To show love is to share edifying knowledge.
We are told to reject suffering and pain, but what do you do when you are confronted with the prospect of death? This devotional draws you into Kanayo's testimony of battling a ‘one in a million’ serious illness called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. We journey with her suffering, healing, finding beauty in the beast of pain and ultimately learn how to suffer 'well'.
There is a fine line between simply empathising with another person’s state and fully rooting your own emotional identity in their experience.
So how do you deal with the overwhelming emotions projected by others around you? How do you ensure that you do not root your emotional identity in the emotions of another person?
We should never come with an approach of ‘I know it all’ and ‘I’ve heard it all’. We must remain open and teachable, even before scriptures that we may have read hundreds of times.
Rest is not supposed to be this thing that you collapse into after an exhausting day or season. Rest is supposed to be your starting point. God doesn’t just give strength, He IS strength and He is in me.
We use and hear the phrase ‘brace yourself’ which is said to have evolved from the verb form of ‘brace’: “To make (a structure) stronger or firmer with wood, iron, or other forms of support". ‘Brace’ then evolved to "brace yourself" which translates to doing something physically to keep yourself from falling over or being … Continue reading Grace yourself
Technology is a tool and like any tool it can be used for good or for bad. A knife can be used for cooking, a hammer or axe for building, but both can be used for harm. The tool has no morals or values, it is the user that brings their morals and values to the use of that tool. This is the same with technology.
The psychologist in me makes me understand another aspect of the use of technology as a tool. Anything that we use creates or exerts a degree of change in us, whether we realise it or not. For example, when you constantly use a pen or knife, after a while you may see an impression on your hands and fingers. Similarly, our use of technology creates impression marks on our minds which primes us for future activities, decisions, habits, expectations and relationships.
While it is very easy to ‘passively’ forgive an offender, with a simple ‘I forgive you’, the challenge comes when you are reminded of their offence every time you see them. Or when you find it hard to get rid of that negative memory. Sometimes these recurring memories and feelings, make you question whether you have really forgiven them or not. So what do we do when we have forgiven but we still remember?
‘Your feelings are real; not reliable’ (unknown author).
We should never dismiss our feelings. Feel what you need to feel, but ultimately remember that your feelings are so transient that they can never replace the truth. They should not be the sole determinant of your decisions and reactions.
I shared a 20-minute message on Jonah 3 last Sunday at Chatsworth Baptist Church. Read Jonah 3 and watch the sermon below. You can follow our series on Jonah via YouVersion and join the 50,000+ others who have completed the #JonahChallenge devotional on YouVersion. Jonah Goes to Nineveh 3 Then the word of the Lord came to … Continue reading Jonah 3
There are moments where the phrase “too blessed to be stressed” couldn’t be further from the truth for me. I’m not sure where the phrase came from, however, I do agree that it is appealing to the ear and the concept sounds good. But what do you do when the blessing from God is weighty? … Continue reading The tension between feeling blessed and stressed