The Christ Conjunction: Perspective

In his book, The Rest of the Gospel (When the partial Gospel has worn you out), Dan Stone refers to it as "the Holy But." I have been reading Stone's book for nearly 8 months. In a family where 2 or 3 books a week is the norm, it is highly unusual to linger so long on one book. Yet it isn't a book that I want to devour instantly and then forget - I want to asssimilate the truths before moving on. The book continues to remind me that this temporal, physical world that we live in is only part of the picture.
Stone speaks of how important it is to place our conjunction in the correct place, rather than allowing the circumstances of our lives to dictate our perspective. "The Holy But always changes your perspective on a situation from external to internal. Many of us want to escape our circumstances because we don't know how to operate the but. " pg. 187 Christ always comes after the but, not before. For example I could say "I know Christ is all sufficient but it has been a pretty tough year." OR I can say "It has been a pretty tough year, but I know that Christ is all sufficient." Our perspective, our dwelling place, tends to be AFTER the but, so Christ must always come after the conjunction. It changes our focus from the situation to Christ. "Just because we know the truth and live from the truth doesn't mean that the external circumstance is going to change. But we are changed. The Holy But moves you from the circumstance to the solution, and that solution is a person." (Jesus Christ) pg. 186
The truth is, I have been going through some pretty intense spiritual battles that have left me feeling tired and worn out. Someone commented to me the other day "You look sad." I was taken aback...that is NOT typically a statement made about me - I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of gal. That's when I realized that my internal struggles were taking a toll externally, and I was reminded to examine my conjunction. Was I thinking "I know You will reveal truth to me because You are truth but right now I am struggling?" It was time to flip it around. "I'm going through some spiritual gymnastics, but I know that You will reveal truth to me because You are truth." What a difference.

Marie with a :-)