Spiritual Sounding Board – This is your place to gather and share in an open format.
-by Kathi
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Acts 4: 23 – 31
On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
“‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’
“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Esther 2: 12 – 23
Before a girl’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.
When the turn came for Esther (the girl Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the moth of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.
When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were hanged on a gallows. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
Proverbs 21: 3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
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May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you from the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.
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Feel free to join the discussion.
You can share your church struggles and concerns.
Let’s also use it as a time to encourage one another spiritually.
What have you found spiritually encouraging lately?
Do you have any special Bible verses to share, any YouTube songs that you have found uplifting?
Photo credit: Kathi – Sunset in Kona, HI.
Spiritual Sounding Board 
I want to run a scenario by you, if that’s okay.
I’m really struggling with my husband at the moment. I don’t want to go into too much detail, as I’ve had to share it a lot over the past week and it’s becoming emotionally draining. The short version is, a combination of his depression, anger, and acting as if he couldn’t care less about our family, has led to a lot of tension in the home, and high levels of anxiety. We never know when he’s going to blow up over something, so it’s like we’re walking on eggshells hoping that nothing will go wrong today. My daughter confided in me that she is afraid of him, and doesn’t like to be left alone with him, and that she’s afraid he will hurt my son.
I feel like I don’t know my own mind any more, or if I’m over reacting. I’ve taken it to my pastor and while he was sympathetic, he seemed to want to focus on restoring my husband and saving the marriage, rather than any kind of protection for us. He said something which i didn’t know how to take – that if it was just me saying these things, it would be different, but because the children are saying they’re scared, it’s got to be sorted out. Almost like, if it was just me saying I was afraid of my husband, then he wouldn’t believe me because it would just be my word against my husband’s?
I don’t want my family to break down, but if it does I will need the support of my church, and I’m not sure that they wouldn’t blame me equally for it, and I wouldn’t really get the support.
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Hi Liz,
I would recommend that you call the Domestic Violence Hotline, national or local.
They know services that they can direct you to.
http://www.thehotline.org/
It sounds like you could benefit from counseling as well from a therapist.
It’s scary to be scared all of the time, not know what’s going to happen, and
have to “keep it together”, including for your children. You must be exhausted.
Please be careful in this situation, don’t tell him anything, and just quietly take care of yourself. If you have to, use a friend’s phone or the computer at the library. Take precautions.
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Hi Liz –
Velour offers some good advice for you. I would like to echo that you please contact the hotline to find resources in your area. The website has a phone number and chat information that you can talk to someone confidentially about your situation. Again, please use caution with home computers or a shared smartphone if you are concerned about how your husband would respond if he found out you were checking out sources.
Listen to your gut instinct on this situation. Don’t try to make excuses for his behavior. It is especially concerning that you and your children are saying that you are are scared. Follow that and don’t let it go until you do feel safe.
Do you have any close trusted friends or family members close by that you can confide in? You may want to share your situation and ask if they would be willing to support you if you needed to leave the house. If you think things may escalate quickly, you should start safety planning now. Someone at the hotline could help with that, or, if you want to send an email to us at SpiritualSB@gmail.com we can help with that as well. We can also help you find resources in your area if you are not comfortable calling the hotline.
Thank you for sharing your heart and concerns with use. We are here to listen and support. However else we can help please let us know.
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