days of nuwanda

Something given and free

I love what Bonhoffer wrote about what joy is and isn't (from the daily devotional I Want to Live These Days with You)...

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. (Isaiah 35:10)

Since the ancient times, in the Christian church, sadness of heart, resignation--has been considered a mortal sin. "Serve the Lord with gladness!" (Psam 100:2), urges the Scripture. For this, our life has been given to us, and for this, it has been sustained for us to this present hour...How are we supposed to be able to help those who are without joy and courage, if we ourselves are not borne by courage and joy? What is meant here is not something made or forced, but something given and free. With God there is joy, and from him it comes down and seizes spirit, soul, and body. And where this joy has seized a person, it reaches out around itself, it pulls others along, it bursts through closed doors. There is a kind of joy that knows nothing at all of the pain, distress, and anxiety of the heart. But it cannot last; it can only numb for a time. The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore, it is invincible and irrefutable. 

Great article

 

Ever read something and swear you wrote it? Well, this article is one of those. I had this conversation recently w/ a young lady, about how we as women have to guard our hearts against the idea of "romance" b/c it can be poisonous to relationships. I even said, "We are so tough on guys who struggle w/ porn, but romance is like porn to women, and we actually encourage it." This article says it very well. Romance is certainly not bad, just like sex is not bad, in the right context. But anything can become harmful when we seek it above all else, when we make it the prime object of our life. Porn creates a false reality (that women should look a certain way, behave a certain way all the time) but romantic stories can do the same thing, creating a false reality that men should behave a certain way and maintain that feeling of romance all the time. It's not possible in real-life relationships, and if we aren't careful, we will seek after something that doesn't exist.

Great words here!

New book to check out

Mike McKinley's new book Am I Really A Christian? looks like a good read. It mirrors some conversations I've had lately about the idea of Jesus meeting us where we are, in our sin, but not leaving us in that sin. Conversion = repentance, right? I love what Anne Lamott wrote of grace:

"I do not understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us."

There seems to be a camp of Christianity that holds the belief that faith changes our eternal destiny and gives us hope for the future, but they strategically leave out the part where it should change how we live today and that we need to claim its power over sin. Can a faith really save if it hasn't impacted my sinful heart, so that I desire to repent and be made new?

Here's a video introducing the premise of the book. Definitely worth checking out...

Seeking solitude

YA fiction isn't the only genre I read anymore. Souvenirs of Solitude: Finding Rest in Abba's Embrace by Brennan Manning is making me pause and consider.... He writes, "These souvenirs of solitude are the love story of my walk with God." Immediately I'm drawn in. This book is gonna be good, deep, the kind where you feel the need to take notes and revisit later. (I like the Kindle app's ability to 'dog-ear' important pages.) So much I could share, especially on the idea of solitude (and how God keeps forcing me to confront this topic), but these passages caught me tonight and I wanted to share...

How difficult it is to persuade others of the value of being alone with the Lord!...Failure to recognize the value of mere being with God, as the Beloved, without doing anything, is to gouge the heart out of Christianity.

Evangelical faith is the antithesis of cozy, comfortable piety. Faith means you want growing intimacy with Jesus Christ. Cost what it may, you want to want nothing else. The moment I conclude that I can now cope with the awesome love of God, I am dead.

God will not fail you!

Last month God put me in a small, diverse group of women for a special Bible study. I say 'God put me there' b/c I realize it was all His doing. We meet once a week at a coffeehouse and review chapters of Beth Moore's book Believing God. I agreed to join b/c I was longing for more study and an opportunity to know these women better that I had met in a previous class, but God, as always, had bigger and better things in mind. Yes, He wanted me to have fellowship, but He wanted me to meet Him face-to-face in a new way. This book is powerful. I've heard most of this stuff before, but in this moment, God brought it to me again. Here's a piece of what we're reading this week on not allowing our past failures to keep us from being who God has called us to be...

"Do you feel like you've failed God in some way? Are you too scared or discouraged to try serving God again? Have you allowed Satan to demoralize you by preying on your fear that you are nothing more than a failure? Then hear these words: God-will-not-fail-you! Grab onto Him with everything you have. Cast yourself entirely upon His ability to succeed and not yours. Blind yourself to all ambition except to please Him. Walk in the shadow of the Almighty. Grab onto the hem of His garment and find the healing and grace to go where He leads. In that place you will be equipped to do the impossible. There you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you...He knows the plans He has for you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. You can because He can." 

Are you 'radically dependent on and desperate for' God?

I'm doing a small group study with some friends in Beth Moore's book Believing God, and I really like what Beth has written and her heart in her work. But I also love how God overlaps things, how her study intertwines with other things I'm reading right now, and points me to the same truth. Here's more good reading from Radical by David Platt...

"...two thousand years ago when believers proclaimed the name of Jesus, it caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dead to rise. The name of Jesus had the power to cause evil spirits to flee and to bring the most hardened hearts to God. And the reality is, two thousand years later the power of Jesus' name is still great. The question for us, then, is whether we trust in his power. And the problem for us is that in our culture we are tempted at every turn to trust in our own power instead. So the challenge for us is to live in such a way that we are radically dependent on and desperate for the power that only God can provide."

"Radical" thoughts

Good stuff from Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt....

"The gospel does not prompt you to mere reflection; the gospel requires a response. In the process of hearing Jesus, you are compelled to take an honest look at your life, your family, and your church and not just ask, 'What is He saying?' but also ask, 'What shall I do?' "

True Colors

Someone please slap me--I can't stop oohing and aahhing over the beautiful colors of autumn! Our neighbor's tree is awesome every year, and I captured these shots w/ the sun hitting the leaves just so. Then we saw some other nice trees on our way to the park.

 

 

 

 

What I love most about the changing colors is the scientific fact that once a year, leaves show their true colors. The rest of the year they are drunk on chlorophyll, and they all look uniformly green like military cadets. But then comes the cooler weather and the shorter days, and suddenly leaves everywhere are throwing off their green facade and proudly showing the world who they really are--yellow, orange, red, even purple--all as bright as neon highlighters. It's an amazing process happening right before our eyes.

I'm not trying to be uber-spiritual here, but yesterday the leaves made me wonder, If people could see my true colors, what would they see? If my "chlorophyll" (aka Christian facade) were stripped away and my heart revealed for what it really is, would people see Christ's reflection or just another girl going thru the motions? Lord, may my true colors be the colors of faithfulness and willingness. May I shine as brightly as one of these beautiful maple trees when the sun shines thru it.

More good reading

 

Finishing up Soul Cravings by Erwin Raphael McManus. He has some great moments, and possibly I'm saying that b/c I feel like I wrote this book. It hits me so deeply, spiritually. Great stuff from "Destiny: Entry 20"...

 "God created us for progress. His intention for us was always that we would be conduits of good. We can insulate ourselves from the problems of the world, but in doing so, we become less than human. When we give ourselves to create a better future, when we choose to become instruments of change, when we refuse to accept the status quo and commit to make the world a better place, something resonates within us. It is beyond reason. It is something far deeper than that. Somehow we know that this is right. It satisfies something deep within you. It's as if your soul has been craving and you didn't know what for. And there it was. Your soul was starving for hope--not just to have it, but to give it. "

and from "Destiny: Entry 23..."

"You are a unique creation made by God to live and not simply exist. Your soul longs to find its ultimate purpose. It will not rest until you do. Your soul craves its destiny. Your soul desires. It always will. You were created as a creative being. You were made to grow, to dream, to achieve. Your soul is letting you know you come from God and your life is intended to be God-sized and God-inspired."

To help me know my name

I'm reading Soul Cravings by Erwin Raphael McManus, which as you could guess from the title is about the deepest human cravings we all have--intimacy, destiny, and meaning--and it's a good read. Not necessarily my favorite writing style and at times repetitive, but he nails a lot of truth involving the human experience and I happen to love this discussion of what it means to be human. He talks at length about our need for relationship, for community, for identity, and the sometimes extreme lengths we will go to in order to get that feeling of belonging somewhere, anywhere. He writes...

"God made us for relationships, and we only begin to experience life fully when we move toward healthy relationships and healthy community. Your soul will never be satisfied with anything less."~~Soul Cravings: Intimacy, entry 15

At several points McManus' book reminds me of Donald Miller's Searching for God Knows What in the discussion of needing relationships and the "Jr. High syndrome of needing-to-fit-in that doesn't really end in Jr. High" for anyone. Deep down, no matter how successful you are, no matter how happy, no matter how popular, no matter how you appear to the outside world, inside we are all longing for love and acceptance, and will try almost anything in order to get it. Thankfully, God calls us to Himself, b/c He alone is the source of the only unending and satisfying love and acceptance. As Jesus told the woman at the well,

^{John 4:13-14}
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

This book also made me think of the song by Seal that is a fave of mine, "Love's Divine" and the amazing line, "Love is what I need to help me know my name..." Love defines us, tells us who we are, and gives our lives meaning and purpose. If you understand this human need, it helps you understand why so many people are hurting--and why they are so desperate and searching for love in all the wrong places.  It also should burden us to share this love, to be like the woman at the well who went and got everyone she knew, so they too could meet this Jesus, this man who could see thru her, who seemed to know the intenal longings of her heart, who understood that her mistakes did not define who she was.

Lord, you have taught me that You alone can satisfy the needs of the soul. Help me to point other searching souls to You, to the one true source of love, so they too can find their fulfillment in you!

Vidivodo.com : seal love’s divine  Etiket: seal loves divine clip