The Highway to Joy! From CoffeeHour @ Chicklit Power!

Happy day to you! I know it’s the 1^st of the month and it’s WOW (Words of Wisdom and Weapons of Warfare) time, but I thought it would be good to finish up with the second sacrifice that Jesus smiles over when His kids offer it! It’s a sacrifice of righteousness, made difficult and sweeter when offered up after being wronged! Grab your coffee and come on in.

I can’t believe that we are getting all this from our search for joy! I truly thought Destination? Joyful! ™ was going to be a small, fun, happy-go-lucky and lighthearted series! And now we have a series within a series, which I should have made its own series…. Oh, well, straight ahead and let’s keep going. Something tells me it’s going to make our journey towards Destination? Joyful! ™ all the more rich and beautiful, and we for sure will be better equipped.

So I left off with … Oh, that’s right, where someone had verbally slapped my cheek and stomped all over my heart with her words, and at the end declared she couldn’t be my friend. She wrote me off and that was that!

Those stomps on my heart and verbal slaps on my cheek were all the more powerful and hurtful because I was not expecting them, number one, and number two, I had truly invested in her emotionally. God has used her to teach me so many lessons in ministry about ministry so when I read her words laced with what I deemed venom, I was stung, rendered bitten by hurt and shock.

Would I, could I resist the evil temptation to lash out and instead turn the other cheek?

I tore myself away from her words I was reading in my inbox of Facebook and returned to saying good-bye to my board members. The excitement and enthusiasm I had felt from our planning and strategizing for next year all but forgotten, I walked them out a bit deflated, stumped and discouraged.

I sat in her painful words for a day and a half, grieving the many contradictions which revealed that our friendship wasn’t strong enough to travel the two-way highway of honesty.

As I mulled over her words, I looked for anything I could learn from them, in other words, I wanted to own what was mine so I could work on it and disown it. I even had myself a good long cry over the whole deal, and of course I spent much time in prayer over it. He’s revealed to me some mighty powerful truths, shown me how some things didn’t line up and why. I have offered Him a sacrifice of righteousness by NOT defending myself, not responding to what felt like scathing coals on a fire I didn’t even know existed. So I did not and I will not respond … unless He leads me to, in His time, and in His way!

Stepping back allows Him to move forward. I was reminded of this in church the other day and I love how His word gently but lovingly teaches while chastising at the same time! Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men (others).” Do you see the beginning part, if it is possible? Those words do not denote a permission slip to retaliate; rather, they relieve me of the burden of trying to get the other person to see things my way, or for the other person to be nice! Only what is possible with me! It is not reasonable to expect healthy words and/or actions from unhealthy hurting people!

Oh, if you only knew how hard it was at first to just step back, let go and let God!

But I was and continue to be determined to learn this lesson of offering up a sacrifice of righteousness, a lesson that is so multifaceted; each facet shining through the different form of righteousness and adding depth and solidarity to my joy.

Join me tomorrow for the conclusion to this sacrifice … the cost of offering up a sacrifice of righteousness!

Seeking to sacrifice my flesh,

Evinda

What does turning the other cheek look like?

Destination? Joyful! from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

Oh, it’s so good to write from my heart to yours! I pray that my learned lesson acts as preventative medicine for you in your journey toward Destination? Joyful! ™ Grab your coffee and let’s get back to the second sacrifice that makes our Father smile, a sacrifice of righteousness.
So according to Psalm 4:5, we are to not just offer the sacrifice of righteousness, but we are to also put our trust in the Lord. For many of us, that last part is every bit as hard as the first part! I have to confide in you: the more I offer a sacrifice of righteousness, the easier it is to let go, let God, to trust Him with all my soul hurts, my trials and tribulations, my overall well-being! It’s actually liberating, freeing, like spreading your wings and flying … off of a cliff; scary at first but oh, what a feeling.
Our Father loves us too much to leave us the way that we are, and He does what He needs to do to insure we have learned a lesson well enough to begin putting it into practice. Here’s how I can confirm that truth:
Yesterday, after writing for you, I took a run, still suffering from the side effects of my emotional hangover as a result of not turning the other cheek and engaging and exchanging hurt for hurt. Running is a great way for me to sort through things, get out of my head by getting into my head, if you know what I mean.
Well, I wasn’t too far into my run when I was slapped on my cheek by our Father, in a loving sort of way! See, the very thing I was trying to teach someone about, which was it’s not okay to have a fit and fall in it, I wound up doing myself! I remembered how the button of my anger got pushed so violently, and what I immediately stood for, which in and of itself was not wrong; but the way I stood for it, instead of standing against evil, was where I ran into trouble, literally!
Oh, how the bittersweet taste of conviction filled my mouth as He lovingly reminded of many promises that guarantee HE will defend us; He will fight our battles [Exodus 14:14] [Jeremiah 51:36a]; He will vindicate and validate! He is a shield to those who take refuge in HIM! [Proverbs 30:5]. It comes down to taking Him at His Word and letting pride die instead of reside … in my heart. This is a sacrifice of righteousness.
Easier said than done!
See, righteousness translates to doing what is right in the sight of God. Since righteousness constitutes a spiritual sacrifice, it stands to reason that it will cost us something. Doing what is right many times carries a genuine price tag.
Ouch, when I think of Him watching what transpired in the midst of that ugly fire the other night I think of the price He had to pay for my inability to resist evil and turn the other cheek. And then He whispers I am forgiven and His grace holds my head up again, continue on in this journey toward Destination? Joyful! ™
I pray that my learned lesson will be as preventative medicine in your journey toward joy!
Wrapped in His amazing grace,

Evinda