I’m mad at you! At all of you with a child over seventeen years old who left home! I hate you all! Why didn’t you tell me it would be this hard to say goodbye when they left for college!?
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Join people in fifty-eight countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
At church this weekend, thirty people turned away from their old lives and chose to embrace a new life of following Jesus.
Yup. Thirty new people of all ages and socio-economic classes. And the normal size of that church is about 150 people.
That’s a shocking amount of growth in just one week.
What happened?
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
Well, we (about twenty-four of us plus about 10 visitors from the United Kingdom) put down our iPads and buckets of ice cream, which is how we all normally spend our Saturdays, and instead struck up conversations with strangers. We spent about half an hour per day doing this over three days.
Instead of a pie in the face, we were shocked by the incredibly warm reception we received.
“A couple of Christians stopped to help us after my brother was hit by a car right here at this intersection,” one stranger named Mark told us in the first two minutes. He gratefully and lovingly recalled the care shown to him by the Christians. Mark continued, “Then the Christians got mad at the person who drove right by without stopping, yelling, ‘Hey! Slow down! Why don’t you stop? Can’t you see this person needs help?’ ”
Mark continued with his story, “Yah. Those Christians were loving and fierce at the same time. No matter how the movies portray Christians, they’re awesome!” I stood up a little straighter.
I’ve never met this guy, and he already likes me!
“Hey, why don’t we pray for you?” I offered Mark. I probably looked exactly like Ned Flanders right then, eager and sincere (in fact, I usually look just like that!), but I didn’t care just then!
“No thanks, I’m fine. Thanks for the offer!” He waved, and we parted, friends. “Wow! People like us!” I thought.
I didn’t even know that people liked me!
And with another stranger named Joel, his blue eyes pierced my soul as my husband gently assured him that Jesus loved him, after Joel unburdened his heart in the first five minutes of conversation. “No, thanks, not right now,” Joel continued. He didn’t want to commit to becoming a Jesus follower right then1, but our hearts shared some love and some joy on that street, rather than the glance before sweeping past each other, as is the normal custom among strangers.
Why not share our hearts, our joy, and our excitement about following Jesus on a journey with a few others?
Oh! And Jesus healed two people as we prayed for them in Jesus’ name, as well, which was also pretty cool. But that story is for another time. (It turns out that realizing that Jesus has given us authority to heal others in his name cracks open a bit more of the gift of healing he offers to all who love Him. That’s also sort of a bit awesome.)
And so after a few of us put our phones away for that half hour three times that week, and Oh – after we purged our own demons from our souls in prayer and lovingly listened to each other and prayed for each other just before hitting the streets (That’s another story) – a bunch of new people joined us at the church that Saturday night, to have a little taste of God.
Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see – how good God is.
It turns out that when we shave away the extra stuff we add to Jesus, people are actually super hungry for the food Jesus offers.
Who knew!
Hey! Got time for church? Top tip: Don’t look for a church BUILDING but a church COMMUNITY.
Find one that is learning together, to find and to eat the food of love He offers to satisfy the soul, and then ask them for a bite! Because when we do this, and try to love each other and those around us, well, Hey! Heaven breaks out sometimes!
Like it did that Saturday night, as many of us took to dancing during one of the praise songs to Jesus. Why not? We have been set free!
We might as well dance!
And that’s when about thirty more people2, most of them plucked off the streets and invited inside after half an hour or less of conversation, experienced the love of God.
And they will never be the same.
And neither will we.
As the song below sings, “We cry out for revival,” consider asking God if the cost of “pure hearts” (I.e., forgiving the IDIOTS in your church and family that you know, for example) is a price worth paying for spiritual revival in this season?
(It may just be.)
Oh!
AND having a cool place to go after you die is another awesome reason to pick up the phone when God calls you!3
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Church is Cool! (Who Knew?) by Vince Fleming on Unsplash
1 We realized later that Joel DID want to become a follower of Jesus right then, but we misunderstood his French accent. Sorry about that, Joel! Better luck next time you pour out your heart to strangers, wherever you are in the world, friend Joel!
2 We have a picture of them, but I didn’t include it here because not everyone wants to be associated with my online writing for some reason! But please! I don’t ALWAYS say funny things about my friends and family online! “Have a bit of trust!” is what I told them!
My last post definitely proved that I am a good mother!
If that weren’t enough proof, check out this mug my daughter purchased for me!1
And now that I have established my authority as an excellent mom, let me tell you what I learned about becoming a slightly better Mom!
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Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
So previously I talked about the day that our child received the diagnoses of:
So clearly, the night skies weren’t predicting clear skies and smooth sailing for this child. These diagnoses were the first true storm that woke us up to trouble ahead. Up until that day, we thought our growing feeling of seasickness was due more to our own queasy stomachs than to the ominous, ongoing waves of the sea that were making us feel unwell.
Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
I was devastated by these diagnoses in all honesty. Our beautiful, kind daughter, the one who tried so hard, loved so completely, and who still had her whole life in front of her, seemed to be in a fog most of the time.
We tried to wake her up with “Enrichment Activities” the experts recommended when she was a baby, but she still slept for 20 hours a day, piling up her milestones behind her while she slept.
It seemed that the horizon of her future would be truncated and shorter than the full expanse that we hope for each of our children.
What now? We were ushered into the new world of “Autism and Special Education” appointments with experts, which were like annoying fire alarms set into our otherwise peaceful homeschooling days. Having fun quietly playing a board game with a sibling?
“TOO BAD! You HAVE to go to X appointment RIGHT Now!”
Sometimes, often, she would scream in protest at these new, unwelcome interruptions, but I would force her into the car, strap her seatbelt so she couldn’t resist, and drive away, my supermom cape trailing behind me as I drove.
“Experts knew best!” I reminded myself as I drove! Except when they don’t. And they usually don’t in these situations.
But that’s for another time.
Got a stomach that can handle some seasickness, friend? Maybe take some Gravol for the seasickness before you read on. There.
Are you feeling better?
And now let’s sit for a bit by the seaside before we decide to board that boat together. The journey I am suggesting will require learning some sailing skills and building our physiques. Up for a challenge?
If so, what challenge or storm has surprised you on your journey?
Let’s sit here by the ocean, friend, and ask God for your next steps.
And so, how do we find the path through your storm?
As the song below plays, imagine that Jesus is right next to you. He is! Smile at this knowledge! Do you feel your soul relax? As you ponder the lyrics, “You are the peace in my troubled sea,” or “Your great love will lead me through,” consider sitting in the quiet for a few minutes and asking Jesus, “How can I stand behind You, and then row this boat ashore, with You guiding and directing, to help us sail through this storm?”
And I pray that God leads you through your storm, friend, as you listen closely to Him guiding you.
The journey is a thing, but you’ve got this, holding the hand of the one who walks with us on raging seas and sometimes even calming the seas raging in our lives. Oh! And our child was healed of the negative challenges associated with all of these diagnoses.
But I’ll have to tell you that story another time.
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Some Storms May Look Like This by Marcus Woodbridge on Unsplash
She was a shell.
She was skinny and sickly, often lost in her little world. Her stomach racked her in pain. Friends were elusive.
She was unhappy, never having (even once!) exploded in childhood giggles that should have been her right.
My husband and I oscillated between worry and confidence that she would grow out of “this.” One of us, either he or I, carried the ball of fear for this child. The ball of concern never went away.
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Join people in over fifty countries who read this! (What? Hey, I don’t know why they read this, either! I think it’s because I’m cool.)
If we’re honest, like I am all the time, we sometimes feel (a bit!) lost or directionless in the fishbowl of life.
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The amaryllis opened its two enormous blossoms this week, just before Easter, revealing pink and white splendor and raising the scent profile of the room to a higher level.
And I am that Amaryllis.
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Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
We are serving up some previously published articles for you to feast on this week, while our family is on spring break.1
Goodbye, winter!
Hello, flowers in Victoria, Canada! Enjoy some of this site’s top articles from around this time last year.2 And may these articles help you stride confidently through life!
(As usual.)
Yeah, so I might have had a slight touch of fear now and then over my lifetime.
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Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
The sun peeked through the darkness.
The storm was lifting. Hope filled the air along with the fresh scent of life, stirring, awakening with the rain. It was a new season.
Today.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
I stretched, removed the covers from my bed and sat up, looking around me blankly. What would this new day, this new season bring, now that this storm was lifting, I wondered? I poured my coffee and asked these questions of God, and his whisperings startled me.
There is so much in my life that He is longing to awaken. How about in yours?
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
And how do we awaken, if we, like Sleeping Beauty, have been spiritually resting for a few years?
Try this: As the song below plays1 and as you sit with your morning coffee, pondering this new day or this new season, what stirrings in the dry soil of your heart, of seeds coming to life, do you sense?
Oh! And she sings of repentance in this song, but I wouldn’t recommend THAT or anything! In my humble opinion, there doesn’t seem to generally be any need to travel down any spiritual path as far as repentance would take us.
Please!
I definitely recommend turning back and hanging out with the rest of us who don’t want to walk THAT far! And anyway, the part of the song about repentance doesn’t apply to me, thankfully! (It may, however, apply to you, of course.)
True repentance [is] not merely . . . sorrow over sin, but . . . a “sweet sorrow” arising from a new, awakened delight in the beauty of God.2
John Piper – Desiring God
PS – I’m not sure exactly what John is talking about here, but it sounds deep, and it seems to fit, so I thought I would include it!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credits Me! (Except I Look Different) by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash, Is That Hope? by Etienne Boulanger on Unsplash, No! That’s NOT God Speaking! That’s Steam! by Clay Banks on Unsplash
1 She’s a little serious in this song. You’ll want to offer her a cookie and tell her, “Hey, Lady! Relax a bit!” (At least I do.) The point is that it’s good to wake up spiritually. She gets that part, so we can at least learn that bit from her!
2 And may you awake a little more with each poke repentance gives our sleeping form, friend.
I looked out my window that day and saw something surprising in our overgrown “flower” patch.
This flower was so entangled in the weeds that I had to cut back the surrounding greenery to snap a photo.
I knew God was speaking through this flower and will explain why soon. But I also wondered, “What are You saying?” I felt confused, which is usually how I feel when Holy Spirit seems to be nudging.
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Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
Restoring Life 