Chapter 1 - One Thousand Gifts

I have decided to read 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp with a group of women in my (in)courage group.  Last night I got through the first chapter, and thought I'd put some of my thoughts to paper on some of the sections that stuck out in my mind :)

Ann writes: 

Really, when you bury a child of when you just simply get up every day and live life raw - you murmur the question soundlessly. No one hears. Can there be a good God? Where is God, really? How can he be good when babies die, and marriages implode and dreams blow away, dust in the wind? How do I wake up to joy and grace and beauty and all that is the fullest life when I must stay numb to losses and crushed dreams and all that empties me out?

I spent much of my early Christian life feeling this way. Although I have never experienced the loss of a child, I have experienced losing loved ones and dealing with the frustrations of a sinful world and why a good God would let bad things happen to good people? One of the ways that I learned to get past this particular concern is to realize that God would not be righteous if he did, in fact, let bad things happen to good people. But there are no good people by His standards. We are all fallen sinful humans, desperately in need of his mercy and grace.  The original sin brought into the world has made all of us sick, and the only cure is the healing power of a justifying faith in Jesus Christ. It's also important for us to keep in mind that we cant go before God in our own arrogance asking Him WHY He does things. We have to trust in His plan.

Ann writes:  

I wake and put the feet to the plank floors, and I believe the Serpents hissing lie, the repeating refrain of his companion through the ages: God isn't good. It's the cornerstone of his movement. That God withholds good from his children, that God does not genuinely, fully, love us. Doubting God's goodness, distrusting His intent, discontented with what He's given, we desire .. I have desired .. more. The fullest life.

Why do we listen to the lies of Satan? Why do we, His precious creation, turn our back on Him and think that He has not given us everything? We have a creator that has given the ULTIMATE gift - the sacrifice of His Son, and yet we cry to Him that our lives are unfair and that we don't deserve the life we have? We question his love, as we enjoy the beauty around us that He's created. We don't deserve anything that God gives us, and we still ask for more!

Ann writes:

Satan's sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Isn't that the catalyst for all my sins?

OUCH. This one hit me hard. I am often so ungrateful for things in my life. I complain about finances, not comprehending that my income level (while less than I have become accustomed to) is still higher than probably more than I'd like to admit in this country.  I worry about my children forgetting their coats or their lunchboxes at school and forget to be thankful for the blessing of a Christian school where they are grounded daily in the Word of God.  It finally dawns on me. I am an ungrateful spoiled brat. My Father should be ashamed of my behavior, but instead I look to my side at this person who is holding my hand completely unashamed telling the Father how worthy I am .. Jesus. He's standing proud next to me telling the Father that I am his bride.

Ann writes:

How do I give up resentment for gratitude, gnawing anger for spilling joy? Self-Focus and God-Communion.

I have to take this journey. I have to trade in this attitude of ingratitude for a life filled with JOY and true communion with God. I am going to accept this dare. A dare to live full of grace and joy.

Show me your sign!

 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:13 

Have you ever prayed for God to “give you a sign to let you know that he is there”?  Have you thought how much easier it would be to believe in a God that was manifest in the flesh that you could see and touch today?  (as if our faith is supposed to be easy!)

I have to be completely honest – I have had these thoughts.  I have often selfishly prayed for God to just “give me a sign” that he’s working in my life.  I always expect to see some grand gesture or a booming voice to grab my attention.  I think to myself, if only I could have some sort of physical sign then it would make believing so much EASIER.  It could make my faith so much STRONGER than it is, and I could live every day of my life much bolder!

But then I think of the ancient Israelites who were able to learn from Prophets who directly communicated with God.  God led them with a cloud of smoke and fire.  And let’s not forget God’s most amazing interaction with human kind, sending Jesus, his Son to minister to us.  And yet, even with these very “physical” instances, there was still unbelief!  

The more I prayed for my desire to feel God and to know he was with me the more I started noticing little things.  I would get a devotional in my email with an exact bible verse that I had read that morning.  I would go to Sunday church and hear a sermon with a theme or a reading of a specific verse or character that I had just been reading or speaking about.  I have had a few of these examples happen over the past couple weeks, and I’d like to share them with you:

My husband decided that he wanted to start reading the book of Daniel.  So on a Friday night he got out his bible and his Matthew Henry commentary and started plugging through Daniel.  On Saturday the next day he got an email from one of his favorite podcasts on a new series that was starting on Monday about, yep you guessed it, Daniel.  When we went to church that Sunday the sermon was about .. dum dum dum .. Daniel!

I had a discussion with my son about the story of Jonah, and we were discussing how he was supposed to go to Ninevah but didn’t want to, and ended up in the belly of the whale.  I had also noticed while reading, that at the end of the book Jonah was not happy about the Ninevites being saved.  The following night at our church bible study, the Pastor mentioned Jonah and how he felt about the Ninevites.  The next day on my sermon series that I listen to there was a sermon about Jonah.

Yesterday I opened my bible to start reading Matthew 16 (I don’t know why, it’s just where I opened up to) and read the passage where Jesus tells Peter that he is the rock that He will build his church upon.  On my way into work I was listening to a podcast by RC Sproul where he is talking about this exact passage and the confession of Peter in this section where he declares that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

This morning I was thinking to myself how I wanted to do a blog about Mary and Martha and how I related to Martha and wanted to be more of a Mary.  After I dropped off the kids I turned on the radio to a public radio station that does sermons in the morning and, low and behold, a sermon about Martha and Mary!

Now I know too many people they will just chalk it up to coincidence.  But let’s move past that because I don’t believe that there are just coincidences.  I believe in a sovereign God who’s hand controls everything in the universe.  

So what is God trying to tell me?  Why do I hear songs on the radio specifically relating to something that I am going through at that exact moment?  Is He trying to tell me something deep within the lines of Daniel, Jonah or Mary and Martha?  Am I supposed to study and ponder and fast until I know what God wants me to do for him?

Maybe ….   Or maybe God is just answering my prayers.  Maybe this is God’s way of simply letting me know that he is here, he’s with me, he’s watching over me, and he has a hand on my life.  It’s like He’s giving me a little grin and a wink and showing me that he is hearing me, and while I don’t get to see him in person, I can know he’s here.  

“BE STILL and know that I am God”  Psalm 46:10

"Martha" girl, trying to be more "Mary"

Mary and Martha Worship and Serve

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”  And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42 

I have read this story many times in the bible, and I am always left at the end thinking .. hmm, that Martha, she sounds like my kind of gal!  I would feel the same way as she did if my sister was just loafing around while I was busy preparing the house and food for our company!  Or ... am I the only one who relates to Martha? :)

I have to admit that I am definitely the person who, while I absolutely LOVE to entertain, I am obsessed with everything being perfect.  I have to make sure that I put on the façade of my home always being in perfect order and in perfect cleanliness.  I stress out the kids telling them that everything they own has to be put away and out of sight (much like I’m trying to create some sort of illusion that we don’t have children living in our home!).  I make sure that tablecloths are perfect, flowers on the table, and a perfect buffet of food and drinks put out on the counter.  Part of this also includes making sure I have picked the perfect serving bowl or platter so that everything is displayed perfectly.

Some of my Sisters are thinking, and …. How is this bad?  ( LOL ) and for the most part I agree with that.  But what I notice sometimes is that I neglect to enjoy the company that is coming over because I’m so worked up over things being perfect.  I am so busy keeping busy, I sometimes neglect to sit down, relax and enjoy my company.  

What I think is really interesting about Jesus commenting on Martha’s insistence of Mary helping her, is that he is telling her that Mary has made the better choice.  It was interesting that Mary chose to sit and listen, which at the time was a posture of a disciple (who in the ancient world were men).  In Martha’s complaint, it almost seems like she is mad that Mary is breaking the rules for the traditional way of behaving!  But Jesus encouraged Mary to think and learn.  He allowed her the right to listen and to think about ideas, and develop her mind with His teachings.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Jesus was telling Martha that the acts of service are unimportant, I mean, he was the ultimate servant of all.  (For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Mark 10:45)  But I think what he was saying is that learning his teachings was even more important.  Especially in light of the fact that the housework would always be there… He would not.

Nothing is wrong with being sensible if it doesn't interfere with the more important things in life.  Martha was worried about something that was important to her, but was it the most important thing?  Mary made a conscious decision between two alternatives: She chose listening to Jesus over preparation of a meal. This may sound strange to those who, like Martha, think meal preparation is an important part of entertaining hosts. Mary saw this situation differently. She chose to listen to the wisdom of Jesus, her Savior, while she had the opportunity.

People make choices. For Mary, Jesus' words were the most important needs of her life.  Martha needed the reminder that her greatest need were the words of eternal life.  God's Word will stand eternally. The spiritual understanding we get in this life will be ours forever. But we must not allow physical needs and duties to consume us.  Martha stayed busy providing her guests with things that, she thought, made their visit more enjoyable. She should be applauded for seeing to the important needs of others.  Instead, Jesus commended her sister Mary.  He praised Mary for choosing the good part, the holy words, truth and faith of Jesus Christ, which will never be taken from her.  We should try to follow Mary's example and desire God's truth above everything else.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33

Do you need to be (in)couraged? (in)spired? Looking for community?

As a woman, community is something that is almost hard wired into my system as a necessity.  I have gone through various times in my life where  I have had more "community" than others and I can honestly say that the times when I was the happiest and the most grounded was when I was deeply rooted in a community of some sort. 

When I was younger, my "community" obviously consisted of my family and my school.  But as I grew into my late teens and early twenties, I definitely had developed a nice community of friends.  Friends that were there through new boyfriends and breakups, friends that were there through job hirings and firings, and friends that were there for me while I learned how to grow up into adulthood. 

Once I met my husband, we started a whirlwind of a romance where our communities became each other.  We began to sacrifice our relationships with our friends for the sake of our relationship with each other.  After our second child was born I definitely began to feel the longing for some female relationships.  I'm sure that any woman realizes that no matter how good the relationship is with your husband (and I can honestly say that my husband is my BEST FRIEND) it still is not the same as having a good girlfriend. 

I began to meet women at church and began to really form some nice acquaintances.  I say "acquaintances" because it seemed to me as if everyone already had their communities set up and were not accepting new members.  It's funny that no matter how old we get, we still revert back to that young girl who wants to feel accepted into the "cool crowd".

Now at this part in my story I’m sure you're expecting to hear that I then met someone who eventually became my best friend and I started having the community I desired.  Easy peasy, right?  Well ...... not exactly!  I discovered that this was something that was going to take work.  Time and energy and WORK!  I was going to have to find out somehow to make sure that I was devoting all the time I usually do to my husband and children, the time that I spend at home taking care of my home, and also the time that I spend working full time with my husband at our law office .. and on top of this I am supposed to have the time to foster friendships?  It seemed hopeless!

So what did I do?  I prayed.  I asked God to put me in connections with women who could be the kind of women that I needed.  Godly Christian women who could build me up not only in myself, but in my marriage, in my raising my kids and especially in my faith!  I was incredibly blessed to meet a dear friend through church who I can honestly say is probably the best friend I've ever had.  And it's a beautiful comfortable relationship where we can let our hair down, cry, laugh and share a bed with (HAHA-this is a joke we share, as we always share a bedroom at our annual church women's retreat).  The strange thing is, my relationship with her made me long for deep quality relationships with other women.  It’s kind of funny how God actually does hear our prayers and sometimes answers them with exactly what we ask for.

So fast forward to the year 2012.  My relationship with Christ has become my first and foremost priority, followed by my husband and my children.  I have also started a prayer group where I have had the privilege to start very deep and meaningful relationships with some amazing women.   You know how they say a family that eats together stays together?  Well I can honestly say that I am seeing that girlfriends that pray together stay together, and they also have much more fulfilling relationships with each other.  And the best thing of all?  I have this opportunity now to be a part of an online community called (in)courage!  I have been partnered up with a lovely woman as a partner and we are Community Leaders in this community as (in)couragers. 

I am so excited as to where this journey is leading me!  I am nervous and anxious, but most of all I am totally in awe of God's providence in my life.  He has given me a community, and whether it's at church, at my children's school, or online - it's real and it's mine and can be YOURS too!

(IN)TRODUCING OUR NEW COMMUNITY!

(in)couragingyou in your pursuit of Proverbs 31

We are a group of women who are not afraid of the biblical traditions of being a wife and mother, but also understand that there is a way for us to be the Proverbs 31 woman in the world today!

Find us on Facebook - search for Be The Proverbs 31 Woman (Or click above link)

What is this (in)courage community all about?  Watch this short video:

http://youtu.be/1WlGal5LDNo

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

Unashamed!

This devotional reminds me of when we had gone out to breakfast after the burial of Adam's mom.  When we got our food we asked Maddie to say the prayer and she busted out a very loud rendition of her favorite prayer that is also a song "Oh the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord" .. we had the whole restaurant come to a screeching halt listening to this little girl singing with all of her heart.  Sometimes I wish that we could ALL praise the Lord with such confidence!  I have to admit that in my past I have not always been so confident with my love for the Lord.  I would pray silently in my head if I was around others who were not of the faith.  I would stay silent when someone would speak about something that I did not agree with.  I was so afraid of offending someone with my beliefs.  But then I started to realize that I should not be ashamed for my beliefs.  I try to keep Paul’s words to the Romans in my head:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes Rom 1:16

So it is through the power of the holy spirit within me, and Gods great mercy that I can now feel unashamed.  Unashamed to raise my hands during a worship song, unashamed to pray in public, unashamed to declare that Jesus is Lord in my world, and unashamed to proclaim But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Josh 24:15).

xo, Wendi

Not Ashamed of the Lordship of Christ

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“O my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.” Psalm 25:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever noticed that some people get a little embarrassed in a restaurant if you bow your head and mention Jesus as you ask His blessing? They rub their eyebrows or forehead when you pray. Have you ever asked yourself why they’re ashamed? I think it is because they don’t know what they’re missing in Jesus. You see, salvation is a wonderful gift. God sent His Son to die for us. He rose from the grave for us. He ascended into heaven for us. He’s coming again for us! How can we be ashamed of this?

ACTION POINT:

Next time you go to a restaurant, let your prayer of blessing turn into an evangelistic opportunity with your unsaved friend.

Devotions taken from the messages of Adrian Rogers.

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