Category Archives: The Christian Walk

March 18, 2013 · 6:00 am

Why You Need A Good Umbrella

Let’s start with the fun stuff. I was supposed to announce the winners of last week’s contest in a post already, but I’ve had limited internet access this week and wasn’t able to post. So, belatedly, I wish hearty congratulations to the two winners of the baby items giveaway–

Katie Beth and Lori!!

Girls, email me your mailing addresses & I’ll get those certificates to you asap!

828507_colorful_umbrella

When it rains, it pours, right? We’ve been hearing this little phrase a lot lately.

  • The transmission in our car died and our car was in the shop for a month having that replaced, plus the shocks & struts. $Cha-ching$
  • Our dog began limping again on a knee that was completely replaced in doggy surgery four years ago.
  • The hose to our kitchen sink sprayer sprang a leak and my sweet, wonderful, talented husband tried to fix it himself, but being good at a great many things, handy-manning is not one of them. So, I was without a kitchen sink for a few days.
  • Our TV died.
  • Our oven died.
  • Our laptop died.
  • We had a medical emergency with a close family member.
  • My three year-old opened the pantry to get a snack and the cabinet door fell off. Just fell off.
  • My doctor broke his hand skiing and won’t be able to deliver our baby.

Most of this all happened within a week.

My first response to the deluge of chaos was my go-to “seriously?”

Followed by these thoughts:

What are we doing wrong that God is allowing all of this stuff to happen? (He’s punishing us.)

Why is everything falling apart all at one time? (Life is unfair.)

What about that whole “working for goodness for those who love Him” thing? (Not trusting in what I know to be the truth.)

All of these thoughts were sinful. Flat out.

But then I had this thought– what are my blessings? Yep, I started counting them. And they outweighed the chaos, of course.

Here’s the thing, though. I actually said to my husband, “We’re under attack right now and we need to get ourselves right before the Lord. Something is wrong. I don’t know what, but we need to fix it.”

Then Sunday rolls around and our Sunday school lesson speaks to me in such a way that I know God has been hearing my prayers these past few weeks and he’s reminding me that even in the pouring rain, I’ve got the best umbrella.

The jist of the lesson centered around the idea that our circumstances often affect how confidently we trust Jesus. When things aren’t going our way, we’re tempted to lean toward several spiritual dangers.

Note that this is exactly what I did without even realizing it.

Danger 1– We doubt what we believe. When things don’t go our way, we give more power to what we think is supposed to happen rather than to what God promises.

Danger 2– We believe that God is treating us unfairly and we forget that challenges in our lives help mold us to be like Christ.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who  have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Danger 3– We believe that God is punishing us for things we’ve done in the past. This thought forces us to change our behavior, thinking that we can somehow “stop” the punishment in favor of blessings, putting emphasis on our works instead of on the two things we know to be true of Christ’s sacrifice for us– grace and mercy.

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

I am often especially guilty of Danger 3– thinking that God is punishing instead of realizing that although he allows consequences for our actions, I have been forgiven through the greatest atonement.

When the rain is pouring down, the umbrella that keeps me dry is the knowledge and faith in the saving grace of Christ.

No matter what happens in my life, no matter what the circumstances, everything points back to Jesus. I’m being molded and shaped to be more like him. My faith is being strengthened.

God’s blessings are prominent among the raindrops.

After all, it’s the rain that makes the flowers grow.

Share with me: Which of the three dangers above are you most likely to lean toward when raindrops are pouring in your life?

Real Signature

**The Sunday school material we use is The Gospel Project, Spring 2013, Lifeway Publishers.

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March 4, 2013 · 6:00 am

Making Molehills Out of Mountains

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He is jealous from me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions Eclipsed by glory

and I realize just how beautiful You are And how great Your affections are for me.

–How He Loves, David Crowder Band

The verse above is how the song How He Loves begins. If you’ve ever heard it, that very first phrase can really penetrate your spirit if you let it.

He is jealous for me.

He loves me. He desires my heart, my praise, my time, and my faith. He wants to bestow his presence and his peace on me.

God has let his jealousy for his people play out over and over throughout the Bible, giving us stories that test and develop faith, and most of all, show how God’s love and promises are revealed in his jealousy.

Mountains play quite a role in displaying God’s desire to have the full attention, focus, and hearts of his people.
Over and over, God used the mountains to send a message.

  • Mount Ararat— God sent the promise of no more destruction in a rainbow to Noah and his family.
  • Mount Horeb (Sinai)— God told Moses just how jealous he was, and instructed that he be the only God to whom the Hebrews bowed and worshiped.
  • Mount Carmel— God showed the 450 prophets of Baal who was the most powerful.
  • Mount Moriah (Mount Zion)— God commanded the full obedience and love of Abraham in the form of the sacrifice Isaac. But God provided Abraham with a ram, saving Isaac and showing just how deep God’s jealous love can run.
Many of us have had spiritual mountains in our lives.

They come in the form of trails and tribulations that have challenged our faith. We have to traverse these mountains, overcoming the hardship. When we reach the summit, we often see God revealed.

They come in the form of spiritual highs where we feel close to God, and valleys of trouble where we wonder if God is there at all.

They come in the form of moments when God reveals his jealous love for us, demanding our time and attention.

It’s these mountains– the small moments, that we often ignore or sweep to the side as insignificant, reducing them to molehills.

Let me give a couple of examples from my own life.

About two years ago I was able to take a tour of the Mormon Temple in Atlanta when it was open to the public for rededication. Obviously I am not Mormon, but I have been fascinated by the Mormon faith for as long as I can remember.

When I returned home that night, I dove into my Bible, hungry for the truths to dispel the lies that had been fed to me that day. That night I prayed that God would use my interest in the Mormon faith in a specific way– that he would show me how I could be involved in leading people away from Mormonism and Joseph Smith’s Jesus and to the true saving power of Jesus Christ.

I had a moment that night while I sat alone in my bed praying– a moment that has been seared into my mind and my heart. I felt the power of God. I heard him saying, “Yes, my child,” as I prayed for the opportunity to work with anti-Mormon missions. I have no idea how God is going to bring it about specifically in my life, but I know he will.

That was a mountain for me. When I’ve shared that story before, I’ve gotten mixed feedback, like many people don’t want to believe that God would speak to me about such a thing as Mormonism. But Mormons need the real Jesus, too, right?

So I will not reduce that moment to a molehill. It wasn’t. It was a mountaintop where God said, “I want all of my people to know my son.” I’m only a willing participant in that moment.

The second example I want to share has been happening a lot lately.

As I near the moment we expect to meet our third child, I haven’t been sleeping much. I’m having all the normal symptoms of a woman in her last month of pregnancy– trying to find a comfortable position to sleep is one of them.

I’ve been waking around 4 am every morning. I’m frustrated by that. I’m tired. I’m exhausted, really.

So I prayed about it and asked God to help me get some more sleep. You know what he said? He said NO.

Instead of tossing and turning and hoping for a couple more hours of sleep, I’ve felt compelled to get up and spend those wee morning hours with Him.

He is jealous for me. He wants my time and attention and he’s let me know. He’s fed me in those moments, given me rest through his word.

This is another mountain for me and I will not reduce it to a molehill.

God is jealous for us. He wants us– our whole hearts and our devotion. He won’t accept anything less.

So when he displays that jealousy at a mountaintop moment, don’t reduce it, cast it off, or ignore it. Take it for what it is– God’s unending love reaching for you.

Share with me: Do you have any mountains in your life where God has displayed his jealousy for you or for others?

Real Signature
Hey– are you expecting a new baby, too? Know someone who is? Check back on Thursday for an awesome giveaway!!

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February 25, 2013 · 9:06 am

The Worst Testimony Ever

bible2

I have the worst testimony ever.

At least, that’s what I used to think.

There’s no moving brilliance about being pulled from the pits of despair. There’s no drug use or living on the streets, no emotionally heart-wrenching abuse or moment between life and death where I saw Jesus.

My testimony was boring and I never liked sharing it.

I came to an understanding that I wanted to follow Jesus Christ as my savior when I was six years old.

How would I describe it? Underwhelming, probably.

There was no big epiphany. There was no glowing light or warm fuzzies.

There was only Jesus. There was no other option for me– I would follow him for life because that’s what I knew to be right.

So I always hated sharing my testimony because it wasn’t emotional enough. It wasn’t dangerous enough. It wasn’t riveting and brilliant and “worthy” of being called a testimony.

But here’s the thing– even at six years old, I did make a choice between life and death. And lucky for me, I made it before I had to live through the harsh realities of this world and all of the pitfalls that can befall man. I chose life.

And ever since, God has been working on me, changing me and molding me into the person he would have me be.

Has life been perfect? Absolutely not.

And that’s where my testimony is.

My testimony is the moment on Easter Sunday when I was thirteen years old and I finally realized exactly what it meant for Jesus to sacrifice his life for me.

My testimony is the tumor on my brain that God healed through the guided hands of a surgeon when I was twenty.

My testimony is the infertility issues that plagued my marriage and the blessings and miracles that have resulted in my sons.

My testimony is the daily twists and turns of life, the choices I make, the will of God, and how I relate the two.

My testimony is the blood of Christ that was shed for me, just as much as it was shed for everyone else.

My testimony isn’t one moment– it’s a life full of Jesus.

It’s beautiful. It’s tragic. It’s emotional. It’s riveting.

It might not feature the drama that some others have, but my testimony is a deliverance from sin, the redeeming of the blood, the moment when I was created and God said, “I love you.”

It’s a testimony I’m proud to share.

Share with me: What moments in your life speak to your testimony?

Real Signature

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