Heather Holleman's Blog, page 7

A Image to Treasure

These last few days, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my sister’s wonderful family. Before I arrived, I received a powerful message from Judy Dunagan who wrote about a gift she recently received. Judy has written a beautiful book called The Loudest Roar: Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ. In this book, you picture Jesus as the Great Lion who roars louder than the Enemy ever could.

When Judy directed readers of her blog to the drawings of Emma Blount: https://www.blountdrawing.co.uk/, I found myself drawn to two in particular (one of the Dosing Lion below and one called Sophia and Lion). They are so stunning! I treasured the images of the little girl alongside her Loving Lion for the last few days. View her gallery, and you’ll find yourself delighted.

Girl with Dosing Lion by Emma Blount.

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Considering This (3 Days of Blogs)

If I don’t post on a certain day, just know I’ll catch you up (usually after travel!). The last few days, I’ve thought of three things most of all:

In Psalm 90, I’m struck by Moses’ words. He writes this:

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

I love how this oldest psalm ever recorded envisions a life full of gladness, power, favor, and calling. Pray this over your household. Pray this for your own heart.

Secondly, I’ve been thinking about wisdom as described in Proverbs 8. Wisdom is better than jewels. When you have wisdom, in particular, the Spirit of Wisdom that is Jesus, you have riches, honor, and love. It “fills [your] treasuries.” How wonderful to think of being rich in Christ’s righteousness, of being rich in the fruit of the Spirit, of being rich in good deeds.

Finally, for today, I woke up thinking of the Discipline of Delight. When I missed the practice of blogging my daily delights the past few days, I felt the absence of that. It’s a discipline, just like reading the Bible, praying, or attending church. It’s a spiritual practice that I’ve honed for 13 years now. The Discipline of Delight: I’ll share more of what I’m learning about this in days to come.

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Some Wise Leadership Words

Today I read a beautiful sentence by leadership expert Jay Lorenzen. I’ve sat under Jay’s teaching for over a decade as I attend his Gettysburg conference every year where we learn spiritual leadership lessons from the battlefield. He recently wrote these words that resonated deeply with me.

Leaders reestablish the divine order in the disordered minds and emotions of those we influence. Establishing order in the midst of chaos is leaderwork

~Jay Lorenzen

Leaders reestablish the divine order in the disordered minds and emotions.

I thought about people with “disordered minds” —not in a psychiatric sense necessarily, but just in the sense of anxiety, confusion, or even the regular up-and-down emotions of life. I thought of myself, my family, my students, my neighbors. What if God used my life and words to reestablish “divine order” whenever I found disorder? What if my whole life could be about ushering in the good order of Jesus whenever I see chaos?

Think about walking into a room (and especially into places where you lead) and reestablishing diving order.

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Some Fun Dinner Conversation

Last night while dining with friends, a great conversation erupted from a single comment: a friend said he loved the Easter Peeps. So many of us let our mouths hang open in disgust. Nobody else at the table liked these marshmallow treats, so a few of us wondered, “What else do you love that most people dislike?” We laughed so hard about quirky things about each of us. Some of us love reading grammar books or doing calculus problems for fun; some of us love a midnight snack (while others couldn’t imagine ever eating in the middle of the night). One told us her absolute love for prunes.

Then, we flipped the question: What do you dislike immensely that most people love?

Friends confessed they disliked dogs, vacations, or going to football games. We all learned so much about each other by these two fun questions. Try it at your Thanksgiving dinner, and see what happens!

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Savoring a Sunrise

On the drive to the gym, Ashley and I typically enjoy the sunrise, but today, it felt particularly gorgeous and unusual. With dark clouds overhead and neon pick, fluffy clouds below, we marveled at it; the valley seemed lit up as we drove on. What a morning! I wonder what else I’ll see today.

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Share the Wisdom

When you learn something about God, find someone to share it with that day. It’s not strange or unwelcome news when you tell a friend something comforting you learned from the Bible. This morning, I delighted in Hannah Whitall’s Smith words about the simplicity of following Jesus like we are helpless sheep following a Good Shepherd. I texted my daughters and a few neighbors the comforting words:

You need not be afraid to follow Christ wherever He leads, for He always leads His sheep into green pastures and beside still waters. Do not worry if you seem to be in the midst of a desert, with nothing green about you inwardly or outwardly. You will not have to make a long journey to get to green pastures, for the Good Shepherd will turn the very place where you are into green pastures.

Hannah Whitall Smith

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Friday-Sunday Blog Update

I enjoyed the best time with Ashley in North Carolina these past few days. We delivered our Warm Holiday Conversations Workshop for Wake Chapel, and then I spoke on living a “sent” life for the women on Saturday morning. Later that afternoon, we traveled to Durham to speak for Duke’s Cru group on The Six Conversations. Here are the three blogs we’ve missed:

God is faithful to “instruct you in the way chosen for you.” I marveled on Friday about how, over time, I’ve learned to manage the pace and various assignments God gives to Ashley and me. I never felt anxious, overwhelmed, or fearful when traveling. Not once. Instead, I remembered to “savor” my surroundings, focus on helping other people, listen to new music, and play fun games on my phone. I loved our trip, and I didn’t feel exhausted. Remember that God will teach you everything you need to know to fulfill His purpose for you. It might take time, and you may have some distress at first, but that’s what learning is. You learn because you don’t know something at first. Saturday: My favorite moment during the weekend was when my dear friend, Sarah (a Greystone Girl), who attended the event, asked a wonderful question during the Q&A. She asked about the best Bible verses to memorize to use naturally in conversation. When we opened that question up to the woman in the room, so many people raised their hands to share a passage of scripture that has become precious to them that they loved to talk about. A young girl—an 8th grader—immediately quoted Philippians 4:13 and how she can do all things through Christ who strengthened her. A mother on the other side of the room raised her hand and quoted Genesis 50:20 (which I haven’t heard anyone ever say was their favorite passage of scripture before). She said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” I can only imagine the story she tells that goes along with this passage. Then, an older woman called out that so many people deal with regret in their lives. She had the perfect Bible verse to share with someone who is dealing with regret over bad choices. She quoted Philippians 3:13-14: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the heavenly prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.“Today (Sunday), I thanked the Lord that my mom taught me the power of the Warm Welcome when you leave for a trip. Prepare the house to welcome you back. Run the vacuum, spray a room freshener, change the sheets and towels before you leave for your trip. Make it so when you return home from a trip, the home is sparkling clean, cozy, and fresh-smelling. I love walking in from a trip to find my cats waiting (well-fed and loved by my neighbors) and my house happy, tidy, and cozy for us.

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All the Raspberries: My Favorite Smoothie Recipe

I love making a fruit smoothie after the gym or when I’m headed out to campus. Because I picked so many raspberries, I froze them in bags for making smoothies. I love this smoothie recipe for delicious treat:

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 /2 cup frozen cherries

1/2 frozen banana

1 peeled and chopped apple

1/4 cup uncooked oatmeal

2 scoops of your favorite protein powder

Dash of cinammon

1/8 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Water

Blend and enjoy!!!!

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Pairing It

I lost my daily walking partner when my youngest daughter left for college. I realized that I do not like to exercise unless I pair it with something I love like social connection or learning something. I also need someone to make me do it. My daughter would drag me out the door.

So my wonderful husband bought us a gym membership, and I’ve been letting him drag me out of bed and go to the Planet Fitness at 7:00 AM to walk on a treadmill and lift weights. We’ve been doing this for a while, and it’s happening. It’s actually happening. I like to go to the gym to talk to Ashley, and I like to walk on the treadmill and listen to a sermon or learn about something. I might even watch the news for 45 minutes to prepare me for my day on campus where students like to talk about current events.

I feel like I’ve cracked a code. If you want to make exercise work, pair it with something you like to do.

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A Channel

Today I loved reading Andrew Murray’s words in Humility. He writes this: “. . . we are nothing but a vessel, a channel, through which the living God can manifest the riches of His wisdom, power, and goodness. The root of all virtue and grace, of all faith and acceptable worship, is that we know that we have nothing but what we receive, and bow in most profound humility to wait upon God for it.”

I love the simplicity of receiving. We bow and receive. And then we shine and reflect our amazing God.

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