Weird

Tonight...I'm in my twenties. Tomorrow....I won't be.

This is both wonderful and weird. Wild, even.

 I don't exactly know how to process it.

On one hand...I'm extremely grateful for having breath in my lungs, children under my wings, and a husband who extends undeserved grace daily (hourly, moment by moment). But on the other hand - I'm downright losing it.

How did this happen? When did I grow up? Where did the twenties go?

It's boggling.

Hello, Thirty. Where did you come from? You're actually here. Right here.

So weird.

Alas...

Perhaps we should make the most of this?

Perhaps.

Because to be honest....I have an odd hopefulness about it all.....a rare expectancy.....a notion.... that God will move and speak and grow and inhabit...in a new, full way....

....that good things....good fruit....is on the horizon.

And for a pessimist - that's really saying something.

So....

Twenties! Bid adieu. I leave you a smidge flabbergasted that you have come and gone - but I also leave you filled with a real sense of excitement.

A new decade is dawning! And when you're walking with God - that's always a thrill.

Always.

The turning of a page. The starting of a new chapter. The opening of a door.

Doesn't it make you a bit giddy with hope?

New opportunities for Him to come through. New ways for Him to provide. New ideas and inklings to scavenge. New obstacles to overcome. New paths to wonder. New truths to discover.

This is good. This is a gift.

A birthday...another year...another season - the thought of what awaits....what goodness!

Lord, come. In this new age of mine - do come. And mature me. And round me out. And make the fear flee. Let me walk in Your ways - and let me teach the little ones that follow me....to do the same. Bring joy. Set me free to laugh. Empower this woman. Help me to do better....to live better. Speak to and through me. I'm desperate for You to do so. Oh God! I'm grateful.

Just Glow

He preaches to me the most when he's praying.

When he's pausing over me...over us....and spilling out all these pleas and thanksgivings....He teaches me much.

As we sat at the dining table one afternoon several weeks ago - my husband lifted up the following...

"God, please help us to grow in You and in faith - not just for fruit, but for relationship."

Not just for fruit.

But for relationship.

I wanted to spring up mid prayer and grab my sermon journal.

Because that one line....it was a thorough teaching on growth.

A lesson I struggle to grasp.

And that prayer...straight from the Spirit...barreling past my husband's lips - it was a prayer for me that I didn't even know I needed.

(A picture of the Spirit doing the Spirit's job, indeed.)

While it's true that having a deep relationship with the Lord brings about much fruit, social justice, sound teachings, and good works....

dare I say that most times....

those things shouldn't be the reason we pursue Him?

They are a result of pursuing Him. They are not the sole purpose.

The purpose of prayer, reading, studying, fellowship, fasting, etc.....is to know Him more. To be made more like Him. To bask in His presence and become new there.

And certainly the result - is that goodness spills out in every way.

Those of us who learn as teachers.....those of us who feel like we need to regurgitate everything we soak in - those of us who study out of wanting something to put out.....

.....this prayer is for us.

We should want relationship with Him - for relationship....not just reciprocation.

We should want Him....for Him.

Because when we get the Lord - we get all kinds of love to carry out.

Really, we are beings that have to hear from Him....just to go about the day. To go about it good, anyway.

To crave time with the Lord alone - means that we know...we understand....we see - that nuggets and truths and wisdom and a soaking from Him are what our souls need. Not tidbits to share on a blog, or chapters to put in a book, or points for a sermon, or jabs for a debate, or intelligent quips for a discussion.

Some of those things will come as a result - but they shouldn't be the motivation.

Those things may flow naturally out of solid time with Him - but they shouldn't be the reason we seek Him at all.

The reason we seek Him should be that we can't not seek Him and carry on content and able.

All of that being said...I shouldn't leave this post without mentioning Matthew 10:27.

'What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.'

Ah, yes. We are called to speak, teach, write - what He speaks, teaches, and writes to us. Being watchful the whole time - to not fall into Joseph's way (Genesis 37) of sharing revelations that were really only meant for us....careful to not fall into Simon's way (Acts 8:9-24...do read it!) of desiring the power of the Holy Spirit - simply so that we can amaze crowds.

Perhaps this was only for me.

But if it wasn't - if you find yourself caught up in seeking Him yourself....simply to sale Him to others....

know that there's a glow that comes from simply growing in God.

And that glow will illuminate your heart - and the other hearts that you're called to bless.

A Post

It's been said that creativity rises up at its best when there's rest....

that when a person is calmed and far away from the tired frenzy - they are better able to ignite and create.

And it's true.

Because the last several days - there has been none of either. Not much rest - and not much creativity.

When your husband-your helper...... hops a plane to Africa for eleven days - you find yourself............tired.

My three blondes, and our crumb-littered house, and our hungry bellies, and our laundry baskets, and our inquisitive minds -  have kept me busy :)

I'm a smidge worn, a little sleepy, and a bit depleted.

So, my apologies for the lack of postings. 

I'll be back in a jiffy. Have a splendid week, friends. Hugs to all.

A Mission

He wings away today....

Soaring high over oceans and continents to get to them.

Me aching here - because the one my heart belongs to is over there.

But...

All this....

This evangelizing, aiding, loving, and lifting up -

it's a passion deeply rooted in the one I wed.

So as I tend to the soil I've been given here in this great country - mainly three young blondes - I'm praying over their Africa bound Daddy....

Who will be preaching, teaching, learning, and growing....on his second mission trip to Kenya.

He has the gospel all etched out on his heart - and I know him....

I know he'll leave a strong, thumping piece of it there with those precious ones across the waters.

Won't you join me in praying like a warrior over it all? Oh, petitions won't be wasted on him, them....(or me!) over the next several weeks!

While struggling with the distance - I'm expectant! Trusting that the Lord will move and speak and descend and nourish during this crazy voyage.

Yes, Lord - reveal Yourself there. Reveal Yourself here. Because it's all empty and worthless unless You do.

The Littles

Perhaps you'll remember this? From a few posts ago?....

"My faith is too feeble for fake. I can't afford to front here friends.I've got to have the real Jesus. Empty rituals and man-made routines and absent-minded traditions....those things won't do. Those things don't woo a doubter."

Yeah....they won't woo your wee ones either. Not after they grow wings, anyway.

So creating an atmosphere that simply welcomes Him - it's a duty we better embrace.

Clay and Sally Clarkson...in Educating the Whole-Hearted Child....shout wisdom when they say:


     "Home nurture is bringing the life of Christ into your home. Many Christian parents mistakenly believe this is accomplished only by adopting a Christian lifestyle......A Christian lifestyle alone might cause your children to long for Christianity, but only regular exposure to the living God will cause them to long for Christ. When you understand the power of home nurture, you realize you are shepherding your children's hearts and planting seeds of longing for the living God. You are giving them life." (p.20, emphasis mine)

Mama, say hello to your role.

Say hello to praying your heart inside out and going to front line battle and stretching out long to create a home that allows our children to hear His beckoning.

Our shows of compassion toward our children when they stump their toes, our forgiving nature when it comes to broken vases and shards of glass and sassy remarks, our open laps,  our patting of shoulders, our admitting wrong, our meaning what we say, our mercies extended to Daddy, our tending of wounds, our tending to illness, our taking soup to a shut-in, our prayer times, our study of the Word, our transformation, our grace extended - when lived out simply because He lives in us.... these things demonstrate the Divine.

And it's worth mentioning that.....
 
Our shouts and our awkward silences and our crude words and our rage anger and our laziness and our blind ignorance and our passivity and our constant striving for more and our lack of contentment and our selfish natures on display - these things can drown out and drone over the voice of the Spirit - wanting to woo the young lives in our care. He's God - He can get through in any type of chaos (sometimes especially there) but why allow our unrighteousness to hush His voice... when souls are at stake?


We want our kids to be able to hear - and be attracted to....God's callings. 

Not lifestyle, culture, rules, fanciful traditions, hype and emotion - but Him.

Speaking of emotion.....

David Guzik's commentary on the last few verses of John 13 - highlights this well:

Scripture: Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake." Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."

 Commentary: "Poor Peter! He would have died for Jesus right then but he later failed because his devotion was based on emotion.
 - Emotion is vital to the Christian walk, but it can’t be its power or foundation.
 - We see a different Peter when his walk is no longer built on emotion, but on the work of Jesus on the cross and the empowering of the Holy Spirit."* (emphasis mine)

That's hype verses Holy right there.

We want Holy.

Because what happens.....when He captures a heart...and makes it wholly Holy? 

Love and action and good work and movement and results.

"A divinely transformed heart, by its very nature, will produce right action. It simply cannot do otherwise." - Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water (pg.71)

Mom! This is what we are after! 

For us...for them.

*Commentary from www.blueletterbible.com

                                                    

A Sunday for Mama

Love on a plate.

That's what they served their Mama this morning.

Frozen waffles stacked just so. A perfectly ripe banana. A vitamin. A tall glass of liquid.

And those cards....those cards with M-O-M scribbled all over front and back.... by little hands just learning to form lines and curves into coherent characters....

Yes.

I'm a real proponent of Mother's Day.

A sunset and sunrise set aside for Mama's?

Indeed! Yes! I think I will join in on the day!

Because the weight being pulled here is hefty. The requirements....the responsibilities....the ramifications if we don't carry all this out with intention - it's huge!

Us Mama's............we can make it or break it for the babies, can't we?

We can treat the home.....the family - as a formation center of sorts. Or, we can allow the home....the family - to be a detention cell.

It's up to us, really. It's up to our words, our actions, our re-actions.

We can create an atmosphere that's fertile - where faith can grow. No matter what kind of bringing-up brought us here....no matter how we mishandled things yesterday, or this morning, or five minutes ago.... We can. 

On Tuesday....I'll be back here spilling out some thoughts from some people much wiser and much more experienced than I - on all this.

Won't you come? And lean in a little with me?

Know - that if your eyes are seeing this screen - I've prayed for you. Whether Mother's Day is a joy or a jolt....you've been lifted up.

See you in a few.

Glean

When the one that took you in under his wing - unexpectedly flies away to Him....it can leave you flat out wondering.

We're walking around here all sniffly-nosed today...

Because a man of God - who built into the life of my husband and oozed wisdom and encouraged generously and ran for Christ - he has gone now to be with the One He ran the race for.

In a world where so few men are mentored....

In a world where so few women actually experience Titus 2:4-5....

In a world where more men pass down pornography addictions than paternal know-how....

In a world where women learn to flaunt curves rather than compassion....

In a world where wisdom wanes and cheaters win...

If you find someone willing to pour out all kinds of God-goodness into your heart - open wide and drink in every Spirit-inspired drop of biblical wisdom they offer you.

And let it soak deep. And write it all down. And say thank you.

And know that you get to glean from a rare gem.

Oh, glean and guzzle and glean some more, my friend.....

Because you just never know when they'll be gone.

Praying for the Jim Fink family this week. Please join me.