Melting Soul

After days of bitter cold, ice, snow, and darkness, this morning the sun has peeked out from behind the clouds and what do I hear? Birds!  They have been non-existent for days, hiding somewhere. Yet with one glimmer of the sun's warmth, they begin to sing their song.  It seems to me even louder than a few days ago.  How often my soul is in that place of winter's hold; where it seems to me that my very being has frozen and is held in a place of winter stillness. These moments are usually because of my own selfishness, sin, and or the barrage of hardness that lies around me.  And yet, in Father's economy He uses even my cold condition to remind me of warmer days.  I begin to long for those moments of sunshine.  He brings to my remembrance sweet moments in His presence; with melting soul and sweet song, because of being with Him.  His remembrance is not only in things behind but serves as a prompter to engage me in what lies ahead, and urges me to leave the frozen soul tundra.

Where are you friend?  Sometimes we need people to ask us, where we are! Is your soul like frozen ground?  Are the days that you are walking in difficult and causing your soul to grow cold?  He whispers to us... COME.  That's all, just come.  Come into His presence.  Come to a place of melting.  That is always His invitation to us.  There are no other conditions and no expiration date on His invitation.  It could be five minutes or five hours.  The stilling of one's self, tipping your head toward heaven, and saying; "You asked me to come, here I am, and I know I need You."

His presence, like the sun, will breakthrough.  And, like the birds, the warmth will cause you and me to sing. Oh maybe just inside of you at first, then you might begin to hum.  But with enough exposure to His light and warmth you will begin to sing.  That will look different on all of us, but your soul's response to His touch is to praise Him.

The snow and ice lie all around me, but it's me that has been changed.  Just like tomorrow will not borrow sunshine from today.  We must not live on borrowed Son-shine, always learning to sit long and often.  The mark of a mature woman of God is not that she gets it or that she has arrived at a place revelation.  No, a mature woman sees her need more quickly and runs more swiftly to her source, the One who says, "COME".  This is a lifetime pursuit.

There is much in my life that lies around me as snow and ice; those situations that seem to be held frozen and unyielding.  Those that have not been warmed by the Redeemer's...Healer's...or The Truth's touch.  I'm learning to recognize faster when those cold winds begin to blow against my soul and run to the invitation of; "COME".  Like a cozy fire, or a heavy quilt, or a hot cup of something delicious, the invitation is like an outstretch hand that is so inviting it compels me to draw near.  And, I begin to know my soul is melting and loosening itself from the grips of things that pale in comparison to the warmth that is found in Him.

His invitation to come; Matthew 11:25-30, Isaiah 55:1-2, Psalm 73:28

Still learning,

Kim

Love is not Grey

It's everywhere!  This 50 Shades of Grey...

Commercials, talk shows, blogs, and facebook.  I really don't want to add to the barrage but there are a few things that have been burning in my heart regarding this phenom book and movie that I would like to talk about.

The most disturbing comments that I have read are the ones that say, "it's just fantasy" or the one that completely blew my mind, "it is a fictional book and a movie, it's not real, why is everyone getting so upset."  While at face value those statements are true, they are not reality.

I have sat in a brothel sharing the gospel with the women who prostitute themselves for their lively hood. I have seen the "fantasy rooms".  Trust me when I say, the sixteen year old that had to lead a man back to that room, it was not a fantasy to her.   I have stood outside a construction site and viewed two small shacks that were about the size of a 8X8 square, watching as man after man came and left.  These shacks were where the "kept" women lived.  The women that stay in them are slaves. They were sold to the man who runs the construction site for the sole purpose to keep the men happy. The women are used, abused, and usually killed.  Then they are discarded like trash, only for another to take her place.

Please forgive me for being so brash.  My southern girl inside of me is screaming that the words I have already typed are so harsh... graphic.... that I need to soften it or just be quiet.

But, the tears rolling down my face say, I can not.

What might seem like fantasy to you is very much a reality around the world.  Women being kept and used for sexual pleasure is not a harmless, fictional book or movie, it is a fact.  So that is why there are so many questions in my mind regarding  50 Shades of Grey. Questions that I think any responsible woman must ask herself;

Do I/you have to actually see the act of sex for it to be pornographic?
Can a movie/song/ or anything, lead me/ you to a place in our minds that can cause us can finish the story?
Why would any woman endorse another woman being tracked, kept, and hurt for sexual pleasure, no matter the setting?

Fact: 50 Shades of Grey contains a man tracking a woman because she is his possession,  bondage, dominance, forced sexual and emotional submission, sadism and masochism.

I have also read the comments by Christian women that have said that they are free in Christ to watch anything they want and that there should be no judgment or condemnation for their choice.

 My concern with statements like that is that they are really a scapegoat for us to further feed our flesh.  But those types of statements are wrapped so neatly in passionate and spiritual lingo, who can disagree. Everyone of us have desires and appetites in us that we want to feed, but does that mean we do? And then say, no one better judge me for it because I'm "free" to do whatever I want?
We are ask us to come out and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17) and to not use our freedom as an opportunity for our flesh. (Galatians 5:13)

Fact: I have no power to pass ultimate judgement on anyone and God help anyone who thinks they can condemn another.

As a woman who is always talking to other women, I'm concerned with the damage that is done to women and their souls by this world we live in. I really want to ask you to ask yourself the questions above.  And then I want you to guard your heart and soul, my dear Christian sister.  We talk so little in the church about personal holiness, it's time...in fact it's way past time. God forgive us!  Let's start talking about being women who are marked by a relationship with Jesus.  Women who think from a gospel-centered perspective.  Not women who are marked by what we do or don't do!