When walking, I either listen to music
or podcasts of past messages from my Pastor, Rick Sherer. About a
month ago (if even that long),
I was listening to one of Pastor Rick's messages, Prayer
God Always Answers. Towards
the end of the recording, Pastor Rick made a statement in which he pointed out
that if a child of God wants to see change in their life, they should ask God
to reveal the things in them that are not like Him. Pastor Rick also
"cautioned" that if a person asks God, they should make sure they really want to know
because God would answer. In my efforts to be more Christlike, I did as
instructed. I asked God to 'reveal the things in me that I need to change so
that I can become more like You, Father'. And then I kept walking…
Fast
forward about a week (if even that long)...
During our Sunday
services and Wednesday night Covenant Circles at Berith Christian Fellowship,
Pastor Rick kept mentioning the words "rebuke", "reproof",
"chastening" and "correction" while he taught. Although
Pastor Rick would refer to them in different contexts, the words kept coming
up. In fact, Pastor Rick mentioned these words so often that in one of my
Sunday outlines I wrote a note to myself that said 'reproof and chastise =
WHOAment', which I thought signified that a blog entry would
be coming soon about one of those words. Shortly after that
Sunday, I penned an entry about parenting, though the words for the
blog entry never seemed to fully flow as normal nor was I given the words to complete the writing. Truthfully, that half-finished
entry is still scribbled in my notebook, perhaps for another posting.
Yet, the words "rebuke", "reproof", "chasten" and "correction" continued to resonate within my sub-consciousness.
As I went about my everyday routines, there seemed to be a sudden shift in how my husband
and I interacted, or at least that is the way that I perceived it at
the time.
From my standpoint, my husband, who is normally very attentive, loving and always
doting on me, was behaving abnormally. It seemed as though the conversations between us, which are usually easy-flowing
and laced with love, ended up with him pointing out something
negative about me. It seemed as though every single time we were having a serious conversation, he seemed
to "conveniently" turn it into critiques about things I wasn’t doing correctly or
made suggestions about the things that I could improve.
I began to grow
frustrated with my husband's "criticisms" and as a result, whenever
he would try to hold a lengthy conversation with me, I would either shut it down or kept my answers to a minimum. What was the
point in engaging in lengthy conversations with him when he was
being so negative?
This past Saturday night before we went to sleep, my husband reached over and
kissed me and told me that he loves me. I responded with a return kiss and told
him that I love him. He went a step further and brought God into the equation
and told me that God loves me too. I told him that I knew. (At this point, I
thought he was trying to be sarcastic and I was not in the mood). When he
prodded more and asked how I
know God loves me, with an attitude, I said, “because I know”. My husband
didn’t ask anything else and we cuddled up and went to sleep.
On the way to church the next morning, my husband continued his questioning
and admonished me to search the Scriptures for myself to answer the
question that he asked the night before and I agreed that I would.
"How
do you know God loves you?"
That morning, during
his message, Pastor Rick brought up the words “correction” and “reproof”
again. To put the cherry on top, at the end of the service, he also told the congregation that God loves
us. (Go figure).
This week, I was
sitting down reading my Bible and I happened to look up and glanced at our
movie collection. Out of all the movies there, Spike Lee’s Love and Basketball caught my eye.
Although the movie is a love story, it also contains other underlying
themes. Monica (played by Sanaa Lathan) is very passionate about
basketball. In high school, she is the team’s captain and a very good player.
She is one of the best female players in the city. Once she is recruited to
play basketball for a popular university, the dynamics change. Although she has a lot
of potential, she is no longer the star. This means that she has to play harder
and earn her place within the team. Although Monica feels that she is doing
everything right, her coach, Coach Davis (played by Christine Dunford) always
seems to point out her faults. At one point in the movie, because Coach Davis
is so hard on her, Monica feels the coach doesn't recognize her abilities.
As I thought about the movie, a particular scene played in my head. The scene
stuck out so much that, without thinking, I grabbed the DVD to watch the scene:
Here it is:
Coach Davis: [In her office after a game] We've
got our final games against Oregon and Oregon State,
and I'm shaking things up a bit, so... I'm starting you at point again.
Monica: But, uh... I thought Sidra's ankle was OK
for next game.
Coach Davis: [impatiently] You want the job, or
not?
Monica: Yeah.
[Keeps staring at Coach Davis]
Coach Davis: What?
Monica: It just... it just seems like you're always
riding me.
Coach Davis: [pauses, then speaks] You think I'd
go hoarse for a player with no potential? When I ignore you... then you worry.
Although the dialogue
between Coach Davis and Monica is very brief, its message is colossal and got
me to thinking: Coach Davis saw the potential in Monica and as a result, she
stayed on her. Consistently.
After watching this
scene, still reflecting on its message, I got up to get a glass of water.
Before I even reached the refrigerator, it hit me like a ton of bricks and
enter the WHOAment:
Hebrews 12:6 – “ For
whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
(NKJV)
Revelation 3:19 – “ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Therefore be zealous and repent.” (NKJV)
It was just at that
WHOAment that I realized that God had answered the
prayer that I prayed a few weeks back!! (Duh) I
asked Him to reveal the things within me that I needed to change and He did.
Every single event over the past month (if
even that long) was
God trying to
show me, over and over again. When I still didn't pick up what He was putting
down, He sent my covenant partner, my husband, to show me! All the times that I
felt that my husband was being too hard on me by only pointing out the negative
things that I was doing was by God’s design! I had faith enough to ask God
to show me what needs to be purged from my life and He was faithful and
answered me! God chastened me because He loves me.
God chastens whom He Loves!
I want you to know
that as soon as I got this revelation, I repented to God and to my husband for
my sin of offense. To God be the Glory! With tears streaming down my face
because I finally "got it", I
filled my husband in on the sequences of events.
After I finished
speaking, my husband thanked me for letting him in on what I was going
through. He admitted that although he was grateful that God chose to use
him to minister to me, he really couldn't recall telling me anything
extreme that I needed to change or correct. When I reminded him of the things
(and, yes, because they were still ringing in my head I was able to list
them all), he agreed that although they are, in fact, areas that could be
improved or changed, they weren’t significant to him.
(After all, he wasn’t the one that said the prayer, right? So of course they
wouldn’t matter much to him, other than the fact that he in turn will benefit
from me heeding the Word because I will be a better Christian, wife and
mother). The main thing that my husband remembered about the two week
period was that Tiffany the Tyrant stopped by our house.
Please let this WHOAment be a testament to you that 1) God answers prayers, 2)
don’t “shoot the messenger” and 3) God chastens who He loves.
I recognize the fact that since God has shown me the areas in my life that I
need to change or step up, the next immediate step is to be a doer of the Word.
It’s time to put it all into action! By faith, with Christ, I am well
on my way!
James 1:22 -
"But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves." (NKJV)
Selah!
~ Tiffany
