Spanish Blog: Learning to Turn the Other Cheek

  *Click here to read the story behind my Spanish Blog

 

 "But I tell you who hear me:  Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.  If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you do not demand it back.  Do to others as you would have them do to you."  Luke 6:27-31

 

During my childhood, my family moved to new states every few years.  My siblings and I were used to uprooting and starting fresh in a new city, new neighborhood, and new church.  My sister Kelly and I had become masters at packing, and we were able to box up our bedroom in a matter of hours.

 

 

When I was twelve years old, my family moved to Pennsylvania so that my parents could attend a missionary training school where we would live on a campus with other families taking the same training.  After much prayerful consideration, my parents had decided that God was calling them to take this step towards becoming missionaries.  I was thrilled.  It was like a dream come true.  I had read so many missionary stories and heard about tribes in the jungle who knew nothing of the gospel. I wanted nothing more than to go to a foreign field and share the good news of the gospel with people who hadn’t heard it.  

 

 

The day we arrived at the missionary training campus in Pennsylvania, the first person we met was a Dutch girl named Mandy (*I have changed her name).  Though she was four years younger than I, we soon became good friends.  Despite our age difference and the fact that we had grown up on different continents, we soon found plenty that we had in common, and it was fun learning from each other about our languages and cultures. I was thrilled to have made a friend so quickly. 

 

 

A couple days later several more families arrived, and soon our we had 3 more very good friends our age: Aurelie, Michelle, and Rachelle.  All six of us became inseparable.  We did everything together.

 

 

But then Mandy became insecure and jealous of our friendship with the other girls.  She started coming up with ways to keep them away from Kelly and I, or convince them that she was a better friend than we.  Her primary tactic was self-pity.  She would tell them that we didn’t like her, pretending to be hurt by us.  Kelly and I continued to invite her to play with us, but whenever the five of us were all together, she would vie for their attention, sometimes through pretending to be a victim and bursting into tears.  

 

 

This was very painful for me.  I had been so thrilled with the friendships I had formed in our new location, and now it felt like this would poison those relationships.  I cried, and isolated myself at times, and begged God to make it better.  I knew from God’s word, however, that even in the face of this trial I was called to love and persevere in kindness.  I determined to be friendly with Mandy. 

 

 

 When the school year began, Mandy, Aurelie, Kelly, and I all rode a school bus to the same school together, and when seats on the bus were being assigned I encouraged Mandy to choose first and take a seat by Aurelie, opting to take a seat by myself in the back.  Whenever the other girls invited us to watch a movie, ride bikes, or play in the woods, I would insist that we go invite Mandy to come as well.  I wanted to demonstrate selfless love for her even though she repeatedly hurt me, and in this trial, I found a beautiful kinship with Christ, who Himself was rejected by men.

 

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  John 15:18-19

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…”  Isiah 53:3-4a

 

This was my first lesson in turning the other cheek, and it went on for a long, long time, never getting completely better the entire time we lived there.  I learned a lot through dealing with Mandy, however.  My parents were very encouraging and gave me a lot of counsel on how to handle the situation.  In years to come I would look back on this trial as a test-run for similar situations of a higher caliber in which I would not have my parents at hand for immediate advice or encouragement.

 

 

Relationship with other people teach us so much.  God made us for relationship, and so we crave it desperately, and yet experiences of rejection like my experience with Mandy prompt us to close ourselves off to others out of self-preservation.  Because of sin we act in fear instead of love and we hurt one another.  The question is, do we have a heavenly Father who can hold us together and meet our needs even in the face of human rejection?  Is intimate union with Christ actually worth the pain to turn the other cheek and return evil with good?  

 

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  Matthew 5:11-12

 

Imagine With Me

NEW JERUSALEM OLYMPICS 1 A.C. [After Consummation]

 

Imagine the awe of the opening ceremony,

participants hailing not only from every nation in the world,

but also from every time period since creation,

every generation since the beginning of time.

 

Imagine the multidimensional stadium,

filled with multitudes of people—your true family,

and the One who conceived of you,

the great aim and source of your affection.

 

Imagine every species of plant, animal, and angel,

participating perfectly alongside humanity,

in seamless and evolving choreography,

showcasing the splendor and uniqueness bestowed on each one.

 

 

Imagine the wonder and diversity of each event,

unencumbered by the slightest boundary,

no limitation due to gravity, space, time, or perception,

no conception outside the realm of possibility.

 

 

Imagine the range of artistry and athleticism,

ingenuity and intellect,

executed in unflawed conviction and serenity,

and expressed wholly out of love, devotion, and delight,

 

Imagine every creative display of expertise,

reflecting not only the diligent preparation of each participant,

but also the attentive support and encouragement of every person present,

and everyone there delights equally in every triumph.

 

 

Imagine the moment of your event,

the precise specialty you were created for,

the universe going silent as you masterfully reveal your gifts,

and the way they uniquely meet the great longing of the cosmos.

 

Imagine the sound of all creation applauding with you,

every fiber of existence resounding in agreement,

as you marvel at your own distinctive participation

in the great joy of the universe.

 

Imagine His smile. 

the look of delight in His eyes. 

the profound knowing and complete approval that He exudes,

as you cast your gold before His throne.

 

 

“And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.” Revelation 21:26

Spanish Blog: Letting My Cup Spill Over

  *Click here to read the story behind my Spanish Blog

Just tonight as I was washing dishes after getting the kids in bed, I was thinking about the children in our church and how awesome it is to hear that some of them are beginning to study God’s word on their own, and it made me think of my own journey in studying God’s word as a child.

 

 

When I was around nine or ten years old my dad encouraged me to have daily devotionals, and so, eager to please both him and my Heavenly father, I began studying the Bible every morning.  I’d always seen my parents have morning devotions, and I had done so myself on and off.  But now desire grew in me to know my heavenly Father better, and this was the best way I knew how to do that.

 

 

I soon learned about different Bible translations and study guides.  I loved looking at the maps in the back of my Bible to see where the things I read about had transpired, and I fell in love with its abbreviated concordance as well.  Paul’s epistles soon became special favorites of mine as I could always find verses in them that both encouraged me and gave me practical direction. 

 

 

I don’t remember having any huge revelations or immediate leaps of faith, however the habit of having daily morning devotions has never left me, and it has been a lifeline through all the ups and downs of life.  It certainly was helpful preparation for facing the nightmares that I wrote on May 25.

 

 

Sometime around this age or shortly after I remember my father giving me the opportunity to share something from my devotions with our family for our family devotion time in the evening.  This probably seemed like a little thing at the time, but looking back now I see it as a huge step in my spiritual journey.  I LOVED getting to share what God had shown me with my parents and siblings.  It gave me such zeal for God’s word and for sharing it with others.  

 

 

As I’ve grown older and spent more and more time with my Savior, I’ve come to realize that this spiritual growth that I experienced through sharing God’s word with my family was completely natural.  We’re not meant to keep what God does in us to ourselves.  We grow best when we’re allowing Him to not only fill us but also to overflow our cup onto others.  When we share what the Lord has taught us and done in us, we are functioning like the members of Christ’s body – edifying and encouraging one another.   

 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16

 

I used to think that talking about what God has shown me was prideful, and so I didn’t do it that much.  I didn’t want to appear like I had the Christian life all figured out.  I now realize that pride was, in fact, what was keeping me from sharing more openly with others.  We were created to reflect God’s majesty and beauty, and any attempt to hamper that is tragic and harmful. 

 

 

So shout to the world what God is doing in you, friends! 

 

My mouth will tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.  With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of Your righteousness, Yours alone.  O God, from my youth You have taught me, and I still proclaim Your wondrous deeds.  So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your might to another generation, Your power to all those to come.  Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens.  You who have done great things.  O God, who is like You?  - Psalm 71:15-19