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God Hacks for Living – Part 2

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The ever-popular life hacks offer us new and improved ways to do daily life. However, God digs a little deeper to shape and correct us from the inside out. Lately, He has been giving me these pithy phrases. I call them God Hacks.

And unlike the life hacks, these phrases make me stand up and take notice. Remember the definition. Pithy: concise and forcefully expressive. Here’s my second truth bomb.

True confidence produces great humility.

Please tell me it’s not just me. But I get so annoyed by the blow-hard braggart who tries to sell me on his fabulous skillset. These people are like Kung Fu Panda saying “There is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness.” Snort. People who boast often doesn’t actually have skills, or certainly not at the level they believes they have, but they attempt to cover the lack with smoke and mirrors. Can we all just agree the more a person grabs the spotlight, acts superior, and name-drops, the more insecure she is?

On the other hand, what do we Christians and other counter-prideful people do instead? 

We grovel. 

We mistakenly think that the solution to pride is to be a doormat or deny value and expertise. Ouch. Heaven forbid that we just let our work speak for itself. Our results will be a testimony to our level of mastery. Since all of us are constantly growing forward, we look to who we are becoming. Not who we were. Is this needed?

The false humility, aw-shucks posture is almost as annoying as the deluded puffer fish.

So what does God mean by this pithy ditty about authentic confidence and humility?

Let’s look at Jesus. We consider Him to be the most capable and yet the most humble.

There is a world of difference between God-confidence and Self-confidence. The goals are different. The first speaks of dependence on and honor to Someone else, Someone greater. The latter reveals a focus and reliance on self for the good of and the glory of self.

The word confidence means “with faith.” So I don’t know about you, but I want my faith to be in someone bigger and better than myself. I want to level up into Jesus. We wear the wristbands, “What would Jesus do?” and it’s a great question. But make it real. 

How would Jesus like to express His life through me for His glory?

Straight talk here. I have done things WITH Jesus that I could never, ever accomplish on my own steam. This beautiful awareness eliminates any question about who gets the credit. Besides if I did try to grab it, Jesus would look at me and say, “Babe, who are we kidding here?”

Enter Great Humility. The more we hang out with heaven and see heaven in action in our very small, little lives, the more we understand the generosity of God. Jesus said in John 17:22-23,  “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.” 

Maybe go read that whole John 17 chapter again. It is the perfect breakdown of true confidence produces great humility.

We don’t have to puff up or grovel. We do have to learn how to carry glory.

Here is the final picture God gave me regarding this revelation. In each of us, exists a divine calling and purpose, like a holy acorn. As we encounter the love and truth of God, we grow into a tree. A tree doesn’t take credit for producing fruit, it simply does what it was planted to do. It is grateful for the sun and soil and the good Gardner who makes life possible. As the tree goes through seasons of trials and storms, the roots go deeper into the earth for security and stability..

Grasp the picture. Our confidence grows up and out in God like a tree grows taller and broader. Our humility grows down and strong in God as a tree’s roots drive deeper. 

“Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

With Him, we can rock the world. 

God Hacks for Living – Part 1

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Do you get sucked into the Life Hack videos? I sure do. From cooking to planting to storage, all these slick memes and reels show me an extraordinary way to do my ordinary life. But here’s the catch. I may watch them but do I actually do them? Real talk, I hardly remember the new and improved way when I go back to my regular-rut-of-doing-it-the-same-old-way.  Still, the maxim holds true. When you know better, you do better. 

 

 

I guess this is why God has been giving me these pithy phrases.  And unlike the life hacks, these phrases sting and sear. Note the definition.

Pithy: concise and forcefully expressive.

Ah, even in this writing I understand better His intention. We are inundated with thoughts, words, and pictures. Listen, the other day I picked up my phone to look at social media for a specific purpose. In a scant one minute, my emotions ranged from disgust over a certain recipe, to outrage over the face of a child being trafficked, to sheer delight over an intricate flower photo. I was so barraged, I forgot why I even got on in the first place. Ughhh.

But when God gives you a thought, word, or picture it’s different. It’s weighty and lasting because it’s meant to go deep into your being. Not just tickle (or exhaust) your emotions for a moment.  Forcefully expressed.

Let these thoughts hit the mark.

  • Ownership: freedom from enabling and entitlement

This one is packed. Enabling is when we take on someone else’s problems instead of empowering them to handle their own. Enter the rescuer and the victim. People who enable, and people who leech off enablers (wow, what a picture) both need a big dose of personal ownership. Whether it is parents who enable their should-be-grown children, lovers who enable each other, or employers/employees who enable, we all need a wake up call to be personally responsible for ourselves, our choices, and our consequences and allow others to do the same. 

We reflect God’s heart when we honor free will in ourselves and others.

“Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else. For each one should carry his own load.”  Galatians 6:4-6

Entitlement is when we falsely believe that we are owed something, should be exempt from, or try to escape hard work and effort. Entitlement in short is “You should do the hard work for me because I am special.” We hear lots of funny jokes about millennials and what they think they need to survive. The reality however is our nations are full of people who are either family rich or family poor and they believe that someone else’s labor should support them.

This is counter Kingdom. God views work as holy. It is part of His gift to humanity that we work the garden He has given to us to steward.

When we were actually with you we gave you this principle to work on: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10

I could literally write a book about enabling and entitlement. But let me say to us all, get out of the way and let each person stand, or fall according to their choices.

Can you see how enabling and entitlement are the yin and yang of unhealthy relationships? The cure is ownership.

What can I own about my life and outcomes?

What can I acknowledge as direct results of MY choices or lack thereof?

What steps/directions/actions will I own to have a better life?

Jesus paid a high price for us to have personal power. Don’t waste it. Ownership is when we shoulder personal responsibility, self-govern, and acknowledge our actions, beliefs, and choices. We determine our lives without blaming or being codependent on someone else.

This is freedom.

“I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.”

Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture

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Do you ever have those times in life that you feel like conflict surrounds you? I mean, conflict at work, at home, in friendships, with relatives. Just conflict all around. I’ve been sitting in the middle of what felt like consistent and continual conflict and it is not a fun place to be for this enneagram 9.

Much like Matthew 5:23-24, I continually felt like I was walking to the altar in my heart with a gift and was reminded that my relative/co-worker/child/employee at Target had something against me so I had to go make it right with that person before I could talk with Jesus. So, really, I felt a deep need to people-please so God would be alright with me. A deep need to stuff my feelings and make sure everyone else was happy so I could talk to my Best Friend. That doesn’t really grasp the heart of the original text of relationship over religious ritual, does it?

I took it to the Lord and said, “I feel like I can’t even talk to you because so many people have so much against me. What do You have to say about that?” and so kindly He said, “I’m the one you sin against, not them. If you know that I forgive you, having them forgive you is a bonus.” And the pressure came off a little bit. The more I dug into His Words, the more I saw the full picture of His love for me. He cleanses me from all righteousness, not them. He makes me a new creation, without their permission. He tells me I can approach His Throne of grace with confidence. He desires a relationship with me, over religious rituals and He desires His Kids to be in peaceful, loving, healthy relationships.

In the middle of a conflict the other day, He reminded me about my grandmother’s old polaroid camera. My sister and I loved that thing growing up. We would take pictures of literally everything and would fan that polaroid back and forth to try to hurry up the developing process. Jesus said, “This conflict, this image you see could be perceived a certain way but it isn’t fully developed. Just give it more time. Don’t zero in on one aspect. Step back and ask Me for the full picture.”

Wisdom is seeing things from His perspective and I’ve found that asking for wisdom in conflict is my purest form of love for another.

So, maybe you find yourself in some conflict. Maybe you have picked up an offense, been hurt or feel misunderstood. May I encourage you today to take His Hand and lean into His heart for you. Whether you have wronged or been wronged, ask for forgiveness from Him for the offense and wait for the full picture to develop. It’s always more beautiful and more intentionally detailed than we could ever imagine.

What are you waiting for?

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Are you in the middle of a waiting period? You have a promise, word, or dream and you think you have done all you can to make it happen…and yet that very thing is still out of reach. Yeah, me too. Houses, cars, babies, money, marriages, jobs, friends, you name it. We have all been stuck in the “Not Yet” loop. The tension in the waiting sucks. It sucks faith, energy, creativity, even hope. Unless we have some secret weapons.

 

 

I want to briefly unpack something the Lord is giving me these days. Every experience, good or bad, is an invitation to encounter God. Here is the catch. These encounters are not one-way encounters — only what we get from God. They are two-way encounters, both parties giving and receiving.

Don’t miss the huge truth-bomb here that God enjoys receiving FROM you. Yes, you.

(So what are you giving Him?)

There is a reciprocal relationship where I ask and He gives. He gives, I praise. He doesn’t give… I cry, pout, stall out. But c’mon, that’s kindergarten level. Maturity offers different responses. I ask and offer Him thanks in advance. He gives, and I ask who to give it to. We dance. We laugh. And, when things go badly, I look to Him. He doesn’t always rescue me but He gives me perspective. I have the opportunity here to test my thinking and believing in the middle of the tension.

What do I actually think about the LORD, instead of what do I think about the situation?

The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

Nahum 1:7 NKJV

The Lord gave this verse in a hard, hard season of waiting. I learned how to use three secret weapons from one verse.

1) The Lord is good. Every disappointment, heartache, delay, and faith strain is reframed by God’s goodness. When we come to bank our whole life on His goodness and His desire to be good to me, to you, it changes every result, or lack of result. We don’t minimize the pain, but we tell the pain it is not the final answer. God’s goodness will be revealed sooner or later.

2) Every trouble we face, we have a stronghold to run to. We don’t flail around helpless and hopeless. We don’t try to white-knuckle it. Heaven has provided a very real place for us to rest and recuperate. A place where we can escape the trouble and find wisdom and comfort.

3) He knows those who trust in Him. Listen, this verse stopped me dead in my tracks. HE KNOWS who really trusts Him. Remember the give and take? He looks at us in the hardest moment and asks, “Will you give Me your trust?”

I don’t know about you, but that verse compels me forward into faith. I may get knocked down but I am getting back up. And when I do, I want to be that kid in the classroom, jumping up and down, with my hand up, shouting, “Pick me, Pick me. I trust You! I do!”

But wishing doesn’t make that kind of trust in God real. When we are willing to go through the experiences, encounters, history, risk, failure, and do-overs, then we grow a kind of faith and trust that makes Him smile. Maybe I am a hard nut, but it has taken a lot of hard knocks to get me to child-like faith.

I have also loved this passage from Psalm 27. In the NIV, verse 13 says, I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. But verse 14 in The Passion translation takes it to a whole new level.

Here’s what I’ve learned through it all:
Don’t give up; don’t be impatient;
be entwined as one with the Lord.
Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope.
Yes, keep on waiting—for he will never disappoint you!

Psalm 27 TPT

Being entwined with the Lord means it is not just me trying to keep going in difficult times. He is with me in it. He gives me all that I need in the tension. So what to do with the disappointment I do face? This verse strengthens me to keep waiting. He is not done. I WILL see His goodness sooner or later. He is with me. So that means His goodness is already here right in the middle of it with me.

Bad outcomes, poor results, waiting in the tension… these can become places to be even bolder. “Okay God, show me your goodness again even in this yucky place. I am looking because I trust in You.”

Wisdom from the Upside Down Kingdom

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Many of us are in places where we don’t know what to do. We may know what we WANT, but we sorely lack the essential HOW to achieve it. The Lord is literally tutoring me in lessons on wisdom. And may I just add, summer school sucks. Smile.

 

In an age of excess information and inflated reactions, how are we to discern what is truly wise? Some camps shout: You must use logic. Facts only. No emotions. The rival camp shouts: All decisions are based on emotions whether you admit it or not. The battle ensues. 

For example, consider this remark from a guy I just met. He was trying to decide if a particular house purchase was a good fit. When I asked him how he would choose, he boasted, “I take all the emotion out of it and just look at the facts.” I laughed in his face.

“Good luck with that,” I said. “The Lord has emotions, gave you emotions for a reason too, and you are totally deciding if this house gives you all the feels in all the right places.” Whatever.  

However, this conversation reminded me of a phrase God gave earlier in the week. 
Wisdom: the balance of logic and emotion.

The key word here is balance. We don’t lean too far on data points because we cannot predict the future from past numbers. And to be frank, the need to control and predict the future is fear-based and borders on sorcery.  We don’t lean too far on emotion because we may be over-tired, over-hungry, over-angry, or over-excited. Just over… which kills the balance needed for wisdom to grow.

Logic and Emotion. Balance. Check. Wisdom. Check.

Before we proceed, let me throw in a monkey wrench. Every new level of faith and adventure with God requires me to learn more about Him. His way of doing things, how it works in heaven, how I will have to take on or let go of earthly thinking.

This past March brought one of those upgrades. The Lord told me, “You are trying to figure this out in your world system. But I live in an Upside Down Kingdom.”

O-kaaaaay. That helped a lot. Thank you, Lord. But seriously. What does that even mean?

First came the revelation. Then came the wisdom from God to absorb the revelation. We had been talking about Jesus feeding the 5000, when He asked a question. 

How do you think the boy felt when he gave up his lunch (five loaves and 2 fish)?

Never crossed my mind.

The Lord persisted. 

That boy had his lunch. Why would he give up his lunch, so little, in the face of so much need? 

Squirming, I can tell you I went for the easy answers first.  Because he wanted to share. Because he loved his neighbor. Because the boy was moved by the great need. Because he was asked to help. Because, because, because…

The Lord would not let it go. 

But now he was hungry. And he didn’t have to be. Why did he give up his lunch, when he had all he needed?

The Good Teacher finally helped me, the slow student, grasp the answer. Because Jesus was on the scene. That lunch could do more in Jesus’s hands than in that boy’s belly.  Somehow, Jesus would fill everyone’s needs.

Enter heavenly wisdom.  Upside down Kingdom.

I had to align my life with how God does life in His Kingdom. His life is SO different from mine that it appears, looks, and feels upside down. Radical faith often requires radical sacrifice which produces a radical move of God.

Here is another tough lesson. Abraham gets a bad rap sometimes in our PC world of child-rearing. I mean, putting your kid on an altar today would land you in jail. But the real story, the bigger Kingdom story is not between father and son, but Father and son.

God instructed Abraham to think upside down. Go beyond the logic. Past the very real emotion. The Father who loved His only Son, invited Abraham to experience what He feels and to understand what it takes to make that kind of sacrifice. This was a severe test of Abraham’s heart and what it takes to walk in God’s wisdom. He passed the test. But don’t miss God’s profound response to Abraham’s willing heart.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,  I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:12-18 (emphasis added)

As I said, upside down Kingdom. In this Kingdom, withholding nothing, extreme dependence, and revering God have supreme value. Also in this Kingdom, it is highly rewarded. More than we can ask or imagine and for generations to come.

God is constantly inviting us to not only know about His Kingdom but to do life the way He does it. Withholding nothing. Extreme dependence. In awe of God’s generous response.

This leads me to this lovely verse tucked in 1 Corinthians that makes me chuckle. For what the world says is wisdom is actually foolishness in God’s eyes. As it is written: The cleverness of the know-it-alls becomes the trap that ensnares them. 1 Corinthians 3:19 TPT

Can I tell you how many times I have said to God, “You want me to do what?  Are you sure? This is crazy!” Yep, foolishness to the world.

There are worthy questions to ask Holy Spirit. Do you think this is wise? Will it multiply and bear fruit? Am I withholding nothing and displaying extreme dependence on You to do what only You can do?

I may be singing to the moon right now. But I tell you, we are living in an age of humanity right now, where God’s wisdom is desperately needed and rarely sought after. We are drowning in a cultural mindset that does what is “right in our own eyes,” what makes us feel good, or safe, or seen. And it’s foolishness to God.

Our solution? Just ask.

And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace. James 1:5 TPT

 

How much of God’s love do you want?

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How much of God’s love are you willing to receive? Uhhh. Is this a trick question? Some? Enough? All?  We humans play lots of mental games with God’s love. It often circles around our sense of worth or lack thereof. Perhaps it’s an unspoken belief that He likes other kids more than us, so we should be grateful and don’t bug God by asking for too much. Perhaps we have been extensively taught about suffering and sacrifice, which is good and true, but we have not been given permission to experience His lavish love.

Lavish is His word. Not mine.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 NIV)

Believe it or not, this very difficult question was the second question in my wild conversation with the Lord last night.  It came on the heels of a memory with my friend Crystal. She and I (and many others) had just prayed her into a miracle house. She kept saying over and over, “Why me, Lord, why do I get this house?”

And His answer was so simple. “I picked it for you. I  know what I planted in you. And, I really like you.” 

“The thought that He would do something so big, so extra just because He loved me so much, really stretched my faith,” Crystal said. 

It was a love gift.

Boom. There it was. 

I had heard those words before. A love gift. God had given me and Chuck a love gift. An outrageous gift purely as an expression of His love. The Overflow House, a beautiful place in Pensacola Beach. This is part of much bigger story, but the words pierced my spirit like a needle full of medicine. Did I remember how to receive a Love Gift from God?

God is lavish in His gifts to express His love for His children. Me and you, we be da children. If we know how to do it, He does it so much better. 

If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?” Matthew 7:11 TPT

As uncomfortable as this thought is, now try to imagine the gut punch of the first question. 

Am I your Lover or your business partner?

I mean, what a way to start a conversation.

Lovers do things for each other. We share and sacrifice for the other’s good without a second thought. We enjoy each other. We call each other silly names and giggle and smile for no apparent reason. No task seems too big or small, because well, it’s just an excuse to be together.  Rain or shine, all we need is love. Perfect Love, that is.

But business partners? That’s a little more clinical, don’t you think? You have your role and duties. I have mine. And please, stay in your lane. Don’t tell me what to do, I will return the favor. And then there is the pressure. I sure hope this proposition works out because we have poured a lot of time and money into it. We have to produce results after all.

Gut. Punched.

You know what I love MOST about Jesus, God, and Spirit? The Holy Three-in-One so completely adores, enjoys, loves, roots for, and is 1000% committed to my heart and soul, and yours, that They would zing me in quiet hours just to correct my course.

God is unwilling to just be our business partner. Don’t nit-pick me here. When Perfect Love is on the scene He does bring wisdom, insight, and guidance. He is the best Person to have involved in any field, home, or country. BUT. BUT. BUT.

He does it all for love, for us. To be with us. He is lavish. He gives good outrageous gifts to express His Love.

So why am I doing it? Why are you?

Let me give you the two questions again: Am I your Lover or your business partner? How much of My Love are you willing to receive?

I am just going to let that sit there for you and our Beautiful God to sort through. It has broken some serious wayward thinking as He and I approach this outrageous Love Gift that is on the horizon. I hope it gets you a little more free too. 

Faith to Faith

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How do we get more faith?  It might be easier than you think and yet much more costly. Before you check this box, listen to my story.

 

 

I sat across the table from a prophet the other day. We came to celebrate a mutual friend who had told me about her crazy friend who was really prophetic.  However,  once he opened his mouth and began sharing God stories, I saw the stark difference between having a gift and having a mantle.

The prophetic gifting is the ability, granted by the Holy Spirit, to know or see a thing, and to declare a thing that will happen in the future. Think of God sending people postcards from far-off places. Only instead of saying, “I wish you were here,”  He sends them pictures, words, insights of places or things and says “You will be here.” 

Whew. That’s wild. It’s a lot to take in. And it is 100% biblical.

We all have the ability to be prophetic if we have the Holy Spirit. Even our kids! They have 100% of the Holy Spirit. Not some kind of  Junior Holy Spirit,  like a Whopper Jr. 

But, this guy at dinner, instead of just being prophetic, was a prophet. Meaning God would tell him things to tell other people. Good and seemingly bad things.  Even the bad things turned out to be blessings because God was always working for the hearts and the success of the people targeted by the messages. 

I noticed a couple of things as I soaked in every story he told.

1) God is alive and well and moving mightily all the time for those who will a) stop and ask Him and b) do what He says.

2) God doesn’t blink an eye at making humans uncomfortable in order to lead them to wholeness and outrageous faith. Whether it is the prophet speaking or the receiver of God’s message, God happily shatters our comfort zones.

3) God is supremely patient with stubborn and disobedient children who don’t listen, until He isn’t. He offers counsel and wisdom and then He practices holy tough love as we temporarily suffer from our self-made consequences.

4) We have permission to grab hold of every God story we hear for ourselves. I literally kept praying as the prophet spoke, “Lord I would like that too please.”  It’s part of the prophet’s reward.

5) God stories (or faith stories) beget other God stories. As the prophet shared stories, my mind filled with my own stories. I shared a couple of my own, and you could see both of us reveling in the power and mystery of this Beautiful God. 

There is a right standing with God. The bedrock of that right standing is faith. 

Do you need an extra dose of faith? Recall what He has done for you. Act forward on what He has said is coming. And. And. Share your God stories and listen to others. That will fill up your tank in no time.

For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, “But the one who is righteous by faith will live.” Romans 1:17 

Open the Flow

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I may be late to the party but I have lived my whole life without an irrigation system for my yard. I have lived in lots of places in lots of houses, but none of them required a dedicated irrigation system. A move to sunny Florida changed all that. 

You can imagine my surprise when I was sitting outside one pre-dawn morning drinking coffee and water started spraying in all directions in my yard. I quickly transitioned back inside to keep from getting watered myself. 

Turns out, in Florida, either I water all the time or an irrigation system does. Fortunately, the house we purchased came with one installed. 

Fast forward a couple of months, and our irrigation pump died due to a three-day Florida freeze over. We had it replaced, however, over time we noticed plants beginning to wither and trees losing their color. Some areas of the yard were greening up well with new spring life, others were not. We all attributed the decline to the winter hit. 

Then one morning, the pump woke me up whining. The few sprinkler heads that were still working only gurgled out water instead of reaching out the typical 6-foot spray. Chuck turned the pump off. We promptly went on the hunt for an irrigation doctor and readied ourselves for another new pump purchase, or worse a whole new system.

But the surprise of surprises, the irrigation doctor showed up, looked everything over, and told us our pump was fine. The problem was instead an 8-inch section of above-ground piping leading from the well to the pump. 

Say what?? Eight inches of plastic pipe had shut down my whole irrigation system? Yes. 

The well water was fine, clean, and ready to be dispersed.
The pump was new and had the appropriate size and strength for the task. 

But somewhere, someone had installed a half-inch smaller pipe between the two. That simple constriction of water flow forced a leak and stole the pressure needed to activate the pump and shoot the water out all over my thirsty yard.

I was standing there in my yard watching all of this play out and I just said out loud, “ I am listening Lord. I am listening. You have my full attention.”

The Well: Jesus said that we would have rivers of living water spring up within us. Just like the unseen well somewhere deep under my yard, we have all the water we need for all the living God has called us to. Some water is for creating beauty, some for giving to others, some just for Him, and some for our own sustenance.  He has enough water for it all. Do we trust that? 

The Pump: It pays to check the condition of our hearts. Like the pump, our heart has the power to distribute all the love to all the places God calls us to.  Proverbs make it clear that we are to “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).  

Here is a bonus about that pump and our hearts. It works best under pressure. 

In fact, the right kind of pressure produces life far beyond ourselves. So don’t wish for a problem-free, pain-free life. Don’t try to create a life with no stress or strain, or you might find yourself whining in the wee hours from the lack of adequate water flow. You see,  the pressure is what draws the water from the well, through the pump and outward. 

Selah. 

Finally. That damn pipe. 

Before we bought this house, somebody tried to Make Do. Tried to ignore the facts.  As Brene Brown points out, perhaps they did the best they could, but fundamentally they did not understand the potential damage of closing off the flow of water. 

I hate to admit it, but this God lesson hit me right in the middle of a constricted flow moment in my own life. 

Jesus was quick to let me know I have a good heart. I have living water deep inside.  But I had allowed fear and doubt to make me small and constricted the flow of His living water. So then my heart could not function well under the right kind of pressure and areas in my life began gasping for a drink. 

The solution was a new right-sized pipe, or in my case, right-sized faith. 

So pay attention. How’s your water flow? How is the condition of those living within range of your water? How’s your heart? Is it fully functioning under pressure, or whining in the wee hours? 

Just in case you need a referral, Jesus is a great irrigation doctor too.

Strong Water

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There is an essence of a Woman —God-ordained actually. Even if you don’t believe in God, there is an unmistakable quality of a woman that goes far beyond body parts and hormones. 

A woman is a life-giver.  Hear me. Not just a baby maker. But a Life-Giver. 

For decades,  I have been on a deep dive into the heavenly Who of a woman. The world’s Who of a woman reduces us to breasts and bottoms. And frankly, the church’s answer of Who relegates us to the high (and only allowed) calling of motherhood. Both left cavernous gaps in my heart. 

Don’t get me wrong. I am undone by my children. Still love-wrecked by them today, though they are grown and flown. I prayed desperately to have them and have been completely overhauled as a human by being a parent. Nothing brings me to my knees faster than the threat of danger or harm to my babies. Likewise, when they laugh and soar, whether they are 20 months or 20 years, my heart sings a song that is worthy of angels. 

And yet. My own children gave me clues to this bigger Who of a woman. But they did not satisfy the God-sized holes and hunger in my soul. 

As I sought the Lord and tried to make sense of the tension, God began to reveal some beautiful secrets of His feminine masterpiece. 

It starts with the names. In Genesis alone, we see the names: female, help meet, woman, and mother. Goodness, we could have fun unpacking all of these. But for today, let’s look at Mother.

In ancient Hebrew, the letters are pictures. So each word is a collection of images that creates vast meaning. The two letters/pictures depicting the word “mother” is an ox and water. Ox signifies strength and water signifies life. Translated mother means strong water. 

 

Scholars say the expression strong water is attributed to the process of boiling the skin of an animal down until it makes a glue that is used for making tents. Lovely, yes? But hold on. Like its image, it is rife with meaning. 

A woman is uniquely equipped to connect people, hold relationships together, create strong emotional and spiritual attachments so that the family, tribe, or camp can weather the seasons of life. A woman is the glue of her home. Whether single or married, with child or without, she has been heavenly wired to carry this life-building and life-sustaining essence into her world. 

She carries this Holy Glue that brings hearts together, cements ideas or dreams, and provides foundational strength in various expressions.

When Adam named Eve, which happened after the fall, and before children, he called out the original Who that God created. Not just for the first woman, but for all of us, since she would be named the mother of all the living. 

We, women, are her daughters, all women are called Strong Water. We carry the life-giving glue of Heaven. 

Thank you, Lord, for revealing your beautiful heart through us. 

When Truth Turns Into a Tripwire

/ Jana / Leave a comment

We are living in tricksy days. People use phrases about “my truth,” or “what feels true to you.” And while I freely acknowledge that it comes from a heart of compassion, I still want to either vomit or hit a loud, warning buzzer. My truth? Your truth? What even…

Truth is to be discovered and revealed and sometimes even translated. But when we slap little words in front of it, like my or your, we immediately reduce truth down to a very small point of authority.

Psalm 8 speaks very highly of us as human beings. “A little lower than the angels,” worth the cost of the cross. But. And, this is a big But—we are truth-bearers. Not truth creators.

We follow a plumb line. Or we don’t.

Either way, that does not designate us as The Plumb Line.

We could reduce this conversation to political labels and insults. Which are futile.

We could scrutinize the motives and money behind our lack of resolve around the truth. Which are tiresome.

I would rather offer a perspective from heaven. Truth sets us free.

The Greek word for truth is reality. Jesus is calling us to His Reality. His Truth. He is the Holy Plumb Line. And it requires a shifting of our will, a surrendering of our lesser reality of bondage to step into the freedom of His Truth.

As a social structure, we humans are constantly looking for answers. But rarely looking for truth. We want answers that feed our fears or our appetites. We crave answers that rationalize our bat-shit-crazy choices. We want permission to do whatever we want. But this is not freedom.

We need a plumb line. Look at the chaos of our world. It is the “reality” of everyone doing what they want, what is right in their own eyes. And it’s killing us.

I love this from Pastor Laura Piraino about Zechariah 4:10.

“The purpose of the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hands was to keep the walls lined up correctly, to keep the work true. It was such a small thing, but without it, the walls of the temple would not have stood the test of time. Zerubbabel needed this small tool to correctly finish the work God had called him to do.”

As you and I embrace the work that God has called us to do in our homes, work, and the Kingdom, let us hold fast to His Plumb Line. He is the Truth. We need His Reality to keep our lives true and to build something that stands the test of time.

“When you continue to embrace all that I teach, you prove that you are my true followers. For if you embrace the truth, it will release true freedom into your lives.” 

John 8 TPT