Slowing Down for the Summer

A major storm blew in upon the little house. The rain pelted. Tornadoes touched down. The little house was nearly destroyed, with the exception of the foundation – firm, unmovable, indestructible.

To restore was a big job; some would say (did say), insurmountable. Slowly but surely, with help and prayer, debris was hauled away, plans were made, the walls were slowly erected, the roof set on top, the electricity strung from room to room, and the plumbing piped throughout. Doors were placed to keep the unwanted out and what was inside safe. Windows were placed for light and for joy.

The final touches were yet to be made. To make it a home, it would need to be redecorated. The little house needed color, furniture, fabric, and photos. New colors. New furniture, placed in new places, for the family who lived in the house to enjoy. It would take time, a new kind of time. The big things were built, the little things now needed to be worked on. Without them, it was just a building, with them, it would be a home.

So it is for my family right now. There are times when I can unmistakably feel the hands of God upon my shoulders directing me and saying, “Do this, now, dear one. This is what I want from you.” And I know better than to ignore Him or refuse Him, for I know He loves me and my family and Has a future for us. This is clearly one of those times, and I have heard Him say, “Slow down for the summer, Andrea. Slow down.”

For the past copule of years, we have been in a major reconstruction project. Nearly all that was left after the storm of our trial that hit our family was the firm foundation of our faith in the Lord Jesus – the firm, unmovable, indestructible One who is our all in all. He helped us rebuild, wall by wall, strut by strut, wire by wire, pipe by pipe. He helped us to place doors to keep the unwanted out, and to help protect that which is indoors. He helped us hang windows, to allow more of His light in and to bring us joy when we looked out.

Now, is the time to redecorate -- time to add new color and details to our family. It’s been called, “creating a new normal,” and it is done together, over time. It is making new memories. Having new traditions. Sowing new seeds. Cherishing. Investing. Hugging. Being available. Celebrating. Sharing. Looking at each other through fresh eyes.

Why am I sharing all of this with you? Well, part of my slowing down, will be writing less on my blog this summer. It is a bit sad for me. The blog has been a place of healing for me and a place of encouragement from the Lord and from my readers. Thank you for that. I love to write. It brings me joy. It makes my heart full to share God’s truths through daily experiences to encourage and to strengthen. Slowing down for me is hard, but I know it is what I need to do, for right now. I hope to write about once a week, but we’ll see how God leads. Maybe sometimes a bit more, maybe a bit less. Please check back once in awhile. Let me know how you are doing. Let me know if I can pray for you.

My children will wake up soon this morning, and the next time I look, they will be grown up and gone from this house. That’s natural. I understand that, but for now I want to pour into their lives and decorate our new family together. It’s the little things that make a home special, and it is the little things that make relationships special, too.

Little things, that’s what I hope to do this summer with my family. Play basketball. Watch movies. Laugh. Talk in the car from here to there and everywhere. Go to a Christian music concert. Make a campfire. Eat lots of s’mores. Cheer at a MLB baseball game. Take family bike rides. Go for a run. Snuggle. Talk like the dog. (It’s a silly thing I do that makes the kids laugh). Play games. Swim, swim, and swim some more. Take road trips. Read. Take naps. Teach one of the little girls how to sew. Play “store” with another. Hang out with my teenage daughter, doing whatever is important to her. Plant seeds and watch them grow. Be available by just being present. Play games with my oldest son. Sit in my back yard and watch my youngest son hit baseball, after baseball after baseball in to the woods. Look for God together. Thank God together. Celebrate each other. Slow down, create – redecorate -- and enjoy each other in our “new normal.”

"Someday, My Prince will come ...."

The image of a sweet, innocent, trusting, yearning little girl inside each one of us is close to the surface of my heart this week. We may see her in a picture or in children around us, but maybe even stronger, we feel her deep down inside.

She is very real, isn’t she? Memory is an amazing thing. In remembering, we can conjure up images of events that have happened to us, joys or sorrows or hurts, as well as dreams that have faded. Our past affects our present; we can’t help it, it just does.

And in the brokenness and grief deep down inside most of us, our little girl hearts cry out, “Someday my prince will come …“ and we hope and so desperately want to believe that our knight in shining armor will rescue us and brings us security and joy.

And the good news is – He has.

Jesus came to rescue you from your sin and heartache in your life. When He looks at you, He thinks you are beautiful – because you are. He thinks that you have value– because you do. He thinks that you are worth fighting for – and He did. And He loves you very much.

He loves you whether you are:

· Young or old

· Tall or short

· Gray haired, brown haired, blonde haired or red haired.

He loves you regardless of:

· The color of your eyes

· The size of your dress

· Your shoe size

· What you do for a living or how many “talents” you possess

· How many children you have or the fact that you do not have any

He loves you if:

· You are married, divorced, single or widowed

· You live in a house, an apartment or a car

· You have failed and made bad choices in big ways and in little

· You have scars on your face – or scars on your heart

I need to remember this more days than not. Maybe you do, too.

A Redemptive Story of Shame (Part 2)

The small statue arrived in a card board box, surrounded by a soft coating of bubble-wrap and protected by layers of Styrofoam popcorn. She is special - a treasured possession. The figure is bronze in coloring and in the shape of a woman, curled up in a ball, arms wrapped tightly around her knee with her head cast down.

The feel of a card board box was familiar to her. The last time she was surrounded by cardboard, she was tossed in to a box with other rejected items, thrown together and delivered to a place that she did not know – a garage sale. She was unwanted, discarded and of no use to the previous owner. It appeared that she had no value other than what could be gleaned from the sale.

This time she arrived in a box marked “FRAGILE: Handle with Care,” for not only is she fragile and special, she is being used for a purpose.

Months ago, my friend and I spotted her on a table at the garage sale. Upon seeing her we sighed, “shame” and bought her immediately. We saw value in her -- we saw ourselves in her. She depicted shame, sorrow, pain and loneliness – a part of us that we learned (and were learning) to realize, embrace, and grow from. She is the “shape of shame” with a redemptive story. (For more about "shame," see "The Shape of Shame").

My friend placed the statue in her counseling office. One day, a client came to visit. The client noticed the statue and asked, “Where did you find that?” My friend explained the story of the statue -- the shape of shame -- and the client (a decorator) realized that she had discarded a treasure. At one time, she decorated the home of a family and they decided that the statue did not fit the “new” decor. It was – she was – discarded. This time when the client saw the statue, it had a new value to her as she began to realize her own story of shame and a desire grew in her to look at her own shame and be changed.

I sent for the statue one day. That is when she arrived in the box marked “FRAGILE.” I used it when speaking to hurting women, reminding them of the loving-kindness of Jesus, Who is the lifter of their heads – not the deliverer of shame. She sits on my desk, right now, as a reminder to me of the same truth.

Dear reader, perhaps you feel discarded today. Maybe your story is one of being cast out, not wanted rejected. It is a very lonely and vulnerable place to be, but take heart God is at work. You are special and He has a purpose. He does redemptive work in the lives of the ones He loves, and who love Him. He takes that which is painful and He brings life from it. We may struggle and wonder, “Could it be true?” Sometimes it is scary as we do not know what the result will look like. However, God is faithful and He desires to take those painful places in our lives, heal them and bring purpose out of them.

The statue, even though just a statue, is a reminder to me that God can and will take the lives of those who feel discarded, hurt and lonely, and deliver them, when they surrender their lives to His will and trust Him for all aspects of their lives. This statue is made by human hands, but we are formed by the Hands of God, and in continuing to hold us, He brings about change and beauty. We may not know exactly what it will look like, but we can trust that He is faithful.

Soon, I will place the little statue carefully into the cardboard box and send her back to my friend, but for now I am enjoying her presence as a reminder of the One Who delivers, redeems and loves unfailingly (Psalm 44:2).

A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

I walked along the edge of the lake in shin high water. My toes flexed in to the sand and left foot prints that soon melted and were gone. The water lapped along the shore with a rhythmic beat and the sun reflected little sprinkles of light across the waves. I wandered along thinking of what was transpiring in my life, what God was doing and what it meant to trust in Him. I was feeling tired and discouraged.

I noticed a small patch of reeds along the shore Some of the reeds appeared strong and reaching upward, swaying freely in the light breeze, but a few were bent over. They were still green and alive, but they were not upright. The patch of reeds was not present the year before; the water was too shallow, and the reeds did not grow unless they were firmly footed below the water. The verse from Isaiah 42:3 came to my mind. "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice" (NIV).

The bruised reed and smouldering wick represent those who are weary and in need of strength. The bruised reed symbolizes someone who has been damaged by something in its environment, and is feeling bent down and unable to carry the burdens. The smouldering wick symbolizes someone whose inner strength is diminishing, feeling as if they are lacking hope and resisting giving up.

In some sense, we are all bruised and smouldering. The effects of sin have taken their toll. We are all fragile and vulnerable to the world around us. Some of us can hide them better. We have become very good at it after years of having to do so. Sometimes, there is no hiding. It is open for all to see, and we may now have the added burden of shame weighing us down.

Dear reader, have you been bruised? Are you weak and burdened by the trials and pain of this world? Are you feeling damaged, like a reed who is still alive, but has been bent over by the winds and storms? Is your passion smouldering? Are you feeling like you are lacking hope? Are you discouraged, wounded, disappointed, dismayed, or afraid?

Choose Jesus. He will not break you, but restore you to a full life with Him. He will not allow your hope to be extinguished, but will fan in to flame your hope and allow it to burn brightly in a very dark world, where His light is so desperately needed to illuminate the way for others who are hurting. When your heart is set firm in the One who is the Living Water, you can believe that He will, one day, right all the wrongs and all will be well.

The hard part is that we do not always know what that will look like. We may have desires for one thing, but Jesus knows that it is another that is right for us. We must trust, though, that He holds all justice in His hands and knows just what He is doing.

Take heart, dear reader. You are cared for and loved by a powerful God, and yet, nothing escapes His tender care. Your brokenness and weariness matter to Him. Allow Him to lift your downcast face and turn it to Himself. Trust Him. He is faithful.

Be Strong in the Lord

I surprised myself the other day! I went to my boot camp, begrudgingly. It was testing day, and I do not like testing day. It is enough for me to get there, let alone to have to be tested!

We had three different skills to do. They were the same ones that we did last time. This time we would see if we improved. I grumbled under my breath, "I suppose I'll do worse this time." (I know, being pessimistic isn't healthy, but we all have our crabby days.) I got down in to the modified push-up position. The test was to do as many push-ups as one can until "fail," in other words, your muscles are shivering and shaking, and you can not push your body up off of the ground one more time. So, I went at it. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. Fifty-five. Fifty-seven. (I was determined to hit a round number). Sixty -- and that was it. Not only could I not get up, I couldn't even roll over. However, I was shocked. I did 30 more than I did one month ago!

I couldn't believe that I had made that much progress. Was I really getting stronger? Was all that work I was doing really more than misery and pain? I had been going, faithfully, to the boot camp three times a week for the past month, but each time I felt worn out. I was working on modifying my diet, as well, but I just couldn't believe it!

I think it is a parallel to our gaining strength in the Lord. There are times when we are going through some serious "resistance training." Not only are we having to work against alot of pain or sadness or suffering, but we are feeling like we want to resist having to do it. In the process, though, we learn that staying committed to the Lord is the key to our growing stronger in Him. We develop perseverance over time (unfortunately, it's the only way that perseverance can be developed) and this adds to our strength. We learn more about what to take in to our minds (the truth) and what to fight to leave out (the lies). We develop a focused faith that takes one day at a time.

1 Peter 5:10 says, "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

Strong, firm and steadfast. That is what I was feeling, physically after realizing that I had become stronger by being committed to coming to the workouts, eating well and working hard. I didn't give up, even though I wanted to, sometimes. Spiritually, it may be a bit different, but God gives us opportunities to grow stronger in Him as we stay committed to Him, watch what we take in to our minds and hearts and pursue a life of obedience to Him. Don't give up. It's not always easy to do the right thing, but blessings do come along the path.

Be strong in the Lord, dear reader. God uses our circumstances to strengthen us for the calling that He has for our lives. Trust in Him. Obey Him. Seek Him. You will grow stronger and stronger, and you may even surprise yourself one day.