loved outrageously

I've been listening to this Graham Cooke video lately called "The Inheritance." It's a message I need to hear over and over again. To get it firmly fixed in my heart.

The idea of God loving me, no matter what, I understand in my head and nod in agreement to when someone mentions it or I come across it in the Bible. But to understand it deep down. To let it settle in my spirit. To let it change the way I see myself, God and others...that is another matter entirely.

And so I watch this when the ways of the world threaten to overwhelm. When I am feeling defeated by what feels like a stagnation in my spirit and my life.

And I pray that you too, may watch it and believe that Someone loves you outrageously.

grow where He plants you

I'm going through my first Kay Arthur study which I'm totally loving. It's her guide on the book of Jeremiah in The New Inductive Study Series (or, the "15-minute homework option" although somehow I've always managed to exceed that time frame. ;) )

I'm currently in Chapter 29 and just had to share this revelation in the hopes that you might be encouraged.

If it's been awhile since you've visited with Jeremiah, here's a little background...he was appointed a prophet by God a couple of decades before Judah was taken into captivity by the Babylonians and continued to prophesy during part of the 70-year captivity.

In this chapter, Jeremiah writes a letter to the exiles in Babylon who were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar to encourage them to settle down, eat, drink and be married and even pray for the prosperity of the city. (Can you imagine praying for the prosperity of the ones who hold you captive?!)

This letter also includes the well-loved "For I know the plans I have for you," passage. This letter overwhelmed me with the love God was showing to His children - the same ones who turned their backs on Him, indulged in idolatry and pretty much reneged on all the promises they made to God back in the days of Moses.

But I'm not sure if many of the people got this part of the message. From indications within this and other chapters, it seemed the people were all about believing God would deliver them quickly (two years sounded  good) from the Babylonians and wanted to squelch any messages contrary to this belief. Let me tell you, God wasn't exactly pleased with these other "prophets." Check out Chapters 28 & 29 if you want to see what happened to them.

And here's what God spoke to me in this...

lettuce growing away from our garden, in front of our garage

If I am in captivity, recognize it and plead to be taken out but find myself still held captive, then I must trust that God has some purpose in it and will deliver me in His timing. I don't believe God allows us to remain in captivity just for captivity's sake - it's kind of hard to picture Him on His throne, rubbing His hands together in glee and exclaiming, "I've got you now my pretty," like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz. It might feel like that, but it isn't the Truth.

What I saw in this letter is God's heart for His children. He does not want us to languish in our captivity. He wants to prosper us. Captivity is a time to grow. Grow how? I think it depends on why were were carried into captivity in the first place.

So if you feel you are in captivity, ask Him for a word that would encourage you in this time. Ask Him to how you how He wants to prosper you. Keep your eyes fixed on Him and the good work He is doing in you and trust He will deliver from your captive state...maybe it will be in this lifetime, maybe it will be when He brings you to be with Him. But keep trusting that He will bring you back.

And if you need prayer in this, leave a comment or email me that we can ask Him for revelation together.

Linking with:

beauty secrets

Although it's Reap to Sow day, I just had to share this...

Often, after washing and drying my hair, I'll put in a few rollers to give these baby fine locks a little "oomph" and leave them in for enough time to get a good set. Which often means I'm walking around the house with rollers on top of my head. (It's kind of mortifying to admit this part of my ready-for-the-day ritual, but for sincerity's sake...)

And it's how I came down to breakfast yesterday morning.

Luke looks up at me and says (earnestly and enthusiastically), "Wow Mom, you look great! You could wear those to church! And you could even shoot bombs from them!"

Yes, Lukie bear, that is exactly what I was thinking too. ;)

(LOL...leave it to a boy to imagine a simple hair roller as an instrument of destruction!)

reap to sow: gleaning from chapters 7 & 8

If you're just joining us (and we're so glad to have you along!), we're taking two chapter per week from the book, The Power of a Positive Mom: Revised Edition by Karol Ladd.

On Mondays we focus on reaping: What are we gleaning, discerning from the reading?

On Fridays we focus on sowing: What actions from the Power Points can we apply in our lives in order to become more positive mothers?

(For a link to previous discussions, please click here.)

In these two chapters, Karol continues her exhortations on prayer and how it contributes to our ability to remain positive. And, of course, because God knew I would be leading the discussions on these two chapters, He's been bringing me to His throne room in prayer multiple times a day. 

Sometimes I'm driven to my knees because I feel at a loss as to how to make my kids without repeating myself over and over and over again or how to encourage them to stop annoying one another (if anyone's discovered the secret to this, I'm all ears :) ). Sometimes it's to ask for direction. Sometimes it's to pray for another. But lately, I've been driven to the place of prayer simply because I have an overwhelming need for the assurance of His presence. 

And that's the beauty of prayer and why I'm grateful Karol dedicated three chapters to it. Ladies, prayer is our life line to God. Without it, we have no outlet strong enough to carry the worries which come with the territory of motherhood (and womanhood, too). With it, we know we can lay everything at His feet and know not only can He handle the weight of the world but He also knows what to do about. Though His way might not exactly be what we had in mind, we have to trust that He knows what He's doing and remember He loves us. 

I'll end with a quote from Chapter 7 - a sentence which could have had my name written above it: "Often we try to figure out what God is up to and why He has allowed certain things to happen. Let's be willing to trust Him, even if we don't understand."

Amen.

I hope to see back here on Friday where we begin to sow...and you know we will reap a harvest from those seeds too! 

through it...again

A couple of weeks ago I shared how God spoke to me through "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" the children's book by Michael Rosen. This time He spoke through "Finding Nemo."

My children have been watching this movie a lot lately. Probably because it's Ben's favorite and the way he asks to watch, "Memo" is incredibly endearing. The other evening, I was only half listening to the movie while working on a project, when the scene where Marlin and Dory face a cloud of murky water came up. Here's the scene from the movie if you want to watch it:

Although what Marlin actually says is "We're just gonna just swim straight," what I heard was, "We're gonna just go through it." (God must have done a voice over in that moment. ;) ).

And again it struck me how God desires to walk through the murkiest of places with us. Like Marlin, I desire to walk the straight and narrow path, and just like Marlin, I get turned around, confused, and keep coming back to that same ol' speck in the water.

But thankfully in this season I am in (God still hasn't revealed exactly what He has me going through, which is why the murky/cloudy image is so fitting), I know that He is there with me. And if I get too off course or stuck for lack of direction, I know He will be there to rescue me and bring me to the place He wants me to go. Even if it's in the shape of a whale.

reap to sow discussion day

If you're just joining us (and we're so glad to have you along!), we're taking two chapter per week from the book, The Power of a Positive Mom: Revised Edition by Karol Ladd.

Courtney is hosting our discussion this week. Please venture over to her blog as she helps us sow what we've reaped from Chapters 5 and 6...

(For a link to previous discussions, please click here.)

a season of sincerity

Blogging is tough. Or rather, blogging when you hope people like what you read and want to keep returning and yet you love the Lord and don't want it to become about the people but want it to be for Him, is tough. (Still with me? ;) )

It's a dilemma I've increasingly faced in these past few months, especially with the increasing presence of stats within blogs, posts and comments. In Bloggers old interface you at least had to click on a button before you saw your stats. With the new interface they appear on screen when you log on. While it can be fascinating to see how many people are reading, what they are reading and where they came from, it brings with it the temptation, for me, to get too focused on the stats. To feel excited or disappointed based on the peaks of the stats tracker graph.

Knowing this, I had begun praying to the Lord about keeping my eyes fixed on Him, online and off. I began to pray for friends and not followers. For authentic connections with others in this virtual world that would blossom into friendships. For reminders to pour into the relationships with my friends who are close to me geographically.

And I feel like He's honoring these prayers in many ways. He's blessed me with a new friend. He's giving me ideas on how to deepen fellowship with my friends here at home. And He's asking me to examine what I share and why I want to share it. I'm deeply grateful for this last part, but it can be a decidedly uncomfortable process at the same time.

I will totally and completely miss the mark at times, getting a little too much of me and not enough of Him, in my writing. But I wanted to share this in the event that you struggle with these same challenges (online or off) so that we might encourage one another to keep pressing on with our eyes fixed on the One who writes and perfects our faith. And I wanted to share it because it goes with the season of sincerity. A season I hope will last a lifetime.