PMS

A little background on why I wrote this:

We are studying Romans in our Bible study thisyear.  Romans talks a lot about our sin and how much we need our Saviour, Jesus.  We are on Romans 5:11-21.  This week talked a lot about men:  Adam & Jesus…two men who have such an impact on our lives.  We talked about our heritage from Adam, physically we were born into Adams family, the line that leads to death.  We have his guilt, his sinful nature.  BUT we can trade judgment for forgiveness.  We can change our lineage by accepting a Spiritual birth with Christ.  Death through Adam, and Life through Jesus.  It seems for weeks that we’ve focused on us as sinners.  We’ve looked at all the horrible ways we sin.  

Im going to share a bit about my lineage today.  I come from a lineage of Adam, a sinner.  I also come from a line of PMSers.  

The fight and struggle are real ladies.   

Im sure many of you reading this may give a head nod in agreement that you’ve been a  PMSer at one time of another.

PMS has a wide variety of symptoms, including mood swings, tender heart, cravings, fatigue, irritability and depression.  Im going to be so bold to say every person, not just women, have experienced PMS.  I think that Adam was experiencing PMS when he chose to sin in the garden.  

Our symptoms tend to recur…not just monthly, but likely daily, and hourly, quite possibly by the minute. Certainly there may be physical and emotional changes you experience with PMS, but inevitably soul changes. These may vary from just slightly noticeable all the way to intense.

Im not sure about you, but I often let these problems and symptoms control your life. Treatments and lifestyle adjustments can help you reduce or manage the signs and symptoms of PMS.

Obviously, the PMS Im going to talk about today has nothing to do with our uterus and more to do with our heart.

The PMS Im talking about has to do with a bleeding heart, a fatigued soul, a depressed spirit. A heart that cramps and aches for ways to work harder, pump faster.  This PMS can turn a moldable muscle into a rock that writhes in pain.  This PMS is:

Pleasing “Mr./Mrs.” Syndrome

Pleasing My Spouse /Pleasing “Man” Syndrome

Pleasing My Siblings

Pleasing “Minions/Munchkins (aka: your kids)” Syndrome 

This PMS always shows irritability, frustration, anger, and heartache.  It takes something so good and flips it upside down, ending in a slue of emotions that God never intended.  Though our Men and Munchkins and even “Man” (ie: mom, dad, boss, friend) are all wonderful and we should maintain a heart that wants to keep peace with all these people.  Our goal should NOT be to Please Man. 

If we aren't focused on Pleasing “Man” our world pushes us into another dark place of PMS: Poor Me Syndrome usually leading into a Pleasing My Self attitude. This PMS is also known as Pursuing My Self and even falls into a trench of Pity My Self. 

God desires the best for us, but God is so different from the world.  The world tells us to seek after what makes us happy.  We hear messages from social media on how to be a better mom, magazines screaming how to please your man, and songs blaring how to make yourself the center of attention.  

PMS (fill in the blank with one of the above) leads us into a path of sinful destruction.  

We all have PMS, because we all come from the heritage of Adam, we are ancestors of Adam which means we come from a lineage of SIN.  This is the PMS: Plethora (of) My SIN.  Sin encompasses our lives, it can overtake our lives if we aren't careful.  It does overtake our lives if we aren't walking the road to calvary.  Adam, one man, with such an impact on our lives. Adam’s sin brought death and darkness.

Yet we don't have to live there or stay there, we have the gift of victory that came when Jesus bore my PMS Plethora (of) My Sin on the cross.  He is also ONE man— who brought us heritage of life.

Once we realize that our PMS of Pleasing My Self is overtaking our lives and is sinful we usually move into another form of PMS:  Punish My Self, we beat ourselves up and self loathe and Pity My Self.  None of these remedies are of or from God.

So here it is:  Your prescription for PMS:  Self Forgetfulness…this is so hard to do, we have to get to a point where we get to where our sins don’t define us.  Where our identity is with Jesus, not with Adam.  We need to move to the PMS of Protecting My Soul. 

Is there anything I can do to minimize PMS symptoms?  Will my PMS symptoms eventually go away on their own? Could the symptoms that I'm experiencing indicate a more serious condition?  Is there a treatment for PMS symptoms?  Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing?

What to expect from God

God asks you to humble yourself before Him, He will forgive, forget, and move on.  I can certainly minimize the symptoms by turning to the cross.  Its at the foot of the cross that my symptoms subside.  Will they go away, no, but my heart will change.  Our identity cannot be connected to our sin.  The treatment for this is recognizing  your need for a Savior, there is no generic or alternative medicine for this, the ONLY prescription for PMS is to humble yourself.

-How severe are your symptoms?  

They are so bad that God sent HIS son, Jesus to die for MY “symptoms”…my sins alone were enough for Him to die.

We get so caught up in the PMS:  Pleasing My Self mentality that we forget the true and REAL PMS is:

Pleasing My Savior, Pleasing Master Syndrome, Pleasing Most High Syndrome, Pleasing Mighty One Syndrome, Pleasing our Majesty Syndrome.

When we forget ourselves and move to an attitude that sends us into Pursuing My Salvation, we move away from our Adam heritage and associate ourselves with our lineage with Jesus.

Which PMS do you have?  Pleasing My Self or Pleasing My Savior?