This blog has, perhaps, gotten carried away with insights from Bible reading and failed to reflect personal application lately. Maybe I'm looking at life differently, or maybe it's my age, but God has been hammering a few spots lately.
Last spring I contacted a book publisher about my recently finished thesis on domestic abuse. You may already know the story, so skip ahead if you will. After a month of silence, she expressed interest but let me know it would need to be rewritten in book form--and I had 6 weeks to get it done. Throughout the process, God impressed on my heart and mind His provision and intervention.
There is no earthly way I could have completed the project. I'm still not sure how it all came together and I had concerns even after it was published that it said what it should, but God moved people (including me and this brain), circumstances, and the project along. The Truth is His. The timing is His. The outcome is His. One morning, near the end of the project, my computer died. Software? Gone. Hardware? Gone. Memory? Gone. One thing after another, hour after hour, rewrite after rewrite, discouragement after discouragement, encouragement after encouragement, God kept it going. Hammer. Ping. Clash. Clatter. Smash. Pressure. Heat. Stretching.
Remain committed to previous commitments? Bang. Respond lovingly when you're tired and your mind is strained? Ping. Take correction and criticism gracefully? Wham. Listen to sermons, podcasts, radio, filtering for content and Truth? Clunk. Read endless blog posts and web pages weighing secular versus biblical material? Clang. Endure physical pain and discomfort from sedentary hours? Thwack. Take on unwanted weight? Thud.
My prayer and desire is that I remember, not my effort, but God's grace. I have had opportunities to speak and present book material since then and it has been extremely rewarding. What fun to see "ah-hah!" lights come on for people who begin to see the deceit and destruction of abuse-related situations, knowing it's possible they've only seen a small part of the problem because so much was hidden. They've been manipulated. Even more precious are comments and written correspondence from women in abusive marriages who read and respond to God's grace as it applies to domestic abuse and their own lives.
I am certainly not an expert on all things related to domestic abuse, but by combining the truth of God as it relates to the unique dynamics of abuse, women find hope. They see themselves, their relationship and situation differently. They learn to think about and respond differently. And God in His goodness brings change through His Word. It's a marvelous, God-given work!
There's another, more difficult area of my life God took in hand recently. As I'm able, I will address it in a future post. What I do know is that He is faithful, able, loving, and intimately aware of how to mold, shape, and use me for His purpose and good work.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.(Ephesians 2:4-10 NASB)
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Last spring I contacted a book publisher about my recently finished thesis on domestic abuse. You may already know the story, so skip ahead if you will. After a month of silence, she expressed interest but let me know it would need to be rewritten in book form--and I had 6 weeks to get it done. Throughout the process, God impressed on my heart and mind His provision and intervention.
There is no earthly way I could have completed the project. I'm still not sure how it all came together and I had concerns even after it was published that it said what it should, but God moved people (including me and this brain), circumstances, and the project along. The Truth is His. The timing is His. The outcome is His. One morning, near the end of the project, my computer died. Software? Gone. Hardware? Gone. Memory? Gone. One thing after another, hour after hour, rewrite after rewrite, discouragement after discouragement, encouragement after encouragement, God kept it going. Hammer. Ping. Clash. Clatter. Smash. Pressure. Heat. Stretching.
Remain committed to previous commitments? Bang. Respond lovingly when you're tired and your mind is strained? Ping. Take correction and criticism gracefully? Wham. Listen to sermons, podcasts, radio, filtering for content and Truth? Clunk. Read endless blog posts and web pages weighing secular versus biblical material? Clang. Endure physical pain and discomfort from sedentary hours? Thwack. Take on unwanted weight? Thud.
My prayer and desire is that I remember, not my effort, but God's grace. I have had opportunities to speak and present book material since then and it has been extremely rewarding. What fun to see "ah-hah!" lights come on for people who begin to see the deceit and destruction of abuse-related situations, knowing it's possible they've only seen a small part of the problem because so much was hidden. They've been manipulated. Even more precious are comments and written correspondence from women in abusive marriages who read and respond to God's grace as it applies to domestic abuse and their own lives.
I am certainly not an expert on all things related to domestic abuse, but by combining the truth of God as it relates to the unique dynamics of abuse, women find hope. They see themselves, their relationship and situation differently. They learn to think about and respond differently. And God in His goodness brings change through His Word. It's a marvelous, God-given work!
There's another, more difficult area of my life God took in hand recently. As I'm able, I will address it in a future post. What I do know is that He is faithful, able, loving, and intimately aware of how to mold, shape, and use me for His purpose and good work.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.(Ephesians 2:4-10 NASB)
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