Mental Health

 The fight, flight, response in our brain remembers certain traumatic experiences.   It can affect our mental health in certain aspects.    The amigdala causes our body to go into this fight or flight mode and triggers certain responses in us.   Trauma has a way of skewing our emotional response in certain aspects.   It heightens the anxiety responses in us.   This is way professional counseling is an important to healing in our mental health.  

Trauma is a refining process one year at a time.   God heals us from trauma through time.   He peels down certain layers one step at a time.   Certain flashbacks help us revisit healing one step at a time.    God can speak through aspects of the flashbacks in our life.   God comforts us through these times and shows us he is our peace.   

Trauma taints us with disillusionment.  Sometimes we cannot tell the difference between truth and trauma.  We have to  acknowledge these experiences in our life.  When we acknowledge them,  we are able to see the truth.   Trauma is defined by loss of different things in your life; loss leads to distress; loss leads you to trauma.  

Mindfulness is a lost practice.  In Christian mindfulness, we are meditating on God's truth.   We are renewing our minds; Romans 12:2.   Mindfulness centers our hearts and minds on the here and now.  God is the great I am; Exodus 12:3.   

Breathing is another important aspect of mindfulness.   When we are stressed,  it affects how we breathe in certain situations.    The act of mindfulness and meditation helps us align our hearts with God's.   Start a truth journal.  One way to face our trauma with truth is a truth journal.    One side write down what the trauma says about us and the other side shows us what God says about us.  

Dangerous Calling

 The book we read for the Institute, Dangerous Calling, reminded of various pitfalls to avoid when we are in ministry.   It revealed things to be careful to not get fall prey when serving in ministry.     There were also some exciting aspects of ministry the book described.    When we have a healthy awe of God,  then our ministry flows through this awe of God's glory.   Lastly,  taking on the humbleness of Christ and how we served the disciples by washing their feet.  

This book convicted me of my desire to serve God in ministry.   It reminded of how much it's important to not fall prey to certain pitfalls in ministry.   The book gave us a glimpse of certain disciplines that we need to have currently before we get in ministry.   The book showed us why it's important to not fall into our own self-glory.   Also,  how it's important to not neglect our families and our own personal walk with God.    Our ministries should flow from our growing relationship with our savior, Jesus Christ.   

Edmund Clowney's- Called to Ministry

 God used the book "Called to Ministry" by Edmund Clowney to confirm by calling and desire to serve him in ministry.   He reminded me that we are first called when he surrender to God in our conversion.   We are also called by specifically called by our specific names that God gives us.   Clowney clarifies calling to relation to the certain gifts that God gives us.   Our calling is confirmed by how we use our gifts in the church.   

Being a servant of others is an aspect of calling we should take on as we seek to embody Christ.  Jesus was the true servant because he laid down his life for us by dying on the cross for us.   Jesus humbly served his disciples by washing their feet in John 13:1-17.   This shows how we should humbly serve our people.   Jesus came humbly through Bethany on a donkey.

Clowney also shows us the importance of relying on God's wisdom in relation to calling.   We are rely on God's wisdom in relation to our specific calling.   In another sense,  we are to use godly wisdom as we live out our calling.   Clowney discusses how God's wisdom is through seeing his glory through and recognizing who he is.  God's wisdom is to be a treasured possession and compared to a jewel in Job 38.  When we desire godly wisdom,  then God's kingdom is glorified through us.  

Lastly,  we should die to ourselves daily since we are called to the ministry.     As ministers of the gospel, we live out our calling by how we fully surrender to God.   Jesus says in Luke 9:23, "If anyone desires to come after me,  let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."  Jesus calls to to surrender those desires not of him every day as we seek to serve others.  We are to prune out sinful thoughts that we have that are not of God.  

In another sense,  Paul says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."  The apostle Paul did not want to live in this earthly body anymore but desired to be with Christ.    As we live out our calling, we are to surrender to God's will for our lives.   It is important we pray not our will be done but Christ's will for our life.  This process of daily surrender will open us up to God's kingdom as seek to serve him in our calling in ministry.