Stress Center Peer Support

Good morning all,

In my studies yesterday, I was taken full circle to a very simple fact. When we talk to a friend, they talk back to us. When you value what a friend tells us in response to our need, we focus our full attention to what they are telling us. When we listen back to the Lord, in our conversation with Him, through prayers, we have to focus our full attention to what He is telling us. He comes to us found at verse 12: "...in a still small voice..."

Jesus is our friend, yet we don't give Him the full attention, by being still and knowing He is God; our friend. If we are so caught up in our own problems that we can't be still enough to focus our full attention to our friend, and what they are telling us, we simply used our friend to dump our worries and our concerns on them.

By the same token, think about the feelings you might get or have, if a friend or someone on this forum does that. I mean, someone posts up a lengthy post, and you respond in a gentle loving and compassionate way, and never hear back from that person; which happens a lot on this forum, where does that leave you? Remember, you responded, but the person that dumped their worries or concerns really didn't want to hear from you, or so it seems, and that leaves you wondering about the person. Not about their selfishness, but because you just don't know, and it leaves you with worries about what happened to them.

Thank God, that when we do talk or pray to Jesus, He hears and answers our prayers. We just need to "...be still and know that He is God..." He speaks to us through His living word the Bible,through music, song and poetry, through nature and our interaction therewith, <a href="http://http://www.lovinggrace.org/radio/index.html" target="_blank">and a kind and encouraging word from a concerned friend. On the music text link, please listen to the entire album even though tempted to move to # 13, and be made SPEECHLESS (song #2)

The Apostle Paul, in many writings, tells us: <UL TYPE=SQUARE> <LI> Ep. 6:11 "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." <LI> Col. 3:10 "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him..." <LI> Col. 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; <LI> 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. <LI> 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. <LI> 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. <LI> 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. </UL>

Please note that these are actions we must take, and when we do, we demonstrate daily and moment by moment, obedience to the good counsel that Paul has given us in these little snippets. So put on Christ daily least ye be found naked. Please visit the text links provided and noted in the body of this post as they will give you life as you feed on His spiritual food, to strengthen and build you up.

May God Bless each of you are you go marching off to do all that this day, and pray that he strengthen you as you praise Him in whatever circumstances you find yourself in.

All for His praise, glory and the joy it gives Him. Amen!!!

Thank you for taking this letter and reading it. I hope you find comfort in what I am trying to share with you through studies I have done, and the links provided on the posting above. I am just trying to bring this up again to see if others could gain some insight and benefit.

God bless you all!

Please watch this video:

http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurM...rs/encouragement.htm

Hey Brother (Gman),
Thank you soooo much for the teachings above, and for the encouraging video by Joyce Myers!!! I stand in 100% agreement with the prayer she raised for every single person who watches her video!!!

This is great...So Thanks Again!!!

By the same token, think about the feelings you might get or have, if a friend or someone on this forum does that. I mean, someone posts up a lengthy post, and you respond in a gentle loving and compassionate way, and never hear back from that person; which happens a lot on this forum, where does that leave you? Remember, you responded, but the person that dumped their worries or concerns really didn't want to hear from you, or so it seems, and that leaves you wondering about the person. Not about their selfishness, but because you just don't know, and it leaves you with worries about what happened to them.

In that instance that that happens on this forum and is common because it's normal behavior and not indicative of any insidiousness, personally, I would say that I was the one that had problems and insecurities if I got upset over it in any way. If I worried about the person, I would realize that that is my anxiety and "What if" thinking described in this program and use the techniques in this program to come up with positive and truthful scenarios. I would exercise healthy boundaries and realize that I don't have control over others when they don't respond. They haven't "left me" in any sort of akward position. On an electronic message board, they don't even know me. I don't have the significance in their life that God should have because I gave them advice on a message board. So, it is not a good comparison. It's all about free will and healthy levels of intimacy. I would realize my expectations are way too high. The people who come on here have lives including having cancer, children with special needs, jobs, etc., and it is extremely unrealistic to expect everyone to get back to me. If someone asked for help, and I decided to give them help and advice which may or may not work for them no matter how good my intentions were to help, it would be of my own free will and volition, and the person doesn't owe me anything in return, even just letting me know they are O.K.

Venting and also having a compassionate and listening ear is psychologically healthy. God doesn't always give us an answer, but promises to listen to us which sometimes simply involves "dumping our problems" and resting in His presence of love.

Also, there are other scenarios. Maybe I am not psychologically or spiritually healthy, and the person knows to stay away from me because I am showing signs of toxic behavior. It is the internet after all. On this forum, we often don't have a deep and interpersonal connection with anyone that responds, and to equate the relationship with strangers on an electronic forum to having a relationship with God is a fallacy.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." I Peter 5:7 God does want to speak to us and often does, but He most certainly doesn't have a problem with us coming to Him and dumping our problems. If we can't go to Him to do that, then we can't do it anywhere. The psychologically unhealthy and insecure response of someone on this forum to us sharing our problems and us not responding does not reflect how God feels, responds, thinks, etc.

Take care,
luvpiggy

Hi Luvpiggy,

Nice to hear from you, and thank you for your input. Have you ever lent an ear to someone that was pouring their heart to you, and sounds like they are bordering on suicide, and regardless of whether you respond or not, have you not been honestly concerned for their well being?

I do not mean that it would cause you to develop a sense of anxiety about the person, but just leaves you to wonder what happened to the person. I don't think there is anything insidious about having genuine compassion and concern for your fellow human being, but this is just my opinion.

I remembered the lady's name, and still have a sense of concern for her and do pray that she found her way. Maybe, I am just such a softy that it matters to me that she is okay and not that I am going to have a panic attack or anxiety about it. I just pray about it and leave it in the Lord's hands, but there many new people that are here and are just as compassionate as I may be, but perhaps they can develop ill feelings about such situations and they just need to be aware of these possibilities.

All I did was do an advanced search with her name as the word or phrase and my name as the author over the last year:

http://bbs.stresscenter.com/ev...?r=56910049#56910049

Would you please join me in a prayer for her well being?

Added to this posting after posting up originally. I just noticed that when I post Dialog: It's a 2 Way street in March, this lady sort of confirmed what I was talking about about a month later. Odd...

Hi,

I'll let those who interact with me decide for themselves whether or not I am compassionate and won't go out of my way to proclaim how loving I am:).

Given what you originally posted and the terminology you used, I don't think my response reflected a lack of compassion at all for those who post on here given how you portrayed the situation. You didn't say that it was only when someone was about to commit suicide that you worried about them. You said the reaction was "worry" when someone "dumped" their problems on here and never came back after you responded to them:).

I "think" I have compassion and concern for others, and I do pray for people who are suffering, but I'm wondering if it is appropriate to post someone's thread into another thread and talk about them to prove some type of point. It seems invasive or something.

I also wouldn't go out of my way to show how I had helped someone to receive any type of praise or glory for myself:).

May I suggest that this discussion be left to PM's and not the thread anymore? It's just getting off topic and scaring people away.
Thank You .

Jill~

Good morning all,

Here is an copy of Feb. 24, 2010 devotional message from Joyce Meyer, that is along the line of something that I was trying to get at when I originally posted this topic nearly 11 months ago:

Seek God Early

February 24

And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed.
— Mark 1:35

When Jesus told us to abide in Him and in His Word, He used the Greek word meno, which is translated in Strong’s concordance as “continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry.” We are to spend time with God—continually. When we do, we get in the flow of His plan for our day.

We are not told just to wish for everything to work together; we are told to seek God for a fresh word each day. If we seek Him early in the day, we will have “a word in due season” to share with others (See Proverbs 15:23).We can succeed at what God calls us to do, if we listen for His instructions. He has said, “If you seek Me early and diligently, you will find Me” (See Proverbs 8:17).

From the book Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2003 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Here this link to her devotionals page:
http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurM...rs/dailydevotionals/

The point I wanted to make was that there are actions that we are called to do and we need to do for ourselves, but Jill is right, this drifted off in some other direction that, in my mind was not at all the intention of why I opened this topic and covered fairly well in the 7 bullet points of the original message. We need to do these things for ourselves.

I pray you all have a blessed day in the joy of the Lord.