Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Authority

Think of how often you communicate with people during the course of your day, and that will give you a glimpse into understanding why the word “prayer” is so often mentioned in what I share and write. Prayer is an example of the on going communication that takes place between God and me all day long. If I want lasting relationships in my life, and I do, I need to know how to communicate with others. My relationship with God is dependent upon that same communication skill so that He and I can share thoughts and feelings, ask questions, and listen to one another.

This Wednesday’s theme is about the word “authority.” The theme came out of the first Wednesday when I no longer had Rituxan treatments, and I met with my two friends Jack and Marsha, to pray. Our prayer was a pretty specific request, to gain insight into the spiritual root or cause of this cancer in my bone marrow.

I love how “marrow” is defined as being the innermost, essential, or choicest part. Those words are so descriptive of how I see God in my life. He is the marrow of my heart, and it is my heart that seeks to understand this cancer from God’s perspective.

Here is what I have learned over the past 8 weeks, I need to AVOID what has the potential to be spiritually infectious to me, and I have come to realize that what is most infectious to me is disrespect. I know there are people who I have allowed to treat me with disrespect, but here is the clincher – in my allowing it, I have been disrespectful to myself!

So what is the cure? I need to take authority over that disrespectful spirit and make the decision to replace it with an attitude of respect. What does that respect look like? Look up the word “respect,” and you may be as surprised as I was, to discover that it means to feel or show honor. Honor! Are you kidding? I have never even considered the thought of honoring myself, but that is what respect means. For me, that respect translates into my relationships where I am to honor God, myself, and others. It means that I honor God for who He is – GOD. And that I honor myself for who He created me to be – Colleen. And I honor others for who He created them to be – my family, my friends, my neighbors, and even the stranger that I have been inconsiderate and rude to - in traffic, a grocery line, waiting on the telephone, or not getting my order right! That disrespectful spirit has affected the very marrow of my life!

Look at the word “AUTHORITY.” What else do you see when you look at it? Until I wrote the word down, I never realized that it contains the word AUTHOR. Here is why I LOVE God’s Word, the day after I came to the realization that the word “author” was in the word “authority,” I was leafing through my Bible and my eye was caught by a title in Romans. The title of the chapter just blew me away, it says, “Respect for Authority!” “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” (Romans 13:1) In other words, God was literally showing me in His Word that He is the Author of authority!!! How great is it when we are in communication with God Himself! As I reflected on just these two sentences from Romans 13, I was reminded of how I can even be disrespectful to the stranger who is my own President. And on a more personal level, I know there have been disrespectful moments directed to the people I love the most, my family. Please forgive me. Romans13 is full of wisdom, and I would encourage you to read it in its entirety.

No sooner did I get through Romans 13 when there was yet another scripture that came up for me on authority in 1 Peter 2:13. Talk about making sure that I got the reinforced message!!! The title of the chapter is “Respecting People in Authority.” I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! 1 Peter 2:13 says, “For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority – whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed.”

As I reflected on these two scripture references, I was taken back to the one Scripture that I read all last year when I prayed for our nation. That scripture has routinely come back to me as I have dealt with this cancer diagnosis and its spiritual root of disrespect. The Scripture that I prayed in 2010, and that has now resurfaced for me, comes from 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

Here is the bottom line. God is the Author of all authority and He wants me to respect those in authority. In other words, He wants me to honor them and be considerate of them. He also wants me to take the authority he has given me to care for myself, honor myself, and be considerate of myself. This is not selfishness but learning to care and love myself in God’s way!

As I personally deal with my own issues of cancer and it spiritual root of disrespect, I recognize how I am just a small reflection of the bigger picture that is filled with disrespect for God, the country that He has blessed us to live in, and the people who are its citizens. The marrow of who we are has been infiltrated with disrespect. I appreciate the words my Aunt Millie sent to me in an email that expressed a similar evaluation to the one I have just made in regards to our country. Her e-mail also included the scripture from 2 Chronicles 7:14. Here is how her e-mail ended in a quote from Ronald Reagan: “If we ever forget that we are a nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

Lord, I ask Your forgiveness for the disrespect I have had regarding authority, especially, toward You, myself, others, and our country. Jesus, thank You that I can ask for forgiveness because of what You did for me on the cross, and may I continue to learn from You and be more like You in humility, gentleness and love.

"Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)

"May you live to enjoy your grandchildren. May Israel have peace!" (Psalm 128:6)

My heart always seeks to honor my parents, despite those "missed the mark" opportunities . And when I see the honor and respect that my own daughter demonstrates towards her family and me, I feel deep gratitude. I love the promise that speaks to us about a LONG and FULL life when we are willing to respect the authority of what God tells us in honoring our family. When I see that I am still alive, still living in the greatest country, and enjoying my grandchildren, I know that God is fulfilling His promise in my life! The authority of God always blesses me and grants me peace!

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - The Feather

In my desire to know, experience, and love God on a very personal level, I also found out just how cluttered and messed up my journey to spiritual and physical health could get. I am a living example of what has been tested and tried - from traditional religion and medicine to eastern religion and medicine. When the New Age way of thinking got added to this mix, I got all tangled up in the occult world of horoscopes, astrology, psychics, palm reading, numerology, hieroglyphics, and various “healing” modalities.

I am so thankful for what I have gone through and learned, because in the process, I discovered God’s truth and love for me. Consequently, I was freed and healed from the demonic lies and traps that held me in pain and bondage. I ultimately recognized that the only way I can truly know, experience, and love God is through the truth that is found in His Word and what He says. Anything else is counterfeit. God speaks through His Word and He teaches me how to sort through the cluttered mess and confusion of whatever I may face.

As I have said many times, red for me is symbolic of the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life and God’s love for me. In the beginning stages of learning about God’s Word, I constantly heard this one verse over and over. It became so visible and audible that I even saw it framed in gold leafed lettering, and it now hangs on the kitchen soffit above my sink for everyone to see. It says, “I know the plans I have for you says the LORD…. to give you a future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11.

This new venture into blogging is God’s plan for me, and He has used my daughter Lauren, to get me to realize it. I have agreed to do it because I have learned that God’s plans are far greater than mine. There is peace in doing life God’s way rather than my way.

Prior to getting the cancer diagnosis of Waldenstrom’s, my friend Julie would call me up and say, “Do red birds mean anything to you? Whenever I pray for you and your health I see red birds.” I replied, “No, they mean nothing right now, but maybe down the road they will.” And that was it; our conversation about red birds was over, or so I thought.

The Bible is filled with symbolism, but our focus is never to be solely on the symbolism, which is a very prominent theme in New Age thinking. Our focus is to be on God who is the Creator of all creation. God uses symbolism and His creation to speak to us, but so does the enemy, and that is why it is so important to look at these “signs” in relationship to what God’s Word says and what the voice of His Holy Spirit tells us in regards to our experiences.

After my last Rituxan treatment, I was lovingly taken into the home of my friends, Johnny and Lynn. Lynn and I had taken a brisk morning walk on the Loveland bike trail, when I saw what I have never seen before – a red feather in my path. Just seconds before seeing this feather I had this sense in my spirit that I was to continue writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom, even though my treatments had ended. I picked up the feather and I asked Lynn, who is an artist and has a keen eye for color and beauty, “Have you ever seen a red feather on the ground?” She said, “Never, but I am sure it’s the feather of a red bird, a cardinal.” I shared with Lynn what I had been thinking about in continuing to write Red Wednesday’s Wisdom, and how this red feather was an obvious attention getter for me.

Over the past 11 years, God has used feathers to represent a quill for me. When I start seeing them on a regular basis I know that it’s time again to concentrate on writing that class, that curriculum, that book, that article, that BLOG! But this was the first time I had ever seen a red feather!

A few days later, after leaving Lynn’s, I was working at my client’s home. And as is typical in my business, my clients often become close friends. My friend Vicki tells me to stop working at 2:15 PM and says that she wants to take me somewhere. We end up in the salon she likes to go to, and I am clueless as to why we are there. While waiting to see what is to happen, I share my red feather story with Vicki. How she remained straight faced when hearing my story, knowing what she herself was about to do with me, was beyond my comprehension, but she did. As it turned out, her gift and surprise to me was a strand of red feathers to be weaved into my hair!!! All I could do was cry! I was moved by the fact that Vicki knew nothing about my red feather story and I was in awe of how God had neatly arranged all those precious red feathered moments with my friends to take place!

Vicki is a decorator, so naturally she wanted a way to decorate me in red every day of the week! The feathers in my hair were her way of doing this for me. Every time I am asked about the red feathers in my hair, it is an opportunity to share this story and talk about the power of God’s Holy Spirit in transforming me, loving me, and healing me!

After getting "feathered" by Vicki.

A good 6- 8 weeks had gone by since I had that conversation with Julie about the cardinals that she would see when praying for me. Their appearance now had meaning as I thought about them in relationship to the red feathers and God using it all to leading me in writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom.

As I write this post, I am drawn into my kitchen to retrieve the decorative rock that Lynn gave me while I was staying at her home. The inscription says, “My help comes from the Lord” Psalm 121:2. The red feathers will always remind me that my help does come from the Lord and they will also symbolize the plan that God has for me to continue writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom in this blog format. It will be used for God’s purpose and for His glory. I am honored to be His servant and child!

I love being a witness to God’s detailing, timing, and presence in my life. For He is not dead but alive, He is the Resurrected and Living God! It is so awesome to see how He uses all of us to come together as a body to help one another. We can see it when we slow down enough to listen and reflect.

Even the Damask border that my daughter was drawn to as she and I were led to designing this blog, has its own symbolic meaning. As we prayed about this pattern being used as our border, I had to laugh when I went to get my blood drawn one Wednesday and saw that one of the techs was wearing a Damask printed smock! In our research we learned that the Damask pattern actually derived its name from the city of Damascus, which today is the capital city of modern Syria. In Acts 9 we can read the story about Saul, who was on the road to Damascus. While on that road, he had an encounter with Jesus in the Spirit and he was forever transformed. I hope that Red Wednesday’s Wisdom can help Jesus to transform us as He did with Saul, who became known as Paul, and wrote more of the New Testament than any other author.

I pray that Red Wednesday’s Wisdom will help all of us to know, experience, and love God more intimately. May God’s infinite wisdom bless all of us as He continues to show us the plans He has for us that give us a future and a hope, no matter what circumstances we may face!