Pushing Past Your Past: Do It AfraidTomorrow I’ll post on self-doubt, so it’s interesting that Do It Afraid is today’s study. Wouldn’t it be awesome if doing it afraid meant we wouldn’t fail, wouldn’t have fear, wouldn’t question our abilities, and yet most of us will. (more…)
I found myself againI almost got lost. Do you know the feeling? I’m a girl who has loved Jesus for a long time, and ministry was a natural direction simply because I couldn’t imagine not sharing who He is.
That led to books, and articles, and speaking. All amazing gifts. I loved watching God work. Seeing women respond to His message. But somewhere, somehow, in the past several months I got a little lost. My love for Christ was still strong, still there, but the intimacy of knowing Him faded.
I was aware that it was missing. So painfully aware. So I kept pushing on. Still studying. Still walking. Thinking that somehow this was my “wilderness”, a religious/churchy phrase for times when you don’t feel God. Knowing that it can’t be about feelings, but simply walking and trusting.
Last month I spoke at a little church and two women approached me afterwards. Sisters. I could see that life had treated them cruely. We were sitting and I asked to pray with one of the women and she knelt and placed her forehead on my knees. She wrapped her arms around my legs, and in beautiful, simple absolute love and adoration for Christ she waited for me to pray.
And I melted. (more…)
Hearts at Home
(Video of a hilarious skit at a past HAH conference with Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker, Karen Ehman)
I’m finally home from the amazing conference, Hearts at Home. I met these women six years ago, and fell in love with this organization for moms. From the top down, the genuine concern is that moms shouldn’t have to do it alone.
Volunteers set up a massive conference in three cities: Colorado Springs, CO (their newest), Bloomington, IL (6,000+ women), and Rochester, MN (2000 women). They also travel to Europe, sharing with teams of moms in Hungary, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, and other countries.
They aren’t corporate professionals, and yet they could be as they run this massive organization with skill, but with a twist of compassion and fun.
I hope you’ll check out Hearts at Home, and connect with these women. They are unveiling their new look in December. I had a chance to see the proofs, and it’s exciting. The new look will reflect the heart of this ministry to moms in a brand new way, and I love it.
Check it out. Connect. Go to one of their conferences, and bring your girlfriends. You’ll love it!
God moved. . .God moved.
Don’t you love those two words?
What do they mean? It means that there are times when God gently walks in and transforms the direction of a life. God moves. We move because of it. Spiritually. Physically. Emotionally.
We move spiritually toward Him. Toward change. Toward whatever direction we feel He is showing us. Perhaps that is away from bitterness and toward wholeness. Perhaps it’s away from striving and toward acceptance. But definitely away from our own desires and 1 year/5 year/10 year plan toward His leading, even if it’s baby steps.
We move physically toward Him. We long to be near Him so we pray. We stand close to other believers side by side as we worship, giving grace to those who may be works in progress, because now we know people can never be God. And we receive that same grace, because we are so far from perfect ourselves.
We move emotionally. Away from those things that hold us back to discover what joy really looks like. Joy that has nothing to do with feelings or circumstances or other people. We let go. We release. We are traveling lighter so we can run, rather than limp toward God.
This weekend I had the privilege of watching God move in the hearts of women. More than ever I am amazed at those two simple words and the power behind them: God moved.
fast forward
It’s early. I woke up in my hotel room, blanketed in darkness. Kansas City is beautiful. I’m in the plaza. Trees are orange and yellow and red. It’s the height of the Autumn season. The beautiful fountains are lit up.
I love getting to do this. To travel and to speak to women, to connect with new friends, and to anticipate what God wants to do. Not just in the women, but in me.
This trip is different in that it is the first time I’ve spoke anywhere that I know someone from my childhood. The pastor’s wife is a friend. I spent a lot of time in her home growing up. Her mom was one of “those moms”, the kind that let girls hang out in tribes in her house. She cooked breakfast, endured lots of giggling and shrieks, girls running around the house, freezing each other’s bras, and somehow she loved each of us.
Very rarely do I bring the broken girl from the past into an event, but she peeked in last night. Remembering how my little church was truly a sanctuary when I was growing up. How families nurtured the teens in the church, having no idea how much they were impacting those teens.
We went out last night. We laughed as we recalled our times in the small church, our times with friends at her house.
I see her mom in her. She’s nurturing, not only to her family, but to the women in her church. It’s obvious as we talk about her dreams for this ministry, and even for this weekend. It’s awesome sometimes to get a glimpse of what God has done. To fast forward from two young girls to find two women.
Two moms. One Gramma. Two different paths, but both impacted by who God is.
I love it.
pray with meI’m on my way to speak at a women’s retreat in Shawnee, Kansas. There’s just something inside of me that gets excited on days like this. I anticipate what God wants to do. As I pray, I ask God to help me hear His heart for the women waiting.
I can’t do anything on my own, and I’m very aware of my limitations. But when God becomes part of the plan, I love to sit back and watch Him at work.
I’ll be speaking on a tough topic: forgiveness. It’s a topic that I sometimes want to shy away from, and yet I meet so many who struggle with it, and for good reason.
And yet I know that it holds us back. It creates bitterness. It is passed down to our children, shows up in our relationships with our spouses, and even with those we hold at arms length. Sometimes it shows up in our relationship with God.
So I keep talking about it. What it means to forgive. What it doesn’t mean. Why God cares so much about it, and the freedom we find when we do.
So, if you will, pray with me today for tomorrow and Saturday. That God will gently and powerfully touch the women as they let go of anything that stands in the way of running after Him and all that He wants to give. That He will heal. That He will help them leave with all that they need to live fully and free.
