by Amy Spear | Jul 11, 2018
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps” (Prov. 16:9).
How many times have I made plans in my life only to see them swept away as quick as an Oklahoma tornado, slamming the cellar door shut? Have you heard the saying, “We make plans and the Lord laughs”?
Sometimes, it is true. Our plans are not the Lord’s, and He has to come along and redirect the way we are going. Sometimes abruptly, in my case!
I want to live in such a way that I welcome God’s interruptions. That I trust Him fully, knowing He has better plans for my life than I could ever imagine. He sees the broader picture of how our lives play out and what is best for each of us.
But what happens when “our plans” get bumped?
Do we welcome God’s breeze to blow us in a new direction?
People who embrace God’s interruptions do not get upset when those interruptions happen. They can change with the wind; they are free to enjoy the process and not just the end result, and they have a joy in their step even when things aren’t going their way.
I want to live like that! I want to live fully trusting in God even when my life has taken me down a road I didn’t plan to travel.
The word “establishes” in Prov. 16:9 means, “Determined, provides, prepares, sets in place, directs, to be ready, to arrange.”
When our heart’s plan is in sync with what the Lord’s will is, He prepares everything beforehand, so the “plan” we have determined is accomplished. Before the end is established, the result was set in place by the hand of God!
Think about that for a moment.
You have hopes and dreams, goals, longings, ministries, plans. If the Lord’s will is for those to come into fruition, it’s as good as DONE! God will direct your steps and show you the way. It is His will. He placed the longing in your heart in the first place. Ultimately, it is His dream and His goals for your life! And if it is from Him, nothing can stop it from being accomplished!
We can rest and trust in Him to accomplish that which He has directed us to do.
Go ahead, make your plans. God has given each of us hopes, dreams, plans and desires, but don’t get tossed in the wind and blown away when He comes along and changes your plans!
by Emily Howsden | Jun 25, 2018
This is something that always seems to be on my mind: the notion that good things take time.
Rarely do I remember or even recommend a meal that took less than five minutes to prepare. More often than not, you’ll appreciate something you purchased after saving money for a long period of time. It takes a lifetime of preparation for athletes to reach the Olympic stage. Graduating from high school alone takes 13 years, sometimes longer. All of these things take time.
On a much smaller stage, there is one thing, however, that I experience wishing I would have planned better year-after-year. That thing is yard work at my home.
This may seem minor to some, but for two years now, we’ve owned our home, and for two years we’ve worked on our yard and take pride in its appearance. Every year we decide to plant fescue, or shade grass, under a tree in the backyard where grass refuses to grow. And so far, each year we seem to wait too long to get the seed planted to where it will have adequate time to grow.
Each year, I look in the backyard and wish it weren’t muddy or dirty under that tree. I want lush, green grass. The old saying “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail” has never rang so true.
It would be great if the grass would just pop up on its own, but with the lack of sunshine the area receives, it’s not a good environment to grow grass naturally like the rest of the backyard does.
This is often how we as Christians look at our relationship with Christ. We cry out in pain when we feel like He’s not hearing us; we complain when His words are hard to discern from the ways of the world. We get angry with God if we’re going through a trial, but have we planted the seed? Or, are we merely looking at the same dirt spot in our spiritual lives and simply wishing grass would grow in that shaded area of our lives?
One would think this goes without saying, but you have to put in the work in order to reap the benefits of your work. However the issue with our backyard and why it keeps the same dirt-filled spot, is because we neglect to give that dirt-filled spot the attention it needs.
It’s not like we have planted seed there year-after-year and have come up short. We did plant seed the first year, then go on vacation for a week, and it died. Since then, the need to plant the seed falls by the wayside in the busyness of our lives until it’s past the point of no return, and we hope to do better next year.
We as Christians do the same with our walk with Christ. I include myself in this statement. When things are going well, the grass is green, and there’s not a dirt patch in site, it can be easy to neglect putting in the hard work in of chasing after God daily.
This is when things start to wither and die, and before we know it, we have a dirt patch in our lives. The life of a Christ follower is not an easy one, or one without its struggles or work put in. This is something you should know by now if you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time.
Yet, we would do ourselves a huge favor if in the times of prosperous, green grass, if we put in the work and toil the soil preparing for the days that the devil tests our faith and rocks our world.
I write this blog this week as much to myself as I do to you, brother or sister in Christ. We should never quit striving to follow hard after our Lord and Savior, doing all we can to follow his straight, but narrow path.
Put in the work now, and later when life’s trials come, we can lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23:2) and rest knowing that He is our Shephard, and we shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
What have you done this week to prepare for the time when the grass withers and your faith is tested?
by Caleb Moore | Jun 13, 2018
A young boy sat in front of a man he believed to be God’s greatest representative on earth. He is visibly nervous as he approaches Pope Francis to ask him a sincere and heartfelt question.
The Pope embraces the boy like a grandfather with a gentle and welcoming presence. This touching moment has been making the rounds on social media, and it’s easy to see why. The young boy asks a question that many of us have wondered about. His dad had died and was an atheist, so the boy wants to know if his dad will be in heaven.
This would be a difficult question for anyone to answer, not because it’s a hard theological question but because it is so deeply personal. After Pope Francis says a few words that seem to be ambiguous but hopeful, he then makes some statements that deserve some consideration.
Pope Francis turns to the crowd and asks, “… with a dad who was not a believer, but who baptized his children and gave them that bravura, do you think God would be able to leave him far from himself?” Those in attendance shouted a resounding “no!” He continues to ask, “Does God abandon His children?” Does God abandon His children when they are good?” Once again they all shouted, “No!”
Several times in answering the boy’s question, the Pope talks about how good the father’s boy must have been because he had his children baptized and because the boy was strong enough to ask such a tough question. At the end, he seems to suggest that God doesn’t abandon His good children. Most people have understood his words to mean that good people go to heaven.
In moments like this, we should always be compassionate, but we should also tell the truth. So the question is, did the Pope tell the little boy the truth? I have read in other interviews and letters written by the Pope where he suggest that as long as people are good, God will not abandon them, which sounds like the way things should work.
I mean, it seems like common sense. Good people go to heaven, and bad people don’t, and if the little boy’s dad was good then he has nothing to worry about.
After all, this is the way we want our world to work – good people get rewarded, and bad people get punished. And for many, this sounds like good news, but may I suggest that it is, in fact, the opposite. The good news that Jesus offers isn’t that being a good person gets you into heaven. What He tells us is that nobody is good, but if we believe in Him we have everlasting life.
The reason I would suggest that what the Pope said is not good news is because it is work based. Almost every faith is work based, which means if we do certain things then we get to go to heaven.
Christianity is unique because it is not based on any work that we can do; it is based upon the work that was done for us.
I think the reason the Popes response strikes a chord with so many is because we all see ourselves fundamentally as good people. Many of us have also lost people who were not believers but were people we would consider morally good.
The question that always comes to my mind when I hear such statements though is, how good does a person have to be?
To the boy who asked the question the Pope mentions that he must have been good because his father had his children baptized. Does this mean if you don’t baptize your children you are not good? If only good people get to heaven then who decides what is good, and is the line clearly drawn between bad and good, so that we can know for certain that we will be saved?
I, for one, think I’m a good person, but I am also aware that I have done and will do bad things. I’m not perfect which means I’m not always good. If I am honest with myself, sometimes I think really bad things about myself and others, and in those moments, would I still be a good person?
For Muslims, there is this invisible scale, and as long as your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you go to heaven. The problem is you never know where you fall on those scales. You can never know if you have been good enough. This is the problem with any work-based faith; nobody knows what good enough looks like which means there is no security for the believer.
Consider what Paul says in Eph. 2:8-9:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
This means that we are not save by our good works, but we are saved even when we are bad people, so that we can do good works. This is the real good news. As Jesus was dying on the cross, there was a criminal being crucified right next to him. It’s safe to assume he had not been a good person because such a death was reserved only for the worst criminals.
Right before he died he realized who Jesus was and believed in him. Jesus then tells him that “today you will be with me in paradise.” This incredible statement shows us that even though this man who had been bad his whole could still be saved.
If we are saved by our works, Jesus would not have been able to say that to him. If being good saves us, then it would have been too late for that criminal on the cross. The good news is that Jesus saves bad people, of which I am one. By His grace, my sins have been paid for, and I can know for certain that I will be with him when I die.
by Aaron Hanzel | Jun 12, 2018
I was going for the save! The volleyball was descending toward the sideline and it looked like it was just barely going to stay in bounds. I had to go for it. So, I planted my left foot, dug deep into the sand with my right and stretched as far I could. As soon as I pushed off my completely-buried right foot, a sharp-burning pain struck my right calf. I thought it was just a really bad cramp, so I tried stretching out. The following 20-30 minutes I spent sitting on the sidelines trying not to pass out.
A week later, I found out that I tore my calf in two places and I spent three weeks after that keeping it elevated, iced and doing a whole lot of nothing but rest. A strange thing happened as I rested. As I was forced to be alone, the Lord began to speak to me in two very specific ways: a praise and a petition.
The petition for Him that He revealed was that my discipline, in general, was extremely lacking. My quiet time had dwindled; Scripture memorization was non-existent; diet and workout had slowed to a crawl; my lust had heightened; my financial giving was reduced; and my desire for “me time” was my daily task. If you’re familiar with my testimony, you’d understand the gravity of these tragedies. A little more than two years ago, God glorified Himself in my life and crafted a wonderful re-birth of my entire being. I wrote a blog about it, titled “Looking over my shoulder,” that everyone should read and see the faithfulness of God and the glory of His grace. So, how could this be? I believe it boils down to two reasons.
The first reason: after experiencing God in a new way, I forgot that I’m not in heaven yet. The presence of Christ is such a glorious and purposeful thing, it is easy to push aside anything that’s not Him. Not easy in the sense that it is effortless, but that the comfort of His glory is the only place you want to be.
That sense of warmth and comfort became confidence, and much like Paul describes in Rom. 7:11 (“For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”), my sin gave me the confidence that I didn’t need to do anything else. That righteous redemption on this earth would lead to discipline on its own without prayer, without Scripture, without time management, without the battle over sin. Which it would, if I were in a place without sin: heaven.
The second reason for my lack of discipline is the obsession with something better. I’ve obsessed over a career in filmmaking. I’ve obsessed over a meaningful relationship. I’ve obsessed over a restful state of mind. All are designed to be ways to glorify God, when pursued and not obsessed.
Discipline is my petition. My praise is quite simple but very profound. I praise God for the ability to move. To be able to stand up, sit up, walk across the room, stand in the shower, to cook in the kitchen, to go to the grocery store, to kneel in prayer, to help people move to a new home, to workout at the gym. I didn’t realize my physical dependence on movement and all the emotions that tie to it. There’s something emotionally indescribable about the value in movement. The freedom to get up and go somewhere, anywhere, is uplifting. Having to sit and not move has given me a greater understanding of anyone that is physically disabled.
It seems like our whole lives are built up of prayers and petitions. I am grateful to the Lord for continuing to heal my leg and to open my eyes to the desires of my heart in the process.
by Hannah Hanzel | Jun 6, 2018
In a culture of slamming doors, broken homes, social media rants, self-harm and so much more, how can you shape the teen girls in your life for the betterment of God’s Kingdom? Where do you start? What do you say? Will they listen?
After almost 10 years in girls’ ministry, five years in women’s ministry, and almost 23 years’ experience as a girl on this earth, I desire to share with you three things that were spoken into me as a teen girl. These three things shaped my life.
You’re beautiful because God says you’re beautiful. “You’re covered with the fingerprints of God,” were the words blaring from my mom’s big blue Suburban as we trucked to church. My mom’s voice rivaled Steven Curtis Chapman on full volume. It seemed every stop sign we pulled up to was merely an opportunity for my mom to face me, pat my leg and emphasize the chorus. Depending on the day, I would either respond with dancing and singing along or rolling my eyes and turning back to whatever I was doing before her mini concert.
Believe it or not, all four minutes and three seconds of that song left a deep impression on my heart. What made the words more impactful is that someone who knew me so thoroughly and deeply like my mama was singing them to me. My fragile teen heart was nourished at the sound of the lyrics, “You’re a wonder in the making, and God’s not through.” Those words nourish this fragile young adult heart as well.
Tell your teen daughter today that she’s beautiful because God said she is beautiful (Psalm 139:14). Not only is this a simple truth, but it tills the ground for deeper theology later in life. At age 16, I didn’t have ears to hear how ugly my sin made me, or that I was only a contributor to the evilness in humanity (Mark 7:21-23). That message would come later and at just the right time when I already had a firm confidence in God’s view of me. Don’t hear me wrong – always talk about sin and redemption and Christ’s sacrifice. But you must know your audience.
To the 15-year-old girl who was told by a mean-spirited girl how ugly she is; to the 13-year-old girl who sees sex symbol after sex symbol on TV and social media; and to the 18-year-old girl prepping for college life, they all need to be told they are beautiful because of God.
The last part of that phrase is crucial. You must not leave it off. Any parent can tell their daughter they’re beautiful. The girl may even hear it from boyfriends, classmates and social media. It takes a truly godly parent to say she is beautiful because God says she is beautiful. This truth she will not depart from (Prov. 22:6).
You’re meant to pursue the knowledge of God’s Word. From Sunday school sword drills to Kay Arthur’s in-depth studies for children, I was learning, and later starving for, God’s pure and Holy Word. My parents always drove me back to Scripture.
When I was mad, my mom would say, “What does the Bible say about that?” (Eph. 4:26). When I was discouraged my dad would say, “What does the Bible say about that?” (Psalm 43:5). You may think it is counted as forcing the Bible on someone, but beyond my eye rolls and pouting and angrily swooshing through my little Bible’s pages, I found hope.
My parents knew they may not have the answers. They knew they had no idea what was going on in my changing and curious little mind. But I praise God that they knew Who to turn me to for answers.
Again, don’t miss what you are doing here as parents. You’re tilling the ground for deeper theology yet again. Your 14-year-old may not get so hungry for God’s Word that she puts that phone down for an hour-long reading session, but she just might when she’s alone at college. Your 17-year-old may get so sick of you quoting Scripture to her that she can’t help but commit them to memory and recall them when she needs those verses most.
Is she feeling sad? Look at scripture. Is she feeling excited? Look at scripture. Is she feeling anxious, scared, lonely, hopeful, thankful, or joyful? Look at scripture.
Our purpose as believers is to glorify God (Isa. 43:1-7). We glorify God by knowing His Word (Psalm 119:9-16). By knowing His Word, we are equipped to serve and know Him personally (Psalm 119:105). The best gift you can give your daughter is not a smart phone, a later curfew, a newer purse, a trip to New York or anything of this world. The best gift you can give your daughter is a sold out, dependent hunger for Holy Scripture for her to take into a malnourished world.
You are meant to sacrifice. I heard someone tell their daughter once that she was like a star. Unique, special and flawless. My parents never told me that, and here’s why I’m grateful they never did. My parents never said it in word, but in how they lived their lives, they told me I was the moon. I was not meant to emit my own light, enjoy my own glory and revel in my own beauty like a star. But I am meant to reflect the sun just as the moon does.
I was to reflect God’s light, God’s glory and God’s beauty. Tell your daughter she’s beautiful because of God (like my first point states), but leaving it at that only creates a world full of Kim Kardashians and drama queens eager to steal the spotlight to build up their paper-thin identities. You must go further.
My parents lived out their faith in front of me. My dad exhibited Acts 2:45 through sacrificing money, time and worldly possessions that others might see Christ in him and glorify the Lord God. My mom was a walking and talking example of Psalm 119:11, with Scripture pouring from her lips that the world may be encouraged and drawn to her Savior. My parents understood that once they accepted the Lord, their lives were no longer their own (2 Cor. 5:15).
Their sacrificial living and teaching not only taught me how to be a godly young woman, but they also showed me that God is glorified in holy sacrifice.
Whatever age your daughter, granddaughter, sister or niece are, I promise, these three points will change their life. At least, it did mine. Be consistent, honest and prayerful as you speak these truths into the teen girl in your life.
by Angela Sanders | May 29, 2018
One of the best, but most difficult things I’ve ever done as a parent and as a teacher was to have my daughter as a student in my public school classroom.
“Best” because the unusual arrangement gave me an opportunity to view my daughter through fresh eyes and understand her world a little better. “Most difficult” because I had to learn how to separate being a mother to my daughter from being a missionary and minister to those who inhabited her world. Those who were kind to her and those who weren’t, those she got along with and those she didn’t, they were ALL my district and God-given responsibility.
Over the course of those two precious years, I learned much about seeing people like Jesus sees them, giving God room to do what only He can, and loving people even when you don’t particularly like them.
Ready? It’s confession time.
- Seeing people like Jesus sees them.
Until my daughter became my student, I tended to see those with whom she interacted through her eyes, not God’s. Her sense of well-being my first priority, I accepted her character assessments of people and her side of most stories without question, feeling her hurt and adopting her disappointment as my own. I forgot her perspective was limited. I forgot she could be wrong.
I didn’t realize it at the time, and if you’d confronted me about it, I probably would have argued with you or told you it was just part of being a mom. It is, I guess, but it’s a part moms must learn to control if we want to be effective ambassadors for Christ.
Our children are important, but they are our charges, not our gods. If we claim to be followers of Christ, we have to make His first priority, public recognition of God’s divine perfection (John 17:4), our own. As God’s sending His son to die on the cross for a traitor race so they might be forgiven and adopted as His children is the greatest display of that divine perfection, we must learn to live our lives in a way that highlights that miracle. The first step is to see the spiritual need in those around us and allow ourselves to be viscerally moved by it as Jesus was (Matt. 9:36), wanting for them what we ourselves have received from God. Redemption. New life. Freedom.
How did I come around to this perspective? Easy. People surprised me. As my daughter’s teacher, I had the chance to interact with people I’d only heard of or watched from afar. Supposedly cold, prideful, and mean people did kind things in my presence, and supposedly kind people did cold, prideful, and mean things.
Humanity became a lukewarm mess before my very eyes, and I was able to zoom out far enough to see for myself what the Bible says is true. Although we ALL have admirable qualities, being made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), we have also ALL fallen short of His glory, or divine perfection (Rom. 3:23). We are ALL harassed by our sin, helpless to save or change ourselves. We are ALL in desperate need of a Savior.
Once I not only knew, but saw this for myself, I began to process people’s words, attitudes, and actions differently. They seemed less personal, somehow. I realized just as victims of whooping cough can’t help coughing, people infected by sin can’t help sinning. It’s as simple as that. Instead of blaming and judging, I started to feel sorry for people when the symptoms of their condition showed, even when those symptoms made life more difficult for me and/or my daughter, and I tried to help her adopt the same perspective while allowing her to have her own feelings, offering comfort, and stepping in when needed (more on that in Part 3).
The result? My heart opened toward those I didn’t even realize I’d locked out, and my evangelistic efforts became more wide-spread and intentional.
Once I quit subconsciously reinforcing her fears, misconceptions, and survivalist behavior, my daughter began to take the words and actions of others a little less personally and to forgive much more quickly, even if she did remain—understandably so—a little skeptical of others.
To be continued…