Nehemiah talks about the rebuilding of Jerusalem after its destruction. When Nehemiah saw the state of Jerusalem, God’s Holy City, he wept. It is important to grieve and fully experience any loss we feel. To deny it or put it off is to pretend all is well when in fact it is not. Jerusalem was clearly destroyed. The walls were broken down and the gates destroyed by fire. There was no denying that truth.

How often though, can our own walls be broken and our gates burned but there is no outward evidence of the destruction? The pain we feel is no less real or tumultuous than a physical wound but we can tend to gloss over these things. When we break a bone, do we not see a doctor? Why then, when our hearts are broken or our spirits are wounded, do we feel like we need to fix it on our own?

The churchy thing to say is let God heal us. By all means, pray continually. Seek Him for comfort as He is the Great Comforter. But not only can we seek Him, we can use the brain and free will He has given us to seek other resources. Finding a Godly counselor is a huge step in the right direction. Whether it is talk therapy, group counseling or TRT (Trauma Resolution Therapy) God has given us avenues to seek help in dealing with our broken walls and burned gates.

As UnChristian as it may be, I love Tori Amos. And she has a line in a song that simply says “It doesn’t leave a scratch so therefore no ones hurt”. It is easy to deal with what we view to be more urgent things. But our mental and spiritual healths are vitally important to our growth as people and as Christ followers.

So I ask… what gates of yours are burned and what has been destroyed in your life that needs rebuilding? Maybe you have been in an abusive relationship in the past; a parent, spouse, boss, friend? Have you experienced the death of a loved one? What is it that God needs to heal in your heart that holds you back from being the person He created you to be?

Mourn your loss and take the steps neccessary to move further down your path of healing. Don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back from realizing God’ s plan for your life.

And it happened…

to me.

 I have become so caught up in the day-to-day “work” of ministry, I forgot what ministry is all about. I could probably make excuses as to why like “I’m new at this” or “When things slow down it will get better”. But the truth is I am the only one who can control my time and effort. I can either daily make it my goal to love God and His people or I can “give the devil a foothold” (Eph 4:27). I can allow Satan to steal my time and focus and energy or I can be intentional about walking with the Lord.

 This is a daily issue for me and I would venture a guess it is with you as well. My only advice to both of us would be to pray continually (1 Thes 5:17). This is what God wants from us. I don’t think that verse means that all the words out of our mouths should be prayers (how would we ever order Taco Bell?). I think it means to develop an attitude, a spirit of prayer. Being in such intimate relationship with Jesus that when something good or bad happens in our lives, He is the One we want to tell about it.

  So in an effort to get back to my “Mary” state of mind, I am renewing my devotion to prayer. Before I talk to a friend about a trouble in my heart, I  will take it up with God. He is the only One who knows me completely and knows the situation completely, and guess what… He still likes me!!

 Will you join me in devoting our lives to prayer? I want to get to the place where I can say with confidence “Jesus is my best friend”. Remember when you were younger and you would doodle all over your notebooks?

Melissa -n- (insert random and often changing name here) BFF

 What if that one person didn’t randomly change based on petty arguments? What if your BFF were Jesus; the One who made you and loves you no matter what? What an amazing place to be. So here’s the deal. My relationship may have languished but He is the eternal BFF who forgives me when I forget to tell him how ticked off I was at that guy who cut me off in traffic. He forgives me when I tell someone else first that I had such an awesome day.

 So again I ask: Will you join me in devoting your life to prayer and making Jesus your BFF and getting into a Mary state of mind?

The woman is telling the story of her 7 year old running away. She had a good hunch as to where she was going so as the girl left, she simply said that she loved her and was always welcome to return. The mom called the friends and let them know her little girl was heading that way. A few hours later she called the friends again and asked them to give the girl the message “We love you and miss you and hope you’ll be home for dinner” The girl comes home soon after crying and runs to her mother’s arms. After a bit, the girl says “That’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

Here I will directly quote the author.

“We all know spiritual runaways, people who have turned their backs on God. Many, like the prodigal son, have gone to the far country only to discover that it wasn’t even a nice place to visit, much less a place to live permanently. Others have simply made short side trips in their deviation from the pathway God intends for them to take. In every case, the Lord is waiting to recieve them. Because he loves them, he is waiting to welcome them back and restore them. What a wonderfully loving, patient Father is our God.”

The part I love about that is that God not only wants to welcome us back, but He wants to restore us. Completely. He does not want us to hang on to the mistakes we have made. He wants to take them all away and bring us back into perfect relationship with Him. In our earthliness we cannot fathom the ability to “forgive and forget”. We are human and a piece of previous sins and hurts will try to linger in our minds and in our hearts. It is only through God can we truly move past these things.

  What can we do? Pray, pray and then pray some more. Admittedly I find it hard to pray for certain people, but God is in control and He gives me the strength to pray for those I really don’t care for. And heres the ticket, our home is not of this world. We are temporarily here, and have an eternal destination waiting for us. It is important to keep that in mind considering what is going on in the world, politics and the church today.

  So would you join me in praying for our country, our citizens and yes… our president too? God’s will will be done.

p.s. I am not against praying for the return of Jesus in addition to all of this!!!

  I have always been a writer, enjoyed putting my feelings into words. And I can talk to pretty much anyone and anything and carry on a decent conversation. So why when it comes to blogging do I draw a blank? When I put words to my emotions they seem more concrete and have more validity. Maybe that’s the part I want to avoid. If words are never said then I can not be held accountable for them.  

  Maybe I can just do random theological blogs that have no emotion or deep meaning to me attached to them. Making something personal exposes the raw and vulnerable parts of you, some of which you might not be ready to accept and deal with. But let’s not focus on that, because that in itself makes it personal.

  Maybe I will just continue on the assumption that noone reads these things anyway and I will just pour my heart out…. some other day LOL.

  But for now let me just say that Sunday was amazing. God moved in a huge way and I can’t wait to see what He will do next! Hearing the body of Christ singing “God of the City” is something that will stay in my heart a long time. The knowledge that God is still God regardless if people acknowledge that brings me comfort. There are so many lost and confused people, some within my own family that just need Jesus. If their name is in The Book of Life, something someone will get to them and they will be reached and saved. Maybe that is not my job at this time.

  With that being said, let me go pray for them right now.

L8R

Melissa

  That being said, I have often thought that being a true Christ Follower is the very definition of an emotional roller coaster ride. Sometimes I am so open to what He has say to me and other times my own voice and the voices of others drowns Him out. I can feel the emotional high of just total oneness with God and then I can wander so far away, I feel like the Israelites lost in the desert.

  When I start to feel like that, I find comfort in the Psalms. To hear David, a man after God’s own heart, wonder “How long, O Lord, …will you turn your face from me forever?” gives me great reassurance. It is not my faithfulness that saves me from myself; it is His. Think about it, King David, a Biblical super hero, and he felt abandoned and alone at times.

  Don’t hear me say that God has ever left me or David or you. He never does. But given our freewill, we tend to be the rebellious teenager. “I know more than Him, He just doesn’t want me to have fun.” Man I thought those same things about my mom when I was in high school, and find myself acting like that as a grown woman to the One who created me! If that doesn’t sound like pride and disrespect, I don’t know what does.

  If we’re not careful, this can become an opportunity for the evil one to plant fear and doubt in our hearts. Satan wants us to hold on to the times that we wander and assume the guilt and punishment due us. But Jesus does not want that for us. He wants us to feel and be truly free! When we find ourselves slipping away, like we’re on the descent of a huge hill on Goliath (which I haven’t ridden yet) we have to get some momentum. Wallowing in our pity will get us nowhere, we have to channel that low into a high. Tap into the One who can sustain you and start up the hill again.

  How can we do that? Talk to Him. Maybe you are talking to Him, but if there is sin in your life it separates you from God. Now don’t get all excited and start saying Hail Marys or enter a confessional booth at your local Catholic church. Confess your sins, yes ; but to God not a man. You don’t have to make it up to Him for Him to listen. Just go before Him.

  The way to avoid the roller coaster ride of a Christ Follower is to talk to Him daily. Save the thrill seeking for your next trip to Six Flags.

 They have such a capacity to learn and memorize scripture it is unbelievable. Granted they can be QUITE a handful at times, working with 3 year olds was very rewarding for me personally. And now I get to share that with the Preschool volunteers here at the @nchor. I want to go beyond babysitting and filling time. The children deserve better and we can do better.

 I want the toddler classroom to be just as exciting as the Elementary room. When a kid walks in the room I want to hear oohs and aahs. I want them to see that we love them and care about their future and their spirit. The wonder of a child can only be experienced, we can’t tell them we love them and expect them to believe it. We have to show them. And investing time and energy into and with them is the best way I’ve seen.

 It is time to step up and give the kids what they deserve. It may mean a little more work at first, but the reward is eternal! And I think they’re worth it, don’t you?

 So this is my first entry in the new Exit 212 blog. Let me first explain what Exit 212 is and what it means to me. If you call Locust Grove home ,you know we live off of 75 South exit #212. So it is a reference to our local mission field. But it goes deeper than that for me. In 1st John 2:12 he says “I am writing to you dear children because your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus Christ.” This verse is the lifeblood behind Exit 212. We are all saved because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is my job and privilege to get to teach that to kids.

 My goal of this blog will be twofold. One to keep everone up to date as to what is going on in Children’s Ministry. Secondly I enjoy writing. Not everything I say will be mind blowing or revolutionary. However I do like to make people think and look inside themselves. If I can use this tool to grow myself or others in our walk with God, then it will be worth the time I invest into it.

 So stay tuned!