Why Women Cry

Why Women Cry

A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him.
"I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."
Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"
"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.
Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?"
God said, "When I made the woman she had to be special.
I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world,
yet gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.
I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.
And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."
"You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."
- Author unknown

thought of the day

Hey, not all real women have curves.

"Get up... and walk!"

“Get up … and walk!”

Scripture: Luke 5:17-26, especially vv. 24-26

Devotion

At the start of this story, Jesus is teaching in a house in Capernaum and in the crowd listening to him teach is a group of Pharisees and religious leaders.  After the friends of the paralyzed man lower him to the center of the room from the roof, Jesus first tells the paralyzed man on the mat that his sins are forgiven, and then he heals the man of his disease.  The order of the miraculous works here is important.  In first forgiving the man and second healing the man, Jesus demonstrates his authority to forgive sins, which would have been a blasphemous claim if found to be untrue.  If Jesus was not who he claimed to be, the man should not have walked away healed. 

When Jesus told the paralytic to get up and walk, the man obeyed him immediately despite living his entire life to that point as a stationary and totally helpless person.  Years of atrophied muscles may have been good reason for him to first want to stretch out his legs, test his ability to balance himself standing upright, or practice taking baby steps at first.  Yet he stood up right away and started walking forward.  As a result, both the man who was healed and the crowd listening to Jesus teach and perform this miracle starting praising God. 

Sometimes, we can be like the man on the mat when we have been paralyzed by our own sin.  When come face to face with Jesus, he forgives us and then commands us to ‘get up and walk.’  This is a commandment to walk in the freedom that he offers us.  He makes us free from our sickness (sin).  Yet, how often do we choose to stay on the mat, keeping it as a crutch because we believe that walking freely will be scary and hard?  When we choose to walk in the freedom that God gives us, we choose to glorify the Father and we also serve as a witness to His power to others, who in turn praise Him.  Today, I encourage you to ask yourself two questions.

• First, is there anything for which you need to ask God forgiveness?  If yes, go to the Father and ask Him for it.  Because His character is merciful, He will grant it, and when your heart is truly in a position to receive this forgiveness, take comfort in knowing that you are completely free to stand up with a bold confidence to go forward in any direction that points to the Father.
• Second, is there anything for which you have already asked forgiveness, but have yet to fully receive?  If so, remember that you don’t have to stay stuck on the mat.  Like the paralyzed man who immediately stood up and walked freely with his newfound strength, you, too, are free to shake off your old infirmity (sins) for the sake of glorifying the Father.

Questions for Reflection

1. When Jesus told the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home,” what choices did the man have?
2. What does this story say about the character and nature of Jesus?
3. This story of Jesus’ healing is not just a parable.  Jesus actually healed the man of his paralysis.  As followers of Jesus who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, we, too, have the ability to heal in the name of Jesus.  Look around you – who needs healing?  Pray in bold faith for the healing of that person for the glorification of the Father.

Dust to Dust

I've been obsessed with The Civil Wars since I got back from Nepal. I discovered them accidentally, thanks to Starbucks' "Pick of the Week" notifications / cards.  Right now I'm stuck on Dust to Dust.

(no subject)

My head is going to explode.

I can't figure out how to make all the pieces fit together right.

I need to catch my breath, I need to
I need catch my breath, give me a moment now
- dcb (you are my joy)

Sunday, June 2nd, 11-something-PM

I just reread this journal entry from a few weeks ago and I was convicted in a sense that I've already begun to let the focus behind these words dissolve. My prayer for the next couple of weeks is for laser-like focus on God's Kingdom, God's mission, and God's character. I have been really busy and pretty tired these past few weeks. May my heart align with Jesus himself, the one who, in his exhaustion, defeated temptation itself in the desert, fed thousands, healed the paralytic, and cast out a couple thousand demons from a possessed man, had compassion on the crowds, and spoke the truth with love. God, I pray for wisdom, direction, rest, peace, joy, and strength.
~
I'm on a plane from Atlanta back to DC.  It was already going to be a late flight, but it's even later now with all these weather delays. Somehow, I'm not even a little anxious. I know I won't get very much sleep tonight - maybe 4 hours at most - but I serve a God who can multiply rest. For the first time in a long time, I am really, actually, honestly believing that. The past 5 days of training in Chattanooga with 10/40 Connections has been truly transformative for me. I suppose the time was ripe (is that the right way to use that word?) for the birth of new fruit in me. The Holy Spirit was gracious in allowing me to truly receive the teachings to be equipped and challenged and motivated to 'go out.'  I cannot stop thinking about how nothing else really matters outside the Kingdom of God and His mission.  If I say I believe all this ("all this" means everything in Scripture, including and especially the hard verses) - if I say I believe it, then I have to be ALL in...I must be one hundred percent sold out for the sake of the Gospel. I don't think I realized until just recently that I've been holding on to some dreams and comforts out of my fleshly desire for security, stability, and success. I wonder - have I counted the cost? 

It really hit me when Leslie talked about empowering Jesus-following women to advance God's Kingdom, which even includes women planting churches, leading ministries, teaching the Bible, etc. There are millions of women in hidden and unreached places in this world that men can't really reach.  This is a really big deal. Millions of women who are picking tea leaves or herding cattle or anything else - we need to reach them. We must train up and send out women to reach these unreached. I want to join in with what God is doing in the 10/40 window. I think I'd rather be used in helping to bring God's Word there than I would in a place that already has access to Jesus. Why? Not because I don't love the people in the reached places, but because I want to see the Bride of Christ readied and made complete. I want to see Jesus come back! Not before all my brothers and sisters have had a chance to hear, though. So let them that have ears to hear, hear!  Soil, be fertile. 

Lord, send out more workers to the harvest. Here I am - send me. I will go. 

May You direct my heart into Your love and guide me in Christ's perseverance. Amen.

sweat is the kindest creature

"I said not long before that work and weakness are comforters.  But sweat is the kindest creature of the three - far better than philosophy, as a cure for ill thoughts."  - CS Lewis, Till We Have Faces (91)

If you haven't read Till We Have Faces, you should.  I read it this year, and it immediately made it to my top-5 favorite books list. As I was clearing out my notes on my iPhone earlier tonight, I came across a note where I had bookmarked this quote when reading through Till We Have Faces back in January & February.  There is something about the cleansing power of hard physical work and sweat to work through the tangled mess that sometimes is life - people and community, circumstances, problems, etc.  How timely, then, that my air conditioning seems to be broken again (or maybe it's just finicky?).  I didn't have time to run tonight. Instead, I'll consider the sweatiness of grading over 300 papers worth of HWs, tests, and projects work enough to calm my anxious spirit as I look forward with eagerness to the things that lay ahead.

The rain pours tonight.