Tale of Two Women

“For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling. That I may walk before God in the light of the living.” Ps 56:13

Oh Lord, I pray for those with abortion-wounded hearts to seek more of You. Father, deliver their soul from death. Even those who have a degree of freedom and healing, will you stir up in them a desire for more of You! I pray they would receive all you have for them, come out of the darkness of hiding and be able to walk before you in the light of the living. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This week's devotional was written by Jacque Murphy, the Director of Administration for the Deeper Still Ministry. Thank you Jacque for contributing to the devotional today!

“Recently, my husband, Darryl, and I went out shopping. We entered a local store. While

searching for that perfect something, someone who I had recently met walked in the store. This recent acquaintance was a divine appointment set up by the Lord. I had met with her to talk about Deeper Still and discovered through our conversation that she was post-abortive. I had encouraged her to come to a Deeper Still retreat, but sadly, she had not yet decided to attend. Excited to see my new friend, I walked over to say hi. She looked at me with surprise, and for a moment it seemed she had forgotten we met.

Sensing she was uncomfortable at our random meeting, I said, “It’s good to see you again.” She just smiled and nodded her head. Her face told me she didn’t want to talk with me. Backing away, I went looking for Darryl. When we were leaving the store, we passed by each other, but did not look at me, nor did she seem to want to talk. I looked at her softly and said goodbye. She did not respond.

The interaction was strange and awkward. I really didn’t know what to think about it all. I asked the Lord about it later, and felt like He said he wanted to keep Deeper Still in front of her. I didn’t expect to hear that response. But felt like the Lord was working on her heart.

The next day, I ran into another lady while I was at Walmart. This lady worked there. I was noticing her and ask her if we had met before, and she said I looked familiar too. No one was around, so I asked her if she had ever come to a retreat called Deeper Still, and immediately she said yes!! She came around the counter and gave me the biggest hug. She told me how much that retreat meant to her and how her life had been changed forever through Deeper Still!

So interesting how the Lord works. I felt like He was showing me the difference between these two ladies. One not healed, and the other, healed and free. When not healed, they are not free and want to hide and feel shame and guilt.  But once healed and free, what a difference! The second lady came out of hiding and was ready to embrace others. Her heart was open, and looking for an opportunity to embrace that freedom! Such a contrast between the two! One lady is walking in the Light and the other lady is walking in darkness, and doesn’t even realize it. “

There is an unexplainable resistance to freedom.  I resisted more freedom for years and coaxed my complacency with thinking I was fine and didn’t need more. Somehow we think seeking healing negates the freedom and healing already received. Admitting weakness and having the vulnerability to recognize that there is a need for more takes humility. Seeking more help and health isn’t a sign of weakness but of strength. With Jesus, there is always deeper. Deeper still.

In a Loveless Nation

“And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity.”  Matthew 24:12

Father, we lift our nation up to you.  Father, we ask for you to forgive us for our iniquities as a nation.  Lord, we have blasphemed Your mighty name.  We have turned our backs on our statues and mocked those who stood for truth.  We have forced You out of our public schools and institutions in the name of equality and separation of church and state.  We need You in our nation again.  We need Your love to come in and flood our hearts.  We need Your eyes to see the depravity in this world.  For what we are too blind to see we will inevitably run into.  Lord, may our love not grow cold.  Fill us.  In Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.

Hallerin Hilton Hill, a popular radio personality, spoke at my church last Sunday as a guest speaker.  He shared his heart and love for this nation and encouraged us during this time in which our nation has endured several sad occurrences recently with tragic loss of life.  One statement he shared was his father’s advice to him as his father was in his final days on earth.  He said this:

“Remember the answer to everything is love.”

In our nation, we are in a crisis of loveless-ness.  We are in a crisis of disrespect and disregard for human life.  We have forgotten the commandments Jesus gave when on the earth: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. 

Two commands.  That’s it.   All the others hang in the balance of these two.  A friend of mine, who is also a very gifted and anointed worship leader wrote these words that beautifully illustrates this point: 

“If we see ourselves as unworthy of love, we see others as unworthy of love also.  But if we see that He is crazy for us, we will love ourselves as well, and in return love others with the same crazy, extravagant, gracious love.  I believe America is broken and hurting, and in search of her true identity…If we would fix our eyes back on Jesus, we would learn how to love ourselves and how to love others, and in doing so would end this nasty epidemic of hate that seems to be rooted so deep in this land. May authentic love be rooted once again in this country and in the Church, but most of all may it start with me.”  -Ashlynn Bolding

Amen and amen. 

I pray we would not get calloused as a nation to the terror and fear that has happened recently.  This is not the norm in our nation, nor should it be the accepted as commonplace anywhere.  Having disregard for human life should never be the norm. 

Devaluing human life cannot and should not be ignored.   We have all been created in the image of God, no matter the age, color, ethnicity, religion, background, education or socioeconomic status.  We are His image bearers, and as such, we are violently hated by the enemy of this world.  This enemy has one mission, and that is to kill, steal and destroy.

 

We have one mission given to us by our Creator, and that is to love, all people.   May we never become indifferent to human lives lost no matter the cause or circumstance and may our love never grow cold.  

Please Talk about this Topic

“Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.”  Jude 1:2

Father in Heaven, Lord, we ask for You to multiply the mercy, peace and love of Deeper Still.  We ask for you to expand Deeper Still.  We ask for You to multiply healing of those wounded from abortion to across the nation and the world.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sobs interrupted by gasps of breath filled the car. 

We had just left a fundraising event for a local crisis pregnancy center.  The guest speaker was Pam Tebow.  The crowd listened intently as she shared her powerful testimony.  The doctors had encouraged her to abort her son due to health reasons.  She chose life.  As a result, Tim Tebow was born.  Tim Tebow is the famous football player once known for writing scripture under his eyes and his bold kneel for Christ. 

I left the event broken and desperate.  Sobbing all the way home in the car, I thought about the girl I had aborted that never had a chance to breathe her first breath of air.  That night I wondered the “what ifs” and the “what ifs” broke me. 

God had been leading me on a journey of healing my abortion wounded heart for the past 20 years and I have to admit, up until that night I thought I was fine.  I didn’t see the need to go any deeper.  I thought, “I’m good right where I am.”

However, that night my heart whispered more.  God spoke to me during the event and said, “It is time.  It is time to go deeper.”

Three weeks after that event, He led me to the Deeper Still ministry through a friend and I attended the Deeper Still Ministry training two months later.  God led me deeper and drastically changed my life.

A friend recently told me she was hesitant to share her abortion story at her Bible study group because she was concerned there were women there who were post-abortive and that it may cause them pain to hear the topic of abortion.  Our churches remain silent on the issue of abortion for many reasons, but I believe this is also one of the reasons pastors tend to shrink back from this topic.

Can I just say something about this reason for not talking about abortion?  We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when sharing about any topic, but perhaps hushing is hindering the Holy Spirit from doing a much needed work in people who need to hear the hard stuff.  God uses the hard to stir up in us a discontentment for the status quo and open our eyes to our need for Him to heal.  It is easy to ignore the pain when it has been numbed and dormant.

For true healing to occur, a person has to realize their need for a Doctor.  The pain surfacing awakens our need.  Then as Christine Caine has said, "We must embrace the pain of recovery."

In any surgery, there is pain involved.  We can ignore the issues and pretend they aren't there and deceive ourselves into believing they will just go away or we can let the Surgeon do His surgery and embrace the pain of recovery.  After the surgery and recovery are over, we can be healthy and whole!  But, we have to know we need surgery and be willing to undergo the hard in order to be healed.

When churches, pastors and leaders decide to not talk about abortion because it might "upset someone" or because "It is a sensative issue", they are denying that there is an infection in the body of Christ.  If Pam Tebow wouldn't have talked about abortion that night, I wouldn't have seen my need for deeper healing.  It is only when we are faced with our pain, that we realize how much we need the Surgeon.

The pain of recovery is temporal.  The pain of denial is infinite.

If you are a church pastor or leader, please talk about this issue.  Please let your people know there is healing and freedom.  In doing so, you are multiplying the healing of His wounded.  God is a God of mercy, peace and love.  

God is multiplying His mercy, peace and love.  Thank you for joining us in prayer as He multiplies His Kingdom.