๐ and to be honest itโs one our society rarely goes to.
Our culture feels like one where we are forced to choose between stayingโฆsilently offended; or leavingโฆeither physically or by โquietly quittingโ.
(Ever heard that term? It means staying physically but mentally checking out, and emotionally disconnecting.)
Itโs so hard to just be honest with one another, and then come out of that time better for it, because we have been conditioned to believe if we donโt have anything nice to say we shouldnโt say anything at all.
But thatโs not biblical.
Jesus didnโt call us to always act as if everything is ok. And He didnโt either.
With His own life He showed us what it looks like to speak bold Truth, undergirded by big love.
He showed us how to pause when we are frustrated. (Yes, Jesus got frustrated too! So that means itโs not a sin. Itโs just what follows our frustrations sometimes can be.) (Matthew 11 holds one of my favorite passages- about the unforced rhythms of grace- but examine the section directly before that and youโll find Jesus himself getting frustrated with people and having to avert His eyes from them for a moment, focus on His Father, and ๐๐ฝโฏ๐, resettled in love, proceed in His conversation with the people.)
From verses 20-27:
โNext Jesus unleashedโฆโ
โAbruptly Jesus broke into prayerโฆโ
โJesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderlyโฆโ
Wow! Isnโt that a beautiful and freeing example for us?
We donโt have to always feel good about situations or other people! (Shocking I know. ๐ฏ)
Sometimes our emotions are going to take the lead.
But we can learn to reign them back, without becoming resigned to force them down or hold them in or just leave because we canโt do eitherโฆand this, I believe, can only be done in the way Jesus did it. By calling upon a greater inner strength than we ourselves possess.
By asking for โโด๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐พ๐๐พ๐ ๐ฝโฏ๐๐ , God help, (and for us, Jesus help through the Holy Spirit) which for me sounds like:
โJesus, I DONโT โgot thisโ
but I know you have given me your Spirit
to help me and to walk it out with me,
so please give me your strength in this moment.
Please give me your ๐๐๐ถ๐๐พ๐โ ๐ โด๐โฏ๐ to withstand everything the enemy is throwing at me thatโs making me want to run.
Please give me your mind to see that my real battle is not against flesh and bloodโฆ(Ephesians 6:12)
Please harness my emotions to you in this moment so I can feel calm even before this storm of feelings passes.
Please show me how youโd have me proceed, because I want to stay where YOU want me stay, and go from where you want me to go. My own emotions are not a reliable guide. And I donโt know the future or what is down any of the paths, but you do, and I ๐๐๐๐๐ you. ๐คโ
โโ
Sometimes I get so exasperated with the emotions of human life, and life with other humansโฆ
And I have found myself asking Him โWhy?!?!โ
โWhy does this all have to be so hard???โ
And last night I felt Him speak to my soul, something like:
โStrength training isnโt always easy.โ
โIf you never had the desire to leave any place, any relationship, or any challengeโฆyouโd never have the opportunity to learn to draw on Me for my staying powerโฆโ
โI work in the beautiful ๐ถ๐๐น in the brutal. I use it ๐โโ for your training and your benefit!โ
Wow. Who can argue with that??
God you are so refreshingly, breathtakingly, beautifully ๐ข๐ช๐ช๐! โ๏ธ
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