July 15 - The Whispering, Speaking and Shouting of God

Scripture focus: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the Shadow of the Almighty. He will cover you with His feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:1, 4

Post traumatic stress disorder is a normal human response to an abnormal situation. God created us to love and be loved -- any betrayal of this lifestyle causes serious damage to a human. There are several kinds of suffering that require us to dwell in the shelter of the Most High if we want to be healed and restored to health.

• Crisis -- predictable, anticipated events that are still difficult and may cause us to hit a wall in our ability to thrive. They may cause disequilibrium or chaos, their refining fires may reveal weaknesses in our coping skills.
• Trauma -- an event that is unpredictable, unanticipated, unthinkable that we are powerless and hopeless to change. We cannot impact the event. We can't change the outcome. We can't cope with its devastation without the wings of God. It is inevitable that trauma robs our sense of safety and security and causes a profound sense of terminal uniqueness and isolation from the human experience.
• Grief -- a normal response to loss, often including feelings of intense sorrow, anger, depression, loneliness, and even physical symptoms. Whether the crisis is real or imagined, anticipated or unexpected -- the impact can be the same.

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." --C.S. Lewis

Don't be deaf to the murmurings of God or we might end up ill-equipped to respond to the shout of God.

May we pick up our shield and stand behind our rampart -- (wall, fortification, barricade, etc.) so that we find comfort in our day of need.

Recommended reading: Galatians 1-3

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

July 14 - Whole brain experiences

Scripture focus: Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

Betrayal, stress and trauma get the mid-brain all fired up and ready to fight or flee.

In the moment of our deepest misery, our mind goes on autopilot, and our mission becomes survival.

The problem with this plan is that we were not created to merely survive; we were created to thrive.

One of the ways to counteract the stress response system is to stop. Be still. Engage the whole brain -- and remember that God is God, and we are not. Exalt him by giving him his proper place -- reign over you.

It is amazing what a twenty minute timeout can achieve.

When we have been traumatized, it is an unfortunate truth that in our haste to save ourselves, we unwittingly hurt self and/or others.

Our military families are experiencing tremendous collateral damage as husbands and wives, mothers and fathers return home suffering from the effects of long term exposure to stress. Suicide, divorce, and maladaptive coping strategies upon re-entry are rampant.

This is not surprising. But it is survivable. We can get the message of hope out to hurting people. God can and will save us from the effects of living in a harsh world.

Be still. Know that God is God. Exalt him in your moments, so that he can lift you up out of your despair.

Recommended reading: Psalm 84-86

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

July 13 - Ill-equipped but God restored

Scripture focus: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 (NIV)

Stress, trauma, crisis, and grief; sin, shame, betrayal and heartache -- the human body, mind, and spirit is not equipped to handle any of this suffering. We can't manage it or handle it, cope with it or keep its insidious effects at bay.

What we can do is allow God's refining fire to produce gold in us.

This process hurts and takes time.

It is my prayer that we ask God to help us, and we use our whole brain to hold back the cries of our mid-brain, so eager to look for quick fixes and magical cures.

Pause to prepare.

Stop the insanity of trying to find a way out on our own, independent of God.

What would you do differently today if you knew God was our refuge, strength and ever-present help in the midst of our trouble?

Do it.

Recommended reading: Psalm 81-83

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

July 12 - Mending Humpty Dumpty

Scripture focus: But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public--to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it's now--this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. We've finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade. God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion. But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don't we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it. Romans 3:21 and following, selected verses from (The Message)

Lawrence Calhoun and Richard Tedeschi, professors at UNC-Charlotte, report that "Trauma can lead to positive change, improve relationships, the possibilities for one's life, a greater appreciation for life, a greater sense of personal strength and spiritual development...[there is] a basic paradox achieved by trauma survivors, that somewhere in they say, they now see their losses as producing valuable gains for them. They may find themselves becoming more comfortable with intimacy and having a greater sense of compassion for others who experience life difficulties."

Trauma tears us apart and God puts Humpty back together again. I pray you will allow God to knit you together, one stitch at a time, beginning today.

Recommended reading: Psalm 78-80

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

July 11 - All have sinned

Scripture focus: Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There's nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They've all taken the wrong turn; they've all wandered down blind alleys. No one's living right; I can't find a single one. Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, Don't know the first thing about living with others. They never give God the time of day.

This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin. Romans 3:10-20 (The Message)

We get it, right? No one lives right. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So where's the hope?

According to Lawrence Calhoun and Richard Tedeschi, professors at UNC-Charlotte, there's plenty of reason to hope. "Trauma can lead to positive change..."

Let me suggest a hard truth. Sometimes we love our trauma more than we desire our freedom.

Getting stuck in our hurt feelings and victim status freezes us from action. It gives us a good excuse to not live the right life.

I know this sounds harsh, and I do not mean to minimize the nature and significance of our suffering -- haven't we spent months acknowledging the profound and deleterious effects of betrayal?

At some point we have to decide what is going to define us -- our suffering or our Savior.

What is your defining life moment up to this point in your journey?

Tomorrow we turn our attention to the solution. Whew! I can't wait!

Recommended reading: Psalm 75-77

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

July 10 - Dark, spiraling downward

Scripture focus: Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done. You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change. You're not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it's going to blaze hot and high, God's fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what's coming to you--Real Life for those who work on God's side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire! If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won't give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind. If you sin without knowing what you're doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you're doing, that's a different story entirely. Merely hearing God's law is a waste of your time if you don't do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God. Romans 2:1-13 (The Message)

Symptoms of dark, spiraling downward (as a result of toxic exposure to sin, shame, crisis and trauma):

• Exposure to betrayal and trauma teaches us unhealthy ways of relating to God and others.


• Experiences with betrayal and trauma causes us to relive the event (this is not remembering, physiologically it is as if the event is repeated and re-experienced). This causes further damage.


• Exposure to crisis and trauma causes us to live in a state of hyper-arousal -- increasing our stress and compulsion to live in survival mode (which means we can only think about ourselves).


• Trauma numbs us -- a form of emotional retreat.


• Crisis and trauma trigger our stress response and we either fight or flee -- occasionally at times and in response to events that are unwarranted.


• Dissociation -- the ability to take one's self to another place other than their own body -- an extreme form of escapism in the face of powerlessness.


• Survivor guilt -- not all survive their traumas, and those that do survive often ponder why they escaped.


• Addiction -- self-medication of unresolved trauma, a form of comfort.

Frequency of exposure, intensity, age of onset, previous history with trauma and the availability of help all determine the impact and duration of suffering. But suffice it to say, if you have been exposed to trauma, your inability to find the good life might be more reaction to your suffering than a decision to live independently of God.

Recommended reading: Psalm 72-74

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

July 9 - Underestimating the enemy

Scripture focus: So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them--the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes! Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either--women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men--all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it--emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches. Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care--worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best! Romans 1:24-32 (The Message)

I wonder if you, like me, have under-estimated our enemy.

Once I made the decision to trust God with my life, I soon felt defeated by my own inability to live the life God desired for me. This filled me with shame, blame and condemnation. Soon I discovered that my new, God-pursuing life was as frustrating as my previous godless existence. I blamed myself and others.

Finally, someone helped me understand that this propensity to invent new ways to wreck my life was not all my fault -- even though I had a lot that I needed to accept personal responsibility for. As I learned that betrayal, sin, shame, crisis and trauma wears down our God-created selves, I was able to relax the self-recriminations and allow God to heal me.

Rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing is toxic to the human spirit.

For today, I want you to consider the possibility that your own exposure to evil has confused your mind and heart -- leaving you vulnerable to sin and shame. I wonder if you'd do me a great favor, and decide -- just for today -- to suspend judgment of yourself and others. Instead, replace the time you spend on envy, bickering and cheating on getting to know God. Design a system that reminds you to acknowledge him multiple times daily. That's all -- simply acknowledge him. Suspend expectations and just do it -- get to know God. At a minimum, it will reduce the piling on of sin and shame. Ultimately, I believe it will free us to live the abundant life Jesus promised us.

Recommended reading: Psalm 69-71

- click on the word comments and join our conversation

© Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community