{"id":103,"date":"2016-12-14T21:06:10","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T21:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/?p=103"},"modified":"2016-12-14T21:15:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T21:15:23","slug":"teh-formula-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/?p=103","title":{"rendered":"The Formula: Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ngaw2pg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I arrived to the cabin in the middle of nowhere on a Thursday evening, settled in, and started praying. When I grew tired, I read in my bible.\u00a0 My empty tummy was constantly on my mind.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember what I read. But I didn\u2019t do like a friend of mine in Bible college who opened the Scripture and placed his finger on the page and read this: \u201cJudas went out and hung himself.\u201d He said, \u201cThat\u2019s not what God wants me to do.\u201d He opened it again, finger down on a verse that this time said, \u201cWhatever your hand finds to do, do it with\u00a0all of your might;\u201d Uh\u2026 that wasn\u2019t it either. One more time: “What you are about to\u00a0do,\u00a0do quickly.” He closed his Bible and said, \u201cI think I\u2019ll ask someone else.\u201d Nope, I just read some in the Old Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs to start off.<\/p>\n

I told God that I didn\u2019t understand what was happening in my life. I needed answers. What was I doing wrong?<\/p>\n

I slept well that night and began again early the next morning. When I was not praying or reading, or thinking about food, I would go on a walk in the woods and cry out to God.<\/p>\n

Friday evening it came. A migraine. One of the worst. I had brought no meds. No shots. Not even an aspirin.<\/p>\n

I knelt by my bed and held my head while I called out to God. \u201cTake these away from me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, please remove this pain!\u201d<\/p>\n

Silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, will you take this migraine?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d It was almost audible. No?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d I wailed.<\/p>\n

A long pause then very softly, \u201c I want you to give them to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah, yes, there is a difference between taking and giving. I prayed harder giving the migraines, the pain, my health to Him. I didn\u2019t stop there. I gave Him everything I could think of. My family, each by name. Even extended family, in-laws and outlaws. I listed all I owned even the socks and shoes I had on my feet. \u201cGod I give you my ministry. And\u2026. My life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kneeling quietly, still in pain, I passed out there beside the bed.<\/p>\n

When I woke up I was still on the floor. Cold and cramped, but my head didn\u2019t hurt anymore. I went straight to my routine. No food- only water \u2013 and Bible and prayer as if nothing had really happened. My headache was gone, but I didn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

That afternoon as I walked, I told God I was tired of trying to do everything. All I did in life was by my own strength and I couldn\u2019t do it anymore. I did not please others, the pastor, my wife, or the teens I worked with. I was a failure. I talked it through until a formula began to form in my mind. \u201cAll I\u2019ve done was of my own power, by the pastor\u2019s direction, to the teens.\u201d I knew that wasn\u2019t right. I tried again. \u201cAll I do can\u2019t be like that. It can\u2019t be of my pastor, through my talents, to the teens.\u201d And again, \u201cOf God, through my own strength, to God\u2019s glory.\u201d After going through the many combinations, I realized that no, it had to be this and only this: \u201cOf Him, Through Him, and To Him.\u201d I was satisfied. This was the only formula that was correct. And I had been doing it all wrong. On the walk back, I asked God for forgiveness and told Him I would follow this formula from now on.<\/p>\n

A peace came over me when I reached the cabin again. I wasn\u2019t even hungry anymore. That was what I needed. Not food. Not a cure. I needed a formula to hang my life on.<\/p>\n

That night I slept well. No migraine. I returned home that day. I wondered if God had really let me give them to Him.<\/p>\n

That week I met with my pastor. I told him of my weekend getting alone to talk with God. And about the miracle of the life-changing formula He gave me.<\/p>\n

He sat back in his chair. Rubbed his chin and grabbed for his Bible. \u201cDo you know that is in the Bible?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d I thought it was original because I had to work through and eliminate so many things to come to that conclusion. \u201cI have never heard or read it before.\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n

He turned to Romans 11:36 and read, \u201cFor\u00a0of him, and\u00a0through him, and to\u00a0him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me see that!\u201d I thought he made it up and was kidding me. Yet, there it was on the page in black and white, right above the verse that says we are to give our lives as a living sacrifice. I noted it said \u201cgive\u201d and not \u201cLord, take my life as a living sacrifice.\u201d There is a difference. I was shocked. I had no idea.<\/p>\n

A week went by and no migraines. Two weeks. A month, and I began to look at what I was doing differently. Different food? Medicine? No, nothing. Two months, three, then six months went by with no headaches.<\/p>\n

That was around twenty years ago. I have not had a migraine since that Friday I prayed by the bedside in the cabin.<\/p>\n

And\u2026 the formula still rings true. It changed my life. Everything is \u201cOf Him, through Him, and to Him.\u201d Whether it is my writing. My Job. Ministry. Or even how I treat my own children.<\/p>\n

You know, we look for God in the little things. The inches, the minutes. The things that didn\u2019t happen that could\u2019ve. I found Him in a great thing. How do you measure a changed life?<\/p>\n

And\u00a0oh, yeah, some advice: don’t eat a big meal after fasting for three days. Good idea, bad idea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I arrived to the cabin in the middle of nowhere on a Thursday evening, settled in, and started praying. When I grew tired, I read in my bible.\u00a0 My empty tummy was constantly on my mind. I don\u2019t remember what I read. But I didn\u2019t do like a friend of mine in Bible college who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[10,8,9,11,2],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}