Tag: Contentment

Advice for Teenagers, Alone-Ness, Breathe, Commentary, Enjoy The Journey, Life, Love, Loving Things Living, Rise, Teenagers, Religion and How Grace Changes Things

“Teenagers, What I Want You to Know”

Wynema

There are so many things that I want to tell young people. That time in life when you are searching for meaning, looking for your place, trying to fit in. If you will give me your ear, I promise I will not judge. Here are a few suggestions that may make the journey a little less painful.

1. Pain is normal. Everyone feels it. Don’t run from pain, lean into it and allow yourself to take shape. Life is a series of ups and downs, without the downs you wouldn’t appreciate the ups and it’s the ride that will color your life and make you strong. This idea that you are the only one feeling what your feeling is common. Those feelings are very real and in some cases frightening, it’s ok. You are not in this fight alone. It is in these times that you reach beyond yourself, beyond your reasoning and your age to something higher. It’s now that you begin to lean on and trust your creator. God equipped you with everything you need and even when you can’t see it or feel it, trust Him. He has got you, just trust Him. Tell Him you trust Him, give the pain to Him, give the confusion, the heartache, the fear to Him and trust that He has you.

2. You will make mistakes, it’s a part of the growing process. No one on the planet can do it all right. Be willing to acknowledge your need for help. There is nothing shameful or weak in needing help with things. Anyone that tells you that you shouldn’t ask questions and get help is doing damage, don’t listen, don’t be a part of the lie. It is this very willingness to admit your weakness that brings you your greatest strength. When you are weak He is strong. God isn’t afraid of your weakness, He knows you are imperfect, He is cool with that. He made you so you will trust Him, not so you will do it all yourself. Trust Him and at the same time allow others to be used by Him to help you.

3. Your identity is not found in labels. No matter what label you have been given, whether good or bad, whether positive or negative. You may be gifted and talented, you may have ADHD, you may be athletic, you may be musical, and you may have no idea at all what you are. These things do not identify you. What identifies you comes from where you get your life. As a believer your life is not music, athletics, sexuality, diagnosis, these are not your life. These are things your life deals with, but who you are is who Christ is. Who you are is loved, forgiven, new and right, just to name a few. In fact, Christ is your life. Recognize that, acknowledge that and the labels and the diagnosis are just a part of your journey. Enjoy the journey, but don’t mistake those things for your life. Someday the athletics will end, the talent will fade, the diagnosis will not be such a burden, but Christ will always be your life, allow Him to live through you.

4. If you are in a situation and something doesn’t feel right, listen to that and act on it. Trust your heart. Listen to the still small voice in your heart and allow it to guide you. It will save you from mistakes, hurt and disappointment. Listen to those who have had this journey already, people like your grandparents. Respect their knowledge and their years. They may have different views than you, but try and see the world through their eyes. You don’t have to agree, but listen, respect and give them your time. Theirs is limited.

5. Finally, when you are laying in your bed at night with the lights out and your eyes closed, think about Christ life moving through your hormones and your veins. See His light transforming you, see yourself swimming around in it. Drink it in. Try and imagine the depth of the love that He has for you, with no regard for faults, or labels. Accept that love, see yourself running in a wide-open field of it. Then wake up knowing that His life is your life, His strength is your strength, His peace is your peace, His mind is your mind and go conquer the day!

Wynema I Clark – 4/24/2017

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Breathe, Enjoy The Journey, Insticts, Life, Loving Things Living, Poetry, Rise

Living Things Living

Wynema
  • Being silent, noticing living things, living. The breath of God flowing within and through as the trees bloom and the sun shines. A quiet appreciation of life. I think about how everything works together, as seasons change. Yeah, the pollen is falling and things get stirred up which brings an element of discomfort, but blooming and growth means life is bursting forth. There is a metamorphosis, things taking shape very naturally, very beautifully coming into form as God creates it to be. Watch it, living things, living! It’s everywhere! Do you notice?
"It Is Finished", Breathe, Commentary, Cross, Enjoy The Journey, Floods of Rest, Gospel, Life, Love, Ministry, Poetry, Religion; spirituality, Religious

Floods Of Rest

Wynema

An obsession with right and wrong had stolen my liberation most of my life. I wanted badly to get it right. It being my theology, my life, my character, my family, everything. But I got confusion and frustration and like parched earth on a hot Texas summer it starved my soul of the pure clean living water that was mine.

It was a drought of receiving and giving the love that so desperately wanted to flow. But slowly, the dam broke. Not like a thunderstorm, but like a still small voice saying, “It Is Finished” you can stop now and rest.

Let the water flow by letting go of right and resting now, because, I Am. I am your right, I am their right, I Am. And out of my belly flows rivers of living water. Floods of restful being, washing every part. I will never thirst again.

Wynema Clark 12/22/2018

Alone-Ness, Commentary, Cross, Enjoy The Journey, Insticts, Life

Alone-ness

Wynema

It is in my alone-ness that God and I communicate the best. In the quiet of my evening, when my day has unfolded and my concerns or request are raw and laid bare. As I finish up my day, we talk all while I clean the kitchen or wash my face.

I also like to walk either alone or with my pups in tow. No music or podcast or sermons. Nothing to place my concentration on or distract me from where my thoughts are. Maybe family concerns or things happening with my friends and we talk about it. Even my own personal anxieties or feelings of inadequacy I notice in the quiet. Those I share with Him and He often reminds me of the truth or highlights a lie that I’ve allowed in.

In the quiet I can really focus on where my thoughts and feelings are settling. If I am emotional in certain thoughts and why that particular thought elicits such emotion, the Holy Spirit gently and quietly points out the truth and where it fits or doesn’t fit with who I am.

Sometimes my feelings are strictly based on lack of sleep or hormones. In these I am given grace. Those are physical and may not be based on a lie, but physiology. I remember the difference between eternal and temporary and I am thankful for the temporary and I allow myself to feel it and then let go.

Sometimes I even embrace the highs and lows for a time, to enjoy the range of emotions associated with being alive. It allows me a healthy, honest physiological experience in the moment.

I am thankful for a full range of emotions. I am thankful to my Father for being a woman.

Wynema I Clark

Commentary, Cross, Enjoy The Journey, Gospel, Life, Love, Ministry, Religion; spirituality, Uncategorized

We Are His House

Wynema

My husband and I are blessed to own a great house in SA. We live in that house, pay for it and hire out repairs (we aren’t real good at that stuff) and care for the upkeep of it. If there is painting that needs to be done or a lawn that needs to be mowed Jeremy and I don’t blame the house, how silly would that be, we simply take care of it. We may rearrange things at times, remove walls or update the light fixtures. But that’s up to us not the house.

The verses below all say that you are God’s house. If you are God’s house what does that say about whose in charge of your care. You can rest in that! I just think about that and it gets my mojo goin!

Hebrews 3; 2 Corinthians 6;

1 Corinthians 6; Acts 7 & 17 1 Corinthians 3

Breathe, Enjoy The Journey, Life, Poetry

Breathe

Wynema

I like bluebonnets in a Texas springtime,

And the landscape of a desert sky.

How about a canopy of trees along a winding road.

These are the things that make me take life slow

And breathe.

Breath the smell of honeysuckle

along a path I like to ride,

Or the smell of dinner cookin

through the back porch screen.

Life is sweet, Life is beautiful

So breathe.

Enjoy the endless journey of the ocean,

as your toes are buried deeply in the sand.

Let the music of your life have a

pleasant beat.

Cause life is sweet and it’s beautiful

So breathe.

Take in the moments as they come.

Don’t let your troubles hold you down.

Kiss your babies before they’re grown

And put that laptop down.

Cause time is passing,

And it’s beautiful

So breathe.

Wynema I Clark

3-12-2018

Commentary, Cross, Gospel, Life, Love, Religion; spirituality, Religious

Just Live

Wynema

We over theologize. It’s actually really simple. I think it is us who require proof, explanation and experience. We spend lots of time and money to understand. We travel, we read, we study. Maybe it’s an American thing and it’s a good thing, but it’s really not necessary.

What if you don’t have access to all the resources or education? What if you can’t read or maybe you live in a country without religious freedom?

I’ve seen people in dire straights, desperate for help, who simple tell God I can’t, I give it to you, and He takes it and loves them as they slowly begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. People with no formal education and no means except for the simple ability to believe and they are transformed.

I’m convinced that it’s about relationship with a loving God who meets us where we are, we don’t have to find Him in an elaborate building or a well dressed speaker on a platform. Jesus made the way that simple. Do you believe?

We Americanized believers question our faith, our forgiveness, our walk, our church attendance, our clothing, when the heavenly standard was met in Christ, do you believe it? Then relax, have relationship and stop measuring God’s ability to love you by external measurements and open your eyes to see that He has been all along. Just live!

Commentary, Life

When Bad Things Happen

Wynema

It’s so important to notice and appreciate the good moments, soaking them in and being present. Moment by moment things change, news happens and sometimes it can take your breath away for a time. The ups and downs of life are natural processes to this earth-walk. But remember that this is all temporary and you my friend, are eternal. That means your resources do not come from this place that is in a constant state of turmoil.

You are an eternal being with eternal resources filled with peace that is heavenly and life that is JESUS. This does not take away the temporary pain of the moment, but it does mean you do not live there. You live in Him and in Him is a peace that passes understanding. We are anchored, steady and have full
citizenship in a realm beyond this temporary place. We have JESUS to thank for that!

Uncategorized

You Are Qualified

Wynema

Jesus can revolutionize your life and world view. The idea of grace in its fullness characterizes the very nature of Jesus and changes our concept of the worth of humanity. Our world view in the past has been filtered through religion, which tainted our ability to accept those that would not qualify to be a part of our family. All the while hoping that the outcast and the freaks would conform to our image so that we would be more comfortable with them among us. After all we don’t want that kind of person to representing us, right? How ugly is that, how sad, bland, boring and comfortable.

In the old covenant only the high priest could go into the holy of holies in the presence of God. The high priest were the very upper crust, the closest to perfect that existed. They were the only ones worthy to even attempt to meet with God and even they would drop dead if they did not fully qualify. How frightening, how intimidating, how confident, how self assured would you have to be to attempt a journey into the presence of God?

The magnificent exchange was that the very God that the high priest feared, the God that reigned down manna from heaven and whose presence lived in the form of Shekinah glory behind the veil had a plan all along to come to us. To go to the darkest places and the deepest earth to identify with us. The very God we feared became one with those who would never qualify. Because what we failed to admit is that no matter how hard any of us try, none of us can ever qualify. It is only by grace through faith in this man Jesus Christ.

So you see, it’s not a matter of qualifying to get to God, it’s a matter of God qualifying to get to us. Who am I to disqualify anyone? Who am I to claim Christ death returns insufficient on anyone’s behalf. God wanted us all along. He wanted us to admit our dependence on him all along. So if you are an outcast, freak or classified weirdo Jesus came to you, identified with you and brought you freedom, grace, and love. Not freedom from who you are, but freedom from having to be who you’re not. We are all dependent on him, we require him, we thirst for him and in him we find our life. Run to him, don’t be afraid!

Hebrews 4:14-16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Ephesians 3:19

Uncategorized

“If I Was 21 Again”

Wynema
Flower fun
Flower fun (Photo credit: @Doug888888

“It I Was 21 Again”

If I was 21 again I’d tell myself to laugh/

I’d stop and smell the roses and even tip a glass/

If I was 21 again I’d give myself time to grow/

I’d love without the guilt and those I love would surely know/

If I was 21 again and all I had was time/

I’d go to Napa Valley and learn to love fine wine/

But I’m not 21 again the truth is I’m 42/

And I wouldn’t change a thing because I’ve spent my life with you!

Wynema Clark 4/10/2013