Goodness friends! I've written four sentences of a post 11 times the past two weeks and either it has been constant interruptions (which is a pretty normal thing but seems a little overboard incessant lately) or heavy feels that I thought I was ready to process/write about and kept getting stuck.
My random list of life lessons this week to get moving again.
1) The Bible is where it's at.
There's a lot of words out there. A lotta thoughts. A lot of experiences, a lot of worldly wisdom, a lot of emotions. It is utterly overwhelming...and then there is His Word, alive, convicting precisely, abounding in grace, truth to wrap your life around, there is HOPE. Everytime I've been buried and shaken, there has been His Word.
Someone told Matt this past week that while they SEE what it says in the Word, that just hasn't been there experience, so they're not accepting it. Listen, we can't be experience people. If our experience, our feelings, our ideas are not lining up with His Word, GUESS which is off?
May we lay down our own EVERYTHING as wrong, deceived, misled, weak, lesser and cling to the truth of His unshakeable kingdom before we live our lives based on our own perspective. One of the glorious freedoms of following Jesus is not being stuck in our own thoughts, emotions and experiences...but able to cling to HIS life-giving, hope-giving, foundational truth.
If you're worried, paranoid, depressed, anxious, hopeless, angry, bitter, conflicted today...the Bible is where it's at. Get in there. Let Him write it on the tablets of your heart.
2) Raising teens is fun if you want someone to think you're the dumbest human alive while simultaneously needing your help to do anything.
Pretty self-explanatory. The Lord hears me talking about these four girls more than anything else these days and I love them deeply, pray for them constantly, and also am not having a lot of fun. As I am always reminding Ben, "Life isn't always about having fun."
Ben is still always having fun.
3) Don't tell me it doesn't take a village.
I think sometimes we get frustrated that we don't have the PERFECT village, but I assure you that isn't what it takes. You don't have to have family to have a village. You don't have to have perfect people to have a village. And you can decide the villages are disappointing or too much work, and withdraw completely and MISS all the sweetest stuff of life.
But it takes a village.
Let go of having the perfect village, just as WE are not the perfect village, and go for the passionate village. The present village. The gracious village. The hilarious village. The humble village. The benefit of the doubt village. Show UP for others, even in weird ways, and let them show up for you, even in imperfect ways.
One of my inner circle friends asked if I wanted a ride to something this week. I didn't need a ride. But what I got was 15 rare minutes alone with someone I love, and when we arrived at the social situation a little earlier than her introverted self could handle, I even got kidnapped to drive around the neighborhood for a while :) I got to hear her heart, and share her mine, and all the culture of the supremacy of convenience and efficiency is an idol. BE a good friend. Let others see and love you well. SHARE the painful stuff, the embarrassing stuff, the honest stuff...invite people over to messy houses and people, and may we GROW.
4) Don't be discouraged where He is not.
OK, He's been working me through this lately. Somedays I think I was born to be a pastors wife. I love this flock fiercely. I pray for them continually. I carry them heavily. And when one of them wanes or wanders, when one of them cools in the love they once had or settles for less than the richness and freedom of Christ, ooooooof.
It is SO painful. I carry it so heavily. So personally. If I could will the world to obedience and faith and freedom, I would!
But as I was pouring tears and praying this week for a few specific people, I told the Lord that I was so discouraged.
Do you think you care for them more than I do? Do you think you know how they should acting better than I do? Do you think it's against YOU they are struggling? Do you think I am discouraged --without courage-- over them?
No. Surely the Lord, His heart for them far bigger than mine, was not without courage, was not sigh-y and weep-y.
Give me what is mine and be strong and courageous.
Bigger oooof. I am working to shift into a strong and courageous prayer warrior instead of a helpless, disappointed one. Is that not what the church needs far more? A praying woman who believes He is at work, that He is after His people and that is strong in HIM?
5) Go. To. Church.
When you're mad at God. When you're disappointed. When you're tired. When you're busy. When you're weary. When you're heartbroken.
Miss a meal. Miss an outing. Miss an episode.
But don't miss church. Go crying. Go ugly. Go messy. Go unrepentant. Go disappointed. Go angry. But GO.
THIS is how, when we have NO idea of His purpose, we entrust ourselves to God's hands. Show up. He will, too. And while us showing up may feel insignificant, God showing up NEVER is.
Never sympathize with someone who finds it difficult to get to God; God is not to blame. It is not for us to figure out the reason for the difficulty, but only to present the truth of God so that the Spirit of God will reveal what is wrong. When the truth is preached, the Spirit of God brings each person face-to-face with God Himself. O Chambers
6) Don't Think About It. Do the thing.
The person you've wondered several times now if they must be needing some help...HELP THEM. Give them a Kroger card. Drop them some groceries. Slip them some money. Mail them a note. Give them a Bible. Stop thinking about it. I am confident one of the reasons Jesus speaks so highly of children is that they are not yet plagued with adult overthinking. When the spirit nudges, they obey.
There are people in your specific life right now that the Spirit IS urging you to SAY something, DO something, ASK something, PRAY something, and we allow uncertainty, discomfort, awkwardness, possible offense to totally neglect the spirit. No matter how dumb it looks, seems, sounds, feels...DO IT...and you will find that that still, small voice speaks a little louder next time instead of fading out completely.
7) Mother's Day is hard. Do it anyway.
Desperately wish you mom was still here to mail the card to? Cry in the card aisle and pick it anyway. Buy it anyway. Mail it anyway. Give it to someone else in her memory. Give it to Jesus and put it in a drawer. Buy the flowers and hand them to a mama who seems to have her hands full. Tell someone, tell everyone you see, something beautiful about YOUR mom. Talk about her. I saw an adorable strawberry mug yesterday that my mom would have loved, and brought it home for her.
It's a complicated relationship? Do something sweet and pure and uncomplicated and simple, and give it to Jesus through her, no expectations.
Grieving this Mother's Day? He sees every tear and knows every agony and longs to be our hope and comfort. Cry through church, cry through lunch, talk about it. Tell someone. Share in the pain and share in the comfort. Eyes on Jesus.
Your kids and husband miss it, or get it wrong, or miss you completely? Satan will absolutely use our allowed self-pity to ruin our day...week....life. O Chambers says that self-pity is of the devil, and if we wallow in it we cannot be sued by God for His purpose in the world. Look at the richness of His gifts around you, look to Him, get in His Word, count His faithfulnesses, and love them well.
Take all the gaps of Mother's Day, and force yourself to look instead to how He has filled them...He sees us, often Rahab in the dessert, and hears. He sees you.
Some celebrate, some cry in the shadows, and God sees in the shadows. He carries our losses more than we do. His heart is for us in our ache, and He is NEAREST in our painful places.
Be weak on Mother's Day, and reminded that He is strong and to be run to. All of our losses are deeply known and sheltered in Him. All of our losses will one day be made as if they NEVER were.
Love you. God has used many of YOU in many seasons to be women, moms, aunts, prayer warriors, and grandmas in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment