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It was a Miracle!!!

2 Kings 2:19-22 is a passage in the bible that I’ve read a few times in the past. As I’ve read it before, I’ve kind of thought, that’s a bit weird, and then not thought much more of it.
This time however, the thought, “It’s a Miracle”, just came to me.

With that thought in mind, shall we have a read of the passage in mind? (It’s not too long a read.)

2 Kings 2:19-22
Healing of the Water

19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” 22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

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It still looks a like a bit of a strange read to me, but it was also, a miracle!

As I dwelt on this passage, then further thoughts came to me. They go along the lines of, if we see the passage as an illustration of life, then how much more can we gain from it?

We can see from the start, that the land was unproductive. It was well situated, but the water was bad.
The people liked where they were, but, they were aware that all was not good.
Are there times where we can find ourselves in a similar situation?
We like where we are, but, we can know that things, just aren’t right?
That things could, or should be better?

In the bible passage, the people made the choice to bring the problem to God, by bringing it to Elisha.

19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

This looks to be a good choice, as it leads to a problem being overcome.
How do we deal with our problems that we have?
Will we bring them to, Our God, or will we try to solve them, all on our own?

Then Elisha, gave the people, some strange instructions.

20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’”

There was a cost, to following, Elisha’s instructions.
A new bowl, with some salt, put into it, had a cost, that needed to be paid, by someone.
If we go to Our God, with our problems, and He then gives us instructions of what to do, will we then do them?
Even if they have a cost to them?
Even if they don’t make sense to us? (Salt being thrown into a water source, to make it clean???)

When we look at the location where Elisha went, we can see that he went to the source of the issue. Not to where the effects could be seen, but the source.
If we are given instructions for how to deal with the source of an issue, will we deal with it?
Or will we try to look at, and try to deal with the effects?

The end result of the people following Elisha’s instructions are…

22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

As the title of this post first stated, “It was a Miracle!!!”
A land that was effectively barren, and filled with problems, became Good, and I dare say, Prosperous.

The benefits became a reality, because the people brought their problems to God (through Elisha). Then they followed the instructions that was given to them. As such, they saw a breakthrough, and then all the land benefited.

Will we be able to follow the lessons from this account, in the bible?

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Be Aware, of Those with Velvet Boxing Gloves

I do think that this title, has got to be the strangest one, that has come to me, so far.

It’s a picture of how things can be very wrong and confusing, and it can be difficult to understand why this is so???

If someone speaks to you, with polite words, that have an appearance of friendliness about them, but then their actions, end up causing you pain, that you just can’t quite put your finger on, that then causes you to question, “What is going on?”
It’s this very wrong scenario, that this picture is trying to shine a light, onto.

If someone is wearing velvet boxing gloves, then the technique they could use, could be, “see and feel the velvet of these gloves, isn’t it a beautiful thing to behold.” Then, when you are looking at one glove, they jab you, with the other one, whilst still telling, and showing you, the quality of the velvet boxing gloves.

If you are ever caught up in a situation, where it could be that, velvet boxing gloves, are be used against you, then that is a very serious situation, and not one to be laughed about.

How can we tell, if we are being caught out, by someone using, velvet boxing gloves?

Psalm 34:8
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

From the above scripture, we can see that, if something is good, then it should have a good taste to it. (I have tasted and seen, that The Lord Our God, is indeed, Good!)
If we are being left with a bitter after taste with something, then, is it because, there is something wrong?

Another scripture is coming to my mind.

Matthew 7:15-17
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

The theme of this scripture is the very similar to the taste and see one. By their fruit, you will recognise them.

If we are ever caught in a situation where someone is using velvet boxing gloves against us, then the first step is going to be to recognise, that something is wrong.
If we can recognise it, then we can possibly have a better understanding about our situation, and then act in a better way.
We may even possibly need to seek help and advice from someone else, who is Outside of the situation?
Our Lord God, will always be my first port of call, for seeking help, for the best route to take. He is able to lead and guide all who ask for His help.

Lord God Almighty,
If anyone is caught up in a situation where they are facing velvet boxing gloves, then please, help them to see things, as they actually are.
Please, lead and guide them, for the actions that they should take.
Please, put into their mind, a person or an organisation that they can contact, that can be a help to them.
Lead them out of darkness, and into the light.
Amen.

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Extreme Forgiving

I had to practice “Extreme Forgiving”, just recently.

There I was, in my car, praise music blaring out, as loud as it would go. I’ll Raise a Hallelujah was pounding throughout the car, and I was screaming at the top of my voice, “I Forgive ######. In the presence of My Lord God, I Forgive ######”.
I had to repeat that several times, with the music blasting away, … many times.
As I said, I had to practice, “Extreme Forgiving”.

I had left work, without even seeing my supervisor, but having left a message of, “Book me a half day holiday, I have a need” (in an email).
My work colleague, who I had left a verbal message with, could clearly see that I was upset. “Drive carefully”, was something like his words to me, as I left.

I know full well the benefits of, forgiving, as I’ve written about it in the past, but this “Extreme Forgiving”, is taking things to a whole new level.

(I do believe that I was better off for having done the “Extreme Forgiving”, even though it didn’t leave me in a fully peaceful state, that I would have liked for it to have done. But the worst of the heat, was kind of removed, and I was able to function on a slightly better level.)

So what had upset me so much, so that I needed to do some “Extreme Forgiving”?

In a nutshell, the social care system, just doesn’t appear to have any care in it, anymore. 😦
I’ve been having a few phrases run round my head, for a while now. “There’s no Care, in the Social Care!” is one such phrase.

It was an email from a social worker, that had sent me over the edge. (There is so much, that I’m not saying here.)

Part of me just wants to put it all out there, every little detail, to expose just how bad it has been for me and my wife.
But then I’m torn, as I’m thinking, what good will it achieve?
The whole system is so broken, what can a rant from me achieve?
Very little, possibly?

What I can say is, the objectives of the care system, has changed dramatically, over the period that my wife has been needing to rely on a personal caring assistant.
When she was first assessed, her quality of life was considered, and as such, she was given a good number of hours for a PA. (Personal Assistant) After this latest assessment, it’s clear to see that this is no longer the case.
The question is more a case of, can you do basic things, such as dress and wash yourself, by yourself. If the answer is “yes”, well then, you’re OK then, and you don’t qualify for any help or hours.
(This is a very simplified basic way of looking at this, but there is also a large amount of truth there.)

From our experience, it seems that the social care system, is now more about cutting costs, which means services, as much as it possibly can.

Without going into too many details, the state of play that we find ourselves in at the present moment is, my wife’s PA hours have been cut by about two thirds, to a level where we think that they won’t meet her needs.
My wife is going to privately fund some extra hours for her PA from her savings, which will be gone after a certain amount of time. (What happens if/when that happens, will be looked at, if/when it happens.)
Even with the privately funded hours, we will see a reduction in the overall care hours. We’ll probably be looking to family and possibly friends to step in to cover any needed shortfalls.

I do believe that having family and friends cover people’s caring needs is part of the caring systems prefered policy now. If friends and family are covering it, then they don’t need to pay for it, kind of thinking.

To me, it seems like they are taking their policy advice from Homer Simpson when he uses the slogan, “Can’t someone else do it” in the episode called, “Trash of the Titans”.

As for me and my wife, we now have to remain focused on continuously seeking to forgive those who are causing us the grief and trials that we are facing. We continue to remember that “We are Blessed” and continue to look to Our Lord God, for what is the best way to go forward.
We do thank Our Lord God, because we Are Blessed!

We also pray for anyone who is facing a similar situation to us, but is missing the blessings that we have.
We pray that they would also be able to look to Our Lord God, and as they do, that He will meet with them, and be the help and guide to them, that He is to us.
Amen.

If you have found yourself upset, annoyed, angry or any other kind of negative feeling, for what you have read here, then I ask that you would forgive those who have caused you to feel this way. (Including me, if it’s needed.)

I don’t want this post to be a source of pain for people, but instead a light for the benefits and power of “Forgiveness”.
So, if you have a need to, please do consider giving it a go. You could try saying the next bit out loud, as many times as is needed, as a starting point???

“I forgive those who have upset me, in the presence of God, I forgive them.”

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That’s the official end of this post. I post this full in the knowledge that very few people are likely to read it.
It’s just how my posts tend to go, which is OK with me.
If you think that there is something here that should be heard by a larger audience, then please do consider clicking on a “like” or “share” function in whatever social media seems good to you.

If you would like to know more about me, I do have an “About” page.

I also have a post, that goes into the sad tale of what happened to us, to leave my wife, in our current situation. Link here

I also have a post, that goes into how we cope, in the here and now, as we wait, for Our Lord God, to heal my wife completely.

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Just for reference, there are a few links to posts about forgiveness and reconciliation, below.

Forgiveness is Key

How do we Forgive, when we Don’t want to?

The Release that Forgiveness Brings.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation are Two very Different Things

Reconciliation Matters

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Can we Gain a Better Perspective?

Last week I wrote about a YouTube video, which I found to have a bit of a difficulty to watch. My difficulty was so great, that I asked my Heavenly Father, “Do I need to stop watching this, as it could take me down a wrong line of thinking?”

The YouTube video in question is,

“God only knows” with “Awesome God” Vocal Motion Show Choir

It may seem a bit strange to ask the question of, “Should I be watching this?” When we are talking about a Christian worship video, but there I was.

The problem that I had, was that when I was listening to the “God only knows” lyrics, I was focusing on the problems that we can all have, at times, too much. Then I was stopping at that point, without understanding where the song is meant to take us to.

After I asked the question of, “Should “I” be listening to this?” I kind of got a sense of, carry on listening to it, but get the real message behind the song.

That message was effectively, “Yes, you can have problems, but, you are not alone. I see you, and all that you have to deal with. You are not alone, for I am with you.”

For me, this message came through, in the form of an echo to the lyrics of, God only knows. (The unspoken echo words are in brackets.)

God only knows what you’ve been through (I see it)
God only knows what they say about you (I hear it)
God only knows how it’s killing you (You’re not alone)
But there’s a kind of love that God only knows (and I am with you)

Instead of the verstion that I was hearing of, “You can have problems that are unseen”, then stopping there. The unspoken echo, gives me a much better perspective, of what the song is meant to be about, all along. That we are not unseen, that we are not unheard, that we are not alone. Instead, we Are, seen heard, and held, by Our Lord God Almighty.

What a change in perspective, the echo, gave to me!

Deuteronomy 31:6

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

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What Percentage Focus, between Problems and Our God?

There is a YouTube video, that I think is superb, but painful to watch.
It’s a joining of two songs, that speaks a truth, that can sometimes be difficult to reconcile.

The YouTube video in question is,
“God only knows” with “Awesome God” Vocal Motion Show Choir

If you watch it, you will see a video that shows that Our God IS an Awesome God, who reigns with Wisdom, Power and Love.
But at the same time, we can have unseen problems, that can be difficult to bear. (From the lyrics of “God only knows.”)
The the young people, holding up boards with problems written on them, has a visual power, that just brings a something extra to it, all of its own.

As I watch it, I feel that I need to give a Greater attention to the “Our God, is an Awesome God” lyrics, in order to not be unbalanced, by the video.

To me, it is a picture of how life can be.
We can Know that Our God is Awesome and All Powerful and have everything under His control, all at the same time as we are struggling with unseen problems, that we feel could be more than we are able to bear.

This takes me back to the idea of this week’s post title.
How much of our focus do we give to our difficulties, and how much do we give to Our Lord God, who Has the answers.

In times of trouble, are we able to lift our eyes, when our world maybe falling apart?
Instead of giving 100% of our attention to our problems, could we aim for a more healthy 50-50 split?
Could we even increase the percentage in favour of Our God?
60-40?
Or 70-30?
Or even up to 90-10?
I’m stopping short of suggesting 100% focus on God, as if we do have real problems, then we don’t want to go and bury our heads in the sand. That’s just denial of the problem.
(Although, for a time, 100% focus on God could be good, such as a in a worship meeting.)

In good times, are we building good practices into our lives, that we can fall back onto, when trouble comes along?
What we do when times are good, also matters. When Paul and Silas were singing in the prison, I think that I’m on safe ground to say that it wasn’t the first time that they had spent, worshipping God. (Acts 16:25-30)
Could we do likewise, and always be seeking and praising Our Lord God Almighty?

In finishing this post, I’m going to bring the focus back onto Our Lord God, by quoting some of the words, from one of the songs, in the video, that is mentioned, in this post.

Our God, is an Awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above.
With Wisdom, Power and Love.
Our God is an Awesome God.

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To Upset, to Receive?

I was at church this morning. In front of me, there was a parent with their small child. The child was very well behaved throughout most of the service. But, there came the point, when the child had just had enough.

The parent did a great job at trying to console and comfort the child, but unfortunately, it was to no avail. The child was making it’s unhappy state, known to all. Not in a major disturbance, but enough, to be uncomfortable for the parent. In the end, the parent carried the child outside, in a calm and relaxed manner.

As this was happening, I was kind of thinking, sometimes, can we be like that child?
Can we be in a place where we could be blessed, in some way, but because of the state that we find ourselves in, we are just not able to take the blessing on board?
Can it be that sometimes, we can be too consumed with an upset of some kind, so that we can then become unable to see anything else, other than the upset, that we are dealing with?
Even to the point of where we are unable to see the answer to our upset, even if it was next to, or directly in front of us?

My Lord God,
If we are ever to upset to receive anything from You, then please, gently let us know, that this is the case.
Please help us to hand all of our concerns and upsets, over to You.
Please help us, with all that we have to face.
Please, open our eyes to Your Good Blessings, that we have already received, and that we can take hold of.
Please lead and guide us, in the way, that is best for us to go.
Thank you that You are with us, and that You do lead and guide us.
Amen.

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When the darkness comes, Seek The Light!!

The Calling Abyss

We Are Blessed!!

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Do you Really Begrudge me Two Carrot Sticks?

My wife was preparing some salad to go with her lunch.
As she was doing this, she asked me, if I could cut a rather large carrot, into carrot sticks. This I did. As I was doing this I quality inspected one carrot stick, which she might of missed?? 🙂
As I was finishing up, I said, “There’s a charge for this, you know?” Then I picked up one carrot stick, and placed it onto my plate. 🙂

“Hey, that’s mine!” My wife shrieked at me.

“Are you really going to begrudge me two carrot sticks, even after I’ve just cut them up for you?” Was my response.

We did end up smiling and laughing about it, in the end. 🙂

I was not leaving my wife short of carrot sticks, as it was a larger than usual carrot, which could have been equally shared between us. Even with the two that I’d taken, she still had about the same, or even a bit more, than she normally has. The six carrot sticks, were actually enough, which she did agree to, in the end.

It’s kind of left me thinking, “How do we react to Our Lord God, if He Asks us, for a small bit, of the Great Abundance, that He has given to us?”

Will we happily hand over two carrot sticks, knowing that we have enough? Or will we think, “But that’s All meant to be Mine!!” … ???

We have been given, such a great abundance, from Our Lord God.
If He asks for a small bit of our time or resources to be directed to …. , then how willing, are we to hand over …. back to Him, as He asks us to?

Are we able to recognise the Great Abundance, that we have been given, and as such, then be able to happily and joyfully, hand a small portion back to Him, as He directs us to?

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Reconciliation Matters

I had a picture about reconciliation, just recently.
The said picture, follows on, below.

There were two fists, demonstrating two parties, that had a problem between each other, which lead to difficulties. Both fists, had a need to be forgiving towards each other.

The two fists, both went away from each other, and both, separately, forgave the other party.
Forgiving, has the effect of opening the closed fist, to then become an open hand.

Reconciliation is a process that enables the two open hands to reconnect in a friendly way that then leads to a friendly handshake.

Without reconciliation, the two open hands, that have both been forgiving towards each other, can then start slapping against each other.
This can then lead to the open hand becoming a fist yet again, needing yet more forgiveness to happen all over again.
Both fists are aware of the need for forgiveness, and as such, go away separately, and go through the process of forgiving, all over again.

Without reconciliation, there is a danger that both fists, can get caught in an endless cycle of continuous hurt and forgiveness. 😦

Reconciliation Matters!

When reconciliation is needed, then listening to Our Lord God Almighty, will always be my best council to follow.
What is He speaking to you, about any situation, that you maybe facing?
Try to hear and follow, His guiding.

I can’t give you a full explanation of the best way to follow, in regards to reconciliation. So instead I’ll try to list a few words, and ask that you seek, Our Lord God’s council, if you can see a need for reconciliation, in something that affects you.

Do I understand the others point of view?

Can I try to understand their point of view better?

Can I try to be understood, without slapping the other party in the face?

Do I need to change what I am doing, in some way?

My Lord God, please help me to see and understand Your thoughts and Your Path, for what I am facing.

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If you are lead to, then consider clicking on one of the links below, for some further thoughts.

Reconciliation and Forgiveness are two very different things.

How can we help someone, who doesn’t want help?

A Hot Cup of Tea (The delivery method matters)

Forgiveness is Key

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Less of me, More of Him!

The more of Him, being, Our Lord God Almighty.

I was writing a post, a while back, and I thought it was finished, which it was. But, I also thought that there was so much more that I could have written. Ultimately, the post remained as it was, with a few of my thoughts, unwritten.
The post was probably all the better, for doing so. 🙂

At the time, I had a vague sense of, God can speak, what He wants to, to each individual person, as He wants to, with what is here.

Then, a little while later, I get the thought, “Less of me, more of Him”, and then I’m smiling all that much more. 🙂

By having less of me, I’m leaving more room for more of Him.

What would you rather have, pages of my thoughts, that could then just become white noise, or a few words from me, that leads to many thoughts, from Our Lord God! ???

As I’ve written before, My words don’t matter, but His do!

It was also one of the main themes of the first post on this site.
That post was, The Christian Doorman.

So, if by leaving some of my thoughts out, I’m leaving more room for Our Lord God, to speak to you, then surely, that’s got to be a good to thing! … ???

It is Our Lord God’s thoughts, that we should all be pressing in to hear, all that much more, than anything else.

Our Lord God, is able to speak to us all, in or through whatever way He chooses to.
One last question for this post to end on.
Are we wanting, trying to hear, His words to us?

Our Lord God Almighty,
Please help us all to hear You, and Your leading, that much more clearly.
And then be willing to follow You, and Your ways.
Amen.

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Who Are You Trying to Impress?

There were two cleaners. One was well liked, while one was looked down upon.
The one who was well liked, laughed and joked, with the people that they served, as they did what they needed to.
The one who was looked down upon, was quiet, as they diligently, carried out their cleaning duties, often getting in the way, of those that they served.

From a cleaning point of view, the looked down upon cleaner, did a better job.
The reason, that they got in the way, was because they ensured that they did a good job. Those who used the facilities of the looked down upon cleaner, were well protected from germs, and the unseen dangers.
Many would accuse the cleaner of over cleaning, but this was never the case, they were just doing a very good job.

This was not the case with the well liked cleaner.
They would do the bare minimum, to make things look as if they were clean, even stepping aside, allowing their customers to use facilities that were not as clean as they should be, while they laughed and joked with them. All the while, knowing, that their customers, were using facilities, that was not as clean, as they should be.

How do we conduct ourselves, when it comes to our duties, that we should be working at?
Do we just do, just what is needed, to give the appearance of a job well done?
Or will we actually do, what we know needs to be done, even if it makes us unpopular?

Our Lord God, sees All that is done, and the motivation that is behind our actions!

Who are we trying to Impress with our actions?
People, or Our Lord God?

Colossians 3:22-25
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

1 Peter 1:14-16
14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”