Let Earth Receive Her King – Part I

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Joy to the World, the Lord is come.  Let earth receive her King.

I have had a phenomenal revelation this weekend in the unlikely form of a Surprise Birthday Party. My ever clever husband conspired with my children (what restraint!) to have me, completely clueless, walk in to a room full of loving friends saying, “Surprise!”  My first response was shock. I stood there open-mouthed, dumbfounded and speechless. Which is a RARE condition for me. But my next responses were of embarrassment and the desire to run away. So I just sat down at the table and cried.  Overwhelmed and undone.

It was a great, great night, with home-made cards and words of love and blessing. As I looked around the table, I kept shaking my head thinking, “I can’t believe all this is for me.”  My cup was indeed running over with thankfulness.

But at 3:30 in the morning, I had to get back up and process with the Lord. Why did I want to run away? Why was I so embarrassed? Why did I feel so guilty over being the recipient of such love and affection?

His answers were astounding.  As usual.  Over the next 24 hours, He began whispering truths into my heart.  Truths about desires, design and receiving His goodness.

So in this first of several blogs, let me give you some background. During the day on Saturday, I had been whining. I was really in a wad about my birthday plans or lack thereof (so I thought). Not one to be overly sentimental about my own birthday, I surprised myself and Chuck with shooting down his plans for our night out:

“No I don’t want to drive the kids out to my mom’s, then drive back west for dinner.”
“No, I don’t want to dress up.”
“We’re only going to Macaroni Grill because you like it.”
“This is stupid, it doesn’t matter, let’s just stay home with the kids and I’ll make dinner.”

Fortunately, Chuck had enough self control to NOT blurt out, “You need to get dressed because I am going to have a surprise party for you, and the kids have to go to your mom’s because all the other people to babysit will  be at YOUR party at Macaroni Grill!”  So glad he resisted that temptation.

But I was still whining. I went outside and told the Lord, “I am just really under attack. I don’t even know what’s wrong with me. Help me to just calm down and be thankful for whatever comes.” But the Lord very quietly asked me, “What do you want?” I said, “Nothing.”

And as soon as I said “nothing,” I wanted to laugh out loud. Because if I wanted “nothing” then what was the whining about? So I ‘fessed up that I wanted to have a heartfelt card from Chuck; that I wanted to feel special but didn’t want to have to ask for it.  That I just wanted to be loved on…. But instead of softening my heart, those thoughts hardened my  heart. I recalled past times of dashed hopes and disappointments. There was no cheese down that hole.

So I concluded my time with the Lord with a grown-up white knuckling version of “that stuff doesn’t matter, and I need to be thankful and not complain.”

How funny that the Lord already knew the desires of my heart, even the unspoken ones, and already had a plan that I knew Nothing about. And how funny that I was tormenting Chuck and all the while he was trying to bless me… How crazy that just hours later, I had the first surprise party of my life and handmade cards telling me how well loved I was. How funny, how crazy, how God….

So for today, I want to end with revelation number one: I can trust God with the desires of my heart. He has plans for me that I know Nothing about.  And, He loves surprises as much as I do….


Your God Stories: Just Swallow

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I get so many God stories, stories of how He interrupts our “normal” life with his “supernatural” life, that I decided to start sharing them!

Please don’t think that these stories indicate that someone “has it all together.” Read them to see how God loves speaking our individual languages and how He enjoys being with us.  He is the ultimate pursuer!

Ok, so this was my AMAZING story of the day. I was sitting at work thinking about all of this stuff in my life that sucks, especially being sick.  And Jesus just said to me: Bethany, remember when you were a little girl and your mom would give you cough syrup? It tasted awful so what did you do?  You just held it in your mouth. You would never swallow the stuff.  All you would have to do is swallow and not only would the taste go away but also it would make you well! Bethany, swallow!  If you just swallow all this stuff, (all the bad tasting stuff going on in my life right now: the no boyfriend, the being sick all the time, the money,etc) I will use it to make your heart well! Just swallow!

Isn’t that amazing!!!! I love that! I love how good He is. That is just the coolest metaphor! And it makes so much sense.

So…I don’t feel like it. Because I’m still a little bitter about it, to be honest. But I’m going to swallow, because I want to be well! I hope this makes sense to you, because it speaks volumes to me!!! Anyway, I’m just so excited I had to tell someone. I told this guy here at work and he couldn’t get past the first sentence of “Guess what Jesus just told me!” He just kept saying, “Jesus talks to you?!” Haha.

Ok, Love you,

Bethany

Trees Without Christmas?

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Now here is a sad statement of the day.

Everywhere we go, people are saying “Happy Holidays” for fear of intolerance or offending.  Or they are being pure spiritual wimps. Yet we are still selling Christmas trees.  I mean seriously, where are the militant atheists when you need them? Where are the political, historical scrubbers who try to erase any sign of religious freedom in our country?  Are they taking naps? This is a pretty serious oversight…

(Deep breath.)  Is anyone else chaffed by this duplicity in our culture?  If we are not going to SAY Christmas then why are we still SELLING Christmas?  I mean, let’s just drop the whole day altogether if we aren’t going to have the freedom to call it what it is.  Now hear me, I happen to love unbelievers and folks of other faiths.  I spent a large part of my life in that belief system.  But the last time I checked, neither they nor I were the authorities on what Christians could and could not do.  If I didn’t believe in Jesus, then I didn’t participate.  Today however, for non-believers to tell me what can and cannot be said around my Holy Day is ridiculous.  At the very least, if you want to make money off it, then you should have to at least call it the same name I do.

I don’t believe in Halloween, Santa or the Easter Bunny, but I don’t try to move legislation to silence those things.  Christmas is a religious holiday, part of our religious heritage.

Can you imagine trying to pull off this heresy in a Muslim culture?

So you know what we are doing as a family?  We are wishing every single store teller, Salvation Army ringer, and restaurant server, “Merry Christmas.”  No matter what they say, we are singing it out.  It is a simple act of faith, but a stand for God nonetheless.  No matter what their reactions are, we smile and bless them anyway. Why?

Because that’s what the angels said that glorious day.  Without fear, without shame, they declared the good news in a world just as hostile to the Messiah as ours is today.

“Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.”  Merry Christmas.

Christmas Red

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I am sitting tonight by the last embers of our first official fire. The first fire kind of marks the beginning of winter in our family so it is a big deal, at least to us. I love watching it blaze bright yellow-orange then transition into varying shades of reds. And as I sit mesmerized by the fire, changing before my very eyes, I am remembering our first night in Charleston.

It was truly one of those moments when you didn’t want to blink or breathe for fear of missing something supernatural. There was a sunset, which is always beautiful at the beach. But moments after the sun had gone down, the sky turned a vibrant red – so red that the water in the marshes and the ocean reflected red. Not pink, but red. Blood red.

The thought came to me, “The world is covered in blood.” We were on historic ground, where much blood had been shed, that of native Americans, soldiers in the War for Independence and in the Civil War battles. Thinking of the sacrifice of wars, I felt this grateful grief come over me. They died that I might have freedom.

The expanse of the red sky was so great that the whole landscape was covered. Any place that there was water – the intercoastal, the beach, small inlets – it looked like great pools of blood. I sat there breathless in awe. I heard it again: “The world is covered in blood.”

And it hit me. “All of creation groans for the sons (and daughters) to be revealed.” Creation was groaning and reflecting the greatest sacrifice, reminding us of the Blood that was shed for the whole world. The blood that has truly set me free.

After this vivid picture, I notice the color red seems a little more dear to me this Christmas. More than a merry color, it helps me remember the “why” of the season, by His stripes we are healed. So this Christmas, think red.

God Speaks In Funny Places

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Just in case you think hearing from God is crazy. . . . It is, but it is also wonderful.  I love how creative He is in talking to us.  And I love how if you ask, seek and knock, He will answer, find and open!  

This year has been one of birthing and refining a vision.  I have been asking, “What exactly are God’s plans for me, for WGR, for the ministry?”  And so every couple of weeks He speaks in more power, more clarity, more truth.  Here is the latest download from Him.

As we were taking in the new city sites, I was just praying and thinking.  Here is a conversation that happened, all through billboards, each one building on the other.

The question from me was, “Lord, tell me again what we are doing?”

His answer was the following:

Masters Inn.

Grace.  (Read that: Masters in grace.)

I believe.  (Complete with butterfly photo!)

Dedicated people, Dedicated energy.

It’s amazing what we can do together.

A glimmer of hope in a needy world.

We raise ambition.

Be one.

We know women.

 We do things a bit differently.

I believe.

Thank You, Lord, for Your presence.  For Your mysterious ways of
interrupting our lives.  Thank You for speaking and making known the
paths of life.  Amen.

Decisions

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“We tend to become the decisions we make. The more we choose something, the more we become that something. We are all in the process of solidifying our identities by the decisions we make. With each decision we make, we pick up momentum in the direction of the decision.” Greg Boyd

Page 51, Letters from a Skeptic, a Son Wrestles with His Father’s Questions about Christianity
by Dr. Gregory Boyd and Edward Boyd

Isn’t this a powerful truth? Don’t you see this everywhere, inside the church and out? The Bible says, “The tongue has the power of life and death; ” “where your treasure is your heart will be;” “if the eye is full of light the whole body will be light.”

I am reading this powerhouse book, Finding your Strongest Life, by Marcus Buckingham and it really twists your head around how and why we do what we do. It seems like the Lord is bringing this over-arching message to me, to us, about the intention of our focus, the power of our decisions. Intention doesn’t mean a happy ending. It just means that we will reap what we sow. The spiritual harvest comes from living out of the belief, “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Whatever you think, is what you is.

The Bible says that “David said in his heart…” That particular decision led him into months of murder and destruction for the enemy as he pretended to have joined their ranks. It also says that “Daniel purposed in his heart” that he would not defile himself with the king’s food. Both of these men made decisions, focused their intentions with radically different outcomes.

So where are your thoughts these days? What decisions about your life are you choosing? Or refusing to choose? Because you know, the absence of a decision is still your decision.

And to flip the coin, dwell on God’s decision about you. You are loved. You are lovely. You are His handiwork, created in advance to do good works. He loves to think about you and brag on all the two of you will do together. He has made His Decision about you. He chose you forever.

waiting room
by shane barnard

i will run when i cannot walk
i will sing when there is no song
i will pray when there is no prayer
i will listen when i cannot hear

sitting in the waiting room of silence
waiting for that still soft voice i know
offering my words up to the rooftop to Your heart
trusting that this closet’s where You are

Lord i know if i change my mind
You will change my heart in time
Sovereign Lord this time’s from You
so i sit in the waiting room of silence
cause its all about You

i will fight when i cannot feel
i will trust when You don’t seem real
i will tell when i cannot speak
i will step when i cannot see

A Merry Heart – Friday Funnies

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Charis and I were doing school a school project about the lifecycle of ladybugs. You know, the eggs, the larva, the pupa, the adult?

And as Charis was coloring the little eggs on a leaf she asked me:

“Mom, do ladybugs have babe-n-sitters (her word for babysitters)?”

I laughed and said, “No, why?”

“Well who keeps her babies when she has to leave?  Poor Mama Ladybug, she must be so tired.”

God Story: Ponder This Before Black Friday

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Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you get a big win, a new purchase, a grand gift, that there is often a loss that follows shortly after?

I am thinking of Salem’s birthday gifts.  She got an unexpected amount of Legos, new and used.  She was naturally delighted and overwhelmed. But a couple of days later, she was nearly distraught because she had lost one of her old favorite sets, a small motorcycle.

I saw myself in this real life parable. God gives me so much, new and wondrous, that I didn’t even know I was getting, and the glow of that quickly fades as I lament over a much smaller, insignificant “treasure” from the past.  And as I was trying to comfort Salem, because I really was sad with her that she had lost this favorite toy,  I felt like God was teaching us both.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain,” I told her (1st Timothy 6:6).  It is not just godliness, for that can be self-righteousness.  It is not just contentment, because many a monk missed the abundance of our giving God through self-denial.  It is not just great gain, because there are many who have much, but live in misery.

It is the perfect blend of all, godliness, contentment, and great gain.  They balance each other, like a chemical reaction.  Too much of either one, and the recipe is ruined.  And I believe that God loves to tinker with our ingredients to help us develop a taste for more of Him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:36

Real Question #5: What About Boredom?

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May I be candid?  Boredom is often a lack of vision and gratitude.  Hear me out.  When you lack vision and purpose, then you can easily feel like what you are doing is beneath you or insignificant.  But when you know the greater good or goal, then the mundane (which is still mundane) becomes part of a bigger puzzle rather than the end result.

For example, laundry wears me out.  It is tiresome, boring and never-ending.  But it is not the sum total of me as a woman, wife or mother.  It is a piece of the mundane that simply gets done.  Here is where the gratitude kicks in.  The other day, I literally said out loud as  I was changing the clothes over, “Thank you, Lord, that I don’t have to carry all these clothes to a river and pound them with a rock.  Thank you that I have machines that wash and dry them.  Thank you that I have clean water to wash them in.”  Granny always said, “Count your blessings.”

If you find you are “bored” with your life as a whole, then that is a great invitation to go back to the Lord to discover your strengths, dream and passions.  I am currently reading the  book, Your Strongest Life.  It is specifically written for women who want to live life to the fullest.  I highly recommend it as a temperature check on whether you are checking out, wimping out, or launching!

www.stronglifetest.com

Okay, okay, I am un-American…

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Or am I?  We decided to break away from our traditional family gathering and head to the beach instead.  No problem, right? Wrong.

Traditions and perceptions of traditions are very, very weighty issues. Let me try to explain.  If you are born in the South, and you have a big family, and you cook, and you have birthed “grandchildren,”  then you go home for the holidays. If you don’t, this is almost grounds for stoning or disowning. Or both.

No one told me this. It is just what I have always perceived as truth. It is after all, the point of traditions. You do it the same way every year. From Hallmark to relatives’ comments and expectations, there is a credo of family rituals.  This credo is sometimes spoken of kindly or demanded at all costs.  Sometimes it is communicated in a cold, silent chill.  Attached to this credo is a guilt-producing factor that rings something like, “This ritual is a way of showing appreciation and love for your family.”

I don’t think I really got all this until I decided to forego the credo.  The pit in my stomach as I thought about telling my family that I wouldn’t be there was a great revealer of both the credo and my willing buy-in. But as I wrestled through this drama, I realized just how crazy all this pressure is.  The duty, the obligation, the guilt, the strain — it simply doesn’t add up.

For example, my friend is from Ohio and she doesn’t want to go home. So maybe it isn’t a Southern thing. My other friend has a big family and she’s not going home.  So maybe it isn’t a big family thing.   All of us have children (read grandchildren), but we are seeing their grandmas and grandpas at other special times. And the cooking thing, well, they don’t have Sister Schubert rolls for nothing.

What are we all doing instead of going home for Thanksgiving?  Being quiet, resting, spending time with “our” families. That doesn’t sound so evil does it?

Sure you don’t want to miss out on family gatherings every year. But you sure don’t want to go (and be miserable) just so you can check off a box. Maybe — just maybe — the credo has bullied us around long enough. What did my family do when I told them?  They said they would miss us. No threats, no dramas, no manipulation. That was all in my head. I know for some that would not be the reaction. For some it is downright emotional blackmail. But we always have a choice.

Here is the Scripture the Lord gave me:  “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love, than a fattened calf with hatred.”  I love my family, and they love me. Of course we will miss each other. But when I finally got the guts to tell them that I was breaking out of the mold, I felt really free. Free like I had actually chosen to love.

I chose to love “my” family by investing real down time with them. I chose to love my extended family by being honest —”I am tired and need a break.”  Besides, I wouldn’t be doing my family any favors by going out of duty and obligation. I chose to love myself by tending to my own heart instead of stuffing everything and pretending to play along.   And my own kids? They are learning that there are lots of ways to celebrate and be thankful.

Isn’t that the whole point?  To be thankful?  So take yourself off the hook. Use your voice and your spine if that is what it takes. And Be Real. . . Real about what you can and can’t do. Real about what you really need. Real about being thankful. Be thankful for times together and times apart.  One of my mom’s favorite verses is from Ecclesiastes: “There is a time for every season.”

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. I know I will.