Archive for the ‘healing’ Category

I am so grateful for the Lord’s tender mercies in returning our son who just spent 2 years serving a mission for Jesus Christ in Honduras. For me, it’s the best Christmas present I could ask for to have our son back home with us and to see the growth in him. To hold a vision of the man you know your son can become and then witness the fruition of that is a humbling experience.

What has impressed me most about Caleb is his powerful testimony of our Savior’s love for us and the transforming power of His infinite atonement. There is no greater gift given to mankind than what Jesus Christ has done for us and the eternal life He offers. The following video is a beautiful depiction of His life and ministry. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Merry Christmas, my friends. May God bless you today and forever.

I’ve been pondering a lot lately about the principles of forgiveness and unconditional love. How does one unconditionally love someone you cannot trust? How does one forgive someone who very well may betray, deceive or hurt you again?

I had the privilege of previewing an excellent book before it went to print. Victoria Fielding’s “A Piece of Time” gave me a critical puzzle piece along my path to more fully understanding the principles of forgiveness and unconditional love.

At one point in the story, the main character summarizes,

“There were many dancers, many styles of dances, with innumerable dances being performed simultaneously on the stage of life. And who was to say that one dancer was any better than another? No longer did I think it was just my stage. It was everyone’s stage, and we were all just inexperienced dancers bumping up against each other, and—for the most part—trying to get our steps down, and trying to do our best. That was all. And that was enough.”

This morning as I was pondering on the subject further, it occurred to me that I’ve been taking things very personally. When someone makes a mistake, blows a fuse, or does something that makes my life difficult, I’ve been taking it personally. I’ve been acting as if I’m the main character on the stage, and it’s all about me and how other people treat me. I’ve been betrayed. I’ve been deceived. I’ve been used or treated like dirt.

How am I supposed to keep loving someone who may betray me again, may deceive me again, or may use me again? How am I supposed to unconditionally love those people?

But what if Victoria Fielding is right? What if we’re all dancers, performing simultaneously on the stage of life and all those things I perceive as “about me” aren’t personal at all! What if it’s other people bumping up against me as they try to play their roles in life? We’re all imperfect and human. Rarely is someone else’s mistake all about us.

I call a child for dinner and he yells at me rudely. I can take that personally. I could think, “How disrespectful! How rude! He doesn’t love me at all. How ungrateful!” Or I could realize this child was acting out of character and there must be more to the story. Sure enough, I later learn that he was mad about something else and my calling him three times for dinner was the last straw. It had nothing to do with me.

Someone once said, “No man knows my history.” We don’t know each other’s histories. We don’t know the string of incidents, choices, and beliefs that led someone to a particular act. Perhaps he was flailing his arms dancing on the stage of life and smacked you upside the head because you were the closest person around.

Have you ever noticed on crime dramas like “Criminal Minds” it’s rarely that the murderer simply despised the victim? There’s always this string of events, circumstances, choices and the perpetrator’s view of life that led to the crime. By the time the FBI team gets to the bottom of it, we see the perpetrator’s twisted view of reality caused by a myriad of factors that made the person snap.

Of all people who could take betrayal, deceit, and even murder personally, it would be Jesus Christ. But there’s one thing about Jesus — which I believe enables Him to love each of us unconditionally no matter what we do — and that is He doesn’t take our actions personally. Even though our actions caused Him pain, He still prayed on the cross, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” What if he wasn’t only talking about the soldiers driving the nails?

Jesus knew it wasn’t personal. And even if it felt very personal, He never took it personally. He knew that we all have a history, and we’re all imperfect dancers on a stage “for the most part—trying to get our steps down, and trying to do our best.”

That’s why if we’ll come to Him, and give Him not only our sins, but also all the times we’ve felt offended, betrayed, deceived, or injured, He can take those things and replace them with love — unconditional love that never ends. He will “bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and open up the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

Will you join me in shifting perspectives? Can we stop taking other people’s actions personally? Can we choose to believe that, “we are all just inexperienced dancers bumping up against each other, and—for the most part—trying to get our steps down, and trying to do our best?”

(A Piece of Time by Victoria Fielding will be available online and in some Cosco’s in September. For more details visit www.VictoriaFielding.com )

One of my favorite things to do is attempt to see the world through another person’s eyes. It gives me rich perspective, insights and empathy that I would never discover on my own.

Life and truth are much like the parable of the blind man and the elephant — a composite of various perspectives. You know the story. Five blind men come upon an elephant for the first time. One takes hold of the trunk and says it’s like a snake. Another the leg and says it’s like a tree. Another feels the elephant’s side and says it is a wall. A fourth feels the ear and proclaims it is like a fan. Finally the fifth takes hold of the tail and insists it is a rope.

None of them is wrong. None is lying. But the truth is somewhere in the combination of them all. There is beauty and perfection to be found in each person’s perception. The truth is a combination of them all.

Judy Hansen is one of the few people I’ve ever met who approaches the elephant with eyes wide open — seeing matter, energy, spirit, truth and most importantly the Source of it all — Jesus  Christ — working in harmony.

Meeting her has changed my life. I already had a rich relationship with my Savior when I met her, but that relationship has deepened and become even more real and exquisite.

So when Judy told me she had written: “Trusting Spirit Now: Life Through the Eyes of an Energy Intuitive” — a book about how she sees the world and eternity, I couldn’t wait to read it. What a gift to be able to see the world through her eyes!

You may not agree with everything Judy has to say, but take the time to consider that what she says might be true.  Measure it against revealed truth in the Word of God, not against your own perception and interpretations of it. You will gain a richness in your relationship with the Savior and all His creations that you never had before.

A lady emailed me in response to my Step-by-Step Formula for Resurrecting Hope. She’s going through a painful situation. Her husband left her for another woman. Still married to the man, he continues to flaunt his misconduct by living with the other woman and giving his wife a hard time about her belief in God. She wrote asking my advice on what to do.

Some people might tell her “divorce is wrong” and she should hang on to hope that this marriage can be restored. Others might tell her to ditch her husband and move on. Honestly, it’s not my place to say either way. It’s not my place to judge what God will or will not do in her situation. Only God can answer that for her. All I can do is set her on a path which will lead her to God’s answer for her.

I have a feeling there are others out there who struggle in marriages that are dying on the vine, and so I’d like to address this concern with the SAM experiment. Here’s the advice I gave her and that I give anyone struggling in a painful marital situation.

1) Get very clear on the ideal husband you’d like to have – the ultimate – how he would act, treat you, be, etc. Get very specific. What are his beliefs? How does he take care of himself? How does he treat you? Etc. Be prayerful and seek the Lord’s input on this list. Let this list be your “Sam.”

2) Let go of “who” SAM is. It may or may not be your current husband. Let go of the “who” and give that to God. Allow Him the possibility of transforming your husband, radically changing your view of him, teaching you to unconditionally love your husband the way he is, or of bringing someone entirely new into your life. Put your Hope in Christ … not in an individual!

3) Keep a lookout for anyone or anything that comes into your life that aligns with SAM. It may be a stranger who helps you out of the blue. It might be a child. It may be your husband, or it may be a friend or sister. Anyone.

Example: In my situation, Sam appeared as an elderly gentleman at the landfill when my truck broke down and wouldn’t start. Together we figured it out and got the engine started. Another time, Sam appeared as my 9-year-old son. I came home from a week at a church girl’s camp, and he’d totally reorganized his room without being asked. What once looked like a tornado aftermath was neat and tidy. What’s more, he’s kept it that way for over a month!

4) Be grateful for those SAM moments – express gratitude to God and to anyone involved for them. Document your SAM moments in a notebook or journal.

In the case of my 9-year-old, I took him aside and thanked him for what he did, letting him know why it meant so much to me that he would organize his room and how it made me happy and lifted my burdens.

5) Continue to be prayerful through this process because God is going to teach you things that I can’t tell you. He knows what you should do and who you should or should not have in your life. But the clearer you become, the more evident God’s hand will become in your life and the more you will see what you should do.

Once you’ve made your list of the ideal, ask yourself if there is anything you need to be or do in order to be prepared for this person to walk right into your life. If that ideal husband appeared tomorrow, what would you need to be ready for him? Do you want to be in better shape? Would you want a hair cut? Would you want some aspect of your home in better condition? I was telling this to a young single friend of mine and she said she’d keep her legs shaved.

For example, if “Sam” is in great shape, eats healthy and has lots of energy. Could you keep up with him if he appeared in your life tomorrow? If not, then you know you need to work on your own health and body. See what I mean? Be who you need to be so that there’s nothing between you and your ideal.

Throughout the process be prayerful. Ask to see your situation through God’s eyes. And be sincerely grateful for the tiniest glimpses of SAM in your life!

Over the last few months, I’ve stumbled upon a step-by-step method for resurrecting hope when hope feels dead and gone. I call it my SAM Experiment. Hope you enjoy this video explanation and give it a try for yourself!

Please tell me how it goes for you in the comment area below.

Have you lost hope in some area of your life? Perhaps financially, or maybe your marriage is struggling, your child is having problems or your health is poor. In this video, I share what I learned from my own apparently hopeless situation. All is not lost. There is always hope! With God nothing is impossible. Here’s how…

If the video doesn’t appear for you above, you can watch it here.

Be sure to watch the second part to this video which covers a step-by-step method for resurrecting hope.

In the New Testament we read of the miraculous healings that Jesus performed – healing the blind, the lame, those with palsy or leprosy. Whether tormented by devils or taken to the grave, nothing was beyond His ability to heal and make right.

Have you ever been sick or struck with an emotional trauma and wished He were nearby that you might simply reach out and touch the hem of his garment and be healed? Did you know that He IS nearby? Closer than you realize. He is always there, waiting for us to reach our hands out into the darkness and find the light. He is “the light which shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not” (John 1:5). But it takes an act of faith to extend ourselves and trust that He is there.

The following video is the testimony of one woman who did just that at our recent Light the World: Birthing Your Destiny Retreat. She reached out and found Him there.

To view the video if it doesn’t display, click here.