Category Archives: Embracing Losses and Limits

Daily Riches: Suffering and Grace (Jim Palmer)

Posted on by under Embracing Losses and Limits, God's Grace, Suffering and Grace

“I used to be ashamed of my depression,

but now I see it’s a secret trapdoor to God. When it hits, I sink down into that black hole and often find Jesus there. … now when I am asked [who Jesus is], I am most inclined to say, ‘Jesus is the one who sits down close to me in my black hole of despair, offering himself until it passes.’” Jim Palmer

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it [Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”] away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you have some weakness, hardship, persecution or difficulty that causes you to sink down into a “black hole of despair?”
  • Can you imagine Jesus “sitting down close to you” in that dark, painful place and “offering himself until it passes?” Do that now.
  • We often despise our weaknesses, and ourselves for being weak, but the apostle Paul says he is glad for his weaknesses and delights in his difficulties. The next time you visit your own painful “black hole” of trouble, can you wait there for God to make himself known to you in a new and saving way?

Abba, thank you for desiring to make yourself known to me in the midst of my most painful experiences. Help me to notice, to listen and learn, to submit, to give thanks, to be comforted, to be changed.

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For More: Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God by Jim Palmer

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Suffering and Grace (Pema Chödrön)

Posted on by under Embracing Losses and Limits

“We don’t like the way reality is now and therefore wish it would go away fast. but what we find … is that nothing ever goes way until it has taught us what we need to know. if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other end of the continent in order to get away from the obstacle we find the very same problem waiting for us when we arrive. it just keeps returning with new names, forms, manifestations until we learn whatever it has to teach us about where we are separating ourselves from reality, how we are pulling back instead of opening up, closing down instead of allowing ourselves to experience fully whatever we encounter, without hesitating or retreating into ourselves.”  Pema Chödrön

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’ But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.”  Jonah 1:1-3

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • What is there in your present reality that you wish “would go away fast?” Are you attempting to run from it like Jonah did?
  • Are you waiting for some unpleasant, persistent “reality” in your life to “go away”, while God is waiting for you to learn from it “what you need to know?”
  • Can you choose insight from God over comfort? Can you embrace the anxiety and submit to the waiting, the frustration – even the pain, as God’s gift to you?

Abba, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change … but not just to accept them, but to embrace and submit to them, and to you, as in love you form me.

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For More: When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Embracing Our Limits (Pete Scazzero)

Posted on by under Death Daily, Embracing Losses and Limits, Humility, Learning Your Proper Place

“Getting off our thrones and joining the rest of humanity

is a must for spiritual maturity.
We are not the center of the universe.
The universe does not revolve around us.
Yet a part of us hates limits. We won’t accept them.
This is one of the primary reasons grieving our losses Biblically
is such an indispensable part of spiritual maturity.
Embracing our limits humbles us like little else.”
Peter Scazzero

“So John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.’ John replied, ‘No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.  …It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater,
and I must become less and less.’” John 3:26-30

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Of one pastor it was said, “He wanted to be the bride at every wedding, and the corpse at every funeral.” It’s both funny and sad. Do you ever struggle to “get off your throne and join the rest of humanity?”
  • Think about some of the limits in your life. Do you hate them? Are you refusing to accept them, or are you “embracing” them?
  • What would it mean for you to “grieve your losses Biblically?” Can you see that there would be benefit in doing that? How so?

Abba, forgive me for constantly trying to do more than you intend with my life. Forgive me for my exalted sense of my own importance – for my constant chafing at the limits you give. Help me to submit to the work of “limits” in my life.

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For More: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in about 300 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)