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Volume 8 |
~ News From
"Your Birthing
Family" ~ |
Issue 6 |
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Charis Around
the World
Tidbits From Ebony
by Elizabeth Carmichael
The Gift of Taco
Soup
Dear
Charis Family,
I have been thinking of many of you often this month and am just
really thankful for you, thankful you are out in the world doing
what you are doing.
I covet your prayers as I leave tomorrow for India--never been
there, kind of nervous, but, by the time you read this I will
have already come and gone! One of my closest friends here in
Ebony has met a fellow worker who is from India and they will be
getting married there this week. It should be a great
adventure!
After India, I will travel to a Central Asian country that is
kind of in turmoil right now. So, again, I appreciate
prayers. I have about two weeks of conferences there, and
I will be teaching four seminars during the course of the
conferences. Hopefully, I can send you some of the
contents of the seminars in future Tidbits. They won't be
about birth, but will be about working overseas.
One of my friends here, who hasn't known me very long, said to
me yesterday, "It is so funny how you have a birth analogy for
everything!!"
It took me a minute to think about it and say, "Did you know I
am a doula and studying to be a midwife?" :-) She hadn't
known that.
So, here's to all of you!!! My fellow journeywomen who
probably also have a birth analogy for "everything"!
*******
I wanted to tell you about an interesting situation that arose
last week. It also is not about birth, but it IS a tidbit
from Ebony, so I guess we are still on track.
There is a relationship in my life right now that is one of the
most difficult things I have ever experienced. One of the
most painful parts is that it is unresolved. Myself and
another person are somewhat estranged from each other, yet he
has not repented from some serious abuses against me and I do
not feel safe around him at all, and can not be reconciled in
friendship until there is some resolution to what happened.
So, here we remain.......a bit stuck.
In the past, this has plagued me. I have been laden with
guilt, self depreciating, desperate to try to "live at peace
with all men." But, this was related to some of the
abusive ways he had talked to me, and the patterns of thinking I
had formed. As time passed, and mentors helped me, I heard
the Lord's voice as stronger than any other, and I started to
view things more according to His truth.
A couple of years have passed, but this year, me and this person
have had to move to the same city, then we were running into
each other around town, we had to move into the same
NEIGHBORHOOD, and we work in the same circles of people.
It was one thing when we were several hours apart from each
other. Now it is a whole new story.
In our first interactions after a very painful "blow up" of
sorts, our greetings seemed forced, awkward and not genuine.
More recently, I found out about a lie that this person told
about me in order to make himself feel more powerful. It
gutted me.
As brothers and sisters in Christ this shouldn't be happening.
As some of the VERY, VERY few people among a very large
unreached people group, this obviously has the enemy's handprint
all over it.
But, what can we do if we participate with the enemy by giving
into our flesh? We will never see peace and light reign in
our relationships if that is the case.
A few weeks ago some guests who are very key to the Work were in
town. We wanted to get together to pray for the Work.
So, a plan for a meeting began forming. No one else
offered, so I decided to host what I thought would be quite a
small gathering.
One of the first people to email me was the person I have been
telling you about. My stomach sank as I saw his name in my
inbox. I wanted to spit at the computer screen when I saw
his cheesy words, "I will be honored to attend.....Kind
Regards," ....especially knowing the lie he had recently spread
about why and how I stopped working with him.
Wow. The Lord is good.
As soon as I knew he was coming for the meeting, having already
planned a meal, I realized I would have to plan a new meal--a
gluten free meal. Because of a medical condition this was
essential, only for this one guest.
I was so busy during the week that I didn't think any more about
the meal. I was just filled with anxiety about having this
person in my home, who had caused me so much pain.
On the day of the meeting, I was desperately praying for the
Lord to give me His truth, strengthen me and guard me from my
own flesh so that I would not lash out in sin against this man.
I wanted to not cower before him, but to simply walk with Jesus
and obey His word about how we are to behave toward each other
as brothers and sisters.
The need for a gluten free meal, completely uncontaminated (in
the third world--this is QUITE an achievement!), totally
distracted me.
At times during the day I felt like Martha vs. Mary, but Jesus
reminded me that one of Martha's downfalls in that story was
that she forgot the one needful thing. I hadn't forgotten
that I needed intimacy with Christ in order to make it
through--I was just seeking that intimacy AS I was doing the
tasks before me.
God was SO kind! He gave me the ability to cook a gluten
free taco soup, which I have now deemed to be a gift from
heaven.
That soup occupied my mind all day long. The Lord kept me
from anxiety and self-loathing. He kept my heart set on service,
open to His Spirit's refining power. He gave me Psalm 69
to pray through over and over.
When the meeting rolled around, I was so tired and busy still
preparing that I found genuine greetings and service coming out
of my heart and mind toward ALL my guests. There was no
room for my flesh. The Spirit and His agenda were filling
the broken space between me and the other person.
When I brought out the meal, he knew what it had cost me and he
knew it was for him. I wasn't saying, "We are OK, nothing
is wrong." Or, "Please be my friend. I hate what has
happened." It was important to me, and I believe to the
Lord, that those were not the messages communicated. This
man's sin is NOT fine and OK. But, in the end, his sin is
atoned for in Christ just like mine, and, by God's grace, the
taco soup communicated, "I was willing to serve you and I wish
you well."
I'm not sure how this little story is coming across. I do
NOT mean to uphold myself as anything great. It seems like
such a small moment in the course of life. But, it was
huge for me.
Jesus is the hero of this story! He is the sustainer and
the reconciler! He DESERVES my public praise for how He
carried me through this situation. He deserves an "Ebenezer"
that says, "This is how far the Lord has brought me!"
Writing all this down is my attempt at giving Him what He
deserves.
Taco soup was a gift.
The man who has hurt me and lied about me was in my house for
several hours.
He ate the food I had prepared carefully for his health and
wellness.
He chatted with me and looked me in the eye.
And, I did the same.
In my heart of hearts, in my mind, and in my deeds, the Lord
Jesus Christ reigned. The enemy of our souls, the
instigator of sin, the father of lies, was put to shame as God's
children walked painfully one step closer to godly
reconciliation.
I dissolved into tears and the arms of a trusted friend when the
man left the house finally. But, even though I was
exhausted and still in pain from the past several years, I was
also full of relief and joy. Jesus showed me what victory
looks like.
Every day will not be like that day. But, when He returns,
eternity will be NOTHING BUT victory.
I hope this encourages you.
Much love,
Elizabeth Carmichael
Psalm 69
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come
up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have
come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My
eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me
without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who
attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now
restore?
5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not
hidden from you.
6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O
Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to
dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that
dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my
mother's sons.
9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of
those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my
reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards
make songs about me.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an
acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love
answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from
my enemies and from the deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according
to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress;
make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my
enemies!
19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes
are all known to you.
20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I
found none.
21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me
sour wine to drink.
22 Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they
are at peace, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make
their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning
anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their
tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they
recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no
acquittal from you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them
not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God,
set me on high!
30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him
with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with
horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God,
let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own
people who are prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that
moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and
people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who
love his name shall dwell in it.
Our International Charis
Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your
safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you! |
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'Behold,
I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the
ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and
The one who labors with child, together,
A great throng shall return there...And My people shall be
satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
Jeremiah 31:8, 14
~~~
©2013 Charis Childbirth Services, All Rights Reserved
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leaving all attribution intact.
June 2013 |
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