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Pain
Posted by Paul on 02 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Cancer, Coffee Thoughts, Divorce, General, Hope, Prayer, Remembering
Why Write About Pain?
Pain is one of the things that I have been dealing with for the last seven years. It is part of my normal, everyday life. It never, ever goes away. The medications that I take, dull it and the side effects of the medication cause drowsiness and other effects and because of that I have to rest a lot.
This pain and the side effects are the very things that keep me focused on the Lord, reminding me of how far He has brought me and how much He has been changing me, that I am in the process of changing daily, becoming more like the Lord in heart, in attitude. It is an inner journey, that I am not the same man, that I was seven years ago, that I am becoming more conformed to the Lord.
Yes there are days that it takes everything within me to move forward, to go out into the marketplace, to be out in the coffee shops, etc., for those are the very places the Father wants me to be, For it is there that I can focus on others, to look outward, not inward.
It is there that I get to meet new people. To listen, a lot of listening, to encourage, exhort, lift up others. To share the hope, the peace, the rest that I have in the midst of this journey called life. The pain, the things I physically go through maybe my thorn, for they keep me focused and remind me that my strength comes from the Lord.
Yes there are days, I want to let go, but I cannot because I know that the life I live now is because of the Lord, that he is allowed my children and grandchildren to see the changes he has made in me over these last seven years. That others can see and know it is the grace of God, that has enabled me to be where I am now spiritually, and emotionally.
Though I’m on full disability and I can’t do the things I used to, I can do what I’ve been called to and that is to go out into the marketplace, where people are. For me it is the coffee shops, it is amazing how long I can make a large cup of coffee last
I have met so many awesome people over the years in the coffee shops and made so many new friends. I’ve been able to exhort, encourage and lift others up. In a coffee shop you overhear so many things and many times I feel a sense of the Lord to lift those things to Him in prayer and I do, others may reap the fruit, but I get the honor of planting the seed, even though I didn’t talk to them personally. I have learned it is important to respond to those promptings of the Lord. In a coffee shop as well as other places, you overhear conversations, even when you don’t want to.
I don’t know exactly why I felt to share this today, but I have learned when the Lord says to write, I write, the rest is up to him!
I hope the words that I have written will encourage you in your walk, in your life, for we all deal with pain, not all of it is physical. He uses the things we go through to make us stronger and enables us to touch others, because we share out of a relationship, out of a life with the Lord, and we share that very life with others, not out of theory but out of a relationship, that our lives reflect that reality, for often our lives speak louder than our words.
Till later,
Paul
In Your Midst!!
Posted by Paul on 03 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Cancer, Divorce, Encouragement, General, Hope, Poetry, Ponderings, Remembering
In the midst of the pain,
in the midst of despair,
in the midst of it all,
You are there!
In the midst of failure,
in the midst of hopelessness,
You are there!
In the midst of a heart broken,
in the midst of life shattered,
You are there!
In the midst of tears flowing,
You are all knowing and
You are there!!
In the midst of life’s turmoil’s,
when all seems at an end,
You are there!
In the midst, when we want to quit,
You are there!
When our hearts cry out, no more,
please no more,
you are there!
In the midst of Light breaking and Life flowing,
You are there!
In the midst of restoration, of mending,
you are there!
With life flowing,
With Hope knowing,
You are there!
In the midst of it all, Father,
in the midst of it all,
You are there!
In the midst of Your presence,
in the midst of your Spirit,
in the midst of who you are,
We are there!!
For in Your midst,
Our hearts heal, our wounds seal, and life
restored!
In your midst we see that You and You alone
are the source of our life,
for in Your midst is where we belong!
For it is in your presence and in your midst that you
have called us,
for it is here, in Your midst, that
We belong!!
Writing for the King,
Paul E. Dawn Jr.
(C) June 2007
First Love Lost?
Posted by Paul on 09 Oct 2009 | Tagged as: Cancer, Coffee Thoughts, Divorce, Family, General, Hope, Ponderings, Remembering
To abandon, to dissert, to forsake, to remove, to give up, resign, relinquish, forsake, one who quits the service without permission and in violation of his engagement!
What does this have to do with love, especially first love? Jesus makes the following statement in the book of Revelation: “But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love you had at first [you have deserted me, your first love.]“ (Revelation 2:4 – The Amplified Bible)
Charles “Chuck” Swindoll makes the following statement “…Jesus said, in effect. You left that love. You once had a love that was incorruptible, but you abandoned it. You once enjoyed a devotion that was constant, meaningful, satisfying. In fact, the warmth of your love transformed your thinking and your attitudes; it revolutionized the way you related to me, to your heavenly Father and to your brothers and sisters. But you cooled off.” (So You Want To Be Like Christ – Chapter 1 Page 7)
Sometimes it so easy to be sidetracked by the things of life, the things that we go through, that we lose sight of what it means to be in love with the Lord. We lose that passion, that hunger for the word, for the presence of the Lord. The zeal is gone and and the sad thing is, we don’t even realized it until it is almost too late.
As I look back now. I don’t regret what I have gone through because it has brought me back to the center of God’s will for my life. He has and is restoring my first love for Him. Oh, I am sure that there was a much easier path for me to have taken, but what has happen in my life, is what it took to get my attention.
That in loosing all, I have gained much. Through the trials, the surgeries, the divorce, the Lord reached out and drew me back to that first love relationship with Him, to begin to see things through His eyes. To have a new appreciation of my children, grand children, of all those in my life past and present.
As I began to focus on Him I began to see more clearly. He began to open my heart and life again, to reveal things that needed to be changed, removed. Things that hinder my relationship with Him, as well as with others.
It is so easy to take things for granted, whether it be people, things or the Lord. We become complacent in our relationships. We forget the “little” things in our relationships. The importance of the word love, or a hug or the encouragement that we give one another and then one day we wake up and wonder, what happen, how can this be?
In Revelation 2:5 we are told to remember. Think back, repent, change the inner man to meet God’s will. We are are told to remember the love, the passion that we had for the Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to rekindle that fire, the passion for Him. To hunger after the word, the presence of the Lord.
Let us learn to dwell in that presence of the Lord. To abide in Him. That we can have an attitude of worship, of praise. That we can walk with the Lord daily in this present world. He is not a Father who is afar off. He is as close as we want Him to be. He desires our fellowship, our communion with Him. He delights, takes joy in us. He has chosen us, called us for a day such as this, that others might see the reality of the Christ within.
The Lord is calling us back, calling you, calling me, back to a place of intimacy, of a place of knowing Him, not just about Him. He is calling us back to a relationship, where He will reveal Himself to us!
He is calling us back to that First Love!
Till later,
Paul
*Orginally posted May 2005
Reflection
Posted by Paul on 27 Apr 2009 | Tagged as: Cancer, Coffee Thoughts, Divorce, Encouragement, Family, Friends, General, Hope, Ponderings, Prayer, Remembering
“Your life was designed to be a mirror that reflects all the best things about Him to the world around you.”
I am re-reading “The Air I Breathe” by Lou Giglio and the above quote from page 19, of his book really touched my heart, opened my spirit and reminded me of the events of the last five years and how the Father has taken every bit of that which I have gone through, to reflect to others, to family, to friends, to those I meet everyday, the amazing peace, the rest, the hope that we can have, when we simply stay focused on Him.
That in the midst of the storms and in the battles of life, that we build a relationship with Him. That we can truly praise Him, that it is not simply a cliché, but a reality that is birthed within, as we yield to the Father, to the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
It is that hope that touches the lives of others because they see the reality of it in our everyday life. It is not theory, it is real, it is written on our hearts, it enables us to walk with Him, to build a relationship and intimacy with Him, with others, with family.
We are no longer what we where, we are becoming more and more like Him. As we yield to Him, we are being transformed, being changed, becoming a mirror, that reflects the Christ within.
Is it not time to reflect that reality, the reality of the Lord, not so much by words, but by the life that we live, at home, at work, in the marketplace.
Let your life reflect outwardly what the Spirit of the Lord is doing inwardly!
Till later,
Paul
A Path Called Hope!!
Posted by Paul on 25 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Cancer, Divorce, Encouragement, Friends, General, Hope, Ponderings, Prayer, Remembering
Our hope is in the Lord!
Our expectation is in Him and hopefully we can say as those of old, though He slay us, yet will we praise Him, we will exalt Him, we will lift Him up, for He is Lord, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we will praise Him.
It is in the midst of the struggles of life, in the battles, that we learn, that we find our strength in the Lord. We come to a place that we no longer look to ourselves but rather we look to the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith.
It is when we come to an end of ourselves, to that place of saying, “Nevertheless Lord, thy will be done, thy kingdom come. Reveal yourself in us that others might see the reality of the hope that is within.”
I share out of what has become real, that which has become part of my life, I share out of the hope that I have been given by the Lord. To share out of that which I have and I’ am going through, not out of theory, but out of reality, out of a relationship with the Lord.
To write about the hurts, the pains, the disappointments, about the defeats, and the victories, about joys, about my walk with the Lord during this time of my life.
The one thing that I know, is that the only answer to these problems, to these things that we are going through in our lives is to have absolute trust in the Lord. That no matter what, even when we don’t understand what is going on, that we have to trust the Lord, to put ourselves in His hands and be utterly dependent upon Him.
We are in a world that says, do it yourself, you are your own master, your the one and that is not true. The only time we are free, totally free, is when we are a servant. In servant-hood, in serving the Lord, in walking in His ways, in His word, then we are set free.
It is one of those things that boggles the old nature, our minds, that in serving we become free, we have put it all back into our Fathers hands, we are those prodigal sons and daughters that are returning home, coming back to that place, that relationship with our heavenly Father.
To be a servant is to be like Christ, to follow in His ways, to come to a place, that it is no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us!
The natural mind can not comprehend that, but the spirit can. We put on the full armour of the Lord, we renew our minds each day. Each day a new beginning, a fresh start, of trusting in the Lord.
As long as we have hope, then we have everything, because our Hope rests in the Lord, knowing that His plans for us as individuals, as a people, as Christians, as the Body of Christ, is a good plan and that which He has begun in us He will finished.
I see a new path, a new trail of Hope, that grows larger as we press on and press in to the Lord, into the word and into His presence.
We are real people, going through real life, living in a real world, and we serve a real and living God, who sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring us home and He has given us His Holy Spirit to reveal His word and Himself to us. That we can live and walk with hope and fellowship with our Lord, and with each other.
Till later,
Paul
What’s Up?
Posted by Paul on 04 Nov 2008 | Tagged as: Cancer, Coffee Thoughts, Divorce, Encouragement, Family, Friends, Hope, Prayer, Remembering
Thought I would let you all know what’s up with me!
I’m in Glen Allen, Virginia for the next sixty to ninety days to be with my mother and brother-in-law while my sister is going through rehab for the brain aneurysm she had in August and now is on the road to recovery.
Terry had a brain aneurysm in August and was still in a medically induced comma when I left. She is a real miracle, but still has a long road ahead.
As she was there for me when I was going through my battle with cancer and a divorce, I am here for her, to help at home, be with mom, to serve my family.
I sure do miss all my friends back in Georgia, all the things that I have been involved with over the last five years but I know that I am exactly where the Lord wants me at this time.
I am reading a book called “Lead Like Jesus that has prepared me for this season in my life.
To be a servant leader, like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We honor Him when we serve others, reflect His heart, His life, His love, not necessary by the words we speak but by what our life reflects. One of my favorite quotes, my version is “Share Christ, Speak if you have too”
And yes, the Lord has extended my coffee cup stakes here in Glen Allen, Virginia. A really nice Starbucks, about a mile and a half from here, has become my home away from home till I return to Georgia. Have already made a lot of new friends.
I will be posting more soon. Finally able to log onto the wireless connection here at my sister’s house. A special thanks to my friend Mario, from Kennesaw for his help. Mario, is one of my brothers-in-Lord that I meet with every Saturday morning at 6:00 for fellowship and bible study. Thanks Mario!!
Thank you all for your prayers for my sister Terry, my mother and brother-law-law, Benjy!
Thank you for praying for my health issues also
Let me know what is up with you all my friends 
If you would like to e-mail me, you can at coffeecupministry (at)gmail.com
Till later,
Paul
Don’t forget to replace the (at) with @
