Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

From Adam's RIB! From his side to be equal but different. Under his arm, protected and, at guarding his heart. Thought you guys might like this, as we, born-again women in recovery, find one another by His guidance. Thank You, God, for Divine Connections. Thank You, God, for RIB!

This image was posted a few days ago on Facebook by Gina Hazen.

Recovery in the BIble (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

I am very interested life application of the Bible to my regular, ordinary life and, in my blog, I am seeking to stimulate honest interaction (and civil discourse) even we we disagree. As born-again women of God, we need to find each other! I thank God already for the Divine Connections into which He has already led us. Hopefully this blog is a safe place for seeking God's wisdom and His power to apply it in real life (Step Eleven).

Lately, with the decisions coming out of the SCOTUS, I have felt frightened by the morphing of meanings. Suddenly many Christian truths are Politically Incorrect and on the verge of being called Hate Speech. Really? Christians know God loves every single person He ever made! Further, that in Him and by is Holy Spirit, so do we. Christ is radical LOVE and we, as His disciples, proclaim the freedom to choose -- or choose to refuse -- that LOVE.

Speaking truth in LOVE is not typically perceived as loving these days, now is it?. Orwell predicted this would happen! And so, today, I am asking this question:

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Pro-choice or Pro-Life

The opposite of pro-life is pro-death, yet we use the word choice instead of murder.

Gay or Straight

The opposite of straight is crooked or twisted or bent, yet we use the word gay instead.

Left or Right

The opposite of right is either left or wrong, yet left has only one opposite (as does wrong): right.

It is 1984 in 2015. Am I alone is noticing the morphing of meanings? Am I alone in seeing Thought Police on the near horizon? I know God's got all this, that He told us there would be such as time as this, that all would be well eventually. I also know that He has led us to find each other, divinely connecting us to one another. Therefore I ask what you think about all this:

How did this happen?

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

This morning in my Quiet Time, I was asking the Lord about all the lawlessness and depravity we are witnessing in our world, and I heard myself say: HOW DO I BLOOM ANYWAY? And this is what, I believe, I heard Him say:

"Child, you have heard Me say, “All will be well” in the end; you already know about My provision and protection in the desert and the wilderness and on the stormy sea. Why then do you doubt  and fear? Leave these things, especially justice, to Me -- I have got this! For your sake, please drop the rock and step out of My Way! Simply climb in here, under My wings, and wait and watch. I AM gathering My church together to separate My people from those who turn to useless things instead of to Me, the Living God Most High, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. Remember the evidence from your past: how I led you to into safety and freedom and joy -- Fullness of Life in Christ. Now you know that Life with a capital “L” has little to do with earthly pursuits that only fill men’s mouths with gravel. Now you know that it was I who brought a vine out of Egypt and grafted you into that Vine. I AM the Vine, and you are a branch purposed to bear My fruit. Surrender to My Power and just let Me flow through you, in you, and out of you this day -- one day at a time. This is Life in the Vine, and your Father is the Keeper."

This seems to line up with Scripture as I read it, and I would be so interested to hear about  what YOU are asking -- and what our Lord is saying to YOU this day!

 This photograph is by Liz Burnell.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

"Little girl-woman, I love to hear you thanking Me for the all-embracing reality of your Life in Me, your abiding in Me, the True Body, as I abide in you by My Holy Spirit. What a priceless gift of inestimable value you have been given to cherish. Your eyes are fixed on Me as I stand, with arms extended toward you, across the raging waters and the stormy seas that swirl about you in a world that is hopelessly broken. Thank you for keeping your eyes fixed on Me! This keeps you from sinking into the limitations of life with a lower case "L." With Me and by the Holy Spirit, the impossible becomes possible, and you have evidence from your past to prove it. Share your evidence whole-heartedly! It is my desire for My people to find one another, to encourage and edify one another, to testify that, in Me and by My Lavish Love and Mercy and Power, you are made able to "walk on water" until the day you come to live in Me, fully and forever."

This is what I heard in my Quiet Time with the Lord this morning. I call these "Downloads from God" and offer this one (above) as an example of a Direct Connect. I am hoping to hear back from others: What are YOU are hearing?

This painting by Jerry Allison (1992) was published as a postcard by Standard Publishing in 1995.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Thank You, God,

For the purpose You have given me

To help us find each other:

Christian women in recovery.

After 25 years in recovery, I finally see that my Step Twelve is Step Five. I am to carry the message the God wants us to get real with Him, with ourselves, and with each other.  It seems God wants me to help Him connect born-again women in recovery to one another. It is biblical for me, as a woman, to  reach out to other women, and so, I am looking for other Christian women who are in Twelve-Step recovery.

God has been very patient with me. I first heard His "get real" message in 1999 -- and am only now really starting to walk it out. For the last three months, I have working to develop a website to help this happen, which is still in draft form. The blog portion of it is a total mess at the moment, but if you wish to have a look at this draft site, please feel free to Google:

RecoveryintheBible.com

If you do decide to take a look, there are three specific questions on which I would VERY MUCH appreciate feedback before I finalize:

1.   Are you able to navigate easily throughout the site?

2.    Were you confused at any point(s)?

3.    Is there anything missing off-putting or “broken” at the receiving end?

Hopefully this new website/blog will help us connect with one another in encouraging ways. And according to God's Word. And so, I ask this question today:

Could this be a Divine Connection?

This photograph is by Kristofer Rowe.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Twelve-Step meetings have ruined me! I am now addicted to Praise Reports coming through people sharing from their true experience: what challenges have just happened, how God guided, and what happened next. 

• Rigorous honesty. 
• Dirty laundry, washed and hanging out for everyone to see.  
• Evidence that God is real and eager to help.
• True stories of broken-ness and repair. 

My trust in God seems to increase most by hearing other people's miracles -- hot off the press -- and sharing my own. Experience, strength, and hope: I believe this is how the Church is meant to gather. So... when I enter a quiet, pre-programmed religious ceremony, I feel like, "This is backwards!" 

For me, the time for tippy-toe quiet every morning in my daily Step Eleven. The time for sharing and celebration is when we gather. Church is for testimony! Telling how is helping in our everyday, ordinary lives. To me, God intended Church to be what we find in Twelve-Step meetings: His medicine, which is trust in Him. Gently administered through His loudspeaker system: one another. 

As a woman, I am seeking other born-again Christians in recovery, Divine Connections. You?

This image was posted yesterday on Facebook, and I just grabbed it -- now I know why!

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

For me, recovery means I knowing am powerless (Step 1) and, because God has given me so much evidence, knowing also that He is The Highest Power (Step 2). That makes it a whole lot easier to Let Go and Let God (Step 3) and to sweep this ”temple” daily (Steps 4-10) so that His Light can lead me (Step 11) to be salt and light on the earth. All this aligns with Christ's commission to Go and make disciples (Step 12).

Step One John 15:5

Step Two Galatians 2:20


Step Three John 3:30


Steps Four-Ten

 Matthew 12:43-45


Step Eleven Romans 12:1-2


Step Twelve Matthew 28:19

In short, my recovery turned out to be Christ-centered, though it was not at first. Thus my present purpose seems to be encouraging us to surrender -- not just any old Higher Power (of whom there are many according to the Bible), but to God Most High, the God above all gods -- to proclaim that it DOES matter to whom we surrender.., that our safety, freedom and JOY is found in Christ alone -- literally and forever. What think you about Christ-centered recovery?

This photograph is by Eric Jonas Swensson of Sound Shore Media.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

As I prepare to transfer from my current blog to a new one on a new website that is yet to be finalized, I am envisioning the types of questions that I feel led to be posing for comment and discussion.  There seem to be three categories into which fall the kinds of questions that interest me most. These are:

• What are DIVINE INTERVENTIONS? I am hoping to gather true stories of how God can speak through "a donkey" -- and does.

• What is a DIRECT CONNECT? In this kind of question, I am seeking to gather examples of what we are hear (or have heard or are currently hearing)  as we discern the still, small voice of God.

• What are DIVINE CONNECTIONS? I am very interested in applying the Word to my regular, ordinary life -- both spiritual and political -- and will be seeking to promote honest interaction (and civil discourse!) in the process.

This new blog  is still in the development process, so please, feel free let me know what you think before I finalize. Today, I am providing a brief true story of a Divine Intervention, hoping to simulate your remembrance (and sharing) of such things in YOUR past:

Lumpy Bed

One morning I was folding laundry in Ned’s room while Ned went through the gymnastics associated with obediently making his bed.  I had told him before about the times I would come into his room when he was at school – either to put laundry away or to dust or something – and find that he had made his bed (very lumpy indeed but nevertheless completely made)  as I had asked.  It was not until this particular morning, however, that I had ever actually observed him making his bed.  And when I did, it touched my heart.

Ned had all the pillows on the floor.  He was on top of his mattress, right in the exact middle, trying to flip the various layers into flatness -- smoothing them by elongating his body and moving ever closer to the outer edge until the lumps disappeared.  It struck me that he was so sweetly obeying – trying and trying – and totally without complaint.  Every day he had been struggling like this, so faithfully.  I was touched to see his efforts with my very own eyes.

Next thing you know, I was crying.  “Mommy!” Ned exclaimed.  “What’s the matter?”  To which I replied, “Nothing, Ned – it just touches my heart to see you making your bed – to see how hard you are trying, to see all the trouble you go to just to get it done.”  And then, I believe, I heard God say:

“I love the lumps.”

                              This photograph is from a Facebook page called 3dfirstaid visual architecture.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

I would love to know who originally generated shared this version of The Twelve Steps. It is helping me to see that the Steps lead me daily to crucifixion of my "self " -- and  this, into resurrection as a New Creation in Christ. The Steps and Slogans are teaching me that the best way to walk my life starts with "I can't" and ends proclaiming "God can!" So... my question for today is this:

For you, personally, where is it that Steps and Slogans lead?

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

In the near future, I will  be transferring from this blog into a new blog on a new website for Christian women in recovery. The new website is still in draft form, but I practicing the new blog here, hoping to offer honest questions and elicit honest replies.

Recovery led me into a Direct Connect with the Maker of the Universe and to realize that God was giving me Divine Connections to others who would encourage and edify me -- and vice versa. Comments and conversations -- even confusion if we encounter it. My goal is a Question Corner that will be a safe place for seeking God’s wisdom in our lives -- and receive it by His Grace. Currently, I envision posing three types of questions:

• What is Divine Intervention? 
• What is Direct Connect?
• What are Divine Connections ? 

Today's question is this: what do you think of this approach? Interesting: maybe, yes, not? 

This photograph is by Eric Jonas Swensson of Sound Shore Media.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

LOVE AND LET LIVE

In the United States of America, freedom means respecting every person’s individual dignity: accepting we have been given freedom of choice, even to make choices that are unwise or illegal or outright wicked. God loves each one He has ever made, and by Him in us, we do the same. Therefore, my latest slogan is Love and Let Live. This came to me after someone recently posted, "Frankly, I don't care WHAT you believe unless your belief includes the power to control what I believe." I think this new slogan means r refusing to demonize one another, even when we disagree on stuff. What think you?

This image came from some wise person on Facebook.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Here's what I got this morning, the kind of the thing I hear when I seek and listen: Good for you, girl woman of God. You have heard Me and returned to a place of weeping with a broken and compassionate heart. You have seen the others as I see them, as I desire to help them if you will drop the huge, hard rock you have been holding and step aside out of the middle of this road. I AM walking toward them, even now, I AM. Good that you have dropped the rock. Good that your heart is soft and sad again. You have recognized the anger that only causes cancer and gets in My Way. You will reap what you are sowing -- mercy and grace that paves the way from Me to walk in to reveal and heal. Good for you, girl woman of God.

This is what I call Direct Connect. Do you know what I mean? And if so, what are you hearing from God today 2015, at such a time as this? 

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

As I explained yesterday, this blog will soon be replaced by a brand-new one called The Question Corner. Today's question is interesting to me, and I offer it in hopes it will interest you as well. Here it is, as an invitation to comment and/or discussion:

Of which aspects in your life are you most proud?

Again my short answer is three points: (1) Being married through thick and thin; (2) Having child despite a lifelong reluctance to do so; (3) Receiving so much evidence that God works all things to good for those who love Him. Also again I will go first, hoping to stir the pot. I am eager to hear answers to this question, especially as believers living in such a time as this! So: 

Of which aspects in your life are you most proud?

This painting by Claudia Wood Rahm is called Joy Molecules.

Recovery in the BIble (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Very soon, this blog will be replaced by a brand-new one called The Question Corner that will be part of a website currently in the process of being designed. The new blog (I hope) will stimulate discussion of questions that (I think) matter. As a trial balloon, I would  like to offer one such question today, inviting feedback and comment before I finalize the website. Here it is:

What have been some of the milestones of your life?

I'll go first, in an attempt up the pot. My very short answer is three milestones that matter to me : (1) Having our first (and only) child after 20 years of marriage at the age of 44; (2) Choosing the Higher Power over human wits and ways; (3) Celebrating this life while we have it (in a few weeks, we will reach our 44th wedding anniversary, followed by our son's 24th birthday). 

I found this an interesting question, and I hope you will, too. And so I ask, as a trial balloon in the approach I am considering to my future blog:

What have been some of the milestones of your life?

This painting by Claudia Wood Rahm is entitled "You Go First."

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

CHRIST-CENTERED RECOVERY

Some people who love me express their concern that Twelve-Step Recovery does not seem, to them, to be Biblical. But “Nay, nay !” I reply. For me, recovery means I knowing am powerless (Step 1) and, because God has given me so much evidence, knowing also that He is not (Step 2). That makes it a whole lot easier to Let Go and Let God (Step 3). And to sweep this ”temple” (Steps 4-10) so His Light and lead me (Step 11). All this aligns with Christ's commission to Go and make disciples (Step 12).

Step One                            John 15:5


Step Two                            Galatians 2:20


Step Three                         John 3:30


Steps Four-Ten                Matthew 12:43-45




Step Eleven                       Romans 12:1-2


Step Twelve                       Matthew 28:19

In short, my recovery seems to be about making disciples -- of Christ. What think you?

This is one of two paintings I ever did in my life, this one called Sonlight.

Recovery in the BIble (RIB)

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up in a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 2:4-5).

For me, the above painting captures The Service of Surrender in Song. It captures how it feels to sing as new creations in Christ by His Holy Spirit before the Father. Perhaps this painting is a glimpse at how our praise appears before our heavenly Father: radiant, brilliant, and bright; infinite in colors and scents and sounds; precious jewels. Each of us, transposed to glorify Christ by the abundant -- no, LAVISH -- overflow of the Holy Spirit from within us. Before the Father, in Christ, radiating thanks and praise -- forever.

I believe I could sing eternally in such an amazing array. Singing is one of my joys, most of all when joined with others, each voice carrying its own singular part -- yet in total harmony. Generating one brilliant HIM of praise. In one accord. A CHORD!

This painting by Claudia Wood Rahm is entitled Living Stones.