Hope

Now that I am a "weekend blogger", I think of things all week that I'd like to process here, but then when I sit down, I think, "What were those things?" So, regardless of what I may have been thinking about all week long, right now I am thinking about HOPE.
------------------------- Sara Groves has a song I love, not sure of the title, but the chorus goes like this: "Hope has a way of turning its face to you just when you least expect it. You walk in a room and look out a window and something there leaves you breathless. You say to yourself it's been a while since I felt this, but it feels like it might be hope."
------------------------- This song came on the other day when I was praying for someone I love, someone who needs to walk in a room and look out a window and see something that leaves them breathless. We all have to have hope, we have to. The enemy suggests to us that if we hope, we will just be disappointed, and we don't want to go through that pain again, right? But we can't stop there or we'll just become so cold. Our hope can't be in a plan or an idea or in any one thing, noble or not, that we think we must have or have happen; our hope must be in something, Someone, much more worthy of our hope. When we have lost hope in the Lord, as stark as it may sound, it is because we have expected Him to be something that He is not (or has not chosen to show about Himself YET if we are biblically sound in our hopes.)
---------------------------------- There are several statements I could make that describe what I think this time on earth is all about, and those beliefs get me through. One of those statements is: We are here to be given chances to believe, to hope, to grow a mature and simple faith through the difficulties of this short life. If our offering to the Lord is faith, and we know biblically that it is, then every crappy thing that comes our way can be seen as an opportunity to respond in blind, ridiculous, happy hope. Hope in getting a great job or getting perfectly healed or having no problems with our children? No. Hope in the Lord, His Word, His intrinsic goodness, and His personal love for us.
---------------------------------- I want to die a foolish person of hope, hanging on with a grin to this idea I have of Jesus: that He is waiting for me with open arms and there is nothing, not cancer, not bankruptcy, not any worst case scenario to be imagined, that can change that fact. Our family is and has been facing suffering; there are so many questions, but I am helped by Lamentations 3...
"When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions. Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst. Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return." Lamentations 3 (The Message)

1 Corinthians 3

It is so cool how meditating on a passage of Scripture for a long time really does bring new life and understanding. I used to think "a long time" was like...um...five minutes? I have always been a "quantity" reader of the Word (so sad), but that comes from my student mentality probably. Check things off the list, get a star on your chart, etc. That was me.

But not too awful long ago, as the Lord has changed me from the inside out, one of the new things that has happened is I am reading the same thing over and over and just honestly telling God that I have no clue what He meant by what He said. And not moving on, just hanging in there for a while, knowing I won't get it unless He helps me. And like a month later, I'll be folding clothes or driving down the road and the Lord will direct my mind to an understanding, an unfolding, of something in that passage I had never noticed or "gotten" before. How neat. Thanks God.

Well, for about 3 weeks I have been reading 1 Corinthians Chapter 3, and honestly it was just because I was supposed to offer a tiny little insight on it at church (Open House). So...the main points of it are that the foundation of our faith is Jesus, the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God, and leaders of the church are all equal so don't worry too much about who you follow, they are just all building on the foundation of Christ. What is crying out to me about this passage is: humility! I have tried so many times to impress God and be a model "student" for Him, you know? I remember one time not long ago, I said (in my true desire for holiness, but still thinking I could somewhat attain to it on my own), "God, I want to be transformed to be like Jesus!!" And He spoke so clearly. He said, "No, you don't. You want to be independent of Me."

That was so eye-opening. He knew in my heart of hearts I wanted to be perfect and holy so that I wouldn't need to be dependent on Him. I wanted that power and ability, and He is looking for humility instead--people who know they have no good in them without absolute dependency on His grace and relationship. The foundation of our faith is Jesus, grace, the blood, the cross; we can't escape it. It is foolishness in the world's eyes, it takes humility to believe it, but that doesn't make it any less true. As I was thinking about this passage, the Lord also brought to mind how vital it is for leaders in the church to remember this foundation...are we used to thinking we have to look strong? Have we forgotten the weakness that God uses to shame the strong? Why are we often drawn to thinking success in church/ministry should look like success in the world/business?

There is a lot more that I am learning from this passage, but I need to go to bed...I don't even know if any of this made sense, as Jack had the TV on and is coughing really loud and driving me CRAZY! LOL:) But, I just wanted to write. Good night, friends! Have a wonderful weekend!

Hi Friends!

Well, we had a nice little "psych" from Spring yesterday, didn't we? I had a funny response to it. As thrilled as I was to go outside without socks or a coat on, I thought to myself, "wow, I haven't even made a couple of those soup recipes yet and it's already getting warm!" Not that I was complaining...I just have to admit that thought ran through my mind. The sunshine was good for my soul, and then of course it was pretty much a normal blustery winter again today. It has been a very, um, interesting month and a half since Christmas. It feels like a year and a half since Christmas to me. Everyone in my family has been sick twice, and I've been the healthiest one of all as opposed to several winters past. Yay for good nutrition, supplements, and getting as much rest as humanly (and motherly) possible.
I have missed writing, blogging, etc, but at the same time it has sort of been nice to not have a computer and not feel responsible to do the things one does when they have a computer at their constant disposal (that can't be the right word...disposal? That makes no sense. I don't know.) Anyway, I have felt more focused at times without Facebook and blogging available to me; yet it is a balance, an important balance, because all work and no play makes Jack's wife a dull girl.
My mind has been on a lot of things in the past 2 months while I haven't been sharing much out loud. I am embracing my calling as wife and mom in a deeper way, and relying 100% on the Lord for what I need to do that. I am sitting in a place where I can receive grace (meaning, I really know I need it). I am literally reveling in the Lord and smiling at the way He sees more, which leads to more worship, more intimacy, more strength, more joy. I can tell people are praying seriously for me, and I am so grateful. I'm seeing the Lord open a couple of doors for me to sing again, and the best part is, I know I can completely be myself and offer what small gift I have to offer and not look back wondering if I was good enough or deep enough or not too whatever. I had felt free in the past, but somehow in my serious issues with church/ministry I had lost that freedom. I am free again because the Lord is teaching me how unimportant I truly am in the whole thing...What a concept. It's wonderful. I really can "just be."
Hope to be back again to blog soon, because I have a couple things to write about...but we'll see! Blessings-

Nutrition Group!?!

I am really excited about an idea...

And it feels do-able...

So here's the details:

Over the past couple of years, I have come across a good bit of pretty life-changing information about food. When you have kids, you typically start looking into the health of what they're eating (since they eat so much and so often!), plus I wanted to lose weight, plus I was dealing with fatigue, insomnia, and just illness in general. As stones were turned over and I put things in practice, I began to see long term change in each of these areas. Now, the real issue is do I follow all the good advice and do all I should now that I know what I know? Unfortunately, I can't always say I do...but when I do, I absolutely see results and I know that if I can see results on the outside, then there are definitely results on the inside. (Plus, blood tests have proved it anyway.)

So, what I want to do is start a nutrition class/support group, and share what I have learned (and am still learning!) I want to cover what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, and the biggest thing: the why behind it all. I want to talk about issues like good fats that you need to cook with/eat vs. ingredients that you should really never put in your body. I'd also like to talk about weight loss stuff (I'm always drawn to this topic because it's always been an issue for me) and using food, supplements, and natural medicine to deal with many illnesses that especially women deal with. After the "teaching" time is done, (maybe four sessions) we could continue to see each other once a month just for support. I could personally use that. It is hard to stay on the straight and narrow!!!

I do sometimes wonder if everyone else already knows this information and I was the slow one...If that is the case, we can at least be a support group for each other even if no one learns anything new!

If you read this blog and are interested in joining the group, respond by answering some of these questions:

*Would you rather come to a one-time seminar or 4 meetings (once a week for a month)?

*Would you be interested in continuing as a support group for a few months after the teaching?

*Would you want to come mornings or evenings?

*Would you like to be notified when I write a nutrition blog?

Thanks! I really believe there is a lot of unnecessary suffering--sometimes even in things as serious as insomnia, depression, fatigue, diabetes, obesity--due to lack of knowledge. I have SO much to learn and what I have learned, I want to share!