Glass Houses... (written by: Wendy Symonds)

I wanted to post this, a very dear friend of mine, that has been thru very similar expierences as myself wrote this and so i asked her if she minded me posting it here. I think it has some awesome stuff in it for everyone, yes it says women but its for everyone..
Forgive me to the moderators if i posted this in the wrong area.. i wasnt real sure where to put it..
please enjoy!

Written by Wendy Symonds (a very precious and dear friend of mine!)

There comes a time in every woman's life when she has to take a close look at herself. Not at her circumstance, not at what she did, not how unfair life is, or at who made you doit. She has to just look at herself.
Have you ever admired a woman who has been through changes in her life? Or have you made up in your mind that she is just messed up. Before you make this mistake, take a closer look. A woman who has endured the most unusual life is someone of wisdom, someone who has been chosen by God to go through things that have made her stronger.
Think of all the great women in the Bible: Mary Magdalene, Ruth and Naomi, the woman with an issue of blood, and Esther, to name a few. Mary was a prostitute, a very uneasy woman. But by the time Jesus was done with her, she was His closest follower. Esther was unfortunate in marrying an abusive man, but by the time God was done with her, she had married one of the wealthiest men in the land! .
Women are so quick to beat the next one down snubbing their noses instead of trying to hold her up. Before you wonder, 'What's up with her?' ask yourself, 'What's up with me?' That woman could be my mother, sister, aunt, in-law, stepmother, niece, grandmother, great-grandmother, neighbor, friend, or co-worker, etc. That woman could be ME.

Women are the carriers of life, not the channels of death. Let's build and encourage each other, as did Ruth and Naomi.
Encourage and love, forgive and forget, and trust that the woman that receives this will be touched in some way

Can I take your attention to a man who was lame?
Remember we've read of Jesus travelling to Capernaum...How the people here had heard of all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing...
Jesus is speaking in Peter's home and people are crowded there from all around...I'm sure they could hear the hammering, pounding, digging and scraping coming from over head. As Jesus raises his head he see's a hole in the ceiling being enlarged by 4 very determined men who eventually lowered a very sick man to the floor at Jesus feet...A man who couldn't have come to Jesus of his own accord...Jesus said "Your sins are forgiven thee".

Sometimes in our sin sickened state we are unable to carry ourselves to the foot of the cross for one reason or another... Maybe by being guilt ridden and covered with shame...
Nevertheless we are in serious need to have someone carry us to the cross...Unfortunately what I have seen happening is that the one who has fallen hardly get's a chance to even drag themselves accross the floor of the gutter to the foot of the cross because they are constantly being trampled back to the ground by their sisters who should be going beyond a helping hand to actually carrying them to the cross...We should never concider someone so far gone that they are beyond help .They may be so weary from their sin torn life or from some trauma that they don't even have the energy to make it to the Healer alone. We should be willing to be the stretcher bearers even at the risk of rebuke from others and we should not be afraid of getting a bit messy in the process...
Beyond all of this we tend to think that everyone is immediately healed once they make it to the cross...Not always the case...Sometimes healing is a process...I'm not sure what happened with the lame man once he was healed but I'm sure he had to learn to stand on his own two feet again.

Sometimes a person is still dealing with a painful memory, a festering bitterness, or an aching heart...Then we must be willing to be their crutch until they become ever wit whole
Jesus specializes in bringing life from death no matter how long death has prevailed...Are you kidding? Lazarus had been dead long enough for his body to begin to decay...We give up on some people and place them in a spiritual cascet before they are even spiritually dead and they are struggling to survive...
God can create a vast army from a pile of dried up bones of dead people
Remember this...In Ezekial 37...God told Ezekial to prophesy to the bones and say to them...Dry bones hear the word of the Lord! "I will make breath enter you , and you will come to life . I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin : I will put breath in you , and you will come to life" Ezekial propheside as God had commanded and breath entered them and they stood to thir feet---A VAST ARMY!

Never judge a person for being away from God... You have no idea where they are coming from until you've walked a mile in their shoes... You may have faired much worse even than them had you gone thru the same circumstances or faced the same trauma in life that they did... Lift them up and carry them if you have to... Just get them to the cross and love them unconditionally... They just might be a very mighty warrior in the kingdom of God who has been wounded in battle and once they are healed will be the very one to lead thousands to victory... Thus we understand the importance of the nurses in the emergency tent...(That my friend is us)