THE "LEMONADE" STAND

Are you sure you know what you're getting?

 I was driving down our street one scorching day and saw a familiar-looking makeshift stand being manned by an ambitious looking 8-year old.  "25 CENTS" read the colorful sign taped to the table.  

I pulled over, handed over my shiny quarter, and the happy young lady handed me a cup of the cold stuff.

Notice I didn't actually say it was lemonade.  But then again, neither did she.  I just assumed it would be.

And I assumed incorrectly.

I got back into my car and took a sip.  Let's just say it wasn't quite as *lemony* as I was expecting.  It tasted like, well, nothing.

That's because it was water.  Just good old, run of the mill tap water that had been chilled in a glass pitcher. 

3 ounces of water in exchange for my 25 cents.  Not exactly what I was expecting.  I mean, no, the girl hadn't ever told me I would be getting lemonade.  It wasn't like the sign said that's what was for sale.  I just made some very wrong assumptions about what I was going to get out of this exchange.

At that point I chalked it up to making a little girl's day by stopping by her cool (albeit kind of misleading) "water stand."  That was certainly worth a quarter.  

But I feel like there have been other times in my life when I have made some pretty stupid exchanges because of what I thought I would get out of the deal.  I think we've all made trades or even allowed lines to blur because of what we believed we would gain from the exchange.  

It's why so many high school girls give themselves away in exchange for the love they hope they'll gain.  They allow lines to blur because they believe it will cement the relationship. Of course, anyone who has actually walked this road knows that more often than not, it leads to the disintegration of the relationship.  And the girl is left holding a cup of loneliness and rejection.

It's why so many married men and women let their eyes wander over to what isn't theirs.   They believe there is something else, something more, something better than what exists at home.  But when their feet begin to walk where their eyes have first gone, they're eventually left holding a cup full of the devastation of their homes and families.   I doubt anyone would make that exchange if they could first get a glimpse of what they would actually get in the trade.  

As surely as I believe there is a God who loves us, I believe there is one whose sole intent is to deceive us--to get us to make these trades by having us believe we'll get something worth it in exchange for the cost we will pay.  

And it's nothing new.  Esau literally traded his birthright as the firstborn son FOR A BOWL OF SOUP.  And while I can think that's a pretty stupid trade, he's not alone in his foolishness.  You and I can be pretty motivated by our own thirsts and hungers.  But when we bow to them, we often end up with little more than an empty bowl, or a cup of disappointment.  
 
Father, help us!  The exchanges we are willing to make are just plain foolish sometimes.  Protect us when we are tempted to trade valuable things for what we think we will gain.  Flood our minds with wisdom and insight, and make us wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  In Your Son's name, Amen. 

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Isaiah 55:2

FIGHT FOR THE FRUIT

 So...how shall I say this...I do not have docile children.  
I have a "spirited son" and a "determined daughter."

As a teacher I've gotten to know a lot of personalities and I always singled out the super-compliant, mild-mannered ones and said, "I hope I have a son just like him" or "I hope my little girl is just like her."

It didn't go that way.  

Because mixed in with the joy and fun of raising up these two little ones has been a heck of a lot of hustle.  Battles.  Prayers.  Redirections.  Even tears (mine, y'all). 

One day about a year ago I found myself worn. the. heck. out.  Because to know me well means to know I am very long-term minded when it comes to my children, even praying often for their future spouses and for their children and grandchildren.  My descendants, beginning with Trev and Liley, are prayed up, and I want them marinating in truth.  So if I was doing something I believed really mattered, then why wasn't I seeing much evidence that what I was doing mattered at all?  I found myself crying out to God for some encouragement.  And I heard the words,

"You're going to have to fight for the fruit."

Fight for the fruit.  Those words have stayed with me this past year and have given me so much encouragement--but also preparation for the road that awaits.  Because what this word told me was:

1. I've got a fight ahead.  This is a battle and I need to be on my knees on behalf of my children.  I need to arm them with the Word of God and declare who they are in Christ and who God is in each of their lives. Because every bit as much as there is a God who fashioned my son and daughter in His likeness, there is one who seeks harm and an end for this legacy, and we battle against the one who seeks to steal, kill and destroy.  You can bet that's a battle I am going to fight!

2.  There will be fruit.  Hallelujah, there WILL be fruit!  Fruit from the conversations about consideration.  Fruit from all those Bible stories read.  Fruit from the warnings and words of blessing.  Fruit from ALL those 3am prayers I have spoken over my children as they sleep.  Fruit sprouted from lives steeped in truth!

I am blessed to have that precious, spirited boy and that steadfast, determined little girl.  God made them with great intention and purpose, and He will undoubtedly use their passion and tenacity for His glory.  They are worth the fight, because we will YET see the fruit that is to come from their God-established lives.

But you know what?  I'm seeing some of that fruit even now.   

 Train up a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not depart from it.  

PROVERBS 22:6

Lifting up those who too are fighting for the fruit!

STUCK...

"My finger's stuck in the drain, Mommy," Liley called.

Ah, the first clue our Sunday night wasn't going to go as planned.

We tried helping our 4 year-old
pull her finger out, but no luck.  Justin had to unscrew the drain from the shower floor.  

We kept trying various tricks, including trying to actually cut the drain off her finger.  When that didn't work, her brother wrapped a "God will be with you" bracelet around her wrist, I scooped her up with the drain still attached to her hand, and we headed for the ER.  

Thankfully, they got us in quickly (Apparently when you have something hanging unnaturally off your body, you get bumped up to "Priority") and multiple doctors worked to get that thing off her finger, which by this time was becoming increasingly swollen and purple.  

Finally, finally, they got it off--just in time, they said.  We sat there for about a half hour while they iced her hand down and tried to ease the pain with an orange popsicle.  

Eventually, Liley's smile began to return (probably about the time the heavy duty dose of Tylenol kicked in).  But her finger looked like a miniature version of the Michelin man perched atop her hand!  Her poor little finger bears the marks of being somewhere it shouldn't have been. 

When we got home late that night, Justin made a comment that really struck me:

"I think I could have gotten her finger out if I had gotten to it before it began to swell."

All day today I've been thinking about "swollen" scenarios--Moments in our lives when we begin to cross a line or go somewhere we're not meant to go.  And in those initial moments, it's really not that difficult to get out--as long as we do so quickly.

But when we linger, when we camp out a little too long, it's like a swelling takes place in our hearts.  And the more swollen our hearts become in those places, the harder it is to extricate ourselves from them.

I know.  Because there have been times when I've gotten myself into circumstances with red flags waving everywhere, and I quickly backed out.  But I've also failed to flee at times and found it pretty tough to back out, because a swelling had already taken place in my heart.

Father, I feel You speaking on this one, perhaps not only to me.  If we are in situations in which our heart will eventually swell, leaving us just plain STUCK, please give us strength to back out quickly.  Give us grace to flee before a wrong place becomes a place we can't get out of.  And for those STUCK, strengthen them to turn to You for the help they'll need to get out.    

You redeem my life from the pit 

and crown me with love and compassion.

Psalm 103:5

 

NAME THE MOUNTAINS

You don't have to pretend there aren't any mountains in the way...Sometimes you actually need to name them.

A few months ago I had just started developing an event to get people to open up their Bibles.  And--for the love--nothing seemed to be coming together!

After two solid months, I had nothing to show for all my nose-to-the-grindstone work.  Nothing.  

I was a tad discouraged.  And by "a tad" I mean "hopelessly."  After weeks of wading through this season, I was driving home from work one day and heard the Holy Spirit whisper something to me...

"NAME THE MOUNTAINS."

"What's that, now?"

"NAME. THE. MOUNTAINS."

"But don't You KNOW the mountains?  Why do I have to name them?" I wondered.  But then I remembered the times in the Word when Jesus asked, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  He even asked a blind man--and honestly, it seems it would be fairly obvious what a blind man would want from Jesus.

But in that moment I realized that sometimes we are to say what we need or declare what's in the way, not because He isn't aware--but because we need to acknowledge the lack, the need, and the obstacles and ask our able God to do something about them. 

And so I opened my mouth and did just that.

"I don't have a name for this event.  I don't have a date on the calendar for it.  No worship leader.  No speaker.  Multiple people have asked me, 'Who would buy a ticket for that?' Want me to keep going?!?"

I had named the mountains.  And then came the written-on-my-heart response:

"NO. None of that is true.  There IS a name for this--you just don't know it yet.  I already know the date this will happen, even if you don't.  I haven't yet revealed to you who I already know will be the worship leader, and you don't yet know whom I have in store to speak.  But you do have a name, a date, a worship leader, and a speaker.  And I'll reveal each one of these when it's time."

I kid you not, all of that was poured into my heart in the 30 seconds it took me to drive past the little airport on McCollum Parkway.   

A week later, the name came.  GodBreathed.

2 weeks later, the location came.  The Rock Barn, in Canton, Georgia.

3 weeks later, we prayerfully chose the date:  October 6th.  And this date literally paved the way for the next two pieces of the puzzle:

The worship leader.  Carlos Whittaker heard about GodBreathed and shared a heart for the vision behind this event.  A while back I started following Carlos on Instagram and kept seeing photos of Scripture in his feed--and a few months later, he came on board to lead us in worship at GodBreathed.  Amazing.

The Bible teacher.  Bianca Juarez Olthoff, who is not only absolutely darling, but a gifted communicator of truth to boot, also bought into the vision for GodBreathed--and has agreed to come and teach from the Word.  

As someone who stood and saw nothing but MOUNTAIN AFTER MOUNTAIN, today I'm opening registration on what I believe to be a God-established movement toward revival rooted in the Word of God.  All glory, praise, and thanks to the God who made a way for this. 

He asked me to name the mountains--And then He moved them.    

No need to deny the mountains and pretend they aren't there.  Go ahead...name them.

And then watch God move them.  

* Announcing--by the grace of provision of God--

GodBreathed ~ A Word and Worship Experience.

Check out our Eventbrite page to register!

 

 

HONEST ENOUGH

Are you honest?  And not just about the big stuff, but in the little things?

A few days ago I was at the grocery store and they failed to ring up not one, but TWO of my items.  My total seemed a bit low, but I assumed it was because of coupons and sale prices.

I was all the way out to my car before I realized I'd indeed been undercharged.  

I knew if I got into my car and left, I would sidestep the inconvenience of walking back into the store and getting things squared away at customer service.  Not to mention I'd be paying for two items that sat in my trunk even though I hadn't had to pay a dime for either.

No matter the inconvenience or expense.  I went into the store and paid the $3.74 for the two items.  In that moment there was just something in me that felt if I can justify being dishonest in the small things, it just becomes too easy to be dishonest in the big things.  

Now, before I have you thinking I deserve some medal for honesty, I have a confession to make.  Earlier that very same day I did something dishonest.

I didn't order a soda of my own at lunch, but I ended up feeling thirsty and shared a refillable soda with my husband.  

It know it wasn't some elaborate scheme I'd been plotting for weeks--I just ended up drinking some soda for which I really didn't pay.  And I know the soda police didn't show up and cart me off to jail or anything, but that's beside the point.  

It comes down to this:  I want to be honest--not just "honest enough."  I want to be truthful through and through, maintaining integrity even when it costs or inconveniences me.

It's why we report ALL of my income, even when I'm paid in cash. 

It's why I am mindful not to even bend the truth.  Not even a little.

It's why I walked back into that store to pay for those two items.   
 
And I want to do it in the small things.

Because all the small things are just practice for the big things.

God, let Your Holy Spirit prick our hearts when we aren't doing what is right--even if it's small, even if it'll probably go unnoticed.  Our HEARTS are at stake here.  We want to stand blameless and upright before you.  
 
 

OUT FROM UNDER ALL OF THIS

Feeling confined by your spouse? Kids?  Job?  Feeling trapped?  Wish you didn't have to answer to anyone?

Welcome.  I'm glad you're here.

I'm all about this new show called "Beyond Scared Straight." It chronicles a handful of teens who are raging against the various authorities in their lives, getting into trouble, and therefore spending a day behind bars to see where their current path will eventually lead them.  And, without fail, their pre-interviews contain some variation of this sentence:

"Nobody's gonna tell me what to do."  

And then they sit in a prison for a whole day listening to inmates tell them how it REALLY is.  

"I don't get to sleep in anymore.  Now I am told at 5:30 that I WILL get up.  I am then told to take a 2-minute cold shower, put on an uncomfortable jumpsuit, told when to go the bathroom.  I'm then told to sit in a cell for hours until the next thing they tell me to do.  I don't get to go to my refrigerator when I'm hungry to get something that sounds good.  I'm told I have 8 minutes to eat the disgusting crap they put on my plate, and if I'm not done in 8 minutes, too bad--nobody cares--I go hungry.  The lights go out at 8pm, even though I'm not tired.  I am told what to do literally all day long." 

Kind of a far cry from "Nobody's going to tell me what to do."

And yet I doubt we're much different than these.  Because I think there's something in me and in you that bristles at being told what to do.  Accountability kind of bites sometimes, to be honest.  And we begin to perceive freedom as being out from underneath the things and the people to whom we're accountable.

But the unexpected happens when we wriggle out from underneath accountable relationships:  That's precisely when the fetters tighten around our wrists and the prison door slams shut on us.  Because pursuing "freedom" outside of God's design always brings bondage of some sort. 

The mom who resents her family for whom she's sacrificed may find herself wanting out.  But the "freedom" she envisions for herself will actually include working incessantly to afford an additional mortgage or rent payment, the lack of freedom to tuck her kids in at night, and the bondage of a possibly irretrievably broken relationship with her children.  

The man who wishes he could tell off his boss and be rid of him once and for all?   The "freedom" he envisions includes phone calls from the mortgage company saying, "I don't care how much you hated your boss--You owe us money."

Wow. "Freedom" sounds fabulous.  

If you're finding yourself hungry to be free right now, and if your desire for what you perceive to be freedom is having you considering abruptly quitting a job, breaking vows, or slipping out from underneath authority that God has established...would you take a moment to just pause before you pursue?  Will you please, please, on-your-face PRAY for wisdom to understand how God defines freedom?

He says His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  We don't have to try and escape out from under what we consider to be our burdens when He has already asked to trade yokes with us.

His path is not one of confinement--and if we're thinking that something God has made or joined together is confining, then we are thinking wrongly about it.  Period.  "I RUN in the paths of Your commands, for You have set my heart free" (Psalm 119:32).  

Freedom never comes out from underneath what God has given or established.

And when we try to find freedom outside of His ways, that's when freedom evaporates.  Prison doors slam.  Chains tighten around us.


JESUS, do not allow us to be deceived by the lie that freedom is found apart from You.  Please, give us strength to STOP before trying to wriggle out from under what You have established! 

I AM...BUT I ALMOST WASN'T

You're here.  But what if you weren't?

There almost wasn't a "Me." 

Years ago my mom was pregnant with another child, but miscarried.  And if not for the loss that my mom would never have voluntarily chosen, she wouldn't have gotten pregnant with me.  I was conceived in the time when she still would have been carrying her other child.

So God began the task of knitting me together in the depths.  But then at my birth, the cord was wrapped dangerously around my neck three times, threatening both my mom and me.  And yet God's hand was on us, sustaining our lives.


I think of how my children almost weren't.  My daughter's story is just like mine--she came to us shortly after the miscarriage of my second son.  If not for the loss I know I wouldn't have ever chosen at the time, my sweet Liley wouldn't be here. But that wasn't all; I was also reminded recently that an unexpected and tragic loss made a way for my husband--and therefore our children--to be. 


I can't help thinking that there have been a few different things just in the last 2 generations alone that could have made things go very differently.  But God made a way for us--for all four of us--to exist. Wow.


And He's been doing this all along.  I think of the protections and provisions God made for His Son Jesus to be born of the house and line of David.  First, the stature-challenged David went toe to toe with the massive Goliath--and God made a way for David's victory (and therefore the preservation of David's life)! But the threats to David's life didn't stop there.  Later on, King Saul felt threatened by this young man after God's own heart, and "kept a jealous eye on David" (1 Samuel 18:9).  King Saul made plans to kill David, but God used Jonathan--Saul's own son--to protect David and preserve his life.  And the ramifications of this were huge: Generations later, the Messiah was born of the line of David. 

So what's YOUR story?  Maybe it was the grandparents that almost didn't marry, the life-threatening situation, or a loss that paved the way for your presence.  Consider that God SO wanted you to be here that He made a way for it to be so--preserving and protecting  the generations that would one day produce YOU!  Rick Warren wrote about the powerful notion that God knew exactly which two people had the DNA that would make YOU--and He joined them together so that you could be.  Indescribable glory!  I'm blown away even to think of how God joined this California girl with a Boston boy, and that we have two Georgia peaches of our own.  Amazing. :)


The ordering of steps.  The preservation of life.  It's all one tremendous miracle!  If you're reading this, know that God made a way for you.  I know.  Because I almost wasn't.  

And yet here I am.

Thank You for making a way for us, Father.  Thank You for carving out our place in the midst of the generations.  Preserve our children's lives and join them with the ones You see fit to be joined to them, that the generations may continue as You will.  We love You for being a great and omniscient God.  It is AWESOME to know You have planted us and established us to display Your splendor (Isaiah 61).  

THE PRESSING PLACE

"Sometimes you'll find yourself in a pressing place which will try everything in you.  

It's there that your praise and testimony are produced."

Hope for the hurting is this: That being squeezed out of these heartbreaking days is your TESTIMONY--your future proclamations that God came through.

To those in a pressing place:  Remain in Him and you will YET praise Him and declare how awesome and faithful and good He is.  I think of ones dear to me who are hurting right now through no fault of their own, and I can literally ENVISION their future praise of the God who will redeem the rivers of devastation they're wading in.  And maybe He won't come through in the way we're hoping, but it's not the end of things.  Because He WILL come through in a way of surpassing greatness. 

For those suffering, confidence is fitting--not because your circumstances will necessarily change--but because as brutal as today feels, there are days of praise ahead.  You will YET see fit to praise the God who is carving glory out of your current pain.  Your future declarations of His faithfulness are being juiced out of junk you really wish you weren't going through right now.   

I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD.  Be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:13-14

THE NINE COMMANDMENTS (and The One Suggestion)

There are nine commandments...right?


Sometimes I live as though that's the case.  Honor thy father and mother?  Absolutely.  Do not murder? Um, check. 

But "Keep the Sabbath"...what's that?

Church and laundry and tutoring preparations and vacuuming and cooking and grocery shopping--this is how I spend my Sundays.  Doubt I'm alone in that, either.


I very rarely honor the Sabbath.  I hardly ever carve out a day of rest.  Do you?


And yet it is one of the commands of God that is to be honored and obeyed as much as the others.  Look at the owners of Chick-fil-A:  The Cathy family decided in the beginning that they would close every Sunday in honor of the Sabbath.  They've been told how much money they could be making if they would only operate 7 days a week like everyone else--but they haven't taken the bait.  Let it cost what it may, they have chosen to take a day of rest for themselves and their employees.  


I'm posting this early on in the week because there are things I can do all week in preparation for and protection of the Sabbath.  Putting in a bit more time in tutoring prep throughout the week.  Meal planning for the weekend.  Doing an extra load or two of laundry so it's done and back in drawers before Sunday.  


What needs to happen Monday through Saturday in order for Sunday to be a day consecrated and set apart for the LORD?  Do you struggle with keeping the Sabbath?


I'm just thinking that if God set this command alongside the ones He did, it's probably worth our attention--and obedience.

After all--they're not called "The Nine Commandments And One Suggestion."

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.  On it you shall not do any work...for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

THE UNWORTHY FRENCH FRIES

Sure, I'm a girl who's all about organic yogurt, cage free eggs, sprouted grain bread, and spinach smoothies.  But MAN, do I love a good McDonald's french fry!

On the rare occasion I do get them, though, I never eat them all. I always leave a few behind.

Some of them are unworthy. 


You know the soft, wonderful fries?  Totally worth the occasional splurge.  But those crunchy, pointy-edged ones?  They're not worthy of the amount of the calories they'll take up from my daily allotment. I mean, really--I only get so many calories a day.  Girl can't waste those things on unworthy fries!

In the same way, I also feel a sense of accountability for the ways I spend my life.  And the God-given gift of conviction comes when I choose to spend my time in unworthy ways.


All too often I use up a whole precious hour watching some show I don't even care about.


Other times I pay for an hour doing random stuff online with the very 60 minutes I could have spent with my family.


And too often I let really unworthy things consume my daily allotment of time that was given to me so that I could be busy about things that are lasting. 


I really don't want to live an "Unworthy Fries" kind of life.  I have an allotment of time--determined by God and unknown by me--and I want to make it count.  


What most threatens your time?  What are the unworthy things that contend for a spot in your day?  And what worthy things don't get to be in the mix because of the unworthy things that have consumed that time?


LORD God, Your Word says our lives are just a vapor--here today, gone tomorrow.  Let Your Holy Spirit lovingly convict us when we fritter away our days with unworthy things.  Point out to us the specific things that are using up our allotment of time unwisely. You say the days are evil...drenched with opportunities to drift, and we don't want that. We want to live to bring You glory.  We are here for YOU! -- This abundant life is not for our own pleasures and comforts, although You are gracious to provide those things when You do.  Remind us right now that TODAY is one of our numbered days.  This day isn't practice for the next thing we await--today IS the thing.  Keep us faithful, obedient, and pure.  Keep us considerate of the worthiness of the things that are eating up our days.  We love You and want to honor You with our time! 

Be very careful how you live--

not as unwise but as wise, 

making the most of every opportunity,

because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15-16

THANK YOU, SHOE LADY

Somebody needs you to do something. A specific something. 

The shoe lady did it for me, and it meant everything.

Somebody is DESPERATE for you to do it for them.  In fact, somebody's day, week, or month is hanging on whether or not you'll do it.

Someone needs you to ENCOURAGE them.

Last week we took our son to get some new shoes for the upcoming school year.  As we were leaving, the shoe saleswoman took me aside and said, "Your children are really polite.  I don't see enough of that and I just wanted to tell you you're doing a great job with them."

I almost hugged her in the middle of LLBean.  Like, we're talking a hug with a leg wrap.  With those simple words, Nancy the shoe lady was pretty much my favorite person ever!  

Why did a comment like that mean so much?

Because I was DESPERATE for a word of encouragement--specifically in regards to parenting.  A day or two earlier I was up at night sobbing my eyes out, feeling like I was failing as a mom.  Feeling like I was getting it wrong.  Feeling worthless and ineffective in the very area I want more than anything to get right.

I needed those words.  I mean, I really really needed them.  But it required a woman taking an extra 30 seconds out of her life to share them with me for me to have what meant so much to me that day.


When did you last go out of your way to encourage someone?  


To let someone know how much you look up to them/respect them/love them/appreciate them/get them?


To pass along a compliment you heard about them?  I mean, let's be honest: A lot of times people will say great things ABOUT someone but never get around to saying great things TO them.  And that just means that the ones who most need to hear, often never do.  What a loss!

Will you do it today?  Pick up the phone, send a tweet or Facebook message, drop a card in the mail, fill out a comment card for that great employee at the store, let a manager know of exceptional service, drop off a treat and kind note to the grumpy neighbor, or just let someone know they came to mind. And, last but certainly not least, it's pretty important to be lavish in encouraging the ones under our same roof!

So are you in?  Let me know how you encouraged someone!  Can't wait to read what encouragement looked like in your life today. :)

* Many thanks to my stepmother Peggy, who is ridiculously good at encouraging and an amazing role model in this area, and Christine Niles, an awesome woman and friend who goes out of her way to serve others in encouragement!

Encourage one another DAILY, 

as long as it is still called today, 

so that none of you may be hardened

by sin's deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:13

THE WEEKLY SIX - July 5

 *MOMENTS OF LEVITY AND CLARITY*

1. Sometimes you have to put the camera down.  Yesterday I was so intent on capturing special moments of our family watching the fireworks that I was actually MISSING the very moments I was trying to capture.  I set the camera down, snuggled up with the little one on my lap, and realized there was no way I was going to need a photograph to remember those moments.  Father, help me to savor--rather than just try to save--these moments.

2. Auto-correct was created to make life funny--I'm convinced of it!  I had my parents very confused and thinking I'd run off to the northwest when I texted "Today has been so restful" and my phone corrected "Today" as "Idaho."

3. Perspective matters. Our water heater broke recently, and we had no hot water for nearly a week. But we were mindful that we were blessed to still GET TO take cold showers. And we were thankful this happened in June, not January!

4. Circumstances can shout whatever they wish at us. But confidence in Almighty God is never, never, NEVER misplaced.

5. You'll have already pulled two-thirds of your hair through the highlighting cap when the plastic hair hook snaps in two. That's how that timing will go!  :D

6. Life is hard.   But the hardest things and the longest nights stir up in us a very appropriate hunger for Heaven.

DIFFERENT SCALES

This is a 17-pound newborn baby, y'all.  


Have. Mercy.


When this little one (and I use that term loosely) was born, they had to find a totally different scale, because she was so much bigger than any other child they had weighed on a standard newborn scale.  

I look at this picture--the stark contrast between the tiny 7-pound child and the ginormous 17-pound child--and I think of the words of Romans 8:18:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.  

Not worth comparing.

Unable to be weighed on the same scales.

Incomparable.  

Our present sufferings on one scale, and the glory that will be revealed in us, on a totally different scale.

I NEED this to be true.

It's not saying our present sufferings are not flippin' beating the crap out of us.  Because just maybe they are.  The things that are breaking our hearts, raking us over the coals, and making us scream out to God are not small in and of themselves.

And yet these things that leave our souls writhing cannot be weighed on the same scale as God's glory that will be revealed in us. 

Beautiful hope.

THE WEEKLY SIX - June 20

Six Lessons Learned This Week:

1. God is wonderfully loving and crazy-good to say NO sometimes.  And it makes His every YES all the sweeter.

2. You tend to bum hard when you realize that the groceries you forgot to remove from the trunk of your car two days ago included fresh fish and a jug of milk.  


3. Forgetting about said groceries in your trunk for a solid two days is a pretty good indication that the stress is catching up with you.


4. God allowed things to get pretty bleak-looking for the Israelites before He busted out with, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh" (Exodus 6:1).  And at exactly the right time.


5. You feel compelled to correct your son when he tells you his VBS teacher's name is "Flasher."  That's Fletcher, sweet child.  Fletcher. 


6. I am here, living, and breathing, not for my own comforts, but to be used.  I am alive to do the work of God.  I am not due a life of ease or rest, though God is gracious to give it when He does. My life should shout, "I am here for You.  Not for me. For YOU."

HOW DID IT HAPPEN FOR YOU?

My sweet friend Denise (Victory Road) just blogged about her really amazing story of redemption, and asked how her readers came to know Christ.  


So, I'm curious...How did you?


I'll be honest, my story is nothing special.  In fact, I am blown away by the sheer unspectacularity (is that a word??) of my conversion story.  Brace yourselves for the non-gory details:


I was a first grader and went to Sunday School with my dad's then-fiance (now wife).  The Sunday School teacher said,


"One day our neighbor's house got broken into while they were out of town, and I prayed and asked God to help me know what to do.  (Long pause.)   Okay!  So who wants to give their life to Jesus?"


My hand shot into the air.  And I prayed my unimpressive, ineloquent 6-year old prayer to the God who heard it.  


That's all, folks.  Doesn't get more interesting than that.

And yet it stuck.  And the Jesus to whom I called out in that shockingly un-shiny moment 29 years ago is the same one I worship today.  

And now I'm married to a God-loving man, raising up a family to know and love God.

I'm growing in the grace and knowledge of my LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ (though I have so very far to go).

I'm putting on a Word-and-Worship Experience event (more to come soon on GodBreathed, coming to the Atlanta area in October). It's coming together in the most ridiculously beautiful way--I can't wait to see the rest of it unfold!

I've always kind of been bummed out at the thought of my "crappy" conversion story.  And yet it stuck!  It took!  And there's fruit today and a beautiful eternal relationship with God because of that so-called "crappy" conversion.

Glory to God...

 Celebrating his Christian Birthday. A favorite tradition in our family

where we celebrate the date of professing faith in Jesus Christ.  =)

DRESS FOR THE PART

 This is my "AFTER" photo.


Unfortunately, I'm still very much in the "BEFORE" phase, and I know ain't nobody wanna see that photo, so I borrowed this one! 


But I have a secret weapon in getting in shape:


Every day I'm able, I wear workout clothes.  The tank top and yoga pants remind me of who I am:  A girl on her way to getting in better shape.  And just that one simple thing reminds me to be a bit more active, less sedentary.  I'm more mindful of what I eat throughout the day, simply because of what I'm wearing.  I'm dressed for the part.  And it's working--I'm actually even down a few pounds!


I feel like I'm in another "BEFORE" phase, but longing to be an "AFTER."  I want to be a picture of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  And Colossians 3:12 says to clothes ourselves with these very things--to dress the part, so to speak.


But I think we're called to dress the part before we've really got all those things in perfect order.  Perhaps we're to get up every morning and put these things on, even if we feel stuck in a "BEFORE" phase with a long, long way to go. Because when we clothe ourselves with those things, they remind us of who we are: The sons and daughters of God who want these things to be the mark of our lives.

COMPASSION. Checking apathy at the door.  No more refusing to be unmoved when others are hurting or doing without.  It means setting aside judgment and simply loving on people in need--emotional need, relational need, financial need.  

KINDNESS. You don't GET to be rude to the checkout clerk or the sound guy, your friends, or even your spouse, with whom you're the most "real."  It means being considerate -- considering others just as you consider your own needs. I love the saying "A person who is not nice to the waitress is not really a nice person" because I think there's actually a lot of truth in this. Kindness is kindness across the board.


HUMILITY. Someone else gets to go first, have the spotlight, even be right.  It definitely means apologizing when we've been out of line.  And not simply regretting it, but making it right with an "I'm sorry."


GENTLENESS. When something needs to be dealt with, responded to, or reacted to, there is nothing for us but to do so in gentleness.  Our approach has got to be drenched in grace and understanding. 


PATIENCE.  It means that whole Hurry*Hurry*Hurry thing has GOT to stop.  A demanding attitude--whether toward our spouses, children, or even God--should have no place with us.  Understanding must be the mark of our lives, knowing that others have to exhibit patience with us, too.

To be honest, I don't really care if I never look just like that picture above as long as I'm healthy and in good shape.  But it matters a whole heck of a lot to me about living out this picture in Colossians 3:12--even though I have a long way to go.


So which of these jumped out as your weak spot?  Mine is patience, specifically in regards to being patient with my children. I don't always show the grace they need me to show them.  But oh, how badly I want to grow in patience with my son and my daughter whom God has entrusted to me.

If we want the Colossians 3:12 "AFTER" picture, we need to dress for the part--but it'll be totally worth it.


Because it looks a whole lot like Christ.