When God Puts Us in “Time Out”

A few columns ago I shared that we had acquired a yellow lab puppy. Cleo is now four months old and full of energy. Our other dog, Colby, is a two and-a-half year old mid-sized mixed breed. They are fun, exhausting, and frustrating, all wrapped into one.

Some days the “frustrating” aspect is at its peak. Colby is bigger (for now), and very dominating. He won’t share anything with Cleo, who seems to want whatever Colby has. The dogs run through the house rough housing, growling loudly and yipping constantly. Last week the stress escalated to a point where I knew I had to do something. I said a quick prayer for help and was suddenly reminded of my four-year-old granddaughter, Elaina. At our last visit, while she and “PeePaw” put a puzzle together, she showed him her time out chair. “It’s where I go when I don’t obey,” she explained.

I realized that if time out works for kids, it could work for dogs, so I put Colby outside in the fenced yard for a while. Then, right before I let him back inside, I put Cleo in her crate for a nap. Ahhh, peace at last.

I heard another reference to “time out” this week that, at first, was funny. During our jail ministry board meeting, another board member mentioned that sometimes God puts people in “time out” when they go to jail. It can be His way of getting their attention, especially when they “don’t obey”.

It made me stop and think, because God has ways of getting the attention of law abiding adults, too. Sometimes it takes something serious, like an accident or illness, for us to slow down. In those times (jail time or physical impairment), we need to remember that what Satan means for harm, God can turn into good (Genesis 50:20). God may choose to stop us in our tracks to keep us from going down the wrong path, and in the process hopefully turn our heart to Him. Sometimes God allows “a time out” in our life for His divine purposes.

When kids are put in time out, the goal is for them to realize they have made a bad choice. We want them to learn from it, and, if warranted, apologize. God hopes for the same reaction from us. He is not being mean when He puts us in time out; rather, He is showing us how much He loves us. If we are making wrong choices (including not choosing to have Him in our life at all), He sometimes goes to extremes to get our attention…even sending His innocent Son to the cross…on our behalf.

Our parents trained us for a little while. They did what they thought was best. But God trains us for our good. He wants us to share in his holiness. No training seems pleasant at the time. In fact, it seems painful. But later on it produces a harvest of godliness and peace. It does that for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:10-11 NIRV).

Taking "time out" for Jesus,
Connie

Fresh Starts

A while back I wrote about “do overs”, how we can’t go back and do any part of our life over, no matter how much we desire. I went on to say that the secret to wanting fewer “do overs” in life is to keep Jesus in the forefront, living with the end in mind.

Recently, while praying over what to write in my weekly newspaper column, I realized that we all need reminded (myself included) that, while we can’t “do it over”, we can have a fresh start every day, no matter our past. When we confess our sins and truly repent, God wipes the slate clean. He forgives and forgets, and expects us to do the same; forgive ourself, forgive others, and get on with serving Him. To stay “stuck” in our past is to say that we don’t believe God is who He says He is. We are actually saying we don’t believe He is a redeemer and a restorer.

The word “restore” is mentioned over one hundred times in the Bible. Often it refers to giving back what the enemy has stolen. It can even mean restoration of our inner peace: "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake” (Psalms 23:3). Not only can God fill us with His hope, peace and tranquility, He can also nudge us to get back on track and go in the right direction.

When my son was young, around eight or nine years old, he would sometimes wake up saying, “Mom, I am excited about today, but I don’t know why.”

It wasn’t Christmas or his birthday. As a matter of fact, there usually wasn’t anything on the calendar for that day. He was facing the day like we all should, with excitement and anticipation of the good things that could happen.

"Do you ever feel that way, Mom?” Chase asked once. “Like you know something good is going to happen, but you don’t know what?”

Yes, yes I have.

Oh, to wake up everyday with the excitement of a child! To begin our day wondering what is in store for us, keeping our eyes open to the awesome way God might show up in our life; looking for Him and expecting to see His works around every corner.

The prophet Jeremiah knew the secret: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart,” (Jeremiah 29:13).

This year is still relatively young; why not commit to having a fresh start every day by pursuing Jesus with all your heart. Come to Him with the simple faith of a young child, beginning each morning with excitement and expectancy.

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly,” (Psalm 5:3).

Seeking Him,
Connie

Upcoming Prison Book – Stories Needed!

If you know an inmate/ex-inmate, minister to one, work with one, or are one, and you have a short "God story" that you would like to share, please let me know!

I am contracted with AMG Publishers to co-write an upcoming book in their "Battlefields and Blessings" series of books. The subtitle is, "Stories of Faith and Courage from Prison”. The book will be released in the fall of 2012. It will have 365 devotionals, each 350-400 words and one scripture verse. (If you need more words to tell your story accurately, you may have several consecutive devotionals.)

You DO NOT have to do the writing, but you are welcome to. Also, names and locations can be changed.

Please submit your stories ASAP. Deadline is Feb. 29, 2012, but the sooner I receive them the better chance you have of getting a slot in the book.

If you have a good true “God story” about any aspect of incarceration that you feel led to share, please email me, thru my website.

Subject ideas include, but are not limited to:

• Finding God behind bars
• Beginning a ministry while incarcerated
• Leading another inmate to the Lord
• Witnessing a divine miracle in jail/prison
• How God changed your life after incarceration
• Your involvement in jail/prison ministry as a volunteer
• “God moments” for staff members/employees of prisons
• Growth in the Lord as a family member or friend of an inmate

AMG Publishers has final say concerning which stories are selected, and stories may be edited for clarity. AMG will provide a copy of the book to those whose stories are included.

A release form will need to be signed (I will provide it).

Thank you!

Connie Cameron
Author, Columnist, and Secretary of the Board, LC Jail Ministries
http://www.lcjm.org

No “Do Overs”

Do you remember playing a game as a child, and if it wasn’t going the way you wanted (you weren’t winning) you’d call out, “Do over!” You might even have kept repeating those two words until you actually won. Or maybe you were practicing a musical piece and goofed up during the first stanza. Again, “Do over!” you’d exclaim.

As adults, how many times at the end of a year do we look back and long to beg, “Do over, please!” Maybe what leads us to that desperate request were some poor choices we made, such as our mortgage – we never should have agreed to those painful balloon payments. We assumed our income would increase and that the value of our home would, too, but instead we lost our job and our house. Or maybe it was that new car scent that got us to sign on a whim. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a new car…” we yearned. Or perhaps your “do over” doesn’t have anything to do with money. Maybe it was words spoken in haste or in anger. “If I’d just walked away and kept my mouth shut…”

We all have them – regrets. Oh sure, I’ve run into people who say they live their life so that they don’t have any, but I believe that in most cases they are either very young, they are fibbing, or they haven’t done much with their life. We all have sin in our life and the Bible says we are to hate sin. In that respect we should be regretful of our sins so that we humble ourselves before God and ask His forgiveness.

Because I am human I will not stop sinning this side of heaven, but I have found the secret as to how to lessen the longing for “do overs” in my life. Actually, John nailed it when he said:

“I must decrease so that He will increase in my life”, (John 3:30).

How do we do that? How do we decrease and how do we increase Jesus in our life? For starters, we need to put Him first. As soon as you awaken talk to the Lord, then ask Him to help you throughout your day. Spend time in God’s word, studying it and praying it back to Him. Put God above yourself, humbling yourself, obeying Him, and putting others before your own wants and needs.

I’ve had the privilege of visiting several people on their deathbed, praying with them as they prepare to leave this world. Not one of them has ever said they regret what they did for Jesus. Most are feeling quite the opposite, wishing they could have a “do over” and put Him first instead of last, or maybe He wasn’t even in their life at all.

We are in a race and we can’t go back and salvage any time lost from 2011, but we can resolve not to waste 2012. We can do our part to make disciples in all nations, share His message of hope with a hurting world, and love our neighbor as we love ourself. In other words, we can resolve to live this year as if it will be our last.

Because, when our heart truly yearns for Home, we won’t want to stay here and do it over.

Jesus said, “The time has come. The holy nation of God is near. Be sorry for your sins, turn from them, and believe the Good News,” (Mark 1:15).

Believing in Him,
Connie

Prisoner of Love

When I think of Jesus’s physical birth and how God could have arranged the birth anywhere and in any setting, it speaks of “humility” right off the bat. God purposely chose such humble beginnings (a young, poor couple as parents and a dirty, stinky stable for the location) as the opening scene in the greatest love story ever told. Fast-forward to the final scene of Jesus’ natural life and you see Him being treated as the worst of criminals. He was spat upon, beaten and flogged beyond recognition, yet He was completely innocent. Jesus was a prisoner of love, by His choice, and He even chose to forgive every single person who mistreated Him.

Corrie Ten Boom was a prisoner of love, too. She was an amazing Christian woman who survived extreme brutality in a German concentration camp. Corrie and her family were arrested after having rescued many Jews from certain death during the Nazi Holocaust. I have seen a quote by her twice in the past few days: "Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you." It led me to revisit her book, The Hiding Place, and an excerpt that revealed how God miraculously changed her hardened heart. You may have heard this specific story, too, about when she spoke at a church service in Munich and was confronted by a former guard from Ravensbruck. As soon as she saw him, the memories of the horrible mistreatment came flooding back.

The guard approached Corrie, following her message about forgiveness, to thank her, adding, “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!”

When he thrust his hand out to shake hers, Corrie kept her hand at her side. Even though she had preached so often about the need to forgive, angry thoughts coursed through her veins. Immediately, however, she saw the sin of her own unforgiveness and realized, “Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.”

As she took his hand an amazing thing happened. Beginning in her shoulder and running down her arm, a current of love seemed to pass from her to him. It was of such intensity that it almost overcame her.

Then Corrie wrote two amazing sentences: “And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

This Christmas season, allow God to change your heart. Instead of being a prisoner to hatred and unforgiveness, allow God, through the power of Jesus Christ, to make you a prisoner of love. You can forgive those who have wronged you. It is the greatest gift you can give yourself. In exchange, you will receive the priceless gifts of peace, joy and love.

“If you forgive people their sins, your Father in heaven will forgive your sins also,” (Matthew 6:14).

In awe of His love,
Connie