Word Count: 1414

Contact Shannon Heiden

Simon, Simon....

by Shannon Heiden  
5/13/2010 / Devotionals

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. ( Ephesians 4:16 NLT)

Beautiful One, one of my favorite movies of all time, is Simon Birch. I absolutely adore this film. It's about a little boy who was born small, he had a heart defect, that affected his growth. He remained a dwarf all his life. His parents, living in a time when shame of appearances was prevalent, rejected Simon. Nevertheless as small as Simon was, his big heart and faith in God overshadowed any flaw.

What moves me the most, is that Simon believed that God had a plan for him, that his weakness had a purpose, but he just couldn't figure it out! Simon was never told or taught this by anyone. He just simply believed that God made him the way he was, and was going to use it for something good.

Another main character in the movie is a Pastor. This mans patience was about as long as a pinky finger, and it was tested as he dealt with Simon.

One day after getting into some trouble, Simon found himself in the Pastors office, and after asking for his baseball cards back that were taken away previously, Simon asks the one person he knows; "the man of God" to help him understand Gods plan for him.

But instead of the Pastor taking a moment to inspire and encourage this boy, he cuts him down, and leaves him with the understanding that there is no plan, bad things happen, and it happened to Simon for no reason at all.

Beautiful One, this not only happens in movies, but it happens to many people today.

Ive shared before that I was in full time ministry. On the one hand, it was the most amazing time of my life, but on the other, I witnessed and experienced personally many hurtful acts. I tried to overlook, compensate, justify, forgive, and reason when I encountered these things. Many of them were done within the leadership that I was a part of.

There is a distinct difference between being a part of a congregation, and being on staff, behind the scenes. The irony in ministry is, we are taught to "obey our authority," public support leads to private leverage! But in many cases, when we don't have maturity and wisdom under our belt, we end up being a part of immature mens schemes, cloaked in "thus saith the Lord". You may not understand why you feel "something is off" but you know there is. And because you know that you know God has brought you to where you are, you stay and endure, look and learn, watch and listen.

About a year into being a staff member, my Pastor decided to do a series. It was a series on questions people have about the Lord, and how our questions about God mold and shape our views and life. The Pastor at the beginning of the series spoke on a Sunday and implored the congregation to fill out any pressing questions they wanted to know about God. He told them to remain anonymous, and to be real!

He felt it would better help him as a shepherd to understand how to help his flock if he knew some of what they pondered. The idea was awesome, and the response was amazing. The church filled the cards out, laid them before the altar and the Pastor promised that no question was too hard, and assured all involved they would be handled with care. He promised his leadership would pour over these cards, and pray, and surely this series would open the floodgates of wisdom from above.

That very night the leadership met. All the leaders in the church, staff and Pastors were present. But only one prayer was said that night, and from then on the meeting went its own way.

Instead of trying to understand the questions people had, the group diligently sat around and laughed most of the time. In fact, I had never witnessed so many jokes, and jeers all in one room. I personally was hoping to gain some understanding of my own questions that I had laid on the altar.

Somewhere within those stacks were my longings, and desires, and the only answer I was afforded from this occurrence, was a comment "hey if any of you filled out a card, don't be offended but some of these are just nuts!" Guess leadership didn't realize that everyone filled out a card.

Guess they forgot they had two baby Christians in the room, who they had laughed at when their questions were read. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable, but beings that we we're "all amongst friends," I guess it was easy to overlook the disappointed, confused look on some of our faces.

I left as soon as the whole thing was over, and as I went, no one noticed that my heart didn't go the same way it came in. No one knew that I went home angry, hurt, and confused at what unfolded that evening. I really believed this would've been an amazing discovery into the hearts of our congregation and was looking forward to helping people, myself included.

Many people opened themselves up, trusted and looked to the man of God and leadership for answers. And, this is how our leadership chose to answer the cries of those hearts.

Beautiful One, it happens. It is possible that "church people" can hurt you. Most of the time they are completely clueless, and sometimes even when you do bring it to their attention, they really don't care. Some do, but most don't. There seem to be so many justifications within the church walls. "God said," "it's Gods will," etc. No, God didn't say, come to me, so I can laugh at you, or put you down. God would never say that.

This event as confusing and disheartening as it was, did me a favor. Instead of holding this against my leadership, instead of harboring bitterness, I chose to hold it up to the Lord. It caused me to seek Gods face, it taught me never to place my trust in man, because man can let you down. My complete trust should always be in the Lord.

I learned this lesson fairly quickly. And it helped me through so many times in ministry, when I needed an answer and mans responses and hearts escaped me! It taught me to goto God, the only One who will never take my questions, fears and insecurities and trample them underfoot or have a good laugh!

What could have destroyed me, actually turned out for my good! And this is what we need to remember. So many times people get hurt, the pain is great, and they shrink and run away from the very place we are called to dwell together in; the church. But may I remind you, we need to know our timing! We need to be at all times grounded and adhered like a post it note to our Father, so when weirdness arises, we are not moved.

And, we can trust, that God will take care of anything that is not right! He will, but if we are recipients in a circumstance, there is a lesson to be learned, and may we not shrink back and away, because surely, something good will come out of it, even if we cant see it.

I learned early on, that no man was going to run me off out of the very thing God had placed me in. Until God told me to go, I was there, and if I'm there, then I'm going to seek God for my remedy, serve with all my heart, learn from mine and the mistakes of others, and extend plenty of mercy. Because at some point, I'm going to need it too.

May we be like Simon, who met with opposing words, and say; nope, God has a plan, and I'm a large part of it, no matter how small anyone makes me feel, or thinks I am!

Beautiful One, Just believe, and never let anyone tear you away from what God has called you to, do your part, so we may continue to grow in love!

Shannon Heiden
[email protected]
changingonelifereachingmany.typepad.com

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Shannon Heiden

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:

Not readable? Change text.

The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer