One Word

It feels a little late to be declaring my word of the year, and maybe the time to talk about it has past, but I’ve always been a bit behind the curve when it comes to trendiness. My “word of the year” heritage can be directly traced to Jena and Wendy, as I’m sure many can be. Without digging through years of journals, I think this has been a 4-5 year tradition of spending time in prayer and meditation asking God for a word that best represents where and how He’s calling me to lean in and grow closer to Him. I remember it being quite difficult at first.  Praying, talking to God, and crying out for help, were all things I felt I could do, but listening and hearing from God was NOT.  It felt awkward. I was not very confident about my ability to hear or interpret correctly. Thankfully, I was in the midst of building relationships with godly women and learning to sift through and find God’s Truth for me.

As memory serves, my word often starts to appear in November and by the start of the new year, God had provided numerous affirmations to ensure certainty in my word.

This time it happened differently. My “word” hadn’t whispered, in fact the idea of my “word of the year” hadn’t even entered my consciousness until shortly before Christmas.  Someone mentioned something about their “word of the year” and the panic fell upon me quickly. How could I start a new year without a new word?

Then my 9yr old son approached, tugging on my sleeve, asking what must have been a very important question and my word problem was quickly forgotten.  Then in the high school youth service Steve had us reading and discussing Matthew 6, where Jesus tells us not to worry about things like food and clothing.  Saying if God cares for the wild flowers and the birds then wouldn’t He attend to us?

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.  Matthew 6:30-34 MSG

Great stuff, right? But exactly how I’ve shown it above is how it appeared to me. When the passage was read aloud, the word steep was louder than all the others and it felt full. Full, like with weight, or loaded. We pressed into the passage more during our time together, but when I left, the word steep accompanied me. Could this be my word? If so, what did it mean? To be honest, I feel like I already steep my life in God.  Sure, I often need reminders of His truth and I’m far from perfect, but I’ve established my quiet time, I am aware and observe Sabbath time. The predictable patterns and rhythms I’ve established didn’t seem to be what this word was indicating.

On top of that, I still felt very attached to my word of 2014 - ready.  Actually, that word kept being used in phrases to me, “be ready”, “already ready”, and “all ready already”. In 2014, I felt called to respond with a yes when it felt God was calling me up to do something.  This did not mean saying yes to everything for fear I would make a mistake and miss something He was calling me to. It meant saying yes when I was sure it was Him, but unsure of myself.  

Well 2014 ended and 2015 began with me still sitting in the tension between these words, unable to fully release or accept either.

Happening alongside all of this our family has been rallying around my 9yr old son Garrett, who has been struggling greatly with school.  The idea and the research into homeschooling began last September, and for many reasons we waited.  I hoped and prayed the winter break would help, but within days of returning to school it obviously hadn’t. With a mixture of fear, trembling, hope, and prayer we ventured into the family of homeschoolers.

With this change came many others, and some clarity came to my “word”. My predictable rhythms have changed and I’ve had to create new space and times to ensure I’m steeping in God’s word and truth. The word steep also calls to mind tea. When tea steeps it actually doesn’t do anything, the hot water draws out all the goodness from it. Maybe that’s what it means for me, don’t go look for more to do, just let the the living water draw out the goodness in me.

I love tea, particularly in the evening, cozy in my pjs, settled in for some quiet reading, at home. At home. Well this obviously is a season of unknown duration where I’m being called at home in new and challenging ways!

What’s the point of me sharing this story? Upon reflection, I can’t help but see all the miracles God placed in my life to create this story, and I had to edit many of them out! The people He’s brought into my life, the invitation to learn from those further along in the journey, the challenge to love and follow Jesus with everything, and the intimate ways He loves me through it all. The point then is to share God’s story, the story He’s writing through me, the story I’m finding myself in. What’s your story? Praise and worship God by sharing what He’s doing in your life with others.

Psalm 91

You who sit down in the High God’s presence,

Yes, you. I see your tired eyes and weary shoulders, swollen throat from all that talking, pleading, yelling. You are finally sitting because you can stand no longer. You are seeking so much. Come sit here,

spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,

Under the dark cloak of the Overpowerer, the Destroyer.

Say this: “ GOD, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!”

Say it to me and to yourself and to Him. Yes, really. Say it aloud. Again. Louder.

That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards.

Now whisper it to your hands, your feet, your ears, your lips.

You have stood watch for your friends, your husband, your children,

All night long with worry, sometimes prayer. Mostly worry. You worry for their hearts, their safety, their future, that they will make it through the night.

His huge outstretched arms protect you— under them you’re perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon.

You worry for yourself too. That you can stand under the burden of the physical stress, the stress of carrying so much, feeling so much, doing so much all day and well into the night. Another disorder diagnosed, another presentation to make, another night alone in your bed.

Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you.

You sit with Yahweh Provider, El Shaddai, God Almighty and you wonder when He will appear.

Provider, where is your Provision?

Almighty, where is your Strong Arm?

You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses.

Your enemies: the despairing thoughts, the naysayers, the accusers, the abusers---they crumble under God's Arm. His Good is greater than their thoughts, and yours.

Yes, because GOD ’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door.

Can you believe it even when you don't yet feel it?

He is honing your life to be the sharpest knife in the wood block.

Will you open your hands anyway, open your mind anyway, ask the hard questions anyway?

He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go.

We're learning, like children, whose little brains fatten with life as they scrape knees, slosh juice, and spell "fight" F-I-T-E.

If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling.

The big angels tower over us like our huge mother or father or aunt or teacher, whoever taught you the best things. They extend their arms to catch your fumbling feet, your whole body free-falling off the pedestal of worry and suffering.

You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

You will rest in Him at the end of this day and say, "Why was I ever afraid?"(‭Psalm‬ ‭91‬:‭1-13‬ MSG)

- Christina H.

God is Still Here

Amidst the chaos, somehow there’s peace.

© 2011 Zach Dischner, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

God chooses to use the world around us and the people around us to show us his love. He could do it however he wanted – he’s God. If you were the almighty Supreme Being and could do anything you wanted, what would you do? He chose this. I don’t pretend to know why he does the things he does or why he chose to create us. Some things I just accept that he is the only thing that is God and he did things because he chose to do them and I am creation, not the mind of the creator.

But I’m thankful I get to exist.

God uses people. When I’m crying, God uses my husband’s arms to hold me. Sometimes he uses a friend. When I’m sick, he uses the doctors that he gave knowledge and wisdom to heal me or at least make what’s wrong bearable. When I’m sad and just can’t remember the point of it all, he sends my children to say something silly or sweet and remind me what really matters is those I love who love me. When I’m lonely, he sends a message in the form of a friend’s text or call. When I feel like I’ll never be enough, he reminds me I already am and my name is written in the Book of Life – the end result is already done. I can never fail.

God uses the world. God knew I would love flowers and he scattered them everywhere. He planted coffee beans because he knew I would love coffee every morning – and it would make me think of him. He knew I would love beaches and oceans and palm trees – and when I need it most – I always get to go to places where I can soak it in. If you love the sun, the stars, the moon, the sky – God knew you would and put them all there. Whatever you love, it’s not random that it’s there. Mountains, snow, hills, rivers…whatever it is, God put it there, thinking of you.

It sounds sappy and so untrue when it’s so much easier to be cynical or sarcastic, self-deprecating, angry, bitter, or depressed. It’s so much easier to think God doesn’t think of us and doesn’t care and that the world is random madness and random beautiful. We don't have to try to feel these things - these thoughts and feelings come naturally, but they hurt. It takes daily work to overcome them - and action on our part to be able to believe it's all true.

Because if it was all true, we would have to live like it. We would have to be grateful, forgiving, kind, patient, loving, accepting, and joyful. We would need to be obedient and care and be vulnerable and generous. We would need to be so many things that are hard. We would have to trust and let go of our own desires, dreams, and outcome – or go for scary dreams and passions. We would have to choose God’s perspective over our own. It would mean that God chose us with purpose – created each of us intentionally – for something. It would mean there is a bigger purpose and something or some plan larger than our own and we have to do something about it every day. If God thinks of us and gave us the Bible, then he means what he says and he requires things of us.

But it also means that God is still here. He puts people in our life to encourage us, teach us, strengthen us, and love us. Even though there are people to do us harm, he places helpers along the way. We are never alone. He showers us with gifts of people, places, and things. We don’t have all we want, but we have what we need. In his grace and lovingkindness, we do have some things we want. All the things we do have – everything that is not falling apart – that is God’s grace, love, and mercy.

In the midst of chaos, somehow there’s peace. Peace is perspective. There is good news in this world along with all the bad. Good things happen, even with the bad. As much as there is wrong in this world, there are things that are good and right.

Look around you with different eyes and notice the blessings and the good and keep a gratitude journal about it all to change your perspective and have peace.

Write “My heart is breaking because _________, but God says (verses from the Bible). The people and things around me that I am grateful for are _____________________________. And I know that God is still here.”

Write “______________ is falling apart, but (list things and people you’re grateful for) shows me God is still here and his word says (verses from the Bible).”

Write “I am so scared about _________________, but God says (verses from the Bible) and I see(things you are grateful for) and I know that God is still here.”

Write “I’ve lost ___________ but I still have (things you are grateful for) God says (verses from the Bible) and I know that God is still here.”

Write “I feel (list your negative feeling) but God showed me these things today (list things you are grateful for) and his word says (verses from the Bible that contradict your feelings).And I know that God is still here.”

Feelings and circumstances will tell us one thing, but we choose to believe God’s truth over our feelings and circumstances. We believe his promises. We trust that our eternal life holds all we’ll ever need and this life is temporary. We trust we have eternal life through Jesus Christ because God says so. He is in, around, under, above, through, before, and behind every circumstance and every person. When you’re whole world falls apart, Heaven stands. And God is still here.

Revelation 22: 12-13 (NLT) Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

John 16:33 (NLT) “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

- Tara Goddard

What Matters Most

What  matters most is what God loves. We are made in His image and when we know what matters most to Him, we know what matters most to us. We find out what God loves in his word – which he had written down for us because God loves to be known.

God shows us through creation in the book of Genesis that he loves beauty and majesty.

© 2010 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

From the whole universe down to the Garden of Eden and to us – he displayed his love for the magnificent and the beautiful; Glorious creations, reflecting the glory of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Psalms 50:2 From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance.

By his calculations of the universe, we see that God loves order, plans, and perfection.

In Stephen Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time, he observed “The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order…” and “If the rate of expansion at one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by one in one hundred thousand million, gravity would have caused the universe to have re-collapsed on itself. If it had had been faster by that same amount, the universe would have expanded into nothing by now.” http://www.fisica.net/relatividade/stephen_hawking_a_brief_history_of_time.pdf

“The laws of physics, as we understand them today, tell us that the energy in the early universe should have produced an equal amount of matter and anti-matter. Anti-matter is interesting stuff. When anti-matter touches matter, a pinch produces an explosion larger than a nuclear weapon. This means that all the matter and anti-matter produced by the Big Bang should have annihilated everything in existence a long time ago. However, for some unexplainable reason, for every billion particles of antimatter, the Big Bang produced one billion and one particles of matter. This turned out to be an extremely fortunate turn of events, because that extra matter was just enough to produce you, me, and all the other stuff in the universe. Why or how this could have happened is anybody’s guess.” Hicks, Mark (2014-01-27). Surprise: The Union of Quantum Physics, Relativity, and the Bible (Kindle Locations 2749-2755). . Kindle Edition.

Exactness. Perfection. God creates and moves with perfect precision. He is not a God of randomness or coincidence. God makes everything happen with perfect calculations. God created his people with the same love of majesty, beauty, perfection, and purpose – no accidents, no randomness. Our lives are planned with those same perfect calculations – and written in a book before we’re born.

Psalms 139:16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God loves to create meaning around him and in our lives.

He love symbolism and metaphors and loves to give us glimpses of what will happen before it happens – to create meaning for us. This is what God did in the Old Testament (OT) many times. For example, when we see that God delivered his people from captivity in Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land, this shows us that God will deliver us from this earth, our captivity, and bring us into our promised land, Heaven. By the Tabernacle and sacrifice system in the OT he gave us hints at how he was going to free us from sin and forgive us. Through his prophets in the OT he pointed to Jesus. In the New Testament (NT), he showed us himself through Jesus and told us how the world will end and what heaven will be like. He told us things before they happen to create meaning for our lives and for the things we do.

2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

Revelation 21:1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

God loves music, melody, and worship.

© 2012 Jackson Romie, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio

Throughout the Bible, displays of worship songs, instruments playing, angels singing, and people dancing are recorded. A trumpet will even be the signal of Christ’s return.

1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Psalm 150:1-6 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Some in the scientific community believe that everything in existence, at it’s core, is music…“according to [String Theory], all reality at its core is not made up of quarks, photons, and electrons but of far smaller vibrating strings of energy. Just as different vibrations— frequencies— cause different sounds, it is the different vibrations— tunings or pitch— of the tiny strings that cause all the various aspects of reality: in one instance a solid, in another a liquid, and so on.” Hicks, Mark (2014-01-27). Surprise: The Union of Quantum Physics, Relativity, and the Bible (Kindle Locations 2789-2798). Kindle Edition.

“In essence, String Theory describes space and time, matter and energy, gravity and light, indeed all of God’s creation . . . as music” -Roy H. Williams

“For the first time in the history of physics we therefore have a framework with the capacity to explain every fundamental feature upon which the universe is constructed. For this reason string theory is sometimes described as possibly being the ‘theory of everything’.” Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and a leading string theorist. Author of The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory.

God lists hundreds of other things he loves in his word. These are just a few. But the most important of all the things God loves for us to know – is that God loves us. Why does God love us? Because he does. Because he IS love. We don’t know why. It doesn’t really make sense to us – does it? The good news is that what matters most is not what we know or what we understand or what we do or who we are – but what matters most is who God is and what he loves. What God loves matters most.

Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Job 37:5 God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

- Tara Goddard

A New Atmosphere

What would it look like for God to bring in a new atmosphere of worship in your life? Atmosphere can be described as the pervading tone or mood of a place. If you had to list three pervading moods to best describe your past week what would they be? Fear, Joy, Anxiety, Peace, Humor, Sadness…

What would it mean for you to live the ups and downs of your life in an atmosphere of worship this week? this month? this year? 

Worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23) is about the way we live our lives because of who we are.  In Christ we get to walk around as living sacrifices.  Living. Sacrifices. Here’s the thing: sacrifices aren’t supposed to live. Because Jesus sacrificed his life for us, we get to live…our everyday dish washing, carpool driving, paycheck earning, coffee drinking, diaper changing lives as living sacrifices for Him. We worship God with who we are, not with what we’ve done or where we’ve been, or what we’ve achieved, or what we can do for Him. In Jesus, we are God’s children, redeemed and forgiven, heirs to an eternal kingdom, and not one ounce of it is our doing. It’s God’s mercy.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1

 What do you say? Can 2015 have a new atmosphere of worship? Let’s remember that sacrifices don’t live, and yet we get to because of Jesus, and let that reality permeate every part of our lives until we can’t help but worship in gratitude and joy.

Jena M. 

Flowing Like A River

Each new year, I am nudged (more like kicked in the rear) by God to choose a word for myself that I want Him to make me extra sensitive to. Something that I’ve been needing in my life that I either didn’t know that I needed OR that I’ve been too scared to ask for. 

This year, in 2015, I think the word that He’s sent my way falls into BOTH of those categories.

In 2013, it was “generosity” - 

In 2014, it was “positivity” - 

Now in 2015, I’ve been called to have “peace” in my life.

In my journey to be positive this past year, I somehow let the chaos in, too. Whether it was through being too understanding or too lenient, I did too much or not enough of something. There some things I should have handled long before they got to the points they’re at now. I mean, even Jesus had his limits (Mark 11:15).

So, during my ‘end-of-the-year’ reflection, I asked God for the ONE thing that I needed in my life. Of course, being a human being — a human being that sins on the daily, I know I need more than just one thing, but my tiny brain can only process one life lesson at a time. 

So looking back on the pacing of my life — the rhythms, the highs, the lows, everything — I felt a strong calling to the word PEACE.

“The biblical concept of peace is larger than that and rests heavily on the Hebrew root slm, which means "to be complete" or "to be sound." The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning"to be complete or whole" or "to live well.” (Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Peace)

Peace seems impossible to be attained based on that definition. With the external chaos constantly threatening our internal quiet, how on earth does God expect us (i.e. me) to find peace?!

Well, for starters, the answer to that is NOT of this earth. He doesn’t expect me to find the peace within the confines of this world. My answer is and has always been through Him.

The [belief in the] death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is our pathway to peace. 

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14-16, NIV)

It’s such a powerful and overwhelming realization to know that peace has been there all along. He’s been waiting on me to claim it.

Ironically, when I was a young child, one of my favorite songs to sing in school was a hymn called “Peace is Flowing Like A River”. 

I sang it in church, at school, at home. It was mainly because it was a catchy tune. But now… it couldn’t be more relevant to my life.

“Peace is flowing like a river

Flowing out of you and me

Flowing out into the desert

Setting all the captives free”

I never stopped to really think on what I was singing about, but this prophetic lyric means a LOT to me now. It’s telling me what peace has come to do. What GOD has come to do with that peace.

He’s setting me free of what I’ve trapped myself in — the chaos and the noise of the world, which we all get SO easily wrapped up in. He’s reminding me that we’re all captives by sin and that He sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us! That He is that peace where looking for!

You know, as I sat down to write this, I didn’t even realize what the end would look like. It started with my asking God for peace to the complete realization that I’ve had it all along. Through Jesus Christ.

So, while my word for 2015 is and will continue to be PEACE, my process has changed. Instead of trying to attain that peace, I will instead work on maintaining that peace. Because I have it. I already have it. Because I have Jesus. 

What greater peace is there?

- Christina Marie

A Letter To Myself for Next December

A letter to myself for next December...

Hey You,

Remember how you wished you would've enjoyed the little things about the Christmas season last year? How the hustle and bustle overwhelmed the joy right out of you?  No one is going to give you permission to rest. In fact, you don't need it because your Heavenly Father told you to do it. He's got this. Go rest.
Do whatever you need to do to look your loved ones in the eye over a slow cup of coffee. Let your to-do lists down and snuggle into a good book. Cancel appointments and carve out time to just hang out at home with your kids. Turn off your phone. Be present. Don't accept every cookie exchange or party invitation if it means you'll lose your peace in the process.

Don't overthink your gifts. Gifts given with a heart of generosity and love matter most. Don't overspend. It's just not worth it.

Set aside some extra money to give away this season. It's fun and you feel good doing it. God loves a cheerful giver.

So what if your Christmas decorations don't look like Anthropologie's? That nativity set from the elderly couple's garage sale is your kids' favorite. Remember how they love to move the pieces all around and since you paid $1 for it, who cares of the shepherd is now missing legs?

Pick no more than 3 traditions you want to uphold this year. Remember bigger is not always better.

These few weeks before Christmas will fly by. There's mystery and wonder in them if you stop and look. Listen to what God is saying right now. Take time to worship Him.

While the memories are fresh, write down what God has done in your life this year. Where did you see His glory? Where did you grow the most? What were your biggest disappointments? Don't wait to do this because one very short week after Christmas is the New Year (don't act surprised that it's only a week- same time every year) and you'll be ready to move on and look forward.

One last thing, in case you haven't been told in a while, you're doing a superbly, awesome job.  I mean it...so proud of you. Now go grab that cup of tea and dark chocolate you've been thinking about for the past 10 minutes.

Love,
Me


Jena M.