Live the Crazy Life

Wise serpents, innocent doves, defenseless sheep, among ravenous wolves.

August 13, 2021 No Comments

Christians everywhere are asking and seeking the question how to survive this world. I get it. The speed at which COVID changed the face of the world was astounding no doubt. Personal rights and anxious thoughts mingle in minds everywhere. Yet the questions remains, how do we as Christians move forward “post” COVID? I want to know is there really a “post” COVID life? Will this thing ever end; will we ever return to the “normal life” we once knew? And what does God say about all this? What Bible verses do I cling to, to make it to the other side, whether that is the other side of COVID or the other side of eternity?

God woke me up at 2:50 in the morning to answer this for me; in my life where I am right now. What He told me in the early hours of the morning I believe applies to us all. He said be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. I knew He was referring to Matthew 10:16 but at 3:30 in the morning what I didn’t know was what that really meant. Now thanks to the internet, my Bible and some good coffee (yes I am drinking coffee again, and at 3:00 in the morning none the less) I believe I understand just what God was speaking to my heart.

First, we need to understand some terms from Matthew 10:16. The verse reads as follows, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” From this verse we see that God is sending you, me, us out. What does that sending entail and what does it mean to be “sent” by God? The word sent is Apostello in the Greek. It’s a verb that closely connects the sender with the sendee. Meaning God is sending us but not without Him going with us which is extremely goodness since we are being sent as sheep among wolves. You see, sheep are innocent animals who are completely defenseless. And wolves, well they are ravenous animals with an appetite to devour sheep completely without even the tiniest shred of guilt for doing so.

The next word we must look at is wise. The word wise here means our personal perspective that regulates our outward behavior. We get our English word diaphragm from this Greek word. It denotes being savvy or shrewd.

Lastly we look at the word innocent. It is the Greek word akeraious and means unmixed, pure; not a destructive mixture because it is not tainted by sinful motives.

Now with those words as our anchors we must look and understand the animals in this verse. I am for the most part a city girl. The most I know of sheep is that they can cause you to sit in your car for a long time while they cross the road. A lesson I learned on a mountain rode in Peru. I know that in the Bible we are called the sheep and Jesus is the Great Shepherd. I really have no personal experience with sheep, other than the knowledge I have gleaned from others who do have that hands on experience. And according to Commentator Matthew Poole, sheep are feeble animals with no natural armor to defend themselves. Wolves I think I know even less about. I know they are or maybe were becoming extinct in Colorado where I live. I know that pictures of them howling at the moon are common place in southwest & mountain art. Basically I knew nothing of great value about them until today. I learned that they are a natural predator of sheep. Wolves are rapacious creatures. Second to last, the dove. The one animal I thought I knew the most about, after all a pair of them lives in the pine tree across the street from my house. I often watch them fly back and forth from my yard to their tree. I know they are symbols of peace which is refreshing after learning about the big bad wolf. I know they are faithful and loyal type animals based on the story of Noah. The dove is the bird that kept coming back to him on the ark after the rain stopped and eventually brought him an olive branch to show him new growth had started on the earth. Lastly, everyone’s favorite, the serpent. I don’t mind snakes as longs as they don’t mind me. I have the opinion that we can both live around each other as long as we never have to see one another or interact with each other. However, I was most fascinated with learning about them. They aren’t evil per se. In fact, according to this verse they have some good traits we can borrow from. The serpent uses various arts and stratagems for its own preservation. It does its best to protect its head, its most vulnerable body part when attacked. Interestingly the Bible says of the serpent from the Garden of Eden that it will strike Christ’s heel, and Christ will stomp its head. Our mind is where the enemy often strikes first. Just an observation.

Ok so now we know the meaning of some key words, and have new understanding of the animals in this verse. Let’s put it all together and understand what Jesus is telling us.

He is the one sending us, and in that sending we should always stay in close proximity to Him; because we are sheep and left to ourselves we WILL be devoured by our enemy. And let’s face it, like it or not we live among our enemy. The Bible describes the devil (our enemy)as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and as prowling around seeking whom he can devour. See Matthew 7:15 and 1 Peter 5:8 for references on these. We are called to do 2 things among the wolves where we have been sent; first be wise as the serpent; and second, be as innocent as the dove. Those two animals don’t go together in case you didn’t know that. It is a tension we are called to live between, a wonderful tension. Commentary Jamieson Fousset Brown calls it “unflinching zeal and calm discretion”. The wisdom of the serpent saves us from exposure to unnecessary danger, and the innocence of the dove from sinful situations. In Barnes notes on the Bible he says it this way, “Most people would foolishly destroy a serpent be it ever so harmless, yet few are so hard-hearted to kill a dove.”

So we live in this, “post Christian society” “post COVID world” with the wisdom of the serpent – avoid unnecessary dangers and the ability of an innocent dove to fly away from sinful traps. We live as sheep who fully trust the Shepherd to keep us from being eaten by the wolf. We don’t worry, and we don’t strike first. We don’t stir up trouble or strife, but if we can’t avoid it we keep our heart as innocent as we can while we watch where the Shepherd is leading us.

We don’t live in fear because we have a good Shepherd that we walk next to. We use the wisdom God gives us to maneuver around traps, and dangerous places; all the while keeping the innocent mindset that goodness does exist. And all people have the possibility of being radically saved.

Jesus, surrendering, surrendering, Uncategorized

Surrendering the little things for God’s bigger purposes.

June 17, 2021 No Comments

God has been speaking to me about being set apart for Him. Truly living a surrendered life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To be honest He isn’t just speaking about this any more to me He is shouting, and it’s high time I respond. But what I am learning this that response is harder than I thought it would be. Let me explain a little and I bet you can relate.

To live a life fully surrendered to Jesus as King means He has total control over every area of my life. From what I eat to what I do with my downtime (hint scrolling on Facebook isn’t His priority for me) to when I wake up in the morning. These may sound like small trivial areas but they rule me. Because right now pride rules me. ‘I want what I want when I want it’ has subconsciously become my motto. It’s hot outside and a bowl of ice cream would surely cool me down. So what if it’s 10:00pm. I’ve worked hard this week. I deserve to veg out in front of Friends re-runs that I have seen so many times I know all the lines. I didn’t sleep good last night so I will just turn that alarm off and catch a few extra Z’s. Without meaning to, I have taken control of my life while proclaiming to live for Jesus. None of those things are bad in and of themselves, but they so easily can become my default that I leave no room for God’s plans.

It all started with a definition of humility (the opposite of pride) that I read in a book called The Daniel Dilemma by Chris Hodges. He says “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, humility is thinking of your self less.” It hit me like a ton of bricks. I think about myself a whole lot. I make excuses for myself a lot too. If I am honest I am running my life, not God, because I think about what I want more than I think about what God wants.

God wants all of my heart surrendered to Him. He wants to know that what He wants is higher than what I want. He made it loud and clear in my current Bible study Elijah Faith and Fire by Priscilla Shirer. In it she talks about what it costs to live a life where Jesus is on the throne in every area. She has you look up a couple of verses about putting God first and what it will cost you. And that is where God began to shout, “If you don’t learn to obey in the simple small tasks and set aside your desires for my plans, then you will NEVER be able to do it when it’s a BIG issue and real souls are at stake.”

Hebrews 11:15-16 reads (speaking of those amazing people from the Old Testament that we look up to in the “Hall of Faith”) “If they had been thinking of the country they left, they would have had opportunities to return. Instead they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

Did you catch that? ‘God is not ashamed’ meaning that He could be ashamed of them had they chosen the easier road, the comfortable path, the way of convenience, the self satisfying route. The word ashamed means fitting disgrace. Properly disgraced like someone who is singled out because they misplace their confidence. Shame that matches the error of wrongly identifying with something.

The next verse really brought this all home for me. We looked up 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Verse 2 seemed to jump off the pages. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” In Ellicott’s Commentary for English readers, he states that “We can scarcely realise now the stumbling-block which the preaching of a crucified Christ must have been to Jews and Greeks, the enormous temptation to keep the cross in the background which the early teachers would naturally have felt, and the sublime and confident faith which must have nerved St. Paul to make it the central fact of all his teaching.” And he also says: “St. Paul did not dwell on the miraculous in the life of Christ, which would have pandered to the Jewish longing for a “sign”; nor did he put forward elaborate “theories” of the gospel, which would have been a concession to the Greek’s longing after “wisdom”. “

You see Paul was a smart man, a highly educated man, a man who knew what he was talking about; but rather than allow his pride in himself rule, he put Christ first. He didn’t give in to what he wanted but rather what Christ wanted. He held to what God wanted rather than what the people around him wanted to hear. He didn’t give in to himself or seek the approval of man over God.

You see if I can’t obey Christ in the private, simple areas like eating and sleeping, how can I squash my selfish wants when people are watching? When people are judging? When people are waiting to approve of me? When the ways of the world are so much easier, and for a few moments seem better?

Priscilla Shirer calls this life a consistent pattern of sacrifice. Sacrificing what I want when I want it so I can have what God wants when He wants it.

I know it won’t be easy, but I know deep in my heart that the reward of knowing God is not ashamed of me and being positioned so God can use me to make a difference for Him in this life far outweigh the cost.

It’s time to count the cost and go for gold…Live fully surrendered to Christ.

Bible, Jesus, love, Memorizing scripture, Prayer, Steadfast love, Uncategorized

Determined

February 22, 2021 No Comments

Only once before have I come across a word in the Bible that sends me on a wild chase through scripture to understand the word at its core. The first time was steadfast love – hessed. The Lord has given me a new word to study, meditate, search the truest meaning, and then apply to my every day life. Just as understanding hessed at depths I can’t explain I now carry that word along side a new word, sterizo.

I first encountered the word in a Bible study I am doing called Determined – Living like Jesus in Every Moment by Heather M Dixon. It is an in-depth study of the book of Luke, and an amazing one at that. One of the days in the study she leads you to study Luke 9:51 “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” (NKJV)

Tucked in this verse we find the word that now has grabbed ahold of my heart and has become a tether from my heart to God. It really is the whole phrase “set His face” that means sterizo. It simply means to firmly fix; direct myself towards; give support to secure; to set ones face as flint; a Hebrew expression.

So me being me, I began to study this little Hebrew expression to fully understand. Along the way I unearthed some amazing facts about this expression and learned new things about flint rock. To put all that information in a nutshell, it means to have unwavering determination to accomplish a purpose or a task.

Using Jesus as our Biblical example it meant everything He did from the fall in the garden of Eden to His resurrection from the grave was about getting to the Cross of Calvary. It was always about becoming the sacrificial Lamb of God for you and for me. When He was here on earth He lived with that purpose in mind.

MacLaren’s Exposition’s found on Biblehub.com (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/9-51.htm) explains it this way:

“As we look up at that Cross we know not whether is more wonderfully set forth the pitying love of Christ’s most tender heart, or the majestic energy of Christ’s resolved will. The blended rays pour out, dear brethren, and reach to each of us. Do not look to that great sacrifice with idle wonder. Bend upon it no eye of mere curiosity. Beware of theorising merely about what it reveals and what it does. Turn not away from it carelessly as a twice-told tale. But look, believing that all that divine and human love pours out its treasure upon you, that all that firmness of resolved consecration and willing surrender to the death of the Cross was for you. Look, believing that you had then, and have now, a place in His heart, and in His sacrifice. Look, remembering that it was because He would save you, that Himself He could not save.
And as, from afar, we look on that great sight, let His love melt our hearts to an answering fervour, and His fixed will give us, too, strength to delight in obedience, to set our faces like a flint.”

Charles Spurgeon even wrote a message about this topic that he preached on Nov. 28th, 1880 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Newington. His whole message points to lingering with the idea that the Lord loves us so much that He spent decades of time determined to save us from our sins. It’s a long message but well worth the time to read it and ponder his questions in your own heart before the Lord.(https://answersingenesis.org/education/spurgeon-sermons/2738-the-redeemers-face-set-like-a-flint/)

For me, I want to learn to live with my face set as flint towards God every day. Determined to accomplish His purpose each day. Determined to spend time with Him daily. To linger in His presence. To have a heaven-minded agenda for my life lived out each day.

This word sterizo means seeking God daily. Being on purpose in my quiet time to learn His heart, His plan, His love for me all over again. It’s having a resolve to say no to things that are lesser than God’s best for me. It’s having courage to not participate in things that pull me off course from pursuing His heart.

I know it won’t be easy, but I know that with the aid of Holy Spirit and studying Jesus’s determination, I can do it. I can look to others in scripture like David, Daniel, and the apostle Paul who lived this life of a face set like flint on following the Lord.

It will at points be tirelessly hard, but oh so worth it. I wonder who else has a resolve in their heart, and has set their face like flint to follow after the Lord?

For additional scriptures on sterizo read:

Daniel 1:8

Gen 31:21

Deut. 11:18

Daniel 6:14

2 Kings 12:17

Isaiah 50:7

Luke 16:26

Luke 22:32

Romans 1:11

Romans 16:25

1Thessalonians 3:2

1Thessalonians 3:13

2Thessalonians 2:17

2Thessalonians 3:3

James 5:8

1Peter 5:10

2Peter 1:12

Revelation 3:2

New Year Resolution, Prayer

A new year, a new journey

January 4, 2021 2 Comments

The new year, a new beginning, a clean slate. As if all that 2020 brought is just gone and we can move on. Wouldn’t that be great. If 2020 brought us anything, it surely brought anxiety. A year full of unknowns produces anxiety at some level for us all. Some it hit hard, others barely felt it, but it was there – the big WHAT IF……..

What do we do with anxiety? How do we handle our own anxiety and help others process theirs? Me? I lead a couple of Bible studies on the subject. My only way to combat life’s issues is to see what the word of God says about it. The studies were good. I learned a lot. I hope those who joined me in the journey did, too.

And with the start of 2021 I honestly didn’t feel the heavy pull of anxiety that I had last year. It wasn’t even really something I had thought of until I started reading a book about prayer. It’s a challenge really to up your prayer life, stop praying the polite Christian prayers, ‘Lord bless our day, our food, our thoughts, be with us in all ways….’ start praying things like ‘not my will but your will.’ It’s a good book thus far.

Then I read this: ‘Search me, God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ Psalm 139:23-24

It seemed to me to be inviting God to know my anxious thoughts. Inviting God to search them out and reveal them to me for what they are – sin, lack of faith, disconnected from truth. Ouch and wow all at the same time.

When I think of anxiety, verses like 1 Peter 5:7 “cast your anxieties on the Lord”, and Philippians 4:6-8 “be anxious for nothing but in all things pray” jump into my head. But never the idea of letting God examine my heart. More than examine, search it completely.

I am not down-playing anxiety at all. I have experienced it, been controlled by it, and even medicated for it. It’s no joke! And if you don’t know it through experience, then you don’t know. But that being said, my heart is wondering, my brain is swirling. Could there be something to inviting God into knowing, searching, and leading me through my anxiety?

I don’t have answers right now. I just know God is stirring something deep in me. Challenging me, maybe, to trust Him with knowing my anxious thoughts. Knowing deep parts of me I keep hidden from everyone – even myself at times. Maybe He is wanting to lead me to new freedoms that can only be found in the testing of God in my life. One thing I do know. This is where this year starts for me. Where it goes and how it ends I do not know. But I will start with this: God search me and know my heart.

Will you join me on this journey? Ask God to search you and know you. The you He knows may be different than the you that you know. But to be known by God is a good thing. To get deeply personal with God is a great thing. And being led by God, well, it can only lead to personal freedom with Him.

So let’s give it a try. I mean let’s be honest. It can’t be worse than last year, right? And maybe, no probably, no it will be, the best year yet!

Bible, Jesus, Prayer, Trust, Trustworthy, Uncategorized

Jedidiah it’s more than a name!

October 6, 2020 No Comments

As is the case with many of my blogs, this one stems from a Bible study I have been doing called Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen. I highly recommend this study, in case you were wondering.

I have learned a lot over the last 6 weeks in this study, but the big take aways are these: I have a weird mind and thought life, and I think about myself way too much. Much more than I ever realized I did. That realization led me down a new path of unhealthy thoughts. Our minds are so complex.

Have you ever tried to trace your thoughts – where they come from or what makes you think that way, to where a thought is leading? The Bible actually has a lot to say about what we think on and how we use our minds.

Over the past few weeks I have realized I need to reign in my mind. It goes 100 miles a second and it’s all over the place. I do a good job hiding this for the most part, but ask my close friends and husband. I don’t stay focused on one thing for very long. Something I feel the Lord is wanting me to work on – that good old fruit of the Spirit called self-discipline. But that’s a blog for another day. What I want to focus on in this blog is Philippians 4:8, and believing lies versus truth.

In the study Get out of Your Head, the author points out that most lies we believe stem from 1 of 3 categories. I am helpless. I am worthless. I am unlovable.

I struggle with the last two. I used to struggle with all 3, but God helped me get out of the trap of the first. And I believe He’s helping me get out of the last two, as well. Here’s how. When you start believing a lie for truth, you have to go back to when you first started believing it and deal with what happened there that made your thinking go awry. Sometimes that involves repenting, and sometimes it involves forgiving someone, and sometimes you need to do both. In my situation I needed to do both. The repenting part was easy, but the forgiving part? Well that was harder. It involved forgiving myself as well as a few others. Then once you have done that you need to replace that lie with a truth from God’s word. This part sounds easy, and in theory it is. But if you want to 100% believe that truth in your heart and not just in your head, then it takes a work of God.

I struggle with seeing my self-worth. And for many of you reading this who know me you are thinking, “Why would she struggle with that?” Sometimes others see things you never see about yourself, and we are often harder on ourselves than others are or even then God is.

The other day I was praying honestly not about my self worth but about feeling like there is so much in the world that I was bringing to God to fix, heal, change, un-do; the list goes on. Then I stopped and thought, “I want God to do all of this for me, but what does God want me to do for Him?” So I asked Him. And He said, “Look up who Jedidiah is in the Bible.” That might have been one of the strangest things I have had God tell me. But when I looked it up, it changed me forever.

I am sure you are wondering who this Jedidiah is that you probably have never heard of in the Bible, right? Well the answer to that can be found in 2 Samuel 12:25. “…and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.”

Feeling confused right now? So was I until I looked at who God wanted to call Jedidiah and what Jedidiah means. Jedidiah is Solomon. And verse 25 is the only time he is called Jedidiah. That in and of its self isn’t to jaw dropping, is it? But it means “Loved by God.”

Right there in my living room, God told me all He wanted from me was for me to know I am His Jedidiah; that I am loved by the Lord. I just sat there in awe. I had just unloaded a huge list of big issues on the Lord, and all He wanted in return from me was to know He loved me.

I can’t say I am fully over struggling with my self worth. But I have a new truth that no one can take from me. THE LORD HIMSELF TOLD ME I AM LOVED BY HIM!! And if that isn’t enough to stop believing a lie and turn to truth, I found this other little gem in my study today.

We were looking up the original meaning of the words in Philippians 4:8. You know the “think of these things” verse. When I came to lovely, here is what I learned. Lovely in the original language here is “prosphile”, and it means worthy of personal affection, worth the effort to have and to embrace. Once more I heard God whisper, “You were worth the effort to have and to embrace, you are worth my personal affection.” I just sat at my desk stunned, humbled, and feeling special all at the same time.

Will there still be days when I will struggle with my self worth? I am sure of it, but that struggle won’t last but a moment because when the one who is Truthful tells you His truth about you, it changes you into a Jedidiah. And that reality silences any lies about my worth.

So I challenge you. What one of those 3 lies are you stuck in? How did you get stuck there? Once you know that, repent or forgive or do both, and then ask God to whisper His truth to you. Warning. It will change you forever.

Bible, Jesus, Steadfast love, Trust, Trustworthy

The Non-Negotiable

August 16, 2020 1 Comment

My church is doing a series called Non-Negotiable. And a good friend told me she wished the blogger she followed would post more. So Kim, this one is for you!

The Non-Negotiable idea got me thinking about what things in my life are non-negotiable. I came up with a few, and then I started thinking, “What are my non-negotiable with God?” I boiled it down to one big one that I think is very applicable to life right now mid-pandemic (are we in the middle or the end or who knows where we are in this mess?) That aside, here it is – my big non-negotiable: God is always, always good and loving. There you have it. But allow me to explain. How we think about God determines a lot of how we live. If we think He doesn’t really care or that there is no God, we throw caution to the wind and “party like it’s 1999”. If we believe He is judgmental and always looking for us to mess up, we live in fear and strive for perfection. If we believe we have to earn His love, we spend our life trying to find ways to do better, to help more, to give more, never feeling at rest because there is always more to be done.

But if we live believing He is good and loving then we are at ease and feel free to be ourselves. But how do we process a God who is loving and good in the midst of death, financial ruin, chaos, riots, and strange viruses. Again, the answer is simple. Pre-determine that God is good and loving and kind.

I am prepping to do a Bible study on our thought life. Which has led me to read a book on the mind and how our brain works. I am by no stretch of the imagination a girl of much science. I still get amused at baking soda and vinegar volcanos. But science is fact. And according to many super smart scientists, what you think determines your actions and actually changes the chemistry of your brain. For more on this topic, do the study by Jennie Allen, Get Out of Your Head, or read the book by Dr.Caroline Leaf, Switch on Your Brain.

Ok, back to the point. God is good and loving. I said you have to pre-determine this. What I mean is before life takes a turn for the worse, you have to already know in your mind and in your heart this truth. It has to be decided on as a sure thing. If not, when things go bad, or life isn’t what you wanted or expected you will lose your footing and find yourself hopeless.

I have lived this truth out more than once in my life. The year 2015 was one of the harder years of my life. My son was sick and doctors couldn’t tell us why, but they did keep throwing around the C word a lot. We spent a lot of time and money to see every -ologist there is at Children’s Hospital; had surgery, did a biopsy all to find nothing really. On top of all that I had my 3rd foot surgery and was in a walking boot while pushing my 15 year old in a wheelchair into these appointments.

I lived it out again in 2018 when I lost a dear friend to cancer, watched another friend walk through divorce, our church staff changed dramatically, and finally the death of my dad.

And the last one – 2020. It started out rocky for me on a personal note that I’d rather not mention. Then COVID hit, my son missed his graduation, my daughter missed junior prom, SATs and ACTs were canceled making applying to college a little rough. And all the other issues you all have been experiencing right along side me this year.

Isaiah 50:7 says, “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me. I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame.” Two things from this verse help us pre-determine God is good and loving. First the Sovereign Lord, meaning the God who is always in control. Nothing in our lives catches God by surprise, and nothing in our lives is waisted time or events. God uses it all. The second is set my face like flint – means set in rock, un-changeable, it also means pre-disposition.

The Bible is full of verses about God’s goodness and love for mankind. In Jeremiah 29:11 it says that He knows the plans He has for us, and those are good plans.

The best part is you can change the way you view God at any point. Changing how you view Him will change your disposition. If you believe He is good regardless of what is happening around you, then you can stand in the middle of a mess and say God is good and someway, somehow He will use this for good, even if I never see how.

Think about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from Daniel chapter 3. These men had set their faces and hearts like flint when they said, “O Nebuchadnessar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescuce us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not we want you to know Of king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18

I don’t know what the rest of this year brings. I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know how God can use this, but I do know He will; and He is good and loving and that is non-negotiable to me. Will you make it non-negotiable to you?

Bible, Jesus, love, Parenting, Prayer, Raising Teens, Uncategorized, wisdom

Real change is possible

June 10, 2020 1 Comment

Have you ever had God drop something in your heart that you weren’t sure what to do with? Then you start getting bombarded with others saying the same thing, only in their voice or through their walk with God. Well that’s where I am right now. So I say it is with much thought, prayer and confirmation that I write this blog.

We have been having great, sometimes intense, conversations in our house relating to recent events. We have discussed topics from social justice, to the danger of generalizations and totalitarian statements, to voicing your opinion on how to bring about social change. Parenting teenagers is harder than I ever imagined. It’s hard to parent through these issues because all my children have their own view point and a unique calling from God that brings with it a unique filter in which they view life events. Not to mention I want them to think for themselves, develop their own conviction with the Holy Spirit, and be who God created them to be – no mini-me’s!

All of those discussions, conversations, have me thinking and praying for wisdom, guidance, and how to respond (not to my kids, specifically, but to life events). Then, unbeknownst to them, people around me have been adding to these thoughts and prayers with God. And here is where I land.

Every person is God’s creation. Ephesians 2:10 applies to everyone. And because the creator is so great, everything He creates bears His greatness. Think, the Mona Lisa is famous and has great value because of the one who painted her. That is my base line of truth. If you are a believer I am sure you can agree with me here. Building from that, how can we make that truth not only known but lived out in our homes, communities, cities and nation? This is where I got stuck until I heard from God.

In my Bible study we were asked to read Exodus 2:24-25. “God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

I am not saying I have a solution but I do have an action to take. God began to stir prayer in me. Specifically this prayer: “God hear the cry of those oppressed and suffering unfairly. God remember you sent your son into the world to reconcile the world back to you, to set the captive free. So God would you please look at my family, my community, my city, my nation, God; and would you become concerned with them?”

I know that prayer alone may seem like a weak stance; however, one of the pastors I work with had an amazing revelation from God on this. She said God told her “There is a Spirit of activation in the air right now. Activation in prayer. Wickedness twists the discernment of activation to activism. We want to see change, want to help, to do something. Activism looks like a lot but accomplishes little; while activation in prayer looks like little but accomplishes much! Do not forsake prayer!” Thank you Amy Martinez for sharing that powerful word.

Slow down read that again. As Christian we are called to act, but wisdom in how we act will be the difference between real change and surface level accommodations.

Prayer is powerful. Pray. Ask God the Almighty to move on behalf of someone or something. Only God can change hearts. So while it is a quiet action, it has a powerful punch. Let’s face it. People are not our enemy here. It is the one who comes only to kill, steal, and destroy. (John 10:10)

I read another blog this morning on this topic and he said:

“I believe God is asking us to look to Him right now, more than anything. It doesn’t mean we ignore issues. No. But unless we drink right now, we will only regurgitate the fear and hysteria of the media that sounds wise but is the twisting tongue of Leviathan which places a veil over those who aren’t discerning it. It’s a call to intimacy and seeking the heart of God when most are wanting to raise their hands to fight.

Nate Johnston Everyday Revivalists
Email: everydayrevivalists@gmail.com
Website: nateandchristy.co
Taken from the Elijah List email distribution.

I want to see things change. I want to live in a place where people are treated with kindness and care. I want to end senseless deaths in America. But I understand I can’t do that in my own strength and power. God is calling us to fight along side Him to bring about a change of hearts and mindsets and bring real justice. Will you join us?

COVID 19, family fun, Recipes, Uncategorized

Raiding the Pantry — Sweet Treat Recipe

April 25, 2020 No Comments

Like you, I am spending more time at home. Working from home, schooling kids at home, limiting grocery store trips. I am sure you know the drill by now.

I have decided to make this time fun, at least in a few ways. I have lightened up on my diet (mostly because I am a stress eater.) For the most part I have cut out eating fast food, and junk food, eating clean and whole foods but there is one small horrible thing I have yet to conquer! SUGAR! It’s still a part of my life. I try -(ish) to cut it out and it just keeps coming back. And so I decided that during a world wide pandemic I would not be tackling that monster. Judge me if you want, but it was just too big of a battle right now. I limit it, but cut it out altogether? Not now.

Ok, back to making this season fun. I play a game with myself. I cleaned my pantry and then decided I would try to make recipes using what we have with adding limited ingredients from the store thus lessening trips to Wal-Mart and the duration of time spent in Wal-Mart.

From that fun little game this wonderful gooey gluten free sweet treat was born. I had a box of Chex rice cereal that needed to used before it went stale. It had been opened at some point and less than a bowlful was taken. So mostly a full box. I also had a bag a mini marshmallows. Which is strange because I have no idea when I would have added mini marshmallows to my grocery list; yet there they were. Still soft, but needing to be eaten, too. At least before my kids discovered them and began to just eat marshmallows for dinner or something like that.

Without looking on Pinterest I began to think of what I could do with these. And I thought Rice Krispy treats. Why not Rice Chex treats. But that isn’t too big of a stretch on a recipe remake. Then I saw the peanut butter and chocolate chips, and voila… the outcome was amazing!!

Ingredients:

1 box (or a little less) Rice Chex Cereal

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup (ish) of peanut butter

1 big bag of mini marshmallows.

1/2 a bag of chocolate chips

Directions:

Melt butter in a big pot on medium heat. Add marshmallows and stir. Once the marshmallows are mostly melted add peanut butter and stir until well combined.

Add cereal and pour into greased 9×13 pan. Let cool but not completely. When the mixture is cool enough to touch but still playable add chocolate chips pressing them slightly into the cereal marshmallow goodness. Finish cooling and cut into squares and devour.

As you can see, they didn’t last long in my house. I barely got this picture taken before they were gone.

Bible, COVID 19, Easter, Holiday, Jesus, The power of the Blood, Uncategorized

A Sacrificial Easter

April 7, 2020 No Comments

Easter is in a few days. I’ve been feeling like I should write something about it, but I couldn’t figure out what. I just chalked it up to the fact that this year’s Easter is going to be, well, quite different from the ones in the past. Then I woke up this morning and thought, that’s it!

Yes, this Easter will be very different from every other Easter you have ever celebrated. There won’t be neighborhood egg hunts. There won’t be churches full of people. There won’t even be big family gatherings. No fancy Easter dresses, and no pictures with the Easter bunny. Different indeed.

But the more I thought about all that there won’t be, I began to think of all that there will be. There will still be the day that Jesus died on the cross (Good Friday as we know it); and there will still be the day that Jesus rose from the grave. Which is all we need for Easter. The things we are missing this year aren’t specifically bad. Maybe God is removing them so we can focus on Him and what He sacrificed at Easter.

If you’re like me, and I am going to guess a lot of you are, you don’t like sad things. I think it’s maybe our western culture. We don’t do well with death; especial an unfair one at that. So when we mention the cross we call it Good Friday and then skip over to the resurrection – the happy part of the story. So today I’m choosing to camp on the hard part of Easter – the sacrifice. Because without the sacrifice and hardship that Jesus was and did, there would be no Sunday celebration.

Stick with me here. We see it throughout the Bible. Sacrifices are common in the Bible. Maybe so common we skip over them, or maybe we think they are mean, or maybe we simple don’t understand them. But they are there. Specifically blood sacrifices. We see them applied to both forgiveness and healings.

The first sacrifice made was in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:21 where the Lord made garments of animal skin for Adam and Eve. An animal gave it’s life, and bled to cover them. We see over and over animal sacrifices for forgiveness of sins. In Leviticus 14:3-7 we see a bird sacrifice for healing of a disease. We even see Jesus tell the man with leprosy after healing him to go show himself to the Priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing. (See Luke 5:14)

You see the cross and the Blood that Jesus shed and the beatings that He took were His great sacrifices for us. The stripes that he bore are our means to healing. We can proclaim that we are healed by the Stripes of Jesus (Is. 53:5 and Matthew 8:17). We see in Eph. 1:7 and Hebrews 9:12-14 that we have forgiveness and are made righteous by the Blood of Jesus.

So this Easter, as things look a lot different than what we are used to; let’s look at Easter in a way we maybe aren’t used to either. Take time to reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus made. Take time to understand the power of the Blood. And then on Sunday praise Him from a new place of understanding. Shout praises to the one whose Blood truly makes us clean.

Bible, COVID 19, Memorizing scripture, Prayer, Trust, Trustworthy, Uncategorized, wisdom

Trust God

March 21, 2020 No Comments

Trust God. Simple words to tell a friend or someone you know who is going through something hard in life. Simple to say, especially if things are going well for you at the time.

It seems like right now the whole world is going through a hard time. We are all facing struggles, uncertainty, fear, and probably a host of other emotions depending on how COVID-19 has effected you personally. Even with all of that, my advice to myself, friends, family and my church ladies is to still trust God.

I am preparing to lead a study at my church on Psalm 40. In preparing for it I felt impressed to memorize the whole psalm – all 17 verses. I found myself today stuck on verse 4. Not because I was having trouble memorizing it, but because God was saying “Slow down. Repeat that again. Did you catch what it really said?” Truth was I hadn’t. I had not really let that verse sink into my heart. Verse 4 reads “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud or those who turn to false gods.”

That one little verse says a ton. First, it’s a choice to trust God. You must make yourself trust God. That means that you have to decide if God is always good. Does He always Love me? Is He faithful? Based on those answers, you can decide either “Yes, He is. So I will make myself trust Him,” or “No, I am not so sure.” I believe the answers to those questions is a resounding YES. So I have decided to trust God when things are good and remind myself I trust God when things are not so good. I teach the ladies in my Bible studies that they have to pre-decide in their hearts that God is trustworthy when things are good so that when the rough time hits, you have a firm answer in your heart. Trust God.

The second part of the verse says not to look to the proud. That means not looking to those who put their trust in their own abilities – those who think they can handle anything. And then, not turning to people who put their trust in false gods. People who trust in money, their status, their minds and so on.

You see right now life doesn’t make senses. Things are weird, it seems no one really knows exactly the best things to be doing. So if we look to family, friends, jobs, government, or even doctors we are putting our trust in the wrong thing. The only one who is ever really in charge, the only one who really knows how things will end and what to do, is God. So why wouldn’t we trust Him?

It is simple to say we trust God but mind-bogglingly hard at times. However, it’s the best choice and full of blessings, absolutely.

So as we walk this COVID-19 thing out, decide right now that God is good and ALWAYS trustworthy. Then when you feel uncertain or that sense of panic rising, remind yourself, “I am one who trusts God. I can remain calm, and pray. He is good. He is with me. He will lead me. I trust God.”

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