Unattended Heartache

On Friday, November 11, 2011, LTi is hosting an event at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary entitled “Re-Ignited: Kindling Your Inner Fire for God” with special guest speaker Chris Webb (and yours truly). In anticipation of that event I am focusing my weekly blogs on the topic, “What are the winds that blow toward your soul and seek to extinguish your inner flame for God?”

Part Six: Our unattended heartache. In this overly zealous life of seeking continually to be in control of the people and circumstances of our lives, we think we know what’s best for ourselves and others. As a result, we presume upon the Master and numbly bury or ignore much of what’s been given for us to steward: the good, the bad, and particularly the ugly. All of life is to be handled in ways that honor the purposes and priorities of the Master, even if it’s the painful raw material of our lives. In the parable of the Talents (Matt. 25), those who multiplied their life allotment of treasure were greeted with “well done” and the one who presumed he knew better than the Master, was “thrown out to where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” How harsh of Jesus, you might be thinking. But, his justice and judgment is firm and secure.

He wants us to receive ALL that is delivered to us in this life, even if it taxes our sensibilities and/or challenges our faith. But, what if you are entrusted with a disability you never chose to be born with or raised in a dysfunctional family system you didn’t create? What if cancer is added to the radar screen of your life? What if you find yourself succumbing to temptation and you’ve just made the worst judgment call of your life? What if someone steals a prized possession, or hurls insults or injury your way undeserved?

Jesus as our Redeemer promises us that no matter what we carry, create, dismay or regret, his delight is to convert and transform it all for the Father’s glory. To handle our disappointments on our own is sure to extinguish the flame of the soul.

Jesus healed the paralytic, even when it was impossible to get to him on his own and his friends went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the room (Luke 5). When the invalid of 38 years met Jesus lying by the pool at the Sheep Gate, Jesus told him to “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John5) and at once he was cured. When the sinful woman enters the home of Simon the Pharisee and sits on her mat of confession at the feet of Jesus (Luke 7) she pours out her heart in the form of an alabaster jar of expensive perfume and tears of love streaming straight from the heart.

When hymn writer Fanny Crosby looked back on her life, she was thankful for the doctor who inadvertently created her blindness…”although it may have been a blunder on the physician’s part, it was no mistake of God’s. I could not have written thousands of hymns if I had been hindered by the distractions of seeing…”

Instead of burying, ignoring or refusing to receive the painful part(s) of your life, why not prayerfully invite the Savior to flip your heartache upside down and redeem it once and for all – in his time and way, all for the sake of His Name, no matter the outcome or our perceived understanding of what we think is best. Our pain can indeed become his gain…our heartache fully redeemed for the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Steve Macchia

Founder & President

The Rev. Dr. Stephen A. Macchia is founder and president of Leadership Transformations, Inc. (LTI), a ministry serving the spiritual formation, discernment, and renewal of leaders and learners since 2003. For more than 20 years he has been the Director of the Pierce Center for Disciple-Building at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Doctor of Ministry Program. From 1989-2003 he was the president of Vision New England, the largest regional church renewal association in the country. Earlier in his ministry life, Steve was a member of the pastoral staff of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts for 11 years. He is the author or co-author of 17 books, including The Discerning Life (Zondervan Reflective), and Crafting a Rule of Life, Becoming A Healthy Church (LTI), and Broken and Whole (IVP).  He and his wife Ruth live in the Boston (MA) area and are the proud parents of two married children and grandparents to three adorable grandchildren. Steve’s personal website is www.SteveMacchia.com.

My soul comes alive singing the great hymns of the church and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. I’m in awe of God for fulfilling the dream for LTI that he birthed in my heart, for the team he has assembled, and the transformational impact experienced in the leaders and teams we serve.

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Mitzi Mak

Selah-West Faculty & Emmaus Faculty

Mitzi started her professional life as a high school social studies teacher. She and her husband Jerry then served cross-culturally for ten+ years, living abroad first in India and then Kurdistan, N. Iraq. In addition to being a Spiritual Director, she now serves as a Formation and Care pastor in her local church in Houston, TX. She has graduated from LTI’s Selah Spiritual Direction training as well as LTI’s Emmaus Formational Leadership Program.

Mitzi enjoys engaging conversation, reading fiction, doing jigsaw/crossword puzzles, ocean gazing and exploring the world with Jerry through food and travel.

God has two main callings in Mitzi’s life: to care for those who care for others and to be a guide in helping others have a healthy relationship with the Trinity – recognizing God’s loving presence and activity in their lives and how to faithfully respond.

Selah was a transformative experience for me – allowing the contemplative within to emerge and to beautifully co-exist with my extraverted personality.