Recently I encountered a mirror that must have been set to make you feel like you're the "fairest one of all"! The lighting was perfect and even though I knew I was tired and couldn't be looking my best, this mirror didn't reflect that! As I checked myself out, I thought "Wow, not too bad! In fact, looking pretty good!". Then I moved to another location with different a different mirror and different lighting and I had a different reaction! Yikes! I looked as tired as I felt! As the reality of my physical appearance settled into my conscious mind, the Holy Spirit showed me this is often the same situation in our spiritual realities.
When we live in the spiritual light of "the world" that only reflects the "light of the world", we think we're "not too bad". Then when we move into the light of the Holy Spirit, we realize that we need some reconstructive work!
Do you think maybe this is what keeps some people looking for a church with a seeker friendly message, or from even attending church at all? Maybe they are not comfortable in the "light and mirror" that they encounter when they are exposed to the teachings of the Holy Spirit?
Beloved, avoiding God's light and mirror doesn't really work, we need to accept the reality of our condition, yes, it may not be pretty, but let's assess the situation and then deal with it in the light and the truth. Jesus is the "Light and the Truth", embrace Him and let His light shine into your life, let His reconstructive work do it's regenerative work. You will be blessed and your spirit will be beautiful.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2(The Message)
~Lorna Mercer
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Christmas Memories~
Christmas memories...
The first Christmas I remember as the third child in a family of four I was sitting in the back seat of our car, between my older brother and older sister. I was so excited that year because it was the first opportunity that I was given to buy gifts for others! I don't remember how much money I had but I do remember that I was so excited that I could hardly sit still for the ride to town! We were headed to the T G & Y in Ponca City, our closest town.
Home was a 60 acre farm about 12 miles from town. There were horses, cattle, goats, chickens, pigs, a few dogs, a large garden, wood burning heat stove, black and white TV, no air conditioning, a bedroom I shared with my two sisters, ponds and a creek for fishing in, a wheat field, barns with hay (alfalfa and prairie), a tack house for the saddles and bridles and a long dirt road for the one way drive that brought you a mile back off of the blacktop road over two cattle guards to our house. Oh! and my father had to haul water from town because the plumbing was fed by a cistern that was up on a hill and the only way to have running water was for it to be hauled in, then let gravity pull it to the house.
It sounds like a very backwoods home now, but at the time it just seemed like home. I really enjoyed it there, I had a Shetland horse that was mine for me to ride. I loved horses and the outdoors,
unfortunately, my closest sibling was my younger sister and she didn't share my love of horses... or the outdoors, and my older brother and sister were quite a bit older than me, which left me to hang out with my horse~ did I tell you that her name was Tinkerbell? I guess I belonged outdoors more than in the house, because one of the things I remember hearing my mother tell me the most was "go outside and play!". So I often was outside, a great deal of the time with my dad, either hauling hay, cutting firewood, building fences, working cattle, or riding horses.
How did I get so sidetracked? This is about Christmas! Anyways, we were in the car, my parents in the front seat, with my younger sister in between them and me in the middle in the back seat. We went to TG & Y and I experienced the joy of choosing gifts for the first time! I bought my father some handkerchiefs (men used to carry them all of the time), and I remember buying a little plastic coin purse for someone, but I'm not sure who received it. Fun to remember the excitement though!
I believe it was that same year that my brother had a job, or at least his own money and was able to fund his gifts for everyone. He gave me a beautiful, red Tonka pickup truck! I loved that truck, partially because I was amazed he spent his money on me and partially just because it was so COOL! It wasn't too "girlie", but remember I was the outdoorsy "tom girl" that hung out with horses~
....so the excitement of buying gifts and that red Tonka truck are my first cherished memories of Christmas~
~Lorna Mercer
The first Christmas I remember as the third child in a family of four I was sitting in the back seat of our car, between my older brother and older sister. I was so excited that year because it was the first opportunity that I was given to buy gifts for others! I don't remember how much money I had but I do remember that I was so excited that I could hardly sit still for the ride to town! We were headed to the T G & Y in Ponca City, our closest town.
Home was a 60 acre farm about 12 miles from town. There were horses, cattle, goats, chickens, pigs, a few dogs, a large garden, wood burning heat stove, black and white TV, no air conditioning, a bedroom I shared with my two sisters, ponds and a creek for fishing in, a wheat field, barns with hay (alfalfa and prairie), a tack house for the saddles and bridles and a long dirt road for the one way drive that brought you a mile back off of the blacktop road over two cattle guards to our house. Oh! and my father had to haul water from town because the plumbing was fed by a cistern that was up on a hill and the only way to have running water was for it to be hauled in, then let gravity pull it to the house.
It sounds like a very backwoods home now, but at the time it just seemed like home. I really enjoyed it there, I had a Shetland horse that was mine for me to ride. I loved horses and the outdoors,
unfortunately, my closest sibling was my younger sister and she didn't share my love of horses... or the outdoors, and my older brother and sister were quite a bit older than me, which left me to hang out with my horse~ did I tell you that her name was Tinkerbell? I guess I belonged outdoors more than in the house, because one of the things I remember hearing my mother tell me the most was "go outside and play!". So I often was outside, a great deal of the time with my dad, either hauling hay, cutting firewood, building fences, working cattle, or riding horses.
How did I get so sidetracked? This is about Christmas! Anyways, we were in the car, my parents in the front seat, with my younger sister in between them and me in the middle in the back seat. We went to TG & Y and I experienced the joy of choosing gifts for the first time! I bought my father some handkerchiefs (men used to carry them all of the time), and I remember buying a little plastic coin purse for someone, but I'm not sure who received it. Fun to remember the excitement though!
I believe it was that same year that my brother had a job, or at least his own money and was able to fund his gifts for everyone. He gave me a beautiful, red Tonka pickup truck! I loved that truck, partially because I was amazed he spent his money on me and partially just because it was so COOL! It wasn't too "girlie", but remember I was the outdoorsy "tom girl" that hung out with horses~
....so the excitement of buying gifts and that red Tonka truck are my first cherished memories of Christmas~
~Lorna Mercer
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Above All Else
I've read that no two people see the same rainbow. That was really interesting to me at the time, but this morning it expanded in my thinking that no two people see the same "anything". First consider the rainbow, it is made of different little bits of moisture that reflects light. The light reflected is what we see and because no two people are standing in exactly the same place or are the same exact height we are not seeing the same exact reflection, it has changed from location to location, even if it's just a teeny tiny distance separating us.
So when we are considering or "looking" at a situation and trying to understand someone else's point of view we are never able to completely comprehend. Our own consideration of situations will even change from moment to moment!
This morning an example broke into my understanding that for me to try to see something from Lane's point of view is impossible! We may be physically standing at the same point of existence now, but we will never see things exactly the same and actually even our point of existence will never be the same. My life experiences change or "color" where I am now, not to mention my thinking process is so very different from his.
Explaining feelings or ideas is a hopeless contrivance unless the person receiving them is able to attempt to receive. Even in their attempt to receive we need to be patient and understand that we are attempting something that is truly impossible and allow space for the differences.
With all of this said it brings us back to our only hope, our only hope is not "understanding" but of love~
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
So when we are considering or "looking" at a situation and trying to understand someone else's point of view we are never able to completely comprehend. Our own consideration of situations will even change from moment to moment!
This morning an example broke into my understanding that for me to try to see something from Lane's point of view is impossible! We may be physically standing at the same point of existence now, but we will never see things exactly the same and actually even our point of existence will never be the same. My life experiences change or "color" where I am now, not to mention my thinking process is so very different from his.
Explaining feelings or ideas is a hopeless contrivance unless the person receiving them is able to attempt to receive. Even in their attempt to receive we need to be patient and understand that we are attempting something that is truly impossible and allow space for the differences.
With all of this said it brings us back to our only hope, our only hope is not "understanding" but of love~
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
1 Corinthians 13:3-7
(The Message)
Yes, we do need to communicate, share, talk, strive to understand each other, but above all of this we have to stand, live and speak on a foundation of love~
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 (NASB)
~Lorna Mercer
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Hated and Haters
**You may want to read the first few paragraphs at a fast pace, otherwise you may get bogged down in all of the weirdness! It is written somewhat "tongue in cheek"**
“The real reason people hate others is because it makes them feel better about themselves. If you can put down an entire group of people in your mind then it raises your own level of self esteem.”
After a recent discussion about "hating" and "haters", I found this quote and if we lived in a world that was just physical and mental this statement would most likely resonate true. But we are “spirits” that live with physical bodies, therefore we need to realize that nothing is done just on a "physical" level.
In the United States recently it has become popular to point fingers at people that have different standards than the ones we want to promote, and say they are "haters". We even have laws against "hate crimes". It is interesting that our leaders believe that making a law against something does away with the problem! However from what I see it only creates a group of people that claim the protection of being “hated” and another group that is the accused “hating” lawbreaker. Actually this does nothing to resolve the problem or to alleviate the emotions that are raised in these situations.
It is interesting that people that aren't even involved in the "hated or hating" are quick to jump into the fray causing more “hatred” when all “hating” is supposed to be illegal?! Now we end up with 3 groups in a crime that is supposed to have been made illegal! We have “haters”, the “hated” and the new “haters” that “hate” the "original haters"!
What a complicated mess! But add to that the group that is being accused of “hating” is a religious group that has been commanded to “love” and they have now become the second "hated" victim! What is interesting is that there are other religious groups, that are much less tolerant and do truly “hate”, than the selected new "hated" group in their views of the first "hated" victim, yet they are not even mentioned by the new second group of “haters”? There is a lot of “hate” happening, some true, some just by accusation, but do you think maybe there is an ulterior motive here? The plot thickens!
Another interesting point is that even though in the masses of confused Americans I know many people in the first accused “hater” group that are accused of being the first suspected “haters”, yet I don't know of any people that have perpetrated the actual accused crime of "hating"! The fact that there isn't evidence of who really is “hating” and/or who they are “hating” seems to have little effect whether the accusation is true or not, but it is simply accepted as fact.
Much to my surprise simply believing in my Savior, Jesus Christ and attempting to live my life in the manner that He has prescribed has put me in a class of "hated" and accused as a “hater”! I have now become part of a group that is "hated", because others that claim the same affiliation with my religious beliefs are accused of "hating". But wait, isn't “hating” illegal?! =)
Recently I wrote about the parallel lives of spiritual and flesh, I see this portrayed in this whole previously described situation of “hating and hated” quite literally! Consider this on a spiritual level, we do have an enemy that walks about like a "roaring lion" seeking whom he may "devour". Our enemy loves to stir up hatred, to kill, steal and destroy, and in doing so he is able to throw hindrances in the Christian's walk(battle) by either causing us to be accused "haters" or the "hated" thus distracting us from our real battle. As he is able to distract us, or have us sidetracked from the spiritual battle, our real purpose of being Jesus to the world gets lost in the shuffle! (I have to smile here because our enemy has not yet learned through all of the years since the Garden of Eden, that God's people turn to God even more so when they are under attack and become even stronger as they are persecuted by the hatred of the world.)
Christians are commanded to love their enemies, and yes, that is not always an easy thing to do (As a Christian, I can tell you that my spirit is in a continual battle to bring my flesh under the obedience of following my Savior’s instructions to love even an enemy! Sometimes it's even a challenge to love “loveable” people!), and because Christians are not yet completely evolved to the level that we are supposed to eventually reach, we as an unfinished group are "hated" and misunderstood.
Let me encourage you, beloved, do not let yourself be caught in the group of “haters”! If there are fellow christians out there that "hate" anyone, I encourage you, examine your heart! Jesus has commanded "love your neighbor", this is not always easy to do, but Jesus also said to pick up your cross and follow Him(another challenge, but instruction for our lives, nonetheless). He doesn't just give easy assignments, He gives assignments that lead you in growing spiritually, and in your "spiritual" life. As you learn to bring your physical life captive to Him you have "life" and you begin to reflect His love and nature. That is what the world is looking for and needing to see!
Consider there are many levels of Christians, just as children in elementary school are not expected to have the same knowledge, education and maturity as a high school student we can not expect all Christians to have the same level of spiritual walk either. Alas the world does not understand this(and neither do many Christians as they judge each other), to them there is no difference between one Christian and another. We need to reach out to our less mature believers and encourage them in the understanding and growth, for our own sake and for the sake of Jesus who they are supposed to learn to reflect. We need to strive on in our own growth, encourage our brothers and love the world, be a light to it!
Beloved, do not be discouraged, Jesus' own words were “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.” John 15:18-19 (HCSB) Even though He was hated by the world, He came because He loved and to be love, be the love that our Saviour would have us to be, let your light shine to the world that may not understand you and may even hate you. Remember we are to reflect Him.
~Lorna Mercer
**Interesting side note ~We are currently preparing to celebrate Jesus' birth. The time of year set aside to celebrate His entrance into the world as He did the most loving thing possible, He came to Earth to be born and then die for us, and now the world is busy trying to remove Him from the season and even change the wording from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays to eliminate Him from the politically correct "non-hating" vocabulary of Americans, and He and His followers are still at the center of controversy over 2000 years after His death and Resurrection because some of His followers are accused of “hating”!Kind of boggles the mind, doesn't it?**
Monday, December 10, 2012
The Winning Edge - Be The Best You Can Be!
I had a dream/vision that I don't want to go into too deeply, but to share the substance of. I saw a battlefield in the aftermaths of a great battle, I was wearing armor myself so I knew I had been in the battle myself. I saw one of the casualties and knew immediately who the person was and went to them. (This person had been someone in my life that had brought a lot of hurt to me and I was often in a position of needing to forgive them. Even though I had forgiven them, their actions and words had caused wounds and scars that I was still dealing with. However in the dream I only felt love and concern.)
As I bent over them, I knew their wounds were fatal and I told them "don't speak" because I wanted them to live long enough to hear my assurances. Then I told them "I love you and I will see you in heaven". Then they were gone.
(As I awoke from this dream I received a very valuable understanding. I was given a great deal of healing in this lesson and I've been able to apply it in my daily life and have felt pressure and leading from the Holy Spirit to share it here. Actually I had hesitated due to the personal nature of the dream, but the Spirit told me this morning that if I want to learn more I need to share what I have already received. Of course I want to learn more...so here goes!)
I recognized the spiritual battle this person is living daily as they pour their life out in sacrifice for others - paying a higher price in their life service than mere man(including me!) can see with earthly eyes.
In seeing this I have been able to let go of hurts they have brought, I was able to completely forgive them and lift them in prayer for strength, peace and comfort for the battle that they are living daily. I was given a new compassion for them through being able to see the condition of the battle they were striving through and the wounds their spirit was suffering!
I have seen that our life seems to run almost as if we are living parallel lives - physical and spiritual, at the same time and somehow God integrates it together for us. While we see the physical, the spirit is either busy growing or floundering, depending on our physical actions - do we study God's word? do we praise? do we pray? or do we go our own way pleasing ourselves?
If we want to win the battle that our spirit is facing daily we have to take steps to give it the winning edge! We need to put on our armor, give our spirit good nourishment and train it! Would we send a soldier into battle wearing Tshirt, shorts and flip flops with a soda in hand, or do we want him geared in bulletproof armor and carrying powerful weapons? Would we expect our soldier to be strong if we give him only junk food to survive on? We might be foolish enough to believe that would work, but it doesn't even require an expert to tell us that it won't work! Even an average mother/wife knows the family she cares for needs to be well fed and rested to perform at their best! How much more should we try to do for our spirits who are daily facing a battle against a "roaring lion" that is "looking to devour them"? Remember too that soldiers are more powerful in higher numbers, so take time for fellowship, not to mention that it is included as a directive from Jesus!
To "Recap":
The First Lesson I learned from the dream/vision is to See to others,
They are facing battles daily themselves that you don't see (some are even "life threatening" battles), when others cause offense or hurts to you, Forgive them! Support them in their struggles through prayers for their protection, strength, peace and health, after all their victories are your victories as their losses are ours also!(John 17:11) And, give the hurts and offenses to God (yes, repeatedly if you need to!), He will handle them for you if you give them to Him.
The Second Lesson is to See to Yourself, We are in a battle daily!
So Daily :
~Lorna Mercer
As I bent over them, I knew their wounds were fatal and I told them "don't speak" because I wanted them to live long enough to hear my assurances. Then I told them "I love you and I will see you in heaven". Then they were gone.
(As I awoke from this dream I received a very valuable understanding. I was given a great deal of healing in this lesson and I've been able to apply it in my daily life and have felt pressure and leading from the Holy Spirit to share it here. Actually I had hesitated due to the personal nature of the dream, but the Spirit told me this morning that if I want to learn more I need to share what I have already received. Of course I want to learn more...so here goes!)
I recognized the spiritual battle this person is living daily as they pour their life out in sacrifice for others - paying a higher price in their life service than mere man(including me!) can see with earthly eyes.
In seeing this I have been able to let go of hurts they have brought, I was able to completely forgive them and lift them in prayer for strength, peace and comfort for the battle that they are living daily. I was given a new compassion for them through being able to see the condition of the battle they were striving through and the wounds their spirit was suffering!
I have seen that our life seems to run almost as if we are living parallel lives - physical and spiritual, at the same time and somehow God integrates it together for us. While we see the physical, the spirit is either busy growing or floundering, depending on our physical actions - do we study God's word? do we praise? do we pray? or do we go our own way pleasing ourselves?
If we want to win the battle that our spirit is facing daily we have to take steps to give it the winning edge! We need to put on our armor, give our spirit good nourishment and train it! Would we send a soldier into battle wearing Tshirt, shorts and flip flops with a soda in hand, or do we want him geared in bulletproof armor and carrying powerful weapons? Would we expect our soldier to be strong if we give him only junk food to survive on? We might be foolish enough to believe that would work, but it doesn't even require an expert to tell us that it won't work! Even an average mother/wife knows the family she cares for needs to be well fed and rested to perform at their best! How much more should we try to do for our spirits who are daily facing a battle against a "roaring lion" that is "looking to devour them"? Remember too that soldiers are more powerful in higher numbers, so take time for fellowship, not to mention that it is included as a directive from Jesus!
To "Recap":
The First Lesson I learned from the dream/vision is to See to others,
They are facing battles daily themselves that you don't see (some are even "life threatening" battles), when others cause offense or hurts to you, Forgive them! Support them in their struggles through prayers for their protection, strength, peace and health, after all their victories are your victories as their losses are ours also!(John 17:11) And, give the hurts and offenses to God (yes, repeatedly if you need to!), He will handle them for you if you give them to Him.
The Second Lesson is to See to Yourself, We are in a battle daily!
So Daily :
- Put on Your armor
- Feed your spirit healthily and nutritiously(Study the Word)
- Keep your heart, ears and eyes always on your Commander(Prayer)
- Praise and Worship Him!
- Fellowship (maybe not daily, but at least weekly) (encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on Hebrews 10:25) Remember the larger the army the better the chance for victory, if one falls down the other can pick him up!
~Lorna Mercer
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