Nancy Wilson's Blog, page 3

Dumpster Diving

I can’t find my Bible . . .

One of the central ways we overcome the temptations to fear, worry, anxiety, or bitterness is to obey the Scriptures that tell us to set our minds on things above. Consider these commands to set, seek, and meditate:

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:5-6).

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

We all know how our minds drift all the day long, and we tend to be easily carried along to where ever they might take us. But thoughts left to themselves often go dumpster diving, digging through fleshly things, carnal things, earthly things, untrue, ignoble, unjust, impure, unlovely, and unkind things. The dumpster is always full of this stuff: your own past sins and failures, the sins of others, bitterness, worries, and lusts. And then we wonder why we are worried, envious, lustful, bitter, anxious, or fearful. But we’ve been feeding on this stuff from the dumpster all day!

The way out of the dumpster requires mental discipline. And mental discipline is spiritual discipline. We must lay hold of our thoughts, and put them where God wants them. No more allowing them free rein, because they always find a way back to the dumpster again. This requires patience and diligence.

Setting your mind on things above means picking your thoughts up and moving them to an appropriate topic. How do you begin doing this? First you have to tune in. What are you listening to all day? What are you listening to when you go to bed, when you rise up, when you hop in the shower, when you drive across town? You may be surprised to notice how much fault finding, reviewing of hurts and wrongs, wishing for things you don’t have, dissatisfaction, and complaining are going on.  Not to mention the conversations you are crafting in your head which will deal with so-and-so.  This requires action on your part. Just as you do when you don’t like the song on your car radio, you must change the station.

Consider fearfulness and worry as examples. Most worry is simply telling bad stories to yourself. Stop going over and over what “might” happen. Tell yourself to shhhh. Change the mental conversation to something else, something cheerful, something true and good. There are so many choices!

We are to meditate on virtues, things that are worth praising. To meditate means to spend time thinking about. This is what I mean by mental discipline. You must pick up your mind and set it on good things and then spend some time thinking about those things.  Plan dinner, make a shopping list, pray for your friend, count your blessings, sew a quilt, work in the garden, bake some bread, read the kids a story, get on with your work, whatever it might be. All these things are praiseworthy. And then when your thoughts drift back to the dumpster, snag them right away by the back of the neck, and set them on things above.

So much of depression is letting your thoughts dwell on sad things, dumpster diving into the past or the might-have-been or the have-nots. Anxiety is the fruit of dwelling on worries and cares instead of casting them off your shoulders to God’s. Lust comes of thinking of forbidden things. All these things come of listening rather than talking to yourself.

It takes time to establish a pattern of (1) noticing when you are dumpster diving and (2) getting out of there. At first you might feel like all you do is work on this.  But it will get easier. As it becomes a habit of mind, you will see how blessed it is to dwell in the green pastures of virtuous, praiseworthy thoughts, and the dumpster will be less of an attraction.

In this, as in all our spiritual life, we must get grace from God to set our minds on things above, where He is. If we want to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we won’t be finding it in the dumpster, but rather at the right hand of God, where Christ is. And “to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).

 

 

Dying Well

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Eileen Lawyer’s death was precious to us as well. She taught us how to live, and she has taught us how to die.

What did she teach us about living? Eileen taught us to give ourselves away. She was a devoted wife, and signed all her emails with “Eileen Lawyer, cherished wife of Mike Lawyer.” Her identity was first in Christ, and then joyfully wrapped up in her husband and daughter. What Mike was doing, Eileen was doing alongside. How Rachel was doing was always a chief concern.

During her life, Eileen was always a picture of health: energetic and cheerful. None of us was expecting her to be taken away so suddenly by cancer.  But we learned from her during her wise stewardship of this hardship. She continued to be devoted to others, always considerate and grateful. Doug conducted a small worship service around her bed a few days before her passing. Even there, she was thanking everyone for coming, and I will never forget how determined she was to take the Lord’s Supper, embracing the difficulty of eating the bread and drinking the wine. She wanted all of Christ.

The cross stitch above is a gift Eileen made for us many years ago. And how appropriate is this verse now as ever. God has shown Eileen the path of life, and now she has entered into His presence in fulness of joy. We will miss her. No one can fill her shoes. But that is how it should be. In the missing, we will continue to thank God for her, a dear sister and friend.

Lily Trotter

If you’ve never heard of Lilias Trotter, here is a lovely little introduction which you can share with your kids. Lily, the Girl Who Could See  is beautifully illustrated by Tim Ladwig and sweetly told by Sally Oxley & Tim Ladwig. It is the story of the Victorian English woman, student of the great artist John Ruskin,  who chose to give her life ministering in Algeria and North Africa rather than follow Ruskin’s encouragement to become a famous artist. And of course, if you have heard of Lilias Trotter, you will definitely want to get this book, even if you don’t have children.

Then go ahead and find out more about this impressive lady, and order A Blossom in the Desert by Miriam Huffman. This book includes some of Trotter’s lovely sketches and paintings, as well as samples of her writing from her diaries and journals. From there you may as well go whole hog and order her biography,  A Passion for the Impossible, by Miriam Huffman Rockness, because Lilias Trotter is a woman worth knowing.

Come Down!

Let me tell you a little something about myself as a way of breaking the rather prolonged silence on my part. Life has been so wildly busy! We are getting deeper and deeper into what feels like the splits of parenting.  A nursing baby but also junior high track meets. Moses is a darling, wonderful, lively and cheerful 6 month old. So far, his spiritual gifts have not included napping. He dabbles in them at best. I am not complaining, because really he is so happy and thriving – but he certainly makes sure that even though he is number 7, he gets his full share of our attention. He has initiative, that one.

The other day, it took me about 3 hours to do 15 minutes’worth of dishes. Because every two or three minutes I had to go nurse, or go change the venue of play, or put the baby in the ergo on my back, or take a shower, or whatever. I would pop back in, throw a few things in the dishwasher and then have to go help Shad with something. And that has been about the summary of life lately. No better things to be doing with my time than responding to my family’s varied needs like a shotgun blast – just hoping that I hit more than I miss!

I am no stranger to the wilds of life at home with littles. I’ve been here and done this before even if this time around does have a little extra sauce on top. Through the years I have developed the habit of laughing at (and enjoying) the downright bonkers side of it. The laundry just will be epic. The floor just will need to be swept at all times. The crayons will always be out. The books will be on our floors as though  they came to us in a sudden hailstorm. The need to feed people will be constant, and the need to never sit down will remain with me for probably the rest of my life. And I am okay with that and I love it.

But here is the thing. Sometimes my coping mechanism of humor fails me. Sometimes I just don’t really think it is funny. Or just not funny enough. Or it feels a little too much like the knock-knock joke that just won’t ever say orange. It is at this point that I usually either cry or get annoyed. It would probably be better for us all if I would just cry because then I could pull out of that by laughing and possibly even make it through the whole crisis without indulging in sin.

Well a few weeks ago, I didn’t cry. I was just being generally annoyed. Not so much in the day (when I still kept thinking maybe I could recover at night) – but at night when I was going to bed again without having made the headway I wanted to make. Then I was getting downright peevish. As I told my husband, “I am trying to get a grip on things, but someone keeps Pam-ming my hands!”

So one morning I drew a line. I will see Jesus in this. I cannot be the annoyed and tedious person that I keep running into.  I will, whatever it takes, see Him. So I sat down in my pajamas too late to be in pajamas, and the baby was playing on a blanket  in just his diaper, the breakfast dishes were out to play still, and you could see the remains of the blowout carnage waiting to go down to the laundry room for stain treatment. The vacuum was sprawled out across the living room like so many broken dreams, and Shad was playing something that involved moving the benches and chairs from the table across the room, along with one million sheets of paper and pencil sharpening fragments. And I sat down with my Bible to start my normal reading.

And let me tell you, I have never in my life felt such a bond of solidarity with Zacchaeus.

“Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.  Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. “

Here I was being frustrated with all the crowds of little things getting in my way. I wanted to see Jesus, I wanted to have joy, I wanted to be at peace and not in my little nest of pettiness. And you know what was so great? Jesus wasn’t just passing by out in the distance. I felt exactly as if He looked at me and said, “Rachel. Get out of that dumb tree. I am coming to your house today.” And luckily, because Zacchaeus did this correctly, I knew what to do. Receive Him joyfully.

The thing is, Zacchaeus really was short. There really was a crowd. There really are reasons to sometimes feel like you are out of the loop. Like you need encouragement. Like Jesus might just walk on past because He has a lot of work to do elsewhere. People are needy all over the place. I’m just regular old me messing around with lame attitudes and sippy cups, and there ain’t nobody got time for that!

Here is the thing. When Jesus was here on earth in the body of a man, He could not be with us bodily all the time. But risen, at the right hand of God the Father, He is most certainly with us. Every day.  At the end of the great commission He reassures us of just this when He says,

“And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”

Amen. Amen. Amen. And since He is here, let us all receive Him joyfully. Every day. Every not-showered in a timely manner and nursed out of your brains day. Every too many errands and not enough naps day. Every beautiful, messy, fruitful, glorious, sticky, wild, breathless, regular day. Because we have the best of all possible companions, and the best of all possible guests. The Lord Jesus Christ – not passing us by, but staying with us. Forever. And Amen.

Coming Soon!

                                 Friday 9:00 am -3:00 pm at the Church of the Nazarene

In every age Christian women need faith and courage to follow Christ, but this is all the more pressing today with our culture’s attack on marriage and motherhood. A woman who is not threatened by the current tides of opinion, but who finds her identity and satisfaction in following Christ will always be a dangerous woman.

                                                 Rachel Jankovic: Identity, Calling, and Joy  

                                                 Bekah Merkle: A Biblical Femininity

                                                 Nancy Wilson: Faithful Not Fearful

                                                 Heather Wilson: Your Life Now

A lunch hosted at the Ladies’ Seminar is available for $7. Please save your spot on the registration page.

Childcare (9 months and up) will be available during the Ladies’ Seminar on Friday. There will be no childcare during the main Grace Agenda conference (Friday evening and Saturday). However, a room with audio will be available for parents to use. If you plan to use childcare during the Ladies’ Seminar on Friday, please sign up here.

Happy Super Tuesday!

Happy Super Tuesday! That’s how I woke up my kids this morning. That and Psalm 2. Nations and kings will do what they do but God is in the heavens and holds it all in His hands. God is good to His people and we will rejoice. Cue our favorite Psalms CD, and sing along.

(Do you feel the Bern? We don’t but I like his button)

Our kids, from six to thirteen, have been playing close attention this election cycle. They have opinions. Lots of opinions. The comedy and tragedy of the current candidates and our fine system hasn’t been lost on their wee brains and their observations bless me. They listen to the debates, to the press conferences, and report. At times entertained, at times appalled, but learning. Learning about our American political process. Thinking about what it means to be a citizen.  And what a season this is to come of age. The farcical quality of US politics is at an all-time high. The eldest, in all seriousness (but with a wry grin), asked yesterday what I am going to do when it’s Hillary vs. Trump. We laugh but it does pain my soul.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the fervor of the moment. Just watch the talking heads. Read the blogs. Fire alarms ring loudly looking at the political road ahead. Evil to the left, evil to the right. Rome is burning and there nothing to be done. But that’s where we need to take a step back and steep ourselves in what God has commanded us to do and who we know Him to be.  No debate there. Just believe and obey.

Be anxious for nothing. And that means Trump.

Kings and nations are in his hands. That includes the United States of America. Do not let anxiety steal your joy or test your faith. If you are feeling the weight of this Super Tuesday on your shoulders, stop everything and read Psalm 2.

So far my kids seem to be understanding this fuller picture. Getting equipped for the time and the place God has placed them. Ready to be as sons of Issachar. Ready to be Jaels with tent pegs. First and foremost, however, knowing in their bones, that our God is God and He sits in the heavens and laughs (Ps. 2:4). We should do no less.

Listen to Psalm 2 (Brother Down)

A God-Fearing Home

A close cousin to worry is fear. But fear is not always bad, depending on the object of the fear. For example, we are to fear God and not man, like those courageous midwives in Egypt. They had to overcome their fear of the king, which they did by fearing God.

“But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.” (Exodus 1:17)

Fearing God results in obedience and blessing. It is the prerequisite for good moral choices. In Leviticus, the people are told to fear God as opposed to doing evil.  They were not simply told to “be nice” to people. They must fear God which will affect how they treat people. Consider this sampling of verses.

“You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:32)

“You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 25:17)



“Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 25:36)
 


“Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.” (Leviticus 25:43)



When we fear God, we will have pity on the weak, we will honor the elderly, we will not misuse our authority over our children, and we will not make money by charging interest on loans to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need. Fearing God keeps us humble. We remember who we are.

But if we do not fear God, we do not restrain ourselves when it comes to unkindness, rudeness, bossiness, and asserting our power over those weaker than we are.

A God-fearing home is a home where God is honored in the big things (ten commandment level) and in the seemingly smaller things (that really aren’t smaller) like your son taking his hat off at church or during prayer before the basketball game, or everyone rising up when your elderly mother enters the room. A God-fearing home is a courteous and a courageous home whose members know when to disobey the king’s edict,  and when to bear with the slow, gray-haired driver in the car ahead.

Fearing God results in “do not” and “do.” Do look out for those weaker, smaller, poorer, or older. Do disobey when the king tells you to kill the infant. Do not make fun of the unfortunate. God hates this.

Mothers, teach your children to fear God:  We do not talk that way to the sales clerk. We fear the Lord. You may not talk back to your grandma like that. Fear God, young man, and take off your hat.

An Invitation to the Grace Agenda Conference

Don’t Worry

We are all probably pretty familiar with Jesus’ teaching on worry in the Sermon on the Mount. We are not to worry about our life, our food, our drink, our clothes, or tomorrow (Matthew 6:25-34). That covers just about everything that we can worry about. But being familiar with the teaching is not the same thing as obeying the teaching. That’s the hard part.

Why are we told not to worry? Because our life is more valuable than food, our body is more valuable than clothing, and God is overseeing all these things.  He knows we need them, and He cares for us more than He cares about the birds (and He feeds them), and more than He cares about the flowers (and He decks them out gloriously).

Yes, but what about tomorrow? Tomorrow is the unknown. We know about the needs for today, but we don’t know what might happen tomorrow. And we are practiced at writing bad stories in our heads about what might happen tomorrow. But Jesus says, let tomorrow worry about itself. Today is enough for us creatures. Don’t we have enough troubles today? Why should borrow more from tomorrow?

We believe that God will be with us tomorrow, whatever tomorrow brings. Worry is antithetical to faith, which is why Jesus spends ten verses on it in this sermon. The Gentiles are worriers. We are to have faith.

But how can we get to the place where we quit worrying, where we are no longer anxious about anything? I don’t think we can expect to be temptation-free in this life, but we can grow in our ability to trust God and resist temptation.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

We are not to pretend we have no concerns, worries, or fears,  but we are to make them known to God, thanking Him for hearing and bearing all our requests. Then we are to leave them with Him. When we do this, we are then promised that His peace will guard our hearts and minds through Christ. When we can fully leave our requests with Him (thankfully), He gives us a peaceful heart and mind.

But sometimes this is a struggle. So here are a few suggestions.

Worry sometimes comes in the middle of the night (have you noticed?) and there you are in the dark, worrying and tossing and worrying all night. If it is the middle of the night, you should know that this is the worst possible time to discuss your worries with yourself. They will only get worse. So turn it off. Change the subject. Be quiet. Do not listen.

Learn to distinguish between the accuser and the Comforter. The Holy Spirit does not speak to His children with an accusative tone. “You are a lousy Christian. You are a bad mother.” This is not the Holy Spirit. Do not listen!The Holy Spirit convicts us of specific sins, not sweeping generalities.

Worry often presents itself as, “What if…..?” Don’t try to answer what-if questions. They can’t be answered. What if the house burns down in the night? What if it doesn’t?

Worry is generated either by the accuser or by our own flesh. We think of worrisome things, and then we meditate on them and meditate on them some more. And it simply grows and grows. So we have to learn to change the subject. Discipline your mind. Set your mind (pick it up and put it elsewhere) on things above, not on things below.  What kind of things?

“Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things” (Phil. 4:8).

So when you are worried, change the subject. Think about your shopping list or your garden or what you’re going to fix for dinner. Anything that is edifying or “praiseworthy.” This is how we train our minds and discipline our thoughts. When worry pops in, we must learn to ignore it and change the subject. Meditate on true, lovely, pure, virtuous things, not on worrisome things.

You will either feed worry by meditating on the worries, or you will starve worry by thinking about something else. Our minds will naturally wander off to unpleasant things if we let them, so we must discipline them. We have to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves. Learn to change the station (so to speak) if the thoughts in your head are unedifying or worrisome.

Tune in and see what the background noise is all day in your head. Are you meditating on the pure and lovely? Or are you listening to bad stories and worrying about tomorrow? Give your true concerns to God,  confess your worries, and be thankful. Don’t try to figure out why you worry, and don’t condemn yourself for being a worrier. Sin never makes sense, so just leave it alone. God will forgive your sins and you can pray for the grace to set your mind above when it drifts off. And then set it again and again. And soon you will see that it is not as prone to worry as it once was.

One final note. Sometimes women get so scared or worried that they break out in a sweat or their heart races. Can I just encourage you here? Don’t get distracted by the physical manifestations of worry or fear. God doesn’t care if your blood pressure shoots up or if your heart starts pounding. That’s what our bodies do when we are frightened. Rather, focus on trusting God, resting in His forgiveness, and being thankful that He loves you. Deal with the worry, and the sweats or the panicky feeling will take care of itself. Those are not the real problem, so don’t worry about them. Remind yourself that God doesn’t care about that. So don’t beat yourself up about it. Be thankful that you are being sanctified and that God is teaching you to trust Him more. You are not the first person to struggle with worry. Apparently the first century Christians needed encouragement in this as much as we do.

 

Prominent Women

Paul and Barnabas got in plenty of trouble in their day, but I was recently struck in particular by the chronology of their troubles in Antioch as recorded in chapter 13 of Acts. It’s not that different from some of our modern-day troubles. One of the encouraging things about this episode is though we sometimes see trouble as simply trouble,  we are actually supposed to see some troubles as signs of true success. You might want to take the time to read the entire context (Paul’s sermon is Acts 13:17-41), but this is what happens as a result of his faithful preaching of “glad tidings.”

Things are looking promising. The crowd is growing, and people are begging for more.

Paul declares the glad tidings (vs. 32) in the synagogue.
“So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” (vs.42-43).
“On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” (vs. 44).

But now the “trouble” begins. Someone is not all together happy about the success of the ministry.

“ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy (vs. 45a).
 “And contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul”  (vs. 45b).
Then Paul and Barnabas spoke with more boldness (vs. 46).
“Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region” (vs. 48-49).
“But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region” (vs. 50).

At this point, some of us may think the persecution was a success. After all, Paul and Barnabas got kicked out of town. But read on. The story is not really over.

 So Paul and Barnabas dusted off their feet and headed to Iconium (vs. 51).


“And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit” (vs. 52).

So here are a few take-way lessons for us.

Successful ministry breeds envy. In this case, the envy was among the religious leaders of the Jews.
Envy stirs up controversy, and the ensuing controversy has two effects:

It causes more boldness in the preachers themselves;  it causes some of the chief men and prominent women to join the wrong team.


Sometimes the result looks like failure because the preachers are chased out of town (or out of their pulpits), but the actual result in the church is joy and the Holy Spirit.

We don’t know the names of those chief men and honorable women who were “stirred up” to join in the persecution, but we do know Paul and Barnabas, and we know that the ministry in Antioch continued to flourish. Pity those women who were deceived into joining the wrong team, especially since they were prominent women in the community. They were women of influence, and they used their influence to run Paul and Barnabas out of town. But they did not succeed in stopping the spread of the “glad tidings” of the gospel. They did not stop the Holy Spirit from doing His work.