September | 2012 |

A Prayer for Compassion

14. September 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Compassion International

Father in Heaven,

I come before you so grateful for all the ways you have loved and blessed me. I live in comfort with family who loves me. I’m never hungry and my clothes never wear out. My kids have more toys that I ever did and they’ve been to Disney more than most American children.

I take all these things for granted when children around the world suffer. While my kids eat multiple times a day, other families take turns eating. While I rush to my children’s doctor at the slightest fever, children in other countries die from preventable diseases. And the amount of money I spend on legos could quite possible clothe several children for a year.

Yet, I wonder, is this the life you’ve called me to?

Forgive me for taking advantage of all the blessings you’ve given me and keeping them for myself. Instead of investing in the lives and souls of others, I have hoarded and spent on myself and my children. Forgive me for being so comfortable with this life you’ve given me.

Today, I ask you to make me uncomfortable for the sake of others.

I thank you for ministries like Compassion who open my eyes to the suffering around the world. Through this ministry, I’ve been honored to share my abundance for the sake of another child. Open my eyes more. Pierce my heart deeper. Help me to forsake the things of this world so that others will have hope for the next.

And I pray especially for our sponsored child, Ambrose, in Kenya. I know he goes to sleep at night fearful of the dangers that surround him. I pray for your peace and comfort to envelope him. May he feel your presence and trust in your love and grace. Provide for him and his family and draw them to you.

And continue the work you are doing in my heart.

Because and through Jesus I pray, Amen.

Teach Me Jesus Thursdays: The Art of Discipline {Guest Post}

13. September 2012 · 15 comments · Categories: Parenting, Teach Me Jesus

I am honored to welcome my friend Nikki from Simply Striving today. Her words are always an encouragement to my heart. I know you will be blessed by her today as well.

The lower, even tone of my voice makes him aware. His bottom lip quivers as he blinks the hurt of regret away. And it takes all I have to persist through the pain my own heart feels. This tough love stuff is hard.

The questions start pouring in now as I have learned to expect. His 4 year-old curiosity astounds me as he nearly manages to leave me without words. Every. Single. Time. The striking blow this day:

“So, Mom, are you disciplining me or teaching me discipline?”

I look deep into those bright blues, trying to see where these questions come from.

“I’m not sure there’s a difference, bud.” I reply softly.

“Sure there is, mom. One of them makes me cry.”

Friends, there’s so much more I want to tell him. Oh if only he could see where this road of discipline leads. If only I could figure out a way to show him what a little discipline can do…how far obedience can bring you.

Don’t worry. I heard myself. My mind floods with suggestions:

I could eat right. Unselfishly.
I could discipline myself to stick to an exercising schedule.
I could take care of the things He has blessed me with. With joy.
I could not complain about anything but in everything give thanks.
I could become less. So He could fill more.
I could accept the consequences of my own actions and appreciate the discipline He brings. Even when it hurts.

Later that night when the moon flooded the house with silence, I read this:

“Discipline is the other side of discipleship. The practice of a spiritual discipline makes us more sensitive to the small, gentle voice of God.” ~ Henri Nouwen, Making All Things New

I read it repeatedly until it sunk in to the place He intended for it to linger. This makes me want to throw my list of disciplines away and focus on only one:

Spiritual discipline.

Because if there is anything. One thing I want to teach my boy it’s to hear the small, gentle voice of God.

The new dawn rose and so did I for I don’t like to be rushed with my morning prayer time. A while later, my boy skips down the hall to join me in my quiet place — a routine I’ve grown to expect. Only this morning, I didn’t rush into the next thing on the to-do list.

“Do you know what I was doing just now, bud?”

“Um, waiting for me?”

My smile cracks open as I see the satisfaction on his face. “Well, while I was waiting for you, I was talking to God. I like Him to be the first person I talk to each day. We talk about what today has in store, what I’ve thought about lately, we talk about you…” I let myself trail intentionally for I see his wheels spinning.

“Mom, what does He say about me?”

Oh yes. This is certainly the best discipline I can teach him. And what a gift my Redeemer brings me this day as I get to share how much God loves my boy. How much He has planned for him. How proud He is to call him child.

We decide right then and there to add prayer time as the first thing he does each day, too. And who knows. Maybe those other disciplines will reveal themselves naturally if I continue to focus on this one, most important thing. Because I’ve learned to expect: The closer we are to Him, the more everything else falls into place.

How about you, friend? How do you show your children the art of spiritual discipline? I’d love to hear.

Thanks for sharing your time with me.

Simply striving,

Nikki

Nikki is a loved wife, blessed mom, mere child saved by grace who strives daily to live like she deserves it.
She journals her thoughts on a blog titled Simplystriving. There you will find her journey of seeking joy in the everyday while simply striving to become all that God has made her to be. Because we’re all striving, stretching, sometimes struggling. Why not encourage each other along the way?

You can also find her on Facebook or keep apprised of her daily comings and goings via Twitter.

From Dreams to Reality

11. September 2012 · 17 comments · Categories: fear, God's still working on me

We have to walk right into fear to meet our waiting dreams on the other side.

Last year, we enjoyed an anniversary trip to Paris. Our hotel was within walking distance of the Arc de Triumph. A glowing edifice in the night sky, it honors soldiers who fought in battles for France. For me, the Arc became my own Ebenezer, a pillar of testimony to fears conquered and overcome.

This trip to Paris was a once in a lifetime opportunity. A gift from my husband’s employer, every moment of planning for it felt surreal. A dream come alive. Leaving our kids for nine days was a huge fear to face. I’d never been apart from them that long and what if something happened while we were out of the country? Entering a nation whose language we didn’t speak was another door of fear to step through. Our first moments after landing in Orly, we faced our first obstacle. Unknowingly, after going through customs, we walked right past the baggage claim for international travel, and right out the door with no return entrance. We wandered the halls, searching for someone who spoke English who could help us get back in behind closed doors to get our luggage. I was tense and anxious-how will they understand? After speaking to several people, trying to explain what happened, we were finally escorted back to the baggage claim where our two lone suitcases awaited.

Walking the historic streets, eating the fabulous food, seeing sights I never thought I’d ever see, all was possible because I walked into the door called fear and exited into a dream come true.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve developed a vertigo of sorts and have not been able to handle heights. We were in Paris on a once in a lifetime trip. I didn’t want this fear to keep me from enjoying every moment. Wanting to see the sights of Paris lit up in the night sky, I decided to conquer my fear and climb to the top of the Arc. One step at a time, I climbed up the curved staircase to the top of the Arc. Keeping my eyes on the handrail next to me, I didn’t look up or down. One step after another, breathing slowly, letting people pass by me, I finally got to the top. That feeling of accomplishment when you face a fear and over come it is like nothing else. And the reward was great-a view of Paris at night. The Eiffel Tower was in the distance, covered in twinkling lights. The streets were full of people, enjoying the city night life. And there I was, at the top, looking down on it all.

How many opportunities do I miss when fear blocks my progress? How many dreams never become realized?

My heart’s first response to a challenge is to balk in fear. I recount to myself all the reasons why I can’t achieve my dream. I point out the potential failure and how insurmountable the challenge is. Catastrophizing the potential problems, I freeze like an animal in the beam of a car’s headlights.

I have what Jesus frequently called “little faith.” I’m the one who would send everyone home because there is not enough food, forgetting that the One who made everything out of nothing was with me. I’m the one who would sink in the sea after my first step, failing to realize that the One who made the sea was before me. And I’m the one who would grieve over the loss of my dear friend and question the One who breathed life into the first man as to why he didn’t arrive sooner to save him.

Sometimes I think God gives us impossible dreams so that we would walk into our fears. His plan often takes us through the depths before we rise to embrace our dream. This was true for Joseph, David, Daniel, and many more heroes of the faith. We have to be emptied of our own strength so He can become strength for us. We often have to be chased and hunted by our fears before we trust that He is able to conquer them. We have to face our giants, confident that God is bigger still.

Always gracious and forbearing, Jesus accepts even my little faith. As He did with the disciples, He gently reminds me of the truth. I am a child of the Father, an heir of the Kingdom. Jesus died for me so that I wouldn’t have to fear. He gave me the Spirit who speaks to the Father for me when I can’t even form the words.

When we face a door called fear, we need to remember that if slavery and giants and lions are not a problem for God, than neither are any of our fears. He is there giving us strength and courage. He shuts the lion’s mouth, walks with us in the fire, calms the storm, and gives us courage to knock down our giants. As we trust Him and His love for us, we are able to walk right through our fears.

Because it is facing and embracing fear that always precedes dreams realized. And whatever lies on the other side of fear, we’ll never know if we don’t take that first step.

What dreams has God given you? Do they seem too far out of reach? When you take that step of faith and push through the fear, be sure that He will see you through to the other side.

Linking up with:

and Intentional.Me

Respectable Sins

11. September 2012 · 4 comments · Categories: Book Study

Have you ever had something on your face all day and then finally looked in the mirror? You wonder, how long did I walk around looking like this? This book does the same thing to my heart. It shows me things I didn’t realize was there. It’s hard to see your sin face to face, to acknowledge things you’d rather not know, and to realize how much influence it has on you. These first two chapters of “Respectable Sins” begins that process of looking in the mirror. Below are the discussion questions I am discussing with my Bible study group this morning. Look through the questions, and as you are able, reflect and respond by journaling your answers.

Week 1 (Chapters 1 & 2)

1. How would you define the word, “saint”?

2. What does it mean to you to know that because of Christ, you are in fact, a saint?

Read: Romans 1:7, 16:15, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 2 Corinthians 1:1, Colossians 1:2

3. How is sin treated in the church today? Outside the church?

4. What do you think of Bridge’s assessment that Christians are more concerned about the sins of society than we are the sins of saints? How has this changed the church?

5. Make a list of what you personally view as respectable Sins :

6. Make a list of what you personally view as especially egregious sins:

7. Do you think God views some sins as worse than others? Why or why not?

8. Respond to this quote from p. 22 “The paradox is that those whose lives most reflect the fruit of the Spirit are usually those who are most keenly aware of and groan inwardly over these so-called acceptable sins in their own lives.”

9. What does James 1:14-14 and 2:10-11 say about the root of our sinful acts?

10. What did Jesus say about breaking God’s law in Matthew 5:22, 27-28?

11. What is the consequence of sin—any sin? (Galatians 3:10)

12. Why should we take sin seriously?

13. Where is our hope? (Galatians 3:13)

Thoughts to consider for this next week:

Pray and ask God to help you recognize any “acceptable” sins and to draw them to your attention. What respectable sins are you tolerating in your own life? How do they affect your life and relationship with God? With others?

And for us to discuss in community: What stood out to you the most from these chapters? In what ways is the Spirit convicting you?

In all the Hard Things

09. September 2012 · 24 comments · Categories: Gratitude Community

It’s the tenth frame. I watch his eyes scan the screen hanging from the ceiling above us. His face falls with realization. Eyes wet with unshed tears, he shuffles around as if to walk out the frustration bubbling up inside. “It’s not fair,” he mutters.

My husband and I cheer for his brother who knocked down eight pins when I hear his grumbling voice again. This time, the tears flow down his cheeks.

Together, the four of us had enjoyed an outing of put-put, laser tag, and now bowling. A perfectionist, my son hates to lose. Today was no exception.

“Remember what we read earlier today?” I asked.

He stares at me, having completely forgotten lessons learned in school in that morning.

“We learned the verse where Paul said to give thanks in all things. Remember the story we read about Corrie ten Boom and the fleas?”

During WWII, Corrie ten Boom and her family helped Jews hide from the Germans by hiding them in their house. They were caught and sent to a prison camp. The conditions were overcrowded and the bunkroom ridden with bugs. Somehow, she snuck a Bible into the camp with her. Because Corrie’s bunkroom was full of fleas, the guards never came to check it and never discovered her Bible. She expressed thanks for the fleas because they allowed her to share God’s word with the other prisoners.

She and her sister clung to the promises of Scripture and one day read Paul’s words:

“‘Give thanks in all circumstances,’ she quoted. It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.” And so we stood between tiers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas.”

(From The Hiding Place)

Recounting this story to my husband from our studies earlier that day, I ask the kids, “How can we be thankful for all things? Even for losing?” Driving home, we take turns sharing our own thanks-for all things.

Giving thanks even in the face of trial is indeed the hard thanks. My son isn’t the only one who struggles to give thanks for all things. My own heart responds with grumbling and complaining when faced with unwanted circumstances. I am like the Israelites who wanted to turn back to slavery because they didn’t like the food God provided on the way to the promised land. I live for blessings on this earth and am angry when I don’t get what I want. I fail to see how my desert wanderings are an opportunity to draw closer to God and grow in my love for Him.

But He tells me that the hard things in life are for my good and His glory. They are to prepare me for the great party in eternity. God uses the hard things to transform me to be more like Christ.

If my Savior can give thanks before His final meal, I can give thanks for every part of His plan for me. If Corrie ten Boom can give thanks for fleas in a German concentration camp, I can give thanks for the trials in my own life. Because sometimes, the fleas can be a blessing in disguise.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Practicing giving the hard thanks this week (#1807-1819):

getting blood work done to maintain my health

receiving rejection because it reminds me that I am completely accepted by God

my computer working intermittently all week because it makes me do other things

having no time to get things done because it makes me rely on God and His timing

feeling overwhelmed by life because it makes me trust God to handle everything

being forgetful because it is humbling

battling seasons of depression because it makes me throw myself at His mercy and grace

refereeing sibling rivalry because it makes me stop and focus on what’s really important

my back nearly giving out on me at a water park because it makes me rely on God’s strength

And for the not so hard things:

meeting up with a blogging friend and her family in Orlando

for ice from the first aid station

for the boy’s smiles everytime they went down a slide

Linking up with my friends at:

Burst into Song

07. September 2012 · 10 comments · Categories: Ploughing Hearts

“Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.” Isaiah 44:23

Linking up with these friends:

Pray for Compassion’s Children

07. September 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Compassion International

Did you know one in seven people battle with hunger everyday? Did you know that more than 6 million children die each year from malnutrition? How about the fact that In developing countries, approximately 130 million children and teens have lost one or both parents? There are over 1.4 billion people in the developing world who live below the poverty line.

I didn’t know any of that either.

Until I became a Compassion Blogger.

Compassion International’s mission is to rescue children from poverty and its devastating effects-in the name of Jesus. They provide clothing, medical care, food, and the opportunity to attend school where they learn about Jesus’ love for them. Getting an education opens the door to a world outside of poverty for these children. Being in school keeps them safe from the dangers of the streets, especially the danger of slavery.

Would you join me in praying for these children? Compassion currently helps over 1.2 million children, and there are many more that are waiting for a sponsor of their own.

Ways to pray:

Go to Compassion’s website and pray over the children listed there. Pray that they will get sponsored. Pray for them to know Jesus. Pray for their protection and safety.
Look at the Sponsor a Child page and spend time asking God to reveal His heart for the poor to you.
As we’ve done in our own home, sit down with your children and look at the site together. Open their eyes to have compassion to the least of these. Show them what the world looks like outside the comforts of their home. Help them to see how blessed they are.

This month is blog for Compassion month. The goal is to have 3,108 children sponsored during this month. Will you pray with me that all 3,108 children get sponsored?

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Teach Me Jesus Thursdays: Praying for Our Children

06. September 2012 · 6 comments · Categories: Parenting, Teach Me Jesus

Last year, I was convicted about the content of my prayers for my children. I realized I had been praying more for their health and behavior than the important matters of the heart. I prayed that they would sleep longer, fight less, and obey me more. While it was not wrong to pray those prayers, I was neglecting the most important prayers-for the Spirit’s ongoing work of grace in their heart.

As a result of that conviction, I developed a list of 31 topics to pray about for my children. These are heart topics, one for each day of the month. I keep the list in my prayer journal and use it to prompt me in my prayers.

My sweet friend Melanie helped me update my printables. While God has gifted me in a few things, one thing I am not gifted in is digital design:) Below is a printable of 31 topics to pray about for your children. Feel free to download a copy for yourself. The second printable is a prayer I wrote titled, The Most Important Prayer .

To download and print your own copy of this prayer list, click here

To download and print this prayer, click here

Do you have a special way you like to pray for your children? I’d love to hear!

Linking up with:

Rent and Broken

04. September 2012 · 26 comments · Categories: Spiritual Growth

I feel like God is up to something in my life. I’m just not sure yet what that something is.

Have you ever had that feeling? Like there is something on the horizon that you can barely see, but you get a glimpse of it every now and then. God has given me glimpses of what He is doing, but not the full picture. And it all starts with brokenness.

These past few years, God has been rending me apart. While in the past I would have run and hid from brokenness, now I know that I need to be broken before I can be made new. I used to despair over the pain in my life, now I know it’s what I really need. In order for God to fill me, I first have to be emptied. Before I can taste the living water, I have to be made thirsty.

It’s brokenness that opens the door to freedom. The veil that separates me from living full and free in Christ has to be rent before I can become who He’s already made me to be. Brokenness frees me from my ties to the world, to sin, and to living for this life rather than the next. It’s what gets me ready for the party and the great feast to come. In opposition to the American quest for more and the promise of blessing in this life, brokenness is what following Christ is all about.

After all, remember the cross?

Yet, He doesn’t break me completely all at once. It’s a multi-stage cycle that lasts a lifetime. Larry Crabb describes brokenness as the “continual starting point for every next step toward God.” (The Pressure’s Off)

I think I’m ready for the next step.

In recent years, He’s brought me to books like Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, The Cost of Discipleship, Follow Me to Freedom: Leading and Following As an Ordinary Radical, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God That Invites You into His Story, and 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, all of which have pierced, torn, wrecked, and broken me to pieces. I’ve come to see that I have been living a comfortable life, the exact opposite of the sacrificial, cross bearing life Christ has called me to. I’ve sought blessing and comfort at the expense of the cross. I live the American dream, yet think I don’t have enough. Instead of pursuing the only thing that actually fills me, I chase after what rusts, rots, and spoils. And while much of the world suffers, I worry about whether I will make it to Gymboree before my Gymbucks expire.

With amazing grace, God loves me despite my adulterous affair with all things material. He makes the scales fall from my eyes and shows me how I have wounded Him by not loving the least of these. I’ve realized the truth, as C.S. Lewis described, that I’ve only been making mud pies: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Since I’ve tasted of the perfect love of Christ, it’s created an appetite and desire to feast and fill myself with Him alone. And now I want even more. I want more of Him and less of this world. I want to know Him and be known by Him. I want to be satisfied by nothing less than the water and manna He provides.

And I want to be changed for the good.

As I’ve gone through these cycles of brokenness, my selfish flesh is ripped away. He’s opened my eyes to changes I need to make, things I need to give up, and love I need to give. And now, I’m ready for the next step, abandoned to the work of His hands as He shapes me to become more like Him. What will that look like? I don’t know. But one thing is certain, He is on the move.

How about you? What has God been doing in your heart lately?

Linking up with:

and Intentional.Me

Book Study Update

04. September 2012 · 3 comments · Categories: Book Study

For my friends who are joining me in reading Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges, I wanted to give you an update. Starting next week, September 11th, I will begin posting about the book. Each Tuesday, I will reflect on the chapters we read and provide you with additional Scriptures to read and questions to reflect on. Additionally, I will post questions on my Facebook page to encourage dialogue. I hope that you will share with us what you are learning, how God is convicting you, and how you have seen the gospel at work in your life.

This book will take us deep into areas of our heart we don’t usually touch. Like the appliances in our kitchen that we rarely move and clean behind, there are areas in our hearts that we don’t usually expose to the cleansing power of God’s Word. But we are in this together, so let’s dive in. Be prepared to be pierced by the Word. Expect conviction. But know that the Spirit does not point out sin where He is not also ready to help you clean it up. This book will not only challenge you to identify sins you’ve not realized were in your heart, but it will also help you apply the cleansing power of the gospel to those sins.

For next Tuesday, read the first two chapters of the book. We will be covering two chapters a week.

Any questions? Contact me and I will try to answer them.