Tag: Holy Spirit

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Getting to the Root of Things

At times we don’t want to admit something is wrong with us.

I had that happen recently when we went down to Tennessee to visit my parents and attend a conference. I was bothered by some tooth pain every once in a while, but the feeling passed and I just tried not to worry about it.

We got to the conference on Monday and enjoyed the speaker and meeting other pastors (and some of their spouses) that evening. Again, a little pain…and I wasn’t feeling like myself.

On Tuesday morning, I had swelling that was noticeable and I really didn’t feel well. I popped a few ibuprofen and sat through the teaching sessions. In the afternoon, we decided I’d better text a friend back in Volga who worked for a dentist (we didn’t have a new dentist yet since we just moved here around January 1).

She graciously texted back and forth and showed the dentist pictures of my swollen jaw.

With that evidence, they were able to prescribe antibiotics out of state and we picked them up later that day. They also directed me to take 800 mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours for pain.

I could really feel it when the pills wore off, and my swelling got worse before it got better.

I wondered if I could make it until the next Monday when I could get in to see this new dentist, but I moved forward each day hoping for the best.

I hoped maybe the antibiotics would take care of it and I wouldn’t need a root canal when I got home, but I tried to prepare myself for that possibility. I had gotten a filling in that tooth before we moved away from Platte and the dentist there had warned me about the possibility of needing a root canal at some point in the future.

It seems that time had come.

Sure enough, after an exam and x-rays on Monday, the dentist referred me to another place in Watertown to have a root canal. I had mixed feelings about how soon they could get me in, but I agreed to show up on Wednesday for the procedure.

I really psyched myself out before I got there. I felt anxious and a bit teary on the way. Once I got there, I tried to act calm, but my insides were doing all sorts of strange things. After they gave me the novocaine, I felt my heart pounding for several minutes while I tried to breathe deeply and calm down (thankfully, it stopped its jumping pretty quickly).

I took my earbuds along and listened to a podcast while they were working on me. With my eyes closed, I could almost pretend I wasn’t there.

I heard the drill and felt a little pressure, but I felt absolutely no pain. It was over in less than an hour and I was on my way home again (trying not to drool because of my numb face).

The experience got me thinking about how important it is to get to the root of things in other areas of our lives.

Sometimes we feel pain in a relationship or we don’t feel good about something going on in our lives, but we try to ignore it. We hope the situation will get better without doing anything, or we numb the pain however we can.

We may struggle with a certain sin that we just can’t seem to let go. It festers and poisons us, but we pretend it isn’t there.

If I hadn’t started taking antibiotics for my tooth abscess, the infection could have spread to other parts of my body and caused some serious complications.

When we don’t address the sin and/or emotional pain in our lives, the negative effects of that can spread to other areas of our lives and cause serious complications in our relationships, our emotional health, and our spiritual health.

We need to let Jesus get to the root.

He may help us get rid of the problem completely, or he may show us who we need to go to so we can get the help we need.

Still a little swollen, but feeling better!

My tooth was dead when I got to the endodontic office on Wednesday. It needed to be hollowed out and filled with something better so the tooth could stay in my mouth.

The Holy Spirit can help us get to the root of the problems in our lives. He’ll extract all the dead and poisonous thoughts and actions, and he’ll help us replace them with life-giving beliefs and convictions.

Now that’s something to smile about!

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 NIV)

Have you ever tried to ignore a sin or problem in your life? How can focusing on God help you get to the root of things?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Editing

This week I’m attending PENCON—a virtual conference (at least this year) for Christian editors. I’m enjoying it so much. I’m learning new things about editing and being challenged to improve my skills. It has also been encouraging to hear from other editors who lament the fact that they’ll never catch every error in a client’s project, but they are determined to do the very best they can to make an author’s words shine for their readers.

Authors are constantly being mentioned in the sessions and the conversations we are having. After all, editors wouldn’t have jobs if there weren’t writers who need editing.

A writer has to be trusting and accept the changes the editor makes. If the author rejects every change and ignores every suggestion for improvement, their piece of writing will remain rough and possibly unclear.

Inexplicably, there are authors like that. They pay an editor large sums of money for their services, and then fight the changes the editor wants to make. The writer wants to hold on to the precious words they’ve crafted, unwilling to move things around, delete, or rewrite.

It’s much better when an author will agree to the changes made or suggested by a good editor. They might grieve the loss of a scene or character they’ve grown to love, but the writer will let it go because they trust that the editor has the good of their writing in mind.

The author and editor develop a mutually beneficial relationship that results in a polished project that will have the greatest impact on a reader—whether that impact is for learning, inspiration, or entertainment.

All of us have an editor in life.

It’s God, of course, working in us through the Holy Spirit. He firmly points out changes that need to be made in our lives. Some things need a little tweaking, others need to be rewritten, and many may need to be deleted.

It hurts. We love our lives. Even if we don’t love every part, we’ve at least gotten comfortable with our habits and relationships.

When the Holy Spirit points out something that needs to change, we may want to reject his suggestion, like a stubborn writer refuses to accept editing.

When we do that, we’re destined to remain rough and confused in our lives. We’ll never become the person God wants us to be. We’ll never make the greatest impact we can on the world around us.

We have to trust the editor. God has our best in mind, and he wants to make us into the image of Jesus, his son. He won’t change our personality or voice, but he’ll change us and make us the very best we can be if we work with him.

Let’s not be clueless and stubborn. Let’s be teachable and accept the changes.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12–13 NIV)

Do you work with the Holy Spirit when he wants to make changes in your life? How can focusing on God help you to accept those changes and become more like Christ?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on What’s on Our Minds

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding it even harder than usual to concentrate lately.

There are so many thoughts bouncing around in my head. Some are helpful and hopeful. Others are not helpful and they lead to despair if I focus on them too much.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been learning more and more about how important our thoughts are. I’ve been learning how to look at what I’m thinking and make sure those thoughts are true and that they’re moving me in the right direction in life. It has been interesting, enlightening, and sometimes disturbing to see what’s on my mind.

Our brains are incredibly complex. And when we deal with depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses, it can be especially challenging to figure out how much of our thinking is under our control and how much is affected by the illness.

I’m a Christian, so I’ve always know how important it is to believe God’s truth instead of Satan’s lies. I’ve done Bible studies about it and practiced it–with varying degrees of success. I even started a Facebook group this week called “Catch Your Thoughts” (based on 2 Corinthians 10:5) because I want to help people learn about and improve their thinking.

So it surprised me when I watched a Facebook live event and heard speaker Brenda Yoder talk about our mind (intellect) being influenced by either the flesh or the Spirit. She said it in the context of how important it is for writers to ask God what they should be writing about, but I latched onto it as the missing piece of the “Thought Life” puzzle I’ve been working on for a long time.

Of course! How could I have forgotten how important the Holy Spirit is when it comes to my thoughts? I’ve learned that. I’ve known that. I’ve experienced that. But lately, I had been relying solely on my intellect (my mind, will, and emotion) to sort out what I was thinking and if it was good for me.

Worse yet, there have been many times when I’ve allowed the flesh (my sinful nature and the world) to control how I’m thinking and feeling.

If you’re a Christian, you don’t have to struggle with what’s on your mind. If you take it to the Lord, the Holy Spirit will help you sort through it and discern what is true. The Spirit will lovingly point out thoughts and feelings that have no value so you can get rid of them and focus on better things.

Our mind is important. We can decide what we choose to think and how we choose to act. But we don’t have to go it alone. We have a Helper who is always ready to guide us.

I’m still figuring all of this out, so I invite you to comment here or go over to my new Facebook group and join the discussion. Together, we can make sure we have a mind controlled by the Spirit, and that will lead to life and peace, no matter what’s going on in our lives or in the world.

“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6 NIV)

What’s on your mind right now? How can focusing on God help you to take everything to Him and let the Spirit help you sort out your thoughts?