Category: God

The Call Of Love

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” According to your faith let it be to you.” ~Matthew  9:29

It’s been a stressful week. We’re moving the RMA store to a bigger location. You may not understand what I mean. I mean a 3X bigger location. Every muscle in my body aches, my back hurts, 12-14 hour days, and yet there is an excitement I can’t contain as my artistic skills are put to the test in the decorating department. Everyone is working so hard.

We have two rescue cats in the store. I went to the local shelter to rescue an adult cat when we found a mouse in the store. I’m scared of mice and not ashamed to admit it. When I got to the shelter, there was only one adult cat. Of course there was a catch because there always is in my life. The adult cat came with a kitten attached, literally! So, Fiona, affectionately known as Mama Kitty, and Anya came to live at the RMA store.

They have lived with us for almost two years now and knowing cats hate change, I had them moved last. They came to the new location yesterday. Mama Kitty meowed some, but Mama Kitty knows what’s up. She looked around, milked some treats out of us, and realized any place is better than the shelter, so she went exploring. When she’d get scared she’d come to me and I’d lift her up and snuggle.

Anya, on the other hand, was freaked out with a capital F. She cried out, she ran from every hand including mine. I put her in a room with her food and litter and thought a little quiet would do her good. Nope an hour later, I could not find her. At first, I thought she was hiding. Then I thought maybe she had made a run for it as the door had been left open. I began to walk around the building paying special attention the bushes. My poor Anya had never been outside. She’s a store cat, it’s all she knows. She has never been away from her mom, except for the time she was spayed.

My friend Vikki said, “I hope she turns up or you won’t be able to relax at all.” She knows me. I could not find Anya. I had to go to the office to wait for the payroll and process it. Where could she be? I left the store at 4 p.m. and returned at 7:30 p.m. Where was Anya? I can’t let her sleep outside. I can’t lose her. I am responsible for her.

“Father, I need your help. I can’t find Anya. She’s scared. It’s not her fault we’re moving. I know you see all and you know where she is. Give me your vision in this moment and help me find her. I know you know where she’s at and I know you know my heart towards her. You care about the birds so I know you care about Anya. Help me Lord, direct me, show me where she is. I trust you. I have faith in you. I know you’ll show me. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”

I drove around the back of the building in the dark with my brights on. “Show me where she is Lord.” Dogs were barking furiously in the residential area behind the shopping center. “Lord, protect her.” I parked the car and walked into the building. It was dark and the only light was from the parking lot. I was met by Mama Kitty. “Meow, meow, meow!” She’s weaving in and out of my legs with urgency. I said, “I know sweety. Where’s the baby kitty? Where’s Anya? Help me find her sweet girl.” “Meow, meow!” She moves with urgency as she seems to be saying, “Come with me.”

I follow her and she leads me straight to a muffled cry. “meow, meow”, they are both crying now. “Anya, I hear you baby girl, where are you?” “meow, meow”, her response is so muffled. I move a dresser and there she is. I snatch her up as she shivers. “Thank you Jesus!” “It’s okay baby girl. It’s okay.”

Lord, that you leave the 99 to take me by the hand to show me the desire of my heart. That you would use a cat as your call of love, to lead me to the spot. That you would care about me in the midst of famine, wars, heartache, and trouble.

I watched Anya as she would rub on her mother and rub on me, hair standing up on her back, scared but safe. I am reminded that this is what kingdom life is. “Where are we going Lord?” “Just follow me and have faith.” “I don’t know what is required of me in this journey I’m scared.” “Just trust and follow.”

It’s A Lie

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Most weeks, two or three come in. For the most part, they’re filled out by women. Primarily they’re checked single with children. I’m talking about benevolence forms. These are forms asking the church for assistance.

We have a team of volunteers that works to get these forms processed. I’m not involved with the process itself, but I see how carefully the team works to choose who qualifies for assistance.

Society tells us that men are unnecessary. We can do this parenting thing alone. We don’t need a man. They’re a nice accessory. After all, they only want one thing right? They cheat, they lie, they don’t work hard enough. Yet, could it be that our expectations are so low when choosing whom to father our children, that we choose a man who is ill equipped? That choice leaves us vulnerable. We can blame the down economy but single women with children have always ranked highest amongst those living below the poverty level.

I read these forms with great sadness. Generally speaking the average seems to be three children, two fathers, never married, no one pays child support, and she has never worked or barely worked because someone had to take care of those babies. There is a hardness and a sadness about her story and when I see her, she’s lost the sparkle in her eye. Yet, society tells her she can do it all by herself.

Could it be that God designed sex within the context of marriage to alleviate this pain? Could it be that in his infinite wisdom and compassion he was looking to save us and our children from this struggle, this life of poverty?

It seems judgmental, even to my own eyes, when I read what I have written here today, and yet, life takes some planning. We, as the church, help with what we can, in terms of goods and services, but it’s a band-aid on a more critical wound. We all make mistakes and we all have to live out those consequences. How do we educate the next generation that just because he says, I love you in the backseat of his mom’s car, doesn’t mean that it’s the right time to awaken love? How do we change the lie, and it is a lie, that life will go on as planned? How do we change the story? Even among my Christian friends, they say sex before marriage is unreasonable and unattainable. A nice thought in theory, but not practical in life. We all stand in freakish awe when someone publicly declares that they are going to wait until they get married to have sex. Surely there is something wrong with them, because we are too smart to fall for a lie.

Women suffer, children suffer even more so, yet we plow forward thinking this time it will be different for her. It’s a lie. There is an enemy of your soul who desires to destroy your dream. There is a Dream Giver who is calling you to take more care. Who will you believe and what has to change within you? Within us?

The Sacrifice

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In a mad rush to finish my shopping this year I kept getting this feeling I was missing something. I didn’t have the same zeal to buy things this year. I kept stalling. Usually I shop all year through. Gathering gifts I know will be thoughtful. This year I didn’t plan, I didn’t take the time. Then I read this story and my heart resonated with its words.

As I was being asked what I wanted for Christmas I kept saying sincerely, “You know what? I am good. I don’t really need or want anything this year.” The statement was met with stares and protests. This year has been about simplifying. I was getting rid of stuff, not adding. I was donating, not dragging things home.

I pray you touched by this blog as much as I was! Click Here to read.

Christians Are Canceling Christmas

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It’s the oddest thing to me in the whole entire world. There are Christians wanting to cancel church on Christmas because it falls on a Sunday this year. You see, it will interfere with the gift exchange. It will interfere with the Christmas Eve hangover, it will interfere with the Christmas breakfast tradition. Canceling Christmas must be done! It’s inconvenient for MMMMMEEEEEE.

OH WAIT!!

It’s not Christmas we want to cancel. It’s the bride of Christ we want to cancel. We don’t want to gather corporately on a Sunday because of Christmas.

We want the commercial exchange without the holy interaction.

 

Okay, now it makes total sense! I get it! Push Jesus to the side so we can have our holiday.

Funny thing is that is exactly what the Pharisees did. Jesus came to save the world that was lost, but it was lost on them. They weren’t interested in a Messiah, they were interested in a tradition. Jesus’ timing has never been convenient. Nope, nothing convenient about it, but it was necessary.

Christianity started on the day Jesus arrived on the scene. We have decided to celebrate that moment on December 25. Only this year, it falls on a day we reserve for church service. So church service will have to wait because gifts are more important than the giver.

Maybe I will stand alone but I will be at church on Sunday morning, December 25, 2011 even if it is Christ’s Mass.

1,000 Little Blessings Chapter 3

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Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

There is something about being content. Content is a big word. Dictionary.com describes it like this:

adjective
1.satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.

Seems simple enough but so hard to live for some of us. Content? How to be content when there is always one more hill to climb or one more thing to do? And yet, it is exactly where I find myself in my life right now. I don’t need any thing right now. I want to spend time with my family, I want to spend time writing, I want to spend time at my job but I lack nothing right now, not even the fear of the Lord because I have that as well.

Here are my blessings for today:

1. A day off. It’s after 10 am I am in pajamas still reading and writing. What a gift!

2. I had a friend say a song reminded her of me. It was a song about giving of yourself. What a blessing to have a friend who thinks more highly of you than you do. That is pretty cool.

3. I’m feeling so much better after being hit with a cold last week. Thank God that the worst has passed. You never know how much you take breathing for granted until you can’t catch your breath.

4. I cut my hair off. After suffering through a bad perm/color and my hair being dry and frizzy for MONTHS, I finally just conceded and cut it off. It feels soft and healthy now. No worries it will grow back.

5. I’m grateful for praise reports that are coming in with our new bible study! Beth Moore challenged us to get on our face before God and the posture and the prayer are causing a stir! Love God for it!

6. It’s Wednesday at this writing, and tonight Modern Family and Revenge come on. I enjoy both shows. Meanwhile, I am blessed to have laundry to do. It’s odd I know, but the smell of clean clothes and the smell of bleach bring me comfort. Then folded laundry always looks complete somehow. I know it’s strange.

7. Only 10 more days until the sugar fast is OVER. Just in time for a piece of pumpkin cheesecake! Hooray for willpower and Hooray for pumpkin cheesecake.

8. I’m grateful for Oolong tea. It’s hard to find this type of tea but I love it. I found some at a little tea place and bought a box. Drinking a hot cup is just the ticket! Whoever discovered Oolong tea, my hats off to you!

9. Boot season! Yes!

10. I am blessed to have met Jesus. To be blessed with the knowledge and security he brings to my life is unparalleled. Things become less important and matters of the heart become the motivation. I can’t miss saying thanks every day of my life for this relationship.

Thankful

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I was sitting with my husband having lunch yesterday when a thought occurred to me that just warmed my heart and made me thankful to God. This past Sunday my son, Anthony, preached the word to the church. He spoke on the relationship we have with God and the obligation we have to each other. The Sunday before son # 2, Charles, preached to the church at youth day. He spoke on humility before God and how we needed to stay pliable before him.

I had simply taken this for granted until the moment God gave me the realization of the blessing he had bestowed on us. Our children pay a high price for what we do, as families in ministry can attest. Ministry is what we do and there aren’t on and off hours for it. Sure, we have great discussions abut the bible and our faith. but we have great arguments about what other kids are allowed to do versus ours. Funny, our kids think we don’t allow certain things because we are a “ministry family”. They don’t understand that we don’t allow certain things because we’re strict parents.

In this moment of clarity the Lord made me realize that despite the guilt I carry, the kids are okay. They know the word of God, they are growing up in the faith that we have taught them and they will, no doubt about it, surpass all that we have done and do even greater still. God has kept his hand firmly on them. God has directed their path even when we felt we were failing at juggling all the balls in the air.

All this to say that the realization was not that the kids were on the platform preaching and that is what made it good. What made it good was their understanding of the word and how it fits in their lives. To see them talk about their struggles and triumphs is what made it good. Somehow we did something right or at least we were carried by abounding grace.

Our daughters haven’t hit the platform (yet). They may or may not but I’m secure in the knowledge that they know God, they love him, and they serve him. That is all I need to feel that life is good!

Breathing

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fubiz.net

I was sent this article written by musician, singer/songwriter, Jason Gray. I thought it was profound and wanted to share it with all of you!

The Sound of Our Breathing
Jason Gray

Take a breath and breathe it out. Do it again, slowly, and try to mean it. Breathing – of all things maybe we take it most for granted. Do we ever wonder why we are built this way, this soft machine of ours always pumping oxygen in and out?

In sadness, we breathe heavy sighs. In joy, our lungs feel almost like they will burst. In fear, we hold our breath and have to be told to breathe slowly to help us calm down. When we’re about to do something hard, we take a deep breath to find our courage. When I think about it, breathing looks almost like a kind of praying.

I heard a teaching not long ago about the moment when Moses had the nerve to ask God what His name is. God was gracious enough to answer, and the name He gave is recorded in the original Hebrew as YHWH.

Over time, we’ve arbitrarily added an “a” and an “e” in there to get YaHWeH, presumably because we have a preference for vowels. But scholars have noted that the letters YHWH represent breathing sounds, aspirated consonants that in the Hebrew alphabet would be transliterated like this:
Yod, rhymes with “rode,” which we transliterate “Y”
He, rhymes with “say,” which we transliterate “H”
Vav, like “lava,” which we transliterate “V” or “W”
He rhymes with “say,” which we transliterate “H”.

A wonderful question rises to excite the imagination: what if the name of God is the sound of breathing?

This is a beautiful thought to me, especially considering that for centuries there have been those who have insisted that the name of God is so holy that we dare not speak it because of how unworthy we are. How generous of God to choose to give Himself a name that we can’t help but speak every moment we’re alive. All of us, always, everywhere, waking, sleeping, with the name of God on our lips.

In his Nooma video, Breathe, Rob Bell (a pastor whose obvious gifts of curiosity and a knack for asking provocative questions can get him into trouble) wonders what this means in key moments like when a baby is born – newly arrived on planet Earth, must they take their first breath, or rather speak the name of God, if they are to be alive here? On our deathbed, do we breathe our last breath? Or is it that we cease to be alive when the name of God is no longer on our lips?
The most ironic of his questions is also the most beautiful: he wonders about the moment when an atheist friend looks across the table at you and says, “There. is. no. God.” And of course, what you hear is “Yod. He. Vav. He.”

There are few better illustrations of both God’s largesse as well as his humility, his omnipresence as well as his singular intimate presence within each of us.

Breathe in. Breathe out. “He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs…the word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth…” (Romans 8:28, 10:8 The Message)

Ever Learning

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In The Fear of the Lord by John Bevere, he makes a statement that has resonated in my mind. He speaks of people who know the word, quote it, but never apply it. We can all point fingers to those in our lives who meet this criteria but how many of us are wise enough to look deep within ourselves to examine that truth?

I did just that this week. I began by asking the Lord to examine me and expose those things which I know to be true in the word but do not play out in my life. I discovered some amazing truths that must now either be applied or ignored. Ignoring them comes with a high price because it means I deal with the consequence.

My first realization comes that even though I work in a church, spend a lot of time in prayer over matters of the people, spend a lot of hours working in that setting, that it doesn’t constitute a personal relationship with God. Boundaries over my time would allow my prayer life to flourish. Someone asked me recently if it was about time management? I quickly said no but upon review recognize that it is. I allow the needs of the many to outweigh the needs of myself. It’s a pride issue for sure because just as selfish people don’t take the time to pray for others, neither do I take the time to set boundaries for my personal life. You can get so wrapped up in the service to others that in the end you’ve done a disservice to yourself. In this area of my life, although I lament, I don’t change which exactly exemplifies the statement John Bevere made of ever learning but never applying.

Second, I love to write. It is my passion and the way that I express myself best. I have been given a word from the Lord to write and what to write about. I go through spurts of passionate pursuit and then nothing. This must change or next year I will writing this exact thing again.

For many years I thought if I hired help for the household chores that it would free me up to work. That is exactly opposite of what needs to happen. I have to hire help for work so that I am not consumed there.

Yes, we can all point fingers at our friends who know the word but it doesn’t manifest in their life or we can apply the knowledge to ourselves. I want to choose the better thing, I choose to apply it to myself.