{"id":906,"date":"2011-06-25T05:39:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-25T09:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=906"},"modified":"2011-06-20T20:58:10","modified_gmt":"2011-06-21T00:58:10","slug":"learning-that-changes-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/learning-that-changes-lives.html","title":{"rendered":"Learning that changes lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The mentally challenged community is hungry to hear the Gospel.\u00a0 If we can get people to our chapel services, they will almost always accept the wonderful grace of Christ into their lives.\u00a0 Yet, discipleship is a struggle.\u00a0 One day at a weekly pastors\u2019 prayer meeting that I attend, I explained this dilemma.\u00a0 Of course, in explaining the situation, I blamed my members\u2019 inabilities to cognitively evaluate what the best choices are for their lives.<\/p>\n

All the pastors laughed.\u00a0 \u201cWe have the same problem.\u00a0 Your folks aren\u2019t any different from ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, as I view our members from the prism of years of discipleship,\u00a0I am able to see\u00a0alterations in the lives of our members.<\/p>\n

Tim\u2019s fits of anger have completely stopped.\u00a0 Bill is a life-long smoker.\u00a0 He struggles to quit.\u00a0 Recently, he was able to go more than a month without smoking.\u00a0 Though he has relapsed, he believes that if he can go for a month without cigarettes, next time he will be able to quit for good.<\/p>\n

Hallie struggles with paralyzing fears.\u00a0 She is high functioning and lives in her own apartment.\u00a0 She is constantly moving in order to abate her fears.\u00a0 She has been in her current apartment for more than a year.\u00a0 These and other examples are great victories that amplify the growing grace in the lives of our members.<\/p>\n

There is nothing more gratifying than to see people who have struggled with anger or addiction or lived in fear break free from\u00a0detrimental bondage.\u00a0 How does this happen?\u00a0 Perhaps part of the answer is simply learning to listen and obey.<\/p>\n

This week as I studied the Matthew 17 passage regarding the miracle of Jesus\u2019 transfiguration, I was reminded that miracles don\u2019t often radically change lives.\u00a0 Peter, James and John saw the miracle of Jesus, Moses and Elijah standing together on top of the mountain \u00a0shining as white as light.\u00a0 Rather than humbling himself, Peter took charge and he was ready to build three tents to honor the event (and himself because he was there to witness the miracle).<\/p>\n

As Peter was speaking, God, the Father spoke from heaven\u00a0saying, \u201cThis is my Son and I love him.\u00a0 I am very pleased with him.\u00a0 Obey him!\u201d\u00a0 Now that God had their attention, they were ready to listen.\u00a0 In fact, they were terrified.\u00a0 They humbled themselves and fell to the ground.\u00a0 They had been forced to hear.\u00a0\u00a0As a result,\u00a0they were ready to obey.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is often not the miraculous in our lives that changes us but the times we listen to God and obey him.\u00a0 Within our cloistered, sub-culture, it is the same formula that works to change lives.\u00a0 Slowly, methodically transformations are accomplished as they are discipled in the ways of Christ.<\/p>\n

What are some of the changes that you have seen within your community that make you know that God is working in your member\u2019s lives?\u00a0 What are some of the changes that you have seen in your life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mentally challenged community is hungry to hear the Gospel.\u00a0 If we can get people to our chapel services, they will almost always accept the wonderful grace of Christ into their lives.\u00a0 Yet, discipleship is a struggle.\u00a0 One day at a weekly pastors\u2019 prayer meeting that I attend, I explained this dilemma.\u00a0 Of course, in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,3,40,10,16,8,85,12,4,41],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,18,703,701,694,689,57,692,700],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-inspirational","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-discipleship","tag-humor","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nLearning that changes lives - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/learning-that-changes-lives.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning that changes lives - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The mentally challenged community is hungry to hear the Gospel.\u00a0 If we can get people to our chapel services, they will almost always accept the wonderful grace of Christ into their lives.\u00a0 Yet, discipleship is a struggle.\u00a0 One day at a weekly pastors\u2019 prayer meeting that I attend, I explained this dilemma.\u00a0 Of course, in…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/learning-that-changes-lives.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-25T09:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-21T00:58:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/06\/IMG_0072-768x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learning that changes lives - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/learning-that-changes-lives.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learning that changes lives - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"The mentally challenged community is hungry to hear the Gospel.\u00a0 If we can get people to our chapel services, they will almost always accept the wonderful grace of Christ into their lives.\u00a0 Yet, discipleship is a struggle.\u00a0 One day at a weekly pastors\u2019 prayer meeting that I attend, I explained this dilemma.\u00a0 Of course, in…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/learning-that-changes-lives.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-06-25T09:39:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-06-21T00:58:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/06\/IMG_0072-768x1024.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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