Surrender to Love

“Transformation through love is not therefore, as individualistic a manner as we tend to assume.  When love draws me from isolation into community, your life touches mine – your pain touches me, your afflictions touch me, your anxieties touch me.  In short you become a part of me.  My solidarity and with all human beings expands the boundaries of what I experiences myself."

In his autobiography LongWalk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela says that as a young man he came to understand that his freedom was inseparably tied up with that of his South African people.  He found himself unable to enjoy the limited freedom he was allowed as an attorney with the privileges of education when he knew his people were not free.  “Freedom is indivisible” he argues, “the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chain on all my people were the chains on me.”

David G. Benner, Surrender To Love

Surrender to Love

“Genuine transformation requires vulnerability.  It is not the fact of being loved unconditionally that is life changing.  It is the risky experience of allowing myself to be loved unconditionally.

Paradoxically, no one can change until they first accept themselves as they are.  Self-deceptions and an absence of real vulnerability block any meaningful transformation.  It is only when I accept who I am that I dare to show you that self in all its vulnerability and nakedness.  Only then do I have the opportunity to receive your love in a manner that makes a genuine difference.”

David G. Benner, Surrender To Love

To Be Where He Is

The following is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's book entitled The Inner Voice of Love. 

He said, “This book is my secret journal. It was written during the most difficult period of my life, from December 1987 to June 1988. That was a time of extreme anguish, during which I wondered whether I would be able to hold on to my life. Everything came crashing down – my self esteem, my energy to live and work, my trust in God…everything. Here, I was, a writer about the spiritual life, known as someone who loves God and gives hope to people, flat on the ground and in total darkness...What had happened? I had come face to face with my own nothingness. It was as if all that had given my life meaning was pulled away and I could see nothing in front of me but a bottomless abyss...The strange thing was that this happened shortly after I had found my true home. After many years of life in universities, where I never felt fully at home. I had become a member of L’Arche, a community of men and women with mental disabilities. I had been received with open arms, given all the attention and affection I could ever hope for, and loving place to grow spiritually as well as emotionally. Everything seemed ideal. But precisely at that time I fell apart.”

Nouwen passed on in September 1996. His writings lived on to bless many people all over the world. 

His brokenness and love for the Lord permeated through his life and his writings. Many would have hesitated to share such deep and painful experiences but not Nouwen. 

The Lord uses Nouwen’s life as an open book to show His glory. Especially to those who are in pain. The painful experience, the dark and deep depression that Nouwen went through became a channel for the Lord to shine His light on all who desire to see His face and know His love.

It is just amazing how Nouwen felt so at home at L’Arche. In the natural, L’Arche is the most unlikely place for anyone to like. To some, it is a place of sadness, a place of forgotten people, a place of pain and anguish. 

The Lord led Nouwen to L’Arche and through his time there, he wrote powerful books that are widely read by many today. 

Sometimes, God brings us to the most difficult places and surroundings. We may not fully comprehend the reason. When we are where He wants us to be. He floods our hearts with peace and joy. No matter how hard the ground is, God will help us to flourish.

Embracing People

"My mother used to collect stray people the way some people collect stray animals.  She never did it on purpose, it's just that she'd meet someone who was sad or lonely or without  a home for a short time, and the next thing I'd know it that Mrs So-and-So would be joining us for supper.  After we had stopped living on the boat, we moved into my grandparents' home on Long Island.  It was a large house, with two spare bedrooms even when all our family was at home.  People who had fallen on hard times, recovering alcoholics and homeless and jobless foreigners - my mother welcomed them all.  For the years I was in secondary school, I can't remember a Thanksgiving dinner without at least a few extra guests, some speaking only broken English and some dabbling their eyes off and on throughout the meal.  My mother would let them talk, cry, eat and sleep, eventually, after a few days or weeks, they would be able to sort out their lives, and move on."

Christina Rees, "The Divine Embrace: Discovering the Reality of God's Love.

Christina Rees, "The Divine Embrace: Discovering the Reality of God's Love.

Wounded Heroes

The book Wounded Heroes was written by Elizabeth R. Skoglund.  It is a wonderful book.

In the book, Skoglund shared on how God’s servants triumphed over emotional pain. The secret laid in discovering how God enabled His children to deal with life's situations and challenges.

A great man of faith that Skoglund included is Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, he became the pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church.  He preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000.  Spurgeon was also known for his printed works. Nearly all of Spurgeon's printed works are still in print.

Though Spurgeon was so prominent in the ministry, he was plagued with deep depression. It surfaced when the church was on fire one time. Skoglund recounted: ““The service began, ran a few minutes, when suddenly a cry, “Fire! The galleries are giving away, the place is falling!”  A terrible panic followed; seven were killed, many seriously injured. Spurgeon’s grief over this almost unseated his reason. He was immediately hidden from the public; spent hours ‘in tears by day, and dreams of terror by night.’  A depression deepened upon him form which he never fully recovered.”

Another giant of faith that Skoglund cited is Amy Carmichael. Amy Carmichael (1867–1951), a Protestant Christian missionary in India founded the Dohnavur Fellowship. She gave a home to over one thousand children.

Carmichael gave them a future in their bleak circumstances. God used Carmichael greatly; we would never have imagined that she had struggled with health problems and loneliness in her time. She persevered and kept her faith in the Lord.

There were other great men and women that Skoglund shared in her book namely Hudson Taylor, C.S. Lewis, Isobel Kuhn and others. They were people who possessed great faith and yet there were areas in their lives that revealed their humanness and vulnerability.

The book reminds us that God is awesome. He is at work in our broken lives. We have our weaknesses, inadequacies, shortcomings, failures, discouragements, depression and setbacks. God comes and rescue us. He frees us to worship Him. He continues to mould and make us into the finest pottery. He sees us with our full potential in Him.  

The beautiful thing is that the Lord works through our vulnerability, weaknesses or even physical handicaps.  

No challenge is too great for God.  He breaks down every barrier and helps us to overcome and triumph in dire situations and conditions.  

All He wants is our brokenness, humility and willingness to love and serve Him with no reservation. The baby steps we take today will lead us into boundless trajectories. The Lord leads us to conquer great mountains. He is with us when we are in the depth of deepest valley.

The Blood that Mends

“When the broken vessel came out of the fire cracked at the lip, the potter had a remedy to salvage it. After he had finished his work for the day, he would go out through the fields and hunt for a small tick-like insect, a fasuka, that lived on bulls and goats. Having found some, he would take them home to his shop where he would keep them in small clay jars or leather bags. Thus when a broken vessel came out of the fire with a cracked lip or some other flaw, the potter would not discard the vessel but would sit at his bench for a great length of time working to repair it. With dry clay powder and infinite patience he labored. Taking the fasuka between his thumb and forefinger, he crushed it. Then he mixed that blood with the clay powder to make a mixture that worked effectively and uniquely as a “glue” into the cracked area.”

The late Dr Sam Sasser in his book The Potter’s Touch succinctly brought out the amazing power of the blood of Christ. He went on to say: “The cross of Calvary provides a glue that works effectively and uniquely in the lives of broken people. How thankful we should be for Christ’s blood, shed at Calvary for our salvation. Stronger than the blood of bulls and goats (Heb 9:12), the blood of the Lamb is God’s provision for cracked, flawed men and women. Jesus Christ shed His precious blood to bring wholeness to all who have been broken and cracked in life’s fire.”

The Humble Homecoming

This is a short reflection of Henri Nouwen's book The Return of the Prodigal Son.

Let us focus on the repentant son. When he finally came to his senses, he returned home to his father with remorse and shame. He came to the end of himself; the party was over and his life with an utter mess and confusion. 

He made the best decision to head back home. Deep in his heart, he knew that if anyone was going to rescue him at that unthinkable and deplorable state, that person was none other than his father. 

He had faith in His father. After hurting his father’s heart, it took the son tremendous courage and humility to make his way home. 

All pride and arrogance melted away. He gained freedom and hope in his father’s forgiveness and love.

Nouwen noted: “The immense joy in welcoming back the lost son hides the immense sorrow that has gone before.” Unspeakable joy overshadowed sorrow that glorious day when the loving father ran towards his son.

If the prodigal son had entertained fear and doubt, his return would not have taken place. He will be lost forever. He could have died, left a vagrant or derange. 

He overcame because he did not dwell on his failure and loss. He put his complete trust in His father’s love. He was set free through his father’s love.

The unconditional and undying love of Father God spurred him on to run back to his father. 

The story of love and forgiveness is shared down the corridor of time. God in His love and mercy forgives us. He embraces us unconditional. We love much because we have been forgiven much.

His Undying Love

Recently, I read an amazing book entitled The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen.  Nouwen quoted Kenneth Bailey that read:

“Kenneth Bailey, in his penetrating explanation of Luke’s story, shows that the son’s manner of leaving is tantamount to wishing his father dead. Bailey writes: For over fifteen years I have been asking people of all walks of life from Morocco to India and from Turkey to the Sudan about the implications of a son’s request for his inheritance while the father is still living. The answer has always been emphatically the same…the conversation runs as follows: Has anyone ever made such a request in your village? Never! Could anyone ever make such a request? Impossible! If anyone ever did, what would happen? His father would beat him, of course! Why? The request means – he wants his father to die.”

All the responses point us to the depth of the father’s love. Pride and anger would have stopped the father from receiving his returning son. Many earthly fathers could have long severed their relationship with such a wicked son but not this father. He did not allow unforgiveness and bitterness to deter him from reconciling with his beloved son. In fact, the word of God tells us that the aging father, upon seeing his younger son was moved to pity and he ran towards him. His love overshadowed any wrongdoing that his son had committed. Love truly covers a multitude of sins. He was determined to tell his son that nothing he has done will ever stop him from loving him. Since the day, the wayward son left home, his father’s hope for his return never dwindled. Love compelled the father to believe the impossible. Love compelled him to put away all pride and bitterness for all that mattered was his desire to see his son again. Love conquerered every conceivable human frailty and failure to reveal the undying love of our loving father. He pursues us relentlessly with His undying love.

A Pillar of Strength

One of my greatest pleasures is reading. Very often, the writers have challenged and inspired me through their writings. Currently, I am poring through Henri Nouwen’s book entitled THE ROAD TO DAYBREAK. I would like to quote a portion of his writing that touched me deeply. It read “This morning, I woke up somewhat depressed. I could not find any reason for it. Life just felt empty, useless, fatiguing. I felt invaded by somber spirits. I realized that this mood was lying to me. Life is not meaningless. God has created life as an expression of love. It helped me to know this, even though I could not feel it. Based on this knowledge, I can again choose joy. This choice means simply to act according to the truth. The depressed mood is still there. I cannot just force it out of my heart. But at least I can unmask it as being untrue and thus prevent it from becoming the ground for my actions.”

At one point or another, we had gone through what Nouwen so candidly expressed. Perhaps some of us are in the midst of depression. The heaviness and bleakness overshadow the bigness and greatness of the Lord. We seem to be blinded and groping in darkness. Our hearts are so cold that we fail to cry out to God.  Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Lord is unchanging. He alone can rescue and lift us up again.  All it takes is for us to acknowledge that we cannot manage on our own. All we need to do is to lay our burdens, our heartaches, our anguish and pain at the feet of Jesus.  He promised to carry them for us. He desires to make us whole again. He is a pillar of strength to every weak, weary and heavy-laden child.

Hands of Grace

God has blessed us with all things beautiful. We stand in awe and wonder before Him. He made all things. He holds all things together. He is the beginning and the end. He is Alpha and Omega. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.

Geoff Bullock in his book, Hands of Grace, put it so beautifully when he said: “It seems to me that when I am found at my lowest, my weakest, and my worst, there I find God in His highest, His strongest and His best.”

Our God is never far away. He waits patiently for us to draw near to Him. He draws us by His Spirit.  He first loved us. He will walk us till the end of the road. He strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Persevering Love

Phoebe Worrall Palmer (1807-1874) was a well known teacher, humanitarian and theologian. Her influence and impact was far reaching during that time. Phoebe’s third child, Eliza, died a tragic death. Her maid accidentally dropped a lit oil lamp on the gauze curtain covering the baby’s crib. Little Eliza died in her infancy in the flash fire.

Can you imagine the inexpressible pain, the anguish, the despair and agony Phoebe must have felt? In the book Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster, the following account reflected the pain in Phoebe’s heart when she said: “In the agony of my soul I had exclaimed, “'O, what shall I do!'"

God reached out to the inner recesses of Phoebe's heart in those trying and difficult time. She found solace and strength from God. She allowed the word of God to nurse her back to health and wholeness. She allowed God to walk her through her immense grief and pain. To cut the long story short, she picked herself up and emerged stronger and more determined to love and serve God with every ounce of her energy.

How many people can be like Phoebe Palmer? How many of us can remain strong in the face of life’s harshest storm? strongly believe she overcame because her relationship with God was so strong. She was deeply rooted in the love of God and this led her on in spite of her pain and suffering. She did not allow the trial to destroy her life and ministry; on the contrary, she thrived and persevered to pursue God in greater intensity. She left behind a godly model and example for millions of Christians to follow after.

31 Days of Praise

The book 31 Days of Praise is written by Ruth Myers. It was published in 1994 by Multnomah Books. Ruth Myers recounted that the story of this book went back to the 1960's when it began as 'Personal Praise Pages' a twenty-day mimeographed reminder of things for which to praise the Lord. 

The book began during her years as a widow. In her words on page 17 of the book, she recounted: "It was born during my years as widow. It flowed out of truths that had long motivated me to trust and worship the Lord in the varied seasons and experiences of my life-as a single girl in my native land...as a young wife sojourning in Taiwan, in the Philippines, and in Hong Kong...during my first husband's months of intense suffering with cancer before the Lord called him home...during my years as a young widow with two young children."

I like to quote a portion of her book found in pages 155 to 156. She entitled this as Acts of Praise. It reads "Your most basic act of worship...Lord, I'm Yours. Whatever the cost may be, may Your will be done in my life. I realize I'm not here on earth to do my own thing, or to seek my own fulfillment or my own glory. I'm not here to indulge my desires, to increase my possessions, to impress people, to be popular, to prove I'm somebody important, or to promote myself. I'm note here to be relevant or successful by human standards. I'm here to please You. I offer myself to You for you are worth. All that I am or hope to be, I owe to You. I'm Yours by creation, and every day I receive from Your life and breath and all things. And I'm Yours because You bought me, and the prize You paid was the precious blood of Christ. You alone. the Triune God, are worthy to be my Lord and Master. I yield to You, my gracious and glorious heavenly Father, to the Lord Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me to the Holy Spirit and His gracious influence and empowering."

I have reread this book many times. Each time, I am inspired to praise the Lord. We are made to worship God. As we worship the Lord, He brings us to a deeper depth in Him. In the presence of our mighty God, all we see is His glory and grace.