personal ~ TOTALLY FREAKED OUT!!

[EileenMomGranny]

Our God is an AWESOME GOD!!  He ROCKS!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

… this has been the most amazing blessing from God.

"...let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." 
~ from Romans 12:2 
Over and over God shows me how true this is, and how faithful He is!

I will praise the Lord at all times.
      I will constantly speak His praises.
  I will boast only in the Lord;
      let all who are helpless take heart.
  Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
      let us exalt His name together.
  I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me.
      He freed me from all my fears.
  Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy;
      no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
 ~ Psalm 34:1-5 NLT

In February of this year, the director for a junior high school play that my son, James, was in called me because she was concerned about him. He was not wanting to participate in the games during their rehearsal time. And she could see him banging his head against the cinderblock walls.  In fact, it must have been pretty hard, because she could hear it from across the cafetorium.
She was anxious that he wasn’t in trouble, just concerned about him. I agreed and told her thank you for sharing that with me. We ended our phone call. I hadn’t seen any behavior like this myself.

And then I just freaked out.

Definitely went straight to God. I had NO IDEA what to do with this one. OMG, what am I gonna do? God, what can You do for him, to bring him through this, whatever this is? What strength and truth can You bring to me to share with him, to get him beyond whatever this is??!

I had no idea what was wrong. But I picked him up from rehearsal and we started talking.  He said he’d been feeling extremely happy and then extremely sad. In the same day. Back and forth. And that it had been going on for a while. Not that there was anything going on to “make” him feel that way. He just was.  He told me he had wondered what it was like to  “be manic-depressant”.
I also asked him about banging his head into the cinderblock wall. He said yeah, he’d been doing that. When I asked him why, he told me that it helped him feel better and he pointed to the top of his head. Like he’d been head butting the wall there. He also told me that he was trying to bang a doorway through the cinderblock wall with his head.
He was serious. 
He believed this.

I knew THAT couldn’t possibly be helping him in any way. I flat out told him so. He could see how he really wasn’t ever going to make a doorway through the cinderblocks by banging his head against it either. Thank God he could accept that reality right away!

So now I was really freaked out. Back to prayer. OMG, what are You going to do in this situation???!! I had no idea. But I resolved that I would go God’s way, all the way. Whatever.

James and I talked about how he doesn’t have to believe every thought that pops into his head. That he has free will and that just because something occurs to him doesn’t mean it’s his own idea. Certainly that he doesn’t have to act upon it. We talked about how God warns us about these kinds of tricks.

A final word:
Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Put on all of God’s armor
so that you will be able to stand
firm against all strategies of the devil.
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies,
but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,
against mighty powers in this dark world,
and against evil spirits in the heavenly places...
Put on salvation as your helmet,
and take the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
 ~ Ephesians 6:10-12, 17

And that it’s God that fights FOR us. Telling us what IS real and true, and that we CAN trust God. Those suggestions weren’t true.

I have told you all this
so that you may have peace in Me.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart,
because I have overcome the world.”
~ John 16:33

Today I have given you the choice...
Oh, that you would choose life...
This is the key to your life.
~ from Deuteronomy 30:19-20

James is listening. He can hear “the voice of God” through Scripture. But he needed more. I’m still praying.  All these scriptures come bubbling up from memory for me.

And I am certain that God,
who began the good work within you,
will continue His work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
 ~ Philippians 1:6

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ
has become a new person.
The old life is gone;
a new life has begun!
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

No, despite all these things,
overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, Who [loves] us.

And I am convinced that nothing can
ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today
nor our worries about tomorrow
—not even the powers of hell
can separate us from God’s love.
No power in the sky above or in the earth below
—indeed, nothing in all creation
will ever be able to separate us from the love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~ Romans 8:37-39

The thief’s purpose is
to steal and kill and destroy.
My purpose is to give them
a rich and satisfying life.
 ~ John 10:10

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life."
 ~ John 14:6

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
 ~ from Psalm 23:4 NKJV (all of Psalm 23!!!)

I asked James if he was willing to ask Jesus for the truth. He agreed. He doesn’t “hear” from God or “talk with God” the same way God does with me, but James does get an understanding when we pray. (most people I’ve met are like that, too.)

We prayed. And I was quiet.
James understood that whatever impulse had been suggesting that using his own head to try to bang a doorway through the cinderblock wall was the solution was actually a lie. That it had tricked him into hurting himself. James was able to accept the fact that it was probably was causing him serious damage or could result in serious damage to himself.  He was able to accept that there was NOTHING about that that was actually helping him feel better.
And James could let it go.
It let James go free. It had no more ability to hold onto him at all. THANK YOU JESUS!
 
Then we made a plan - that if those impulses ever tried to bother him again, to go straight back to God and ask Him for the truth. James can do this anywhere, any time. With or without me.

James and I talked some more. He said he had been feeling bad about himself. He had that “beaten, hang-dog” look to him. I hadn’t seen him anything like this since God had gotten him through being bullied; and come out no longer believing that he’s a helpless worthless victim. (Also not becoming a bully himself. Praise the LORD!!)

More prayer. Later God reminded me:
“For we are God’s masterpiece.” Ephesians 2:10a NLT
But when I showed this to James in his Bible, it didn’t make any real impact.
So I prayed some more.

I started looking up the definition of “masterpiece”.  Once I was sure about it, I asked James if he knew what that meant. After some discussion I knew THAT was the problem. He didn’t understand. Then we looked up some definitions of it together. We talked about what it means to him.
And then he GOT it.
His whole face lit up and his whole attitude changed.

I sent him back out into the world the next day, and when he got home I was going to check on him, see how he’s doing. To my amazement, the problem had completely vanished. I checked with the teacher, she didn’t see any other problems from him.  I checked with her a couple of week later. She hadn’t seen anything else since then.
He’s been in school every day, continuing in scouts, church youth groups and other activities. Nobody has told me that they’ve seen anything wrong.

That was more than 3 months ago. He’s still doing great. Thank you God!!!

And this same God who takes care of me
 will supply all your needs from His glorious riches,
which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
 ~ Philippians 4:19

Steep your life in
God-reality,
God-initiative,
God-provisions.
Don't worry about missing out.
You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
 ~ Matthew 6:33 MSG

Scripture quotes are NLT (New Living Translation) unless otherwise noted
MSG: The Message Bible Remix
NKJV: New King James Version

כ״ד באייר ה׳ ן״ע   יום שני

[singedwingangel]

May. 18, 2009 at 3:51 PM

Hallelujuah our God is an awesome God!!

[letsgetreal]

May. 18, 2009 at 10:09 PM

Praise Adonai. I loved reading this. Thanks for sharing. The weapons we fight are not weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to DEMOLISH strongholds.

Father,

During Jame's times of doubt, or just plain quesioning, continue to pursue him Lord. If the day comes when he can't remember who he is in YOu, speak to his ears as one being taught, and call him by name, so that he will KNOW that You are his God, and that You are a rewarder of those who dilligently seek You.

Turn him on to the adventure and the wonder of his identity in You, Yeshuah. Keep his mind clear and unclouded Lord, so he can meditate on Your promises. Give him the supernatural capacity to check out or frisk  the credentials of his thought life and take every loose thought that comes against the knowledge of YOur truth for him, and every impulse- and form it into the structure of life shaped by the beautiful One, Yeshua.

Amen.