Tag: christian

Tracing the Gold

It has been a challenging summer for many but I hope you have found some refreshment. This year I am enjoying learning watercolour painting and studying the book of Psalms at my local Bible college. I’ll drop some art works in my writing. I’m looking forward to all I can do this year.

Unshakeable Trust

Over summer I bought five books by Joyce Meyer on the topic of trust and freedom from worry! I got them second hand from the Christian Value Bookstore here in Christchurch. The first book I read is called, ‘Unshakeable Trust’. In it I found a gentle call to trust God more with the details of my life. Her writing is definitely aimed to be a blow to anxiety, but I liked that was that it wasn’t focused on it. I don’t know about you but sometimes I find a lot of mental health words like ‘anxiety’ make me feel a little anxious! Well on finishing the book I thought I was ‘so on to it’, calm and feeling like I ‘got it’. But that of course that was easier read than done. As you will know the lifetime of challenges continue!

One of my favourite quotes from the book centers on the cause of many worries.

‘I urge you to resist the temptation to worry about your children, and instead trust God to do in them what you cannot do. Only God can change people!’.

She goes on to say that God can overcome the results of mistakes we have made as parents. That encourages me to both pray and trust God with my children. Joyce also reminds us that God, ‘wants to partner with us in our lives, and when we let him do so our minds can be at rest’.

I am a work in progress when it comes to peace of mind. A couple of days over the holidays I wasn’t just worried, I was very anxious. I hadn’t felt like that in some time. It was due to a situation but also contributed to by closely following news stories that disturbed me. I need to be on guard regarding the effect of disturbing news on my soul and creativity. What I experienced at that time was very unpleasant and it renewed my compassion for those who experience anxiety. Thankfully it was resolved soon as I withdrew from the news, and took some action.

Through that situation I learnt that sometimes my worries could be put to bed if I did more research about the thing I was worried about -and trust God to do the rest. Sometimes I journal my concerns as prayers and find that helpful to get them out, commit them to the LORD, close the book and carry on feeling lighter for it. There are other situations where I can’t pray or write away the anxiety and I need help from a wise friend. In recent months I have had a small change made to a medication which has also helped reduce anxiety. I am grateful to God for this answer to prayer.

Tracing the Gold

In recent days in the South Island of Aotearoa there has been a sharp resurgence of interest in finding gold. There is a proposal for a large mine in Central Otago. On a small scale people are panning at secret locations within rivers in the region. It’s a serious business! I remember as a child on holiday in Arrowtown panning for gold in the river. The excitement of getting the most minuscule amount was ecstatic! We came away with a little glass tube with a few bits of gold dust in water to shake! Even the tiniest trace of gold sparked my imagination and fascination with what I could see. I want to share with you about finding traces of gold in our journey with God. True gold that magnifies God’s character and invites trust.

In Joyce Meyer’s book she encourages the reader to list some of the times the reader has experienced God’s faithfulness in their life. This is an activity than can track with life. I like to think of this as ‘tracing the gold’. Years ago when I was very depressed God spoke to me about ‘glitter along the path’. The concept was that every single day there would be glitter of God’s faithfulness and love for me – small but significant things to be grateful for. Things that would sparkle brightly along my difficult path. The gold came from moments like a spontaneous invite to have a cuppa with a friend, another mother walking to school with me, a scripture, a conversation or phone call from family. The scripture that went with this was Lamentations 3:21-23 (NIV).

‘Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail, They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness’

Jeremiah’s words point to the practice of remembering – deliberately recounting God’s golden track record. Despite the awfulness of Jeremiah’s situation he found hope as he deliberately recalled what he had learnt about God. He remembered – no matter how hard it gets – God is faithful to show us new compassions every single day of our lives.

Like many of you will do, one way I trace the gold of God’s faithfulness is by journaling. Sometimes I write a few sentences about a day, other times because of an insight I write more. I have noticed that writing about God’s goodness in a day helps calm me to trust him and stirs gratitude. I pause to consider an answer to a prayer or relief for a concern that had weighed on me. It slows my thinking and can help prepare me for sleep. I often feel closer to God when I write. I’m not religious about journaling, and I can miss several days but I don’t worry about this. I don’t think journaling should be a nag, – rather something useful, that helps us remember and connect with our heavenly Father. I stop and ponder, give thanks and treasure the trace of gold – God’s faithfulness in my life. The Holy Spirit enables this process. This gold reminds me that our Father is worthy to be trusted, and he must love this trust too.

I hope you are encouraged in some way by reading this. Feel free to share this with a friend or leave a comment, perhaps about how you ‘trace the gold’.

Blessings,

Bronnie

Christian Value Books are in Papanui, Christchurch NZ and have a great online search feature for all their second hand books. They deliver near and far (https://www.christianvaluebooks.co.nz/).

Watercolour paintings of ‘Nugget Point’, Catlins, Aotearoa New Zealand and, ‘Metalic Beads’ by Bronnie Tressler

Book by Joyce Meyer is ‘Unshakeable Trust: Find the Joy of Trusting God at All Times, in All Things’. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2018. Quotes from p.210 and p.10.

Reflections

Dear friends,

Thank you for your kind and supportive messages following my last post. I am much improved since last writing. Friendships and family and a few adjustments to life have all helped. And as always medications play their part.

This post I thought I’d capture some brief moments from the year.

Light House at Warea, Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Early this year we went as a family to New Plymouth, Taranaki where we had very precious time with family and friends. I find a visit to a lighthouse good for my soul. This was a trip we will always treasure. We have had the sad passing of family and friends this year. I am so grateful for how we have been blessed by their presence in our lives.

Almost the entire year we have had major road works. For weeks, day and night underground water was pumped down our street gutters. The volume of water found by contractors exceeded their expectations and sparked my imagination – this water, living water rushing beneath our streets.

The end result including traffic lights is a huge improvement particularly for cyclists and pedestrians going to school and home safely. Our local dairy had an armed robbery in recent weeks. This has been very concerning as our city has had more crimes like this.

This spring I found my one first peonie rose flower. I planted it about 8 years ago near a basketball hoop and surprise it got trampled! I had thought it was dead. It will definitely find a new home. In this last term I started going to a beginners watercolour painting course. It has been helpful for me to pick up an interest, meet new people and gain artistic skills. We have a fantastic teacher. I’m in for next year.

Jono and I

This month Jono and I have been married 20 years! What a lot has happened in that time. Two babies – now teens, me becoming unwell and becoming well again. We have grown as a couple. It hasn’t always been easy. I think we are very good for each other having accomplished what we have because of being a team with complimentary approaches. I look forward to how we continue to grow together in the coming years and see what God wants to do as we love and serve others.

Conical Hill, Hanmer Springs

Thank you for tracking with me over these past months. I so appreciate the encouraging words given. It has been nice to see there have been readers from overseas. I hope you find encouragements within my posts and do follow my blog if you don’t already.

I pray that you will be blessed this Christmas season and know the freshness of hope found in the person of Jesus Christ. He is our guide, anchor and our light through what can be low lit or worrisome days. If you haven’t read the Bible before, can I encourage you to get a free Bible app (You Version is fabulous) and watch a short daily video or start reading the book of John. Hear the words of Jesus. Even if it’s just for 3 mins a day. Reading the Bible with an open heart has allowed God to transform my life and continue to. Give yourself a gift for your soul this holiday season. God can strengthen your soul as you draw on the love he has for you.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

That’s a wonder-filled Christmas thought to finish on!

Mere Kirihimete, Merry Christmas,

Bronnie

Self-Compassion in the Alleyway

Fifteen years ago my experience of losing touch with reality was a sliding scale. My sister was missing and I was mentally, emotionally, and spiritually overwhelmed by what we were experiencing. Today as I walk past this alleyway on a park route, I can picture the scene, a day in a life unraveling.

It’s Autumn 2010. She is 32 years old, a wife and mother of a baby and toddler. Arriving home at the end of the day she finds no one at home. I don’t know where she has been. She has no key to get into the house.  It seems a logical idea to go to her friend’s house, a ten minute walk away. The clothes on the washing line are getting damp so she quickly unpegs them, and dumps the laundry into the baby’s buggy left outside. She doesn’t want the clothes to get stolen while she’s gone. So she pushes the baby buggy full of laundry through the neighbourhood. These actions make perfect sense to her. She walks through the local park going quickly through the alleyway where has recently feared for her safety. When she arrives unannounced to her friend’s house there is no one there. Sighting the petrol station at the corner of the street, she’s off on a mission. At the end of this day, this crazy day, she is taken from the floor of the petrol station for a mental and physical assessment (and is later sent home). Another day, much more unwell she is committed under the mental health act and admitted to hospital.

Today as I walk along this path, I don’t recoil, it’s not a trigger of sorts. Quite the opposite. I actually sense a warmth inside of me – a deep sense of God’s compassion for me. I also feel this compassion from me to myself. I now understand this woman, this mother, so vulnerable. This stretch of large trees and grey gravel has become an almost sacred place. For there the Holy Spirit reminds me time and again, that God was with me in my distress. I was seen and loved.

The reason I have shared this small snippet of a day in decline is because I want to encourage self-compassion for those who have come undone, often in front of others. When looking back on events that you’d rather forget – please know there is more self-compassion to feel. It might be a mental health episode, it might be something else. It could be in your family, at work, church, all of these or more. However it happened, you unraveled.

Making peace with yourself is easier said than done. If appropriate, apologising for what you had control over can be helpful. Shame can loom long. I am so grateful to those who showed me how gracious God is by what they said, didn’t say, for loving reassurances (those were uncountable) and for putting the old things behind us. Women helped restore my life, to germinate confidence and to focus on hope for the day at hand.

‘We love because he first loved us’ – 1 John 4:19

We learn to love because we are loved. To learn self-compassion I first needed to experience Father God’s compassion for me through important people in my life. After a mania, a psychosis that lasted months, I came out the other side highly anxious, severely depressed and cognitively affected. My friend and mentor Bron Tait helped guide me to the arms of the Father. Bron and my mother were compassionate and wise souls giving soul care that helped save my life.

What I share about self-compassion has come out of a long walk with a loving heavenly Father. Those earlier times were marked with wrestling, grief and angst. Over a long period of time I came to a growing revelation of Jesus’ love for me. I came out of that desert more in love with Jesus than ever before.

In receiving God’s love, I think there is some soul care to be done independent of other’s. I think in a sense we need to scoop up and hold our ‘self’, however unattractive, before the One who loves us. It is surrender to love. It is acceptance of where we are, who we are right now. We can lean our weight of belief in God’s forgiveness and kindness towards us. We can activate our faith in Jesus’ work at the Cross for us – to align ourselves with the freedom this brings from condemnation*. We can also learn to trace the compassion of God in our story. Journaling can help with seeing the thread of God’s love and faithfulness in our lives. We can know that all along we have been loved and ever will be. This is true self-compassion first born in Love.

Perhaps you are one who can help encourage another, holding the compassion they need. Or like me – you’ve been the person at the centre of this story. If you can’t find this compassion, seek out a wise and loving friend who can hold that that for you, until you feel it for yourself. Belonging to a healthy Christian church is also a great foundation from which to grow and heal. You may also want to ask God to give you a place of revelation, scriptures, things that help you hook onto God’s compassion. And in doing so, may you find compassion for yourself.

I pray that for you,

Arohanui,

Bronnie

*Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

P.S. It’s been a slow start to the year but more material is coming!

4 responses to “Self-Compassion in the Alleyway”

  1. Susan Richardson Avatar
    Susan Richardson

    Love it Bron.
    Self compassion is so important.
    (These words seem so small, when what I’m trying to say is “I see you”)
    Much love xxx

    Get Outlook for Androidhttps://aka.ms/AAb9ysg

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    1. reviving hope Avatar
      reviving hope

      Thanks so much for your lovely comment Susan. That means a lot. I feel very blessed to hear from you! ❤️

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  2. Kathy Mayes Avatar
    Kathy Mayes

    Dear Bron,

    Thankyou for your expression of this time of deep vulnerability and how the love and wisdom , expressed in compassion , has been and is so deeply restorative and life giving. A living encounter with love.

    You are a gift and your words are gift.

    Thankyou

    Kathy

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    1. reviving hope Avatar
      reviving hope

      Hi Kathy,
      Thank you for your kind and thoughtful words. I am encouraged. I like ‘a living encounter with love’. What a beautiful phrase! Arohanui, Bron

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A Restored Man

by Bronnie Tressler

Hello friends,

It’s wonderful that spring is here! More daylight hours really lifts the soul.

When I was younger I avoided reading a particular story about Jesus, but in recent years it has become a significant marker in my spiritual and mental health journey.

This podcast episode I retell this story that has changed my life. It is about a wild man who Jesus heals and restores in a holistic way. It is a confronting miracle that touches every part of this man’s life. He makes a journey from being out of his mind, homeless, and tormented – to being restored, heading back to his home and family. He is a new man, saved and healed by Jesus. This man is given a life mission that equals the greatness of his healing. I believe this powerful transformation offers hope for Jesus’ compassion and healing work in our lives. I also share from my own holistic mental health journey.

I love hearing from listeners so please do drop me a line if you enjoyed listening or if you are interested in finding out more about Jesus.

My email address is  bronnie@revivinghope.life

Arohanui,

Bronnie

“Return to your home and declare who much God has done for you”. So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done.

Luke 8:39

Mothers with Young

Kia Ora friend,

We are almost halfway through winter in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It’s nice the days are beginning to get longer.

Last week I shared some of my story with a group of mothers with babies. Preparing for this I reflected on what helped me during this season of my life. I thought I’d share some of it with you.

 When the boys were two and seven months old we had a tragic loss (for more on this listen to episode one of the Reviving Hope podcast). This set off a bipolar episode for me. I was in hospital with our baby for some months. I had medications and an holistic approach to rehabilitation. I returned home from hospital severely depressed, anxious and with OCD thinking. Despite this I had to do all the things a mother needs to do. Getting out of bed in the morning was incredibly difficult.  

We had phenomenal support from family, friends, neighbours, church whānau, and mental health services. God restored me as I mothered, as I did those every day necessary activities, the routines, and structures that organised me. I was getting up at a regular time, walking to kindy, talking with other mothers, making meals, doing the laundry, gathering with church and doing everything else. The activities of daily life were therapeutic for me. I knew these principals from my previous work as an occupational therapist but had to put them into practice. I enrolled in my local Bible College. While studying it gave me a mental break from my anxiety as I had other positive things to think about. God used all these things to help me get well.

I thought I’d share some thoughts and reflections on my spiritual life when mothering.

Pray above the noise

When the kids were young I met with a couple of Christian friends who would catch up and pray together. My friend Ruth was great at seizing the moment, making opportunity to pray together near the end of a visit, but before the kids got too spent. She would pray above the noise and we would stop when we were drowned out by the kids, and then go home. No matter how short a time we prayed I always felt ministered to.

If you don’t have good supports, I encourage you to ask Father God to bring people to you, and guide you to places you can meet and pray with others. Many churches provide groups for mothers with young ones and small groups. As an old friend of mine used to say, ‘God gives us the people for our lives’. Sometimes we also need to seek them out.

Guidance in vulnerability

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
And holds them close to his heart;
He gently guides those who have young.

– Isaiah 40:11 (NIV)

God has ministered to me greatly through these words. As I think on them, I feel Jesus caring for my young and caring for me. I particularly like the truth that God guides us gently. He guides us gently because he knows we are often vulnerable. I have been fragile. God guides with care.

I have found my Father has gently guided me so often through the wisdom of my mother who lives away, and my friend Bron Tait. Generally speaking we have not gone this way before with parenting challenges. It is all new. I believe we need wise women who have come through our season of life and can help guide us. Ask God for such a woman if you are lacking in this area of your life.

Drip feeding on the Word

When mothering our young I think it is good to offload expectations of how we connect with God. The very acts of mothering invite us to commune with him – feeling the Father’s love for us and our children as we hold or care for them. This said, there are times when it may be hard to connect with God’s love wherever we seek it. When I was severely depressed in hospital I read almost everything in the Bible through a negative lens – about me failing God. In response I took three lines of scripture to meditate on (Lamentations 3:21-23) and let others minister to me for some months until I was well enough to interact with it again.

There are many ways to connect with God in prayer and Scripture. In times of less sleep from caring for a baby or general busyness, I have often taken a snacking approach to feeding my soul. In these times I may write out a scripture, just one verse and put it on a note, leaving it around the house, to look at it amidst the day. Sometimes rest is the most important thing to do with down time. Resting with the Word close by to think on can be a good way to drift into a nap. I’ve found Bible phone apps such as Lectio 365 also refreshing. As I write this I see a blackbird out the window pecking the dirt beneath the fruit trees in the quest for grub. We also can peck away and be fed in whatever way suits us best.

That’s all for this post. If you haven’t already, do have a listen to Roly McConnell talk about alcohol and drug addictions on the latest episode of the Reviving Hope podcast.

Have a good rest of your week, perhaps a winter holiday,

Blessings,

Bronnie Tressler

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com