The Phases of Becoming

Nothing is as it seems when we consider our family of origins. Some of us have a natural tendency to bend in one direction and others seem to have a supernatural inclination for the other direction. Which one is the right one can be a burdensome task to attempt yet most of us have no choice but to confront it. It confronts us and we are then required to respond. The choices of another places in the hot seat creating absence, neglect, or worse. And rather than become something we can not control, we choose what we can control.

And this journey seems to continually bring us to what we can either control or not control. We can either give in or give up. Fight or relinquish yet either choice we make, we must live with the outcomes. In our return to sermon delivery, I have found myself in quite a bit of a pinch. Words could not describe the experience yet it does not feel any less tumultuous than the days of confronting absence or peace; lost or found. Times in prayer can incessant or interlaced with the affairs of life. Study feverish or random as a squiggly line on an Etch-a-Sketch! Yet this is the becoming that I am, this is the becoming that we are.

While we may feel that we are becoming unraveled that would contradict the word of God. Isaiah 64:8 NLT, “And yet, O Lord, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand.” What dare we repeat, rehearse, and digest in our souls, the same verbage that will sustain us. No matter what we feel and can see, we are…”I am formed by your hand! I may not understand, perceive, or clearly see or hear what I want to hear, yet I grasp and arrest that what I see is formed by our hand. And in your hand, I stand. God, you give understanding, perception, vision, and hearing when I need it. So I accept that this is a moment to walk by faith and not by my senses. You’ve never dropped me before and you will not start now. (John 10:28)”

Being plucked out of darkness and planted in Christ, we have the power to become. And yes, we hit rough places along the journey, yet we are on the journey. That counts for something so count the testimonies, the miracles, the breakthroughs, and the highlights of hope and triumphs that God has wrought. Celebrate with people of faith to be strengthened and lifted in spirit to continue on. Breathing means opportunity, seize this opportunity to press into your becoming that you may see God’s treasure within. Then you will be encouraged to live it aloud.

Blessings, Pastor Ceci

The Mediocre Reality

When giving my kids chores or instilling healthy practices, my kids start with groans sometimes or with deep silence. Ignoring their response and speaking directly to their desires that are beyond the work that is required, we keep practicing the disciplines. Sometimes they ask, “when will this be over?” They hope for an end to the experience of the work yet I seldom hear this question as they enjoy the reward that follows the work. 

Groaning and questioning is not a wasted experience but it can be a hindrance to gaining the benefit of the experience. Allowing the frustration, confusion, fear, etc. to escape through the process of questioning, analysis, and groaning is truly understandable. Yet remaining in the experience of it leads to the inquiry of why make that state a place of comfort? 

In John 5:6, Jesus would ask the question, “Do you want to be made whole?” Presumptuously, we may say “Of course!” or “What kind of question is that?” Pivot with me to consider the question from the constant and unbearable experience of groans, frustrations, fear, and confusion. In the reality that I have lived without wholeness so long that I don’t think I ever knew what it was or what it is supposed to be, this is a question that I may have never asked. We tend to ask for relief but not for wholeness. Seeking a break instead of breakthrough leaving the clothing and framing of the experience behind. Continual pain makes us short sighted and this leads us into hopelessness.

So rephrasing the first question, “In the mediocre reality that keeps up the groaning and question, is it preferred because you have remained there?” This is what Jesus posed to the man lying in mediocrity. The greatest breakthrough is on the other side of the greatest suffering. No one has suffered a crucifixion as Jesus did on the cross. Jesus’ death rendered a resurrection that provided resurrection to all who will believe. He took on the mediocrity of the flesh to endure the groans and questions to intentionally model what it means to leave it behind. And because he did, he has given us the how for our escape as well as the power to do so.

this is not the reality God has for us...

We’re in our seeking season as a ministry. We are looking at our journey to this point in our life and preparing our hearts for what the next leg of our faith journey will impart to us. And for every place that we are uncovering a complacency of an old mindset, belief, or manner; here is Jesus' question to us. We convene annually to gather at the feet of Jesus embracing healing of our souls for the prospering of our lives. And if we travel from our homes, spend our resources, and feign the appearance of thirst just to lie at the pool, then all of this effort is a waste. Yet it is not a waste of the material of what can be seen with the natural eye. The man in John Chapter 5 had a bed, a regular spot to chill by the pool, and he had some friends that were in the same place with him. Yet what he was wasting was his soul - his mind, his will, and his emotions were elsewhere leaving his spirit abandoned within him. Without Christ coming to challenge his usual, the real waste through God’s eyes was his identity, testimony, and future impact.

Christ knew his inner conversation which required the right question. This man was looking for the stirring of the pool for relief and Christ was looking for the stirring of the heart to make whole. Every person attending this annual conference has a desire that is beyond what can be conveyed to another person in words.  In the text, the man never answered the question yet Christ answered the man directly. Our identities, testimonies, and future impact are beyond the mediocre reality that we have settled for.  And our charge is praying that we all be ready to receive the direct answer to the root matter that causes us to breakthrough! Are you ready to be made whole?

Pastor Ceci