I absolutely love New Year. It is so much fun to start new ideas, put new practices into place, have a bit of a challenge. There are several priorities on my heart on a continual basis (actually more than I can really handle yet I will persevere by God's grace) but these are two extras for this year...
One of the things I'd like to do is a weekly blog entry that will go along with our worship set at church each Sunday. I blogged about this last week--I want to go through the whole Bible, pulling out the instances that God revealed He was all about intimacy between Himself and mankind. Characters, stories, passages, proof. I started it last Sunday, and I will blog this week about Week 1: Adam and Eve! My call to lead worship and sing/song write isn't primarily about music; it is primarily about revealing the heart of God to the world and perhaps even more so to the Bride that He is jealous for. I really hope that this 52 Sundays idea will be Holy Spirit written!
Another thing for this year is going to be quite a challenge, but I have a fellowship of ladies who are doing it together and that is GO SUGAR & WHITE FLOUR FREE! I really want this. I want it because sweets are too important to me, because my weight and health isn't good, and because I need to be free from the battle. Why total elimination instead of moderation? Because I've had 34 1/2 years to eat sugar moderately and I still haven't gotten it under control, and because it's just too serious and dangerous to play around with anymore. Blogs, interviews, and links to come on this!
I want to share this real quick...I ran across this little piece of paper in my Bible today. It was from when I went through the Bible Study "Believing God" at least 7 years ago. It said: "I'm believing God: 1) For victory in my every day life--schedule, balance, ministry, family, etc. 2)That He will accomplish in and through my life His perfect will, and my part in that plan, and that He would give me peace about it."
At that time, I didn't have peace or clarity about my life, but He really did answer that prayer! So my prayer for YOU and for all of us who are seeking a deeper walk with Jesus, is that we would have victory and peace in our every day lives, and have peace about our part in His plan. May the things we set our minds and hearts to be acts of obedience, because if they are, there is success in the journey. Amen, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
It's All About You, Jesus
God is so good. This is one of those mornings I needed Him to break through my "self" and teach me something that would make a big difference in my heart...and He did.
It's Christmas Eve and I do usually love the holidays, but with adrenal fatigue, not sleeping very well the past couple months, and also just being an introvert who needs significant times of quiet and alone time in between activities, over the past couple years I have more of a "hold on tight and get through it" kind of feeling about Christmas. This year I said no to several gatherings and opportunities. I've hardly done any baking or cooking. My shopping was done throughout the year so no marathon shopping days for me. But still, here in the home stretch of Christmastime, I am exhausted and not exactly feeling the love for this blessed season! I went to bed thinking last night that I might not make it to our big Mulhall Family Christmas Eve in Louisville.
This morning, Jack said, "You know, Lyndsay, the way we feel right now is like the way Mary and Joseph felt on the first Christmas. It's kind of appropriate that we are tired and things are crazy and it's just not entirely comfortable..."Then we did our family devotion from Ps. 118:1 -- good news! His love endures forever-!- and we prayed.
And all this culminated in me having such a peace that my expectations of how I will feel on Christmas, both physically and emotionally, is absolutely not the point. My comfort level at people's houses is not the point. For a few days, I surely can keep my eyes on the precious Reason for this season and turn my eyes away from how loud it is or how I don't feel good or how I want to go home a little earlier than I can. It's not about me.
I know of at least two families who have lost a loved one in the past day or two. This Christmas is not about them eating pie and being where they want to be. No one wants to be at a funeral home on Christmas. We'll be going to the nursing home tomorrow--ironically, a place I've grown very comfortable in! But there will be people there without gifts and without family. They don't want to be there. Tons of friends of mine and their kids are sick and probably won't get to travel and see grandparents this Christmas because of the flu.
Christmas isn't about us though. Whatever state we find ourselves in this Christmas, just like we are learning to do in our normal daily trials of life, let's turn our faces and abide in Christ.
It's Christmas Eve and I do usually love the holidays, but with adrenal fatigue, not sleeping very well the past couple months, and also just being an introvert who needs significant times of quiet and alone time in between activities, over the past couple years I have more of a "hold on tight and get through it" kind of feeling about Christmas. This year I said no to several gatherings and opportunities. I've hardly done any baking or cooking. My shopping was done throughout the year so no marathon shopping days for me. But still, here in the home stretch of Christmastime, I am exhausted and not exactly feeling the love for this blessed season! I went to bed thinking last night that I might not make it to our big Mulhall Family Christmas Eve in Louisville.
This morning, Jack said, "You know, Lyndsay, the way we feel right now is like the way Mary and Joseph felt on the first Christmas. It's kind of appropriate that we are tired and things are crazy and it's just not entirely comfortable..."Then we did our family devotion from Ps. 118:1 -- good news! His love endures forever-!- and we prayed.
And all this culminated in me having such a peace that my expectations of how I will feel on Christmas, both physically and emotionally, is absolutely not the point. My comfort level at people's houses is not the point. For a few days, I surely can keep my eyes on the precious Reason for this season and turn my eyes away from how loud it is or how I don't feel good or how I want to go home a little earlier than I can. It's not about me.
I know of at least two families who have lost a loved one in the past day or two. This Christmas is not about them eating pie and being where they want to be. No one wants to be at a funeral home on Christmas. We'll be going to the nursing home tomorrow--ironically, a place I've grown very comfortable in! But there will be people there without gifts and without family. They don't want to be there. Tons of friends of mine and their kids are sick and probably won't get to travel and see grandparents this Christmas because of the flu.
Christmas isn't about us though. Whatever state we find ourselves in this Christmas, just like we are learning to do in our normal daily trials of life, let's turn our faces and abide in Christ.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A Blog about Blogging
Ok...So I have an idea! I am really excited about it and hope I can keep with it. Sometimes I forget things I started. I have so many papers laying around to remind me what I'm supposed to be doing, but I eventually stop looking at them. But the idea...
I have had the privilege and challenge of leading songs at a church (Journey: A Community of Grace, in Louisville) for about nine months now. I'm seeing how my different gifts and experiences are being used now on a weekly basis; I'm seeing that leading worship is about way more than singing, playing, and keeping a band together. My strongest spiritual gifts are encouragement and teaching, and those naturally come out in the worship leader position. I have one task and it is from the Lord--I am to be a friend to the Bridegroom. As His friend, I am to hear His heart, declare His love, and urge the Bride into deeper fellowship until He returns. And that is why I call it a privilege and a challenge!
So the idea I have that I think the Lord has laid on my heart is to start at Genesis and go through the Bible looking for characters and stories that reveal God's heart for intimacy with mankind. Who really knew Him? What did He say to them? How does He show in His Word how He feels about us? Sort of as a side note, when it comes up in Scripture, I also want to include this thought: How is music - worshipping through singing and playing instruments, dancing, clapping, raising hands, putting prayers to tunes - useful in this intimacy with God?
Each week, I want to highlight a different character and passage of Scripture in this blog and then share that main idea also on Sunday morning. We come to church sometimes a little out of it. We come to every day sometimes a little out of it, do we not? We need something to stir our hearts and remind us of what matters, or at least I know I do! And what matters is nearness, communion, with the Lover of our souls. My prayer is that in highlighting these passages about deep and genuine relationship with God we will see a seamless living love story...and that we will choose to go all in, making it our story, rearranging life until it is truly His living in us.
I have had the privilege and challenge of leading songs at a church (Journey: A Community of Grace, in Louisville) for about nine months now. I'm seeing how my different gifts and experiences are being used now on a weekly basis; I'm seeing that leading worship is about way more than singing, playing, and keeping a band together. My strongest spiritual gifts are encouragement and teaching, and those naturally come out in the worship leader position. I have one task and it is from the Lord--I am to be a friend to the Bridegroom. As His friend, I am to hear His heart, declare His love, and urge the Bride into deeper fellowship until He returns. And that is why I call it a privilege and a challenge!
So the idea I have that I think the Lord has laid on my heart is to start at Genesis and go through the Bible looking for characters and stories that reveal God's heart for intimacy with mankind. Who really knew Him? What did He say to them? How does He show in His Word how He feels about us? Sort of as a side note, when it comes up in Scripture, I also want to include this thought: How is music - worshipping through singing and playing instruments, dancing, clapping, raising hands, putting prayers to tunes - useful in this intimacy with God?
Each week, I want to highlight a different character and passage of Scripture in this blog and then share that main idea also on Sunday morning. We come to church sometimes a little out of it. We come to every day sometimes a little out of it, do we not? We need something to stir our hearts and remind us of what matters, or at least I know I do! And what matters is nearness, communion, with the Lover of our souls. My prayer is that in highlighting these passages about deep and genuine relationship with God we will see a seamless living love story...and that we will choose to go all in, making it our story, rearranging life until it is truly His living in us.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
In-between Advents
Today we had a precious family day. It started by going to church and worshipping the King...the baby in the manger who grew up to become the man of sorrows...the One who will return on a white horse, His robe dipped in the blood of the nations.
This is what it looks like in-between Advents.
We celebrate His coming but we also fast and pray for His return. If ever there was a time of joy and sorrow intertwined, it is now. We're aware, painfully aware, especially this week, that Jesus came to bring wholeness but not all receive it. Joy and sorrow. And we also become aware, as we should remain, that God is holding back His justice and wrath for the day Isaiah tells us of, when He returns this time a powerful warrior setting up a Kingdom we can see with our own eyes. Again, joy and sorrow.
As a worship leader, Advent is not an easy thing to lead through because it's a celebration of God coming in the flesh as a living love story but it's also the careful waiting for His return, the sitting on the edge of our seat trying to not lose sight of our hope in His heart for justice! Sometimes it takes a tragedy for us to really wake up to our need for His return. Sometimes it takes a glimpse of darkness to snap us out of our stupor of whatever we were thinking about and making our lives about that had so very little to do with the heart cry of God.
But this is what it looks like in-between Advents. This is the place in history we find ourselves. We have to get adjusted in this seat of sorrow and joy forever intertwined because they will not be separated until the King returns. Why do I harp on this so much? I know I have been saying the same thing for years, in blogs, songs, conversations, prayer. I harp on it so much because I think that if the Church can get adjusted to this seat of joy and sorrow, this harmony of shout-out-loud thankfulness for His first coming and steady commitment to whatever is on His heart in His second coming, we will be poised to truly be His hands and feet here. We won't be confused and wading through the dark, blending in with the world in every way. We will have correct, Biblical expectations regarding our health, our families, our safety, our money, and our callings, talents, and careers. We will understand we are not here for ourselves, to make a sweet little life and a good little name. We will not forget that we are strangers here, and here for a purpose that we might not even get to see or understand because it isn't for us.
Understanding, embracing, expecting this...it changes the heart over time. What will the heart of the church look like if this change occurs? I believe we will see a gratefulness for every little blessing, every tiny little gift like a pink sunset or a good piece of fruit will be a surprise that we realize we didn't deserve. I believe we will have willingness instead of fear regarding losing our earthly possessions and comforts and even our lives, because we are so attached to our unseen Home. We will just think, "Oh the joy of having One Thing that can never be taken from me." And lastly I believe we will have a generosity and openness like we have only seen in lives such as the great missionaries, some still living, many who have gone before us.
Jesus, we know You have promised to be with us...Your first coming changes everything. Help us first embrace that! And secondly, help us daily dwell with You, whatever You walk us through to the end.
Friday, December 14, 2012
A Slow Life
I am so grateful that I am able to stay home with my children and that we chose to homeschool. Not for the reason you might think, after what happened today in Connecticut...but because of this:
We live a slow life. We look each other in the eyes over and over, every day. We're kind of crazy about each other, and we say so. We write down the things the kids say. We take pictures every day. There's no way the girls and I couldn't know that the man of the house loves us and thinks we are beautiful.
I know of no other way to breathe in the days than being home together...studying what we feel is important and on a higher grade level, too...eating (usually) meals together each night that I can feel good about...not feeling rushed to get to bed.
The slow life allows for top priorities to be met. It makes room for scripture and prayer time as a family. It makes room for personal quiet times to be developed. It makes room for exercise, art, music, and strategic relationships. And it allows for days where we don't feel all that energetic and we just want to stay in our jammies. It allows for afternoons playing in the mud with the dog! It allows for TIME. A precious commodity.
I don't know how my girls will choose to live their lives when they grow up. They may become fast paced driven business women, and that's probably a fun option. Some people are made for that, and that feels like a life of no regrets to them! That's cool! It takes us all to make this global community work. But I feel very blessed to get a CHOICE of how I'm going to live my life and run my household.
As I was walking today, I was just thinking what a wonderful, remarkable (thanks to the Lord and my family and friends) life I have had. Sometimes I get bummed that certain parts of my life are over, or at least feel over for the time being. Each season of my life I have been wholeheartedly present, but never more so than now. This season of family...it's the most challenging but the most precious. It's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting the ways of this world for. I'm learning to love and persevere. I'm learning to pray and not just think and say that I pray. I'm teaching my girls some things in our calendar have to go so that more important things have space to expand...
Breathe in our lungs, Spirit of God, and let our lives truly be for You. I'm not saying I know how to do that...but I want to be still enough to see You move, quiet enough to hear You speak, slow enough to sense Your heart.
We live a slow life. We look each other in the eyes over and over, every day. We're kind of crazy about each other, and we say so. We write down the things the kids say. We take pictures every day. There's no way the girls and I couldn't know that the man of the house loves us and thinks we are beautiful.
I know of no other way to breathe in the days than being home together...studying what we feel is important and on a higher grade level, too...eating (usually) meals together each night that I can feel good about...not feeling rushed to get to bed.
The slow life allows for top priorities to be met. It makes room for scripture and prayer time as a family. It makes room for personal quiet times to be developed. It makes room for exercise, art, music, and strategic relationships. And it allows for days where we don't feel all that energetic and we just want to stay in our jammies. It allows for afternoons playing in the mud with the dog! It allows for TIME. A precious commodity.
I don't know how my girls will choose to live their lives when they grow up. They may become fast paced driven business women, and that's probably a fun option. Some people are made for that, and that feels like a life of no regrets to them! That's cool! It takes us all to make this global community work. But I feel very blessed to get a CHOICE of how I'm going to live my life and run my household.
As I was walking today, I was just thinking what a wonderful, remarkable (thanks to the Lord and my family and friends) life I have had. Sometimes I get bummed that certain parts of my life are over, or at least feel over for the time being. Each season of my life I have been wholeheartedly present, but never more so than now. This season of family...it's the most challenging but the most precious. It's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting the ways of this world for. I'm learning to love and persevere. I'm learning to pray and not just think and say that I pray. I'm teaching my girls some things in our calendar have to go so that more important things have space to expand...
Breathe in our lungs, Spirit of God, and let our lives truly be for You. I'm not saying I know how to do that...but I want to be still enough to see You move, quiet enough to hear You speak, slow enough to sense Your heart.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Were Our Hearts Not Burning?
I love the story in the Bible about the Emmaus road (Luke 24). How Jesus was walking with these disciples, these disciples who were confused and grieved over the events that had just come to pass. They explained to him that this wonderful prophet had been killed and now his body is missing, and they just didn't know what to make of it. Some believed He had been resurrected, some didn't. These guys sensed that this was a dark time for which they had no explanation and they didn't have any assurance it was going to get better.
So Jesus spent time with them...Just as He had always done with people, He hung out. Being the very Word of God, He spoke the same truth He always spoke. He told the love story from the beginning.
And after breaking bread with them, they realized who they had been with, and asked each other, "Were our hearts not burning within us?" Were our hearts...not...burning...within us?
Jesus' Spirit dwells in us. He has moved in. He is who He says He is in His Word, and the story is beyond my fairy tale dreams! This is for real. He loves us and wants to walk this road with us, every step of the way. Are our hearts not burning within us in acknowledgement of this reality? Burning with thankfulness...joy...desire for greater depth?
Sometimes when something big happens to someone that we don't know very well (but could have), don't we wish we knew them better? If it's a bad situation, we wish we were in their inner circle so we could minister to them in a meaningful way. If it's a good situation, we can celebrate for them from afar but we're not exactly invited to the party. I think those Emmaus guys had hearts burning for relationship. They had been kind of on the outskirts, maybe onlookers to the whole Jesus story thing. Maybe they knew people who really knew Him though, and maybe they wished they had gotten in on it sooner.
When it comes to Jesus, there's no reason why some of us can be close and others cannot. Is your heart burning for relationship? Whether you consider yourself a believer or not, does your heart burn to get closer, to really get in on this thing? We're all in the same boat. We all need a Savior who will turn our face back to Him over and over again...who will lead us back to the fire of His love as our flames begin to flicker dimly out here...
I want to offer this last thought--Life is too short and people's opinions are too fickle for you to hold back and resist offering Him your ALL! In praise and worship, in sharing His love story with others, in using your gifts, and more than any of those things, in connection with Him in the quiet of your heart and mind, BURN! Burn all day and all night. Get close to the fire and you'll always have enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIQiOKcS_uU
So Jesus spent time with them...Just as He had always done with people, He hung out. Being the very Word of God, He spoke the same truth He always spoke. He told the love story from the beginning.
And after breaking bread with them, they realized who they had been with, and asked each other, "Were our hearts not burning within us?" Were our hearts...not...burning...within us?
Jesus' Spirit dwells in us. He has moved in. He is who He says He is in His Word, and the story is beyond my fairy tale dreams! This is for real. He loves us and wants to walk this road with us, every step of the way. Are our hearts not burning within us in acknowledgement of this reality? Burning with thankfulness...joy...desire for greater depth?
Sometimes when something big happens to someone that we don't know very well (but could have), don't we wish we knew them better? If it's a bad situation, we wish we were in their inner circle so we could minister to them in a meaningful way. If it's a good situation, we can celebrate for them from afar but we're not exactly invited to the party. I think those Emmaus guys had hearts burning for relationship. They had been kind of on the outskirts, maybe onlookers to the whole Jesus story thing. Maybe they knew people who really knew Him though, and maybe they wished they had gotten in on it sooner.
When it comes to Jesus, there's no reason why some of us can be close and others cannot. Is your heart burning for relationship? Whether you consider yourself a believer or not, does your heart burn to get closer, to really get in on this thing? We're all in the same boat. We all need a Savior who will turn our face back to Him over and over again...who will lead us back to the fire of His love as our flames begin to flicker dimly out here...
I want to offer this last thought--Life is too short and people's opinions are too fickle for you to hold back and resist offering Him your ALL! In praise and worship, in sharing His love story with others, in using your gifts, and more than any of those things, in connection with Him in the quiet of your heart and mind, BURN! Burn all day and all night. Get close to the fire and you'll always have enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIQiOKcS_uU
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