Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 147
March 13, 2017
If You Want to Change Hard Things in Your Life: Perspective over Comparison
So the thing is: Kate Merrick isn’t your typical pastors wife. I’ve met Kate and I’m just saying: She favors boots and ripped jeans over pumps and pantsuits and has never hosted a church tea party. With the most disarmingly approachable demeanor, she’s everything you hope for in a friend, but with the depth of someone who has known the deepest hardships and the richest laughs. She might make you laugh so hard you snort, and you may entertain breaking into her closet to “borrow” an item or two of her (best!) boho gypsy style knowing she has to forgive you. But what’s so much more telling than the incredible joy that exudes from her is knowing that it blossoms from a place where loss has been bitter. That she has held the precious hand of her eight-year-old daughter as she whispered her last words and has chosen to honor God by the laughter that He brings in her life. Kate has learned to walk in defiant joy, even in the depths of suffering — and she kinda takes my breath away. It’s a grace to welcome the soul beautiful Kate Merrick to the farm’s front porch today…
P erspective is a giver. Comparison takes.
Perspective is generous. Comparison pares down the loveliness of your life until it appears a thin shred of its former glory.
Perspective carries us through life laughing. Comparison evokes cursing and frowns and grumbling.
Perspective says that I got eight years with the dearest little fairy a mama could hope for.
Comparison says I got ripped off.
Perspective says going to Israel was a gift to our family, the magic of extra time away together that melded us closer as a family amid every bite of hummus, every impatient honk and Hebrew profanity aimed at us, every car ride through pockmarked villages.
Comparison says the three months we spent in Israel heaped hardship upon hardship, needlessly stretching paper-thin nerves.
Perspective says we are blessed that Daisy didn’t die in obscurity but with the support of thousands who prayed and loved and sacrificed for her, who felt our pain and remember her beauty.
Comparison says I don’t care if your kids learned compassion through her story; your kid is still right there with you and mine is gone.
One night in early November, just a week or so before we left Israel, Daisy and I were lying in bed together.
There we were, under the thin borrowed covers, two bodies pressed into one another like spoons. Her form was so small, so spindly. Her hair was about an inch long, a fair, silky fleece she worked so hard to grow.
In the stillness, we had late-night discussions of things an eight-year-old should never have to think about.
And we breathed, together as one body, as if she were still in my womb, covered by my heartbeat.
We had been staying in a rental home in a hilltop town called Zikhron Ya’akov, a half Orthodox and half Muslim, Gentile, and old-fashioned heathen town.
We were nearing the end of our time there and Daisy didn’t seem to be getting much better.
We had watched the sky metamorphose from dusky tan, melting into the land without border, to a more vivid blue, dotted with clouds pregnant with the necessary elements to bring life to the earth. The dramatic clouds were bold and fierce and full of emotion, much like every Sabra in Israel, much like us toward the end of our journey there. And those clouds let loose.
Thunderstorms in Israel during that time of year are breathtaking. They are loud, torrential, electrifying.
As we lay in the darkness together, the room lit up. The storm was over our heads, and the decibel level was more than I’d ever experienced.
The rain came in sheets through the black night, violently entering the atmosphere, piercing the cracked earth. It was the thunderstorm of thunderstorms, a display of the magnitude that is creation, contrasted with the frailty of humanity.
That night was a gift to me.
The tears, the bravery of my shattered daughter, the way she melted into me—all of it a gift.
I had no assurance of anything other than the God of heaven, His sovereignty, His fearsome might.
And so I chose in that moment not to shrink from the lightning but to see the beauty in its potency.
To not lose the magic of the moment by agonizing further about my daughter’s declining health.
I chose to feel the warmth between us, to see the artful images the shadows on the wall were creating, to connect with the gift that was my firstborn daughter—who was still very much alive, still able to be enjoyed.
That terrifying yet wondrous night was like so much of life.
Sometimes a few smudges mess up the shiny days, but other times the most priceless gift exists smack-dab in the middle of the worst.
A clarity of vision, seeing the bigger picture painted by a generous God, makes all the difference.
Just as I learned all these crucial things during the fight for Daisy’s life, I have learned to carry this over into my post-Daisy world of grief.
It makes the sad days bearable and the average days magical.
Life blooms radiant in the times I choose perspective over comparison —
when I see the mess of things for what it is, and let the storm wash it clean.
Kate Merrick is a writer, speaker, pastor’s wife, mama of a teen and a toddler, surfer, part-time cowgirl, and self-proclaimed chicken whisperer. She has been married to Britt for 19 years and they live in Carpinteria, California, where they founded the Reality family of churches. In 2013 she endured the death of her daughter, Daisy Love, after suffering through cancer treatment for three and a half years. Kate is making her way back toward laughter and finding life to be filled with good things.
In her new book And Still She Laughs Kate examines the Bible’s gritty stories of resilient women as well as her own experience losing a child—a journey followed by more than a million on prayfordaisy.com—to reveal the reality of surprising joy and deep hope even in the midst of heartache.
[ Our humble thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
March 11, 2017
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [03.11.17]
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 & your people right here:
Esther Havens / Sikedi Village at the crack of dawn in Malawi
Esther Havens / Jeeti in India
Esther Havens / Andrew LOVES clean water ! Aweki village in Northern Uganda now has a working well serving 104 households
she captures the world like no one else I know
okay — you can’t watch this one too many times: the nightmare of every parent who’s ever been on an important call
Tamás Rizsavi
Tamás Rizsavi
Tamás Rizsavi
just before we say goodbye to winter: sharing the beauty in Croatia from some of the coldest days this year
kinda the best 2 minutes … couldn’t watch only once. Seriously — how can you not be smitten with a God who does all this?
an extraordinary gift from co-workers to an extraordinary young man #betheGIFT #TheBrokenWay
yeah, that: …we all need to be rescued
This week’s Sticky Note for Your Soul:
Simply click here below for this free daily printable to encourage you…
plus a whole library of free framables and tools:
this is kinda beautiful: He Paints Love Letters to the Men and Women He Sent to War:
‘I think about their troubles and their joys’
… one sentimental journey
who doesn’t wanna be the most efficient traveler?
some of the very best packing secrets you’ll want to know
go travel anywhere this weekend: His glory is everywhere
‘Hero’ doctor saves her own son’s life after he collapses on the soccer field
“I think as a mother, it was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life.” #betheGIFT #TheBrokenWay
When God Made You, is a hands-down must for every family’s bookshelf.
It’s truth-filled message is one that children need, as well as their parents.
A five-star book and one that our family COMPLETELY loves.
this week — this inspires: do you know these really extraordinary women?
Mary Ann Morgan
you are never alone…
“I can feel God working the soil loose in my heart so that the new mercies can spring up.
Slain: “…they see themselves as broken,
but we try to show them that what was once broken can be revived with purpose.”
#betheGIFT #TheBrokenWay
Cannot get this one out of my head: 60 Stunning Photos Of Girls Going To School Around The Globe
40 free Lenten Daily Card Devotionals
so…. what if in these 40 days of Lent is asking us to do more than only Give Up something — but to Take Back something? Take Back taking up our Cross, Take Back our time so we can turn back to our First Love.
Have you downloaded these free 40 Days of Devotionals — to take us back to the Cross & Resurrection Sunday?
Each of these 40 mini cards are meant to be ‘sticky notes for your soul‘ — mobile faith, portable grace.
Connect here for The Free 40 Lent Devotionals that focus not on Giving Up for Lent but Taking Back what it means to be The People of the Cross.
celebrating the strength, grace, grit and love of women around the world
how this preschool teacher volunteered to help save the life of her student? Don’t you kinda love life? #betheGIFT #TheBROKENWAY
… okay, no one was really expecting this
business is booming – sorta inspires, doesn’t it?
he spoke faith, faith, faith into his son…please don’t miss this one #BetheGift #TheBrokenWay
So this Post went kinda crazy & spoke to a whole tribe of us this week
Honest, straight-up confession: when I was a girl… I sometimes kinda felt less than the boys…
and I wish I had known exactly this down in my bones — and what I want every single girl and woman to know now:
How God Really Feels About Women: on International Women’s Day
In the dark before Easter . . . There is a way to keep company with Jesus.
A way to begin unforgettable traditions through Lent and the Days of Easter, that invites the whole family into the Light of Christ.Set Out your own 40 Day Lent/Easter wreath
Co-founder of Desiring God, Jon Bloom:
just to mention? The Broken Way eBook version will be available tomorrow only — March 12 for $2.99: click here
Take the Dare, Join the Revolution, Pick Up The Broken Way
always a good one on repeat: I will rise…
…so when the weary who never feel like they are enough, Lord,
the exhausted women, the tired mothers, the burnt-out men,
when they look in the mirrors at the end of the day & are about at the end of their ropes,
let them just get to the beginning of You & hear:
You have enough of Him & courage to do this hard thing. You have enough of Him & strength to not give up. You have enough of Him & love to keep on giving. You have enough of Him & peace to know that you are carried.You have enough of Him to rest. You have enough of Him — and He is enough. You are enough — because the great I AM is in you & with you & for you. He is enough — that is enough.
Believe it: The greatest act of courage is to simply keep facing one direction when everything in you wants to turn and run.
Stand your shaky, holy ground.
[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.
March 10, 2017
In Times Like Now: How Our Words Impact Our Children
This! I could not be more excited about this new wonder for little kids and big kids and all the kids in us! I can’t turn these pages without choking up the happiest, with worship, with kinda heart-bursting joy! It’s an honor to welcome Matthew Paul Turner to the farm’s porch today. His wife Jessica is one of my dearest friends; we’ve journeyed together through life, sharing struggles and triumphs of parenting and life. And Matthew has heart for the marginalized and whether it is with his work with World Vision or serving people in his community, he loves people deeply. His new children’s book, When God Made You, made me weep because of its truth and beauty — I want every child everywhere to revel in this one. It’s one of my favorite children’s books ever — and that is saying something. It’s a grace to welcome Matthew to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Matthew Paul Turner
I love words.
That’s cliche coming from somebody who writes for a living. Nonetheless, it’s true; I really do love words.
One of the reasons I have such a great affection for words is because when we see words or we hear them or speak them, there’s a pretty good chance that we also feel them.
I believe that’s why the Psalmist once wrote, “let the words of my mouth… be pleasing to you, God.”
Because words are powerful. Words are influential. Words can change us.
And how we use them can affect others deeply.
Though I’ve been a writer for nearly 15 years, becoming a parent offered me a brand new appreciation for words because I have seen firsthand the impact they make on my little ones.
Early on, when Elias, our oldest child, was still an infant, I was rocking him to sleep one night when, while humming an old familiar hymn, I stopped humming and whispered these words into his ear: Your mommy loves you. Your daddy loves you. And Jesus loves you. Nothing can ever change that.
At the time, those words were obviously more for me than for Elias. But for some reason, they stuck with me. From that day forward, every night I put Elias to bed, right after swaddling him in a blanket and laying him in his crib, I would brush my hand over his head and speak aloud those words.
Those words became like a prayer for Elias and me, a daily benediction that my son came to expect.
A couple of years later, as I was once again putting Elias to bed, I said, “Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you…”
Elias lifted up his head and said, “And Sheezus love me!”
I’ve spoken those words over all three of my kids. In fact, I spoke them over my little Ezra, our 2-year-old, just last night.
Words are a gift to us as parents.
Words give us opportunities to speak truths over our kids, truths that help them feel loved, confident, and secure, truths that help them know they are valued but also help them learn what they should value, too.
***
A few years ago, as my daughter, Adeline, was 3, she and I were snuggled on the couch, having just finished the evening’s story time. She’d had a difficult day. She was discouraged and frustrated with herself.
As she mournfully told me all that she was feeling, I said, “Adeline, look at me, sweetheart.”
She turned her sweet face toward me.
I wiped a tear off her cheek, and said, “I want you to hear me, okay?”
She nodded.
“Adeline, I know you. Your Mommy and I know you better than anybody else. And this is what I know to be true: Adeline, you are strong. You are brave. You are good. And you are loved. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”
Eyes widened, her sad expression brightened slightly.
She didn’t fully understand why I was telling her that at the time. But one day she would. Because nearly every single day for almost three years, I’ve been looking into her big brown eyes and telling her she is strong and brave and good and loved.
Sometimes I write those words on a notecard and stick them inside her lunchbox.
Sometimes I whisper them to her like a bedtime prayer.
And occasionally, I ask her to say them with me.
“I am strong. I am brave. I am good. I am loved.”
Between Adeline and me, those words are like liturgy, an empowering reminder of who I know her to be.
Like all parents, I want my kids to be fully aware of who I know them to be. I want them to know who I believe God made them to be. I want them to fully know these things before somebody tries to tell them something different.
I’ve watched how my words affect my kids.
I’ve seen their countenance light up when I use my words to affirm them, when I use them to try and express how proud I am of them, or when I attempt to let them know just how much I love them.
I’m certainly not always perfect with how I use words.
But even on those occasions, when I’ve misused words or spoken words in an unkind manner, I’ve learned that there are few statements that I can say to my kids more affecting than “I’m sorry” and “will you forgive me?”
My passion for words and how I’ve seen words bring life to my kids is why I felt called to write the children’s book When God Made You. In this little book, the words celebrate a child’s individuality, creativity, and purpose and remind them who they are, both to themselves and to God.
The words of When God Made You are a prayer for parents to offer to their children when they don’t have the words – be it in the morning, before the day has begun, or at the end of a long day. It’s a book written to encourage and to open communication lines between kids and parents—to talk about one’s unique gifts, the love of God, and the ways we are called to serve and love one another.
In a world that sometimes feels hopeless and filled up with so many fears, our children need words of love, truth and encouragement daily. These words will impact who they become and the ways they love other people.
As parents, we have the opportunity to nurture their spirits in powerful ways – not just through the words that we say, but in the words that we read to them.
In Proverbs, the author writes, “The right word at the right time is like a custom-made piece of jewelry…” (Proverbs 25:11, The Message Bible)
May all of us pursue adorning our children (and each other) with beautiful, powerful, hopeful, and gracious words, words that offer them life, words that they will keep with them for years to come.
I am truly smitten with this children’s book! Matthew Paul Turner, who has traveled the world with World Vision and National Geographic, is a writer whose new children’s book, When God Made You, is a hands-down must for every family’s bookshelf. It’s truth-filled message is one that children need, as well as their parents.
When God Made You is a five-star book and one that our family COMPLETELY loves.
[ Our humble thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
Links for 2017-03-09 [del.icio.us]
Our #1 Best-Selling Drone--Meet the Dark Night of the Sky!
March 8, 2017
How God Really Feels About Women on International Women’s Day
Hey Girl?
You are brave, you are growing the right kind of strong.
Your voice, your heart, is always wanted and never, ever forget: you always belong.
Promise you’ll never forget this either?
The night you were born a girl, the stars stilled and sang, because you were a girl and you filled the earth with more of His otherworld glory.
God made sure every girl born knew she was never less than: He gave her double X chromosomes.
When God decided to pull on skin and make His visitation into the world, He didn’t show up in some backroom of an inner boy’s club.
This is what God chose as best, this is where He first became one of us:
God chose to make His entry point into the world through the holy space of a woman, to enfold Himself inside of a woman, to drink of a woman, be held and nourished and cared for by a woman.
That’s the jolting truth of how God loves women with His honor.
Christ never beat down a woman with harsh words or lusting eyes or sneering innuendos, but He stepped in and stopped a broken woman from the abuse of angry men.
Christ came to the defence of a hurting woman and the Son of Man stood between her ache and her attackers and He lifted the weight of shame from her and cupped her heart with hope and wrote a new future into the dust and dirt of everything and he saved. her. life.
That’s how God loves women with His defence.
Christ didn’t degrade women in His talk, but He made women heroes in His stories.
He invited a woman with a coin and broom to reveal the truth about the Kingdom of God.
He honored an intentional woman imploring an unjust judge, and said she was about unveiling more of the character of God.
He elevated a lonely, unmarried woman who dropped her meager resources into the temple treasury as the rebuke of God for all the rich and religious.
That’s how God loves women with His words.
Christ never demonized women but He accepted the presence of a woman reviled by the self-righteous.
He sat with the scandalous woman the righteous regarded as damaged goods.
He welcomed the rejected and the immodest woman, though there were times that he lost the respect of the religious.
That’s how God loves women with His grace.
Christ stepped out of that black tomb, He still didn’t choose to first manifest Himself to prestigious officials, religious leaders, the Twelve, but instead He revealed Himself first to the women.
He entrusted the veracity of His resurrection to the testimony of the women.
He offered the privilege of proclaiming Christ as the risen Savior to the women, though no court at the time would accept their testimony.
That’s how God loves women with His esteem.
Hey Girl?
God first revealed Himself to a woman as the God Who Sees — because God needed every woman to know that she is seen, she is known, she is beloved.
God made the answer to the world’s very first problem, the one of aloneness — to be a woman.
God created women to be part of the answer to the problems in the world.
Being a woman isn’t a problem — being a women is being part of the answer to the world’s problems.
And every woman is here not to one-up one another — but to help one another up.
Hear me, Girl: The world has enough women who know how to do their hair. It needs more women who know how to do hard and holy things.
And— hey, Girl? Just promise — that you’ll never, ever forget:
God made sure every girl born knew she was never less than: He gave her double X chromosomes.
God made sure every woman has a double x-factor.
Related on International Women’s Day: Hey Girl, How to Stop Men, Magazines & the Media from Getting to Decide Who You Are
March 7, 2017
Dear You who feels wounded
Dear Thriver,
I once held a bird in my hand.
No one else could see it, but I felt it. I felt it’s heart thumping hard and afraid.
It happens– there are ways to look fine on the outside…. and no one knows what you’ve really survived.
But honestly? You didn’t just survive, so let’s toss that myth right at the outset.
The way you keep walking? You may be wounded. You may be hurting. You may be limping. You may feel alone and overwhelmed and an unspoken broken — but you’re no victim. And you’re not just a survivor. You’re a Thriver.
You may bleed but you rise.
Yeah, it may not feel like it — but you are seen… how you just keep keeping your chin up and living brave through the hurt and how you keep taking one step out of bed and another step through the door — and how you keep scaling mountains by relentlessly taking steps forward.
But I wanted you to know — your wounds are seen and it’s okay.
Not that you badge-flash your scars or anything.
Or try to hide them, ashamed.
It’s just sometimes I see a passing flicker in your eyes, old pain shooting white right through.
But mostly, quietly, the scars just become you, who you are — they just become the way your skin pulls mottled and raised over your soul and this is how you fit.
How you can look healed and thickened and still feel so thin? Yeah, I know.
If someone brushed by you just a certain way? You’d blue tender and sore all over again or just spill without a sound.
Inside, the warrior is small.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
I just — I just wanted to reach out and — just touch, glance, your wounds. You don’t have to say anything. Explain anything, excuse anything. I just wanted to touch them — you— acknowledge them. You. Bless them, you, without a sound.
I just wanted to whisper your way: Wounded Warriors win. There is no remission of sins or the crossing of finish lines without things getting bloody.
You are so brave to keep facing the light. To keep walking toward Home.
The Scarred Savior will know you’re His — by your own scars.
And when He cups your face, that moment when His scars touch your skin? You’ll be wholly healed.
Hang on.
Press in.
Look up.
Can I just whisper? I know you must feel like people, the Church, have wanted you to go away. Sweep your scars under the proverbial rug. Erase you, avoid you, silence you.
Because it’s too uncomfortable for us, the neighbors, the church, the Body, to face our own culpability in scars. Face our own fallen disfigurement. Pollyanna wasn’t the only one who wore rose-colored glasses. Few like to admit that we come from a long line of Roman soldiers who have crucified our own.
I know and I’m sorry — When it comes to the bloodied and wounded, we suddenly all lose our thin, bare necks and become turtles, shirk back into our see-nothing shells.
Sometimes the church doesn’t want to know details or listen to wounds weep or wade into the bloody mess. Christ is the Truth — but too many of His people run from the Truth.
If Christ is The Truth — then where there isn’t Truth, there isn’t Christ. Why ever be afraid of the Truth? You only need fear the Truth of anything — if you think Christ isn’t capable of redeeming everything.
If we believe in the sovereign grace of God, the redemptive restoration of God — then we are never afraid of the Truth.
And maybe our deafening silence sometimes in the Body, in the Church, is just this: Truth necessitates confrontation — and a whole lot of us are more chicken than Christian. Sometimes, we’d rather save our own skin, than the skin of the bruised and battered and beaten. We can be more in love with self-preservation than with Savior-glorification.
Sometimes…. sometimes, as communities, families, churches: We’d rather make pain invisible than say injustice is intolerable — so the injustice continues.
So we pretend you, the wounded, don’t exist, so we can pretend the sin that caused this wound doesn’t exist — because ultimately, our actions prove it: we don’t really think the Wounded Healer exists.
We act like we forget: That God can raise up phoenixes from ashes — that this. is. what. He. does.
And that which we refuse to thank Christ for — we refuse to believe Christ can redeem.
Wounded One? Thriver? You gotta believe — there’s a whole lot of us who believe. A whole lot of us who are getting to our feet and sticking out our necks and we want you to know: we want you. You, not masked… you, not prettified, but you with your messy scars and your tender blue places and all that just-below-the-skin-hurt.
Because when we ignore suffering — we ignore the Suffering Savior.
We need you. We needed the wounded, we needed the limping, we needed the hurting, we needed the broken and messy — you are us. We need to cup your tears, to water hard and crusted places, or there’s no growth in the Kingdom of God.
We need your raw story — or we lose any hope of the redemptive Story. We need to hold your broken heart — or we have no heart.
I. am. sorry.
I am sorry for how alone you have felt. How abandoned, how ignored.
We need you — It is the scarred ones who make the Body of Christ sensitive.
It is the wounded ones who makes us heal.
And it is the hurting ones who make us honest and it is the broken ones who put us back together again and it is the scarred ones who make the Body of Christ sensitive.
Once, yeah, we found a trapped and wounded bird.
And when we simply cupped it close and listened to it’s heart —
it turned toward the light and flew.
Pick up our story of The Broken Way and how to love a brokenhearted world.
This one’s for all of us who have felt our hearts break a bit…
This one’s for the brave and the busted and the real and dreamers and the sufferers and the believers.
This one’s for those who dare to take The Broken Way… into abundance
March 6, 2017
when you’re desperate to discover the God who hears you, remembers you, sees you, and knows you
When life hits unexpectedly and everything is in chaos, we have an opportunity to be transformed. Through loss, tragedy, and the unknown, Bianca Juarez Olthoff discovered new ways to see God in the midst of the impossible. A loved one’s cancer diagnosis, a heartbreak, a season of confusion and chaos felt like her life was up in flames, but she discovered the same fire that destroys is the same fire that transforms; what matters is what we are made of. My hilarious friend Bianca is a writer and teacher in love with two men: Jesus and her husband, Matt! She didn’t learn how to read until she was eleven, but now she can’t put down books. She’s passionate about God’s Word, she teaches around the globe, and she blogs about life, love, and the pursuit of Jesus. It’s a grace to welcome Bianca to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Bianca Juaréz Olthoff
On this adventure of life, there are peaks and there are valleys, and sometimes it’s a little scary.
You could feel alone, you could feel forgotten, you could feel kind of tore up from the floor up, you just don’t know which way you’re supposed to go.
I want to encourage you, in this adventure, don’t fear the fire.
Don’t fear the invitation that God is giving us to be transformed, and to experience the presence of God in those places where we feel this journey is a little scary.
I remember being in the middle of a quarter-life crisis, I remember my mom being diagnosed with a terminal disease. I was in a broken relationship that was coming to an end, my younger sister was strung out on drugs, I was finishing up my senior year of college.
I was hot mess express, y’all. I was going nowhere so fast.
We have these moments of life, but in those moments we can cry out, “Transform me. I don’t want to be this person anymore. I don’t want to have these addictions anymore. I don’t want to have these strongholds anymore. I don’t want to go back to these broken relationships anymore. I’m stuck. I’m doing the same thing again and again and again.”
Have you ever asked yourself, “God, are you there? God, can you hear me? God, do you care?”
In that moment, God began to reveal to me what transformation looked like by paralleling the story of the Israelites.
Exodus 2:23 says: “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.”
Now, there’s some background to this story.
They weren’t always slaves. They walked in, they began to multiply, and after 400 years they had worked their way into captivity. Pharaoh at the time were oppressing them and mistreating them. There were hard taskmasters that were placed over them.
This is where the story picks up. The Israelites were slave to the king who hated them, and in sheer desperation, what did they do? They cried out to God. I can empathize with some of their tendencies—feeling stuck, feeling we don’t know where to go, feeling like we are in a rut.
Check out verse 24-25. “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew.”
God hears, God remembers, God sees, and God knows.
1. God hears.
Every word that you cry out, everything that you say, it does not fall on deaf ears. Your words are heard by God Almighty. The promise that the prophet Jeremiah spoke out, years ago, pertains to us even today. Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you.”
There’s a vital component in relationship and fellowship with God, and that is voicing aloud our need for Him. It’s very hard for our culture, for our generation. We make ourselves. But sometimes it is saying, “God, I can’t do this,” that is the ember of transformation that is going to light ablaze your life for His glory.
2. God remembers.
Not only does God hear, but He remembers His promises.
He made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. In Genesis 15:13-14, “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own’. And they will be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions.”
God foreknew and foretold what was going to happen them. He prophesized deliverance. He is faithful to those promises. He works all things out for His good, and He is a keeper of His word.
3. God sees.
He sees what is behind and what is ahead. He knows that your history does not determine your destiny.
He knows. Your past is in the past for a reason. I love what the Psalms says, “Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed an eye, does he not see?” Our God sees everything.
4. God knows.
He knows my sin, my failures, and my shortcomings. I hold onto that because there are many days where I fall short. But I come back to the promises of God.
God knows our present weaknesses. I love what the Psalms says in Psalm 103:14. “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” He sees you, so He saw what was going on.
God knows our sins, shortcomings, and failures, but it doesn’t preclude us of Him using us because, child of God, Revelation 12:11. “You will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony.”
God knows the power of the enemy, whether the power is physical, or maybe a disease or oppressive state, whether it’s a human enemy or our spiritual enemy.
And finally, God knows the plan for us. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
What are your sorrows?
What are your pains?
Think about what are those things that you have been crying out to God for, or need to cry out to God to deliver you from.
And know that God sees, God hears, God remembers, and God knows.
Bianca Juaréz Olthoff spends most of her time working as Chief Storyteller for The A21 Campaign, a global anti-human trafficking organization. By day she’s a freedom writer who advocates for justice, but at night she’s a step-mom who loves to have dance parties with Parker, Ryen, and Ricci [aka The Cutest Dog In The World]. She’s spent ten years building the Church and mobilizing God’s people to action alongside Matt, Lead Outreach Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, California.
When life hits unexpectedly and God is seemingly silent, what do you do? How is transformation possible when life’s struggles seem impossible? In Play with Fire, Bianca shares her personal struggle to decide if God is really enough, if He is truly faithful. What she discovers as He takes her through the fire of spiritual transformation is life-changing. This five-session video-based Bible study will help women gain new insight into God’s character, discover the personal and powerful nature of the Holy Spirit, and understand the unique fire God places in each person. The study guide and DVD helps small groups dig into each topic through a guided Bible study and small-group time with discussion questions, hands-on exercises, and activities for between sessions. Change is inevitable, but transformation is a choice. It’s never too late to become the person you were always meant to be.Yes: it’s time to play with fire.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
March 4, 2017
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [03.04.17]
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 & your people right here:
Meg Loeks
Meg Loeks
Meg Loeks
can’t ever quite get enough of the extraordinary that she shares again and again
Gunnar Freyr
Gunnar Freyr
Gunnar Freyr
a most beautiful record setting snowfall in Iceland
coming to a river near you, perhaps?
April the pregnant giraffe? come watch her on live stream and see what she’s up to now
room after room he helped to change a day — and it was just the start
so what about you?
go ahead and just exhale at all of this
some of the very best gift box ideas right here?
Can a cute box of goodies really change the world? Yes, yes, it can. Send a fair trade gift box for every occasion filled with handmade items from around the world and provide jobs in Jesus’ name. I cannot recommend this highly enough
this principal? Instead of asking parents to come to her? She goes to them – visiting every single family
“This is the love that Grandma made for each of us. This is what she made for each of us to wrap up in when we hurt. “When we miss her.”
“Don’t let others’ concept of what you can and cannot do define you.”
What If Life Turns Out to Be Pointless?
just maybe the most heartwarming use of duct tape you’ll see?
a story of two special friends you won’t soon forget
“…she looked at them and saw a human being.” #BetheGIFT
an unbelievably extraordinary act of compassion
come meet this man of extraordinary compassion – how he gives and gives and gives
because we are all worthy
this is one trio to watch: they’re on the run
40 free Lenten Daily Card Devotionals
so…. what if the next 40 days is asking us to do more than only Give Up something — but to Take Back something?
Take Back taking up our Cross,
Take Back our time so we can turn back to our First Love.
Have you downloaded these free 40 Days of Devotionals — to take us back to the Cross & Resurrection Sunday?
Each of these 40 mini cards are meant to be ‘sticky notes for your soul‘ — mobile faith, portable grace.
Drop your email in here for The Free 40 Lent Devotionals-Ornaments that focus not on Giving Up for Lent but Taking Back what it means to be The People of The Cross
God is Better
And our final stop on The Broken + Free Tour is on Monday in Lynchburg, VA!
Think music that sounds like the voice of worship and grace and the beauty of cruciform freedom: with Dove Award Nominated vocalist Best Female Artist of the Year, Christy Nockels.
Think gloriously, powerful moving words about breaking into the free that’s all yours right now: with Rebekah Lyons, author of You are Free.
Think of an unforgettable evening daring to take The Broken Way to abundant freedom.
Think more joy, more peace, more Jesus. I’d absolutely love to meet you on Monday, March 6!
Take the Dare, Join the Revolution, Pick Up The Broken Way
oh, praise the God of Calvary
…and it’s true for every one of us: you are broken and you don’t have to pretend you are not. What a relief. You begin to break your brokenness when you break down with your brokenness—when you hand it over to the One broken for you.
Be patient with God’s patient work in you. It’s not that your heart isn’t going to break; it’s how you let the brokenness be made into abundance afterward. Believe it: Brokenness makes abundance. Your wounds are what break open the soul to plant the seeds of a deeper growth. For without your wounds, where is your strength?
And oh, how our anxiety and fears can make us blind to the abundance being made out of our brokenness.
Dare to be brave — break free from fears…Dare to live vulnerable — break open your heart…Dare to sacrifice and surrender — live broken & given into the greatest abundance.
Faith is really faith—when we believe God for the unbelievable.
You are always enough — because You have Jesus & He is always enough. You have enough of Him & strength to not give up. You have enough of Him & love to keep on giving. Believe it – God takes what looks like not enough and He will make it into abundance.
[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.
Links for 2017-03-03 [del.icio.us]
Our #1 Best-Selling Drone--Meet the Dark Night of the Sky!
March 3, 2017
how to soften your sharp edges with just three simple words
Every now and then, we lose track and go astray, at times wandering, at times rerouting, at times taking shortcuts – or even long cuts. And sometimes we find ourselves drifting, directionless, perhaps wondering if the path beneath our feet is one worth staying on at all. Rachel Macy Stafford has a gift for bringing us back home to what matters most. With breathtaking vulnerability, she articulates the ache for belonging and peace most of us cannot; her words offer us the communion which we desperately need to receive – if we are to cultivate daily peace and positivity in our stressed-out lives. Only love today are words which Rachel recites like a prayer and performs like a duty. Only love today are words which have become her way of life; and the way of life for Rachel’s readers who are now finding their own way back to what matters most thanks to the honest, inspired, timely message of her latest book, ONLY LOVE TODAY. It is grace to welcome Rachel to the farm’s front porch today.
guest post by Rachel Macy Stafford
I f you needed to lose weight, what would be most motivating?
You’ve put on some pounds. I’m not buying you any more clothes until you lose weight.
Or:
Let’s take a walk after dinner. I’ll let you make the salad.
I love you just the way you are, exactly as you are.
If you needed to learn how to swim, what would be most motivating?
I don’t want to hear your crying. Don’t be a baby!
Or:
I’ll be right by your side. You can do this. If not today, we’ll try again tomorrow.
I love you just the way you are, exactly as you are.
If you needed to practice better hygiene, what would be most motivating?
What is that awful smell? It’s a wonder you have any friends.
Or:
Let’s go to the store and pick out some deodorant. Your hair smells so good when you wash it.
I love you just the way you are, exactly as you are.
If you are a bit clumsy and disorganized, what would motivate you to be more responsible?
Not again! You are either losing things or making a mess.
Or:
Everyone makes mistakes. That’s how we learn. It’s no big deal—just get a rag and clean it up.
I love you just the way you are, exactly as you are.
At times in my life I have been overweight, scared to swim, smelly, and disorganized.
During those times, I could have used some encouragement. So when I saw the boy being dismissed from the pool because he was scared to swim, I cried with him. His father really wanted him to learn to swim. He thought reprimanding him and ignoring the boy’s cries would motivate him to try harder.
At times in my life, I thought this too …
About a little girl and her musical instrument,
About a little girl and her frequent messes,
About a little girl and her leisurely pace,
About a little girl and her reluctance to try new things.
“Play the song again; you’re not trying hard enough.”
“Another spill? Are you serious?”
“How many times do I have to tell you to hurry up?”
“All the other kids have learned to ride their bike. It’s high time you did too.”
With every sharply delivered word and every disapproving glare, that girl got smaller. Less confident. Less capable. Less shiny.
And one day she spoke the words of a defeated soul.
“I just want to be good, Mama,” cried the little girl who once loved to strum her beloved ukulele. Then she placed the instrument at her feet, wondering if she should even be strumming at all.
Over time, my constant critiques and exasperated breaths had led her to believe she was no good.
Over time, I’d broken her beautiful spirit—the one that radiated her God-given light.
Motivating? Not so much.
I could no longer deny the damage I was inflicting.
It was time to stop being so hard on my child; it was time to stop being so hard on myself. My inner bully, the voice that pushed me to ridiculous standards and glorified perfection, had to be silenced.
I prayed for the strength to stand up to my inner bully, but God gave me something more. He gave me a powerful three-word mantra to fight back.
Whenever a critical thought would come to my mind or mouth, I’d cut it off with the words, “Only love today.”
At first, I found myself saying the mantra as frequently as every few minutes—but it was working!
Within days of adopting the only love today mantra, I noticed a change in my heart and my home.
As my inner barriers began to diminish, my ability to respond more lovingly, more patiently, and more gently grew. My tightly-wound inner fiber began to do something I never thought would be possible; it began to soften.
By responding to others and myself with more compassion, patience, and acceptance, I began to see less in black and white and more in color.
I had no idea my loved ones had so many colors until I began to soften so they could shine.
The following vow is something I wish I’d made a few years ago—but perhaps it’s right on time for you. Perhaps it’s right on time for us all; I can’t help but believe our world could use a little softening right now.
Perhaps, in time, we’ll be able to look at ourselves and each other and say, “I love you just the way you are,” the way God loves us.
Perhaps instead of witnessing pain and condemnation in public and private places, we will see love and compassion in action.
Let it begin with us.
My Vow to Soften
I’ve had enough of my hard edges. I’m tired of straining my voice.
I’d like to loosen up and laugh a little more, be positive rather than negative.
I’d like to feel the upward curve of my lips.
I’d like to surrender control of things over which I have no control.
I’d like to let things unfold in their own time, in their own way.
I’d like to participate joyfully in this fleeting life.
I’d like to be softer
toward him,
toward her,
toward me.
Thus, this begins the process of my softening.
And this is my vow:
I vow to listen to opinions – I don’t always have to be right.
I don’t always have to agree or have the last word.
I vow to hand over the hairbrush, the pile of laundry, the school project,
the task before me. “How would you do it?” I will ask.
I vow to step aside and respect a new approach.
Success might be difficult to see at first; I vow to keep looking.
I vow to be more accepting of quirks, mannerisms, and differences.
I vow to be more accepting of tastes and styles unlike my own.
I vow to remember he is in the process of becoming; she is in the process of finding her way. And they are more apt to do it if I stop telling them how.
I vow to regard “weaknesses” as unripened strengths.
Inner gifts can be nurtured when I stop plotting ways to alter, change, and “improve.”
I vow to greet my family and myself with a loving smile,
no matter what happened yesterday.
I vow to pause before correcting.
I shall take a moment to consider if the mistake even needs to be mentioned at all.
I vow to be a voice of encouragement in a demeaning world.
I vow to be a silver lining spotter in my family’s little world.
I vow to be softer today than I was yesterday—a softer voice, a softer posture, a softer touch, a softer thought, a softer timetable.
By being softer, I can hear more, learn more, feel more, and love more.
At last I will fully see his colors, her colors, and my own.
Perhaps it will be for the very first time.
The colors might take my breath away,
bring me to tears,
or offer long-awaited peace.
I shall soften in order to illuminate the colors of the soul.
I shall soften so the human being within me and beside me can shine.
Rachel Macy Stafford has one goal: help people choose love as much as humanly possible. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama and Hands Free Life, as well as a certified special education teacher and inspiring speaker. Millions find solace and direction in her weekly blog posts and supportive Facebook community.
Only Love Today, Rachel Macy Stafford’s newest work of heart, releases on March 7th. In it, and through her most honest writing yet, she reveals her own struggles to hold onto what’s most important, and make what’s most lasting the first priority in her every-day life. Her soul-building words remind us that we already possess the tools and insights we need in order to find our way back to what matters most. No matter where you flip open this read-anytime, read-anywhere book, you’ll find one of the most necessary elements of a centered, grounded life: encouragement.
This life affirming book offers us a blessed opportunity to learn along with Rachel, and to know what it is to feel less alone and more divinely aligned with peace – even in the midst of the chaos of life. Preorder your copy today and receive a collection of bonus gifts by emailing your receipt to rachelmacystafford@gmail.com.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
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