Week 7- "Tug of War"

It's a new week! And I'm excited to be here! The weather is amazing today, by the way. Have you stepped outside and tried to hug the sun? Brielle and I did that this morning. If you haven't yet, take a minute to walk outside. Smell our Florida-fall air, smile at the sun, and feel the breeze on your face. Our God is good. When we accept his gifts and name them, we allow his grace to heal our hearts. I know I could always use more healing.

Last Thursday Pastor Janis talked to us about remaining teachable (if you're following us on Twitter or Instagram I've been hashtagging like crazy- #vlcsisterhood #stayteachable). She opened with this quote from Paul W. Powell, "God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. His goal is not to pamper us physically, but to perfect us spiritually." As uncomfortable as it is to hear, we need to accept correction from our Father. We have to be willing to stick around and listen to Jesus even if his words cross our wills. Proverbs 4:13 in the NIV tells us to "hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life." Really? Instruction is my life? Why couldn't the Bible say "joy is my life" or "freedom is my life" or "comfort is my life"?! Instruction, correction, rebuke- call it what you want. It hurts, but God's rebuke is gentle. When I'm busy in the kitchen like Martha, it sounds harsh and hurtful but when I'm in the living room like Mary, it sounds like life for my soul. On the other side of accepting God's correction there is renewal, refreshing, empowerment, and freedom. We know what the other side looks like because we see the change Martha undergoes in John 11:17-29 (MSG): 

"When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house. 

Martha said, 'Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.' 

Jesus said, 'Your brother will be raised up.' 

Martha replied, 'I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.' 

'You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?'

'Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.'

After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, 'The teacher is here and is asking for you.' 

The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him."

Mary's response to Jesus is different here; she regards Jesus with tender vulnerability. She confesses her faith in him- a shift from looking at herself and to herself to gain His approval. She now operates out of an understanding of her intrinsic value because she belongs to God. Instead of shooing Mary away from Jesus' feet, Martha now points her to him.

In order for this same shift to take place in our own lives we must commit to three things (at least):

1. Be willing to listen to Jesus.

2. Be willing to act on what we hear.

3. Be willing to receive rebuke when we live according to our misunderstandings of God and his character. 

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it," (Hebrews 12:11, NIV).

God is increasing our capacity for him. God doesn't give his heart in pieces (from "Pieces" by Amanda Cook). He gives us his whole heart. His love is wild for us. It can't be contained. That's why we have to grow, expand. That's why he's increasing our capacity- so we can house MORE of Him!!!! That makes me so excited! It even inspired me to get scripty last week.

Let's go forward boldly, receiving the correction of our Father. If we hear it, it means we're walking closely enough with him to detect his voice. How good it is to be close to our Father.

I'm looking forward to seeing you ladies again on Thursday! Can't wait to hug you!

Love,

Leah

Week 6- "Tug of War"

Hi friends! I hope this post finds you well, but if you're not, that's ok. We're here to do life together- messy, beautiful, wonderful, hard life. I'm in the middle of a very busy season that is not really of my choosing. I'm swamped just trying to maintain necessary life things. On top of that, I stagger under the weight of self-imposed obligations and expectations. I am grateful for my friends who stand with me in prayer and laughter and hugs. I am grateful for how God deals with me gently and helps me lean into his strength. Dan and I were talking the other night about how he's understanding God's grace during this busy time of our life. He said he saw it like a stacked bar graph (see below- you can click the graph to make it larger). We can always operate at 100% but maybe all we have within ourselves is 20%. That's when our faith kicks in and we trust our Father to be the 80% we lack, so His strength can be made perfect in our weakness.

In 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Paul talks about asking God to make him well and deliver him from a messenger of Satan who had given him a physical condition ("thorn in the flesh"). Here is his conversation with God about it: "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me," (2 Corinthians 12:8-9, NIV). WHAT?! Boast gladly in my weakness?! Does this sound crazy to anyone else? I want to be well. I want to be whole. I want to be enough. In and of myself. Self-sustaining. But, as with most things, it doesn't work that way in the Kingdom of God. I have to admit my weakness and lean into God's strength so he can display his glory in me. Lately I'm really good at admitting my weaknesses (I guess step one really is awareness), but I'm also really good at sinking in despair, thinking about my inadequacy, crying about how I'm not enough. I stay there, unpack my bags, and forget that I'm supposed to keep looking forward. If I could just look past myself I'd see the eyes of my loving Father, kind and warm. I'd see his arms outstretched, reaching for me. I'd see the scars of the nails and remember he already gave everything for me because he SO loves me (John 3:16). 

You see, Satan loves using our physical exhaustion against us in pursuing intimacy with God. He enjoys when our focus remains on problems, on ourselves, on our weaknesses. Ephesians 6:10-18 reminds us our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil and in order to combat these enemies we must put on the whole armor of God. When unworthiness creeps in, fight it with the Word (Ephesians 2:13-14, NIV). When busyness overwhelms us, fight it with the Word (Psalms 90:12, AMP). When guilt and shame constrain us, fight them with the Word (1 John 1:9, NIV). We have to develop spiritual discipline in order to grow in relationship with God. Relationship has to be nurtured and protected. In John 14:23 Jesus tells us that if we love him and obey His Word then the Father loves us and they will make their home in us. Being with God is a delight not a duty; it's less of a visit and more of a homecoming! Jesus has torn the veil so we can remain in him as He remains in us (John 15:4-5).

Three things for today:

Commit to time with Jesus.

Commit to pray.

Commit to reading the Word.

But not out of obligation. Pray for God to give you the desire to be in his presence, so you can delight in him. We sing a song, I Will Exalt. Without God's presence there's no meaning, without it we're not living. Not to put too fine a point on it, but wow. Such truth. Click here to listen. There's nothing like his presence. Everything else fades away. He alone is worthy of all praise. 

I love you, ladies. You're a treasure and a joy! I pray today you would delight in the Lord and in this beautiful life he has given us.

Love,

Leah

P.S. Sisterhood is now on Instagram (follow us at vlcsisterhood) and Twitter (follow us at @vlcsisterhood)!

Week 5- "Tug of War"

Good morning, friends! Every time I think of you, I want to chant "SISTERHOOOOOOOOOOOD" like I'm at a pep rally or something. Do you get that pumped when we're together?! Maybe it's just me. Hahaha!

I was out two weeks ago. Em had strep and I couldn't access the podcast in time to blog about it- sorry about that! Last week's message was amazing and I was so happy I was present for it. Pastor Janis opened with this bomb: "Other people need to shoulder their own burdens. We are called to bear one another's burdens BUT we were never asked to do for others what they are unwilling to do for themselves." How many times do we feel overwhelmed and inadequate because we've chosen to carry things that are not meant for us? God gives us new mercy every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) to do the good works he prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), but there is less grace to do the things, handle the things not intended for us.

Matthew 23:2-4 in The Living Bible says, "'You would think these Jewish leaders and these Pharisees were Moses, the way they keep making up so many laws! And of course you should obey their every whim! It may be alright to do what they say, but above anything else, don't follow their example. For they don't do what they tell you to do. They load you with impossible demands that they themselves don't even try to keep.'" Sometimes we play both parts, the pharisees and the overloaded people, in our own stories. We place all kinds of unrealistic expectations on ourselves (well, maybe I'm the only one who does that), we assume responsibility for all kinds of people and things that God did not give to us, and then we expect to handle it all with grace and ease. No wonder we're exasperated, crying out to God for help and asking him where he is in the middle of all this. What will we do when we learn we've missed the best God has for us? Will we humble ourselves and throw off the burden of over-service? It is so important to learn the difference between work and worship. In my own life, this is the lesson- over and over again for at least six months. Be over do, worship over work, rest over performance- every time. 

Remember how in Luke 10:41-42 (TLB) Jesus says to Martha (and calls her name a couple times), "'Martha, Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it- and I won't take it away from her!'"? That one thing is worshipping God- sitting at Jesus' feet, learning him, resting in him. The better part? A heart centered on him alone. Easier said than done, right? Selwyn Hughes said, "Life works better when we know how to glance at things but gaze at God." I need daily solitude in order to focus on Jesus. Otherwise I run hot & cold in my relationship with God. But that's not what he wants. It takes time and a desire of my will to actively make room for the better part. I'm making Psalm 27:4-5 (TLB) my prayer: "The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the privilege of meditating in his Temple, living in his presence every day of my life, delighting in his incomparable perfections and glory. There I'll be when troubles come. He will hide me. He will set me on a high rock out of reach of all my enemies." Did you catch that last part? He will hide me. He will set me on a high rock. Amen! I want to spend every moment in his presence, delighting in him, so that the spirit realm (the true reality) becomes more clear to me than my temporal surroundings. When I gaze at Jesus I feel safe and secure and I know he's taking care of me. Just like when Peter stepped out and walked on the water (Matthew 14:22-33)- he felt safe and God preformed a miracle when his eyes were fixed on Jesus, trusting in him, but as soon as he saw the wind he was afraid (no longer trusting) and he began to sink. We must learn to abandon our emotions as a compass and start exercising our will. Don't wait until we feel like it to spend time with God. The better part is always readily, constantly available to us. We can choose to ignore it, but no one can ever take it away from us.

In Ephesians 3:17-19 (TLB), Paul prays for the church; "And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself." We were made for fullness! First things first! Take care of ourselves and nurture our relationship with God- be filled with God himself! We were created for the fullness of God, but are we ready for that? It requires stretching. It requires time in the dark room of life. Christine Caine uses the metaphor of developing film to describe our journey with God on earth. She says he gives us a glimpse of our destiny, a taste, so we can know who we really are, who he already chose for us to be. Then he takes us into the dark room where we undergo a series of processes over time in which he forges his image on us. The gift that is on us will destroy us if His light has not yet developed within us to sustain it. All of life is the process of undoing. And the promised land is in the process- not at the end. Would we prefer a God we can manage? That one burns... Know that we are as intimate with God as we want to be.

Thankfully, we're not left to our own devices to figure out how to be closer to and develop better relationship with our good, but also invisible Father. Pastor Janis gave three keys to guide us:

1. Consistency- consistency does not mean perfection

2. Creativity- there's more than one way be close to God

3. Conversation- talk to God, allow time and space to hear back from him

When we practice these things we will know where to go to be filled, where to go to be centered. Sit at the feet of our Father. He stabilizes us. He is our steady balance.

Be encouraged- we can make it! If we're feeling crushed, stretched in the dark room (NOT due to unnecessary weights we've added to our lives), we're doing something right. God will guide us through and we'll be closer to him as we trust him and worship him through the hard times. He's making us more like him. That part hurts. "But if we are to share in his glory, we must also share in his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later," (Romans 8:17-18).

My friend Demene is back this week with more nuggets including the amazing quote featured in this post- she's inspirational!

Technology has allowed us so many ways to connect with God.  As we work to unpack the sand and rocks and pebbles from our lives and put God 1st, I am amazed at the many opportunities we have to share our day with him.  


I recently shared with a young lady that I subscribe to faith building sites on Facebook.  I told her it is wonderful when I open my page and I am fed with positive tidbits of God's grace and love. With a touch of a button I am able to lift my husband in prayer, lift up my family and even get connected to like-minded saints.  I can explore this same creativity through music and game apps.  A few things that have helped me to be consistent include the fellowship of Sisterhood, my journal time and my worship as I drive from home to Ocala.  These are some of the best moments in my week.  In Sisterhood I am welcomed into a room where ladies lift me up and the walls of stress come down.  In my journal I write "Dear Lord," and when I do I find I can't complain and he often meets me where I lay pen.  Don't get me started on that worship time in the car! Ladies, it's a full-fledged concert starring me performing for an audience of one. Yeah, I am committed to this exercise.  It's the best thing going and it's not a phase, it's a lifestyle.

Love you guys so much and I'm excited to celebrate this life and our Father again with you tomorrow!

Love,
Leah