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All That Thrills My Soul

~ practicing & perfecting walking with Christ

All That Thrills My Soul

Category Archives: Practicing & Perfecting

Growing through your past

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by Tari Williamson in Lessons Learned, Personal Aha Moments, Practicing & Perfecting

≈ 1 Comment

On Wednesday of this week, I had the opportunity to speak to our moms group on anything I wanted to talk about. I chose the topic of our past, and how it effects us in the here and now.   The 3 books that I relied on as I prepared were: Making Peace with Your Past (Wright), The Wounded Heart (Allender), and Instruments in the Redeemers Hands (Tripp).

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Instruments:

“We aren’t just struggling with the horrors of our past, but with how we deal with them. If sin is part of our nature, we will always be dealing not only with our personal history, but with how sin distorts the way we handle it. Help will only come as we deal with our past and our own sin. This is essential because sinners tend to respond sinfully to being sinned against. This is why the only hope for us is a Redeemer. We cannot step out of our sinfulness. We need more than love and encouragement, information and insight. We need rescue. Anything less will not address what is really wrong with us.

“Sin complicates what is already complicated. Life in a fallen world is harder than God ever intended, yet our sin makes it worse. We deal with much more than suffering, disease, disappointment, and death. Our deepest problem is not experiential, biological, or relational; it is moral, and it alters everything. It distorts our identity, alters our perspective, derails our behavior, and kidnaps our hope.

“The good news of the kingdom of God is not freedom from hardship, suffering and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself. His rescue produces change that fundamentally alters our response to these inescapable realities. The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners. He makes cripples walk again.

He changes us, he allows us to be part of what he is doing in our own lives.   As you respond to the Redeemer’s work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands.” That’s the goal in the Christian life, I believe—in the here and now—to be an instrument in the Redeemers hands. But the work that it takes to make us USEABLE instruments, can be hard work. And we simply get too comfortable with our own “sin” patterns, to want to give them up. (paraphrased)

These are my thoughts as I remember Dan Allender’s threefold process for healing your wounded heart:  

We say, Jesus is the answer, and He is – but what does that looked like fleshed out?

How do we “put on Christ” – how do we unite with Christ in his suffering? How do we work out our salvation with fear and trembling?”

  • Honesty
  • Repentance
  • Bold Love

Without Jesus, it is impossible to get truly honest. Our hearts will continue to deceive us.

Without Jesus, there is no one to repent to who has the power to cleanse our minds and hearts and souls.  Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we will feel no need to repent.

Without Jesus, we will never figure out how to love others well.

So, with Jesus, what does this threefold process looked like?

Honesty, with Jesus: I think this looks like taking responsibility for the way we sinfully respond to adversity.

Sin destroys right-thinking.

Repentance, with Jesus: We go to him and confess and ask forgiveness for the way we sinfully respond.

Repentance is the most freeing act! We repent, He cleanses. He restores. We may still live with consequences in some measure – but he restores – he doesn’t want us living under the yolk of condemnation. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”

The main consequence for not dealing with your past is this:

A stunted spiritual growth.

When we continue in this role of victim and blamer, – we can’t see past our noses. It doesn’t just stunt our spiritual growth – it stunts our emotional growth as well. You can possess all the knowledge in the world and still be incredibly UNWISE. Wisdom and smarts are 2 separate things, and without getting real with who you are and who Jesus is, wisdom will not happen. Wisdom comes from the Lord.

When we get honest and repent, we are met with bold love. We are met with mercy and grace and forgiveness.

You are learning “to respond differently not out of your strength and ability alone but through his power and presence. Jesus believes in your ability to accomplish a new way of interacting with others. He wants you to be a new person, to develop the potential God has endowed you with, and to be more effective for the cause of Christ.” [Wright]

“Wounds limit you. They diminish your capabilities.  But they will heal if they are treated correctly.” [Wright]

Wounded people are overly sensitive.

“The gospel makes it possible to escape over-sensitivity, defensiveness, and the need to criticize others.” (Tim Keller)

So!

The question to ask ourselves daily, as we are confronted with hardship and suffering and being sinned against is this:

Am I living in light of the gospel of Christ? When the answer is often no, its time to get honest, repent and love boldly.

#23 Favorite Summer Tradition

17 Saturday May 2014

Posted by Tari Williamson in Personal Aha Moments, Practicing & Perfecting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Reading through the Bible, Summer routines

Summer is upon me. And, after 24 years of working in an academic institution, I think I’m finally starting to feel the rhythm of doing a whole new thing in the summer.  Many of my weekly routines cease for three months – and after 24 years – it is truly a welcomed break. I’ve never been one to enjoy a routine for any length of time – ever eager to mix it up. I see change as fun and adventurous. Out with the old—in with the new. If I had my way, which I usually do, I’d throw spontaneity in to every single day in some fashion – especially in the summer.

Two years ago – could have been three – I started a summer routine. It’s a wild one, in my opinion:

I read the Bible in its entirety.

Now it’s surely not crazy to read the Bible – but many may think that reading through the Bible in three months is a bit odd. But is it?

The m.o. for most Bible readers is to read three chapters a day and five on Sunday—a year long process—that we should try at least one time in our lives—if not a yearly practice. And that is just fine and dandy for some – but for me it just seemed like a chore. And I have indeed done it that way many times in the past 20 years – mixing it up by choosing a different English translation each time – I’ll have to say, a personal favorite has been The New Living Translation.  It’s very readable!

When I decided to read the Bible in a summer – I expected it to be a one time event. You see, I think I was trying to see what it was like to just read it through as quickly as possible – in novel-like-fashion – because I get so tired of hearing how non-believers read through the Bible and find it to be misogynistic and violent—portraying God as some all-powerful-bully waiting for his creatures to break just one commandment so that he could pounce.

Amazing how we see what we focus on – and surely you can find a couple of those instances – like Uzzah and the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6:6ff.)

Wow! Really God? What is that all about?

Or … This one really seems very misogynistic (that’s a woman hater): When a husband gets to make his wife eat some bitter dust water if he suspects she has been unfaithful (Numbers 5:12ff) – I’ll have to admit that one is tough. Perhaps that’s the place in the Bible where some would turn and run.

But we are blessed when we don’t run from the hard passages.

I think my passion for this summer Bible reading routine came when a rather angry and hurting fellow mentioned that he read through the Bible and determined that if there was a God, God indeed hated him – and therefore this fellow decided the only thing to do was hate God back. That’s when I decided I wanted to know what it was like to read the Bible in its entirety as quickly as I could – assuming that this is what this fellow did. Wondering to myself – just how long does it take to read it? For me it was three months (with about a two week head start).

Thus began my summer routine and yearly tradition. And I’ll have to say – it’s one I love – one I hope to continue until I’m at least 70. Perhaps at 70 I’ll do something different.

And yes, I’ve started already (it’s still May). I call it my jump start – just to give myself some wiggle room in case there are days when I can’t read ~13 chapters. You realize that’s all you have to read is 13 chapters? That doesn’t seem like a lot, does it?

When I read it like this, I do not see a pouncing-misogynistic-god. I see a lavish, abundant, loving, powerful God – who longs to be in relationship with his creation. I see that every time one of us messes up – he has to change the plan (so to speak) to allow for their messiness. Like Adam & Eve – I don’t focus on them getting kicked out of the garden and the consequences of their disobedience – I see a God making garments for his beloved.

Then in the very next generation we encounter Cain – the murderer.  Here’s my take:  I see God saying, Come on Cain! You can overcome this sin that is crouching at your door – master it will you?!

You see God made no human puppets – no human robots – they all had a choice – and God was rooting for them to choose Him – of course they didn’t – and again it seems to me like he had to continually lower his expectations of his creatures – protect them from themselves – and give grace until he was grieved to the point of utter destruction. And yes utter destruction came at times. But then there is this verse – pointed out to me by a beloved professor – “will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25)

So as I begin my “speed-read-through-the Bible-routine” for the 3rd time – I read it in light of knowing that the Judge of all the earth indeed does right. That he longs to gather his children even though most of the time they are so un-gather-able. That he never fails – even though his creatures fail at every turn. And that he gives us his Holy Spirit which enables us to be just a little more obedient and a little more gather-able.

I dare you to join me. It is guaranteed to blow your mind when you invite the Holy Spirit to let you read it with fresh eyes.

# 6 Live Expectantly

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by Tari Williamson in Practicing & Perfecting

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

God, Great Expectations

So!

In light of yesterday’s post, and if I could actually reach the entire world with a message, today, I think it would be this:

R-A-I-S-E your expectations …

of God.

Not your spouse or family or friends or the person in the other car that just cut you off, but of the only One who can actually handle your expectations.

Here’s the thing – I think – some of us like to fly under God’s radar because we think if he sees us–or takes notice–he is liable to want to inflict a Job-like affliction on us – or possibly WillandColeneNorton(forWeb)ask us to go to some third world country – live in a hut with a dirt floor and eat worms to stay nourished.  I personally know of only a couple of couples that did something similar (the Nortons & Longs) and from what I know of them, they wouldn’t trade their time in Africa for all the money in America.  I think it’s safe to say we’re probably safe from that lifestyle – that is – if we really want to be safe.

But here’s what i think — I think it would be most beneficial if we lived expectantly in light of who God truly is: Powerful.  Abundant.  Lavish.  Good.  Merciful.  All loving.  What if we woke every morning remembering his character traits?  And like William Carey adopted the motto: Expect great things from God … do great things for God.  And I just love Dr. Norton’s life verse, which is “through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is who will tread down our adversaries!”  Fabulous life verse.

I mean really!

After all, it was Jesus who said, “I have come to give life and give it to the fullest.”  Can you remember the last time you were living life to the fullest?  I hope something recent can pop into your head.  Because a life lived to the fullest is living expectantly.  It’s not my job – or yours – to define how that looks – it could be serving lunch to 220 people – which I will be doing in four short hours – it could be changing your baby’s diaper many times today – which I’m sure Lauren & Cristina & Jenni will be doing today—and tomorrow—and next week.  See it’s really not what you are doing – it’s under who’s watch are you doing it?  And when you have an audience of One – and are doing all things for His glory – oh my – he can truly put the extra – in an ordinary day – can I just tell you – this is thrilling my soul to even think about it.  So quit whining and start asking our lavish and abundant God such things like: “How is it you’d like me to live this day?”  or “What can I do to advance your kingdom?”  or “Who are you calling me to today?”  (For my young friends the answer to that is probably William, Weldon & Amos.)  It’s not magical but it is miraculous – and when we are practicing His nearness – you just never know what He’s going to do.

Finally my sisters – and brothers – remembering a few things like Hebrews 13:5 and 1 Corinthians 2:9 will help you see, “He may not be safe but he’s good.”  Live Expectantly.

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