PART 9 of Bryan's stories. We need to stop and breath sometimes, be still and know that He is God. Jesus is the Prince Of Peace. I am so overwhelmed sometimes with Bryan's care, I just imagine Psalm 23-2, He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. I just stop. I stop my mind from it's cares, just stop. I let Him love me and restore my soul. He is the good Shepherd.
Psalm 34:18, The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. I know this to be true, for one, because He said so, for two, when my Spirit has been crushed, he rescued me! And I have had my spirit crushed! I have shared my story and Bryan's and the tremendous pain we have been through, but there are others that have had worse. It hurts my heart to think about it, so I know how you feel when you read my story. I have come out of many battles, and like all of us, there will be more. But God will see us through them! Bryan hated the battles. He got weary sometimes, very weary. His youth Pastor shared with him, oh but the victories! And the authority you have afterwards to help others! That gave Bryan a different perspective to wrap his head around! It helped him. God knows all our stories. I know He is moved with compassion at our pain. He is right there with you. Please don't ever forget that!
There is no pain that is not important. A broken heart is a broken heart, whether you had a break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, lost a job, failed a test, can't juggle your job, running the kids around, cooking dinner, managing to think straight, and all the other cares in the world that can overwhelm us, it is all pain. There is no measurement for pain, it all hurts! And being overwhelmed hurts. He says cast our cares on Him. I am pretty good at casting nowadays! Lie down in green pastures, rest.
Back to Bryan and him hating battles. Before the accident he made leaps and strides with his walk with God. He had doubted there was a God, I share part of that in Part 4. Bryan suffered with depression for awhile. He told me one day he had a problem. I am very blessed that my kids tell me when they have a problem, they know they can come to me. He tells me he does not like the world road and he does not like the church road.
By that he meant, like I had when I was young, he had seen enough of the ugly in the world and did not want it. But he had also seen enough of the ugly in the Church and did not want that either! I told him there was another way, God's way. He was so on fire for God at one time and it made some want him to tone it down a little. He was verbally asked to. Of all the things in the world, why tell a young man to tone down his passion for Christ?!
I told him to praise God with his whole being. Don't worry about what any one thinks of you. He took his love and passion to the streets. He mentored kids. He found out God's way...was not Church's way. He also met some opposition with religious spirits. He learned to pray about that and he worshiped God all the more. I had someone tell me one time they did not feel right about Bryan worshiping the Lord with abandon. This was when I first shared a post about him right after his accident and letting people know what kind of young man Bryan was. Religious spirits want control to the point of squelching the move of the Holy Spirit.
Church is not the choice, choosing love is, being a disciple of Jesus. The building is not the church, we are. God's love does not sit on a church pew and not look at the world beyond the doors. There were no church pews when Jesus walked the face of the earth and his disciples did not have them.
I am sorry, I am getting a little preachy. Anyway, passion is good. And religion, all these kinds we have now, they were not here when Jesus walked the face of the earth either! It is simple, man separated from God by sin, God sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for all men for all sin, and all men that call on Jesus are saved and become the Church, Jesus' Body. It is not the building or a religious program. I have to say from what I have seen, the Holy Spirit has been working a lot at bringing His kids all back together.
When Bryan had his accident all kinds of people from all kinds of denominations were praying for him. It was a beautiful thing. That was the Body of Christ, THE CHURCH, YOU!
What a glorious day we live in, it is like the Berlin Wall coming down that has separated God's people! We are all His Body. I am glad Bryan found the GOD WAY, before his accident and did not strive to please a religion. Bryan would strive to love! I say would strive because sometimes, it's not easy to love! Oh but the victories!!!
Please check out Part One at the bottom of blog for my testimony and what happened to Bryan. If you know someone who would be blessed, please share it.
If you want to be notified of when I post new art or stories click the like button on my page and from that same button select get notifications. This is my page: http://www.facebook.com/Propheticartjustforyou . Thank you so much! God bless you!
Psalm 34:18, The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. I know this to be true, for one, because He said so, for two, when my Spirit has been crushed, he rescued me! And I have had my spirit crushed! I have shared my story and Bryan's and the tremendous pain we have been through, but there are others that have had worse. It hurts my heart to think about it, so I know how you feel when you read my story. I have come out of many battles, and like all of us, there will be more. But God will see us through them! Bryan hated the battles. He got weary sometimes, very weary. His youth Pastor shared with him, oh but the victories! And the authority you have afterwards to help others! That gave Bryan a different perspective to wrap his head around! It helped him. God knows all our stories. I know He is moved with compassion at our pain. He is right there with you. Please don't ever forget that!
There is no pain that is not important. A broken heart is a broken heart, whether you had a break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, lost a job, failed a test, can't juggle your job, running the kids around, cooking dinner, managing to think straight, and all the other cares in the world that can overwhelm us, it is all pain. There is no measurement for pain, it all hurts! And being overwhelmed hurts. He says cast our cares on Him. I am pretty good at casting nowadays! Lie down in green pastures, rest.
Back to Bryan and him hating battles. Before the accident he made leaps and strides with his walk with God. He had doubted there was a God, I share part of that in Part 4. Bryan suffered with depression for awhile. He told me one day he had a problem. I am very blessed that my kids tell me when they have a problem, they know they can come to me. He tells me he does not like the world road and he does not like the church road.
By that he meant, like I had when I was young, he had seen enough of the ugly in the world and did not want it. But he had also seen enough of the ugly in the Church and did not want that either! I told him there was another way, God's way. He was so on fire for God at one time and it made some want him to tone it down a little. He was verbally asked to. Of all the things in the world, why tell a young man to tone down his passion for Christ?!
I told him to praise God with his whole being. Don't worry about what any one thinks of you. He took his love and passion to the streets. He mentored kids. He found out God's way...was not Church's way. He also met some opposition with religious spirits. He learned to pray about that and he worshiped God all the more. I had someone tell me one time they did not feel right about Bryan worshiping the Lord with abandon. This was when I first shared a post about him right after his accident and letting people know what kind of young man Bryan was. Religious spirits want control to the point of squelching the move of the Holy Spirit.
Church is not the choice, choosing love is, being a disciple of Jesus. The building is not the church, we are. God's love does not sit on a church pew and not look at the world beyond the doors. There were no church pews when Jesus walked the face of the earth and his disciples did not have them.
I am sorry, I am getting a little preachy. Anyway, passion is good. And religion, all these kinds we have now, they were not here when Jesus walked the face of the earth either! It is simple, man separated from God by sin, God sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for all men for all sin, and all men that call on Jesus are saved and become the Church, Jesus' Body. It is not the building or a religious program. I have to say from what I have seen, the Holy Spirit has been working a lot at bringing His kids all back together.
When Bryan had his accident all kinds of people from all kinds of denominations were praying for him. It was a beautiful thing. That was the Body of Christ, THE CHURCH, YOU!
What a glorious day we live in, it is like the Berlin Wall coming down that has separated God's people! We are all His Body. I am glad Bryan found the GOD WAY, before his accident and did not strive to please a religion. Bryan would strive to love! I say would strive because sometimes, it's not easy to love! Oh but the victories!!!
Please check out Part One at the bottom of blog for my testimony and what happened to Bryan. If you know someone who would be blessed, please share it.
If you want to be notified of when I post new art or stories click the like button on my page and from that same button select get notifications. This is my page: http://www.facebook.com/Propheticartjustforyou . Thank you so much! God bless you!
