To Stand and Fight or Wallow in Poverty
I did not begin to heal until I learned the lesson that my healing had to be the healing of my entire life, that as cruel and brutal as some of the early lessons were, and some were very cruel and very difficult, they were in my life to save me from worse.
Past pain, the lingering shock of past trauma, must be turned over to God. The lessons learned, but we, ourselves not controlled by the shock or the emotion they caused - renewing our NOUS "heart-mind" by the presence of the Holy Spirit, making us loving warriors and never the victim of lingering fear.
My pastor said to me, well over 60 years ago, after I was attacked, abused, and sliced for fun by a gang of teenage thugs. "Fear hath torment, and I know who the tormentor is. You must conquer the tormenting thoughts, or they will ever attack you." I did, and they became frightened of me, and unless someone else mentioned being abused, I never thought about it.
Fear has torment, and I know who the tormentor is. "Rom_8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
These are not mere sayings but facts. All our experience makes us stronger warriors, the more difficult the trials, the greater the warrior.
Bond Note: I offered this answer to a fellow who was abused by Roman Catholic priests, who has come to Orthodoxy but is still struggling with the emotions of trauma. It did not cross my mind that I knew Corey Ten Boom, whose entire ministry was about overcoming victimhood. I met her for the first time a few months after being attacked and brutalized. I was a young teen, and it embittered me. She recognized the bitterness, the hard shell, but I never told her the source. The only person on earth I confided in was my pastor, a precious old second-generation Scotsman, who quietly protected my secret and helped me heal. I found sanctuary in the Church auditorium across the street from our home. One evening, a deacon caught me playing the grand piano in the semi-dark, fussed at me, and kicked me out of the building. A week or so later, Dr. Keillor handed me an envelope that contained a key to the church building. He said, "Sometimes I sit in the nursery (it had a glass window looking out over the congregation) and listen to you play. It is your heart praying, don't stop." He was right. What a sweet and wonderful man was Dr. James A. Keillor. I'm continually amazed at the richness of life our Good Lord has allowed me to experience.
It was only a few years later that I witnessed President Lyndon Johnson give his "Great Society" speech, and on a gut level, I knew where our country was headed. I knew that when he talked, he did not understand the following because I knew many poor (low-income) families, but only a few lived in poverty. Most of the poor families I knew were rich in Godly learning, rich in talent, rich in skills, and rich in community. Only a few families in our poor neighborhood suffered poverty, simptomed by horrible home situations. It was because Christianity flourished there. Little more than a decade later, the Great Society had destroyed that.
On the other hand, in my work as a "Boutique Piano Tuner and Rebuilder," by that, I mean working for the top artists and the wealthiest people; I met many rich people who were sadly and sometimes comically impoverished. I met a great many that were wealthy in every way, spiritually/emotionally, financially, etc. I learned through years of experience that poverty is a matter of character, not finance. So is victimhood a matter of character and not experience. Those who bow to their victimizers are slaves to their victimhood long after the threat is gone. Cory Ten Boom taught me that. She refused to live in the shadow of the people who betrayed her family; she refused to live in the shadow of those who imprisoned her and killed her father and sister. Some of those people ended up bowing at her feet, begging her forgiveness. Why? They were impoverished in pain, and she was rich with blessings, not wealthy, just rich.
Past pain, the lingering shock of past trauma, must be turned over to God. The lessons learned, but we, ourselves not controlled by the shock or the emotion they caused - renewing our NOUS "heart-mind" by the presence of the Holy Spirit, making us loving warriors and never the victim of lingering fear.
My pastor said to me, well over 60 years ago, after I was attacked, abused, and sliced for fun by a gang of teenage thugs. "Fear hath torment, and I know who the tormentor is. You must conquer the tormenting thoughts, or they will ever attack you." I did, and they became frightened of me, and unless someone else mentioned being abused, I never thought about it.
Fear has torment, and I know who the tormentor is. "Rom_8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
These are not mere sayings but facts. All our experience makes us stronger warriors, the more difficult the trials, the greater the warrior.
Bond Note: I offered this answer to a fellow who was abused by Roman Catholic priests, who has come to Orthodoxy but is still struggling with the emotions of trauma. It did not cross my mind that I knew Corey Ten Boom, whose entire ministry was about overcoming victimhood. I met her for the first time a few months after being attacked and brutalized. I was a young teen, and it embittered me. She recognized the bitterness, the hard shell, but I never told her the source. The only person on earth I confided in was my pastor, a precious old second-generation Scotsman, who quietly protected my secret and helped me heal. I found sanctuary in the Church auditorium across the street from our home. One evening, a deacon caught me playing the grand piano in the semi-dark, fussed at me, and kicked me out of the building. A week or so later, Dr. Keillor handed me an envelope that contained a key to the church building. He said, "Sometimes I sit in the nursery (it had a glass window looking out over the congregation) and listen to you play. It is your heart praying, don't stop." He was right. What a sweet and wonderful man was Dr. James A. Keillor. I'm continually amazed at the richness of life our Good Lord has allowed me to experience.
It was only a few years later that I witnessed President Lyndon Johnson give his "Great Society" speech, and on a gut level, I knew where our country was headed. I knew that when he talked, he did not understand the following because I knew many poor (low-income) families, but only a few lived in poverty. Most of the poor families I knew were rich in Godly learning, rich in talent, rich in skills, and rich in community. Only a few families in our poor neighborhood suffered poverty, simptomed by horrible home situations. It was because Christianity flourished there. Little more than a decade later, the Great Society had destroyed that.
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