More Than Bread

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300x250-Lent-AdYesterday we finished reading the gospel of Matthew. And I sit here amazed. How did it all go by so quickly? And I sit and truly ponder.

Lent.

In the past, it seems to have had a bad feel.

“What are you giving up for Lent?”

That is the question I heard over the years. But we are humans and the concept of giving up doesn’t always come easy. We don’t give up in a game because we want to win. Our jammed packed closets testify we don’t give up our clothes, no matter what size they may be. And storage units and pods in driveways state we don’t want to give up our stuff.

Not even a week into Lent and here is what I have already learned….

No matter what we have given up, we truly do not give up anything. We gain.

I am humbled as I have realized in my giving up, I have gained more than I could have ever surrendered. Somehow in these five short days, my awareness of Him has grown already. I am seeing His activity around me and in my life and in His Word (Scriptures below are taken from The Message and are found in Matthew) ….

  • “We’re on a pilgrimage to worship him.”
  • “He’ll put everything in its proper place before God.”
  • “It takes more than bread to stay alive.”
  • “With less of you there is more of God.”
  • “Live generously.”
  • “The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
  • “Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
  • “Become what you believe.”
  • “Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.”
  • “If you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”

In giving up, I made room for something new, something to be gained. I must be emptied to be filled.

“It takes more than bread to stay alive.”

It takes The Bread of Life.

ID-100174198(photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/Serge Bertasius Photography)

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Pure, Clean & White

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ID-10025491(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/Prozaq 1)

Holy Father, remove all the sin that binds and oppresses us: anger, disgust, envy, hatred, lust, pride, and greed, the root of all evil. And cleanse our hearts of all unrighteousness. Create in us a clean heart, O Lord, and renew in us a sincere and willing spirit. Teach us your ways, and give us grace so that we may walk within them until the end of our days. Amen.

(taken from Amish Prayers, compiled by Beverly Lewis)

“Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7, NLT)

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Random And Good!

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It has been such a good week. There were many good posts and encouraging thoughts shared. My difficulty was in sharing only five. Here they are, five of the many good reads from my week:

1) Negativity it is killing us. In this post, Deidra Riggs shares what we need to do to beat to rid our minds of negativity thinking. It may just start with singing a simple song to ourselves. Perhaps it is the very song which God sings over us.

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2) Dr. Seuss had a birthday this past week. By far, my children loved to hear his books read to them the most. They knew them by memory, could say each line. But there was something about the rhyming stories which drew them in and made them laugh. But did you know there were nuggets of inspiration for every age which could be found in his writing? In this post, you will read some of his inspiring thoughts from his books.

10920509_359a3a030f3) We all have those days in which we find ourselves relieved no one knows what went on inside our house. In this post, you will find encouraging thoughts about those very days. Maybe, just maybe, it isn’t perfection others are looking for when they come to our homes after all.

If-You-Were-in-My-House4) This post is about a precious Christmas gift which has kept on giving. It is words of wisdom to help us recognize we still have imperfections but we have made progress. We’ve grown. We’ve changed. Do yourself a favor and read these words,

“We live in the sacred space of being both never finished, yet always enough.”

Now be sure go back and read the entire post. So good!

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5) The Lent season started this week. There is no shortage of great posts on this topic. I was blessed to read this post in which thoughts are shared on Lent. Rebekah encourages us:

Whatever you do, take time to find Him.
This is the season friend. Find Him there.

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And there you have it, five of the many great posts I read this week. Grab some coffee (unless you gave it up for Lent :) ), put your feet up and take time to relax and take in these words. You will be so glad you did!

Happy Saturday!

Love,

Joanne

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Wounded by God’s People

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wounded+by+God's+peopleWounded.

We all have experienced the feeling at some point in our lives. Some of us, more than once. In her book, Wounded by God’s People: Discovering How God’s Love Heals Our Hearts, Anne Graham Lotz shares from her own personal wounds inflicted by God’s very own people.

Anne shares from an open and transparent heart. She never dishonors God’s people nor the church, for which, I found myself most appreciative. We are flawed people who often wound others because we ourselves are wounded. Anne reminds us, gently and lovingly, not to equate God with the actions of man.

Anne did not write the book to publicly air her wounds. She wrote the book to bring us the story of our God’s redemptive love as seen in and through the life of Hagar. In the pages of this book, the story of Hagar, Abraham and Sarah springs to life in a refreshing way to bring healing to every hurting heart. And mine was one.

Through this book, Anne teaches …

  • the wounded do become wounders
  • you will never be able to outrun God
  • doing the right thing can be painful
  • even in your wilderness, God is with you
  • God truly does hear your cries
  • your lowest point may be the place you receive vision
  • you truly can move forward

In her epilogue, Anne writes:

I am convinced that were it not for the utter sufficiency of God’s grace, mercy, and power to bind up my wounds and heal my broken heart, I would be just a shadow of a person. But instead of lashing out, fighting back, or crumbling, I have embraced the pain. I have asked God to use it to furrow me deep. And He has. I am getting stronger in my faith and growing deeper in my trust of Him for this simple yet profound reason: God is with me, His Spirit is within me, and Hi Son is going before me. (page 225)

Anne shares biblical truth which will wash over your heart and mind like a healing balm. She points to Jesus on every single page for she knows, He is the only one who was able to heal her pain. And He can heal each of our wounds as well.

I received this book as a birthday gift for which I will always be grateful. I highly recommend this book for everyone to read.

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May I Be Willing

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{{Today is Friday!!!  It is the day I link with Lisa Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday. Here is how it works…. One word prompt. Five minutes. No editing. Lots of women. Everyone writes on the same word.}}

Today’s word is …. Willing.

The perfect word for this Lent season.

Willing …. to consent to do something. It involves an intentional bending of one’s desires to give way to the desires of another. This can be hard for those who are strong-willed. For those who have strong desires or cravings.

I gave up bread for Lent. Sounds easy. But then last night, I sat across from my husband in one of our favorite restaurants and the rolls, two of them, arrived at our table. They are always warm and steamy, causing the butter to melt perfectly so that one’s taste buds are delighted with each and every bite. Yeah, I sat and watched them sit on the plate and then, go into my husband’s mouth. Both of them.

In that moment, I remembered I gave up bread so my focus would be on my greater need for The Bread of Life. This thought made me more willing, enthusiastic even, to press ahead, to be willing to pass up what was immediately in front of me.

Willing … I am beginning to understand….

  • Christ was willing to sacrifice for me.
  • He was willing to obey the Father, bending His will to cooperate with the will of His Father.
  • He had to be willing to focus on the eternal, willing to overlook the immediate.

Lent, this season of being willing to give up something in this immediate life, is so I would gain a better understanding of the eternal, which will last.

Today I am beginning to understand, ever so slightly, the struggle which lies within me and take to heart the words of Jesus Himself, spoken to the disciples….

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing but the body is weak! (Matthew 26:41, NLT)

Lord, may I be willing in both spirit and body.

ID-100151054(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/Poulsen Photo)

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Just Show Up

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ID-100207629(image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/Stuart Miles)

When I began blogging, about 4 years ago now, I had no idea what I was doing. To be quite honest, I still don’t. And if you don’t believe me, you can ask either of my children who are constantly helping me with how to post or link or grab buttons, etc. I have fumbled and bumbled my way through much of it, always fearing I am making a fool of myself.

But I was willing to make a fool of myself in order to reach my goal. My goal? Simply put, my goal was to leave my children a permanent record of what their mom was thinking on a daily basis. And in so doing, perhaps, lead them closer and more deeply to Jesus. That was it.

I never dreamed blogging would come to mean so much to me. It has caused me to read more, think deeper, and sit in awe of Who my God truly is and all that He does in my life. Emily Freeman described my feelings so much better than I ever could:

You are aware of your desire for a map, but all you sense is a mystery. Instead of a plan, you are simply asked to show up in this day the same way you did the day you were born, with empty hands and an instinct to depend on someone bigger than you.
(A Million Little Ways, page 131)

That should be easy, right. We seemed to show up at our birth just fine with nothing at all in hand. And we seemed to do just fine being dependent on someone other than ourselves. And yet, there are days I am much like Moses making excuses for myself….

  • Why me? (Exodus 5:22)
  • No one listens to me anyway. (Exodus 6:12)
  • I can’t speak. Or as Moses put it, “I am a clumsy speaker!” (Exodus 6:12)
  • I can’t do it. (Exodus 6:30)

And yet, Moses ended up doing everything God was asking him to do with the assistance of his rod and his brother, Aaron.

Moses discovered the very things he thought were his limitations were his strengths. He also discovered God would give him the divine resources he would need to approach Pharaoh and lead God’s people.

Truly all Moses needed to do was show up – show up before Pharaoh each time God sent him. God was the One doing the rest. But it took courage for Moses to just show up. Moses stammered from his fear but he still kept going back. Plague after plague.

I have often heard it said, courage is not the absence of fear. But what exactly is courage? Again I go to Emily’s book….

Courage is about more than simply believing in yourself, more than making art with confidence and living life without fear. Courage, I’m discovering, happens in the deep and secret place of the spirit, the place where my life is joined with God’s. It feels more like a gift than an aware, more like a strength that doesn’t come from me. And the more we live from who we really are, the more courage will grow.

Courage starts small. Courage is head bowed down low, hands open in surrender, heart broken and moved with compassion. Courage knows – I can’t do this on my own. Courage turns to Christ.
(page 135-136)

I am so grateful Moses was transparent and shared his weaknesses with us all. I am grateful God delights to work in and through our weaknesses, for I have many. But mostly I am grateful I am a tad bit more courageous than I ever realized.

I am courageous because I know, beyond a certainty, I can’t do this on my own. So I am turning to Christ. My head is bowed down low, my hands are open in surrender, my heart is broken, I am moved with compassion.

All I need to do is show up.

My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9, The Message)

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Approved And Loved

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Today is the start of the Lenten season.

My journey feels like the proverbial riddle question …. What happens when you cross a ___ with a ____ ?

Let me explain….

There are bloggers whom I love to read and I do read faithfully. Their words touch me deeply causing me to think in ways which change me. When opportunity presented itself to join the launch team of a favorite, I jumped to sign up. While waiting to see if I would be accepted, I read the post of another favorite, Margaret Feinberg, in which she included a reading challenge. Hence the riddle question ….

What happens when you cross the New Testament reading challenge of a favorite blogger with the book launch of another favorite blogger?

You get my Lenten journey for the next forty days!!!

It was with excitement that I began to read Love Idol by Jennifer Dukes Lee. Little did I know what was about to stir in my heart. Sure, I have had idols in my life, in the past -

  • my marriage, particularly, my husband
  • my children, I love being a mom!
  • my position as a licensed daycare provider who had a waiting list
  • insecurity and the desire for approval of others

But God had pretty much dealt with and uprooted each of those in my life. Painfully so but He had done the much needed (and required) work. The email came saying I was on the launch team and included the first chapter of the book. So I read it….

Whatever rules our hearts becomes our lord. The person who seeks approval and acceptance can become controlled by it. The person who is motivated primarily by a need for human affirmation is, in the end, ruled by it. (Jennifer Dukes Lee)

And then there was the verse on my calendar …

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I knew this already and began to question … “Is there anything, anything at all, which is ruling my heart or even attempting to rule my heart, other than You, Lord?”

My suggestion would be to not ask that question of Him unless you truly want Him to show you because He will respond. For me, the answer showed up in a question innocently asked by a family member ….

“How is your blog doing this week?”

There is nothing wrong with the question. My family member was asking out of genuine interest. But the question wiggled under my skin and began to uncover something – a desire for approval or perhaps to make a name for myself. Definitely a wrong motive for blogging.

Now back to the original question ….

What happens when you cross the New Testament reading challenge of a favorite blogger with the book launch of another favorite blogger?

You get my Lenten journey for the next forty days which will look like this …

  1. I will blog silently. No self-promotion. I’m leaving the outcomes to Him.
  2. I am giving up bread for the next 40 days as I go through the New Testament reading challenge. I want my focus to be on the Bread of Life, Who is my source of nourishment, or sustenance, of all meaning.

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For the next forty days, I want to be quiet before the God, a little less active. No striving for affirmation in numbers or possible statistics. I want to focus on what He alone is saying. I want to be more aware of His enabling in my inadequacies. I want to see His activity in my life.

Can you hear the sound  – - -  the sound of a few idols crumbling down in my life?

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May I not emerge from this journey the same person. May I be free of the need for the approval of others.

May all I do be for an audience of One – my God.

During this Lent season, may we be willing to let go of those things which are taking up space in our hearts intended to be filled with God alone.

I am joining Jennifer Lee in a journey to remove #LoveIdols from our lives. The book becomes available April 1st – Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need for Approval – and Seeing Yourself Through God’s Eyes. It is available now for pre-order. Come join the movement on Facebook too.

Also, here is the link to Margaret Feinberg’s, 5 Ways to Revolutionize Your Walk With Christ, a Lent reading challenge.

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