July 30 - Risk Factors
Scripture focus: Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them--living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored. Romans 8:5-8 (The Message)
There are documented risk factors that experts tell us are hinderances to the recovery process. Here are a few of those roadblocks that can stymie our transformation:
- Lack of community and a network of support
- Maladaptive coping skills
- Prolonged exposure to stress
- Substance abuse
- Family history of suicide
- Unhealthy social environment
- Extreme guilt reaction
- Sense of hopelessness and helplessness
One suggestion: prayerfully consider asking an unbiased, experienced, well-trained person to assist you in evaluating your risk factors.
One hope: When we invite God's Spirit to live in us, we can trust that God will intervene on our behalf. It may or may not seem like a miraculous instantaneous intervention. God heals one stitch at a time, and usually healing takes time.
One warning: Self-absorption is equivalent to ignoring God. That's never a good thing!
One prayer: May you discover today the living and breathing God, who has come to heal our afflictions and cure our diseases.
Recommended reading: 1 Samuel 30-31
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© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community
© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community
3 comments:
I just printed off the month of April for my devotional blogs (easier to print off month at a time, slow dial up). I started this devotion in January and am finding it rewarding with the Bible study- kind of like nurturing a relationship with God. I find I get long term retention when I "chew" on the devotions sometimes for days- thus the reason I am only on Mar 31 blog. I actually, during the hard stress times, know that I have an ally in this devotion, so I some days read it more than once to reinforce my "soul".
I have found that that certainly there are "seasons" in my life. This devotion is helping to define the season I am now currently in.
In December mom had a bad fall. In her declining health I would visit her every other day in the assisted living. As she lay there, in her state of "fading", I did not know what to do (this is the same mom that cursed me in the fall- on the phone, in the hall of the nursing home, that hated the assisted living, but I knew loved me dearly in her heart), so I brought my recovery bible and this devotional blog, and I read it with mom most every time I came to visit her (mom would smile, or say a couple words to me, her body language came alive). I found this so richly rewarding I cannot explain it. It was like I was connecting to God and mom at the same time, in a way I had never experienced ever before. Just wanted to share that. Mom passed away in mid-March. The blessing of this "reading to mom" is becoming a gift of blessing back to me, I never dreamed of. And to think, I did it out of emptiness so many days- like pushing forward when I could not see- almost like being in a fog.
Blessings to you out there in ciberworld whom I will never meet. But that is ok- because I know God loves you and he loves me, and I love you as well. Keep clawing and stratching- don't give up. TBlake
Heard an interesting comment last night on The Cleaner..."we should not mistake surviving for maturity".
Amen
Peace to All
I love that....what would it mean to not mistake surviving for maturity? Would it help me be more honest with myself? Would that honesty compel me to give God more room to do his work in my life?
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