Monday, January 04, 2010

shattered dreans

one of my birthday gifts (wow, i got gifts! i am so abundantly blessed!!!) was a book called 'shattered dreams' by larry crabb. my pastor gave it to me with this statement (not verbatim): you already have a good hold on this theology, but thought you would appreciate reading it for the little gaps that may get filled. well he was right!!! and there's so much that gives words to what i know but knew not how to express....

a few brief quotes from the book thus far:

"Because He can't resist giving us the highest good, He's determined to give us an encounter with Himself. It's the greatest blessing He can think of." pg 3

"Through the pain of shattered lower dreams, we wake up to the realization that we want an encounter with God more than we want the blessings of life." (emphasis mine) pg. 4

"He uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God, to help us begin dreaming the highest dream. (...) They are ordained opportunities for the Spirit first to awaken then to satisfy our highest dream." pg 5

that's just the introduction!

then there's an incredible parable of a man in suffering and his struggle with God...

"...It was a dream of actually knowing God and representing Him in an unpleasant world. The dream took on a specific focus; he saw how he could know God and represent God to others in a way that was his way and not someone else's. (...) He realized immediately that his power to speak on behalf of God to others in the midst of their unpleasant lives depended on his speaking from the midst of his own unpleasantness. He had never before felt grateful for his troubles." pgs 12-13

yes, amen!!!!

Clover
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Outcast, Adopted.

THIS BLOG IS IN NEED OF AN OVERHAUL. there are posts from years back i would not be able to post in good conscience now. i plan to overhaul the blog, and either delete or add a disclaimer to those posts. but that is gonna take time....

The Radical Summons: "Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:13.

"The Spirit never loosens where the Word binds; the Spirit never justifies where the Word condemns; the Spirit never approves where the Word disapproves; the Spirit never blesses where the Word curses." —Thomas Brooks

‎"God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace. Therefore no arrogant saint, or just or wise man can be material for God, neither can he do the work of God, but he remains confined within his own work and makes of himself a fictitious, ostensible, false, and deceitful saint, that is, a hypocrite." --Martin Luther (W.A. 1.183ff)

i will not let You go: "Jacob's sense of his total debility and utter defeat is now the secret of his power with his friendly Vanquisher. God can overthrow all the prowess of the self-reliant, but He cannot resist the earnest entreaty of the helpless." --Albert Barnes

i will not let You go: "Jacob's determination did not flow from his strength, it flowed from his weakness." --Charles Leiter