Jeanne H Barnett's Blog

“Touchpoints” at different times
…bring a reality to our needs and
……our ability to continue on a path
……….we often cannot define at the time . . .

our substitutes actually confirm our need for God—
we long for God’s touch,
to feel His unconditional Love
but our human nature
requires physical reassurances/reminders that God is real,
that He is truly with us and so
we consistently reach out for Touchpoints . . .
we need each other . . .
we need Touchpoints and we need to be Touchpoints . . .

HOPE:
hope trusts
in the governing
force of LOVE,
not necessarily being
able to predict or define
the outcome of our
hope, but “knowing”
that it will be what it
should be within the
scope of Love’s highest
good for us because
“knowing” Love changes us

REFUGE:
a place we run to because of trust,
a place where
we feel encapsulated in light and love,
hidden within the depths of the
shadow . . .
because here Love is unconditional—
no hypocrisy is needed,
Love transends, even knowing
our innermost beings,
our refuge
when we need the breath of Life
reinserted into our beings —
we can run to Love
knowing it is drawing us with open arms

So now the equation reads:
HOPE + REFUGE = FREE
The sum of these two parts equals “free” . . .
wholeness in a way
we have never been able to comprehend
because
it frees us from more than the chains
we perceive,
it frees us to experience the Truth
of who we are as a part of the Whole . . .
it frees us to rest in the Trust that
comes from knowing Love . . .
it frees us to live within the relationship
we were created for . . .
it frees us to BE . . .

thoughts: Jeanne Hicks Barnett – 2007

God has given us the life stories of individuals in the Scriptures for some clearly-stated reasons:
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Repeatedly God tells us that He wants to instruct us and that He wants to give us hope—the above verses are just a few.
With this in mind—two young men who started in humble or humiliating circum- stances and rose to greatness in their lives: Daniel and David.

THEIR EARLY YEARS WERE SPENT IN HUMBLE OR HUMILIATING CIRCUMSTANCES
Daniel: taken captive • slave status
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. . . . the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence
in every {branch of} wisdom, endowed with understanding, and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and {he ordered him} to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:1-4)
David: was the youngest • tended sheep

AS YOUNG MEN, THEY BOTH SEEMED TO HAVE HAD A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
Daniel:
And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every {branch of} literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all {kinds of} visions and dreams. (Daniel 1:17)
David:
And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37)

DAVID & DANIEL BOTH EXPERIENCED MAJOR CHALLENGES WHERE GOD PROVED HIS FAITHFULNESS THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES.
Daniel: his formula—see the problem, petition God, praise God
. . . the king became indignant and very furious, and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon . . . Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment . . . and said to Arioch, the king’s commander, “For what reason is the decree from the king {so} urgent?” Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time . . . Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, in order
that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; Daniel answered and said, Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. (Daniel 2:12-20 excerpted).
David: his formula—see the problem, recount God’s acts, act
And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” . . . . Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. (1Sam. 17:37-45excerpted)

BOTH ROSE TO POSITIONS OF POWER
Daniel:
Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. (Daniel 2:48)
It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the king- dom, that they should be in charge of the whole kingdom, and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one) (Daniel 6:1-2)
So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. (Daniel 6:28)
David:
Then the men of Judah came and there anointed David king over the house of Judah . . . And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. (2 Samuel 2:4, 11)
So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the LORD at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, {and} he reigned forty years. (2 Samuel 5:3-4)

THEIR LIFE EXPERIENCES WERE NOT THE SAME
Daniel: served foreign kings/rewarded with positions of trust and power, acknowledged God as His source/humble, remained faithful to God,                     saw visions, visited by angels
David: served as king of Israel, sinned against God/repented and was restored, waged war, denied right to build God’s temple (1 Chronicles 28:1-2), dysfunctional family
followed different paths which resulted in different experiences
God worked within each personality/strengths/weaknesses
WALKING WITH GOD . . .
WHEN DO I . . . WHAT DO I
WHY DO I . . . WHO AM I
HOW DO I
Jeanne Hicks Barnett • December 13, 2003

In a time that feels full of
difficult thoughts,
harsh words,
fear,
and uncertainty to an extent rarely felt,
I felt a need to consider
what my beliefs were and
that resulted in what I choose to call
“Foundational Inner Thoughts” (F.I.T.)–

FIRST (and I believe the most important
aspect of my “faith”) —
I BELIEVE GOD . . .
I don’t just believe there IS a God . . .
I don’t just believe IN God . . .
I want to believe God like the Scriptures say
Abraham believed God . . .
Even so Abraham believed God, and
it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Galatians 3:6, Romans 4:3, James 2:23

dictionary.com:
FAITH — confidence or trust in a person or thing;
belief that is not based on proof

November 25, 2016 at 7:45 AM · Searcy, AR ·

In a time that feels full of difficult thoughts, harsh words, fear, and uncertainty to an extent rarely experienced, I felt a need to consider what my beliefs were and that resulted in what I choose to call “Foundational Inner Thoughts” (F.I.T.)–Part 2

SECOND (and I believe a vital step in the development of my “faith”) —

I SEEK GOD . . .
I am told repeatedly to seek God . . .
I want a relationship with God . . .
I want to know God
like the Scriptures say Moses knew God . . .

thoughts in process —

the idea of exploring “REAL” demands an examination of what is meant by “REAL” . . . can a human being know what is “REAL”? Since we all are biased, most often guilty of cognitive blindness, how can I trust what I view as my own reality? Many times I have arrived at a “aha moment” and been opened to a deeper understanding only to later find that it was just a surface scratch on a truth that I know is there, but . . .

My path to this point in my reality has been interesting, to say the least, filled with challenges/opportunities and I can say without reservation that LIFE IS A CLASSROOM or rather a series of classrooms and I have, at times, resisted lessons that were confronting me and have repeatedly said “I keep feeling like I am coming back to the same mountain again and again . . .” as if I am missing a point that will be presented to me time and time again until I “get it.”

Dreams, intriguing thoughts, traumas, perceived failures, drawn to examination of wounds and scars, and running from reviewing some levels of experiences, denying the need to plumb the depths of the pain to bring healing afraid of what it might reveal about me.

FREEDOM — free to choose
does not mean endorsement of
someone else’s choice IT IS just their right
to make the choice for themselves
FREEDOM IS AN INDIVIDUAL’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE
the founding fathers
struggled with how to protect that
to the best of their ability and
they disagreed vehemently over many issues
in their era, it was a time of
• white males—they were land owners, educated
• black males—they were property, uneducated
• women—they were property, uneducated
• native Americans—they were non-entities

FIRST: the question is
what is YOUR definition of “freedom”?
• does it mean my right to define what choices others make so that they line up with my belief system?
• do I demand the right to dictate what choices others make that I strongly disagree with?
or
• does it mean, like God, leaving people to be “free-will agents” who may make choices that do not line up with my belief system?

SECOND: the question is
how does freedom play out in SHARED areas?
• should I look at “freedom” in shared areas from a different perspective?
example: shooting fireworks in my backyard versus shooting fireworks in a crowd with no restrictions
• does “my rights end where your nose begins” apply in our shared spaces?

CONSIDERATION: allowing others to be free to choose does not mean endorsement of that choice
example: allowing others to choose their marriage partner does NOT mean I approve of or endorse that choice AND I do not have to make the same choice

FREEDOM — free to choose
does not mean endorsement of
someone else’s choice just their right to
make the choice for themselves
Freedom is an individual’s right to choose

(remember WASPs?  — I grew up “knowing” the “ruling class” was                                  White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) are a social group of wealthy and well-connected white Americans, of Protestant and predominantly British ancestry, who trace their ancestry to the American colonial period.  Until at least the 1960s, this group has dominated American society and culture and dominated in the leadership of the Whig and Republican parties.)