Emotions? What drives your decisions? And answer to the roller coaster ride. ⏤ Vol 2, Ch 226/25/2018 I began this blog theme two weeks ago. In the first blog I centered on depression, getting help, and my own experience and what I grounded myself on in the beginning of a long journey of single mothering. In the second I recognized the families that have had a family member commit suicide. If you missed that scroll down to find them, or click here I am a big believer in following your dreams, finding your passion, and listening to your heart. But when I say that, I always hesitate. Because in today's world, these thoughts conjure up a life of living by the whims of selfish desires and basically checking out of any responsibility, or commitment. So let me be very clear. The dangers of following our heart without checking with our purpose is very real. We can get knocked down and get disoriented. We can lose our way. There is a wandering that is a good journey. There is a wandering that leads us to destruction. The difference is in the purpose. God has given each of us a purpose on this earth. Discovering our purpose is a life long journey that begins with seeking God. Without that as our first desire, we cannot build on anything that is solid. When God is out of the picture everything else is sinking sand. Life shifts through our hands, our selfish desires cause us to stumble and struggle, and we find ourselves face down in the dirt more often than singing a song of joy. I know, I have walked that road in my past. So, how do we build on a firm foundation? Jesus made it really simple. He comes right out in Matthew and tells us what we need to do to find stability in our lives. Jesus TOLD us what is the most important thing to build our lives around. He TOLD us how to find security. He TOLD us how to find our purpose. He TOLD us how to live successful and fulfilling lives. Matthew 22:36-40 It really isn't rocket science folks! WHY do we try to make it so hard? Don't you think it would be a good idea to listen to Jesus when he clearly gives us step #1 and step #2? Everything else follows these. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees what was the most important commandment, he did not hem and haw. He did not ponder. He did not give a multiple choice answer. He was clear and concise. He was blunt and honest with his answer. And Jesus always speaks the truth. If it was true then it is true now. Truth doesn't change in place or time. In other words if something is true in North America it is true in Australia. If something was true in Jesus' time, it is true now. Step #1 and Step #2 Matthew 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, " 'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all he demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." Do you say you love God? Stop talking about it and do it. Read the bible. That is a conversation with God. Once we begin to do these listed in the first and second most important commandments, all other things will fall into place. If these precepts are not put in proper position in our lives, things start getting shaky. If I love someone or something, I figure out how to get to know that person, or that activity better. How often do we say we love God, but we never spend any time getting to know Him better? Fail to get into the word? Remove ourselves from the body of Christ? Sequester ourselves into our own desires and goals without giving a thought as to whether they are glorifying to God? If you love God, than seek Him in His word. He isn't hiding. He is easily found, if you earnestly and humbly seek Him in His word. Step #3 Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do." Looking outside ourselves. How can I do something good for someone else? This is such a wonderful grounding and fulfilling life step. We have a tendency to get selfish and petty when we only seek our own heart desires. Granted he isn't finished with us yet. But I have to be careful and not get too comfortable with where I am in my Spiritual growth. I want to always be reaching to find a better and more wonderful way to glorify Him. If our lives are seeking ways to help others we are on the right track. Step #4 Build your life on truths that will not change. Here are a few things that will never change. Things that you can build your life on. Things that when everything else is falling apart you can repeat over and over to yourself and hold onto.
Sometimes we get all wrapped up in all of these ideas on how to find our purpose, how to live our lives. Jesus has told us to come to him like children. He has really made things simple. If you want to know what God thinks is the most important thing we can do in life, just read the bible. He wrote it to me. He wrote it to you! He loves us. It is so much fun to watch how He comes in and strongly supports us when we are seeking Him, when our hearts are open and willing to grow, when we are communicating with Him. Oh how I want that for you, for me, for us! Thank you for being here
Think about these wonderful truths this week. See you here next week at some time on Monday. Love having you here. Be blessed. Because He is the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff RR&BC, LLC©2016 www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Come and join our membership. We are on a journey.
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Friends of mine, from a time gone by - but still in touch, lost their daughter a few days ago. I just put all the tragedy together yesterday. I've known this family for many years. I remember their daughter as a young girl. It hit me pretty hard yesterday. Here I am writing a blog about emotions, suicide, depression. How can I have anything to say to this family? Who am I to encourage? I'm a 61 year old woman with married children, and grand children that are bursting at the seams. My mother is approaching 90 in a few months. She might not make it because she is ill. I've lost my dad when I was 22 to heart problems. My siblings are all alive. I have lived an enchanted life. I have even had miracles happen to me that create in me a yearning to love the LORD and serve Him forever, because I deserve nothing! I have sinned. Only through the grace of God am I free from sin and guilt. I have been blessed by the God who IS. What can I say to this couple that has lost their child to suicide? To the child she left behind? I can say absolutely nothing. I can only stand on the sidelines and grieve with them. But I know they know Jesus. I know they are holding onto hope. Hope in the choice their child made many years ago to accept Jesus. Hope that her life was not out of God's periphery. Hope that they will see her again. Hug her again. Be with her again. I know they are standing firm in their faith. And what a testimony of God's grace and mercy. Sometimes the evidence of God is found in the responses of those in the most pain. I'm not here to go into theological debate. I am here to testify to my own and other's faith. I don't need to convince you to believe what I believe. It is out of my hands, out of theirs. But, I know what has given me strength to forge forward in the hard times. And I am witnessing the strength that is forging this family forward in their hard time. 2 Timothy 1:2 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. So, today I proceed with this blog thought. I couldn't bring myself to publish yesterday. Today, I honor the families that are left behind to pick up the pieces. Today I honor those who hold firm to their faith in the midst of tragedy and loss. You are being seen by the God most High. You are seen by El Roi. Abba hears you. Abba grieves with you. He too saw His Son suffer and die. He knows. He is still for you, for them, for us. We are not alone. But I am not finished with those assurances from the word. I will continue those encouragements next week. And I leave you with Caleb + Kelsey www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Dt4qPu2AI&index=11&list=PLOWDZJe5wh3gX4XQ4CrUHbQ7zvdtp2ttQ May those of you struggling find God's grace sufficient. He has been my strength and my shield. I testify. I pray for you. Let me hear a witness? Share below. Comment if you feel led. We are all in this world together. Because He is the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Emotions. They certainly do bring us on a roller coaster ride, don't they? Are they a blessing, or are they a curse? This last few days suicide has been on the news. Emotional darkness and depression has won in at least two people's lives in the public eye. We humans have the blessing and the curse to express and verbalize our emotions. I know that many Christians like to say that we need not address our emotions, that when a person is in a dark and dreary place they should just get into the word and that will set them straight. Unfortunately, many a depressed individual has lacked the ability to see out of their hole of darkness into light enough to read the word, much less open their hearts to hear what it is saying. Depression is a real sickness and needs to be acknowledged as such. Jesus came to heal. And sometimes he uses doctors and medicine to do just that. We are no less a good Christian when we seek medical assistance to come up out of a fog. Sometimes we need that kind of help. And this does not decrease the ability for God to bring us to a better understanding of emotions. Our emotions don't catch God off guard. They don't surprise the Father. Our emotions are not a hindrance to be shut away nor a bomb to be exploded upon our whim. Our emotions are a gift that God gave us to participate in the world as human beings, creatures made in His image. As Henri Nouwen so wonderfully stated, "What we feel is not who we are." I also know that there are times when our emotions run us ragged. But there are not just dark emotions. There are emotions of joy and happiness. There are emotions of excitement, and love. These are all emotions that are also on the roller coaster. Removing emotions from our life landscape can create problems instead of help us.
As a young single mother of three, I was run ragged. I was going to University to get a degree, coming home to three children needing attention and care. I was frazzled. Coughs, colds, headaches, pain. These were becoming a regular occurrence with me. I was tired all of the time. Upon visiting my doctor, he made the decision that I needed to go on an anti-depressant. At that time Doctors were not the best about discussing treatment with their patients. And patients were not really clear on how to ask intelligent questions of their doctors. Instead, doctors gave medicine and patients took it. So, I did just that. I began taking the anti-depressant medication. It was not a good thing for me. Instead of it helping me function, it helped me not care. I just walked around in the same mess I was in, but without any drive to move forward. Obviously, this was not a good answer for my situation. Instead, I got off of the drug. Did I do it alone? No, I had a friend that I discussed this with. Then, I sought counseling with a reputable counselor. This counselor led me to question where my identity lay. Did my identity lie in what I was doing? Did my identity lie in how my house looked? Did my identity lie in what grades I made, or how much money I was making? Did I know I was loved? The first moment of realizing I was a child of God was a breakthrough moment for me. I had entered into the Kingdom of God by belief in Jesus Christ from childhood. But my life did not show that I knew that I belonged to Him and that He cared for me. Instead, I felt that every problem, every decision was mine and mine alone to make. I felt that no one was there to have my back. I felt alone. And I let that alone FEELING knock me around every day. I learned to embrace the reality that "What I felt, wasn't who I was." When I realized I was not alone, that God was for me and not against me I began to see life from a different perspective. When I delved into the reality that my emotions were part of God's design and that I could have them, but they didn't have to control me, I woke up to a new life. When I began to speak the truth that I am a child of God, loved by Him and that He will never leave me, I began to change. Reading one Psalm and one Proverb every day introduced me to the God who not only listened to whining and problems, but also gave wisdom advice. By doing this, I found that I could read completely through these two books in one month, The next month I read them again, and then again, and again... The prayers and the wisdom began to bring me to a place of stability. I began a solid morning and ended in a solid night. When my emotions ran over me, I found that repeating the verses that rang true to me over and over (this is called meditating) helped. They were like a healing ointment on raw and open flesh. I learned that living my life as a single mom needed more than me, it needed God. I learned how to love people in a healthy way. I learned how to give my children wise advice. I learned how to live, feeling emotions , but not letting them make my decisions for me. Instead my decisions were made by the guidance of the precepts set up in the bible. This was a huge breakthrough for me. It gave me solid ground to live on. I began with the Psalms and Proverbs and moved into reading the entire bible. I read it every day and every day it gave me what I needed; the wisdom and the courage for that day. Now, I am 61 years old. My children are all grown and working profitable lives in society. I have grandchildren and a new husband. But my days are still filled with seeking Him in His word. It is what still solidifies my life. I live life with passion! As my husband says, I'm spunky. Every day is an adventure and I greet the days and sometimes have to find my happy. I usually find it in the Word of God, or in His creation, or in the relationship He has blessed me with. I find my emotions to be a blessing. All of my emotions. But they don't make my decisions for me. And when they do, because sometimes I do (just ask my husband when I am a bit too sensitive) I must run to my Father and He gives me the courage to ask for forgiveness. If you are so far into depression that life is a dark hole, reach out. Talk to someone. Let friends know. And if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, do that PLUS investigate what it is like to become His Child. Next week I will bring more about this topic. A child of God means that you have God as your father. And He is a GOOD GOOD Father. Think about that wonderful truth this week. See you here next week at some time on Monday. Love having you here. Be blessed. Because He is the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff RR&BC, LLC©2016 www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Come and join our membership. We are on a journey. If you remember the song, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus linked below, you are telling your age. I almost feel sorry for the folks not privy to this encouraging song of the powerful sacrifice made by Jesus Christ through the spilling of his Holy Blood. It is an oldie, so if that grates on your ears don't open the link! You have been warned.
But there are not very many people talking about the blood of Jesus and that it (the BLOOD) is what declares us righteous. The blood of Jesus is what completes us and makes us whole. We no longer need to fulfill the law of God when we accept Jesus. It is like we are afraid we will get too graphic if we talk about blood. But, dear ones! It IS blood that was needed and it is blood, Jesus' blood, that was spilt! We refer to accepting Christ as our savior. We talk about giving Jesus our hearts. What does that mean? Salvation rests on the truth that Jesus Christ, Son of God, came, lived a life free from sin, That he let himself be killed and his holy pure blood to be spilt to cover the Sin of the world. (your sins and mine)
This theological truth abut the blood sacrifice is not something that was only written in a song. It is the very crux of what brings us into the saving grace of God himself. Romans 3:21-31 says it best. 21. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and prophets long ago. 22. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. 24. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25. For God presented Jesus as the sacrificed life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26. for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. 27. After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 31. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! in fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. Romans 3:21-31 NLT  I know there are many themes we can talk about in the Christian faith. But when this theme is removed or neglected, we better watch out. This is the Good News. The world has the opportunity to receive relationship with God through the holy, righteous, pure blood spilt on the cross. by Jesus Christ. Amen! May you be blessed by the acceptance of this truth. May your life be filled with God's righteousness and may your hearts be filled with God's pure love. Because He is the I AM, I am Robyn Cox. Biff and I send you our love and our prayers. I've been dealing with some family details of late. And I am thankful to be back and step by step getting back on track and into the rhythm of life. Have you accepted that Jesus Christ died on the cross and spilt His blood for your sin? If not, please consider taking the offer He gives you in His word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. As you enter into His Kingdom, be sure to take time to listen to Him by reading His words. Remember, we are in relationship with the God Almighty. Praying is us talking to God. Reading the word is Him talking to us. This is a healthy relationship. LIsten/Talk, Listen/Talk... Don't have a one-sided relationship. It is not only dysfunctional, it is crippling. Share in the comments how you are entering into relationship with Him today. Feel free to join and read His word daily in our wonderful community Reading, Reflection and Bible Community. You can join here: Biff and Robyn Cox Reading, Reflection and Bible Community RR&BC, LLC © 2016  |
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