Gratitude and
15,000 Thank Yous Every Day
15,000 Thank Yous Every Day
In a world full of pain and fear, I have learned that being grateful for the tens of thousands of blessings the Lord sends every day keeps me bouyed to Him.
First let me say, on rare occasions I do become offended. But when that happens I almost always recognize it and immediately repent.
Having gotten that of the way, How do I stay unoffendable? Maybe my ability to handle offenses comes from a childhood full of them. What I knew about myself when I was growing up was that I was ugly and stupid and nothing I did would ever work out right. After I gave my life to Jesus and the healing of how I saw myself had begun, I would see others behaving in shameful ways, and the first thoughts that would pop into my mind was/is “What happened to them, to make them like that? What did they go through as children, that they would think that kind of behavior is acceptable?” I know why I acted out as a child. I needed attention. I craved attention and when I didn’t get the attention at home, I would behave badly at school or girl scouts or any other occasion I was in that wasn’t at home. If I couldn’t get attention from being good, I would get attention from being a problem. Back then I knew I was a trouble maker but I felt that I was never given the chance to shine in a good way. Fast forward to me being 50+ years old. I’ve learned from hard lessons and tender teachings that I am more valuable to the Lord than I could ever imagine! In His eyes I can do no wrong! I am beautiful, really smart and there are many things that I do really well. When I understood that, I gained more patience and tenderness toward those around me, especially in the church. I remind myself that Jesus loves each and every difficult person just as much as He loves me and if my goal is to emulate Him, then I need to Love them too. I so often recognize my old self in their behaviors. Heidi Baker, church builder in Mozambique, Africa, has a standard she lives by and now I do too. “Stop for the one.” I am to look into the eyes of the person in front of me, no matter who they are, no matter what they look like or even what they smell like and love them the same way Jesus loves me. And I am to honor them by being friendly and respectful to them. Easier said than done, huh? But the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. “So,” you might ask, “what about people who go against everything I stand for? What if the person in front of me isn’t a Christian? What if that person is Jewish or Buddhist or Hindu or Wiccan? What if they’re an atheist? What if they’re pro-choice? Anti family? Gay or trans or bisexual? How do I love them?” Don Fransisco, a Christian singer songwriter wrote the lyrics, “Love is not a feeling, it’s an act of your will.” That has stuck with me since the first time I heard it. So, to act in charity towards others doesn’t depend on how you feel. You are free to love others even if you don’t like them. When I deal with difficult people outside my faith, I tell myself, “What if I’m the only Christian who treats them with honor and respect? What if no one emulates Christ for them? I might be the only one. If I’m the only one, then I better do a good job! So I love them. I know that the Lord has given me a special gift in my ability to become friends with all kinds of people others might not want to befriend. I notice the quirky in them. (That’s because I’m quirky too.) I find it easy to talk to quirky people. We recognize something in each other and when they realize that I’m reaching out to them they fall easily into conversation. I’m not saying that befriending people with issues is easy but I can say that it yields great rewards! I consider myself to be an eccentric. Other eccentrics seem drawn to me and I have found that they are a wealth of ideas and concepts, who easily join the circle of people I have around me. When someone says something strange or uncouth or just wrong in front of me, I remember how precious they are to Jesus and I accept that they may not be able to be different and if they are, berating them won’t help. But I do stand my ground. A few months ago I was visiting a friend in a nursing home and one of the other residents starting talking badly about a certain ethnic group. I told him he needed to stop but he kept right on, even through the warnings I gave him. After the third warning, I told him I would have to leave if he continued and I stood up. He stopped. When I saw him on later visits, I would smile and say hi. What does it mean to be unoffendable? 1. Take into consideration why a person says what they do. Recognize the Lord loves EVERYONE. 2. Set aside differences. Their morals might be completely different from yours but they are still a human being and because Jesus says so, they are worthy of respect. 3. Think about their eternal future and tell yourself you might be the only Christian they’ll ever meet. 4.You can learn a lot from a quirky person. Take the time to get to know them. 5. Allow yourself to be affected for good in the way an eccentric person relates to you.
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Trudie was an older woman who sometimes attended our church.
She was small and frail, using a walker to get around. She had lived a long life with many ups and downs, but which seemed from the outside, to be mostly downs. Her daughter Natalie, was a regular attender. Natalie became a great friend of mine, sharing a love of making prophetic art. She went with me to Israel in 2016. A lovely, delicate flower of a woman who seemed be having as much trouble in her adulthood as her mother did. But where Trudie had floundered in her faith, her daughter had clung tenaciously to Jesus because she sensed that to lose her relationship with Him would have made her life much, much more painful. Simply put, Natalie trusted Him. Trudie had made a confession of faith years ago but the trauma of her life and the inability to surrender her pain to Jesus meant that she often questioned her faith and how the Lord fit into her life. Trudie passed away last month. Finally able to slip her bonds of pain and trauma, she rests with Jesus now. Her last name was Winters, and she was born on Christmas Day. Last month our church had its usual third Sunday “Prophetic Art” Sunday and I had planned to paint. In our church, two or three artists sit or stand in the front of the church. Our easels and paints are set up and while the worship team creates an atmosphere of warm connection, we paint. Then we give the paintings away to whoever we sense the Lord is asking us to give them to. The week before a Prophetic Art Sunday I start to ask the Lord what he wants me to paint. I keep an open mind and He tells me, pretty pointedly, what He wants me to paint. I may not know until that Sunday who the Lord wants me to give it to. So, a few days before, Jesus told me to paint someone ice skating, with their back to the observer, skating off toward the horizon with trees to one side and a bright sunrise in the sky. But as it turned out, I was sick that morning and didn’t get to participate. I thought I knew who it would be for, though. (I was wrong!) Monday morning I woke up feeling fine and the Lord asked me to please finish the painting. It would have been finished in church the day before it I hadn’t been sick. So I finished it. And when I was just about ready to call it finished, I found out that Natalie’s mom had suddenly stopped breathing, suffered cardiac arrest and was not expected to live. And suddenly I knew that the painting was for Natalie! Trudie passed away on Wednesday. She was the person skating away on the frozen lake in the bright red jacket. (As red as the blood shed for her.) I called the painting, “Trudie’s Home Going.” Right now the painting is hanging in the church, in our special spot to hang prophetic art, but when the time comes to change out the paintings, Natalie knows that one’s for her. For me, the greatest part of this prophetic gift was telling Natalie about it. I was able to show her how much Jesus loves her and her mother and how Trudie skated away to be ever present with the Lord. When we remember who we are and who’s we are, we allow ourselves to be used by the Lord in amazing ways! |
Judy GoddardMusings of a Saved Confessed Eccentric. Archives
July 2024
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