Clarification

The “holes” I referred to in my last post are the holes where my wisdom teeth used to live until last Friday when they were surgically removed. Truth be told – everything went a lot better than I expected.

Word from God

Series of emails sent this morning….

From my Mom to me:

FYI…
Also, how are you feeling?? I have a late night tonight & early morning so probably won’t be able to call.

Attached to my Mom’s email:

Nancy,

When Lindsay was here last Sunday I believe that God gave me some things for her. If you feel they are appropriate would you forward them to her? I do not have her email address.

Lindsay,

I believe God has given me some things for you. God wants to change the way you seek him. I see you fervently seeking him for which songs to sing and what the focus of worship should be. I heard God speak this, ” She cannot lead my people where she has not been”. I see God calling you to an intimacy in which you seek him for who he is rather than to receive a song list. The following quote is from the Amplified Bible:Hab 3:19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in , but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!
I believe God is calling you to a season portrayed in the Song Of Songs. His call to you is to “come away my beloved”. I believe that it is in this place of intimacy that you will receive the direction you need.

In His Name,
John

My response to my Mom (and no, I’m not going to fix the grammatical errors):

ok so that was probably the best thing for me to hear right now. That John – he’s always gettin words from the Lord for me! I was reading a girl’s blog yesterday (sister of one of my friends here, sent from the Columbus Vineyard to help plant a church in Tanzania- graceintanzania.blogspot.com) and was so into reading her encounters with God and people and just what her life is like there and I was so bummed because I felt like I am not experiencing any of what she is. Knowing full well that it’s NOT because I’m not in Africa but not necessarily knowing why it IS that way.
 
enter John’s word for me.
 
So yeah, it’s just pretty cool that God knows me that well and that He uses other people to tell me things exactly when I need to hear them. Kinda like one of the stories I read yesterday on Grace’s blog where she talked about really needing a car and how the days events lead up to her not being able to meet the guy who was FINALLY going to help her get one, and when it didn’t happen she was so upset and as she was making the 2 mile walk home to her “village” she was having it out with God and she realized that she was really letting the “car issue” interfere with her attitude/relationships with people, not to mention she was making it a sort of idol. So she told God that it didn’t matter that she didn’t have a car and she realized that she would get a car when God wanted her too and you know it wasn’t two minutes later that she was stopped by a guy in an SUV asking if her name was Grace – to which she said yes, and he said “Hey I’m Russell – the guy you were supposed to meet today about the car.”
 
So I guess I’m having my own little, “Grace in Africa” moment. God knows me so well, and I don’t expect Him to, and because I don’t expect Him too, I’m not experiencing the amazingness of knowing that God KNOWS me, loves me, cares for me etc…and because I don’t experience these things I am feeling disconnected to His Kingdom, and because I feel disconnected I feel stressed, frustrated, burnt out, which leads to bitterness, apathy, lonliness and because I’m feeling these things, Satan is having a freaking hayday.
 
enter John’s word for me.
 
Thanks mama!
 
Linds
 
p.s. I’m feeling better. The holes were a hurtin’ yesterday, but I’m feeling pretty good today 🙂

Do yourself a favor and watch this…

You may want to grab some tissues.

Now that you’ve watched it, what are you going to DO about it?

I’ve been thinking heavily about my impact in this world ever since last week, probably because of the election and the great sermon Ryan gave last Sunday (go here to check it out: http://www.tenmilevineyard.org).

Ryan chalenged us to DO something about the things we care about and the causes we believe in – that voting for members of the church should really be “just another day” not the end all, be all of our trust and hope. He said something that I cannot get out of my head: “Wouldn’t it be cool if someday the government comes to the church and asks ‘How do you do it? How do you love people the way you do? How are you taking care of all of these people?'” I mean seriously, what if that were the case? What if we were actually doing the things we say we care about instead of just saying we care about them??

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing our church, I’m criticizing myself. I can’t watch videos like the above and not question what am I really doing to make a difference in the world, or in America, or in Ohio, or in Toledo, or with my neighbors? Why do I find this so difficult? Why do I care more about getting the perfect worship set together than loving my co-workers, or the people at the bus station, or the people in my small group? And I don’t think it’s that I don’t love these people, I’m just not doing it well.

This really brings me back to something else that’s been on my mind for the past, oh 2 years… I was so convicted watching that video (for the 4th time this week) and knowing that I walk around everyday wanting things from God – when I have EVERYTHING I need.

e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

Ok – so let’s DO something! And what better way to hold each other accountable than via blog 🙂 Here’s my November (dreaming big) list of what I’m going to do:

1. Love, encourage and show grace to my coworkers.

2. Save an extra $5 each week (total of $20 per month) so I can do a “RAK” (c’mon you can figure it out) for someone I DON’T know.

3. Actually stop at the Tarta bus stop on Friday after work and find out (instead of driving by and wondering) who those people are that are passing out food and how I can get involved.

4. WARNING: This one’s out there – Spend time with God. Because I too need love, encouragement and grace and too often I sacrafice time with Him for other things that don’t even come close to satisfying this need.

That’s my list – what’s yours??

GO VOTE!!

Fun Fact

When I graduated high school I wanted to be a politcal analyst.