God’s will- We have to give up our “gimmies”.
I think if we were all honest we can admit when we are by ourselves – we have ALL been out of God’s will at least one time if not many times. I cannot speak for anyone but myself but I know that being out of His will is a very dark, damp, lonely , and scary place.
My favorite verse that applies to God’s will is Jeremiah 29:11-13. It is a promise that God made to His people and applies now even more to us. There are two parts that seem to get left behind after verse 11.
Jeremiah . 29:11 is the the one most know: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Most Christians stop at this popular but the verses after this describe our part in God’s will that is crucial in how we seek it. It is the essence of how we relate to a God that is so touchable and reachable – waiting for us to seek him we we need him the most.
Jeremiah 29:12-13
12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
This part requires action from us and also a commitment too. Can we turn away from things our bodies, mind, and most importantly what we think “we may really want “? I call it the “GIMMIES”. aka “gimme this Lord and that because I really really want it”.
We all have had that prayer time when we ask God : “Lord give me (fill in the blank_________). When we should be praying…. “Lord — If it is YOUR will, please (fill in the blank)_____ or allow your will to work in my life and/or help me to know what your will is for me”.
Verse 12 explains how we must call or pray to God and HE will listen to us. Do we understand that we have the creator of the universe bending down to hear us and wanting to hear our hurts and concerns at that moment??!!! It is because of this loving and father/child relationship that we would want to remain in Him and to be in His will.
Verse 13 goes deeper and explains that God knows us so well and maybe the “gimmies” may get the best of us that internal struggles cause internal pain. God says just “come find me and I will be there for you when you SEEK me and with ALL YOUR HEART ! That devotion and love for God will encourage and give us strength to turn from our desires (or GIMMIES). Is it easy???
NO! Is it better in the long run? Have you been out of His will?
If you have, then you know the answer.
There is nothing more than our Father God wants when His children come running to Him with arms wide open wanting to seek Him and be with Him. God does give us choices to choose the direction we go in and how we do it.
God always knows what is best for us even if we THINK we do. In the end, God’s will is the one that is full of love … and patience…. and HOPE. Sometimes we can only see in reverse, what God saw first ahead. It only takes once to be out of His will but for some us -well,…..we are slow learners. LOL 😉 I am guilty.
Be Blessed and seek Him with all your heart! DeeDee Fetters LCMHC, NCC
God’s Butterfly
Sometimes in our Struggles- Pain creates our wings to learn how to fly.
God’s Butterfly.
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through a little hole. Then suddenly, the butterfly seemed to stop making progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily, but its body was swollen and its wings small-shriveled. It was never able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and its struggle was a process. A holy process that required the butterfly to struggle through the tiny opening was God’s way of forcing fluid from the body into its wings. The struggle would be its reward by the ability to fly! –
The story represents that as a counselor-I am just a servant, God’s representative – never to interfere with the real process of God’s will and order. I think at times people feel we will “give the quick fix”, but counseling is about change, a struggle to learn to fly and to relearn to fly again. In the midst of sometimes difficult times, we just learn how we really find ways to fly again with new wings.
Counselors are not the wind or the cocoon.
We are just the ones who ask how high you want to fly and pushing closer to God Himself. 🙂 DeeDee Fetters
“But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in your wings. . .” Malachi 4: 2
God’s Butterfly ~
Healing Wings Counseling and Therapy Heart Talk
7906 Broad St. Rural Hall, NC 27045
Not sorry my scars are showing~
Our SCARS give us compassion and remind us that we are now ambassadors for those hurting and wounded. If you remain JUST wounded– reminded of the fear and pain of what has broken you, pushing others away, displaying rage, anger that is not theirs to feel or see—what is it all for? Is that who you want to be (or at times a person you want to be with)?
Do you want to be a person that hurts others because you have been hurt? Or can you step back and heal from your pain and do the work that is required to not have your pain spill out on to others?
So many examples come back just in my own life of people who have tried to push their pain onto me when it was nothing to do with the present MOMENT but much with their past pain and wounds long before I entered their life. Remember that if someone is displaying a large amount of anger or pain at you, it is NOT about you but about them; it is emotions that have spilled out from the left over pain that is still screaming to be heard from the person that needs to hear it. Our wounds have a bigger role in this world but some have yet to face their own fears and keep spreading their pain as a disease that is worst than Covid called rage.
In a world that sometimes cannot reach past their own shadows of regret and pain, remember don’t be “that person” that is not facing their own pain. Or do you have someone in your life that is displaying that kind of self-indulged pain — hurting you and those around your? Healing is always required for those that are too self-absorbed at times to see what their pain is doing to the ones around them. Abuse becomes primary with those who have pain which becomes a force of more woundedness to others and the cycle of victims leaves its trail. It is time to heal or move on.
If you are one of the few and proud that have been through brokenness and done the hard work coming through it—wear your scars proudly. They will help build a kinder and more loving world through knowing the faithful kindness we have been given through Lord Jesus by healing ours. There is always hope after pain and our scars remind us of how we made it through to reach for others now.
Dee Dee Fetters, LCMHC, LPCC, NCC
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