Heather Holleman's Blog, page 138
March 26, 2020
Until the Disaster Has Passed
This morning, I read David’s words in Psalm 57: “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”
Until the disaster has passed! I note the word “disaster” and consider the COVID-19 world I’m now in. I ask God to teach me to take refuge in the shadow of His wings until the disaster has passed.
It does feel like this–that I’m in a refuge– as I stay in my home, leaving only to walk along the creek. I take refuge in Him as I pray, read my Bible, journal, listen to encouraging sermons, and go about the most simple life I’ve ever had. I begin to record the blessings I take for granted. Breathing. Sleeping well all night. Having enough food for today. And I know I can still take refuge internally even as the Lord may call me out to care for the sick or neighbors in need.
The big news of a simple life is to observe the Northern Cardinals bounce from Weeping Cherry to Winterberry Bush as they pick their spot to build a home. Now, I can see everything. I won’t miss a moment with them. I also work on bringing humor to Zoom calls that might seem boring; I download backgrounds where it will look like Taylor Swift has joined our class or that I’m teaching from atop a coral reef. I can put myself in a forest or in a great library if I want. Such fun!
March 25, 2020
The Bible Verses Ministry Leaders Cling to During COVID-19
This morning, I was so encouraged as I joined in our daily prayer time with Cru graduate student ministry leaders. Ashley asked everyone to share and pray through the passage of scripture they had been meditating on and clinging to during this COVID-19 pandemic.
As I humbly listened, my heart overflowed with assurance of God’s power, His comforting presence, and His ultimate control of my life and the entire world for His good purposes. Enjoy these passages today. May they strengthen your heart and mind as they did mine.
Isaiah 41:10: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Psalm 46:1: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 17:7: Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.
One leader shared from Mark chapters 1-3 and how Jesus shows His authority over all things as He heals and offers forgiveness. Another leader shared from Genesis and how God is first and foremost a Creator, and His creative power dwells within us by the Holy Spirit; this creative power gives us insight into creative ways to endure and serve during COVID-19.
Psalm 91: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Another leader shared how Jesus is our sure foundation when the foundation of our lives and economy feels shaken. She read from Isaiah:
Isaiah 28:16: Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: Whoever believes will not be toppled.”
We prayed through Ephesians 6–that God would strengthen us for spiritual battle. I also shared from Isaiah 8 about the holiness of God and how He is the only One to fear–not the virus. We listened as a leader prayed from 2 Corinthians 6-7. Finally, we looked at the example in Daniel of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace and how nothing could shake their faith in the Lord.
It was so good to dwell in God’s word and pray this morning. What a gift God’s word is! What joy it brings as it connects us to Jesus and the steadfast love and power of God.
March 24, 2020
When Dad Holds “Office Hours” for the Family
With all of us working together at home, it’s been difficult to figure out how to be together while giving one another space. My husband, for example, found that our daughters are constantly interacting with him, asking for help on projects, or needing him to fix something.
He found a clever way to manage all of his work while also giving time for our daughters. He holds “Office Hours” for one hour when everyone can come to him with all of their problems. And he will solve them. He will listen. He will help! In addition to Daddy Office Hours, he pops up from his workspace a few times a day for 10 minute mini-conferences for anyone who needs him. The girls run to ask about this or that or seek advice on this or that math problem or internet issue. It’s funny to see the Office Hours and mini-conferences protocol in action. It’s saved his work day.
I’ve also had to learn to give people space when we are all in the same space. Nobody needs to be available to everyone all the time. We can fully engage at certain designated times, but otherwise, we go about our work. We gather for meals, games, and movies. We abide by the Office Hour rule. And we get through another day.
March 23, 2020
The Best Thing I Learned After Blogging Every Day for 10 Years
Today is my 10 year anniversary of blogging at Live with Flair! Can you believe it? I wanted to thank you all for journeying with me this past decade. We’ve grown up together. You’ve witnessed my life.
Thank you for witnessing my life.
What have I learned after writing every day for 10 years, after recording over 3,000 daily moments of joy and insight?
I learned the power of hope.
In ten years’ time, my life underwent the most remarkable paradigm shift. I learned to dwell in hope, to expect good things from the Lord, and to see how everything I experienced pointed me to my ultimate hope in Jesus. This made every day a beautiful day.
The lesson never changed. It’s always about hope.
And, on this 10 year anniversary, I wondered if you might start your own daily record of joyful things. I wonder if you might write every day, not only to heal your heart, but to find your written voice. I wonder if you might learn to dwell in hope and wonder for the rest of your life. Check back with me in 10 years and tell me how it changed you.
And it will change you. You will dwell in hope.
Below, you can read 20 posts to encourage your heart.
Making Life Here Less Appealing
When Your Plans Depend Upon a Storm
It’s Only An Adventure if There’s Fear
“Daily life is always extraordinary when rendered precisely.”
How to Have a Great Day Every Day.
Expect Something Powerful to Happen When Reading God’s word
Why We Need You: The Lady Slipper Orchids
What God Can Do Wherever you Are
March 22, 2020
Life at Home
Once I sowed to please the spirit, surrendered, and began to dwell in hope, I could begin to see the unexpected blessings of this most strange and unprecedented time in history. While I do allow myself a few minutes each day to check the news, worry terribly over COVID-19, and let my mind imagine worst-case scenarios, for the other hours of the day, I’m living.
And here’s how I’m living:
I wake up naturally for the first time in as long as I can remember. Nobody wakes to alarms; there’s nowhere to go and nobody waiting for us. There’s no schedule. So everyone is well-rested in my home.
I soak in the Bible like never before. I might spend over an hour just reading, taking notes, journaling, talking to God, and then listening to a sermon. I pray as I’m led.
I walk for an hour an a half every single day along the creek. We meet up with another couple who keeps their distance, but we can still process how our virtual work lives are going and how we are doing. We share scripture; we pray; we strategize; we encourage. We also talk about how we can make sure others in our community have food and the resources they need.
I cook lunch and dinner, and this morning my daughters and I made a homemade apple pie, crust and all. I feel a little bit like we are pioneer girls.
I check in on several people for various reasons. I think about how I can serve people through helping them in ways I can.
I teach efficiently, wholeheartedly, and now expertly on virtual formats. I’m finding that students need about only 20 minutes of a Zoom lecture and the rest might include a discussion board, breakout rooms, or a writing prompt. They become fatigued with too much technology, too.
Certain small outside rituals now become precious: checking the blooming daffodils in the yard, watching the birds choose possible nesting sites, walking to get the mail in the sunshine.
I organize the evening with popcorn and a movie every night. Every night! This family time has been so meaningful, especially with a senior in high school that I might otherwise not ever see.
I retreat to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls and listen to a sermon before falling asleep.
Life is simple. Every day, I rest in faith that allows for ambiguity and for uncertainty. I pray that God heals the sick and diminishes the power of the virus. And then I live.
March 21, 2020
So Much Can Change and Grow
My Plumcot now grows at an unprecedented rate. It has branches. Soon, I’ll move this tree to the counter because it’s too tall for the window.
In the Spring, I’ll move the tree outdoors where it belongs. I cannot wait to taste the delicious fruit it will one day bear.
While stuck indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic, I think about how we’re all also growing, although perhaps in imperceptible ways. We’re internally shooting upwards to the Lord and putting down strong roots while potted here. My friend recently asked me what story I would want tell in the future about my time during this isolation and fear. I would want to tell the story of growth and fruitfulness to come because I learned to spend more time with God, trust Him more, and listen to Him more.
March 20, 2020
Some Strategies to Stay Spiritually Healthy During Times of Disruption
Today, I return to the basics of how to stay spiritually healthy during a time of upheaval. First and foremost, I want to “sow to please the Spirit” (Galatians 6) by spending time in God’s word, praying, and listening to encouraging sermons. This AM, I listened to “In Flickering Light” by T.D. Jakes that helped me think more about how the Lord uses discomfort and disruption. I also went back to some passages of scripture that reminded me of God’s enduring presence. Isaiah 43 brought comfort to my heart this morning. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. I realized that, instead of filling my mind with God and His truth, I was taking shelter in more data, more news, and more social media about COVID-19. I want to “take shelter in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91) and not more news articles.
I also consulted my friends and mentor who all advised me to limit my media intake, especially before bedtime. My former therapist always told me the same thing. Some of us are simply too sensitive to media and must exercise caution when watching or reading things that foster anxiety and depression. If you are prone to both, as I am, remember to guard your mind during this time. I’d been waking up with that spirit of dread I know so well. I’d been very weepy and overwhelmed. I decided today that, when I need to know the orders from my national and local leaders, my phone will alert me. Other than this, I might diminish my intake of news because it doesn’t help me sow to please the Spirit.
I also said a prayer of surrender to the Lord that He can do whatever He wants with my physical body. I don’t want to live in fear of a virus. God is the One I am to fear, not sickness or death. Isaiah 8 tells me this: “The Lord Almighty is the one [I] am to regard as holy, he is the one [I] am to fear, he is the one [I] am to dread. And I recited Galatians 2:20 and how I am crucified already with Christ.
I also remember the astonishing truth of Romans 8 and that God can “work all things for good”–even this pandemic. I decide to dwell in hope. I will be like Jeremiah in Lamentations 3 who famously says: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Sow to please the Spirit. Surrender. Dwell in hope. This is how I’m learning to stay spiritually healthy right now.
Sow to please the Spirit. Surrender. Dwell in hope. This is how I'm learning to stay spiritually healthy right now.
Click To Tweet
March 19, 2020
Believing Impossible Things
Back in 2010, I reflected on a quote in Alice in Wonderland that reminded me to use this unprecedented time in my life to believe impossible things.
Back then, before books, before public speaking, before anything that’s part of my life now, I wrote this:
I remembered lines from Lewis Carroll’s characters this morning about “impossible things.
Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said, “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!”
A few hours ago, someone tried to encourage me by telling me I should set a goal I think I can’t achieve. What?! That doesn’t make any sense! A goal I think I can’t achieve? Isn’t that a recipe for failure, hopelessness, and shame?
I thought about it more. Something about setting an impossible goal, one I think I can’t accomplish, sets me up for an extraordinary challenge. It’s not a great goal if I know I can reach it. But if there’s doubt in my mind–if there’s potential for devastating failure–then that’s an honest goal. That kind of goal-setting beckons a life of adventure, faith, and flair. It lets God in.
I remembered today that God specializes in impossible things.
I called one of my best writing friends during my late morning rest between dusting and vacuuming. She said that she was going “to pray for three impossible things today.” We talked about the impossible dreams we have for our children and for our own lives.
Why not dream big? Why not set impossible goals and just see what we’re capable of and what God does in that moment of extraordinary belief? I want to believe six impossible things before breakfast. That seems a lot like living with flair.
What seems impossible might just not be.
In the context of today’s pandemic, I wonder what it looks like to trust God for impossible things.
March 18, 2020
Hold Fast to Him
In Joshua 22, we read Joshua’s best counsel for the tribes returning to their homes after working hard to help their fellow Israelites cross into the Promised Land. He tells them this: “But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
I notice the expression “hold fast” and spend some time thinking about this Hebrew verb. It means to adhere, to cleave, especially firmly, as if with glue.
As if with glue!
I imagine myself glued to the strong presence of the Lord. I think of moving about my day glued to Him. What can come against us that the Lord cannot handle? It brings new insight into another image–this time in the Greek–of being glued fast the the Lord and safe in His keeping. In Romans 8:37-39, we read this: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We cannot be separated from Him. We hold fast to Him, stuck like glue.
March 17, 2020
Intellectually Flexible
Today I thought about another professional skill: intellectual flexibility. I’m learning how important it is to consider other ways of doing things, other ways of communicating, and other ways of helping people learn. When I feel stuck or overwhelmed, a great question I might ask is this: What would an intellectually flexible person do?
How would they feel? How would they proceed?
