Sunday, March 26, 2006
March 20-26
Pictures: Random from the last couple of weeks. I included the ferris wheel because I thought it was really good.
JESUS IN THE MIDST OF STORMY RELATIONSHIPS
This was a week of relational difficulties. I was confronted about sin and/or upsetting four different people who are close to me. That is not bad, and in reality I highly value having people in my life who are willing to approach me and take the risk of showing me my blind spots. However, it is not something I enjoy while I am going through it. One instance in particular was overwhelming in that there is no "tidy" end in sight. We disagree about issues that are very close to our hearts. I have not been able to explain myself in a way that he can really see the issues from my perspective. I do not have a problem with the disagreement but rather with the fact that I do not feel like I am being understood. I was sharing this with the team last night and asking them to pray that I would learn what God wants me to in this.
I was aware how much this was consuming me. I was waking up thinking about it and going to bed thinking about it; and all day as my mind had a free moment it was going back to this relationship and what I should say in the e-mail and why I am right and on and on... Jesus reminded that this was the case with Him most of the time. Rarely, if ever, was He understood.
It is so interesting to me the attitude He takes when He does this (reminds me of something like this). It is not the way I would be, which is to say, "Get over it, I went through much worse than this." Rather He comes along side and says, "I know how this feels, I can carry you through it, and give you peace in the midst of it." Oh, what a nice sound that is.
However, my response is one of, "How can you do that, for I certainly don't feel it." But then I found myself quickly changing to say, "Jesus, do this work in me, and don't let this end until I have made some progress in it."
And so that is where I am as I write this today. I am not there yet, but I am next to Jesus, and I am expecting Him to work, to change me. We were reminded in our discussion of Waking the Dead this week of 2 Corinthians 3:18
"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
I move into the next week with this truth uplifting my heart.
