There Is a Balm for That

By Regina R. Tate

Christians who are professional athletes often speak of their performance stages as being platforms to inspire and spread the love of Christ. Well, this is Regina Tates platform to inspire and to spread the Good News. The book is encouragement and motivation to get beyond and through everyday issues and problems, using the Word of God. In addition, she shares some accounts of athletes and other well-known people doing admirable or not-so-admirable things to help push across the messages of encouragement. The stories about athletes and others are used to help illustrate or paint word-pictures for inspiration as part of a particular message. Included are references to athletes such as LeBron James, Bethany Hamilton, Michael Vick, Barry Sanders, Pete Carroll and Michael Jordan, as well as stories about other notable public figures such as Malala Yousafzai . Regina combines her love of sports with her love of the Lord to inspire and encourage those of us who are on the Lords side and others who are looking for reasons to trust in God. And there is no need to worry if you are not a sports fan. The references enhance the primary messages of inspiration; the main thing is still the main thing. Reginas prayer is that this book will give you a bit of motivation and inspiration by telling and reminding you that God is always pulling for you to get to the other side of through!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496914859

Regina R. Tate

Regina R. Tate is a Christian Counselor. She has always loved to write but was pushed away from her dream of being a sports writer long ago. Now, she feels like she has come back around to her dream, just not in the way she envisioned it. She sees the awesomeness of God in that she is realizing her original dream while at the same time exercising her other passion – helping those who hurt, according to the Word of God. Regina is a past engineer with a phone company and a paper company. She has worked for a car manufacturer and as an assistant to her church pastor. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s degree in Human Resource Development and a Master of Arts degree in Christian Counseling. She has had audiences with business leaders, government officials, politicians, academicians and gatherings of the Lord’s people. She does not consider herself an expert on the Word of God, nor is she an expert in all things sports. She does believe that the totality of her journey thus far has given her a unique way to help those who hurt. She and her husband of twenty years, Al Tate, have one son, Braelon, and they reside in McDonough, Georgia.

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© 2014 Regina R. Tate. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/21/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1484-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1485-9 (e)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Preface

Building the Kingdom

Comfort in Knowing

Knowing More

Hold Fast

Being You

The Edge

There’s a Balm for That

Called to Be Better

The Favor of God

The Vineyard

Mission Grace

Gifts of the Cross

Don’t Get Weary

Acknowledgments

Introduction to a future work

A few comments about current volume of writings

About the Author

Preface

History records that on January 14, 2003, the Kentucky Wildcat men’s basketball team started a most unlikely winning streak. Before the season began, one contributing player was dismissed from the team and two more major contributors to the team were suspended, upsetting chemistry and leaving the team short-handed. The season was the 100th one in the history of the program and it was not turning out as the imagined celebratory season everyone had hoped for. The previous year’s team had been dubbed Team Turmoil and this squad was showing a great many similarities.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a state such as this. Bad stuff keeps piling up on us and before we can solve one crisis, another one comes, or we are blindsided by an event or occurrence that is draining all our energy and we are weary. Or we, and those around us, are down on ourselves because it seems our lot presents a continuous, negative pattern. Or perhaps we should be celebrating a milestone as we planned and nothing is going according to plan. This collection of writings is for all of us at just such times. From this volume we can find encouragement to get us over or get us through. In it, we are reminded that we are never alone and at any time, we can begin our own winning streak. (For more on that Kentucky basketball team, see Building the Kingdom.)

The world presents so much (pain, chaos, temptation, illicitness, immorality, sinful pleasures, etc… .) and sometimes we Christians find ourselves too close to the edge of the Vineyard (read The Vineyard to see what I mean). I use real-world examples coupled with God’s Word to direct people back to God. The truth is all the direction and guidance we need is in there—in the Bible. Most of the relatable stories have to do with sports (a true love of mine) but there is no need to worry if you are not a sports fan. The references enhance the primary messages of inspiration; the main thing is still the main thing. (I’m laughing to myself now because I say that and then move to . . . .)

In his acceptance speech, for the National Basketball Association’s 2014 Most Valuable Player award, Kevin Durant spoke of God changing his life and how basketball was just a platform for him to inspire people. (He wasn’t the first Christian athlete to voice recognition of purpose but perhaps the most passionate.) He spoke of wanting to be a recreation league coach. While he would have still been in an arena that allowed him to inspire people, how awesome is it that God guided him into increased territory (using his mom to push him into it)? His childhood was not easy. He experienced a great deal of uncertainty and went through many trials before his winning streak began (and the streak pertains to more than just basketball).

Sometimes our troubles come because we get caught up with our plans, our goals or our expectations and we end up fighting against the very blessing we have petitioned God for. We effectively delay some of the blessings God is willing to bestow upon us because we won’t move out of the way. At other times, we squirm away from our path because we don’t recognize our preparation as of God. I believe this particular platform is mine, to help us learn to let go and let God "mold us and make us after His will, while we are waiting,