Have you ever thought that a labyrinthitis crisis could be a blessing?

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/bmcent1

For the last two years or so, maybe more, I’ve been in a very intense rhythm at work. About a month ago, I talked to my manager and asked her to check how I could get a non-paid leave from work for one week. I knew I needed to get some rest and I had no vacation days left until April, so I had no other choice.

However, before I could get any response from her, my body decided to do what was needed.

On January 28th (a Friday), I woke up to the world spinning like crazy around me. I’ve had a few crisis like this before, so I knew what it was: labyrinthitis. The last time it happened, about 8 years ago, my doctor had prescribed a medicine that I could take if I felt dizzy, so I did my best to get to the medicine cabinet and take it.

I waited a couple of hours so the medicine could kick in and allow me to stand up and walk more securely. Then I called a taxi and went to a nearby hospital.

When I thought about the word “winter” for this post, the first thing that came to my mind was what Mr. Tumnus told Lucy in the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, by C. S. Lewis (one of my favorite authors): he said that in Narnia it was always winter and never Christmas.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/1carson2

It is interesting that Lewis depicted the sad situation of the narnians by saying that they didn’t have Christmas there. They would be OK with the permanent winter as long as they had Christmas.

Then I thought of myself living in a place like that. I’ve never seen snow up close before, only on TV, movies, photos, etc. In case you’re wondering, I live in Brazil. So I cannot have an accurate perception of what such a place would be like. Certainly it would be colder than any place I’ve ever been. Yes, it would be awful for me.

I live in a pleasant place, with nice weather, but even living in a nice place reminds me that this earth needs to be restored, like Narnia. It was obvious for the narnians, but sometimes it isn’t so obvious for the humans.

“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:27)

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/filmstroem

It is summer now in Brazil and as it is common during this time of the year, we’re having a lot of rain. A lot of cities have been suffering with major floods for the last few weeks. The worst of them so far happened in the state of Rio de Janeiro, that had the biggest tragedy caused by floods in the history of Brazil. The latest update (as of this writing) confirmed more than 600 deaths.

The number of victims may rise in the next days. First, because there are a lot of missing people and the officials believe that there are still bodies to be found. Second, because right now I am looking through the window to a dark sky in the middle of the afternoon. The rains haven’t stopped yet. Third, when we have floods, we also have the diseases that come with the water. So a lot of people that survived and also people that entered the waters to help others may have gotten infected.

We browse the channels on the TV and the sites on the Internet looking for some good news. The tragedy is so overwhelming that even the ones that weren’t affected (like myself) get desperate seeing so much pain and suffering.

There is an old song that asks “How can you mend a broken heart?”, talking about a romantic relationship gone bad. Based on the topic of brokenness I ask, how does God mend a broken person?

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/sb-borg

I’m sure you have already tried to fix an object that got broken before. You try to put the pieces back together (which may be a challenge depending on how bad it was broken and how many small pieces it was turned into) then apply glue or a similar material to hold them into one piece again.

But you can usually see that the object was broken. Maybe you can see the marks or notice that it is not quite exactly how it used to be. Even if you made an awesome job and there are no visible signs, you know that the object is more fragile now. It may break again easier than before.

What about people?

When something is broken inside a person (a hurt or trauma from the past) it keeps them from being whole.

I’ve seen people trying to hide their brokenness. That doesn’t work, the hurt is still there, they may not see it, it may look like everything is perfect, but it is still impacting that person’s life.

Life is about making choices. Everyday all of us make dozens, maybe hundreds of choices. Luckily, most of the choices we make are trivial and don’t have a considerable impact on our lives. However, there are choices that can change our lives for good.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/RTimages

As a human being, one of the first things we learn is to make choices. And at the same time, we have to learn to live with the consequences.

Have you ever thought that a simple choice like asking someone out on a date can be one of the most important ones you’ll ever make? You may say, “No, asking someone to marry me is much more important”. Yes, but it all begins with a date…

One of the things I like about the Bible is that it shows the lives of regular people like you and me. People that had to make choices, and the Bible doesn’t disguise their mistakes. After all, making mistakes is also part of our lives, we learn from them.

I am sure you can list a lot of bad choices that people from the Bible made, even the ones we call “heroes of faith”. For example, David arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle so he could have his wife, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).

What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror?

Photo credit: ©iStockphoto/killerb10

Usually, this question is meant for a self analysis. Every time someone asks you that, they mean to know your true self. Not the image that other people see, but the image that you see. Your true reflection.

We usually use several “masks”. Most of us don’t mean that for bad. Sometimes we use the masks to protect other people from seeing our true nature. Sometimes, we do that to get other people’s approval.

What may be terrifying is that God always sees us without our masks. He knows our heart, He knows our true self, our true image. And you know what is more terrifying than that? He still loves us!

No matter how scary is the image on the mirror, He still loves us to death. He proved that.

Photo credit: ©iStockphoto/jsmith

One of my favorite episodes in the Bible is when Mary Magdalene meets Jesus after His ressurrection (John 20:1-20).

Just a few days before, Mary had seen Jesus die. She believed He was the Messiah and the Son of God, but now He was dead. How was she supposed to continue living after everything she believed in was taken from her?

She was still shocked by what had happened when she went to Jesus’ tomb and she found it empty. Not only had Jesus died in a cruel manner, now someone had taken his body as well. It was more than she could bear. And Jesus knew that.

Then in an unexpected turn of events, He just shows up. She doesn’t recognize Him at first, but when she hears His voice she knows it’s Him. She bursts with joy and moves towards him, but He says:

“Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” – verse 17

When I think about rejoicing, the first thing that comes to my mind is a happy moment. That is natural because “rejoice” means “to feel joy or great delight“. The Bible describes dozens of moments when the Lord tells His people to rejoice when they receive a blessing or deliverance.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/DianaLundin

But to contradict our “common sense”, there are some episodes in the Bible when people rejoiced although they were going through tough times.

Let’s take a look at Hannah’s story (1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2). She was barren and it was a burden for her. She wanted really bad to have her own children. She wanted it so bad that she went to the temple, talked to the Lord and promised Him that if she had a son she would give him back to God.

At the beginning of chapter 2 we find Hannah praising the Lord:

“My heart rejoices in the LORD […] There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

One would obviously think that she had just found out that she was pregnant or maybe the boy has just been born. But if you look at the last verses of chapter 1, you will see that actually Hannah has just given up the boy to fulfill her promise to God. She gave her son to be raised by the priest Eli and yet was able to rejoice and praise the Lord. Why? How?

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/hidesy

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. – Galatians 5:14

A while ago, after a self-assessment of my christian life, I realized that I had one major problem: I wasn’t able to love people as God wanted me to. It is not that I hated people, but I was indifferent. If you think about it, indifference is the real opposite of love, not hatred.

If someone I cared about was in trouble or needed my help, I would jump in to help immediately. But if it wasn’t, I would think “poor him” or “poor her” and a few minutes later I would have dismissed any worries from my mind without even noticing.

But what about this commandment that Jesus gave us:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. – Matthew 5:43-45

I felt that I was not even close to loving the way Jesus meant, so I started praying that He would help me love people.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto/aldomurillo

Since creation, human beings need company.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” – Genesis 2:18

Adam had God with him in the garden and he had a lot of animals around. No one could say that he was alone. But still, he felt lonely. So God created Eve to be his companion. Adam was not alone anymore.

Since then, men and women have needed someone to support them, someone by their side. That’s how God created us. He built into us the necessity of having people around, of being a part of a community.

And as it is with all our needs, God also provides companions to support us in our journey of life. I’m not talking specifically about a romantic relationship (although your spouse can be and should be your companion too). I’m talking about people that will support you, help you keep on the right track, give you encouragement and lift you up when you fall.