Waves

Put yourself here... mmmmmmm....

In England today it is zero degrees, grey-skied and snowing. Mid-March!!!! I could do with this beach right now... You can just hear the waves just gently, continuously, ... hissing? sighing? pshhhing? towards you and frothing right over your toes. And the sun feels warm on your face and the sand is warm and the water is deliciously cool...

This Sunday at our church we had quite a special visiting speaker, Guy Chevreau. He is Canadian and his name is pronounced Gee, like ghee. He is a renewal theologian and wrote the first book looking at the theology and context of the Toronto Blessing (as a believer in it), "Catch the Fire." Since then he has written other books and is a well-known speaker. We use his book Turnings, on revivals, in our courses at WTC. And now Dan and I have a signed copy for ourselves!

Guy talked about how God initiates, and how God's grace is like the waves of the sea, rolling in one after another, without ceasing. He referred to John ch 1, where it says, "from his mercy we have all received, grace upon grace." He told us that research has shown that on average, a wave rolls into the beach every eight seconds, and that in 24 hours, about 10,000 waves come in. So God's grace comes to us wave after wave, grace after grace, grace upon grace. So we should be open to receiving the grace, the goodness, and expect it. He said he himself has had a tough four years, but he has a peace that God has tremendous blessings for him. So he doesn't mean that life is good all the time, rather that God is blessing us all the time, if we only knew it.

Another thing, he said that when we stand on the beach and look out to sea, we can only see a certain distance. But beyond where we can see, the waves are still rolling towards us. So, there are waves of grace coming towards us, for the things that we don't even know are going to happen yet.

It was a good message, comforting in the sense of strengthening, and building and reassuring. So I thought I would pass it on to you.

Slippery Slope...

My lecture today on the Preparation for Living and Working Cross-culturally course (Thrive!) was about emotional health, and keeping it. Well, hindsight is the best teacher, they say! Fortunately, I had the notes from the wonderful lady who normally teaches this lecture but is off on sabbatical. I found it enlightening and helpful as I prepared it, and I thought some bits of it might be worth posting.

Mags based the lecture on the Beatitudes (when Jesus says, "Blessed are those who..."), and suggests that they are Jesus' reflections on his experience of living cross-culturally - ie living on earth as a human being! And actually, if you read them in the light of living outside your home culture, you will notice how amazingly relevant they are...

Blessed are the poor in spirit...
Blessed are those who mourn...
Blessed are the meek...
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...
Blessed are the merciful...
Blessed are the pure in heart...
Blessed are the peacemakers...
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake...
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you...

One student pointed out that they are not qualities to be aspired to, at least, not all of them. But, they are states of mind which we will find ourselves in, in which we should rejoice because they will make us better, they will make us "blessed." So we should feel strongly our dependence on God, we should recognize our losses and grieve them, we should be meek in approaching others and another culture, we should strive to be righteous in everything we do, we should treat others with mercy, etc etc.
This last one, treating others with mercy, not judgement, is a real help when it comes to working and living alongside people of other cultures and sometimes other viewpoints, other parenting methods, other opinions...

Another part of Mags' lecture that I used and thought was very helpful is the slippery slope of the Ds:

Beware the Ds...:

Disappointment – when we fail to live up to our own expectations, or when our expectations of others or of our role are not met etc etc - we can experience disappointment which can lead to…

Doubt – of ourselves, of our calling, am I meant to be here... of God’s ability to care for us, that leads to…

Discouragement – so we begin to lose heart and lose motivation and energy, which leads to…

Depression – where our spirit is broken and that can lead to…    (= burn-out;)

Despair. Paul experienced this, see 2 Cor 1:8  Prov 18:14

Yes I get this! So I told the students, this really happens. But if you are aware of what is going on, you don't need to slide down the slope... If you feel the process starting, if you feel disappointment or resentment or if you start to doubt you are meant to be where you are, stop, and listen to it. See the flashing lights. Identify what expectation is not being met. Pray about it. If it is because your expectation was faulty, ask God to help you Let It Go. Ask him to show you what other thing he has for you, because, he does have something for you. Clearly, the further down the slope you go, the harder it is to climb back up.

Whilst our emotional health might seem like a worthy sacrifice to make for the kingdom, (as in the title of Marjory Foyle's very good book, "Honourably Wounded," about missionary stress) - I don't believe God wants us to sacrifice it, he wants us to thrive where he plants us, he wants us to be well, to be blessed. But, he knows us. It is not a sin to slide. God will bring good out of it. 

  

Joy to.... us!

As you know, I have been on a quest (oh yes, good word), for joy, and peace. I think I have been asking God for those two things, for some years. I feel as though I used to have more of them. As a student I had a reputation for laughing a lot. More than other people. If you have only got to know me since I was older you probably wouldn't even believe that. I think I thought when my thyroid was fixed, my laughing would come back - some of you might remember me talking about that. It did some, but not as much as before - but then, I had young children and a husband and a mortgage and a house that flooded and lived in a place with power cuts and heat and bad roads... and was just less carefree, I suppose. I guess partly, that is just Life.

But part of what prompted me to start writing the list of a thousand gifts, was because I had a conversation with a friend, about how Jonah could find peace even in the stomach of the fish, and so how could I stop getting buffeted and blown around emotionally by my circumstances - and her answer was, to be thankful. Soon after that I read the book One Thousand Gifts, which, among other things said, that to be thankful is the key to joy. So, I started writing my list, and I also started praying for God to place his hedge of protection around me as he had done for Job (at the very beginning of the book) - and I began to feel a difference...

I do feel more peaceful these days, and happy too. But isn't it typical how, on a morning when you are driving along to have lunch with a friend, humming carols, on holiday for the Christmas period now, actually feeling JOY-ful - on that morning, I drove past my turning on the motorway, had to drive about 20 miles out of my way, finally got back on track and followed the Google Maps directions, to find myself on a different Ducie Road - several miles from the one my friends live on, lost, hungry, annoyed, and seething. Ugh.

Now, I heard a very good thing yesterday at work from one of my friends there, who passed on a tip from her training at Hillsong. She said, If you feel overwhelmed and grumpy, it is most likely because you are either tired, or hungry. So try solving those problems first. Great tip. And once I did get to my destination, and had some lunch,  the negative feelings evaporated completely and then I kind of wished I hadn't rung Dan and had a good grumble when I was lost. (Perhaps another tip should be, when you feel overwhelmed and grumpy, don't ring someone.)

I loved the video that went along with the song, "Mary Did You Know" that I posted on here yesterday, because it showed Jesus living so joyfully. At Christmas we often seem to be reminded that Jesus was born among us, born to die. But this video reminded me so strongly that Jesus was also born to live. And he lived joyfully, it seems. Hmm. Great!

Last night at Abigail's wonderful carol service in Gloucester Cathedral, the choir sang Benjamin Britten's song (which was based on some 15th century words) "This Little Babe" - which is amazing. But the last two lines struck me the most:
"If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly Boy!"

Another great tip for joyful living!