I hope you gained a deeper insight about who you are, as you considered how you thought and felt about The Lord coming into your life, the factors that have caused you to feel grief, the root cause of why you have reacted rather than responded to life, and the change you wanted to make in an attempt to respond verses react to life.
I can only
reinforce what I have shared with you in the past as being my experience. In my grief stricken desperation of
loneliness due to my divorce, I initially reacted with yelling, clenched fists, and excessive drinking and
smoking. There was blaming, fighting,
and a list that could go on and on, but here was the bottom line: I had come to
the end of myself, and I wanted to be rescued.
I could no longer do life on my own.
So in the midst of my reacting to the pain and chaos, I also began the long journey of learning how
to respond to my grief by making the
one biggest change and decision that I have ever made, I turned to God. Gradually, I came to accept His Son, Jesus,
as my Lord (husband and guide) and Savior (He saves me from all kinds of
disasters). Over time, I can honestly say that my life
became less complicated, less confusing, and less disorganized. My path and direction became more clear and
simplistic. I learned that I was never
forsaken or alone, and that I would always be loved and nurtured by God Himself,
His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. God
is the only One who can ultimately guide me, save me, and heal me in this life
and the one to come. And though I have
always had a tendency to react to life, I am learning to respond to it. With God’s help and
direction, through His Holy Spirit and
His Holy Word, I am a work in process.
CHG # 11, Act by Responding
Verses Reacting, represents the spiritual force that drove me to develop
The Clutter Class Curriculum. It has
been a very personal and heartfelt driving force in response to ADD, Addictions,
and the hidden and secretive issues related to my divorce. My passion and desire was to find healing and
freedom from these very enslaving issues. “The Twelve Clutter Healing Guidelines” came out of that desire to be
healed and freed. These guidelines are Holy
Spirit inspired, and they are void of drugs being the first line of defense, as
well as being the answers and approach to anything
that builds up or piles up in our lives.
ADD, addictions, stress, whatever the dis-ease, it’s
all clutter! CHG #11 is about taking
responsibility for what happens in my life.The clutter of ADD:
1.
From a medical perspective, ADD stands for Attention Deficit
Disorder, and since the 1970’s there has been much controversy regarding this
disorder.
What is a Deficit?
Deficit = Lacking
Deficit = Incomplete
Deficit = Absence
Deficit = Shortage
2. From
a spiritual perspective, ADD stands
for Accountability Deceivement Disorder. And when the Holy Spirit put these
words on my heart, I was truly humbled. It was a turning point for me and a whole new
way of looking at me and others. It
meant that my focus was to be on me first, rather than on someone else. I needed to pay attention, look, and listen to
my own thoughts, feelings, and behavior, just like Micah 1:1-3 was teaching me
to do, before addressing issues with another.
To this day, I am challenged
to be responsible and honest about me.
Humility
is the character, reflection, and Spirit of God, and it is that one word that
began to change me and continues to change me.
Humility is the one word impetus
for the clutter healing curriculum. We
are healed and freed when we are open to being humbled. Humility is God.
What
is a Deceivement?
Deceivement
= Ensnare
Deceivement
= Snare
Deceivement
= Misled
Deceivement = Lies
Remember how our
clutter is directly related to what we think, and therefore, what we believe?
This week our SW is to
think on the following scenario:
Consider the different
reflexes that our body automatically makes.
They are the involuntary ones that we have no control over. An example is the “knee jerk” reflex which is
an automatic involuntary reaction to the tap of a hammer to our knee. When we act by
reacting, we are just like
that “knee jerk” reflex. We are reacting automatically without voluntarily thinking. It is an example of walking in our flesh. When we act by responding, we are consciously and voluntarily
slowing down to think first and then act. It is
an example of walking in the Spirit.
This week, think about that
one word that stands out as being reactive in you.
Here are some examples of what is often shared: anger, rage,
aggravation, yelling, silence, hurt, intimidation, fear, sarcasm, pride, criticalness,
judgmental, disobedient, defensiveness, and unkindness. Then ask God to help to you to become more
attentive to being humble and more accountable to responding with humility.
Next week we will delve
more into the clutter of addictions.
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