healing – Grow Anyway

You Can Experience God Now!

September 21, 2022September 20, 2022by Liz Goss1 Comment

Could it be that God needs to grow us into people who can handle having a deeply personal relationship with Him? It is always easy to point our faces to the sky in exasperation and wonder where God is. After all, we are trying to find Him. We are seeking. Isn’t that our job? To seek?

This my friends is limbo land and we’ve probably all taken up residence here at some point in our lives. Feeling like we are holding up our end of the bargain and begging God to just show up. Seeking. Knocking. Very focused on getting right before God and trying to manage our inevitable disappointment because we just can’t feel Him.

But while we are focused on feeling God’s presence, finding God’s will and knowing what He wants us to do, God is just… here. I know it sounds too good to be true after all our trouble and effort but it’s actually (sorry) not required. Our striving doesn’t earn His notice. He is noticing you right now.

And that’s why I say God may need to grow us to a place where we are able to have a beautiful relationship with Him. Because He is always with us. Jesus’ parting words to His disciples were: “and be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew‬ ‭28:20‬)

God is always calling you to see more true reality. He is always looking for your gaze. Never doubt His perpetual protection or wonderful nature. We just need to get better at understanding Him. We need to learn who He is so we recognize Him. Keep our spirits open and sensitive by thinking on holy things. And most of all, we need to believe that God is with us because all too often we find exactly what we are looking for.

Experiencing God isn’t just about doing more – it’s about seeing more clearly.

VERSES TO PONDER:

“He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” (Psalms 91:4)

“Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.” (Judges 13:18)

“Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

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COMMIT TO CHANGE (a how to guide)

August 17, 2022August 16, 2022by Liz Goss2 Comments

Have you ever had something hard to do? Maybe there is an attitude that you want to correct, a habit that’s gotten the better of you or something you know you need to do. But even when you know we need to make a change it can be so difficult. How do we even start?

God gave the Israelites some help in this area. He knew that they struggled with their attitudes, habits and to do what’s right. So he began with this advice:

“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NLT)

The first step is committing ourselves wholeheartedly… which is hard to do. It’s easy to begrudgingly decide to do something. Or make a change even though you don’t want to. Or drag your feet but to it anyway. But God says we need to commit with our WHOLE heart. Need a song to get this idea flowing?

WHOLEHEARTED by: Rend Collective

Next we have to battle our forgetfulness. Have you ever gone to bed with the best intentions to make a change when the alarm goes off the next morning… just to forget why you were planning to get up early? So what does God suggest? Repetition. God tells us to repeat our commitments over and over to others. Talk about them at home and away, morning and evening.

Do you need to commit to making a change? Do you need to stop or start doing something so that you are bringing glory to God with your whole life? We all do!! Keep Deuteronomy 6:6-7 in front of your eyes this week so that you remember what God is prompting you to work on. And then do it with all your heart.

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Godly Sorrow: The Distress that Drives us to God

September 15, 2021by Guest Blogger1 Comment

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. [2 Corinthians 7:10]

I will never forget the year I outlawed the use of the word, “sorry” in my sixth-grade classroom. For some reason, the majority of my students thought that simply saying the word, “sorry” gave them a free pass from any consequence or any need to change their behavior. Saying, “sorry” was the magic word that would stop any authority figure from holding them accountable for their slip-ups and misdeeds and would relieve any feelings of badness and sadness they felt, especially when they were “sorry” about being caught. “Sorry” became the word that could hide them from judgment for breaking the rules, but their version of “sorry” had no power to change their hearts or help them recognize the wounds in relationships they were causing.

So, to move my precious charges from a position of self-centeredness and complete self-absorption, I outlawed the word “sorry” and gave them other phrases to use instead. All year we worked on empathy for others, so that saying, “I have hurt you,” and “This offense is my responsibility,” had a real impact on their hearts. We worked on forgiving and the giving of grace by saying to a classmate dealing with a misstep, “That’s okay, you are still a good person.”

I borrowed a page from the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians as I asked God for help with this tough-hearted little crew He had given me to love. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians had really scorched their hides, demanding accountability for the sin and divisions that had turned their church into a shipwreck. Then, worrying that he had been too harsh, Paul wrote in his second letter to them, that he wanted them to feel the Godly sorrow that would lead to real change.

He wanted them to recognize how truly destructive this current sin-cycle was to their relationship with God, with one another, and within themselves. He didn’t want them to concentrate on outward behavior, but on letting the grace of God and His love penetrate their hearts. Paul wanted the Corinthians to love well, the way Jesus loves, and that meant measuring their behavior by how well they were maintaining loving, healthy relationships. He didn’t want their lives defined by hiding, regret, or being driven away from God and each other by an angry, condemning conscience.

Paul’s Holy Spirit-inspired approach inspired me to help my students move from trying harder to be good and nice and less snarky, to training their hearts to value loving well. Instead of making vows to do better and throwing out a quick, “sorry,” we worked on creating a safe environment where behavior could be evaluated without threat and tools for true change could be discovered and used. I have to admit, that the more deeply we explored this approach, the more of my own “me-sickness” surfaced. God lovingly and gracefully dealt with me, the biggest sinner in that classroom!

What about you? Would you be interested in living a life that leaves no regret, a life defined by true change and healing? Do you want out of the living death of a continuous sin cycle? Embracing Godly sorrow, rather than worldly sorrow is the key. You and I can pray for God to help us turn our perspectives outward so that we have the big picture our sin and mess are creating. The distress we feel at getting caught can be changed to a distress that drives us to a loving Father who is ready to forgive, grant us a do-over, and over time, equip us to love better. We can pray for a more sensitive heart that cares deeplywhen we hurt God, hurt others, and hurt ourselves. That is Godly sorrow. What would it look like in your life?

BY: Stephanie Murillo

For Further Study
2 Corinthians 7: 8-10
2 Samuel 12:13
1 Kings 8:47-50
Matthew 21:32
Matthew 26:75
2 Timothy 2:25-26

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Twenty Critical Minutes

August 25, 2021by Guest Blogger1 Comment

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10:5 [NIV]

We have all heard about counting to ten when we are angry. Now neuroscientists are telling us that a twenty-minute period after strong emotions wash over us is a critical period. Why is this? The amygdala, a walnut-shaped organ in the mid-brain, whose job it is to detect threat, needs twenty minutes after it “alerts” to calm down. During that time this little organ is hijacking electrical energy from the front of the brain where we think and plan, to the brain stem where we either fight or flee.

So, the moment we become anxious, what we do with that twenty-minute period immediately afterward is critical. We can send up a 9-1-1 prayer, recite Scripture we have memorized, drink a glass of water, or take a quick walk before letting ourselves react. Immediately moving to a worst-case scenario may become our go-to strategy without a steady diet of prayer, Scripture, and reminding ourselves that God can handle even this tsunami of strong emotion.

A theologian from Proverbs 31 Ministries recently pointed out that when we react instead of respond, our actions become “historical and hysterical.” Without training, we will default to old and often ineffective strategies when we are triggered by our amygdala.

You do have a choice.

The amazing part of all this “brain stuff” is that we do have a choice about where those impulses travel when we are angry, afraid, or experiencing any strong emotion, especially during that critical twenty-minute period. But the brain must be re-trained over a fairly long period of time to “take thoughts captive” when the heat is on. When we “take a thought captive” we are literally re-routing electrical impulses down a new neural path!

The brain initially resists this because it has already created “super-highways” of connected neurons. It doesn’t want to slow down to bushwhack through a new neural tangle when learning a new strategy or response. As we pray, read the Bible, memorize Scripture and meditate on it, our brains can learn to slow down to re-tool, re-set, and restructure. When stressed, we can eventually learn to use those critical twenty minutes to pray, “Lord, calm all my fears with Your love. Help me remember Your truth.”

The key is consistent training, which includes reading, memorization, meditation on what we read, and application of truth to a specific situation, all requiring the assistance of our personal Coach, the Holy Spirit. We can also pray, “Holy Spirit, please train me and cue me and give me the energy to respond rather than react when I become triggered emotionally.”

How old are you really?

One last thought: When we react after being triggered, we go to our true emotional age rather than our chronological age. If an unresolved trauma happened between four and fourteen, we react like the age we were when we were damaged and branded by that incident. That is why people act like deranged adolescents or a toddler having a tantrum when triggered in public. So, part of emotional/spiritual development is actively seeking healing and counseling for unresolved hurts from our past. That unlocks us from our stuck places and lets us grow up to use that twenty-minute period in a healthy manner.

By the way, many of today’s Christian psychologists and counselors believe that spiritual growth and emotional growth are one and the same. When we commit to daily training with the Holy Spirit, our Coach, over time, and with God’s grace and truth, our brains can re-shape our neural thought highways so we grow up into mature strategies. God will do His part as we do our part so that fear and panic no longer hijack our healthy responses to threat and big challenges.

BY: Stephanie Murillo

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Philippians 4:8
Psalm 10:4
Psalm 13:2
Psalm 55:2
Psalm 139: 17, 23
Isaiah 55:8
Hebrews 3:1
Hebrews 4:12
Proverbs 31 podcast

liz goss

Flip the Narrative

July 21, 2021by Liz Goss2 Comments

I am very ugly
so don’t try to convince me that
I’m a very beautiful person
because at the end of the day
I hate myself in every single way
And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying
There’s beauty inside of me that matters
So rest assured I will always remind myself
That I am a worthless, terrible person
And nothing you say will make me believe
I still deserve love
Because no matter what
I am not good enough to be loved
And I am in no position to believe that
Beauty does exist within me
Because whenever I look in the mirror I always think
Am I as ugly as people say?

👉🏻 NOW, read from the bottom to the top! 👈🏻

It’s all about perspective! What story are you telling yourself in the mirror every single day? Flip the narrative and change the story, it will change your life. I get it, you are saying Liz… if it was that easy we’d all be problem free. And I know changing your perspective is hard. We are usually pretty committed to our perspectives. We have invested a lot in them.

Kind of like Jonah. He was a prophet and committed to telling people to repent and be saved. He did it well. So well, that when God told him to go preach repentance to Nineveh Jonah said “no way”! When he preached people changed and Jonah didn’t want Nineveh to be saved. They were BAD NEWS. So God had to give Jonah a new perspective, being swallowed by a whale.

Inside the whale Jonah finally got the idea that God was in control and God was the one who could save. He got the narrative straightened out. And once he was seeing clearly God could use Jonah again.

Is there a narrative that you need to flip? What are you telling yourself that isn’t true. Maybe you think you are in control when you need to trust. Maybe you are calling ugly what God has called beautiful. Maybe you are running from what you know God has called you to.

Flip the narrative by praying like Jonah! (chapter 2)

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

liz goss

Goodness Without Perfection

June 23, 2021June 22, 2021by Liz Goss1 Comment

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

How in the world do you separate light from darkness? Can you even imagine a time where they weren’t separate? Perhaps it was light for a moment and then dark the next, like a strobe light. Or was it foggy all the time in a half light half dark mix. However the two were muddled up, God was able to separate light from darkness.

BUT… God still knew the light was good before he straightened it out. This tells me something important about the character of God. Things doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. Which is a really hard concept for humans (like me) to understand.

You can be beautiful and a work in progress.
Don’t confuse a bad day for a bad life.
One bite of cake doesn’t ruin a healthy lifestyle.
Something can be awesome and need to change.

These are all inspirational thoughts we try to remember because human brains don’t like dichotomy. Nope. Not one bit. But you absolutely can have good kids who rip up library books, a good day in which you broke your foot or a loving spouse who can’t remember to bring you flowers on your birthday. It can be good before it’s perfect.

What is God trying to tell is right here in the very first thing he does? YOU don’t have to be perfect for God to love you. You don’t. God is okay with things that are good but mixed up. Thats why Jesus came. Is there work to be done? Sure, but that’s what life is for. So keep working on separating the light from the darkness in your life. Note to self: you are not God so it’ll probably take more than one day. But you don’t have to be perfect for God to love you.

P.S. Why did I include a picture of my littlest pup? No it wasn’t just clickbait. This little guy is amazing. He is good. He is just exactly who he should be… except… he loves to pee in the house. Oh he knows how to go outside. He is put out all the time. But he takes great delight in peeing in sneaky spots. Is this trait annoying? Do I wish he stopped. Of course. But he’s no less of a good dog who we love with all our hearts. I think God feels like this about us too.

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Running My Race

June 16, 2021by Susan CollinsLeave a Comment

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2

The current sermon series of “Run Free” and The Grove topic of finding identity in Christ has really impacted me. I am in a season that changes a big part of my identity. My youngest child will be leaving home in August. The identity of “mom” daily is going away. Not that I will stop being a parent to my adult children, but it does change significantly.

I know many people who have faced this change in life and thrived by discovering not being tied to the daily tasks involved in parenting a child living in their home.

As with most significant changes in life, I dread and look forward to experiencing aspects of this change. In no particular order, some of those include:

the sound/noise level
the messes (or lack of)
companionship
the total at the grocery store
cooking dinner
laundry

My situation is not unique, but it is one that we don’t address directly very often. I am a single mom. When my youngest leaves in August, there will not be another human being living in my home. I will be back to living alone with the cat (a scenario I have not experienced for 24 years).

One aspect of the empty nest that I anticipate is a new layer of grief relating to my divorce. I have wrestled with being divorced over the past ten years. Being an empty nester was suppose to be a new season in our marriage. Instead, it is transitioning to a new season as a single person. Definitely NOT what I had in mind when I became a mom.

So what does this have to do with finding my identity in Christ and Running Free?

EVERYTHING!!

I know this was not God’s plan for my marriage, but I know that I am His beloved child. He gave every person free will, which will sometimes turn people we love and trust away from Him.

My race is choosing to follow God. Dropping the weights of anger, fear, and pain. Picking up the truth that I am a new creation in Christ. Keeping my focus on Him and celebrating this new season in life.

I anticipated change and have initiated some practices to ease this transition. I have been involved in ministries at Church (Journey groups, production team, Mexicali trip). I have taken on some leadership responsibilities professionally (policy advocacy work locally and on the state level, volunteering for committees at work, mentoring young professionals).

I may not be running the race that I envisioned 24 years ago when I married or 21 years ago when my oldest child was born. BUT I am running the race set before me, keeping my eyes on Jesus, and seeking to find my identity in Him.

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Perseverance in Storms

March 17, 2021March 16, 2021by Guest Blogger3 Comments

I was asking Amy what the topic was to write on and before I got that question out of my mouth or shall I say onto my keyboard, here came these words…Perseverance in storms.

May I just tell you I hate to talk or write about these things. I don’t want to sound like some puffed up guru on suffering because I have had my fair share of it (as many of you have) or like I know all the things and glided through these storms with such Christlike character and grace everyone who watched stood in awe. Now, I know there are some ladies who have done this, and I applaud them and maybe even envy them a little if we’re going to be honest; but I personally wasn’t one of them. I fussed and cussed and wept, I prayed and begged, bargained and reasoned and fasted then finally, and I do I mean finally, surrendered and accepted His will over my own. To be honest some days (were down to minutes now not all day) I am still licking wounds of stuff I just down right can’t understand. BUT that being said, this does not nullify the Love nor the Faithfulness of my Mighty God.

My mighty God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yep, my God heard me say those things I wished I could take back when I didn’t think I could breathe through the pain or ever truly smile again. You see my Bible says He knows me; He knows how I am formed. He remembers I am just DUST…that’s right…I’m dirt and I can act as low as it with enough pain or frustration in my heart. The only time I am above this is when He mercifully breathes His life into me, and Hallelujah He does!!! In the south when someone is acting a fool you will hear the words ‘Bless your heart, your slip is showing”. God has seen my slip more times than I care to remember and yet loves me still.

Okay so about this perseverance in the storm. What does the above several paragraphs have to do with all of this…EVERYTHING! God did not ask me to be fake and phony with a false hallelujah on my lips as my sister, husband, niece and finally Poppie lay breathing their last.

Deb, my sister, died when I was only a few years into my recovery (by the way she hated me calling her Deb, she was my big sis…tough now sis, love you!). That about flung me so far into space I thought I might never land back on planet earth. It isn’t just that she had died, but she died in her addiction…the one I had just been miraculously delivered from. The one I had just took a best friend’s sister to go get help and she was delivered from! What??? Why?

Eric, my husband, passed Aug 29, 2018 exactly five years and one day from when his beautiful young wife had died of cancer before we married. Now his girls have no mom and no dad. (Yes, I am there BUT I am not themmmmm). That was space travel number two.

Seriah, my niece, had just helped another young lady get to work because she didn’t have a vehicle. While doing a kind deed (this wasn’t just a practice of her it was who she was) she was t-boned and broken in more places than I care to remember. We clung, I mean ferociously clung, to Psalm 27:13, “I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”. We wrote it in her hospital room, we prayed it, we sang over her, we wept and held on for dear life, 27 years old y’all, 27 years old and now gone. I can still see her huge blue eyes, and ache to look into them some days. This is deep space.

Poppie, my dear Poppa, every two hours more meds and more meds and cleanings and rolling to prevent bed sores and shallow breaths. I was watching my mom be ripped in two and wondering if she would survive it (My mom has such precious faith, her and Jesus are doing good…she is finding her way through the valley of the shadow of death and Jesus is championing her through it). He promised me He would care for her. He has never failed on one promise NEVER. This is a whole other galaxy.

Why am I sharing all of this? Because Beloved, I want you to be real and vulnerable and honest as to where you are in your sufferings or storms. Did you notice the word perseverance had the word SEVERE right in the middle of it? If we saw someone go through a severe physical incident we wouldn’t be like “hey you smile and press on”…NO! We would be completely honest about the condition of their body so they could have proper care to be restored. LADIES, it is the same with conditions of the heart, psyche, and spirit. Broken is Broken. But Healed is Healed. You cannot be healed without the truth, period! It doesn’t work that way. Jesus is The Way, The TRUTH and The life. He is not afraid of the truth He IS the truth He lives there He dwells there. Don’t hide in the shadows, come out and speak to Him, let Him heal you. Loving you and praying for you. He is faithful and ever will be. Tiff

PS. I landed back here in the Everlasting Arms.