Author: Rebecca

Rebecca https://transformedheartblog.wordpress.com
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Reflecting, Remembering, and Helpful Hints for Aging Well

 

The dictionary definition of “reflect” is “to recollect or realize after thought, to think seriously; contemplate upon”; and the definition of “remember” is to “recollect , recall, or to bring back to mind again.”  Although, they are not synonyms, there is a similarity between the two words.

Thirteen years ago, my children bought me a unique journal called  “Reflections from a Mother’s Heart, Your Life Story in Your Own Words.” This type of book becomes a family legacy for your children. It also helps you remember important and interesting experiences from your past. Families used to have more time- and take more time- to talk to each other, to tell stories from the past, to look at their photos and photo albums, and even to read together.

However, in recent years, it seems like most families are living “life in the fast lane”. Everyone is too busy doing their own thing. Some families never even have a sit-down meal together anymore. I am really not surprised that there are so many elderly people with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease these days. Many seniors are left alone, not seeing their children or grandchildren very often. They often just watch television or look at Facebook to pass their time. I just read an article about how grandparents stay younger and healthier if they help care for their grandchildren. Learning a language or studying things that challenge the brain (like Algebra) can also help keep their brain healthier. Fasting, eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, cutting back on foods with lots of sugar or caffeine, and  exercising more can also help keep the mind sharp.

Organizing and decluttering your life can help, since most people in our culture own too much “stuff”. Try having a “technology fast” regularly, and read more instead, especially biographies of men and women of faith; but most importantly, invite Christ’s control over every area of your life and learn to “abide in Him” (Read John 15 and 1 John 2:28) As you reflect, especially on God, and enjoy the beauty of his creation, you may actually experience peace and quietness in your own private world.

Take Time to Reflect

Culture is full of chaos and disorder that often causes us stress and anxiety. You may feel like you “just can’t get your act together”, or like you are always a step behind. If so, I recommend that you take time to reflect and order your private world.

I highly recommend that you read Gordon McDonald’s classic book, Ordering Your Private World. Organizing the private world of one’s life seems to be a universal human struggle. There are many people whose lives are like one of Florida’s sinkholes. They feel like something is about to cave-in or collapse. Often when people feel so overwhelmed, they may just try to bring order to their surroundings by decluttering their home or office,  or they may read a self-help book hoping it will help them organize their busy schedules. However, most often the disorganization is actually in their private world. We actually need to declutter our minds. Being able to think clearly is very important. We need to take time to reflect on knowing what we believe and truly value, and to be able to commune with God deeply.

I really like this quote by John Wesley: “Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake more work than I can go through with calmness of Spirit.”

I found it helpful to see how McDonald divides the private world into these 5 parts:

1) Our motivation–what makes us function as we do?

2) What we do with the limited amount of time we have

3) How we use our intellect;  focusing on wisdom and knowledge (are we keeping our minds sharp?)

4)  Our spiritual strength–our spirit is the intimate place where we commune with the Father, which can also be thought of as the ‘garden of our private world’ (Remember the song, “I Come to the Garden Alone”?) Jesus regularly withdrew from the crowds to pray and spend time with God, especially in early morning hours.

5) The place of rest where we find peace for restoration, a very essential source for our inner organization. God did not intend for rest to be leisure and amusement as many people seem to think, but rather a necessity of quiet solitude for those who want to grow and mature in the Lord.

Seasons of Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Steve and Annie Chapman wrote and sang a song about seasons over 30 years ago.  If you’ve never heard the song, “Seasons of Life”, you should take a few minutes to listen to it today. The song compares the stages of life to the seasons of the year.

“Spring” represents youth when most people are healthy, energetic, and playful; but the young so quickly change to “summer”, and have new interests and responsibilities; then comes “fall”, the time when most people are busy with work and raising their families; lastly comes “winter”, a time of growing old, reminding me of what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7:

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:
2 While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,
And the clouds do not return after the rain;
3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
And the strong men bow down;
When the grinders cease because they are few,
And those that look through the windows grow dim;
4 When the doors are shut in the streets,
And the sound of grinding is low;
When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
And all the daughters of music are brought low.
5 Also they are afraid of height,
And of terrors in the way;
When the almond tree blossoms,
The grasshopper is a burden,
And desire fails.
For man goes to his eternal home,
And the mourners go about the streets.

6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

The days ahead  for someone in this season of life are usually fewer than the days behind. They have lots of memories, but their bodies begin to slow down and wear out. Although I am young in spirit and quite healthy, I am in the early stages of this season. However, I still have such peace, joy, and hope, because as the last line of that beautiful song says, “We’ll see Spring again in heaven, and it will last forever, forever, forever!” What does Spring remind you of? Flowers like daffodils?  New life, like the birth of a baby? Cherry blossoms? Or the Resurrection?

Transitioning From Freshman to Senior

I once heard an interesting saying that seems generally quite accurate. It goes like this: “College freshmen answer all the questions, and college seniors question all the answers.” What is the reason for this transition? Perhaps it’s because when young people first start college, they don’t  realize how small their world has been or how little they actually know.

Those students have just gone from being the oldest and most experienced students in high school to being the “frosh” in college. Then, as they continue their education, the courses get deeper and more challenging, and they begin to wonder if they know much of anything; they feel like they actually have more questions than they do answers.

I guess that’s sort of how I sometimes feel when it comes to really understanding the awesomeness of God and the incredible depth of His Word. When I was young in the faith and less familiar with the Scripture, I seemed to think that I had all the answers; yet now, I sometimes feel like I have as many questions as I do answers. Oh well! I think a line in one of Chris Rice’s songs says it well, “I’m saving up questions for heaven.”

Encouragement While You Wait

What comes to your mind when I mention waiting? For me, I think of the many times in my life when I had no choice but to wait. For example, as a child I would get so excited waiting for a holiday (like Christmas morning, thinking that it would never come), or waiting for a special event coming up (like our Thanksgiving family reunion). I would keep checking the calendar, or when I was very young, I would keep asking my mother how many more days I would have to wait.

Of course, there are so many things that we must wait for in life. We must wait to get over an illness, for the healing of a broken bone, for the healing of a relationship, for a wayward child to come home, and for the birth of a baby.

School children often wait for summer vacation, but then, others can’t wait for the new school year to begin. Some people have a hard time waiting for their high school or college graduation, so they can get a job or get married.

There are many, many times that we must wait whether we like it or not: while standing in line to pay for something, while on hold on the phone, while in a traffic jam, while at the doctor’s or dentist’s office, and while at the airport. We also wait for winter to end, for a pay check,  for something we ordered to arrive in the mail, for the release of a new book or movie, and many young people eagerly await the day when they can get their license to drive.

It’s also worth mentioning all the times we should have waited, but didn’t, and some of the difficult situations and consequences that result from not waiting. Perhaps you ended up in an abusive marriage or an ugly divorce, because you were in too big of a hurry to get married. Or, because you didn’t keep yourself pure before marriage, you ended up alone and pregnant, and had to quit school and go to work to support a child. We can see there are many reasons that we must or should wait patiently in life.

The following are some Scriptures to encourage you while you wait:

  • Psalm 40:1-I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
  • Psalm 27:14- Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
  • Psalm 37:7-Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him
  • Isaiah 40:31-But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
  • Isaiah 49:23-thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
  • Proverbs 20:22-Do not say, “I will [a]recompense evil”;
    Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.
  • Romans 8:19, 23- For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
  • Hebrews 9:28-To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

My favorite word in the Spanish language is “esperanza”. This word has two different meanings. One is “hope” and the other one is “to wait for”. It was so interesting to me when I learned the meaning of this word, because it reminds me of the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Because of this hope, we are not only waiting for His return, but we can also wait on Him to answer our prayers as we pour out our hearts to Him.

A Prayer for Healing Memories

As I was sorting through some old papers, and looking for things to recycle and throw away, I came across this prayer by Agnes Sanford. I had copied this into my journaling notebook when I was in college (and really struggling with our dysfunctional family situation). I thought it may be helpful to someone who is reading my blogs:

“Lord Jesus, I ask you to enter into this person who has need of your healing in the depths of the mind. I ask you to come, Lord, as a careful housekeeper might come into a house that has long been closed and neglected. Open all the windows and let in the fresh wind of your Spirit. Raise the shades, that the sunlight of Your love may fill this house of the soul. Where there is sunlight, there cannot be darkness. Therefore, I rejoice that as the light of Your love now fills this mansion of the soul, all darkness shall flee away. And indeed in Your Name I speak to that darkness gently telling it that it cannot abide here in this one whom you have redeemed upon your cross. Look and see, O Lord, whether there be any ugly pictures, take them down and give to this memory-house pictures of beauty and joy; so out of all the ugliness of the past make beauty. Transform old sorrows into the power to comfort others who have sorrowed. Heal old wounds by your redemptive love, and turn them mysteriously into a love that heals the wounds of others.

Go back, O Lord, through all the rooms of this memory-house. Open every closed door and look into every closet and bureau drawer and see if there be any dirty and broken things that are no longer needed in one’s present life, and if so, O Lord take them completely away. I give thanks! for this is the promise of the Scriptures: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm103:12) Look, O Lord, upon any memories that may come up from the deep mind as those words are meditated upon, and in Thy mercy fulfill in this thy servant that forgiveness accomplished long ago on Calvary.

Go back even to the nursery in this memory-house — even to the years of childhood. Here, also, open windows long sealed and let in the gentle sunlight of Your love. Here, more than anywhere, Lord, make everything clean and beautiful within. Take a broom of mercy and sweep away all dirt from the floor of this memory-room, even the confusion and horror and the shame of ancient memories, perhaps of childish and uncomprehended sins, perhaps of the sins of the parents, those parents who should have been as God to this child, and were not.

Take a clean cloth, O Lord, and wash away all dust and wipe away every stain from the walls and from the furniture. Purge this Your child with hyssop, O Lord that the heart may be clean. Wash this one, that the soul (which was created in your own image and after your own likeness), may be whiter than snow. Look within the closets and under the furniture and see whether there be any broken and dirty toys, and old unclean rags of memory that are surely not needed any more at all in the adult life. And if so, O Lord, take them entirely away; gather them into your own redemptive love , that the burden of them may rest upon the soul no more.

Follow the soul of this Your child all the way back to the hour of birth and heal the soul even of the pain and the fear of being born into this darksome world. Restore in the soul that bright memory of your eternal being, that is not exactly memory, but which is rather an emanation, an unconscious infilling of the eternal radiance from which this one was born. And if even before birth the soul was shadowed by this human life and was darkened by the fears or sorrow of the human parents, then I pray that even those memories and impressions may be healed, so that this one may be restored to your original  pattern, the soul as free and as clean as though nothing had ever dimmed its shining. Thus, I pray, O Lord, that you will restore the soul as You made it to be and will quicken and awaken in it all those creative impulses and ideas that you have placed therein, so that whatever your purpose may be for its human pilgrimage, that purpose may be fulfilled.

‘He restores my soul,’ so said David long ago. ‘He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.’ (Psalm 23:3) I give thanks, O Lord, knowing that this healing of the soul is Your will and is the very purpose of the giving of Your life for us, and therefore, it is now being accomplished, and by faith, I set the seal upon it. Amen.”

 

Why “Transformed Heart”?

The name of my blog is based on Romans 12:1 and 2 from the Bible. I still love the way these verses are worded in the King James Version, which say, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Wouldn’t we all like to know what God’s perfect will is?)

And so, I will be sharing truths I have learned, and am learning, on my journey through life on this earth while it is in a “fallen” condition; but also, I want to encourage and remind some of you of some exciting verses from the last chapters of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Although things are “not the way they are supposed to be” right now, Revelation 21:1, and 3-5 tells us that before long (if we are a born-again child of God), we will be experiencing “a new heaven and a new earth” and we will see that “the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.”

That should make us all very excited, but especially those of you, who like me, have experienced a lot of sorrow in this life. Just think, no more tears, ever….!

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Small But Exceeding Wise

There are four things which are little on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:
The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;
The rock badgers are a feeble folk,
Yet they make their homes in the crags;
The locusts have no king,
Yet they all advance in ranks;
The spider skillfully grasps with its hands,
And it is in kings’ palaces. (Proverbs 30:24-28)

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Give Me Your Eyes

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Matthew 5:1 begins with the words “And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain…”
When Jesus saw the multitudes, what did He see that we so often miss when we look at the people around us? I believe He saw their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. I want to be more observant, too, of the needs of the people with whom I come in contact. Brandon Heath has a beautiful song about this that has become a prayer for me. I hope that as you read the following words to the chorus of that song that you would also pray these words:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I keep missing,
Give your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me Your eyes so I can see.