Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 129
January 19, 2018
a mosaic of grace
Out of an intimate and vulnerable grief that I shared with my mama regarding sexual abuse in the church, I scrawled down raw, pleading words this past week.
I bled my heart and knew the comforting and undeniable close presence of the Holy Spirit.
Earlier, I had read a thread of tweets of a Mr. Wade Mullen, and in my own heart cry, I lyrically paraphrased and used some phrases of Mr. Mullen’s tweets, a deeply wise and thoughtful minister of the faith, who is pioneering and authoring a much broader and important work to speak to the church, and initially his work was not properly credited, clearly crediting him by name in my article, and my heart sincerely and humbly and relentlessly apologizes, and I do not want there to be any confusion in the least as to the proper accreditation of Mr. Mullen’s profoundly needed and formative work at this unbelievably critical moment in time for the church.
This week I have held weeping women, who can hardly stand for the scars of their abuse. Heard pastors speak with heart-rooted commitment to creating safe communities where souls can heal and flourish. Saw survivors grasp hands in hallways and whisper to each other only those two heart-shattering words, “MeToo.” Now is a raw and tender time, and there is a chorus of courageous voices rising, and seminal, sacrificial work like Mr. Mullen’s, is being lit of the Spirit of the Living God, to forge a red sea road forward for those of us seeking deliverance from any bondage of abuse.
The Holy Spirit is moving like a healing hope among His people, and He is working His redemptive seeds into the soil of our personal and collective sorrow, and our Brokenhearted Healer is gently and carefully gathering all of our brokenness to make abundance — to make a mosaic of grace for His glory.
When silences and secrecy breaks, the seed of resurrection breaks open in us and we rise.
Let the survivors and the rocks cry out.
Photo Credit
January 18, 2018
How to love Your Reflection
So some kid accidentally dropped a dozen eggs all over the floor this morning.
You can just close your lovely eyes and imagine how extraordinarily well that ended.
But one particularly helpful/lazy child (bless him) did up and volunteer himself to make scrambled eggs.
Because, as he elucidated us all, “It won’t take much now — we’re already half way there. And if you don’t mind shells, crumbs and dust bunnies in your eggs — okay, yeah, make that a scrambled crunchy omelet.”
We all passed.
The dog didn’t.
The thermometer read a balmy -7F when our knees creaked out of bed and yessirree, eyeballs froze with the cold on the way out to the barn this morning.
dominique cappronnier
Yeah, you know —
It was so cold that the dog almost opted to use the back restroom instead of relieving himself out there in the polar vortex that could suck any unsuspecting canine right into the land of penguins and polar bears.
I slipped on the ice on the back step sometime around sunrise.
So my posterior may or may not now be a precise purple hue and yes’m, we’re thinking all and all, it’s been a pretty mighty fine, memorable start to the day — because honest? If you can breathe and murmur your thanks, it’s still a mighty good day.
And because the way you live your ordinary days is what adds up to your one extraordinary life, I may or may not have went and stuck a sticky note on that smudged and splattered mirror in the back mudroom, so anyone headed out (and down the deathtrap of those icy back steps) might catch a glimpse of themselves and ask that one question:
“If the Real You bumped into a Mirror of You today — would Real You like Mirror You?”
“You know,” — I ask the kid scrambling up the last dozen (undropped-still-intact-until-we-intentionally-decide-to-crack-them) eggs —
“so, if you bumped into an exact soul, body, mind, heart clone of you — would Real You like Mirror You?”
Because, sweetheart, you can go ahead and think bacon and eggs every day are as predictable as the sun rising willing in the east, but the most predictable thing about a day is that:
Somebody’s going to be late on you today, somebody’s going to interrupt you, somebody’s going to lose something on you, somebody’s going to say the wrong thing to you, somebody’s going to let you down, —
and every kid’s got to ask, every mom’s got to know, every woman’s got to decide, and every man’s got to determine:
If the Real You bumped into a Mirror of You today — would Real You like Mirror You?
Would you feel understood — or undervalued?
Would you feel special — or especially criticized?
Would you feel deeply heard — or slightly hurt?
Would Mirror You practice their faith and the Ministry of Presence and give you The Gift of Really Listening —
or Practice their Own Importance and all this trendy rage of Being Stressed and give you a knot of anxiety?
Would your presence be a gift — or a grief?
Would Real You want more time with Mirror You — or less time?
Would Real You want to be like Mirror You — or not?
Because the thing is?
The Real You meets Mirror You every morning first thing. So what if you decided first thing to be kind — the kind of person you’d love to face?
Those words right there, stuck right there on the end of my tongue —
and that sticky note with a heart and that string of questions now on every mirror in the house —
light in a reflection of morning glory…
Like His face smiling on all of ours in this mess of cracked egg shells that somehow isn’t quite as broken as before.
January 17, 2018
Be the You that You Dream Of: How to Change What You See When You Look in the Mirror
Jo Saxton and I met when we recorded a short devotional together at a conference. The first thing you see is her broad beaming smile. The first thing you hear is her beautiful English accent. But if you listen in, you’ll also hear the fire in her heart. Jo is passionate for people to become free of all the wounds and broken pieces that hold them back and recover their God given identity and purpose. With honesty, hope and wisdom, she shares her own journey in and the lessons learned in her new book, which you are absolutely going to find captivating, The Dream of You. It’s a grace to welcome Jo to the farm’s front porch today…
“You’d be so pretty if you weren’t so dark skinned.”
“Stay out of the sun so you won’t get even darker.”
“Your nose is too broad.”
“You should go on a diet.”
“Men don’t like tall women.”
“I like you and I’m attracted to you, but I can’t date you because you’re black.”
I stood silently in front of a mirror with the thoughts and opinions of others echoing through my head.
All I could hear was negativity and judgment.
My looks were not enough, my body was not enough. I was not acceptable.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13–14, niv)
When you read the Bible, do you ever find that certain words jump out like flashing lights?
The verses confronted my identity, revealing where I had exchanged God’s truth for lies.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
At the time, I couldn’t read those words and mean them. The truth they held seemed to be the opposite of what I felt. Yet I knew God wanted me to see His view on creating me. He wanted me to see the lies for what they were, lies that chained me, that poisoned me.
I knew He wanted me to exchange the voices of the culture, the lies, and my own insecurity—everything that named my body as useless—for His truth.
I took my Bible and stood in front of the mirror. I felt prompted to read my neon-light verse over every single part of my body, out loud. I began, starting out with the parts of me that I liked!
“I thank You Lord that my eyes are fearfully and wonderfully made…for my teeth…”
“I praise You Lord that my ebony skin is fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. I am not too dark for You. This is me. And it’s good. I’m good? Yes, I’m good!”
“I praise You Lord for my ears. Personally, I think they’re too small, but You say they are fearfully and wonderfully made. Fine.”
“I thank You for my stomach. I promise to stop calling it my nemesis, to stop saying that I hate it.”
With that, the fierce battle over my body intensified.
What was the truth: what I felt and heard and interpreted in the culture, or what God spoke over me through a psalm?
Which would be the louder voice in my life?
That’s when I discovered that the Bible is a weapon, the sword of the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:17).
It was when I stood in front of that mirror and read Psalm 139 that I first felt the weight of the sword in my hand and began to discover its impact as an offensive weapon.
I read the psalm daily, sometimes multiple times through the day, thanking God that I was fearfully and wonderfully made.
Sometimes I prayed, trembling through my tears, arguing with God about the body parts I found the hardest to accept, then sobbing my way into surrender.
Other times I felt victorious. These words affirmed my beautiful black skin!
Yet honestly, I’d reread Psalm 139 many times and feel nothing. It was just hard work, repetitive, dull at times, made up of blood, sweat, and tears.
It was a personal war as well as a path to transformation. I didn’t realize that every time I declared that verse, I was cutting away at chains, slicing and splicing the most seductive and stealthy of lies.
I didn’t know that God’s words had fallen like seed in the soil of my heart, growing in the dark, taking root until they broke my life open into a new dawn.
What do you see when you look in the mirror?
I think of the journeys taken by women I know and women I’ve met, the storms they weathered and how they had to fight to establish themselves. I think of the women who were victims of abuse, violence, and violation, courageous survivors who want to become whole.
The women who live on the other side of eating disorders. On most days, they walk free and far from the past. And then there are other days.
Some women stand in front of a mirror and grieve because, though a medical treatment saved their lives, it also cost them their hair, their nails, their brows for a time. Or their breasts, permanently.
There are the women who lay a hand near their womb and question their worth because they never carried a child. Others who lay their hand on that same space ache that their bodies could not carry a much-loved precious new life to term.
Some of you haven’t stood in front of a full-length mirror for quite some time now. You step to the edges when family photos are being taken, or you only take pictures of the children. It’s simply too hard to see yourself in photos.
Some of you take pictures, but they’re never candid. They are staged, filtered, positioned until they are Insta-worthy. You don’t mean to count the “likes,” note the comments.
But every click on social media has become a statement about your body and your value. You don’t want it to matter so much to you. But it does.
You are fully known.
He has seen it all and He knows it all.
And still you are deeply, deeply, loved.
Using Psalm 139:14, acknowledge that your body, your personality, your talents, all of you is fearfully and wonderfully made.
His words have the power to level and liberate you, a Spirit-filled sword to cut through the most resistant of chains.
I think they can help you see into the mirror differently.
His words help you discover who you fully are.
His words speak a truth that will set you free.
I read this book in one sitting — could not put it down. Jo Saxton is on fire & these pages burn with the hope of who you were meant to be! Jo Saxton is a popular leadership trainer, international speaker and author. Jo also chairs the board of an international discipleship organization 3DMovements; serves on the advisory board for CT Women; and co- hosts the Lead Stories podcast. Jo and her husband Chris have two daughters.
We were made in the image of God, born with beauty and value, potential and purpose. Yet life experiences and definitive relationship can reshape our lives, distorting our understanding of our identity and purpose – and we live as a fraction of who we are created to be. In The Dream of You Jo explores biblical figures and shares her own personal story as she invites you to turn to the One who has always seen, known and loved you. These pages are life-changing and offer you the lifeline that God always values your true identity and purpose. Let these brilliant pages show you how it is possible to let go of your broken identities and live the life you were made for.
[ Our humble thanks to WaterBrook for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
January 13, 2018
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [01.13.18]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you right here:
Esther Havens Mann
Esther Havens Mann
Esther Havens Mann
such otter fun!
this new study on birdwatching and mental health? who knew?
despite her isolated life and crippling disease, she never, ever gave up
come meet these 15 amazing kids who are making the world a better place
this young quarterback who led his team to win the national championship? shares some good words of thanks
thank you, Kristen Welch, just so good: If You’re Not Sure of Your Purpose, Follow Your Passion
Thanks to the ingenuity of a few 8th graders? this duck is waddling better than ever!
yes: this gym? They gave a free lifetime pass to this refugee boy who was often staring longingly through their window #BeTheGIFT #TheBrokenWay
so this whale protected a diver from a nearby shark? yeah, we all need to be rescued
Ana Dumitru
Ana Dumitru
Ana Dumitru
“The hope I have in Jesus is not something that I dare keep to myself. I share. And I share as much as you can stand.”
catch, anyone? so this man is attempting to play catch with someone new every day this year…
reunions like this? never, ever, ever get old. Maybe go hug the ones you’re with today?
Our friends at Wycliffe Bible Translators’ have reached out to offer us a newly released FREE 7-day devotional — Called to Community.
We’re all part of God’s global community, whether it’s in your neighborhood or across the world. Be inspired by this free 7-day devotional highlighting the stories and impact of people in the Bible who embraced their cross-cultural community, even when they were in danger or enslaved!
Wycliffe Bible Translators is the largest scripture translation organization in the world, with a widespread mission network internationally and in the US. They endeavor to have begun a translation of the Bible into every language by 2025 while fostering Christian community, providing educational material and fellowship resources.
Please click here for this free 7-day devotional: and discover your purpose in God’s family. Tell a friend!
glory
a good read: Why Children’s Books Should Be a Little Sad
“it’s never too late to start doing what you love doing now”
smiling through tears here
Dear Me & 2018: Lifelines to the Person You Really Want to Be this Year
completely undone: the most incredible perfect match?
these beautiful people with disabilities hired by Walgreens? too often unjustly left behind
Tears at this one…please don’t leave without watching
“The love of Jesus Christ doesn’t know any bounds — so we are helping whoever comes our way”
Samaritan’s Purse is providing emergency relief and medical care to Rohingya refugees who’ve fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. As they meet physical needs, their teams are also sharing the healing love of Jesus Christ
Break free with the tender beauty of The Broken Way & Be The Gift … Want the gift of light breaking into all the broken places, all the places that feel kinda abandoned?
These pages are for you. It’s possible — abundant joy is always possible, especially for you.
And if you grab a copy of Be The Gift? We will immediately email you a link to a FREE gift of THE WHOLE 12 MONTH *Intentional* Acts of Givenness #BeTheGIFT Calendar to download and print from home or at your local print shop! Just let us know that you ordered Be The Gift over here.
You only get one life to love well.
Pick up Be The Gift & live the life you’ve longed to
What God Can Do in Our Daily Devotions
You are for us — not against us
Preaching gospel to yourself is how you whisper calm to your soul,
Good news that soothes the raw edges of things, the soft ways of grace and tender hope that carries you Forward.
And you can always, always, always be kind, because the devil and his kind have already lost:
The devil’s most destructive day can never destroy your hope, your call, your future.
So no matter how the wind blows today, keep calm and be kind: When things become hard, wise hearts stay soft.
Solving a problem can’t ever trump loving a person.
So today, simply:
Rise to whatever comes to you, go to wherever you’re sent, give however your soul knows how, and give thanks whenever you breathe.
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
January 10, 2018
How to live with Faithful Finances: One of the Secrets to Move from Fearful Insecurity to Financial Confidence
I first met Emily G. Stroud during my book tour for The Broken Way in Fort Worth, Texas where she lives with her husband and two children. As a financial advisor for over two decades, she has observed that money issues are one of the greatest stressors for both individuals and married couples. It’s a grace to welcome Emily to the farm’s front porch today…
P
art of achieving financial freedom is realizing that we prosper as we love others as God has loved us.
I love what Mother Teresa had to say about giving: “It is not about how much we give, but about how much love we put into giving.”
You don’t have to look very far to find people who are in need. Unfortunately, our natural, sinful nature is to look away, or run away, if we encounter people in need.
Helping others can be messy, and we often don’t want to be inconvenienced — but there is a way that changes your life and others.
Christ commanded us to show compassion and meet the needs as we see them, without expecting anything in return. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17).
Ultimately, all of our resources belong to God. We are just stewards of the assets He has entrusted us with. If we cannot be trusted to manage a small amount of money wisely, then why would God trust us with much? Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10).
Time and Tithe
There is a lot written regarding the rules of tithing and the amount we are supposed to tithe.
Historically, there have been many discussions about whether the Bible intends for us to give ten percent of our gross income or ten percent of our net income. I’ve also read articles discussing whether it’s considered “stealing from God” to split your ten percent tithe between the church and other charities.
Another common debate is whether or not acts of service count as a tithe.
Honestly, I believe that how you spend both your money and your time is between you and God.
Tithing is supposed to be a form of worship to God and a service to the body of Christ. If we focus too much on the rules of giving, we may become more focused on legalism rather than faith.
At times, God may encourage you to give to a special situation, or an urgent need of someone in the body of Christ. As a result, you may give more than ten percent of your income. This is called an offering. It’s money that you give over and above your ten percent tithe to the church.
Then there may be extenuating circumstances during certain seasons of your life, which may mean giving less or not at all. Instead, you’ll be the recipient of gifts and offerings from others as you handle an unforeseen crisis in your own life.
A friend of mine went through a medical crisis a few years ago that put a large financial strain on her family. Her husband had been laid off from his job for several months, and then she was unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer.
Although they had always tithed faithfully, during this crisis there was no way for them to tithe.
Instead, they relied on God and His people to provide for their needs, and their faith was encouraged as they saw many people give sacrificially, to help them in their time of need.
You may be surprised to hear this, but God does not need your money. He is the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, after all.
Instead, He deeply desires a relationship with you and your heart. He wants you to be content with what you have and to give without compulsion.
As we learn to give generously, we will also become more content, regardless of the circumstances around us.
This contentment is only found in Christ.
Contentment does not mean complacency. True contentment occurs when we’re not using material goods, exotic vacations, or entertainment to try to fill a void in our hearts.
If I’m honest, I’m guilty of this mindset more often that I’d like to admit. I often think that if I just get one vacation away from the daily grind of being a busy working mom, then I’ll be refreshed and ready to take on the world.
I somehow think a special vacation and “me time” will fulfill me and make my life better. But you know what happens? The vacation always ends and I return back to reality.
Please know that I’m speaking to myself, more than anyone else.
We must find a way to be content in our own circumstances and focused on the needs of others. I think this is how God designed us to live, but we’ve gone astray. We must repent and ask Him to redirect us. We live in the most marketed-to-society in history. We’re being sold discontentment in the form of stuff and experiences every day.
I personally want to change my mindset to focus primarily on the needs of others, rather than my own selfish desires for comfort and fun. I want to leave a legacy of being content in my circumstances, and generous to those in need. What type of legacy do you want to leave to those who come behind you?
A Plan for Giving
Let’s talk about how to set up a plan for giving systematically, so it’s a regular part of your budget to tithe and give to those in need. I believe it will become a true joy in your life if you’re faithful to give to God’s church and His people regularly.
Step 1
Choose to tithe not out of fear, guilt, or legalism, but because you love God. As believers in Christ, we’re called to honor and trust Him, even if He doesn’t do anything for us in return. He does not owe us anything. The focus of tithing isn’t money, but rather the condition of our hearts.
Step 2
Be brave when you receive your next paycheck. Take ten percent off the top and ask God to bless your tithe to the benefit of His kingdom.
To take it one step further, consider automating your charitable giving and tithing by setting up automatic transfers from your checking account or debit card each month.
Then expect God to show up. Wait and see if the rest of your bills still get paid. Prayerfully ask yourself, “Do I have more trust in my savings account than I do in God?”
Step 3
If tithing doesn’t appear to fit into your current budget, please don’t be dismayed.
I challenge you to try it anyway.
Most people who tithe will tell you, “I don’t know how it happens—it just does. Bottom line—tithing has less to do with my money and more to do with my faith.”
My prayer for you, my friend, is that you will have more faith and less fear in your life when you learn that God really does take care of us, no matter what.
He knows every detail regarding the circumstances of your life.
Rest in the fact that God is in control.
Emily G. Stroud currently lives in a farmhouse on 8 acres just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. She is a wife, mom, sister, friend, financial advisor, and now author of Faithful Finance: 10 Secrets to Move from Fearful Insecurity to Confident Control. She also owns and manages a boutique investment firm called Stroud Financial Management, Inc.
Many of us feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with our personal finances. We wonder if we will ever experience financial freedom. We want to make wise decisions and spend money on what matters, but we just don’t know how. In Faithful Finance Emily comes alongside you to help. Emily feels God has called her to teach people how to manage their personal finances so they can live a more fruitful and peaceful life. Most importantly, she wants to point her readers toward Jesus, the only true hope and source of security in this life.
Presented in a conversational style, this practical guide offers ten life-changing secrets that work in every financial situation, for every income level, at every stage of life. With engaging stories and practical examples, Emily empowers you to make choices that will allow you and your loved ones to enjoy financial freedom for years to come.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
January 8, 2018
Dear Me & 2018: Lifelines to the Person You Really Want to Be this Year
Lines — lifelines — to the person you want to be in 2018:
Only for this moment, and this moment, and this moment, be the kindest voice in the world. (Even to yourself.)
Speaking your mind can’t change anything like speaking kind.
The art of living masters the beauty of both.
Warmth draws us like the wind never does. Look for the warmth in every wind.
Rest in the agelessness of it: Tender kindness is the truest kind of beauty.
And you can always, always, always be kind, because the devil and his kind have already lost:
The devil’s most destructive day can never destroy your hope, your call, your future.
So no matter how the wind blows, keep calm and be kind:
When things become hard, wise hearts stay soft.
Solving a problem can’t ever trump loving a person.
And be more tender with you
because you carry wounds and a soul,
and so does everyone else,
and being tender with you is how you begin to be tender with them.
Because out of the heart, the tongue speaks, and the heart refuses to speak with a divided tongue.
How you talk to your own heart is how your heart will talk to everyone.
You can’t beat your demons by beating up on yourself.
Demons die by love.
Fall more in love with something else
and your demons die like nothing else.
Preaching gospel to yourself
is how you whisper calm to your soul,
Good news that soothes the raw edges of things,
the soft ways of grace and tender hope that carries you
Forward.
This is relief:
Befriend failure. Embrace failure when she comes, and come to sit comfortably with her. Failure wants to be a kind teacher, a wise surgeon, a needed guide. Failure is a redirect, not a judge. Make failure your assistant — not your assessor. For all God’s children: Hope always wraps it strong arm around every failure.
Accept: Risk is a pre-requisite to graduating into the Big Leagues of Living for Real. Risk is your doorkeeper — look forward to warmly meeting every morning.
Risk enough that you might get burned — because that’s how your life lights up.
And when your risks shake hands with failure, exhale:
New life happens in you when you aren’t afraid of the deaths that happen before resurrections.
Breathe — and commit to ask it everyday
to mirrors and into eyes we love:
How is your heart?
Where does your soul feel safe?
Where is your spirit being led?
Listen to the heartbeat of the world around you and in you:
When you fear you aren’t enough or that you’re too much — you really fear the freeing beauty of being you.
Curate masks to be someone else, and you vacate your own soul, who has no one else.
Happiness depends on what happens to you — joy depends only on what happens in you.
So, light the candles, light your candles and let the candles flicker and life is constantly light facing the dark, light facing the dark.
And you simply:
Rise to whatever comes to you, go to wherever you’re sent, give however your soul knows how, and give thanks whenever you breathe.
Related: Part #1 of: Dear Me — Lifelines to the Person You Want to Be
[image error]Lifelines that can change a life —
named as Christian Retailer’s Best Book of 2017 in Christian Living: Spiritual Growth –
when you feel an unspoken broken
and are looking for a way forward that is abundantly fulfilling.
January 6, 2018
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [01.06.18]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you right here:
Ginny Sheller
Ginny Sheller
Ginny Sheller
I just love this woman more than words can express:
Keep time with the time there is for every needful thing under heaven
because we all need a good travel buddy
just in case you haven’t heard? It’s kinda cold in these parts! see some more breathtaking photos?
frigid temps? ever tried this?
the_eggshibit
the_eggshibit
the_eggshibit
Breakfast time! C’mon! These works of art? he’s giving a whole new meaning to eggs!
it’s a book thing: he’s catering to thousands of hungry minds
experience the extraordinary: from a bird’s eye view
yup – good stuff right here for our new year
how relationship bonds dramatically improved the students behavior?
some helpful ideas here: Bible Reading Strategies for the Tired and Busy
believe it: kindness is never wasted
really worth the read: Keep Technology in Its Proper Place in 2018
exhale right here: glory, glory, glory
Daniel Biber/lensculture
Daniel Biber/lensculture
Daniel Biber/lensculture
so yeah, this photographer stumbled upon the extraordinary right here
a gorgeous love story
at 23? people are calling her ‘doctor’
to her? he was so much more than just a judge
Rose Cooper
Undone at this one: “I just wish that everybody would be kind to one another. It just takes one helping hand to another.”
the story behind the creator of the world’s ‘lovable loser’: Charlie Brown
Lt. Steve Tenney (left) and Sloan St James Courtesy Sarah St James
how this officer saved her life? they’ll forever be connected
a most brave vulnerability: “You can’t fix yourself. You need the love and the grace of God to guide you through your hardships.”
@Jerica_Phillips
can you even…because we all need someone to just be there #BeTheGIFT #TheBrokenWay
You make me brave:
The Most Important Skill that Your 2018 Really Needs
and maybe they are onto something here: a lesson for all of us, because we all need a hug
how to let Jesus color your world
never, ever, ever give up
Break free with the tender beauty of The Broken Way & Be The Gift … Want the gift of light breaking into all the broken places, all the places that feel kinda abandoned?
These pages are for you. It’s possible — abundant joy is always possible, especially for you.
And if you grab a copy of Be The Gift? We will immediately email you a link to a FREE gift of THE WHOLE 12 MONTH *Intentional* Acts of Givenness #BeTheGIFT Calendar to download and print from home or at your local print shop! Just let us know that you ordered Be The Gift over here.
You only get one life to love well.
Pick up Be The Gift & live the life you’ve longed to
one very special teacher: how she’s unearthed a special passion in her students
what do you think, say, believe about yourself?
on repeat this week: There is no one like our God
… turns out just saying this one line over is a bit like chainsawing a way out of anxiety, like busting free out of a prison of worry, like walking free of a thousand burdens.
This one line, it can be like a key to a mighty good new year coming:
“You can make your plans — but it’s God’s plans that happen.”
You speak right into us, Lord: “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, to give you the future you hope for.” Jer. 29:11MSG
And Your Word touches us. Touches us like a gentle salve tonight in the sorest places… And we feel it: Hope is the salve that keeps our broken hearts soft.
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
January 5, 2018
how to keep your soul from starving in 2018
As I take in the view of blustery snow on the farm, I can remember a winter that took me to New York City, to visit my friend Kristen Kill and experience the scene out of her windows that she often called “the view from inside a snow globe.” People everywhere pressed in as we ran through Times Square, crowded and noisy still, our hearts raced on the subway as it jerked and whirled, carrying us underground. And then our respite, a tiny apartment bursting full of life too. Kristen’s story about being squeezed in the quick meter and small space of New York City is one of God meeting us in the harried pace of our own hearts too. It’s about finding His peace right in the center of our own desperate need, even in the teeming chaos and in the places where we fear we will be left forever spinning. This is the story of finding selah, finding pause and finding Him and holding fast to the miracle He gives us in His presence. It’s a grace to welcome Kristin to the farm’s front porch today…
W e moved in sight unseen to our second apartment in New York City. 1,000 square feet held three tiny rooms and two little closets, so we filled the shower stall in the spare bathroom with boxes, craft supplies, and Christmas ornaments.
The kitchen was its one shining glory, speckled with sea blue tile and stainless appliances.
Racing against a winter blast of sleet and snow, it wasn’t until I returned from my first trip to the grocery store that I learned the truth: it was all a lie.
The fridge shiny, tall and beautiful, but it was less than half the usual depth. The freezer? A measly rack of small drawers.
I felt an itch at the prospect of never having it filled to the brim.
While I worked to make it all fit, the children played, and a box of old clothes tumbled out of the shower, narrowly missing the head of my five year old.
I decided stuffing them all in wasn’t an option, so I piled up our cast offs and hailed a cab to haul them twenty blocks away.
I didn’t notice the penguin pajamas until I dropped the last box onto the curb of the donation center, with the taxi still waiting.
They didn’t belong in the bin at all, full of holes, they should have gone straight to the trash. But here they were, the pajamas I’d given my husband on the first Christmas Eve of our marriage.
Driving away, all the memories flooded back: the two of us, young, finding our way as we made a new life, foggy mornings of coffee and papers, pajama days snuggling a newborn.
I began to ugly cry and begged the driver to turn back. I grabbed those pajamas, and I saw all the holes, saw the way time had eaten them through.
I was sobbing on the street, with a driver staring on, tears falling because I was parting with my rags.
This was something more than just missing the past; this was me starving.
I read a study several years ago about people who had endured starvation and how it changed them. It revealed common traits in all the subjects:
They could never allow others to eat from their plates.
Their bodies stood guard, their posture hovered and protecting their food.
They were ready to defend their portion if were to come to that.
They often binged, stuffing themselves beyond their capacity, beyond need.
They could not rest a single night without bread within reach.
These souls who had hungered, who had ached for relief and rest, needed to see bread first, in order to seal their eyes shut.
All kinds of emptiness find us grasping later on. In the body or in the soul, we will cling to tatters if necessary, just so that we are holding on to something.
I longed to feel the satisfaction of a bulging fridge – a modern twist on gathering manna in the desert sun and trying to hoard it, and hoping it won’t rot.
I’d hoard my calendar the way I’d hoard old clothes, and food, filling it up to bursting busy to avoid any quiet.
With crowded schedules, and teeming plates, stuffed rooms and overburdened lives, all the women around me were doing the same – packing our days so full, we were all left empty.
We won’t rest unless we know good things are within reach, just like the bread on the night table.
But what are we all really hungry for? What do we believe will actually fill us? The grumbling of our hearts has become a roar.
In my spiritual hunger, I’d begun to assume that the God who knit me together might just let me unravel and stop giving. He might always keep the best just out of reach.
Distrust and unbelief always tug at what God has woven, threatening to cut us loose.
Their whisper echoes in the ears of His daughters today as they whispered in the cool of the garden when they first rumored to Eve:
“Does He really love you? Then why does He withhold the fruit that you can clearly see is good and pleasing? Why does Hºººe keep it just out of reach, taunting you with its perfume, but forbidding you to take hold and to taste? Eat what is good! Eat what you have been missing! Be filled by knowing! You want to know, don’t you? You want to see.”
And so Eve ate. I’ve wondered if that first bite was bitter. Did it taste sweet upon her tongue before its flesh turned sour? When did she know, when did a deeper hunger set in? When did lost hope turn her sick?
Eve, like me, tried to provide in her own strength what she feared God would never give.
Adam and Eve tacked fig leaves together, covering their nakedness as soon as they knew they were bare, as soon as their shame was fresh in the open. I stitch together my leaves too.
I spin excuses and give context, blame my circumstances. I wear a mask of busyness that whispers in my ear that hiding is all good and well, because if you knew the real me, if you got close and quiet – well, then you might run.
You might recoil with the reaction I’ve always feared, the one that led me to stitch up a life of fragile leaves in the first place.
When Adam and Eve hid, God called out.
He came to them to find them.
And even after all the penalties of sin had been dealt, He fashioned clothes for them out of animal skin. The first blood shed on behalf of humanity, to clothe shame.
When the Israelites grumbled and complained of hunger, God met them too:
He poured out manna to nourish their bodies and restore their hearts, and His very presence was to be their food.
And for me?
With all my fear of scarcity in our tiny apartment, God met me.
He is always consistent in His response to those He loves.
He is always drawing close, always wooing us to remember. You are not naked, but clothed. You are not bound, you are free.
He meets us in the manna that will always be enough and reminds whispers of what He spoke to the crowds when they ached for more loaves and fishes, even after baskets held the leftover weight of a miracle, and they rushed after Jesus to follow their hope and their hunger.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the world, is my flesh.” John 6:48-51
He is always more. Always enough.
And He meets me in my own grumbling, when I can’t stop crying over tattered pajamas, because all the while He is prepared to clothe me with a miracle.
With Himself.
Kristen Kill is a woman transformed by the delight of God. A contributing editor at The Better Mom, and co-host of At Home With Sally and Friends, a popular podcast with Sally Clarkson, Kristen is passionate about encouraging women who feel stretched thin with the truth that, even in the tension, God is singing over them with love. After spending the last seven years in the hustle of New York City, Kristen and her husband, Josh, are learning to go slow as they raise their five kids in the Pacific Northwest.
Join Kristen in Finding Selah for a journey that will transform the way you think about work, rest, and the little spaces in between that make all the difference. This book will show you how to tune your ear to the song God is singing over you, embrace the “selah moments” able to transform your daily rhythms, and most of all, encounter the ultimate Selah in Christ, who stands in the gap between heaven and your most hectic of days. There is hope for the dissonance you feel. Finding Selah will show you not only how to sing a new song, but to live a new way.
[ Our thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
January 3, 2018
Why You Need a “Plan Be” for your Bible Reading this year
New year, and new Bible reading plans and Lois Tverberg knows the treasures that await readers willing to learn how to read the Bible through Jewish eyes. By helping us understand the Bible as Jesus and His first-century listeners would have, she bridges the gaps of time and culture in order to open the Bible to us readers this new year. It’s a grace to welcome Lois to the farm’s front porch today…
Years ago, I signed up for a summer Hebrew course in Israel so that I’d be able to absorb the sights and sounds of the land as I studied.
The class was held at a retreat center a few miles outside Jerusalem, and everywhere you looked you could see evidence of the ancient Israelites.
We’d meet for class all morning, and then the afternoons were dedicated to homework and review.
Each day after lunch I’d make a point of hiking into the countryside and doing my homework under a tree, so that I could enjoy the hoo-hoo-hoot of the mourning doves and the scent of the cedar trees wafting in the breeze.
These terraced limestone hillsides had been farmed by Israelites thousands of years earlier.
A person didn’t need to look far to find an ancient basin hewn into the rock where a farmer had once stomped his grapes to press out juice for wine, or a pottery shard from a water jug hefted by a peasant girl in King David’s time.
Biblical reminders were everywhere.
I could just imagine the characters alive around me once again.
Every day as I headed out after lunch for my favorite tree, I’d walk past a group of college students who were also in my class.
They’d cluster tightly in a corner of the air-conditioned reception office, where they’d hang out until supper, hovering over their laptops.
After they ate, they’d beeline right back there again. Pretty much every waking hour, that little huddle would convene and glue itself to the chairs.
Why? Because this was the one spot at the retreat center where wireless internet was accessible. That clique of kids spent the whole summer cruising online and emailing friends at home.
What a tragedy to travel all the way to that fascinating, ancient land, to walk right on its very soil every day, but never once actually “be” there.
I’m sure they had the same interest in biblical studies I had, and they had spent as much money to come all this way, but a golden opportunity was passing them right on by.
This brings to mind an interesting rabbinic comment on Exodus 24:12. When God called Moses up to Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of law, what God said, literally, was, “Come up to me on the mountain and be here.”
This seems oddly repetitive. If Moses comes up the mountain, wouldn’t he already be there?
Translators interpret the text as simply saying that Moses should “wait there.” One nineteenth century rabbi, however, spun a lovely sermon out of the Bible’s intriguing choice of words, pointing out that there is, in fact, such a thing as going to a place and not actually being there.
He commented, If a person exerts himself and ascends to the summit, it is possible to reach it, while not being there. He stands on the summit of the mountain, but his head is somewhere else.
It’s entirely possible for a person to expend a great deal of energy getting to a destination, yet arrive with their head and thoughts remaining at the original point of departure.
The rabbi imagined that God was telling Moses not only to ascend the mountain but to be there fully, with complete attention and concentration, leaving behind all of his extraneous thoughts.
On the momentous occasion of the giving of the covenant, God wanted Moses to be fully present, in body, mind, and spirit.
I find this very helpful advice for reading the Bible: As you read, do your best to be there.
In our cellphone-saturated world, some of us need to go into airplane mode and detox awhile so our heads quit buzzing, just so we can think straight.
As wise as this advice is, another aspect of “being there” is an even bigger problem for us.
We may be aware of historical differences but we don’t think in terms of “being there” with the original audience. The Scriptures are meant for us to read but they were not written to our modern world.
God spoke so that the ancient world would understand, as they looked at life through different lenses.
If we want to empathize with how they thought and approached life, we need to know more about their culture.
It could become a new year project to continually refine our understanding of God’s Word in terms of what it meant in its setting and then consider the implications for what it means today — this new year.
Because, really:
“The best plan is always Plan Be: Really Be — wherever you really are.
Really be wherever you are, and really be present to the gift of now, and really be given to God and people because this is how you become love.”*
Lois Tverberg has been speaking and writing about the Jewish background of Christianity for the past twenty years. Her passion is to translate the Bible’s ancient setting into fresh insights that deepen and strengthen Christian faith. A former college professor, Lois writes from her home in Holland, Michigan.
Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus is a guide to more culturally authentic Bible study. The book explores big-picture ideas that are lost on modern readers and the powerful claims that Jesus made in a very Jewish way. By helping readers grasp the perspective of His original audience, they are equipped to read the Bible in ways that deepen their understanding and enrich their lives. By opening our eyes to the way Middle Eastern people would have understood Jesus, Lois Tverberg takes us on a journey that will deepen our love of this very Jewish book, enriching our lives in the process.
[ Our humble thanks to Baker for their partnership in today’s devotion… and * credit & Israel photos: Ann V. ]
January 2, 2018
The Most Important Skill that Your 2018 Really Needs
Spun.
Some guy with a mullet and loud voice had lobbed that one word my way back before the 21st century.
In all his 1989 wisdom, he had flicked his feathered hair back and snorted over a soggy cheeseburger in our hick town high school cafeteria and said “Yeah, that girl is right spun.”
2018 dawns 29 years later.
And it turns out that the prophet with the mullet has a point: I’m sorta spun – spun out by kids, by demands, by needs, by life.
The calendar fills like a pothole in a torrential gulley washer of a downpour. The laundry basket keeps overflowing — okay, flooding — the mudroom. There are the shelves spilling and the fridge emptying and the stove burning. And somewhere, there are people who can make New Year’s resolutions.
What if you just want your New Year’s Resolutions to be about One Revolution?
What if you just want to make one turn in a spinning world and find the certain equilibrium of center again?
On the second day of a new year, I can see it in the middle of a messy table –
what’s sitting there small and still at the center of the Advent wreath, the center of everything spiralling and spinning:
The Life Line of Jesus.
Even our calendars circle around this theology of time:
Thanksgiving, eucharisteo, always, always, precedes the miracle – and Thanksgiving always precedes Christmas, the miracle that Jesus comes, and right into our mess. And Christmas must precede the New Year, God with us — or our messes would have no hope for a new year, no hope for anything being made new.
I pick up the Jesus at the centre, turn the smallness of Him over in my hands… I hold the memory, the seed.
And the wonder Christmas whispers it right into the pragmatism of my New Year:
Is Jesus merely useful to you — or is He ultimately beautiful to you?
When Jesus is useful to me, I’m looking for a genie in a bottle, to give me the life I want.
When Jesus is beautiful to me, I’m looking for His face in my life, to give Him the love I feel.
When Jesus is merely useful to me, I want Him to move my world.
When I see Jesus as useful, He’s a gadget to make my life better. When I see Jesus as beautiful, He’s a joy that makes my heart sing louder….
Am I a Jesus-user?
Or a Jesus-adorer?
I turn that nativity Jesus over again and again in my hands. How do we stop being a bunch of Jesus-users? When did Jesus become more about business-like benefits to us instead of The Beautiful who calls us Beloved? The lights are still serenading in the tree.
And I wrap my fingers around that nativity in my hand.
Looking for the beauty of Christ in the everyday isn’t some quaint exercise in poetry. It’s a critical exercise in not being dead — of being resurrected.
“Your new life, which is your real life, …. is with Christ.
He is your life.
When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you…” ~ Colossians 3 MSG.
In a new year, the only hope of a new me, is only Christ in me.
The most important life skill to have in 2018 is to live aware that Jesus is the only life we have.
Nothing will happen this year apart from Him. Nothing will be remade, nothing will be transformed, nothing will be satisfying apart from Him. Jesus is the only life I have. His shed blood is the only blood I have. His given heart is the only heart I have. His identity is the only real identity I have.
The most important skill to have in 2018 is paying attention to Jesus — nothing else is worth spending your one beautiful year on. And the soul solution that we really need is preaching Jesus to ourselves.
I sweep needles out from under the Christmas tree, and it’s like finding the needle in the hay stack, finding what I need for a new year. It’s all getting simpler:
Just be with Jesus.
Listen to Jesus. Rest in Jesus.
Wait for Jesus. Be Loved by Jesus. Wonder over Jesus. Live through Jesus.
When who Jesus is overwhelms you — nothing that happens can overcome you.
Steep your soul in Jesus and nothing is too steep to overcome.
Maybe that fresh white canvas of 365 days that I am terrified to ruin?
The commitments, the kids, that I fear I am going to fail? The impossible mountains that lie ahead of me?
It was like the Father hushing all my fears as I stepped into a new year:
“Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
Mount Everest in front of you? But “Christ Jesus is in you!”
The wilderness stretched before you? But “Christ Jesus is in you!”
The Red Sea staring like a wall ahead of you? But “Christ Jesus is in you!”
When your new year is about making a revolution around Jesus — you are given everything you need to keep your resolutions.
Everything boils down to one plan, one word, one commitment, just to keep whispering this over & over again: Jesus.
Time with Him, keeping company with Him, walking with Him, resting in Him, living in Him, growing in Him, changing in Him, becoming like Him.
Caleb’s at the back door, headed to the shed, when I holler after him, ask if he can make me a bracelet like he did last year – a bracelet with one word.
A bracelet for the woman who had been described with that one word: spun.
“That’s all you want on it? Just that one word – Jesus?”
Just –
Jesus.
No Additives.
Pure Grace.
All you need.
When I long for nothing else, desire nothing else, hope for nothing else, but Jesus — I have everything I ever hoped for.
This isn’t Sunday School cliché – this is real world oxygen. Try standing at a grave without Him. Try walking out of the doctor’s office without Him. Try picking through the minefield of life without clinging to Him. Try it – who knows how 2018 could explode?
So on the second day of the new year, I wear His name on my wrist to remind me who I am. I pray His name gets pressed right into my paper thin skin. I pray I get branded. Marked. I don’t know what else a new year needs: Intimacy with Jesus results in ultimately being like Him.
What had Ignatius said?
“My dear Jesus, is so deeply written in my heart, that if my heart were to be cut open and chopped to pieces, the name of Jesus would be found written on every piece.”
That. The world can wax loud. The world can go ahead and explode. Just give me that — Let the name of Jesus be written so deep into me that my heart could explode and His name would be found on every shard.
All there is to see is Jesus.
For others to see Jesus in me. For me to see Jesus in others. All there is to be is Jesus.
For everyone, the call is to be Jesus. And to respond to Jesus in everyone.
All there is to mirror Jesus. Mirror to everyone the face of Jesus… And see everyone as mirroring the face of Jesus.
“Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus…” Col. 3:17
“Whatever you do, work willingly, as though you were working for the Lord Jesus…” Col. 3:24
The New Year just got ultra-simplified:
Do everything as Jesus.
Do everything to Jesus.
8 words.
And the grace to actually do the everything?
Just One Word: Jesus.
I spin one bracelet, with my one word for the year, on my wrist…
The world — the year — could spin…
and even if it spun like it might explode…
the year has His love holding us like an anchor at the center and we’re all held….
Related:
Need freedom not only beyond the fear & pain, but actually within it? The Broken Way
Give yourself the gift of grace that He already has — and give yourself the beauty of: Be the Gift
The answer to anxiety is the adoration of Christ… and my story of just that: One Thousand Gifts
and the 60 DAY DEVOTIONAL with 1000 numbered lines to count your #1000gifts: One Thousand Gifts Devotional: Reflecting on Finding Everyday Graces
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