Heart of Jesus

Heart of Jesus

How do you learn the heart of Jesus? By listening to his heartbeat. His heart pumps the blood that poured out for us; his heart broke for the death and destruction that came into this world; his heart heals the sick; his heart wept for those he came to redeem; his heart fills the gaping holes in our hearts; his heart penetrates our scars; his heart touches what was once hurt; his heart quiets our trauma. If you lay close enough and listen, you will find out who he is and what is in his heart. Once you hold his hands and feel the scars where the nails were driven in and once you weep for all he endured, you will never want to let go of them. EVER. His heart sounds like the waves of many waters. When I lean into his chest, I feel calm, peace, wholeness, and healing. I will never be alone again. Lord Jesus, I love you so much. My home is where you are. Your heart is my resting place.

Healing us with his love

I've been reflecting a lot on Jesus' love for us. I want to bring  attention to a picture posted by a friend on facebook. I shared it, because it really affected me. It has a picture of a possum and a quote.  I tried to imbed the link, but failed. So, here is the link for you to copy and paste instead. :P

https://www.facebook.com/theforgottenpetadvocates/photos/a.379465432069071.116686.379450892070525/921784281170514/?type=1&pnref=story

Just in case you said, "psssh, I'm not going through the trouble of copying a pasted" I'll summarize the main points. The post corrects misconceptions about possums and the last sentence says "practice what you teach your children: don't be mean to me just because you think I'm ugly." 

As an animal lover, the last sentence broke my heart. I believe we are to treat creatures with kindness no matter how they look.  I wanted to pick up all the little possums, hug them, and (here is the very cheesy part I am embarrassed to bring up, but feel I must) tell them, "You're so beautiful. Not ugly at all" and heal them with (...oh gosh this is so cheesy and embarrassing haha) my love. 

I thought about what God might say and it went something like this:  "What about the people who others hurt and reject because they are not deemed 'loveable' or 'beautiful'?" Then he brought to my attention the truth that he feels the same way toward humans, young and old, who have been abused, those who feel worthless, those others reject. 

He wants to pick each one of us up, hold us tight and tell us we are beautiful and precious until we finally come to believe it.  He wants to do that for you and for me.  He dealt with the same heart ache. 

He was despised and rejected. He was not esteemed, but deemed smitten of God and afflicted (Isaiah 53). If he were to sit with us in the physical I bet we would see the scars on his face, his hands, his feet, and if he turned around and uncovered his back we would see those horrendous deep stripes from being whipped by the cat-of-nine-tails (that awful whip they used), see that piercing in his side and we would probably break out into uncontrollable sobs. 

Even more, I bet if we could literally see his soul we would see more scars, perhaps even more brutal than the ones on the outside. I have been getting pictures of God's love seeping into the cracks, the cuts, and deepest wounds of our souls. The same healing oil that flows through his own hurts.  Will we accept his love in spite of how we feel about ourselves? Will we let him put his arms around us and just relax and lean into him? Here is a passage that describes Jesus' mission to the human race. 

Isaiah 61: 1-3

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,

3 To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” 
I copied and pasted this from: 
<https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+61>

Looking Jesus in the Eyes

"For what profits a [person] if [she] gains the whole world, but in the end loses [her] own soul." (New Testament, excerpt).

Last night at the church they were singing a song. It was about how when you look into the face of Jesus everything in life will be worth it-hardships, sacrifices, things you did for him. I then thought about what it would be like to close my eyes one last time and look into his eyes. Would he say he was happy and satisfied with how I lived my life, or would he be disappointed? 

I then thought about those moments where we have fought with people in our lives. It feels awful. Your mood is low, and you might feel bad for things you have said; you might feel regret for the way you handled a situation. Has anyone experienced this? Then I thought, what if you never had a chance to talk through the argument or fight, what if your last words or last deeds were done in anger or hurt? What if I died and looked into the face of Jesus and hurt him somehow, but was never able to make it right while on earth? What if he was saddened by the fact I missed the call, missed the mark, did not live up to what he called me to do?
 What does it profit me if I reach self-actualization, but in the end lose my own soul? It says that someday "Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." (excerpt from New Testament) Under what circumstances will I make that confession? My prayer is that I will have the courage to keep opening my heart up to God and do what he puts on my heart to do. If anyone would like to talk or pray about anything you can email me at HinckleyJR@gmail.com. Have a great rest of the weekend. :)

Women: fearlessly increasing production in the Kingdom of God

Some churches believe that women and girls cannot lead due to verses which either say women must remain silent or that women must not "have authority over a man." As much as I have grappled with this, I do not believe that we are barred from leadership. 

I once read a portion of a book called "Why Not Women." It told of a group of women who got together and prayed for the community. Miracles were happening, changes were taking place. Then, one day they were told that they could not continue this group unless a man took charge of it. Did any of those men step up? No! The group ceased to exist as did the miracles and changes. That is a sad story! 

Imagine all the other examples we can think of where we as women can do so much for our communities and so much for the Kingdom of God. Yet, because of TRADITION, because of fear on both sides (female and male), and because of our own ability to make excuses for why we cannot or will not lead, the church's effectiveness is dampened. 

Let us ask ourselves this-do we really not allow women to lead because that is what we TRULY believe or do we not allow ourselves to lead, because 1. we are scared and 2. we feel we are threatened by female leaders? Is it pride? Is it laziness? 

Has God called you to do something that you have not done based on the belief you cannot do it, because you are a woman? 

I do not quite know what my calling in life is. I do want to reach people who have been exploited, abused, and traumatized. I want to travel around the world. I am into social services and want to do humanitarian/relief projects overseas. How will I get there? I am not sure. However, my prayer is that if there is something I am not doing, that God will help me to become aware of it, rise above my own excuses, beliefs, and whatever it is that holds me back and do it.

Our Self Image as Women

I started reading this book called "Fearless Daughters of the Bible" by J. Lee Grady. He writes about women "who challenged tradition, fought injustice and dared to lead". I just read the introduction where he talks about raising his own daughters and he talked about how the kind of fathers we had can influence our self image, but some things were brought to my mind. I hope I am not too "all over the map" with this.  

Last Sunday in church the speaker said that this world is full of bad news. However, my thought was that it is not full of JUST bad news. It is just that we have not trained ourself to look at the good news. We have not challenged ourselves to rise above soaking in only what the media tells is. The truth is: there is good news in this world! For example, it is sad that "sometimes" in the church women are treated as second class citizens. It is sad that women are told they have no honor once they are raped. It is sad that little girls are mutilated in parts of the globe. But there is good news out there!

1. There a people like J. Lee Grady who are standing for women's empowerment. We have often mistaken men for being the enemy. They are not the enemies. The system that has excluded women and kept them oppressed, however, is. Truth is there are women and men who challenge the notion of women as "second class citizens." They want the women free. Free to do their part in the kingdom of God, influence society, and teach what they have learned! 

2. There are women and men in various cultures who are standing up for what honor truly is. Honor is not being immune to being victims of violence like rape or sexual exploitation. Honor is the ability to overcome it and help others do the same. Honor is transforming from a victim to a survivor!

3. There are communities who have decided they will not practice female genital mutilation. Education brings awareness, which brings change. They say you cannot change an age old tradition. Well, yes you can! With God all things are possible. 

4. God loves us. In Christ, there is no male or female. I did not grow up with a father who built me up. I still struggle with self-esteem, depression, and fear. Many times I forget how much God himself loves me. 
"See how great a love the father bestows upon us that we would be called children of God; that we are..." (first part of 1 John 3:1). If I was conscious of how much Jesus and the Father love me, what would life look like for me? How would it influence my confidence? What might I do with my life?....How about you?

I believe this was a prayer one of the apostles prayed for the church and let this  be our prayer: that we would comprehend the height, the width, and the depth of God's love for us."