Skip to main content

Process is Beautiful


Can we get real about the carnal effects of hard times? I think we can. 

In fact, as we engage in this topic lets allow our mind to compare the carnal-minded response vs the spiritual-minded response to difficulties and suffering.

We come to God underdeveloped, weak, immature, and uneducated in matters of eternal things. He invites us and we respond. We meet Him and over time allow Him to develop, strengthen, mature, and inform us. He does this most often through circumstance, and situational processing. 

One of the most beautiful examples of process and the value that God assigns to process is found in the life of Christ. Luke 2 is an incredible account of "Process" in this way. Here we see the human growth, the spirit growth, and the plan of salvation processing to the exact point in time when it would become a reality for all of humanity. 

The way Jesus made it through the most difficult parts of the process was to pray, "Not my will, but Yours be done." and this is how we will make it through process as well. Surrender. Make it a regular part of your process! Experience surrender, embracing that part of the journey will help you successfully grasp all that God wants for you. As you go through processing, please embrace the experience! 

At this point, I feel led to clarify that this is not about placing yourself or remaining in abusive places - in fact, exiting those situations and places may be a necessary part of your process. Beautiful things come from those choices!! This is about surrender to Godly things, holy things, hard things. Abuse comes from and leads to a very different place. Abuse is destructive. We are talking about embracing that which is constructive. The opposite of that which is destructive. 

It is suffering that blows away chaff, that burns and cuts away deadness with laser-like precision. One must submit to the process for the event to create change! Imagine the patient in a surgical suite fighting with the surgeon over what is "fair or unfair" - chaos and death would result! 

Suffering is quite powerful when we allow it, when we trust the Creator's plan, when we choose to have spiritual-sight. Suffering and process can be immensly constructive in our lives. We will not allow it though, if we see suffering as only destructive and to be avoided at all costs. 

A spiritual-minded sight allows us to guard against bitterness in the "Processing."

A spiritual-minded perspective allows us to guard against co-signing victim identity in the "Processing."

A spiritual-minded perspective allows us to guard against the temptation to remain comfortable, immature and untried in spiritual growth. 


Here's to your growth process & mine!

#lizchatter

Labels:

Comments

Sis. Pat said…
Wow. An on time word for my life right now. Thank you.
July 30, 2021 at 7:34 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'The Wrinkles on My Face' (Lizzie's short story)

Name: Lizzie Tegart Age: 10 years Grade: 5th Date: November 12, 2012   Wrinkles on My Face It’s a dark morning. The alarm clock wakes me up with its “beep, beep, beep, beep.” I pressed the snooze button but the beeping only stopped for a while. When it started up again, I wanted to throw my alarm clock out the window but I knew that I shouldn’t so I got up. “Burr”, I said out loud. The floor was freezing cold on my toes! I tried to feel around for my bunny slippers but found only one of them, so I put on the one that I found and hopped to the bathroom. When I got there I flipped on the light; the light was bright on my tired eyes. I squinted and looked around to see my other slipper sitting by the bathtub. “Oh good,” I thought “now both feet will be warm.” After I put my other slipper on I decided to brush my teeth. Still squinting, I opened the cabinet and felt around for my toothbrush. As I looked through half closed eyes for the tube I thought, “I hope the raspber...
8 comments
Read more

With GOD...

  This verse shows us a contrast between the human perspective and that which is visible to God. It is likely that this young ruler felt that he was good and saw himself as living a life of honor to God. Likely, he was respected by his community and enjoyed good relationships. He was, after all, in a leadership role that pointed people to God. Yet, God was able to see what he and others could not see hidden deep within his heart.  We should applaud this leader's courage. Not many would have approached Jesus to ask for such accountability. Whether this leader asked to receive kudos, or if he asked because he could sense he was missing something, when Jesus pointed out what he could do he left sorrowful. Perhaps his desire to protect and shield himself through his wealth was overwhelmingly important. Understandable, right? Whatever the case, this leader walked away in sorrow instead of surrender. Isn't it something how badly the truth can cause us to employ various defenses? We ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sitting in the victors circle -

When we get to the end of life on earth and contemplate the journey, to some it seems that we have fallen victim to and have been overcome by disease, illness, pain and death. It may seem that we were too weak to win the last battle and that is why life on earth is ended. Let us remember that all things in this life are leading us toward eternal life. Those who are Blood bought, Spirit filled, Bible believing and Jesus serving are those who understand that this place, this body, this carnal shell is not the end all and be all. Eternity is the bottom line for the Christian; the soul is what we invest in. Those who are obsessed with temporal life do not understand and cannot grasp why we rejoice when a faithful follower of Christ passes into eternal life. Those with dimmed vision and limited understanding of faith in God are angered & fearful at the idea of death however; those who decidedly live for Christ cannot help but celebrate when another Christian’s earthly journey comes t...
5 comments
Read more