I have served the Lord for 19 years. I had a profound conversion in February of 1992 in a small African-America church in North Minneapolis. That is the moment God called me to stop hiding, and come openly to Him with all my dysfunction, prejudice, emotional unhealthiness, and sin.
That moment of conversion was the start of one of my deepest realities. The reality that God was a God of grace, and is relentless in his tenderness, compassion, and mercy...and He was pursuing me, in spite of me!
Looking back, I reflect how God has taken his time with me in the secret place (Psalm 91)...the secret place is a safe place with God. The secret place is a place where God takes an individual and puts them on a journey of change and transformation (Rom. 8:29). God's agenda: to conform us into the image of His Son (this process lasts a lifetime).
What is He transforming in me?
Accepting the Brokenness and Emotional Wounds in My Human Condition: Spiritual authors conclude this is when we stop living in denial of our past hurts, and start to accept the wounded self. Through the acceptance of the wounded self is when begin the journey of emotional healthy spirituality. This is where we accept that God loves who we really are---whether we like it or not!
Negative Self-Image: In my 20's I realized that my self-image was very low. Low self-esteem isn't something men talk about with other men (Example: "Hey man, whuz up?" "Nothing dude! How are you?" "Cool, cool...well, not really, I'm feeling pretty low in my self-esteem today"). There were times in my childhood and teenage years where I felt inferior, inadequate, and deep sense of worthlessness. I carried those feelings of deep self-rejection into my adulthood.
I felt I was a genus at covering up feelings of inferiority, inadequacies, and low self-esteem. The danger of having these feelings over a long period of time is that we can easily project onto God our own feelings and attitudes toward ourselves.
Bill Pascal said, "God made man in his own image and man returned the compliment. Thus, if we feel hateful toward ourselves, we assume that God feels hateful toward us."
My Mission: I feel it is my job to walk this earth as a WOUNDED HEALER! It is my mission to use authentic human connection to empower human development. I do this first by identifying, understanding, and connecting with my own story of pain and soul wounds. And as God shows hope to me, heals me, and helps me carry those wounds, in return, I can be used to help others find faith, hope, and healing.
Deitrick Bonhoeffer said, "when we dare to live as forgiven men and women, we join the wounded healers and draw closer to Jesus." The Wounded Healer implies that grace and healing are communicated through vulnerability of men and women who have been fractured and heartbroken by life (Brennan Manning).
Learning to Love Well: Simply, accepting myself as beloved child of God. As I'm learning to accept God's love, I'm learning to love myself. And my hope is to love others well for the rest of my life.
Deitrick Bonhoeffer said, "when we dare to live as forgiven men and women, we join the wounded healers and draw closer to Jesus."
----> I really love this quote,
It really shows how it's real to be close to God.
Posted by: Men Discount Suits | October 19, 2011 at 03:47 PM