The Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:7-8 Amplified Bible, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. Do not blush or be ashamed then, to testify to and for our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for His sake, but [with me] take your share of the suffering [to which the preaching] of the Gospel [may expose you, and do it] in the power of God."
One of the things the spirit of fear does is it attacks our mind with the "what ifs." About one year ago Chen Guangcheng, a blind, self-taught lawyer, escaped house arrest in Shandong, China, walking at night for several miles until he met up with He Peirong, who drove him to the US embassy in Beijing, China. Guangcheng probably got attacked with the thought, "What if I get caught? How will the Chinese authorities harm me?"
Harriet Tubman probably also had times in her life when she was attacked with the what ifs. Harriet Tubman started out as Harriet Ross born into slavery in Maryland. As a teenager, a slave overseer hit Harriet in the head with a lead brick because she was blocking his throw to stop another slave trying to escape slavery. Harriet was hit so hard that she became unconscious. The hit did lifetime damage. From that time on she suffered seizures and uncontrollable sleeping spells. Having a disability didn't mean that Harriet wanted to remain a slave. When she thought about escaping slavery, what if thoughts probably came to her mind like, "What if I run away and get caught by slave catchers and their bloodhounds? Will I be whipped? Will I be sold further South? Will I fall asleep or have a seizure at the worst possible moment?"
Some parents today decide to have prenatal testing. They may be thinking thoughts like, "What if the test determines that our baby has a disability like Down syndrome? What if the pregnancy is carried to term? How long will I be a parent? How am I going to afford this? What happens when I die? What will people think and say about a disabled child? How will they treat us?"
Fear comes to all of us. What does God say to do with it? "Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 Amplified Bible) When fear attacked Chen Guangcheng, he still moved to escape house arrest inflicted on him by Chinese authorities for filing a 2005 class action lawsuit against local officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China's one child policy. When fear attacked Harriet Tubman, she still moved to escape slavery via the Underground Railroad (a network of people who helped runaway African American slaves find freedom in non-slave American states or in Canada.) Some parents instead of choosing to abort their child who may or may not have a disability, choose life and celebrate it. Sarah and Todd Palin have a son who has Down Syndrome. Their car bumper sticker says, "My kid has more chromosomes than your kid."
Creyentes (believers) are reinas y reyes (kings and queens). We are not called to be intimidated by adversity. We are called to press through adversity overcoming evil with good. Philippians 1:28-29 Amplified Bible says, "And do not [for a moment] be frightened or intimidated in anything by your opponents and adversaries, for such [constancy and fearlessness] will be a clear sign (proof and seal) to them of [their impending] destruction, but [a sure token and evidence] of your deliverance and salvation, and that from God. For you have been granted [the privilege] for Christ’s sake not only to believe in (adhere to, rely on, and trust in) Him, but also to suffer in His behalf."
Chen Guangcheng is still speaking out about human rights abuses in China while his family in Shandong, China is being persecuted by Chinese authorities. Chen Guangcheng, Yuan Weijing, Guangcheng's wife, and Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, are currently in Europe meeting with governmental authorities and human rights organizations to shine the light on China's human rights abuses. Harriet Tubman not only escaped slavery for herself, she also successfully lead hundreds of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Some parents are not only choosing life for their unborn babies, they are also working to make it illegal to kill people just because they have or may have a disability.
The spirit of fear seeks to get us to cooperate with evil and to focus on failure/difficulty or potential failure/difficulty. No one has a totally successful easy life. Having failures and difficulties are not reasons to faint. For creyentes, our destination is a now and eternal relationship with a good, loving God. A Yoruba of Nigeria proverb says, "One should keep one's eyes on one's destination, not on where one stumbled."
Share some destination stories of overcoming the spirit of fear. Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Showing posts with label Down Syndrome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Down Syndrome. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
La Familia
What would you do for love? Would you go to prison? Calvin Fairbank and Delia Webster were teachers and abolitionists who helped Lewis Hayden, Hayden's wife, Harriet, and the Hayden's son escape from slavery.
The Hayden's made it safely from Kentucky to Ohio then to Canada. Fairbank and Webster were arrested and charged with slave stealing. Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible says, "For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
Calvin Fairbank, who was also a minister, agreed to plead guilty if Delia Webster was allowed to go free. Webster was freed. Fairbank was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Black people look different from white people. The Haydens, Fairbank and Webster prove difference can be dynamic instead of a reason for hatred and abuse.
Rafael, my son who has autism, and I live in Virginia which is a state next to the state of Maryland. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, and Rafael, I and other African Americans enjoy our freedom, racial problems still exist in America along with conflict among all kinds of people. In Frederick, Maryland, a young man, Robert Ethan Saylor, was killed in a movie theater in January 2013 because people didn't understand someone with Down Syndrome.
God made each person different. No two people not even twins and other multiples have the same finger prints, eye prints or scent. God made us different on purpose. God even made some people with disabilities. Exodus 4:11 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things?"
Yellow (huang) was a color reserved for the Chinese Emperor and members of the imperial family. The emperor had to grant permission for other people to wear it.
Partiality puts up barriers to treating people right. James, a brother of Jesus Christ and an apostle, writes in the book of James Complete Jewish Bible, "My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?"
Welcome and accept whoever wants to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to join la familia de Dios (the family of God) this Good Friday or any other day. La familia helps each other.
Lewis Hayden raised $650.00 which through a chain of other players helped free Calvin Fairbank from prison within four years.
The Hayden's made it safely from Kentucky to Ohio then to Canada. Fairbank and Webster were arrested and charged with slave stealing. Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible says, "For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
Calvin Fairbank, who was also a minister, agreed to plead guilty if Delia Webster was allowed to go free. Webster was freed. Fairbank was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Black people look different from white people. The Haydens, Fairbank and Webster prove difference can be dynamic instead of a reason for hatred and abuse.
Rafael, my son who has autism, and I live in Virginia which is a state next to the state of Maryland. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, and Rafael, I and other African Americans enjoy our freedom, racial problems still exist in America along with conflict among all kinds of people. In Frederick, Maryland, a young man, Robert Ethan Saylor, was killed in a movie theater in January 2013 because people didn't understand someone with Down Syndrome.
God made each person different. No two people not even twins and other multiples have the same finger prints, eye prints or scent. God made us different on purpose. God even made some people with disabilities. Exodus 4:11 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things?"
Yellow (huang) was a color reserved for the Chinese Emperor and members of the imperial family. The emperor had to grant permission for other people to wear it.
Partiality puts up barriers to treating people right. James, a brother of Jesus Christ and an apostle, writes in the book of James Complete Jewish Bible, "My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?"
Welcome and accept whoever wants to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to join la familia de Dios (the family of God) this Good Friday or any other day. La familia helps each other.
Lewis Hayden raised $650.00 which through a chain of other players helped free Calvin Fairbank from prison within four years.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Welcome, Disabled or Not, We All Are a Wonder
God has designed relationships whereby when we mistreat people, we are also mistreating ourselves. Deuteronomy 27:18 English Standard Version Bible says,“‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’" God wants people with and without disabilities to be treated well.
In America abortion law is not treating people with disabilities well. Legal abortions are performed to take the life of babies who appear to have a genetic disability, such as Down syndrome.
However, North Dakota has become the first state to pass in both their state legislatures a law prohibiting abortions based on genetic abnormality and sex-selection (usually the killing of girl babies because they are girls). The law is awaiting approval by the governor. The primary sponsor of the bill is Fargo, North Dakota Representative Bette Grande, who has two family members with genetic disabilities.
We all have bits and pieces of us that don't work properly. So what if someone is not perfect? Life is a wonderful opportunity.
We can develop disabilities before birth or acquire them later in life. The Apostle Paul may have acquired a disability that he called a thorn in the flesh and prayed three times for God to remove it. God didn't remove it. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Amplified Bible says,"Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me; But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"
Having weaknesses to work through can be beneficial by making us and other people better if we cooperate with God's power and ability working through us. Abolitionist, Author and Speaker Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
We are right to ask God for healing. We also need to recognize that God may use a person's disability to bring about other types of healing in the individual and others. Nick Vujicic is of Serbian heritage and born in Australia with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Vujicic now lives in America and has for years prayed for arms and legs. God hasn't provided them yet. God has provided Vujicic with the tenacity and courage to use his body in adaptable ways to create as much independence and enjoyment for himself as possible. He is also an evangelist and motivational speaker. Many people hearing Vujicic communicate are moved by an awareness that if Vujicic can conquer life without arms and legs, then so can we facing whatever it is in the way.
One of the fears that some people have about disability is that the disabled will not be able to live independent lives, get married and raise children. Yet the God we serve is infinite. Since He lives inside of believers, infinite things are possible if we enthusiastically seek God and His ways. Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible says, "The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge." Vujicic lives independently, is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara and has a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic.
God does not will for some disabled people to be independent and married. Instead of viewing this as a death sentence, why not talk with God and find out His purpose for it? Many people today are lonely and feeling empty. Perhaps some of them are called to find purpose and fulfillment in a relationships with people who have disabilities.
None of us came to planet earth randomly. God sent us here, and He wants us to connect to Him and other people today and forever. God doesn't make an exemption to His good plan based on being disabled or non-disabled. 1 John 4:9-11 New Living Translation Bible says, "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."
The North Dakota bill prohibiting abortions for genetic abnormality and sex-selection welcomes lives. No life is worthless. Each one of us is a wonder. Nancy Tillman writes in her book On the Night You Were Born:
"For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
and it never will, not ever again..."
In America abortion law is not treating people with disabilities well. Legal abortions are performed to take the life of babies who appear to have a genetic disability, such as Down syndrome.
However, North Dakota has become the first state to pass in both their state legislatures a law prohibiting abortions based on genetic abnormality and sex-selection (usually the killing of girl babies because they are girls). The law is awaiting approval by the governor. The primary sponsor of the bill is Fargo, North Dakota Representative Bette Grande, who has two family members with genetic disabilities.
We all have bits and pieces of us that don't work properly. So what if someone is not perfect? Life is a wonderful opportunity.
We can develop disabilities before birth or acquire them later in life. The Apostle Paul may have acquired a disability that he called a thorn in the flesh and prayed three times for God to remove it. God didn't remove it. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Amplified Bible says,"Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me; But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"
Having weaknesses to work through can be beneficial by making us and other people better if we cooperate with God's power and ability working through us. Abolitionist, Author and Speaker Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
We are right to ask God for healing. We also need to recognize that God may use a person's disability to bring about other types of healing in the individual and others. Nick Vujicic is of Serbian heritage and born in Australia with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Vujicic now lives in America and has for years prayed for arms and legs. God hasn't provided them yet. God has provided Vujicic with the tenacity and courage to use his body in adaptable ways to create as much independence and enjoyment for himself as possible. He is also an evangelist and motivational speaker. Many people hearing Vujicic communicate are moved by an awareness that if Vujicic can conquer life without arms and legs, then so can we facing whatever it is in the way.
One of the fears that some people have about disability is that the disabled will not be able to live independent lives, get married and raise children. Yet the God we serve is infinite. Since He lives inside of believers, infinite things are possible if we enthusiastically seek God and His ways. Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible says, "The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge." Vujicic lives independently, is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara and has a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic.
God does not will for some disabled people to be independent and married. Instead of viewing this as a death sentence, why not talk with God and find out His purpose for it? Many people today are lonely and feeling empty. Perhaps some of them are called to find purpose and fulfillment in a relationships with people who have disabilities.
None of us came to planet earth randomly. God sent us here, and He wants us to connect to Him and other people today and forever. God doesn't make an exemption to His good plan based on being disabled or non-disabled. 1 John 4:9-11 New Living Translation Bible says, "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."
The North Dakota bill prohibiting abortions for genetic abnormality and sex-selection welcomes lives. No life is worthless. Each one of us is a wonder. Nancy Tillman writes in her book On the Night You Were Born:
"For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
and it never will, not ever again..."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)