http://67.19.217.98/~onep3/index.php/site/index/ en onep3@onep3.com Copyright 2008 2008-11-17T02:28:01-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/heres_your_sign_gentleness/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/heres_your_sign_gentleness/#When:02:28:01Z Phillipians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” My pastor gave a great message today on this verse. It couldn’t have come at a more timely time. I am beginning to experience God’s faithfulness raining down on me in ways that I have prayed about for years. It isn’t what I initially hoped for. It isn’t the end of the story that I wrote. It doesn’t undo the hurt or even mask it. It exists independent of all of that. It is amazing to see such a different ending than I thought come to pass and yet still experience it as faithfulness. God can be trusted. I have witnessed that His faithfulness miraculously does not have to be circumstantial. It rises above our circumstances and is grounded steadfastly in the goodness and omnipotence of God. I was reminded today about gentleness…something the Lord has been working on in both Katie and I in the last three years. Even in the midst of trial and suffering. When we are in prison like Paul, we are admonished to let our gentleness be evident to all. We can relax about our futures no matter how badly we have been wounded. We don’t have to vindicate ourselves. We have a loving God who asks us to come to Him with our needs. He promises to guard our hearts and minds. He promises to give us peace. We don’t have to figure things out. That’s His job. We have to let our gentleness be evident to all. Not despite our circumstances but especially in our circumstances. This brings God glory and subsequently revolutionizes the world. Here’s your sign: Gentleness. Grace and Peace, Miriam 2008-11-17T02:28:01-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/suffering1/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/suffering1/#When:22:18:00Z We have been posting a lot of quotes lately. We are both still in the “thick” of trials. There is so much we want to say and are working on putting it into words. But for now we find comfort and truth in others words…....Here is a quote I came across today…....It reminds me I am still growing and healing, even in trial. Keep walking my friends. -Katie “Long periods of well-being and comfort are in general dangerous to all. After such prolonged periods, weak souls become incapable of weathering any kind of trial. They are afraid of it. Yet it is a fact that difficult trials and sufferings can facilitate the growth of the soul. I know there is a widespread feeling that if we highly value suffering this is masochism. On the contrary, it is a significant bravery when we respect suffering and understand what burdens it places on our soul.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 2008-10-27T22:18:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/life_of_the_beloved/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/life_of_the_beloved/#When:13:23:00Z From Life of the Beloved by Henri J.M. Nouwen: “Where there is reason for gratitude, there can always be found a reason for bitterness. It is here that we are faced with the freedom to make a decision. We can decide to be grateful or to be bitter. We can decide to recognize our chosenness in the moment or we can decide to focus on the shadow side. When we persist in looking at the shadow side, we will eventually end up in the dark. “…The men and women with mental disabilities, have many reasons to be bitter…Still they choose mostly not to be bitter, but grateful for the many small gifts of their lives…most of all, for their daily life in community with people who offer friendship and support. They choose gratitude over bitterness and they become a great source of hope and inspiration for all their assistants who, although not mentally disabled, also have to make that same choice. When we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant. “…When we claim and constantly reclaim the truth of being the chosen ones, we soon discover within ourselves a deep desire to reveal to others their own chosenness. Instead of making us feel that we are better, more precious or valuable than others, our awareness of being chosen opens our eyes to the chosenness of others. That is the great joy of being chosen: the discovery that others are chosen as well. In the house of God there are many mansions. There is a place for everyone – a unique, special place. Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.” 2008-10-16T13:23:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/the_death_of_a_marriage/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/the_death_of_a_marriage/#When:17:03:00Z The death of a marriage by Barbara Zielinski There was no ceremony for the death of my marriage. There was no casket in which to place the dreams and ideals I had held so close for so long. There were no mourners to shed tears with me as I said goodbye to the last of my hope. There was no ritual way of asking for forgiveness, for experiencing forgiveness, for being released from my vows. Nor was there much attention paid to the process of divorce, and all of the pain and anger and humiliation it added to the weight of my soul. There was no ceremony when my marriage was buried. There was only pain and loss and anger and grief. It wasn’t my intent to be divorced. Almost no one gets married expecting they will get divorced. No matter what the circumstances, divorce tears through layers of trust, community and security in ways that can reshape the very core of our faith and of our sense of who we are. In this day and age no one is immune to the impact of divorce. 50% of marriages now end in divorce. 61% of second marriages have the same end. Our parents, our brothers and sisters, our children and our friends form relationships that end in divorce. We grieve the loss of people in our lives, the loss of relationships we had come to rely on. Sometimes we even blame ourselves for the breakdown and our failure to make it all better for the ones we love. Other times we struggle with feelings of disconnection and betrayal that people and relationships aren’t what we thought they were. We mourn and grieve that the reality we knew has shattered. And God grieves with us. Divorce is never God’s intent for our marriages. Our God calls us into relationship with God, with each other and with all of creation. Whenever any of those relationships are broken it is due to our flawed humanity and not according to God’s divine will. Marriages do break, and when they are broken, divorce is the legal and public recognition of that already broken relationship. As people who worship a God of relationship, we do not enter into divorce lightly. We realize the seriousness and the anguish of such a decision. We count the costs for ourselves and for others who will also be affected by our choices. And after careful consideration, when the effects of continuing a marriage are found to be more destructive to our welfare than ending it, we choose divorce, the lesser of the evils in a fallen and imperfect world. We mourn and grieve that things cannot be the way God would have them be, but we also know in making that choice that we can rely upon God’s unfailing grace. It is that grace that sustains us in our grief and it is the promise of the resurrection story that gives us hope that we too will live anew. For our God is an amazing healer and an intimate lover who does not abandon us in our need. The losses will always be a part of us, but we are people of the good news. And that good news is that we need not grieve as those without hope. When we can claim God’s grace and forgiveness and when we can move to a place of being graceful and forgiving, then we find a healing and a wholeness we never knew before. I have shared some of my high school poetry before and you may recall that it stunk. There is another poem I wrote in high school that I think is pretty good. I wrote it upon the breaking of a relationship, not a divorce but about the equivalent in the mind of a teenage. I wrote it but I don’t think I really lived it until years later. It goes like this: Alone, but that’s okay What better time and what better way To discover myself And the needs I possess And here in myself Find the faith to confess That at times I am weak Though I always survive Alone but alive And I’m totally free Which allows me the chance To be totally me And in self awareness I’m sure I will find That half of my heartaches Were all in my mind And the things I have lost Have just been misplaced So the time I spend now Is far from a waste You see I’ll get to know me And like myself too And when that finally happens Then I can love you. Sometimes it is only in our loneliness that we are able to find ourselves. It is in our pain that we can heal. It is in our mourning that we find joy. In doubt that we find faith. In sickness that we are restored to health. And it is in death that we are reborn. There are times when it all seems too much to bear. Our world falls apart. There are times when it might seem easier to surrender to the worry and the pain and the loneliness. In the death of a marriage, we experience our own dying. But the good news is that our grief is never the last word to be spoken in the stories of our lives. Our grief is never the last word to be spoken in the stories of our lives. Our grief is never the last word to be spoken in the stories of our lives. In the end, there is always a new beginning. The darkness of the tomb becomes the comfort of the womb as God continues to love and to care for us. Eventually we can dare to begin to hope and to dream once more. The gift is that after the storm there is a peace and it is a deeper and more intense peace than we have known before. Freed from what has been, we can begin to move toward what is yet to be. Freed from our sense of brokenness we can reach out in love, compassion and hope toward others who are broken. In John we are told that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. When we embrace God, he keeps our pilot light burning until the day when our joy can blaze again. 2008-10-06T17:03:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/in_me1/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/in_me1/#When:16:24:00Z Just needed to post this song today…..Please know that we cannot do anything on our own….it is only in HIM we can do anything….....-Katie In Me lyrics By: Casting Crowns If you ask me to leap Out of my boat on the crashing waves If You ask me to go Preach to the lost world that Jesus saves I’ll go, but I cannot go alone Cause I know I’m nothing on my own But the power of Christ in me makes me strong Makes me strong Cause when I’m weak, You make me strong When I’m blind, You shine Your light on me Cause I’ll never get by living on my own ability How refreshing to know You don’t need me How amazing to find that you want me So I’ll stand on Your truth, and I’ll fight with Your strength Until You bring the victory, by the power of Christ in me If You ask me to run And carry Your light into foreign land If You ask me to fight Deliver Your people from Satan’s hand To reach out with Your hands To learn through Your eyes To love with the love of a savior To feel with Your heart And to think with Your mind I’d give my last breath for Your glory 2008-09-28T16:24:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/suffering/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/suffering/#When:19:23:00Z ” A few are chosen to be the bearers of the purpose; they are chosen, not for themselves, but the sake of all.” “God is indeed active in history. But his action is hidden within what seems to be its opposite—suffering and tribulation for his people. The secret has been entrusted to those whom God chose. They are to be witnesses of it to all the nations.” Leslie Newbigin, The Open Secret We love these two quotes on suffering….......We have been talking a lot about what it means to suffer well….and why we suffer…(We know Deep stuff for moms with preschoolers) We have been trying to break down what God uses our trials for…...Miriam paraphrased it like this….... “God allows some to suffer so that they may open the eyes of others to suffering.” -Miriam We keep walking and bring attention to the other that suffer and don’t have a voice. 2008-09-14T19:23:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/psalm_142/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/psalm_142/#When:23:08:00Z Psalm 142:2 &3 “I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.” 2008-09-09T23:08:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/in_the_center/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/in_the_center/#When:13:38:00Z In The Center By: Miriam Sometimes I know God in the very core of who I am. It is not related to my circumstances. It isn’t shrouded in comfort. It is what it is. Just knowing. I’ve had this experience recently. It’s hard to put into words and most of the time I don’t even try, but today I am going to. I see myself in the middle of this big, finite, messy, human circle. In the circumference of the circle lies every ideology, every hope, every hurt, every theory of who God is and how life works. My view on relationships, people, missions, parenting, beauty, politics, success, failure, hope, hopelessness are housed somewhere along this circle. My living and breathing relationships are here in this circle. My past is there. The events of my present and future lie somewhere along that continuum. And I am sitting on the inside of that circle. Sometimes I feel like a little kid, skipping in this circle like “Ring around the Rosy” visiting the different things that live in this perimeter. Sometimes it is a luxury to do this, like picking up fine jewelry and studying it closely before putting it back on the shelf. Sometimes it is a chore. I pick up the figurine for the millionth time and dust it off wondering why I keep it anyways. But these days, I am most at home sitting in the middle of the circle because this is where I know God most. I don’t know how He is going to work in the details that lie along the edge of the circle. I’m am mostly unsure of how He intersects with the temporal areas of my life…the things that are different tomorrow than they are today and will only continue to change. But the beauty of sitting in the middle of that circle is that I don’t have to know these things. Because in the center, all that matters is that God is who He says He is, whether I can make sense of it or not. In the center, Jesus is with me always, even to the end of the age. It is in the center of this circle, when I stop dusting the seemingly harmless idols of my life, that I find peace. Not a circumstantial peace, but exactly the opposite. A peace that comes from knowing that I am no longer a slave to the circumstances. I love this place. Not in the warm, fuzzy way that I love people, or Christmas, or good food. I love it in the way someone who has just finished running a marathon loves walking, or someone who has just broken a fast loves a banana. It is the contrast that I appreciate so much because the contrast exposes for me its true value. Sitting in the center of our circles matters because this is where we meet God. This is where the chaos of our lives meets the deafening silence of a stilled and quiet heart before the Lord. This is where God, in all His bigness and unfathomableness, holds us to His breast like a mother. And whether or not the details on our circle change, which indubitably they will, it doesn’t matter so much anymore. Because we are no longer swept up in the vortex of our circumstances, but instead, are sitting in the presence of an unchanging, loving Savior. Be still and know. 2008-09-05T13:38:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/perseverance/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/perseverance/#When:02:29:00Z By: Katie When my FH first left us, I was praying with a woman that God had given her a word for me…......Perseverance. Yikes….that sounded long and hard to me. I HAD NO IDEA! James 1: 3 & 4 says “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Again…that did not sound fun to me. I have always been a sprinter…...I hate long runs or ANYTHING that takes a long time. I feel like I keep trying to find ways around the pain and grief, only to find myself back a square one. I know that God is calling me to walk right through the fire of this pain. I know He is with me and I don’t do it alone, but some nights…..I want a short cut. I love this song by Alanis Morissette It reminds me…The only way out is through!!!!! Here is a section from it. The only way out is through The faster we’re in the better The only way out is through ultimately The only way out is through The only way we’ll feel better The only way out is through ultimately Every time I’m confused I think there must be easier ways Every time our horns are locked on towel throwing Every time we’re at a loss, we’ve bolted from difficulty Anytime we’re still made of final bowing My tendency to want to hide away feels easier and The immediacy is picturing another place comforting to go So I dare you….walk through the pain, let God use it for good in your life. Let it refine you. Persevere my friends 2008-08-29T02:29:00-05:00 http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/stay_empty/ http://www.onep3.com/index.php/site/stay_empty/#When:18:34:01Z Miriam and I always encourage each other to go “limp” with some of the hard stuff that comes our way…..... Not to fight it or burn energy trying to change what we can’t. We know that we have to be empty for Christ to fill us. Sometimes going limp means to empty ourselves of all we think we want. We really ONLY want what God wants for us…..but it is so hard to die to self. I love this song….....the first time I heard it was after FH had left us…........I cried and prayed through it. It has become a regular thing that I pray. Thank you Mr. Niequist…..... Stay Empty By: Aaron Niequist My life is cracked in ways that I don’t understand, And there are holes inside I never planned. But this roller-coaster, Is how You pull me closer. And I trust that You are who You made me for – And I will stay empty, I will keep waiting; I will stay empty, Until You fill me up and I I will stay empty, I will keep waiting, Until You fill me up with You. Send Your floods to help me clean out my heart’s space, Please come quickly, it’s so hard to wait. This world is temporary, I cry for sanctuary! And throw myself into the strongest arms of Hope – It may come soon, And maybe it won’t. I want to run, But I know You don’t. I give You my heart, And trust You in faith. And cling to the blessings I anticipate! 2008-08-21T18:34:01-05:00