Laura Diehl, Author at GPS Hope Page

June 8, 2016 by Laura Diehl 2 Comments

Who is to blame?

We all have things happen to us that are unfair; things that are just plain wrong.

Our natural tendency is to find who is to blame for it. We want to take our anger out on someone, and we can hold on to that anger and blame for days, months, years, or even a life time.

If our anger and blame go deep enough, we will even hate that other person. And when we refuse to let go of that anger and hate, it eventually spills over into other areas of our lives. We become a cynical, bitter, and resentful person.

When you blame someone for something, you give them the power to run your life and you disempower yourself. You are making something they did in the past be responsible for the events in your life now. When you make someone else responsible, you are unable to respond on your own to make the shift.

Response – ability. Responsibility is the ability to respond. You can’t accept the ability to respond when someone else is in control (by blaming them) because that person becomes the force who shapes your life.

I am not saying that person is not responsible for the bad thing (or absolutely horrendous thing) that was done to you. But continuing to blame them for the way you are now, is keeping that person in the driver’s seat of your life.

Let’s look at it this way. Your beliefs drive your thoughts. Your thoughts drive your emotions. Your emotions drive your actions. In other words, when you take an action (or react) to something, it is because of your emotions. The emotions that you have are a result of your thoughts. And your thoughts come from what you believe.

It doesn’t matter if that belief is the truth or not. Believing a lie is just as powerful as believing the truth.

Can you think of a time when you were in the exact same situation with someone, and yet both of you had a totally different view of whatever happened? I know that has happened to me several times, as my mom and I discuss conversations we had or events that happened as I was growing up. My perspective as a child is completely different than my mom’s as the parent. I am now finding the same thing to be true with me and my children. At times I am shocked to find out something I did with love ended up wounding them, because as a child, they couldn’t see the full picture – the “why” – like I could.

If we believe that keeping the pain of the wound of how someone hurt us will punish that person, we are very mistaken. All we are doing is crippling ourselves. Not only that, we are usually poisoning those around us with bitterness, anger, resentment, etc. as it surfaces in places that don’t even make sense to why we are reacting the way we are.

And what about God? Sometimes deep inside we can resent God, blaming Him for allowing this horrible thing to happen to us. How can God really be good? The answer to that question can have an entire book written about it (and there probably are a few out there). But for me, the simplest answer is that God is not a magic genie in a lamp that we can rub and get our wishes from. If that were the case, I would be bigger than God, because I could make Him do what I wanted Him to do. I don’t want a god so small that I can order him around. I want my God to be able to see the big picture, and be in complete control, both now, and for eternity! And that means I might not understand it or agree with it (just like a child and a parent…hmmm… maybe He really is a perfect Father…)

So, if believing a lie is just as powerful as believing the truth, how do we know if we are believing the lie or the truth?

Because the truth sets you FREE!

No person, or what they have done to me, is powerful enough to keep me chained to my past, stopping me from going forward in freedom. The only powers great enough to keep me from living out my kingdom inheritance here on earth are the lies and deception that someone else is to blame for my thoughts and my actions. And it is the same with you.

I once heard a story of twin boys who grew up with a very abusive drunkard as their father. One of them became a very successful business man, the other became a drunkard. When someone asked each of them what they attributed the direction of their life to, they both had the exact same answer. “What do you expect with a dad like mine?”

If you refuse to work through the pain of your past, not letting go of what was done to you, you will remain stuck to your past, and will never be able to come into the fullness of life, joy, peace, and everything else God has for you.

Obviously, if you choose (and yes, you can choose) to stop blaming someone in your past for continuing to make you who you are today, all of those things will begin to unfold in your life (fullness of life, joy, peace, and everything else God has for you). You will stop feeling like you just exist in a shell, holding on day-to-day trying to survive. You will begin to thrive.

And it will not only affect you directly, but will have a ripple effect. You will be leaving a legacy of love and fullness of life, not one of defeat with no purpose, blaming someone else for what you did or did not do with your life.

If you have spent your life blaming someone in your past for the life you are living now, ask God to give you the desire to release them. Then ask Him for the strength and grace you need to grab ahold of your own life and start taking responsibility for the way you respond and the decisions you make, no matter what others have done to you in the past.

No one is to blame for those things but yourself… remember, the truth will set you FREE!

Some of this article was based on one of our Tidbits from the Throne, a short weekly word of encouragement sent out to our Crown of Glory community. If you would like to be part of this growing community, which includes receiving Tidbits from the Throne, (and free access to our members’ library) just click here.

May 18, 2016 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

How to Find a Place of Rest in the Tsunamis of Life

Have you ever felt like you have been swept away by a tsunami in your life? It seemed like everything was going fine, and out of nowhere, a huge tidal wave you couldn’t outrun took your legs out from under you, and life was out of control.

I have had the blessing of that happening several times over the last 35 years or so. No, it was not a blessing at the time; far from it. Each time one of those huge waves hit, it caused fear, panic, an overwhelming sense of uncontrollable chaos, and lots and lots of deep pain.

The first time I remember that kind of a wave hitting me I was 16 years old, and it tried to take me under when my parents divorced. Yes, I know that is fairly common, but not for me and my family. I spent many years growing up as a preacher’s kid. A few of those years, my dad even traveled as an evangelist for children, doing things like kids’ camps and VBS’s. I went with him as often as possible. I loved being the daughter of “Uncle Bob,” watching him use magic tricks as object lessons (way before it was the “norm” in children’s ministry and before that term even existed) and be a ventriloquist with his dummy, Timothy.

Next huge wave? Shortly after getting married, our three year old daughter was diagnosed (on my due date with our second child) with bone cancer in her left leg, rendering it useless. She had her left leg amputated (how do you explain that to a three year old?) and went through nine months of chemotherapy.

Over the next several years, there were many smaller waves, compounded on each other. Some were what I would call the normal ups and downs of having a family with five children. Unfortunately, some of the bigger ones were within the Body of Christ. They included finding myself caught in the middle of a nasty church split (like a deer in the headlights) and then a few years later, when I was not responding to the replacement pastor’s flattery, found myself being accused of trying to divide the church. Yes, ouch! Deep wounds; I think many of us have them from “the church.”

Another one of them was finding out that a long-term effect of one of the chemo drugs used for our daughter’s treatment caused heart damage, which had to be constantly monitored. Eventually, she had to be put on medication to counter the weakness. After getting married and becoming pregnant, she ended up in the hospital for a few months, with a 50/50 chance of surviving through the labor and delivery. (She lived, and gave birth to a beautiful little preemie girl who is now 13 years old.) Shortly after that though, she had to have open heart surgery to repair one of her valves.

During that time, because of bad judgment, one of our sons ended up in the county juvenile detention center. There was a trial, and our son had teachers and other adults (including the workers of the detention center) plead on his behalf. They all recommended for the judge to send him to a boys’ home and not be locked up, because it was so obvious that he was a good kid with a good family support system, who had made some very bad choices and needed help. But because there were some things that tied the judge’s hands, at age 15, he was incarcerated for two years in a juvenile corrections facility. (There is a lot more to this story, but you get the idea…)

Then there was the 18 months where our oldest daughter was in the hospital more than she was out. She had her second and third open heart surgeries during that time (one to put in a pump to run the right side of her heart, and the other to take it out when the driveline to the pump got sliced and the pump was shorting out, shocking her heart every time it did). She had a stroke (leaving her left arm fairly useless), Sudden Cardiac Death (from which the EMTs were able to start her heart again after about 15 minutes) and septicemia (blood poisoning with a 20% survival rate). She had a dozen ambulance rides and three emergency helicopter rides within that time period.

Then suddenly, her heart gave out for the last time, and she was gone. Just like that. I can’t even begin to tell you the darkness that came with watching our three sons carry their sister’s casket and burying our child. That just isn’t supposed to happen! It caused a horrible chain of events that I never even thought was possible, which I have since found out is actually fairly common when a child dies.

Okay, so by now are you asking, where is the place of rest in all of this????

It is in learning how to trust, and to surrender. I have found it is one thing to tell God you are giving Him your life, and another thing to actually do it.

Giving our lives to God does not mean our lives will become a bed of roses. Too many people use God like some magic genie who is supposed to grant us our wishes to not have anything bad ever happen to us in this fallen, sinful, crappy world. So when those big waves hit us, we blame Him as if He caused it, and then turn our backs on the only One who can give us true peace, comfort, and direction on how to get our footing again and not be overcome.

It is during these times that we find out if we have truly given our hearts and our lives completely to God, or if we have done it with conditions.

Over the years, each time the next tsunami hits, I have learned to run to Him harder and faster, and I hang on to Him with everything I have! And every single time He has been more than faithful to get me to the other side. And not in just a half-drowned wet mess, but in total amazement at how He has been at work in my life, using the storm to strengthen me and to deepen our relationship.

Plain and simple, I trust Him. I have learned to surrender to the process. Because of my allowing Him to do whatever He wants to do with my life, God has been able to not only sustain me, but bring me to a place of victory, each and every time.

Has it been easy? Of course not! And it doesn’t happen quickly, either. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) This trusting God thing is a life-long process.

But once we stop fighting, and choose to surrender and rest in the arms of our Daddy God, He can transform us through the painful trials into a beautiful and rare gem.

(Just a note: I have written about several of these life events in my book Triple Crown Transformation, which is available from our ministry or several book outlets. Click here if you would like to know more about this book.)

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

May 4, 2016 by Laura Diehl 2 Comments

“What Church Do You Go To?”

What are your thoughts when you read this headline question?

Have you ever thought much about it, other than to ask someone that question, or to answer it?

I have come to realize that asking someone what church they attend actually causes division. Think about it.

It causes us to decide whether or not we are interested in continuing much of a conversation with a brother or sister in the Lord, based on their answer.
It causes us to immediately make decisions about what we think that person believes or doesn’t believe.

Both of those points are really just a nice way of saying we start judging them when we find out what church they attend.

I thought if we are part of the Body of Christ, that makes us all the church. Putting titles and labels on The Church divides us in a way that I don’t think is healthy, or something God intended.

Just asking this one simple question is something that actually puts a hole in the wall of unity, causing a crumbling and weakening in the Body and Church of Jesus Christ.

I am not talking about unity at all costs, nor am I talking about other religions that do not believe Jesus is exactly who He says He is; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Himself (john 14:6).

I am talking about how the enemy is very sly, very cunning, and will slip in something unnoticed whenever possible to cause the slightest bit of division, because he knows the power of unity.

Most of us are familiar with the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter eleven. The people were heathens (not followers of God, but worshipers of false gods and idols). They were trying to build a tower to reach the heavens.

God saw what they were doing, and here is His response. “Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they’re starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them!”(CJB)

That completely amazes and astounds me. It shows me how powerful unity is; when people come together with one purpose and focus, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them!

If this is true for heathens, how much more for Christians who are united as one body under the blood covenant of Jesus Christ! Unity is powerful; there is no doubt about it!

This makes me think of something Jesus said. To set the stage, He first asked his followers, “Who do you think I am?”

Peter’s answer was one of deep truth and revelation. “The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus first tells Peter, “My Father in heaven has personally revealed this to you—this is not from any human source.” Then Jesus declares, “…upon this rock I will build my church; and all the powers of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:13-18 TLB)

The true church of Jesus will be built on the powerful unity of the revelation of who Jesus is. It cannot have division, or the enemy will be able to come against it.

A few years ago, I was attending services with a body of believers, becoming part of their fellowship, and was on a couple of ministry teams. That was when our oldest daughter left this earth for her eternal home with Jesus. In my time of intense grief, some strange things happened, and at one point I was accused of some very serious things. I humbly did my best to submit to the authority of the pastor, to figure out whether I was at fault in any part of what was going on. I wanted to deal with the root source of what was happening, especially if there was something on my end that was causing a wall of division.

Not only was I in deep grief, but I became very weary and wounded in how the process being used seemed to continually come against me and break me down instead of strengthen me and build me up. Things escalated in total confusion, until I received a text from the pastor’s wife telling me I was no longer welcome to attend the church until I admitted my part in causing division and did things their way. To say I was stunned is an understatement!

I felt my ministry board of directors needed to know I had basically been kicked out of a church, which according to scripture is a very serious thing, so I called for a meeting. The response of one of the board members was, “Laura, you can’t be kicked out of a church. You ARE the church!”

I share this, because I believe it is a perfect example of the difference between attending church, and being the church.

So now do you see why I believe that equating The Church with a congregation of people who gather together under the same roof, is something the enemy has slipped in, unnoticed, to cause a wedge of division? It is so subtle, and yet so powerful.

So is it wrong to ask people what church they go to? I can’t answer that for you. All I can say is that for myself, I try to avoid asking anyone that question. I might ask what congregation they fellowship with, or something similar.

I don’t want to be a piece of one of many local churches. I want to be The Church that Christ is building His kingdom on, that the gates of hell cannot stand against. Yes, we may worship and serve in different locations, with a name over that place to identify our different congregations. But we are all One Church, we are all parts of One Body, and we all serve One Risen Lord, who is Jesus Christ.

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

May 2, 2016 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

God’s Protection

When we need to go outside in the rain and we don’t want to get wet, what can we do? Many people will use an umbrella.

God is like our umbrella. He wants to be our protection in life, but if we don’t obey and do things God’s way, we are not under His umbrella of protection. This means when bad things happen, we often find out we are on our own, because we have chosen to come out from under the promises of God’s blessings and protection by doing things our own way instead of His way.

Follow the Holy Spirit. He is speaking to you, because He wants you to be protected and blessed. Do what He shows you to do, and don’t do what He tells you to not to do. Go for all the blessings God has for you by obeying Him and staying under His umbrella of protection.

April 20, 2016 by Laura Diehl 2 Comments

Why Does a Good God Allow Pain in Our Lives?

Basically we all want a pain free life if we are honest. Why doesn’t that seem to be God’s way? Especially if He is such a “good” God?

I’ve been hanging out in Isaiah a lot lately. The passage in Isaiah 48:10, “I have purified you by giving you troubles,” is a loaded statement.

What? God gives us troubles?

Later in Is. 66:9 we read, “ ‘In the same way I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born,’ says the Lord. ‘If I cause you the pain, I will not stop you from giving birth to your new nation.’ says your God.”

There are a couple of key parts to that verse.

1) Pain comes in birthing. (For sure!)

2) He will not stop us from giving birth. (That’s a huge relief, if you have ever been in labor before!)

We often think life is supposed to be pain free if we are really walking with God, but clearly God doesn’t see it that way.

He always offers a plan in our pain. Not only that, He suffers with us in our pain.

And there’s more! He always offers to birth something that brings new life, if we don’t give up! Wow! That is amazing! Only God can bring life from death! And may I remind you, He has lots of experience and does it quite well!

God says He will not stop us from giving birth, but I wonder if we stop ourselves sometimes. We go out of our way to stop the pain, to stop whatever is happening from continuing, not realizing we are actually sabotaging ourselves by trying to stop a birthing process.

If we choose to see things our way, we risk the forward movement He has planned for us.

Is. 50:10-11 says, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys His servant? That person may walk in the dark and have no light. Let him trust in the Lord and depend on his God. But instead, some of you want to light your own fires and make your own light. So, go, walk in the light of your fires, and trust your own light to guide you.”

Once we pray and put something in God’s hands, He is at work, whether we can see it or not. We can trust Him, and depend on Him. God has never lost a battle He has entered, and He isn’t going to start with your battle.

Remember, God created Satan and his minions. They were flicked out of heaven because of rebellion and pride. Good and evil is not an even match. Sometimes we forget that, because of the result of evil affecting our lives. We think God and Satan have the same amount of power, and it is a wrestling match to see who wins.

God ALWAYS triumphs! We just have to let Him use His own battle plan, and surrender to it, instead of making up our own (because it doesn’t make sense to us in our painful situation). Starting our own fires and trusting in our own light to guide us will really take us off course, and make things even worse in the long run.

Let me just say, if I could make sense of God and figure Him out, I would actually be really disappointed and lost, because then He wouldn’t be big enough to be God!

Have you EVER asked God to cleanse and purify you? (That question makes a couple of worship songs come to my mind immediately, that I know I have raised my hands to and sung from my heart as a prayer to Him.)

Then guess what? As Isaiah 66:9 says, He doesn’t allow the troubles we go through to be wasted in our lives. He uses them to purify our hearts. Fire is a purifier. He is actually answering your prayer of purifying you.

I talk about this in my book Triple Crown Transformation.

For all my adult life, I have told God to do whatever He wants to do to get me where He wants me to be. Many years ago, I was praying about a situation I wanted God to fix.

He asked me, “Which prayer do you want me to answer?” I had to ask Him what He meant.

He replied, “You have always told me to do whatever I wanted to do, to get you where I want you to be. I want to use your situation to answer this prayer. So, do you want me to answer the prayer you have been praying for years, or do you want me to answer the prayer to fix this situation?”

I surrendered, and told Him to do whatever He wanted to do, to get me where He wanted me to be.

Surrender to His process. Surrender to His plan to birth new life through you. Don’t stop your birthing process because of the pain. Don’t make your own fires to guide yourself.