Discovering True Intimacy with Our Savior

Girl Scout Cookies & Grace

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Girl Scout cookies.  Are they the work of the devil or manna from heaven?  Someone help me out, because I’m not clear on this issue.

Then again, those 10 boxes sitting on your desk show me that maybe you’re not clear on the issue either.  Perhaps it is just one of those things we will never know this side of Eden.

I mean, it’s for the kids, right?
What? Those 5 boxes?
I just didn’t want that little girl to be sad when she only sold 543 boxes instead of 548.

I hear ya!
I do!

There are few things more delightful (or tempting) than when you find out from a co-worker, family member or friend that the time is near. I’ve just decided that Girl Scout cookies, like death and Christ’s return, are inevitable. So, don’t judge me when I tell you that I handed over a check for a box (yes, one box) of Tag-a-longs.

“OK. I have you down as paid,” she said in a sing-song voice.

And then I heard in my heart these precious words,
“I have you down as paid, too.”

Simple moment.
Profound message.
Astounding truth.

God has the debt of my sins crossed off as paid.
Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord!

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold and silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. – 1 Peter 1:18-19

What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie? Come on…you know you have one.

Thanksgiving Thursday (2)

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For every gift of nature and of grace,
for our heavenly vision of You,
for all blessings within and without,
for all that Your love has in store for us, O God,
we give You gracious thanks.
Through Christ Jesus.
Amen.
– Grace Before Meals, 1911, Compiled by A. William Nyce & Hubert Bunyea

Thanksgiving Thursday (1)

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While packing up my house this summer, I stumbled across this gem.

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This 102 year old book entitled “Grace Before Meals” was given to my grandmother by my great grandfather, Papa Whitten. I love that my grandmother’s handwriting is on the inside.

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The pages are fragile.
The binding loose.
But among the pages of this tiny book lie secrets to the lost art of saying grace before meals.

The prayers are brief and eloquent.
They are timeless and true.
And it is a treasure I’ve been wondering what to do with for months.

Until today.

Each Thursday I will post one of the prayers from the book. I’ll replace the thee-s and thy-s, the unto-s and the thou-s; but otherwise, the prayers will remain unchanged.

My hope is that once a week you will find new words to express your gratitude not only around the dinner table but throughout your days as well.

“For the continuance of Your loving kindness to us, we give You all thanks, O Lord. Fulfill all our needs and save us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”
– Grace Before Meals, 1911, Compiled by A. William Nyce & Hubert Bunyea

2012: The Year of Pruning

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I’ve been looking forward to this post for 366 days (don’t forget it was a leap year) not because of the content but because that means 2012 is in the books. It is history, and I’ve survived it.

Hallelujah!

Let’s not have another year like this for a while.

To be fair, 2012 has not been a bad year, but it has been plagued with first world problems. Like…

2 flat tires
a dead car battery
a broken tail light
a mouse in the garage
a leaking furnace
my dog trying to jump out of a moving vehicle
my dog actually jumping off a small bridge
and surgery that kept me out of pocket for a month

I guess you could say it was jam packed with anti-awesomeness.

I’ve been kind of quiet on the blog this year mainly because I’ve been trying to figure out what in the world God is/was trying to teach me. It’s been baffling.

In the third quarter of this year, I started to catch on. It was clear that God was pruning me, molding me, and refining me.

When silver is refined, the silversmith heats up a furnace and places the precious metal directly over the flame. The silver may be shiny to the naked eye, but it is only when the heat is applied and the metal becomes moldable that the dross bubbles to the surface. The dross of…

envy,
pride,
self-righteousness,
fear,
entitlement,
selfishness.

On and on and on the list goes of impurities that lie within, and though it has been difficult, I trust that it has not been in vain.

Let’s recap some of the highlights of the year.

Biggest Blessing

Hands down…my friends & family post-surgery.

Bradley came bearing groceries.  
Robyn with grace.  
Lil brought her companionship.
Kels brought her calming presence (and endless reminders that it was only temporary).  
And, of course, Mom & Bruce, who came with practical solutions like washing clothes & fixing various things that had been overlooked.

AND

The gracious people at the Pampered Pet Resort for taking care of Ellie while I was convalescing.  They went above and beyond. And when I say above & beyond, I mean it. It was an ugly-girl cry kinda blessing.

Scariest Moment

Realizing just how single I was because I was completely incapable of taking care of myself post-surgery.  I never knew from day-to-day who (if anyone) would be able to help, and it was terrifying, but someone always showed up.

Funniest Moment

Robyn and I were at an event where it was completely inappropriate to laugh.  Completely. Inappropriate. I could feel the giggles rising inside of me and I started to panic. Every ounce of my being was focused on keeping the giggles below the surface. It was terrible.

Then – in a tragic turn of events – out of the corner of my eye, I see Robyn’s shoulders begin to shake from laughter. At that point, it was all over. Neither of us could contain ourselves any longer and the giggles escaped. It was terrible, and is was hilarious. I’m so ashamed.

Weirdest Month

October

Biggest Obsession

Watching all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights on Netflix in 4 weeks. “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!”

Favorite Read

The Harbinger

Most Convicting Bible Study

No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. I’m still trying to figure out what we were thinking.

Verse of the Year

Ironically…

“This is the day the LORD has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Best Vacation

Secluded cabin in Blue Ridge, GA where – gloriously – a whole lot of nothing happened.

Favorite New Experience

Ziplining

Biggest Accomplishment

Pulling off the Awaken women’s retreat with Jamie Harper.  It seems like a blur, but I think it really happened.

Best Purchase

I’m pretty sure the maker of this chair captured a little bit of God’s glory.

Biggest Surprise

Selling this..

and ending up with this…

What in the world? I didn’t see that coming.

Most Favorite Face

This one!  Who can’t love a face like this?

And with that, I bid farewell to 2012.

Cheers to a brand new year! May God bless us all abundantly more in 2013 than we can ask or imagine.

(Re)thinking Christmas: Come Lord Jesus!

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Deep in our spirit lays the knowledge that we were made for more than this world. We crave happy endings and harmonious relationships. We crave work that isn’t labor and a heart that doesn’t break. We long to linger in beauty, to escape the precipice of death, and we search for community when into our hearts loneliness creeps.

We were, indeed, made for something immensely better. We were made for Eden. Our sadness is the cry of our hearts and the longing of our spirit for that perfect land where there is no more death, no more crying and no more pain. When He returns again, for those that know Him and remain faithful, it will be so.

This Christmas, as we celebrate the newborn King, let us rejoice in knowing that He who was faithful to come once, will come again. Let the plea of John be ours as well:

“AMEN. COME, LORD JESUS!”

Wishing you & yours a blessed and merry Christmas!

(Re)Thinking Christmas: Decorations – Fill ‘er Up!

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My new neighborhood is lined with awesome Christmas decorations.

Spotlights illuminate wreaths hanging in the windows.
Greenery drapes elegantly around door posts & banisters.
Twinkly lights outline the silhouettes of trees.

It’s lovely.

But just as you start to sing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” you round the corner and run smack into an inflatable Nascar Santa complete with elves as the pit crew.

Classy.

I know. I know.
I don’t have kids.
I don’t understand.

And you’re right. I don’t.

When did it become OK to inflate something just because you can?

But what could be worse than Talladega Nights in the subdivision? The next day when Santa and the elves are in pitiful puddles of nylon on the grass. Can we not keep them inflated 24/7 to avoid this tragic scene?

These were just some of the thoughts bouncing around in my head as I pondered the novelty of blow-up Santas on my way to work one morning.

Then, God – whose timing is always perfect – took the opportunity to teach me a spiritual lesson about the Holy Spirit.

Did you know that the original Greek word in the New Testament used for the Holy Spirit is “breath?” And what is breath but air taken into the lungs?

Interesting…

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you (Romans 8:11).

Nascar Santa needs to be continually filled with air to come to life just as I need the Holy Spirit to continually fill me up so that I can live the life he has called me to live. It’s a continual process. I cannot unplug from God even for a moment. If I unplug, I end up in a pitiful puddle on the ground just like Santa and his pit crew.

I don’t know about you, but I will never look at Nascar Santa the same again.

What’s the weirdest thing God has used to teach you a spiritual lesson?  Did you ever think you would read about Nascar, Santa, Jesus and Greek words in the same blog post?