women getting real

Follow the Sun

/ Jana / 1 Comment

I have this way of doing life. It has its similarities and routines. I go through motions without even thinking sometimes. I can do my God life like that too. Do you know what I mean? Reading, listening, even praying in a kind of auto pilot sort of way? I can do life without absorbing the beauty around me.

This morning the Lord ever so sweetly turned my attention to Him. I was driving in my old familiar route doing errands and I kept noticing the sunrise. It was amazing with its pinks and purples. When I got back in my car to head home, the same way I always go, I kept getting this urge to look at the sky. As I was driving, I had this moment to choose to go home the same old way, or to go a different way and enjoy the sunrise. In a split second I chose the new way. When I pulled onto the interstate, the sun came up as a vibrant orange red ball on the horizon.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. Like out of body, awestruck, don’t know how to process this much beauty, kind of beautiful.

As I was soaking in the wonder, I heard, “Always follow the beauty of the Son.”

My prayer for you today is that God will show you the new choices you can make. And I pray that you will have the faith, courage, and desire to take new paths that will enable you to see the beauty of the Son. Amen.

Driving Blind By Faith

/ Jana / 1 Comment

It was one of those moments when the Supernatural overshadowed the natural. I was taking the girls to school just like any other of hundred trips down the same road. But this morning, the familiar road was completely clouded by fog. As we came down to the intersection, you could barely make out the traffic light. Instead of being able to see the rise of the the next hill with its traffic lights, cars, trees and buildings, instead of being able to see like we did every time, there was only a wall of fog.

You literally could not see more than fifty feet in front of you. I thought to myself, “Am I really going to drive blind?”  Then came the Supernatural moment. 

“We live by faith and not by sight.”

And we drove on, straight into the wall of fog. 

Why did we do that? Because we had some sense of what was ahead? Maybe.
Because it was rote and routine? Maybe.

But really it was because we knew where we were going. We had Faith that somehow, some way, we were going to make it where we were going. Even though we couldn’t see all the details, we knew we would get there. As we kept going, the road continued to clear before us, little by little.

If you can do this in the natural, how much more power do you have to do this in the Supernatural? Because in Christ, you not only know Where you are going, but also you know Who is with you. Don’t be afraid to Faith God just like you faith those roads in the fog.

Keep driving, and let Him bring revelation in the middle of mist. He knows where you are going and He will get you there.

Discipline Equals Love

/ Jana / 1 Comment

If you had a tough or misguided childhood, then you no doubt have a tough or misguided notion about God and His Discipline.

In fact for many, punishment and discipline seem the same. But this is a gross misunderstanding. Punishment is payment for crimes. But discipline, in its truest form, is the actions and training that enable the very best to be revealed.

You have already witnessed this in the natural.

We watch the Olympics, or World Cup, or listen to symphonies, and we marvel at the fruit of such discipline. The hours of strain and purposeful training crescendo into a beautiful expression of precision and refined vision. It is a revelation of skill or talent that has been “disciplined” to the degree of awe and honor.

Now put that into the spiritual realm.  No one sees the beauty within us like God does. And no one is more committed to our “revelation” than He is. So He will purposefully train and strain us so that our skills, talents, lives, and hearts are a beautiful expression of Him. He has no greater goal.

My friend Kristen loves to say, “He can only give you love.” And discipline, causing your best to be revealed, is part of His loving nature.  He can only give us love.  Discipline is a part of that affection.

Let yourself be trained by the Master. We need your masterpiece to be revealed.

Delight in Us

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Have you ever noticed that when you love someone, you also love to surprise, delight and “bless” them?  By bless, I mean to bring joy or make happy, to bestow gladness of heart.  It’s fun for them and that makes it fun for you.

So when God says all throughout the Bible that He loves us and delights in us, it means that HE gets pleasure out of making us happy, bringing us joy, bestowing gladness upon our hearts. He wins, we win. I love the way God does math.

Yesterday I was reflecting on the word “delight” which is what He gave me at the beach. And within one hour I received three random God stories to give evidence of His delight. Three different women, one loving God.

One woman was having a hard day and just shot up an arrow prayer. “I just asked Jesus for a kiss,” said my friend. She got this a few minutes later.

And her response?  “Oh how I love Him!”  Blessing bring devotion. Delight makes happy the heart, especially His delight poured into our hearts.

My other friend had been stressing about a party she was giving. She was relating to the Lord her concern about the cost of the gifts, favors, and the restaurant. And what did she get in her email inbox ten minutes later?  A coupon that would drop her meal cost by 50%.  Wow. She was thrilled at His provision for a place she had reserved weeks ago. “He’s so intimately acquainted, so sweet!” was her delighted response.

My third story is about a friend who “went looking for God” and thought she came home empty-handed with just a shell and few photos.  “I was a little disappointed” she told me on the phone when I asked about her date weekend with Lord.  But then the pieces started coming together. Here it is in her words:

“I have been thinking about this shell and talking to HIM about its meaning and I’m just undone.  I had asked, “How do you see me”?

He said, “Most people see a closed heart with barnacle scars. But I see a huge heart and beautiful colors just waiting to be revealed.”

I asked HIM to show me He loved me and He gave me this heart- this broken heart.  HE reassured me that HE knows my heart is broken.  HE knows I feel rejected, unworthy, alone and forgotten.  He revealed His beauty to me, kissed my cheek and reminded me of all the wonderful work HE is doing inside my clamped shut, sand-filled, barnacled scarred heart.
He is so good and I am undone.”

Delight is a two way street.  There is both a giver and receiver. And both hearts are made glad by the connection. Delight yourself in Him for He greatly delights in you. Selah.

He Loves to Talk

/ Jana / 2 Comments

I got to run away to the beach for a day and a half. Yes, it was worth it the drive time because that provided great talk time in the car with Chuck.  No, we didn’t take the kids, thus the talk time. Smile.

I went there to hear from God, to catch my breath. I went there to recharge and to get a fresh deposit. I needed my Spirit tank refilled. And boy did He ever fill my tank.  On top of my own, I have three powerhouse God stories that I got today from others. The bottom line for their stories and mine? We love the God who speaks and He lives. He speaks anywhere,  all the time, in the craziest of ways.

Here are the billboards that God drew my attention to on the way to and from the beach. Little did I know that with the first “that’s odd” sign I saw that He was continuing  a conversation. He was pleased to answer my prayers about “Lord, how do I trust You more?”

His instruction to me:

Rest and Relax

What He said about Himself:

Tree of Life
Strong, Stable, Proven
Inspire to love is what I do
(Red) Cross equals Hope
Makes for a new way of thinking
How Beautiful!
Victorious

What He said about me:

Got Faith?  (With a picture of water turned to wine)
Be passionate.
Keeping kids on course.
Be Great.

This did something deep in my spirit. He is all these things and more. And He calls me all these things and more in Christ. And to top it off…there was a heart in the center of my slice of onion at our last restarant. How is that for a punch line!  He’s crazy about us. Look for Him. Ask Him. Listen for Him. Believe that Small Still Voice when it says to  “Look here.”  Tomorrow I will tell about the God stories I got today!!

Letting God Reveal What’s Real

/ Jana / 2 Comments

My daughter, Salem, was writing a letter to a friend and I was so struck personally by the story and the parallel to all our lives, I thought I would share it.

“I was reading The Edge Chronicles: Midnight over Sanctaphrax in school, and one of the characters so reminded me of you. She’s the ship’s stone pilot, and she always wears this hood so you can’t see anything of her face. Nobody knows who she really is or what she is capable of.  One day, she gets hurt, and the captain has to take off her hood and her coat to heal her. Under that hood and concealment, she’s actually really beautiful.

That reminded me of you because you hid what you were made to be and concealed what God had made you to be.

Underneath, there was someone so incredibly_________. Let Him fill in the blank.

The reason the character wore the hood was because she didn’t live up to what people wanted her to be, and she was ashamed of who she really was. She thought she wasn’t enough. She was wrong. Even though you don’t think you’ve pleased everyone and you think you’re not enough, you come in first place in His eyes. And He sees everything the way it is. He sees His most prized creation being unmasked to bring out the Him in you. He sees someone who’s gonna do great things. He sees someone who he’s gonna change and reveal new things to.

I think God loves His job. Getting to show you (and me) new things we could never have imagined. I’m glad that mask of shame got taken off.”

Thank You, Lord that You love Your job of revealing the Real You inside the Real us. Take off our hoods of shame and “not enough”. Fill in our blanks. We are all incredible in Your sight. Amen

The Missing Moral Compass

/ Jana / Leave a comment

The “sources” keep making this a gay thing. But I’m not sure it is.

USA Today, Ellen and other mainline media are recounting the story of a college freshman whose roommate secretly filmed his sex with a man and then posted it onYoutube. Once the freshman realized his conduct had been captured and released online, he committed suicide.  However, the tragic death of the Rutgers student is less about gay rights and more about our moral decay as a country.

You see we’ve told successive generations that porn is okay, that life is best seen via inernet, that private actions overrule public impact, that life has no intrinsic value. Then we call foul play when it is politically advantageous. Really?  How do we issue a rally cry for goodness and decency when we have no true compass for either?  Why do the promoters of the homosexual agenda get to corner the market on love, acceptance, or even dismay at human cruelty?  Does shame really have sexual preferences? Or is it, biblically, the result of sinful choices?

If it had been a girl/guy being video taped, we would have called it entertainment or porn. 
If she had killed herself we would be talking about about the exploitation of the internet for sure, but would Hollywood hawkers rally all manner of comments about the abuse of women? I doubt it.

And one very, very sticky point is: two wrongs don’t make a right.

What those students did was wrong .
But that young man chose to kill himself. He chose it. No one threw him. He jumped.

Do you see how we are trying to untangle this web of who is right and who is wrong and it’s all knotted up? Homosexuality is wrong. Heterosexuality outside of marriage is wrong. They both bear hurtful consequences. Invasion of privacy is wrong. And yet when we do in private what is wrong, unhealthy, even evil, it greatly affects our condition as a whole group of people.  Pornography is wrong. The conscience of this generation is seared when it comes to the degradation and perverted nature of pornography. Taking a life is wrong. Whether I take your life or my life, it’s just wrong.

We are each a part of a bigger whole that God sees.  He sees us all and loves us all completely. But that doesn’t mean He calls wrong things right. Be careful how you sort and sift the word storm of the day.  Talk show hosts and news casters are not necessarily using the Bible as the compass. Be sure that Jesus is.

We want to walk as He walks, in grace and truth. So bring this from “out there” to “right here.”  How are you dissecting the doctrine that is being shoved down our throats?  In your own life, is your compass aligned with God’s?  Do you call evil good?  Do you embrace, excuse  or ignore those things that God hates and warns us about? 

This needless death is not about homosexual rights. It is about our desperate, desperate need for a Savior and His ever calling voice of mercy.  Listen to Him.

What’s Your “Fatitude”?

/ Jana / 3 Comments

You know racism. You know bigotry. You know prejudice, hate crimes, and crimes against humanity. But do you consider the silent judgments based on weight? 

I call it “fat-itude.” We get this attitude about people, without ever exchanging one word, and decide their worth and value based on their outer shell. We assess them, we assess us, here is the outcome: You lose or they lose. But somebody always loses.

We have all done it, felt it, hurt or been hurt by it. One of my friends lately related how friends are unkind to her because she is too skinny. My other friend told me about the criticism, cruelty and harshness of relatives all through her childhood because of her size.  They even went so far as to say she would ‘never get a good job if she was fat.’

Really? I mean, really? Her waistline dictates her I.Q.?

Here is a real cultural twist. When I was in Zimbabwe, their “scales” are completely opposite. If you are too thin, it means you are starving. Literally. Not thin like what we call thin in the U.S. because they call that kind of thin “refugee camps.” They don’t call that desirable or beautiful.  They pity people who are that size. Hear that Hollywood? Over there, if you are plump or padded, then you and your family are successful; they have enough money to feed you well.

I have been working with women intensely since 2007. I worked with teens 15 years before that.  The number one issue is value based on size and beauty. We all nod our heads, and yawn, and say, “Yeah, we’ve heard that.” However, I am taking it one step further.

I am seeing the shocking rise of contempt and disgust of overweight people.  We are actually discounting and disregarding people based on the size of their jeans.  Is being excessively overweight  one of the biggest killers of our day? Yes, it is. Is being overweight simply a matter of lack of self control? Not necessarily. You know the work that is required for physical health and that is if all the systems are working well. Throw in an illness, injury, pregnancy, depression, addiction, and you have all manner of chaos that shows up in the body. And when we look at a person, we have no idea what is actually happening inside that person’s life. We assume to know the heart of a person based on the size of a person. And I tell you I know many, many women, who look good, but their hearts are sick, sick, sick.

Here’s my bottom line. God says to guard your heart. He said all the issues of life flow out of what you think in your heart. Ask the Lord to show you where you are NOT guarding your heart. Restoring these unguarded places  may help to increase your overall health, which is the goal. Not size. Health. But also, ask the Lord to reveal your “fatitude.” Confess it. Call it what it is, sin. Whether it is about yourself or others, when you judge others according to size, you do not value what God values.  Regardless of size, God loves us and calls us to do the same. Our judgements of others only isolate us.

Ask God to heal your heart, and your will find true health, inside and out.

 

20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
       listen closely to my words.
 21 Do not let them out of your sight,
       keep them within your heart;
 22 for they are life to those who find them
       and health to a man’s whole body.
 23 Above all else, guard your heart,
       for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:20-23

He’s So Funny

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Guess what I’ve been working on this morning? New songs for the new worship CD:  Real.Life.

And I wanted to share a funny God moment. I have iTunes playing randomly in the background, different songs, different artists. As I was refining the lyrics, I hear a familiar hiss telling me my songs are garbage. “Why bother?” he sneered.

I was writing on a song about trusting the Lord so I just kept plugging along despite the lie that was like an incessant dripping in my head. And lo and behold, guess what songs came on next?  The songs from my last CD!

“Oh yeah? He thought those would never work either!”  I heard my singing God say. I rejoiced in my spirit. Liar, liar devil on fire!!

Press in to the dreams and the goals of your heart. As Graham Cooke says, “You can’t have a desire that is not mirrored and matched by His desire. Because that where it started.”

Seek to be where He is first and foremost. He is our life.