Holy Spirit

So. Christians sometimes process the world a little differently than the general public.

I say this, because what I want to talk about may be foreign to folks who are not familiar with, or big believers in, the concept of the Holy Spirit. Most everyone will accept the idea that we, as humans are spiritual beings, searching for purpose and meaning from internal and external sources. But not everyone understands this business of the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost as folks used to call it before we all started to feel a little uncomfortable with referring to God as a "Ghost" on par with the likes of Casper, the friendly...)

When born-again Christians talk about the Holy Spirit, they are referring to an aspect of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the third piece of a simple, and yet complex holy power-sqaud that makes up our spiritual Avengers team. This dream team is comprised of Father God, creator of the Earth and the Heavens. He was the one sitting up in the Heavens, before there was anything else, who decided to take on one, massive endeavor, and build a universe including the likes of man and woman. Part two of the spiritual God-squad is The son of God, Jesus Christ who was our Father God in the flesh. Jesus was the method by which God descended from his heavenly throne, to walk the Earth with the people he created, and free his people from their slavery and sin by dying in the most brutal and sacrificial way imaginable. The Holy Spirit basically becomes the method by which we connect to Father God and our Savior, the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the way by which God communicates with us. I tend to think of Him as the Still Small Voice, the Guidepost, the Communicator. And in a delightful acknowledgement of God leading his people to Him, Christianity is not the only religion that acknowledges the Holy Spirit; Judaism, Islam and even Baha'i Faith acknowledge the Holy Spirit, (though not all buy into the concept of the Trinity).

For Christians, Jesus addressed the role of The Holy Spirit by identifying him as a friend:

John 14:15-17 (The Message)

“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!


So the Holy Spirit is IN us!

We are absolutely not alone. I feel pretty lucky that in my life, I have literally been able to witness the Holy Spirit at work in a tangible, visual way. But if you have ever felt a path, a plan, or reassurance of a choice brewing within you, and a wisdom beyond your own, chances are you have felt the work of the Holy Spirit.

I set the stage, and described (to the best of my humble ability) some identifiers of the Holy Spirit because it can be complicated to understand. But in MY life, I have personally felt the Spirit work. There is FRUIT in my life brought forth by communication with the Holy Spirit. I have been led to victory and protected from harm. I have felt a wisdom far beyond my humanness and had the fortune of making choices based on more than just a gut-check, but a conversation with my Spiritual compass.

So why all this emphasis on the Holy Spirit? Well, I happen to think that the Christian communion with the Holy Spirit makes us a pretty unique bunch of believers. We make BIG decisions based on guidance we receive from an unseen adviser, so we sometimes say or do things that make almost no sense to "outsiders". For this reason, we are not always very forthcoming about the depth of our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

But we should be forthcoming! We should emphasize the complete awesomeness of The Still Small Voice that leads us. It happens to be something so powerful it makes people truly wonder if this "Christianity thing" might just be the REAL DEAL. 

One day, as I was talking to my then-boyfriend (now husband) about a difficult situation in my life, I started ranting about all the things God and I had been talking about and how I was feeling "led". He was quiet for a while, unsure of how to respond to my faith-filled stream of consciousness. He then said something unexpected; that when I spoke this way it sometimes made him feel somewhat in awe of my intimacy with God because, he said, "You really BELIEVE." He knew I was a Christian. From our first meeting we had spoken about our religious differences numerous times. But something about me talking about my colloquial relationship with my Heavenly Father struck him as beyond "just" being religious, but as a true BELIEVER. 

Our personal relationship with God, our reliance on our Friend, the Holy Spirit, makes us uniquely equipped for navigating the mysteries in life. So in my life, when I am looking for guidance, I pray, I seek God, and when I start to feel a nudge, I try to open myself to the Holy Spirit so that I am LED to the right path.

When I started dating my husband I was super confused. For my whole life, I had been taught to look for a man who shared my beliefs. I had been taught to look for a Christian. Despite years of trying to find a nice, Christian boy, I couldn't seem to scrounge one up. And then a nice, Jewish boy came into my life instead. I was perplexed! He was NOT what I was looking for, and yet, almost immediately, he was exactly what I needed. I kept praying, assuming that God must have this one wrong, that the Spirit would lead me to the conclusion that a Jewish man was not the right thing for me.

But The Spirit did not answer the way I expected.

1 Corinthians 2:10-13 (The Message)

The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions.


As I prayed, as I "checked in" with God on this confusing matter of falling in love with a Jewish man, I never felt it was wrong. I didn't see a "Warning" sign, there were no "Red Flags" or "Danger Ahead" spiritual billboards. It seemed more like there was an unexpected, open door in front of me. There was a lot of unknown through that door, and in my humanity I worried that this path would be harder than I wanted it to be. But you know, when God calls you, when you feel that tug of the Holy Spirit to step out in faith, it's nearly impossible to ignore it.

The fear of missing out (FOMO) on what God had ordained for my life, the plan that was BIGGER than my tiny expectations, made me press forward towards that door, into the glorious beyond. But these steps, into a future, most unexpected are not always easy, and this is when I need the Holy Spirit to pour into my life, to help me "dive into the depths."

So I surrender. I make myself available to the guidance of the Spirit and I hold fast to the promise of God's plan being woven through my faith in Him.

The Holy Spirit drives Christians to make unexpected choices, to live outside the box, and to take gigantic leaps of faith, even when everyone else thinks we're nuts. It is complicated and perfectly simple. It is what makes us BELIEVERS. 

We Believe - Newsboys

L

Loss

I work with loss every day.

I am currently a Palliative Care Therapist on a Palliative Medicine team. Most people have no idea what that is, so I'll explain;

Palliative Care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing patients with relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.

So every day I meet people at a touchpoint where they are in the spectrum of illness, and partner with them to help navigate the emotional land mines that serious illness amplifies. Sometimes I work directly with patients, sometimes I spend the majority of my time with their family members. But I am always working with people for whom, the stakes have never been higher and the fear of loss has never been greater.

Loss.

I meet with people at a severe moment of need, and give them space and the permission, to process their feelings about what lies ahead. The pain they endure, the things they may have to change, the home they may have to leave, the family they have to rely on, the indignities they have to bear. They are dealing with loss; over and over again. Illness can chip away at what once was whole, and often leaves people in pieces.

I've held the hands of 90-year-olds, teared up with 70-year-olds, prayed with 50-year-olds and laughed with 30 year-olds. Each of them facing loss. I have heard, and carried their stories, advocated for their needs and tried to help "fix" as much as I can before they move on to the next part of their journey. Sometimes they are returning to their own home where everything is familiar, sometimes it's a nursing home where nothing is familiar, and sometimes it's hospice, where they will stretch beyond their fragile mortality to touch the other side.

Certainly people hear what I do, and wonder how I can work with people who are dying every day and not break into a million pieces...

The truth?

I've been broken before. And I was restored. I was abundantly restored! And then, because God knows exactly how to put us back together, he gave me the gift of this job. He gave it to me, at this time in my life, when He knew I could handle it. He allows me to walk alongside people who are breaking, and be safe haven for that brokenness. Daily; this work amplifies opportunities for me to remember where I have come from and help me see where I need to go.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (The Message)

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

And despite the fact that I bear witness to the visceral pain of profound loss almost every day, I am not numb to it. When pain touches, (even briefly) my own life, I am silenced by the vibrant fragility of our lives and the searing reality of loss.

An old friend of mine passed away yesterday.

Suddenly, the experience of loss, previously at a safe-distance, is reaching into my life and reminding me that tomorrow has not been promised. That THIS DAY is GIVEN and we are wise to live every last second out of it. Are you living every last second out of your days? Are you humbled by the supreme gift of another day?

Umm... Yes?

Yeah, so even though I work with death every day, even though I have literally been in the room when someone transcended their humanness, I still expect tomorrow to come.

And that's the human condition. We always think we have more time! One more day, one more moment. Even people who are dying are caught off guard by the stealth way death walks in. So what has my work with death taught me? What has loss taught me?

Try to be thankful.
Try to be mindful.
Try to do better.

"Love like I'm not scared.

Give when it's not fair.

Live life for another.

Take time for a brother.

Fight for the weak ones.

Speak out for freedom

Find faith in the battle.

Stand tall, but above it all,

Fix my eyes on YOU

On YOU."

Fix My Eyes - For King & Country

Loss.

It can sneak up on you.

Better live BIG right now.

Rest in Abundant & Heavenly Peace, Becky.

L