A Place of Healing by Joni Eareckson Tada

I just finished Joni Eareckson Tada's latest book A Place of Healing.  Friends, if you have never read or listened to anything by Joni, please do.  I don't know how else to describe this woman except as a global treasure for the body of Christ.  The path marked out for her by the Lord has been so unique and her ministry and message so profound that it is simply impossible to estimate what value she has brought to the Church over the years.  I still remember the life-changing impact her book Heaven: Your Real Home had on me years ago as a young youth minister in Oklahoma.  Now, having tasted the tears of nearly 15 years of ministry, sitting to learn at Joni's feet again is a very refreshing and humbling experience.  I was sad that she wasn't able to come to Cape Town for Lausanne III back in 2010.  I still hope I get a chance to meet her this side of eternity.  So, go and read (or listen to, it is available in audio) Joni's book and also check out the ministry she leads at Joni and Friends.

Externalized Pathology and Internalized Identity « Flexner Book Club Blog

Below, I link to an article by Jessica Lee that relates to refugees and mental health. I think this is a huge issue and I applaud Lee for the challenge that she is issuing to health care providers who find themselves treating refugees. I certainly believe she is on the right track. Typical Western psychological diagnoses probably miss the mark in refugee cases. Lee suggests insights derived from Freud which effectively pushes back against a overly simplistic diagnosis such as anxiety or depression. However, Freudian analyses should be expected to likewise fall short as they too arise from a specifically Western cultural context. Western sociologists and psychologists will have a hard time fully grasping what’s going on with refugees as long as they don’t wrestle well with the specific anthropological and diasporological dynamics relevant to their cases. For example, Lee's article doesn’t make mention of survival and dependency issues and the male-emasculating effects of camp life. There is no mention of the influence of folk Hinduism, high-context communication, or social collectivism on Bihan’s situation. So again, I think she is on to something and I applaud it. Health professionals must be challenged to go deeper and think more critically about these cases if wellness is truly desired. Of course, as is often the case (wink, wink), getting a missiologist to weigh in on things can just really help everyone all around.

Externalized Pathology and Internalized Identity « Flexner Book Club Blog: "Externalized Pathology and Internalized Identity
by Jessica Lee
I work with refugees in Philadelphia. Butler’s chapter Melancholy Gender/Refused Identification makes me reconceptualize my clients’ struggles in the resettlement process. Butler expands on Freud’s idea of melancholia into a discussion of melancholic incorporation, arguing that identity results from disavowed grief. She states, “the lost object is, in that sense, made coextensive with the ego itself” (p. 247). Many of the refugees I encounter exhibit melancholia—where they are “unwilling to avow and hence grieve” the loss of their homeland. For these refugees, perhaps melancholia is what enables them to internalize their national identity."

Danyabadko Satsang / Giving Thanks for Answered Prayer

About a week ago on our prayer blog, we asked you to pray for "G" who was seriously ill and in the hospital.  Since that time, much of our local Nepali community was mobilized to pray in the name of Jesus for this young woman, herself a fairly new Christ-follower.  At one point last week, some 30-40 Nepalis were at the hospital at the same time, praying in something like shifts for God to show His power.


Well, "G" is now well.  She left the hospital with a prescription for pain meds "as needed" and a recommendation to take some OTC vitamins. She's actually doing great and will, next Saturday, become the first graduate from an American high school in this community's history.  


Yesterday's worship gathering (we call them "satsangs") was thus a natural opportunity to simply pour our hearts out in thanksgiving to God through Christ.  2 Corinthians 1:10-11 deeply resonated with us:


"He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."


There was laughing, tears of joy, and lots of dancing as we gave thanks.  The highlight was when young "G" stood up before all and shared her testimony of God's faithfulness.  Her faith had been immensely strengthened through this ordeal.  "Jesus saved my live," she declared.  "Nothing is impossible for Him."  She went on to movingly exhort those gathered, a mixture of Christ-followers and seekers, "When you have some problem, pray.  If God doesn't do anything, keep praying.  You cannot stop praying.  Nothing is impossible for our God!"


Well, of course, words will only take you so far.  To fully know what the Bhutanese-Nepali community of Wheaton, IL was trying to say to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit yesterday, you would need to be able to see the whirling and twirling, the bouncing and clapping, the smiling and laughing -- the dance.  God is doing a special thing here. I was so glad to see it expressed like this yesterday.  Please continue to uphold us in your prayers.