Family

Does Your Life Inspire Others To Soar?

/ Lori Lawe / 3 Comments

Here’s a picture taken just after I completed a triathlon.

I’m the one in the hat. You can also tell which one is me because I’m the one that is “fit looking”. Just sayin’. Well, at least I should say that I’m the one that looks “fitter than I was”. Whatever.

Yes! We are wearing matching shirts! I completed this triathlon as a memorial for my dad, who passed away not long ago, and who inspired us all in physical strength by completing many triathlons.

Leaders inspire others by their examples.

. . . lead them by your own good example says the ancient text

How will our lives inspire others who are watching us, even though we don’t see them looking our way? By our example. Are you awake to who God is calling you to become?

In the last post, we talked about how God often wants to wake us up to His vision for our lives, if our ears are screwed on tight enough to hear Him.

God may be blowing open your expectations of what He can do through your life if you sense any of the following:

1) God is whispering about something you know you could never accomplish on your own strength.

2) God seems to envelop you in love, even for just a moment, or to touch your heart with His invisible love. With Him as the wind, holding up your wings, He can move mountains.

3) God is trying to wake you. He stands next to your bedside, gently nudging you. He picked up your ears off the floor. Will you put them on?

What does He see when He looks at you? Ask Him! If you don’t hear His gentle whisper, continue reading The Message. Every word read helps put a bit more glue on our ears, ever ready to fall off.

How may God be calling you to set an example for others of a life well lived?

Abba, continue to speak in ways that we can finally grasp the truth that You have much, much bigger plans for our lives than we do, with You at the helm, guiding us for Your kingdom purposes. Help us to be able to hear You more clearly, we pray. Keep our ears screwed on tight.

Is Holy Spirit Attempting to Waken You?

/ Lori Lawe / 4 Comments

Yeah, so I might have had a small touch of fear now and then over my lifetime.

OK, let’s admit it. Fear is paralyzing me, my constant friend.

Jesus walks over to me, crouches in the corner next to me, and offers me His arm. It is time to stand. I rise on quaking legs.

He is asking me to run. He hangs back, crouching down low to whisper in my ear as I hide in the fetal position. Time to run, His eyes bid. He gazes in the direction He wants me to travel.

I pull the covers over my head. I am trying to go back to sleep.

Wake, wake, dear one. He whispers. He is shaking me, gently. Wake up.

And so the decision rests in my heart. Will I get up, rub my half-seeing eyes and stand into the new thing that God is calling me to?

Or will I put in earplugs to distance myself from the sound of Jesus’ voice and go back to sleep?

The choice is mine. The choice is yours. What is your heart’s reply?

One day He asked me to run into a cooking adventure. The result freed my daughter from expectations around various diagnoses that tried to pin her down.

One day He threw me into the deep end of the spiritual swimming pool. I awoke more fully with the splash of water and have been swimming more deeply, in a spiritual sense, since that day.

One day He asked me to homeschool, again, another year. This was many years after I thought I would change my apron for a real job, one that actually pays money in exchange for work. A job that is recognized culturally as actually “doing” something worthwhile.

I left my career identity by the side of the road and followed Jesus down a narrower path to homeschool longer, my inexperienced feet aching from the journey of following Him.

I had wanted to go back to sleep then, too. To rest in the comforting mold of what regular people do. Go to work. Put their kids in school.

And yet, maybe He is using our unappreciated homeschooling journeys to bring hope to society.

He woke me again this morning, early. Write, my dear one, write, He whispered.

Are you the one that I am writing for?

Are you, like me, also beginning to wake up?

In your drowsy state, do you sense He is trying to waken you, too?

Are you being awakened to pour more of your life into your children, to grow, grow, grow in hearing His voice, to a creative endeavour, too?

To something else?

If so, welcome to the adventure of a lifetime of following Jesus!

He walks ahead of you, bidding you to follow.

Will you trust Him enough to join Him on His journey for your life?

If we can leave our fear behind, the journey is exhilarating.

This is what God says . . . “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? The Message

Holy Spirit, help us to be able to hear You when You call us to a new thing. May we be brave enough to follow You. After a few moments of quietly listening for the voice of God as the song below plays, ask Jesus, “What direction do you want me to travel in this next season? What needs to be left behind?”

Lawe Christmas Letter 2022

/ Lori Lawe / 11 Comments

So, I posted the Lawe Christmas letter here to benefit my readers. Wait – I only have one reader, I think, in addition to my oldest daughter, but … details! …details! We can become overburdened these days with details!

Now, most homeschooling moms are looking forward to sitting on the couch with some vodka by December. No, don’t get me wrong! I MEANT a tiny splash of rum in our Christmas eggnog! I am always misunderstood!

Anyway, it would have been preferable to have one of those lovely family Christmas photos – you know where everyone is wearing those matching red hats, but who has time to book a photographer, coordinate crazy schedules, etc.?

This photo will have to do. We took it tonight impromptu. Sure, some of us MAY be in costume attire but this is what we look like. From left: Esther, Kyah, me, Andy. Come to think of it, elf suits may have been a slight improvement.

In past years, we included memorable quotes from various family members in our Christmas letters. Enjoy!

Quotes about Me

Me: “Where do you want to be in five years?” Andy: “Where you are…!!!” (Oh!!) Kyah: “And I can help you up the stairs” Will we functionally be 100-year-olds in a mere 5 years, I wondered?

Andy: “I like it when you talk” Me: “What??”…(!!!) Andy: “Well, most of the time.”

Quotes about Andy

Andy: “Next June, I will be 50. We should have a massive party.” Andy remembered that we had a big 1990s party for him when he turned 30. Andy, continued, “We can have another 1990s party! We can wear . . . jeans and . . . all the clothes I wear now…” … “and we can listen to … all the music I still listen to now”

Andy: In the shower, calling out, “Hey! Where’s my soap??!!” Me: Calling back, “Oh sorry! Kyah carved it into a turtle and entered it in the fall fair yesterday!”

Quotes about Esther

Esther:” I feel so much older now that I am seventeen. It’s a big difference from being sixteen or fifteen or fourteen. I don’t know why. Do you think it’s because seventeen has an extra syllable?”

Esther to me: “Whenever I make my hair look like yours, I get compliments. Whenever I wear your clothes, I get compliments.” Me thinking: I’m not completely out of date yet!!!

Quotes About Kyah

Kyah: “I’ve had a pretty good day so far.” Time: 7:13am

Lunch was mentioned. Kyah: “Mmm…lunch!” What she was doing – eating breakfast!

Kyah was having an in-depth zoom discussion with budding philosophers about Easter. Suddenly a shrill 10-year-old voice from Pennsylvania emanated from the computer, “Well, I think the Easter bunny should go to hell because . . .” An impassioned speech followed. Lots of great learning and critical thinking in progress. May need a bit more work on theology!

Kyah: “You are the best Mom.” Me: “Well thank you, Kyah, but I don’t think that’s true.” Kyah: “No one is perfect but you are the best Mom for me.”

And so we may not be perfect, but we are the best people that God put in our lives for each other. I know that’s true with your family and friends, too!

Merry Christmas!

The Lawes

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What are your family’s favorite quotes from 2022? Please share funny or deep thoughts below. We are drinking our eggnog and waiting for you!