Thunderstorms

As a child, thunderstorms sent a rush of panic into me. Growing up in muggy Louisiana, thunderstorms are basically a post 3pm, daily event in the warmest months. Needless to say, mucho thunderstorms led to mucho panic. The threat of tornados served as the root of my fear. All those emergency drills at school really got to me I guess!

How ironic that now I LOVE thunderstorms. I find them mysterious, a bit romantic, and most of all spiritual. Thunder is so cool. Lightening so intense. Rain so powerful, yet soothing all at once. They just downright fascinate me. I remember learning in elementary school that thunder occurs when two clouds bump into each other. I smile even now at the description because I use it with my own kids!

For the past 10 years or so, when a thunderstorm begins, if I'm around a Bible I read Job 36:26-33, Job 37 and 38. Here's a teaser for you (because yes, you are going to have to look these passages up): From Job 36

26 How great is God—beyond our understanding!
The number of his years is past finding out.

29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?

30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
bathing the depths of the sea.

From Job 37:
1 "At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.

2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.

And from Job 38:
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.

Did you just get chills? God's word provides the most riveting reading experience you can have. Truly. These passages give such great descriptions of God's power and such beautiful explanations of a storm.

Thunderstorms remind me that God has a voice not only inside of us - but rumbling throughout all of creation. This is no wimpy God we serve - but a larger than ALL life God who could remove our breath with a thought if He wanted to, yet, I repeat YET, He gave His only Son to draw us back to Himself. He wants to know us personally. Sometimes we forget the true awesomeness of our God. Thunderstorms today may be a good reminder.

And just for fun - here's another verse teaser from Nahum 1:
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power;
the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.

God is so much "badder" than Jack Bauer (there's a nod for all you "24" fans!)

Too much and Too Little

I'm on a rampage. No, you should not hide your young children in your home, but if you have a messy closet, you may want to postpone that dinner invitation you've been waiting to give me!
I'm on a mission to simplify my life and the life of my family by cleaning out any unused items in my house. When I say unused, I mean even the perfectly good stuff that we just do not touch on a regular basis. I do not have the drive nor the patience to have a yard sale (WAY too many little tags for me), so I'm giving it all away. And boy, is it freeing! I literally feel lighter when I pass this stuff on to someone else who can give it new purpose.
Recently I passed a few vehicles on roads in Lexington just driving along, but packed down with stuff. The entire back seats of these cars were crammed with stuff. I suddenly felt nauseous. We have too much stuff! I think I should repeat myself. We have too much stuff! We just keep shopping and piling and forget to replace what needs to be replaced rather than adding stuff.

Simplifying does not necessarily mean spending less money. My husband was fascinated by this reasoning as I explained that simplifying may initially cost us more money. He already tells me that even when I buy something on sale I have not saved any money. This is what he says, "Did money leave our checking account?" "Yes" I answer. "Then we did not save a dime", he says. Cracks me up every time! Let me explain why simplifying doesn't necessarily mean spending less money. Part of simplifying for me is making the things we do use more accessible for day-to-day living. That may mean we have to purchase some organizers or cubbies or hooks, etc. Money will go out so that simplicity can come in. But junk has to go out, too. All the extra stuff.

The back end of my van is filled with items we did not use that were sitting in two of our closets. I kept getting so disheartened as the items just stacked and stacked. Too much stuff.

There are too many with too little for me to hold on to too much.

Lately, God has been speaking simplicity into my spiritual walk by reminding me that I am to "set [my] heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set [my] mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:1-2). The phrases "set your heart" or "set your mind" keep coming up. Usually, that means God wants me to study them and think through them. He's wanting to teach me something.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20). There is this whole other place that we as believers reference regularly, but often do not live like we believe it exists. How much would it change things to really focus on the eternal rather than the temporary? How much more does setting our hearts and minds on things above change what we value and spend time on here - in this life? The answer, and it's not easy for me to process either, challenges most of the ways I approach life. The answer is that a mind and heart set on heaven and the eternal should change almost everything about my earthly temporary existence. Too much focus on me or my family. Too much focus on how others perceive me or my home or my outward appearance.

Too much temporary, too little eternal.

The junk of the temporary has to go out so that the eternal can infiltrate my life in a way the changes how I live and love. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has "set eternity in the hearts of men." So God has SET eternity in my heart and I am to SET my heart on things above. Isn't He smart? God has asked me to set my heart on something He created space in my heart to hold. What a great God we have! Always equipping us for what He's asking us to do.

So, I'm simplifying. I'm moving things out so that what really matters can come in and stay for a long while - in my home and my heart.

There's too little time in this life for too much stuff to take up too much room in our hearts.

Parallel Pain

My mom and I were sitting in the car today while riding around town. I got to drive my Dad's SUV, which always makes me happy, and my mom sat shotgun. I've been amazed through grieving my sister how often we sit and hurt together. Today we spoke few words and shared moments of tears and just silent hurt. What else is there to say? While we individually have our own unique losses and hurts to grieve, we are both hurting and grieving the same person. We have parallel pain.

Church services are filled with people experiencing parallel pain. People walking through divorce, financial pressure, addictions, wounds from others, and just plain hard knocks all sit by each other every week in church services. While their circumstances, addictions and hurts are not all the same, many of them are walking through the same experience.

Each week when I look out at each group of people in the service(s) I'm serving in, I pray in my heart for those hurting to feel loved and for those floundering around in their faith or in accepting God's gift of eternal life to be compelled to surrender completely to Him. I sometimes also pray for the people in the room to know each other. For someone hurting to meet someone hurting. For someone grieving to meet someone grieving. For someone alone to meet someone else who feels alone...on and on I could go. That's why I stare out at the crowd sometimes! Open-eye prayer. Yeah, it's legal.

There is a major shift in our world when someone understands us or a unique circumstance. Suddenly, we're not alone and someone "gets" what we're feeling or have felt. Parallel pain sometimes results in parallel healing. While we all heal at our own pace and in our own way, for those of us in Christ, we're healing. Every day closer to eternity is an opportunity to experience more healing than the day before because of the promise of eternity!

I hope you have someone to "parallel" you in your hurts and your healing. If you don't, I'm praying right now you meet him/her/them very soon. In the meantime, if and when you sit in a church service (and based on sheer attendance, your odds are even better at Southland) remember that someone in that room most likely has walked through or is walking through an experience not too different from yours. I'm hoping roads in the room cross long enough at just the right intersections for people to notice the others on roads going the same direction in hurting or in healing. Chances are good, you're not alone.

Healing Is In Your Hands

The title of this blog is the title of my current favorite worship song. Of course, Christy Nockels is singing vocals. I mean, besides Brooke Fraser, should any other female really sing great worship songs? I'm half kidding.

The words are so powerful. "No mountain, no valley, no gain or loss we know - could keep us from Your love." The song resonates with me on this "understanding God's love" journey I'm currently walking through. Singing truth, particularly truth directly from Scripture, combined with a powerful melody makes for the perfect worship tune in my opinion. What else is there to say or declare except the truth of God's Word. No other words have the power to slice us the way Scripture does. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." We could just stop there and let that one soak like laundry in Borax, but dramatic pauses don't work well in blogs, so we'll keep going.

The bridge of the song mentioned above says, "In all things, we know that, we are more than conquerors, you keep us by your love, you keep us by your love!" Over and over in this song it's one scripture after another. Please, please, please, download this song!

Mattie sings this song at the top of her lungs while riding in the van (a little under pitch, but when you're two, nobody cares). The sound of her holding out the long notes on the chorus saying, "How high.....How wide......No matter where I am, healing is in Your hands....How deep....How strong...Now by Your grace I stand, healing is in Your hands" does something inside of me. She is unaware of what she's singing, but I'm praying the truth of God's love becomes part of our non-negotiable reality for the rest of our lives. Sing on, Mattie! Declare that truth over us!

Healing is in the wounds of His hands. This is not a "feel good" love we're talking about. This is the real deal - sacrificial, self-forgetting love. The kind God offers and that we should offer each other. Living out the love of God is by no means easy but it's the most fulfilling for both the extender and the receiver.

Once you've downloaded this song (yes, I'm pressuring you) - I hope you just drip with gratitude at the measure of love extended to each of us. And I hope that you are able to offer a cup of cold water you filled with the overflow of thankfulness to someone who needs refreshing in a "dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).

Because healing through God's love is in His hands, if you follow Him - it's in yours, too.

Pinky Swear

Remember when becoming friends involved either playing together at recess or riding bikes in your neighborhood? Remember the whole friendship bracelet craze? I even shared a locket with one of my friends (awkward that I cannot remember her name) where she had half the heart with the word "best" on it and I had the other half with "friends". Isn't that cute? Conflict at this stage involved pushing, shoving, not taking turns, or quite honestly, just finding a better playmate. What about the pinky swear? Nothing said commitment like a good tug on some interlocked little fingers!

Friendship evolved into finding people who most resembled us as we bounced around between identities as an adolescent. Peer influence took precedence over all other voices and that's why choices in friends at this age determines the path and choices of many people in this age group. Conflict in this stage involved boyfriends and girlfriends swapping boyfriends and girlfriends, comparing abilities in the classroom, on the field, or in appearance. The message about looking out for number one and being the best overturned the "take turns", now "share" talk from grade school.

Then, we mature into adults (I'm being slightly sarcastic). Friends often become co-workers or become other couples for couples and other singles for singles. We often think we have outgrown the selfishness, the pettiness, and the comparing - we also think we know how to navigate finding a better playmate. In all honesty, though, do we really get better at this? And what determines our ability or inability to be a good friend? I have no incredible insight into this except to say - I think the kind of friend you are determines the kind of friendships you experience. There's a saying, "To have good friends, you have to be a good friend." I have no clue who coined that phrase, but there's really a lot of wisdom in it. I quoted this to a friend the other day who told me I was being a good friend. I responded that I was a "product of her investment".

I found a website with a list describing characteristics of good friends. The site lists it for grades K-5, but I found it relevant no matter what the age. One of my favorites was that "good friends give each other room to change." That's so great. The phrase reeks of grace. If you're married, that's a keeper, too.

I've been thinking about friendships a lot lately. Mainly, I've been so grateful for mine. If I could lock them up and keep them forever I would (it sounds a little twisted, but I mean it in the most endearing way!). They love me and boy are they different from me. That's my favorite part. When we all sit around and talk I feel like I get the most complete picture of the image of God I ever see.

Who are your friends? Do you let people know you once you've established trust? What kinds of friends do you have? Maybe more importantly, what kind of friend are you?
Exodus 33:11 says that "The LORD would speak with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." Oh to be Moses! James 2:23 says, "And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called God's friend." Oh to be Abraham! Our God is most certainly your friend. He exceeds the list I mentioned earlier. He offers more than anyone. He lets his yes be yes and his no be no. He doesn't need the pinky swear!
Like anything else in following Jesus, He doesn't expect us to do or be anything He has not already done or been for us. He has been a good friend, so if we've experienced that, we should be a good friend to Him. What does that look like for you?
For me it looks like listening better to Him, asking Him what He thinks more often, and talking to Him first when things in life go haywire or just frustrate the dickens out of me!
Try friendship with God if you do not already know it, or if you do, try being a better friend to God - today! Experiencing the friendship of God changes everything - pinky swear.

Gymnastics and a Two Year Old

Whoa, buddy! Did I see some moving tonight! Mattie (my two, almost three year old) previewed a class at The Little Gym. It was called SuperBeasts and I don't think they named it that by accident. Man oh man. She was all over that joint! I could hardly keep up. My oldest daughter Avery and Dock watched through the glass. Mattie usually has to watch Avery do everything so this role reversal was nothing short of THRILLING for Mattie and an adjustment for Avery. My husband got a good laugh at me jumping side to side and even pulling out a donkey kick. Make no mistake, I broke some new ground in the world of donkey kicks. Wish I had a picture, but you're just going to have to believe me.

The best thing about tonight was a moment after Mattie did this pull-over thing, assisted, on the bar and held herself up there, unassisted, for a while. She was so proud. You see, Avery can do pull overs and Mattie has watched her do them repeatedly. After successfully doing her "own", Mattie felt like the biggest thing ever. Even her teacher noticed how proud of herself she was and said, "Has everybody seen Mattie?" joking with her.

Not long after that Mattie ran out of the glass door to the lobby. This was one of many "escape" attempts. Anyway, Mattie ran to Avery and when she got near, Avery threw open her arms and said, "Mattie, I love you! You did a good job, sissy!" Well, if Mattie wasn't already full of herself after her little pull-over, that nod from her big sister sealed the deal.

Encouragement sounded so sweet coming out of my six year old's mouth. The words sounded even more sweet to me because no one told her to say them - she was literally expressing encouragement to her sister from her heart. (Tear). Words are so powerful. They literally do have the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21). Life and death! That's no insignificant thing. That's REALLY important stuff we're talking about. I have always been good with my words. I do not have trouble expressing myself or putting words to my feelings, but with this comes a downside. I'm also capable of using just the right words to say things that are hurtful and not beneficial. God has worked wonders in my life with my words and I have experienced so much freedom, ironically, by having a tongue submitted to my Lord - my Master, Jesus.

I now ask myself this question before I open my mouth, "Is what I'm about to say beneficial?" Ephesians 4:29 says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (NIV). Did you notice the phrase "according to their needs". Ouch. So often we, especially in this culture, feel we have the right to just express ourselves. The phrase "It's a free country" hasn't done us any favors. This verse is very clear that we should speak words that are helpful according to the listener's needs, not our own need to be heard.

I saw what words of life can do tonight at gymnastics. I watched Avery literally speak "life" into Mattie. Mattie was benefited by Avery's encouragement, and even better than that, one of the people working there heard Avery and was benefited by her gesture, too.

I'm talking to myself more than anyone when I say maybe we should all just take a deep breath and ask ourselves, "What are my hearer's needs?" I'm just sayin'.

Grumpy Bear

Maybe it's the rain. Maybe it's sleep deprivation from staying up too late last night. Maybe it's another movement in this process called grief I'm walking through. Whatever it is...grumpy bear was in the house today. More particularly, in my house walking around in my body!
I must admit, the cuddly bear image hardly fit today. I've tried to review the day and I don't think I spoke too harshly to anyone although I was shorter than usual with my children, but I managed to hold it together.

I think I just identified the problem. I tried to hold it together today. I totally know better. How quickly I forget that my confession of weakness immediately sets God's power in motion. Wish I had remembered that 13 hours ago!

So here's the thing. We all get grumpy. We all get needy. We all get irritated. I wonder what Jesus did when he felt grumpy, needy and irritated? In my opinion these feelings are not in and of themselves sin. I think they just make us more likely to sin! I wonder what Jesus did because if he really was human and was really tempted in every way like us (Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 4:15 - look them up), then he also did something about it in order to not sin. That answer is not directly in front of us in Scripture like, "Jesus got grumpy so he went and..." It's just not in there. But, in the words of a wise friend, "What do we know to be true?" We know Jesus did not sin. We know He understands every aspect of being human. Even as I type that I marvel that a holy, magnificent, all-knowing, creating God would send a part of Himself to take a 33 year vacation from heaven in a human body. What I know to be true is that He is the source of everything I need. He has made available to me everything I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He is able, I am not. Jesus knew the "able-ness" of God better than anyone and retreated often to spend time with the most renewable resource of all time.

So, where does this leave me tonight? Well, honestly, Dock's going to get me a Butterfinger blizzard. Not the small - the medium. That ought to take some of the edge off!

In all seriousness, it leaves me here: I need to remember to need God. That need should send me running (or sulking/fuming) straight into His presence to say - "I don't have what it takes to do today, so will you help me?" There is a forever yes at the end of that last question offered by a God who gets us. I must literally cling to the truth that His grace is sufficient and that its sufficiency is manifested in the power He supplies when we don't have what it takes. It's grace, people, the sufficiency of grace. So rather than beat myself up for what a bear I've been internally (and on one or two occasions externally) today, I'm going to say now, "I need you God. I need the sufficiency of your grace to give me the power I can only have through you to compensate for my glaring weaknesses!"

Probably ought to let grumpy bear know he's been overruled. I'll tell him between bites of blizzard.