by Lucy | Aug 20, 2015 | biblical counseling |
I kind of, sort of stuffed God in a drawer. My focus was all about finishing a book, speaking, and counseling. All good things, but not the best.
I even devise a way to finish the book. A stick: deadline! A carrot: vacation day!
You’ve probably used the same approach on your kids. You know the drill. Finish your homework, then you may play football. Eat a decent dinner, then dive into Dots. The bible shares a similar idea: reaping and sowing.
What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8, The Message
My stick helped me meet my deadline. But. . .
God, the Gentleman
I kind of, sort of stuffed God in a drawer. You see, I figured I had, ahem, more important things to do. Like my deadline. A gentleman, God didn’t put up a fuss. In fact, I opened the drawer almost every morning and visited. Then I shut it.
When deadline day came and I hit Send, I felt exhausted. Burned out. Whipped. I assumed the work had zapped me. It didn’t. I was my own undoing. In my desire to meet my self-imposed deadline, I acted selfishly and ignored the people around me and God. (I had stuffed him in a drawer, remember?) Thank God that the next day – when I vacationed quietly at home sweet home – I recognized my true need: Him. I had reaped selfishness and sowed restlessness. My deadline had become my idol.
How ironic that I made such a blunder and listed to a lie – you can do it on your own, Lucy! – as a biblical counselor. Our enemy wants you and me to think I don’t need anyone.
Among the things I’m learning: I don’t need a deadline. . .
I need a lifeline.
An Offer!
Feel overwhelmed? Need hope and practical, God-honoring solutions? Why not contact me to set up a no-cost introductory counseling session? We can meet over the phone. God loves you, just as you are, wherever you’ve been.
by Lucy | Jul 14, 2015 | biblical counseling, thoughts |
Bad thoughts are negative and untrue thoughts that we speak to our souls. They are nasty, they are loud, and they self-condemn. These words that we say to ourselves may be silent to others, but between our own pierced ears, they slice and dice.
These bad thoughts may sound like:
“I’m not good enough.”
“Ugly. . .that’s me.”
“I’m so stupid.”
“Nobody cares about me.”
“I’m a horrible mom.”
“Loser.”
We women condemn ourselves many times a day, don’t we? You. Me. Everyone. Where did verbal bashing begin? How can we stop these bad thoughts?
Genesis of Verbal Bashing
Verbal-bashing began in the Garden. At first, everything was perfect, as you know. Adam and Eve romped in their God-ordained nudist colony for two without a worry. Then Satan in the form of a serpent slithered on the scene in Genesis 3 and spoke a lie to Eve. She didn’t blink. I would have screamed. Maybe. I don’t know.
His lie: “You shall not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it [a tree that God had said was off-limits] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
She believed her enemy. She died. Not immediately, but eventually. Shame filled her. She and Adam sewed fig leaves to cover up. When I lie to myself, I am believing my enemy. You too. We all do it.
Two decades ago, an oft-told lie of mine: “You’re defective, Lucy.”
Thankfully, I finally listened to God while in a pit of despair and agreed with him that I am precious. I am precious because he says so. He created me “fearfully and wonderfully.” His words! FYI: “Fearfully” means “with great respect” in this context.
What lie do you tell yourself about yourself?
2 Steps to Stop Bad Thoughts
Here’s a way to stop bad thoughts. Two (not so) simple steps! Easy to say, much more difficult to put into practice, right?
1. Ask God to help you recognize the lies that you say to yourself.
2. Replace the lies with God’s truth.
In my example of “You’re defective, Lucy,” I replaced this lie with the biblical truth, “God says you are precious.” Every time I was tempted to speak the “you’re defective” lie to my soul, I then spoke the truth. Over time I self-condemned less often. At least this lie. I’m a work in progress, like you.
How can you begin to replace self-condemning bad thoughts with God’s truth?
by Lucy | Apr 8, 2010 | biblical counseling |
You’re in enemy territory, girl.
Hurricanes demolish cities, pilots fly into buildings in the name of Allah, evil men hurt little girls.
So what should you do?
Continue to believe God is good and in control.
PAUSE.
No one said faith would be easy.
UNPAUSE.
God deepened my faith by way of unlikely critter: Hammy.
Hammy the hamster was “mommied” by Laura, my first child. I got the fun job: cleaning the cage.
While I wiped kitchen counters one evening, I heard a voice in my heart, “Check on the hamster.”
What?
“Check on the hamster!”
Huh? Is this you, God?
Again, “Check on the hamster.”
Whoa, now I’m losing it.
I thought, “If this is God, that’s a weird thing to say,” and “In any case, I’d better go check on the hamster
to get the voice out of my head.”
So I trudged to the lower level of our tri-level where Hammy lived, and I stopped dead.
Buring wire!
At this point, after hearing voices, I needed a second opinion. “Steve, couldya come hear for a sec?”
My husband assured me he smelled burning wire too. We began touching the walls and found a hot spot under the fuse box.
Then
a 911 call
a reassuring conversation with our daughter before the fire trucks arrived, and a party on the streets. Nothing brings out good neighbors on a summer’s eve like three gleaming red fire trucks.
The fire chief later told me we would have had a full-blown fire within days if not sooner had we not called.
I believe in my heart that our house would have gone up in flames that very night while we slept if I had not checked on “the hamster.”
Thank you, God.
By the way, Hammy was fine and the recipient of many extra sunflowers seeds, his favorite snack.
It’s easy to feel all alone, unprotected, and vulnerable in enemy territory. Many things stir up fear like news of school shootings, date rape, child abductions and a whole lot worse.
So what should you do?
Our lives are in God’s hands. What we encounter is no surprise to him. Sometimes he protects us from harm. Sometimes he allows it.
Will you dare to believe God is good and in control?
Even in enemy territory.
Question: How has God shown his goodness to you?
You Are Loved,
Feel overwhelmed? Need hope and practical, God-honoring solutions? Why not contact me to set up a no-cost introductory counseling session? We can meet over the phone. God loves you, just as you are, wherever you’ve been.
