clique or community... five minute Friday

It's Friday... the day when we gather at Lisa Jo's to write on one common topic for five minutes.  We write simply to write... no worries, no critiques.


I'm finding myself looking forward to Friday and to what the common theme will be.  Today our theme is...

community

GO

I think we have all been created for community.  Most of us long for it and some of us pine for it.  In the Christian women circles I've seen, it seems as if the longing for or pining for is exasperated.

For instance... how many times have you heard the word "clique" in Christian women circles?  In my world, I'm not sure I can count that high.  However, have you ever heard Christian men complain about cliques in their church, school world, and social world?  Not likely.

I'm generalizing here but there are many, many Christian women who complain about cliques.  I've noticed that they only complain when they perceive there is a community of friends and they are not included.   IKR?

What if, instead of complaining about cliques, we started working towards community?  What if instead of complaining about the cliques in our worlds, we, instead, developed community of like-minded friends who meet together, encourage one another and develop deep roots?  What if instead of complaining, we act?

Not all of us will fit in the same community.  I think thirty years ago, someone should have said "THAT'S OKAY!!"  It's okay that we don't fit in with a particular community... it's even okay that they don't want us...  

because....

you can start your own community!!!  (not quite rocket science but close...)  Seriously, ladies, let's all stop blaming our insecurities on this perceived clique or that one and instead start investing in community with one another.  

Find like-minded women and invest in a community.... trust me, it's way better than complaining about the community that you perceive is an exclusive clique. 

STOP

...forgive me... obviously this is brewing deep within... and has been for a very long time.  


Once upon a time, the young, teenage me complained to my mom that all the "cool kids" were doing their own thing after youth group.  I was appalled that I had not been invited and immediately assumed I was purposely excluded.  With hardly an acknowledgement of my perceived predicament, my mother wisely said, "so start your own cool kids group and do your own cool things.  Cool is only a perception of yours.  Overcome it!"


Ladies... I venture to say that your perceived cliques and your own perceived exclusion is just that... your perception.  And, if I'm wrong, why would you want to be with those people anyway?


...I'm done now...

a Spring Break recap...

Spending Spring Break with those you love is never a waste of time...

...so we started our spring break with grandparents and cousins and cousin love...

in never ceases to amaze me how much my children miss their cousins when cousin time comes to an end.

On the very middle day of our Spring Break, my friend, Rachelle, returned the favor and took me and six others to Pickles for a belated birthday celebration....

where I managed to spill my plum iced tea and laugh until I thought my sides would seriously split wide open.

And, the end of our week brought a visit from dear Ohio friends, my college roommate and her family... 

beautiful weather, beautiful conversation and lots of fun as we celebrated friendships that have stood the test of time... the kind that you just pick up where you left off a year and a half ago...

and we watched in amazement as the man-cub finished off not one, but two, "Big Mike's" at our favorite deli.

there is no greater spending of time than spending it with those you love.

joy in a bag... it's what you do with your heavy heart

Leave it up to God to show me what to do with a heavy heart...

It's hard to function efficiently with a heart that is weighty.  Do a little laundry, pray.  Dishes, pray.  Make flashcards and giggle with the girl, pray.  I felt like I accomplished little in the day.  In the end, we fed one extra, helped a little, prayed some more.  


Until evening... and a quiet house... and this idea...

Sometimes spontaneity calls for adaptation.  I didn't have a pretty box, nor a lovely basket.  I do, though, have a local Christian bookstore that carries my favorite book as well as Dayspring cards, bags, and journals.

I am not gifted in the art of fancy gifts and packages.  In fact, I kinda stink at the whole wrapping a present thing.  


I truly think there are times when angels intervene and do it for me because those are the times I sit back and think.... Shazam!

Sometimes the way to loose heart weight is to give it away.  It changes nothing of the heavy circumstance... and, yet, sometimes it changes everything.  Sometimes knowing you are not alone in this world is enough to see you through one more day.  

I think I should have fixed the tissue before
I left this at her front door, huh?

Tissue and bag... a little
Book and journal... a little more
Joy in a bag... priceless!


and my heavy heart... a few pounds lighter.

I AM WHO I AM... a review

I've been looking forward to writing this review for a long time.  Once in a while, I get the opportunity to write a review just 'cuz I want to... and this is one of those.


My God works in mysterious ways.  Last year, He caused my path to cross with my friend, D. J. Mercado's, through a Bible study I had written.  Several emails later and a phone call across this broad country, a friendship was born.  D. J. has prayed for me, mentored me, and even edited that particular study.  I count it a privilege to review the book of my friend.


from the back cover of I Am Who I Am-- God's Words to His Beloved...

Has God ever spoken to you?  Has He spoken so clearly that there was no doubt in your mind that it was Him?

If He has, then you know that when God speaks, lives change.  His words are never frivolous, empty, or pointless.  They are always precise, powerful, and life changing.

Every person goes on a unique spiritual journey in life.  God tugs at people's hearts, drawing them to Himself.  However, many are enticed and led astray from ever finding the true and living God.  They go everywhere on their journey but to where God is actually found:  His Word and His throne room.  I Am Who I Am--God's Words to His Beloved aims to guide you to both.  Using only the Scriptures, I Am Who I Am is written as if God is speaking personally to you.  Through sixty daily readings, God will reveal Himself to you by His names.  You will learn His character and come to know His feelings, desires, and plans for you.  Whether you are just beginning your spiritual journey or you have been on it for many years, this devotional will drive you to your knees and lift your spirit as you come  face to face with the great I AM. 

I AM WHO I AM is a devotional written for a 60 day journey of discovering just who this God I serve is.  In reading Mercado's book, I've learned more of who El Elyon-- God Most High is.  I've read His words to me when He tells me more of Himself, El Shaddai-- The Almighty God.  Each day's reading is written in first person... Him speaking directly to my heart.


The best part?  The Index of Scriptures that D. J. Mercado includes at the end of this book. Each day's devotional is taken straight from God's Word and divided by paragraph, so that I can easily cross-reference in my own Bible.  For instance, on day three, when I read about El Elyon--God Most High, this is the first paragraph...


I am El Elyon, "God Most High."  I alone am the LORD, the Most High, supreme over all the earth.  I am high above the nations.  My glory is far greater than the heavens.  Who is like Me, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?


When I turn to the Index of Scriptures, this is what I find for this paragraph...


Genesis 14:20
Psalm 83:18
Psalm 113:4
Psalm 113:5-6


At the end of each day's reading, space has been included for journaling a prayer in response to what was read.


I love this book!  I actually fell in love with it when I first talked to D. J. about it.  It has been my own desire for years to know God more, to love Him more, and to understand even a tiny glimpse of who He is more and more.  Reading Mercado's book leads me deeper on that quest and mentors me along the way.  


I Am Who I Am-- God's Words to His Beloved by D. J. Mercado is available through Tate publishing as an eBook pdf for $9.99 or in paperback for $16.99.


This is one I'll buy more copies of to pass out.  It's that good!


**disclaimer... this is my own review.  I bought the book and wrote the words because I believe in this product.  I received absolutely no compensation for this review.

celebrating friendships...

Sometimes you just have to 

get in your truck

with 3 great women

to run far away

for a few hours

Sometimes the only way to

take time to celebrate friendships

and birthdays is to make time

So when one has a 39th birthday

{for the 1st time, as she says}

you cannot NOT celebrate

So you journey back country roads

and state highways 

to travel back in time

just for lunch... 

turkey panini with spinach and artichoke 

pineapple, cantaloupe and Greek salad...

plum iced tea and tomato artichoke soup

and...

a half order of

raspberry apple bread pudding

'cuz you are just too full 

to consider a full order

Since you are so full...

you walk and look

and dream and laugh

cuz you know that time like this

is a gift and friends like these

don't come every day

so, sometimes you just have

to make time

to run away to Pickles

in Plumtickled Junction,

with 3 great women

to celebrate a life

and friendship

and...

we dare you to try 

to find this on 

any map 

we're confident you'd be hard pressed

to do so...

which is why we 

run far away

for a few hours

every once in a while.

shaking things up...

"prayer @ 8 tonight, our house"

... this was the text I received Saturday evening at about 7:30 p.m.  Chad and Eric were cashing in a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card with some other guys and watching the Bengals lose to the Texans in the Wild Card playoff game.  Emme was at girl's Bible study and I was rolling Ellen's hair around strips of Chad's old t-shirt.  She wanted curls for church.

Group prayer wasn't on the radar.  It just became the sudden blip that beeped with increased intensity.  Chad and Eric came home... Chad and I left to pray... Ellen went to bed... Eric watched football.

We prayed with intensity.  We prayed for a breath of fresh Spirit {actually... He doesn't need to be fresh, we do.  A better prayer would have been freshen us to see You and to be quick to listen and quick to obey}.  We prayed for Him to come.. to meet us... to change us... to shake us up a bit.  We talked and shared ideas.  Really, though, we left with no answers but a peace to sleep through the night.

Those that meet with us to fellowship on Sunday mornings walked in to church yesterday and saw chairs no longer in rows facing the podium.  Instead, three concentric circles, with aisles to get in and out, sat around a stool.  I walked in and smiled.  I sat and prayed.  Chad joined me and we prayed together.  I waited... in peace {no small feat of the Spirit!}.

A beautiful service of testimony and prayer.  Of a cappella hymns sprinkled with spontaneous Scripture reading.   A service for Him, about Him and ultimately from Him.  All from a slightly different vantage point.  Sitting in a different way, doing things in a different order shook up church a bit and gave me a fresh perspective.  

I thought that was it... a little shaking up at church and I would move on to the rest of my day... maybe nap... possibly write... probably watch some football.    Again, the radar had no indication of what was to come.

As only He can do, He took that prayer that I prayed and applied it to my whole day.  Much like turning over a snowglobe and watching the glitter swirl and sparkle.  He turned my day.  A day of sweet fellowship and renewed friendships.  A day of no less that eleven children running amuck throughout my house.   An evening of unhurried face time with my man... a few moments to reconnect before the events that will make up this week.

Most of the time, I am afraid to ask God to shake things up.  I think in negative tones.  I am afraid that His shaking means my world trembles, my mountains quake and my rivers will run over.  

I quickly forget that my God desires to bless my socks off and yesterday He did that by shaking things up a bit.

the way He answers...

I know I just posted... but had to share the way He answers.  Why do I stand amazed time after time?  I don't know.  He does this to me all.the.time and I still question Him.  


This... on the .8 mile trek to get Emme from school... this is how He answers...

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights 

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights 

Are what it takes to know You’re near

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Blessings

Laura Story

...a song on the radio... a song Emme knows all the lyrics to and sang all the way home.

He gives me a song to hear my child sing and He reminds me of two different conversations in the past few months... two friends both cancer survivors both say "I am so thankful for the journey.  I wouldn't trade it.  It was a blessing.  He taught me much of Himself and I am so grateful."

...so my restless heart struggles with cancer and two friends; and yet, who am I to pray them out of this?  Perhaps this is their greatest blessing.

restless...

I'm a restless mess...

I hesitate to post this... sometimes it seems like my tweets, status updates or posts are misunderstood.  Not all the time... but a lot... but, since I'm a restless mess, I might as well write about it.


I'm restless.  I hate waiting.  I don't wait well.  I don't even sit still when I'm not waiting for something... thus, when I find myself waiting I become a restless mess.  I haven't worn a hole in my floor pacing, nor have I cleaned my entire house {although, that would be a great idea}.  Instead, I've sat for a couple of hours wondering and waiting.


Today I pray for two friends.  I pray without words.  I feel as though my heart is at odds with my mind.  I want God's perfect will done... my way.  I know it doesn't work that way...it's just what I want in this moment.


I find my heart restless for them... restless for answers and next steps.  Restless for peace and joy when I have none to share.  Restless for my Jesus to just come restore His Kingdom.


... and, I'm thinking I will probably be a restless mess until He does just that.

seeing the pregnant moments...

pregnant... 

thesaurus.com gives these synonyms... 

abundant, anticipating, expectant, fruitful

No, I am not.  Instead, I'm learning that moments are.  Bits of time swollen with the fruit of God's grace.   Rarely, do I even look around the mound to see the treasure within.

Yesterday, time slowed for a few hours.  Three sisters in Christ gathered 'round a little Yorkie swollen and laboring.  While children ran in and out and played around, we had the front row seat.  We came to see birth.. we came to see 3 brand spankin' new puppies.  

We three friends, who usually lament we need to get together, sat and talked some and prayed some more.  We gathered together around the Throne of Grace and upheld each other and laid down our pain.  With tears, we prayed for ourselves, for each other and for others.

 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, 

I am there in their midst.

Matthew 18:20 (NASB)

The moment was not pregnant with the birth of puppies... those came in the middle of the night without an audience.  Instead, this slow moving swollen time birthed grace... mercy... love... joy and acceptance in our presence...

...because He was present in the swollen moment.

surrendered friends... day 23

My introduction to living a surrendered life came years ago... years before I was ready and willing to do such a radical thing.  

Are you surrendered on that?

Have you surrendered that to the LORD?

Where's your surrender?

We all need friends in our lives that spur us on to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24).  My such friend came in the form of a brilliant introvert named Julie who came to serve me and scrub my toilets when I was pregnant and on bed rest.  She has become one of my dearest friends.

Over the years, she has said those very things to me... and more.  Challenging me to pursue a surrendered life.  Praying for my journey.  And, encouraging me every step of the way.  

Surrender.  I don't think I would have pursued a surrendered life without a surrendered friend.

summer nights and the Northern Lights...

I  have an extended list of things I want to experience in this life and the aurora borealis--the Northern Lights--is on that list.  I dream of someday sitting on the shores of Lake Superior wrapped up all warm gazing at the colors dancing across the jet black sky.


Back to reality... I live in northern Indiana, not northern Michigan.  I could sit on the shores of our little inland lake any time I want, but it's not Superior in any way, shape or form.  However, this is where we have chosen to rear our children and I love this little community.  And I dream...


Restless and up late last night, I saw a friend's facebook status that mentioned the aurora forecast for August 5.  Due to a large geomagnetic storm, forecasters predicted that the Northern Lights would be visible south to Indianapolis and possibly even as south as St. Louis.  Well, now.... 


A quick text to a friend... "r u awake?"... in the country and I was out the door fully expecting to be blessed by visions of heavenly splendor.  Sunroof open at 12:15 a.m., windows down, radio on,  I gazed and praised while I drove to Annie's house.   


After all these years, I still stand amazed at how my God works.  Two mothers standing next to a field for an hour watching the sky.  The sky didn't hold the wonder I expected.  Instead, the company did.  Quality time with a friend... a friend I have missed because we both live busy lives.  Time slowed in the cool night air. 


Returning home at 2:00 a.m. I gazed and praised again.... only differently.  Gazing at the stars and praising the One who put them each in place.  Marveling at friendships that span years... this one, almost a decade.  Praising the One who puts friendships in my life and how He orchestrates them... even in at the edge of a field on a cool summer night.