{"id":9740,"date":"2013-02-25T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2013-02-25T05:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=9740"},"modified":"2013-02-24T18:27:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-24T23:27:24","slug":"lifes-healing-choices-chapter-8-recycling-pain-pgs-241-242","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/25\/lifes-healing-choices-chapter-8-recycling-pain-pgs-241-242\/","title":{"rendered":"Life’s Healing Choices: Chapter 8 – “Recycling Pain” (pp 241-242)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choice 8:\u00a0Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Matthew5_10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Can you believe it?\u00a0 We are actually on our last week of this study.\u00a0 It has been an amazing journey with all of you.\u00a0 As we close up this study, we are going to talk about recycling our pain—sharing the testimony God has given us and our giving to others, so they may know the love and grace we have been given.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but I use to think as Moses did, \u201cWho am I?\u201d that He should use me?\u00a0 But God doesn\u2019t use the strong, or the wise, or the mighty. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that<\/b> are<\/strong> \u00a0(1 Corinthians 1:27, 28).<\/b><\/p>\n

God wants to use those very things you want to leave behind, pack away, or just simply not talk about to help others.\u00a0 When I first completed this study, 3 years ago, one of the sentences that stuck out to me was \u201cGod never wastes a hurt<\/em><\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 He wants to use all the pain and struggles we have gone through to show others His power.\u00a0 It is during that time when we become weak that His strength shines.\u00a0 “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength<\/b>“\u00a0<\/b>(Isaiah 40:29).\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

As you continue this journey\u00a0beyond this week, and allow God to be first in your life, you will see that everything we have is a gift from God.\u00a0 Our recovery and healing are built upon the strong foundation of our faith in Christ.\u00a0 As we share what He has done in our lives, others will see Him living through us.\u00a0 In Matthew chapter 5, just after the Beatitudes are delivered from Jesus\u00a0during His sermon on the Mount, He tells us we are ‘…the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden’ (verse 14).\u00a0 He then says,\u201dNor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house.\u00a0 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify Your Father in<\/b> heaven<\/strong> <\/b>(Matthew 5:15, 16).\u00a0 <\/b>He wants us to place His light in us on that lampstand to shine before others.<\/p>\n

As He is the Potter and has made us His vessels, think about vessels and light.\u00a0 As we become broken vessels and He puts us back together, visualize a pot that has been broken and put back together—cracks here and there.\u00a0 Now place it next to an unbroken vessel.\u00a0 Which one, when a light is placed inside, would shine the most?\u00a0 The broken and healed vessel, as the light will shine through the every crack.\u00a0 God has healed and put us back together with His power, placed His light inside us to shine so others can see and all glory can be given to Him.<\/p>\n

I have had the privilege of giving my testimony many times in the past year.\u00a0 I love to tell people what God has done in my life.\u00a0 God has given me the love and grace to be out of the gay lifestyle for three and a half years now.\u00a0 That is just the frame of His testimony in me.\u00a0 The masterpiece He has created within that frame has been given freedom from abusive relationships, manipulation of everyone around me, guilt, shame, anger, doubt, setting expectations beyond reach, dishonesty, and other struggles.\u00a0 He has taken all my sin, dipped it in red, and made me white as snow.\u00a0 My life has gone from chaos to peace, from despair to hope, from guilt and shame to honor, and from sin to salvation.\u00a0 I am also happy to say He has taken me from strength and independence to weakness.\u00a0 For in my weakness, He is made strong.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray:<\/b><\/p>\n

Most gracious and heavenly Father, we are so in awe of all You have done for us.\u00a0 Of the grace, mercy, and love You have unconditionally given each one of us.\u00a0 Thank You for Your healing from all things we have struggled with in our own might.\u00a0 Lord, as we continue to seek You, show us how to be that light that will not be hidden, shine through us so others will see all Your glory.\u00a0 Help us to spread Your message of hope and freedom.\u00a0 Let our lives be that living testimony for You.\u00a0 Lord, bless each person who has joined this study with Your healing power. Restore within their lives anything that has been damaged or destroyed. \u00a0Your word says that You will replace what the locusts have eaten. Father, we stand on Your word in agreement.\u00a0 We love You, Lord, and give all the honor and glory to You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen!<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

If you would like to send a private message to Laurie in regards to this blog, please email her at Laurie@girlfriendscoffeehour.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choice 8:\u00a0Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words. Can you believe it?\u00a0 We are actually on our last week of this study.\u00a0 It has been an amazing journey with all of you.\u00a0 As we close up this study, we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":9771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[1893,425,1894,570,596,608,1892,1895,873],"class_list":["post-9740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-victorious-healing","tag-1-corinthians-127-28","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-isaiah-4029","tag-john-baker","tag-laurie-ellis","tag-lifes-healing-choices","tag-matthew-510","tag-matthew-515-16","tag-recovery","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Matthew5_10.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2x6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9740"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9797,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9740\/revisions\/9797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}