Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
“Just as brokenness can be generational, so too can healing.” – Lori Moyer
This is a little paraphrase from a new friend Lori Moyer. She is a part of an amazing team called SAFE FAMILIES.
We have collaborated with them in Franklin and Montgomery Counties as they provide some amazing help to families in crisis both from the recent epidemic and in life. Take a minute to click on the link and explore. They are a remarkable bunch!
And yesterday as she shared as a part of our COMBATING ADDICTION WITH GRACE event in Teays Valley WV, I sure did love what Lori said.
Far too often we dismiss folks.
We say things like “That apple does fall far from the tree” or “If you knew his/her parents you could understand the way they are”.
“They are cursed to fail.”
And yes, in my line of work we see our share of generational brokenness. We do.
But people and organizations like SAFE FAMILIES are what I like to call “curse-reversers”; organizations that help folks see that they CAN “get far from the tree”, that their brokenness can be overcome. And it usually starts with someone stepping in with a belief that healing is possible, that folks have potential.
Unfortunately, far too often Brennan Manning was right when he said, that …our attention centers on what people are not (and I will add what they have been saddled with), rather than on what they are and who they might become.
That is why as Christians we must be people who see the potential!
It is easy to discount folks, to marginalize them.
It is easy to give up.
Yet Jesus didn’t do that.
He saw a BIG story in a little tax collector named Zacchaeus.
He saw an evangelist in a water gathering girl.
He saw the primary vessel for his New Testament word in a Christian killer.
Others saw a sack lunch, He saw a feast.
When we see the BROKEN, He sees the beauty.
those in Zion who mourn. I will take away the ashes on their head, and I will give them a crown. I will take away their sadness, and I will give them the oil of happiness. I will take away their sorrow, and I will give them celebration clothes – Isaiah 61:3 (ERV)
Truth is SAFE FAMILIES and their team are all about beauty for ashes, about dispensing HOPE and HEALING into the most potentially broken situations and circumstances.
They are a model for each of us.
We should as they do wade into the brokenness of others with healing words and deeds even when restoration seems elusive.
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Buscaglia
Want to be a brokenness breaker, a curse reverser?
Share Jesus in the brokenness.
Remember…
He heals the brokenhearted - Psalm 147:3 (LB)
And often HE does that with you!
Love you all!
HAVE A BLESSED DAY!
OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE
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