Real.Life

WGR Class Fall Semester Begins August 23rd!!

/ HeatherT / Leave a comment

What is WGR class?

Jana is inviting hungry women to pursue the scripture and stories to see how the Lord builds intimacy through our senses.  This is an unusual class with hands on activities, soaking worship, and real seasons to hear from the Lord personally and powerfully.

The class is for all ages and does not require perfect attendance. Or homework.

We are meeting every Thursday at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in room B203 from 6:30-8:30pm.  CSPC is located at the corner of Kingston Pike and Cedar Bluff at 9132 Kingston Pike.  Free childcare will be provided with registration.  Please click here to register.

We will also be live streaming class this year so you can tune in at home!  Just visit the WGR UStream channel at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/womengettingreal to join the class every week at 6:30pm EST!  

For specific details around the class please feel free to email us at info@womengettingreal.com.

Relationships Need a Real God

/ Jana / Leave a comment

It is always a challenge at first to follow God into a new teaching topic. It is not the study or the actual delivery of the spiritual download I tremble over.

It is the living it out first in private before He lets me share it in the public.

Therefore you can imagine my hesitation to teach on healthy relationships. No, more than just healthy, He is going after loving relationships with others, even the “others” that I can’t stand, can’t forgive, can’t believe will be different.

I can talk about a loving healthy relationship with that Lover Boy Jesus all day long. But when you get into other peeps or my family, ouch, this cuts a little too close to home. And yet. Isn’t this precisely the way of God? To so overwhelm us with His love and affection that we spill out and over on others? Proverbs says “the tongue of the wise brings healing.” And we need to hear Jesus speak healing into every relationship we have.

So this new seminar  on June 9, is very simply a time plant a few seeds of Jesus in our lives. Most of us have been through some sort of counseling, even Bible studies. Yet most of us would say our relationships don’t change much. I find that to be so counter to the way of God.

When people in the Bible had an encounter with Jesus, their lives were changed. Some instantly, some over time, but all were changed because He put something in them that produced His life.  Real Life. That is what we are going after.

Plan to come with a desire to pull weeds in your heart, and to let God plant His healing and wisdom instead.

Real Life. Real Relationship.
June 9, 9:30-Noon
Fuse Church, Midpark Drive
Open to All: women, men, couples, singles
Love Offering Event
Pre registered Childcare Only.

 

Unhindered Encounter

/ Lyschel / Leave a comment

 

 

 

 

 

The Unhindered Encounter is a candid conversation about how we’ve formed our definition of beauty, what it is costing us emotionally, how it effects our choices in relationships, how porn poisons our perceptions and how our God has more than pat answers to offer to all of this.  It is a powerful weekend to be washed by Truth.

At the Unhindered Encounter we use live worship, teaching, the Bible, multi-media, meditation, and friend-talk to unveil the honest questions that plague us as women. Questions about beauty, worth, sex, men. But we also spend time asking God what he thinks about us and these questions.  Read more about this event here.

Friday Night March2, 7pm-9:30pm

Saturday Morning March 3, 9am-1pm

FREE ADMISSION!

Remind me…

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Remind me who I am.

This has been a week of loving reminders.  God created or stirred, from all directions, a message of loving determination.  His determination to show me love.  From butterflies (in November?), to emailed heart photos, to texts with prophetic scripture, to even a powerful dream through another person, God has been ardently, annoyingly, persistently pursing me. Why annoyingly?  Because when I am mad, or whining, or feeling sorry for myself, His acts of affections draw me out of my drama. And sometimes, sadly, I want to STAY in my drama. At least it feels that way. But finally His love broke through. His continued reminders of past promises and His faithfulness today, His repeating of my pet name, His beauty for my ashes, these God touches broke down my walls.

My heart opened again and I breathed in His intimate tenderness. Oddly enough the whining and self pity slipped away. They can’t stand in the face of His grace.  It truly is “His kindness that leads us to repentance.” Here is the kicker…Right before I got ready to teach the WGR class, my friend handed me card, sheepishly. “He told me me to give you this, ” she said.

On one side it read: He told me to “remind you.”

On the other side were words to a song. I began reading them and casually dismissed them, ‘Oh, this is a Bethany Dillon song.’ But as I kept reading, a sob caught in my throat. I quickly left the room and went to the hall so I could cry in private.

In a moment I was transported back in time. I could see the sun, and feel the wind off the beach as I re-read them.  The written words were my words. Or rather, His words.

You sing over me, You sing over me

You wave your hands and dance around

Sing of dreams, desires all over me

washing, rolling, wondering over me

There’s no love better than yours

It was a song we had written together a year before. And the over-arching message of that beach trip was His delight. Could I, would I be willing to do life with the only measure being His delight?  It was the perfect touch after a hard week of questions and hurting.

How beautiful is our God?

I am putting the song below for your listening. Read the lyrics and soak in the truths. They are for you too. And my take-aways this week, among many, are listen and DO the prompting of God. Every one of these touches came from people who thought they were crazy to reach out. But God used them to help me. Finally, receive. Look, believe, receive the beauty, the tenderness, the truths of God. They surround us always. “There’s no love better than yours.”

My Pleasure

Here I am. Waiting. Listening
Wanting to feel your Holy touch
Need to hear your words flood my soul
Feel your pleasure Lord
There’s no sound, better than yours.

Here I am. Hungry, Eager.
Believing that you’re smiling too
Glad that I’ve come to be with you
You love to hear my voice
there’s no sound better than worship

You sing over me, You sing over me

You wave your hands and dance around

Sing of dreams, desires all over me

washing, rolling, wondering over me

There’s no love better than yours

We’re here again. Mingling. Meshing.
Loving the oneness of two
Drink in the wonder of You
I love your presence Lord
There’s no pleasure better
than yours

Jana Spicka, Real.Life Worship CD

 

Real Live Community

/ Jana / 2 Comments

I am shooting for the moon. I am flinging open the doors and inviting you in.

We believe that God wants to share life intimately with us. Most of us have heard that. Some of us experience that. Many of us are at least open to the idea. So we try different things to move into this life with God.

We also believe that God wants us to share life intimately with each other. And that is… where we close the book; turn off the TV; hit delete.

But it is true. From my humble perspective, after speaking to many, many folks from different parts of the country, and even in Zimbabwe, it seems that we don’t really like each other and for sure don’t want to get too close. This is especially true of Christian women. We often feel the most shut down and shut out relationally.

However. This is the very miracle of “God among us.” When we come together, it isn’t just you and me and our drama. It is you and me and our drama and the Living God. There is a power and synergy and healing that can happen when the Spirit of God is given permission and freedom to live and move and breathe within us together.

We see things. We hear things. We experience things that we couldn’t see, hear, experience alone. I have amazing revelations with the Lord alone. But it is radically different from what happens when I am with other believers. I hear your story and it taps into my story and vice versa. Your breakthroughs strengthen me. Your weaknesses reveal mine. And our shared bond of Christ keeps us looking to the One who heals and restores all things.

So I want to extend a personal invitation to you. Through the WGR class we desire to create a community of authentic, honest, real relationships. We desire to dispense with the petty comparisons, the surface mindless chatter and go for real heart connections. We desire to journey and not judge, to strengthen and encourage instead of play denial or fix-it games.

Women Getting Real Class is beginning August 23rd and you are invited to come. BUT you are also invited to join in with some of your friends and be part of the the online connection.  Many folks can’t come in person but they still want the connection. So can you, will you, take the effort and invest in real community? Will you gather 1-4 of your friends and watch the class together and really participate, share and go deeper with Christ and with someone else? You sitting in front of a computer is still you looking from the outside in. It is safe. And sanitized. And comfortable.

Life with God and others is messy and marvelous. It is a rollercoaster and a haven. Real honest relationship is life-changing.

If you are playing the “I just need me and God” card, will you consider adding a card to your deck called  “sharing your God life with others”? If you are playing the “I don’t trust other people” card, will you add the “I trust God in those people” card? Even if you have been burned before, will you learn the lessons of what not to do and try again?

Whether you like it or not, agree with it or not, even know how to do it or not, we are a Body. His body. We need to be together in some way, to share His Spirit among us. The WGR community on Tuesday nights, live in person, or live in your living room, is one humble honest way for us to share that connection.

Pray about it. Look at the obstacles and excuses. Then ask the Lord for the courage and faith to do Real Life with Him and others.

Fountain Springs Community Church presents an Unhindered Encounter

/ Lyschel

Join Us for a two day event.

A candid conversation about how we’ve formed our definition of beauty, what it is costing us emotionally, how it effects our choices in relationships, how porn poisons our perceptions and how God has more than pat answers to offer to all of this.

Its a powerful weekend to be washed by Truth.

March 18th, 7:00pm – 9:30pm

March 19th, 8:30am -1:00pm

Ticket includes a goodie bag, snacks and two days of teaching.
($20 in advance and $30 at the door.)

To learn more about the Unhindered Encounter click here.

Following You

/ Jana / 2 Comments

In honor of Valentine’s Day and a momentous two year anniversary, I want to play you a song that is on the Real. Life. worship cd.

The two year anniversary marks one of our darkest seasons when Chuck and I were both stepping back to assess whether our marriage could be salvaged. We were separated and seeking the Lord for resurrection power. This morning, we prayed together with hearts full of gratitude that He indeed  had resurrected our lives out of the ashes.

What’s ironic is that I wrote this song in the first year of our marriage almost twenty years ago. I had no idea the prophetic word it would be over our lives.  God has done exactly what the lyrics say:  Burn us up/ melt us down/ create a gold that’s new.  I see that it is our following Jesus that has brought us to this point of gratefulness and joy.

I love Him. I love that He loves us so. Thank You, Lord, that You did not shy away from the heat of loving us. Amen.

Following You

Words and Melody by Jana Spicka
Guitar Framework by Roselynn Spicka

Acoustic Guitars: Stephanie Sapp

I’m following you through the fire
I’m following you through the fire
Of a burning churning love affair
I say you and you say me

We say you, me, you
It’s a fire of a lifetime
Of days turned  gray with age
and years of burning love

Stronger than rivers
Carving out canyons from stone
Stronger than tremors
Cracking the face of the earth
Greater than thunder
Rolling the passions of our souls

I’m following you through the fire
And I know we’re really scared
I’m following into the fire of hearts
and we’ll make a new home there

Burn us up and melt up down
and create a gold that’s new
It’s a fire of a lifetime
I will not shy away from the heat of loving you

Fire and flame
How we change
Past the pain
We shall rise above

Through days turned  gray with age
and years of burning love
Stronger than rivers
Carving out canyons from stone
Stronger than tremors
Cracking the face of the earth
Longer than mountains
Falling from the weight of time

Following you through fire
fire and flame

Under the Rock

/ Jana / 3 Comments

We all feel the weight and pressure of our lives. It comes in waves. It comes in a crash. Or it comes one proverbial straw at a time until we finally buckle under the weight. But regardless of the reasons “why” we get weighted down — lack of boundaries, not taking care of ourselves, or spiritual attack — there is  a “who” to rescue us.

I texted this to my friend last night, “Please pray for me. Really under a rock.” And as I hit the send button I heard the Spirit say, “I am your Rock.”

Moments later, my sweet friend relayed what the Spirit had told her: “Uh…don’t know if this is a word for u but he keeps telling me HE is the rock. Is he perhaps covering  u and/or trying to make u be still? He tells me he is the only rock that has any power in ur life.”

Who knew that you could pack such a spiritual punch in a text?!  The only Rock with any power.

Our whinings, our to do lists, the people who frustrate us have no power except the stories that you and I create about them. They are illusions. Dare I say it, drama created to keep us stirred up. All this time we run here and there only to find that our feet rest on the steadfast might of God. God’s power is the Rock we stand on forever, regardless of the circumstances.

Now what my friend didn’t know  is that I had just listened to the song, “Hide Me in You.” Think God is trying to tell us something?

Rock of Ages, cleft for me. And you. Forever. Hide in the Rock today.

Hide Me in You (Unmixed)
Hide me inside You
Inside Your great heart
In the cleft of the Rock
In Your side

Brother and Ransom
Your nailed pierced hand
Covers me
As you pass by

All the mountains quake at the sight
When Your glory passes by

Let me hide
In the cleft of Your side
My shelter, my refuge
Let me hide
In the cleft of the Rock
Hide me, hide me in You

Hide me inside You
Your name’s my defense
The Rock that was opened for me

Jesus, My Savior
Your sin broken heart
Has poured out mercy on me

All the mountains quake at the sight
When Your glory passes by

Let me hide
In the cleft of Your side
My shelter, my refuge
Let me hide
In the cleft of the Rock
Hide me, hide me in You

© Jana Spicka
Real. Life.

Leaning on Her Lover

/ Jana / 2 Comments

Doing anything creative is a blur of emotions. You begin with hesitation, hope and unknowns. You get going and you love it, hate it, and hope for it to be more. All at the same time.  And when you push your chair back, assess and grade your work, sometimes it a tricky moment.

What was the greater work, the outcome or the process?

When I was writing the music for the Real.Life. worship cd, it happened in stages. First was the simple time in prayer when I tried to get the groan in my spirit to take shape in the form of letters on paper.  Weeks later, Chuck and I spent the late night seasons knocking around words and guitar chords.  Try to picture this.  He is standing up just jamming on his guitar looking out the window. I am sitting on the bed reading through pages of lyrics. And tucked in the pile is this gathering of words that suddenly start spilling out of my mouth in song.

It was as if the Spirit was painting a beautiful picture, grabbing color from Chuck, color from me, then blending, splashing and dabbing. When we stopped, we just sat there is silence. Three way intimacy.

The funny thing is, I started not to send the recording to the producer. I told Chuck this is more of a “moment” that a song. But I sent it anyway. Then the Spirit pulled in Chris’ colors and gifts and the song became an even more brilliant picture.

Last night the Artist signed His name at the bottom of the painting. The final touch. Chuck listened to the rough cut and his comment took my breath away and burned in my spirit.

“Jana this is just like the scripture out of Song of Songs. ‘Who is this coming up out of the desert, leaning on her lover?'”

Read the words as you listen to this as yet unpolished recording. And hear that the whole point is to let Him do what only He can do through me, through you, through us. He is our life and He loves it when we lean on Him.

Depend Unmixed

Depend on You
So glad to depend on you
So glad to lean on you
Your strong arms
So glad to see my need for you
Glad to know you made me that way

Be my life Be my life  O God
So glad to lean on you
Be my life Be my life  O God
So glad to lean on you

So glad to depend on you
So glad to lean on you
Your strong arms
So glad to see my need for you
Glad to see it was your plan all along

Be my life Be my life  O God
So glad to lean on you
Be my life Be my life  O God
So glad I can lean on you

Bridge:
Losing the scrutiny
It’s all about you and not me
Losing the need to control
The illusion is gone
I can rest in your arms

(Editor’s note: The Real.Life. worship CD will be available for purchase at Unhindered 2.0, February 12, 2011.)