BIRD BRAINS

"Birds retain strong memories of places where they have been threatened or alarmed. Margaret nice noted that a tame Song Sparrow was deeply agitated when taken into a room where he had been shown a stuffed Barred Owl more than four months earlier. The same sparrow was even moderately alarmed when exposed to the outline of a model of an owl that had frightened him thirteen months earlier and that he had not seen in the interval."

Alexander F. Skutch
The Mind of Birds
Team A & M University Press  1996
p. 18

We've been reading about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families).

Hmmm. I think this applies. I used to think PTSD was all about service men and women; and if anyone has permission to that experience, they do. But I feel anxiety rise without warning in certain situations--and have realized, recently, the feeling is at least a cousin to PTSD.

EverGrowing With An EverPresent and EverLoving God,
Lonnie

MISSING CORRIE TEN BOOM

"The Butlers (who headed Corrie's organization, Christians, Inc.) said, 'Few Christians take risks. Corrie would take risks and when the big time came, it was just more challenge for her to meet God. God created a strong leader for our time--someone who went through things we fear, to show us that He will take care of us."

Carol C. Carlson
Corrie ten Boom: Her Life Her Faith
Fleming H. Revell Company  p. 211

Missing Corrie. What great stories of faith she told, and left for us.

Who are your faith heroes? If you haven't read their stories lately, maybe now is a good time.
EverGrowing,
Lonnie

TEN MILLION DOLLARS TO RESEARCH FORGIVENESS

"The LosAngeles Times recently reported that the Templeton Foundation gave a $10 Million grant to a team of psychologists, sociologists, and neuroscientists, earmarked for 'forgiveness research.' The researchers determined that the problem with forgiveness is that most people are willing to forgive but don't know how.

"They concluded that the ingredients required for forgiving someone included facing up to the fact that you've been hurt, giving up the grudge, and choosing to show mercy. They spent $10 Million to confirm the Bible's teachings are true. God commanded, 'Do not take revenge . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.' (Romans 12:19, 21)"

Bob Russell with Rusty Russell
Jesus: Lord of Your Personality
Howard Publishing  2002
P. 87

It's Sunday, the Christians' Sabbath . . . a day of rest. Can't think of a better way to "rest" than to put down those heavy grudges and hurts we've been carrying around.

Yes?

Ever Challenged--EverGrowing,
Lonnie

P.S.
"Forgiveness can be instantaneous. Trust takes time to earn."
Bob Russell with Rusty Russell
p. 85

FROZEN WITH FEAR

"We've all felt fear, and we give it lots of different titles: apprehension, anxiety. There's a lot of fear out there. Having courage doesn't mean you've conquered every fear, but holding on to fear keeps us frozen in place. It keeps us from doing basic things to survive."

Chaplain Commander Doyle Dunn
A Greater Freedom: Stories of Faith From Operation Iraqi Freedom
Oliver North, Executive Editor/Stories by Sarah Horn
Broadman & Holman  2004
p. 80

I've known that fear and faith cannot co-exist. And, of course, I've known that fear is not helpful. I don't think I've ever thought of it keeping me from doing the basic things to survive. Yet, if I look back at some of my trials, I see myself immobilized, kind of like those dreams where someone is chasing you and you can't make your legs move. Frozen with fear . . . and begging for deliverance. Be it through His Word, others' prayers or my own, God has given me courage to take the first step. He has seen me "through." 

EverGrowing,
Lonnie

BURDEN OF "CHOICE"

"We do not always like the enormous freedom to choose that we actually possess. It frightens us. It makes us responsible."

Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend
It's Not My Fault
Integrity Publishers  2007
p. 12

Sometimes, we are so insistent on discovering God's will; especially with the big things of life: large purchases, job changes, relocating. Do we seek His will, at times, so that we have Someone to blame when it doesn't work out, or when the path isn't as smooth as we expected it to be? Just saying . . . think "I've" been there.

How about you?

EverGrowing,
Lonnie

LETTERS TO GOD

"All I do know is that when I write letters to God, no matter how mundane they are, God answers his mail . . . '

Henriette Anne Klauser
Write It Down, Make It Happen
Scribner eBook
p. 123/Nook

I love getting a good ways through a book, and discovering that the author may very well have a relationship with God. Whether written mail or voice mail, God answers . . .
EverGrowing,
Lonnie

WHY DO YOU SAY . . . "YES?"

"Saying yes is a favorite habit of the woman who always feels too busy . . . We have a thousand ways of saying yes, and lots of reasons for doing so. For one thing,

yes gets people off our backs.
It makes us feel omnipotent.
It boosts our self-esteem (temporarily).
It keeps us from being bored.
It saves us from having to be purposeful about what we choose to do.
And it flatters our ego because we're needed and viewed as capable.

"We may not be bored, but we're doing something uninteresting to us, and we're doing it without conviction.
 We beat ourselves up because we didn't have the courage to say no.
Or maybe we just got uncomfortable saying no and wanted to try a little yes on for size."

Linda Andersen
The Too Busy Book
Waterbrook Press   2004
p. 143

Why do YOU say yes?

EverGrowing,
Lonnie