surprises

Have you ever had the experience of praying for something and seeing, in your head, how it would work out? I do that all the time. But…you know what? It NEVER works out that way.

Or, how about this….you’re not sure what’s ahead, what’s around the next corner. You may be sensing that God is calling you into a new adventure but you cannot possibly see how it will come to pass. Or, you may be facing a very difficult situation that is full of uncertainty. If only you could see what’s ahead, then you could trust Him with whatever it is.

I used to fear these circumstances (sometimes I still do). I wanted to have more control, to be able to plan things out, to know what was coming next so I could better prepare. What I really wanted was for God to answer my prayers my way. This kind of living caused me a great deal of anxiety. But then, slowly, God began to change my perspective. I began to relax and truly trust that He knew what was best. I didn’t need to know everything.

I have been on this journey long enough to know that God always works it out. Not always in the way I want Him to and never the way I think He will, but, none the less, He works it out.

Now, instead of fearing what’s around the next corner, I am looking for the surprise. I know God loves me and that He will take care of me, even if it is in unexpected ways. So, instead of needing all the answers, I am able to live with the questions and anticipate the surprise, looking at it like a gift. It may not come when I expect it, be wrapped the way I think it should be or even be the gift I want…but it will always be the gift I need.

May your day be filled with “God surprises”. May you not be fearful and anxious about what lies ahead but learn to be open and excited about the surprises God has in store for you. Enjoy the gift; the gift that is.... trusting Him with everything.

Blessings,
Deb

awareness

From The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan:


“Waiting implies anticipation of something else; that this moment is not the moment. It implies that the expected thing, the hoped-for thing, is yet to arrive, that the present is only preliminary to the future.”

When I read this, I was stopped in my tracks. This is me! It seems I am always waiting. I am waiting to wear my bathing suit until I lose a few more pounds, waiting to have people over for dinner until I clean the house, waiting to pursue my hobbies until I have more time. I realized, after reading this quote, that I am missing being fully present in this day because I am focused on the future. How much have I missed because I am not aware of what is right in front of me? When I look to the future, I cannot see clearly. It rarely turns out the way I think it will. But I do have the chance to see what is right in front of me, what is happening right here, right now.

I've started asking God to help me stay in this day, in this hour, in this moment.

Think about asking God, today, to help you keep focused on the now…not in the future, not in the past, but in the present, because the present is more than enough.

Peace,
Deb

creativity

And what of the human heart’s capacity to understand God? Here we need the help of passionate visionaries such as Dostoevsky. Sacred scripture is too important to be left exclusively to biblical scholars. Theology is too vital to be consigned solely to the province of theologians. To explore the depths of the God who invites our trust, we need artists and mystics……”

“Send in the artists, mystics and clowns. Their fertile imagination pours the new wine of the gospel into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:38). With fresh language, poetic vision and striking symbols, they express God’s inexpressible Word in artistic forms that are charged with the power of God, engaging our minds and stirring our hearts as they flare and flame.”

Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust




I have many friends who are artists. Some act, some write, some paint, some draw, some make jewelry, some sing. I am always in awe of them. I draw ‘stick’ people. I paint walls. I make very basic jewelry that may fall apart by the end of the day. I have done some acting, some signing and some writing but I have never really considered myself an artist. Until recently.

I have a friend who loves to urge others to live into their creativity. She believes that we all just need encouragement and a safe place to experiment. She sees each of us as an expression of God’s creativity and we, being made in God’s image, have that same creativity inside. Hmmm….maybe I am an artist. My ‘stick’ people may just have a beauty all their own.

What is inside of you waiting for the chance to express itself? Have you tried and been discouraged by someone else's comment or even your own voice telling you that you are not an artist? I invite you to listen to what God is calling you to….and how He wants you to express it. Remember….you’re expressing what is inside of you for the audience of One.

Peace,
Deb

community

I want you to know that writing this blog has been such a pleasure to do. There are mornings when I think, "What am I going to write about??" But, God always gives me something. You have been so faithful in responding and making comments. I love reading your thoughts and how the entries are resonating with you.

Our “life with God” has this beautiful, intimate, personal component….meeting with Him in silence and solitude and having an on-going dialogue with Him all day. But it has another side as well – fellowship and community. God did not design us to live isolated lives. Although different than what we would experience on a Sunday morning, our ‘blog’ community can be rich as well. I would encourage you to respond to each other. As others write comments that impact you, write and let them know, or share a similar story of how God is working in you. I will be doing the same. I LOVE all the comments but there have been some that have moved me to respond. We can share joy with those who are seeing God in new and wonderful ways and we can encourage those who are struggling.

If what you what to share is painful and you need a bit more distance, you can click on ‘anonymous’ and then write your thoughts.

And….I know for a fact, that there are a couple of guys reading with us. This is not a women’s only site. The majority of us are women but we welcome the guys who want to walk more closely with God in this way. Guys…feel free to comment. We welcome your perspective as well.

We are on this adventure together….

Peace,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy your sabbath

awareness

One thing I want to increase is my awareness of God. I seem to forget that He is always near me, always speaking to me, always loving me. It’s like the verse in James that talks about a man (or woman!) looking in a mirror and then walking away and forgetting what he, or she, looks like. It seems like that sometimes, for me. There are things I know about God and about how He wants to be with me. I can think about it, talk about it, experience it and then within ten minutes, forget it. I don’t forget-forget, but it leaves my awareness.

I had written this in my journal;

“Our striving to be close to God is not so much a journey of finding Him but it is more of a journey of consciousness. He is here and He is in me in all the fullness I could ever imagine but I am not aware of the depth of it…right now I can see only glimpses of it…glimpses of heaven.”


My prayer today is that I would be more and more aware of God’s presence and movements in my life. I love praying a prayer that I know is close to God’s heart.

Consider taking a few moments this day to invite God to allow you to have a deeper consciousness of Him and His presence as He gives you glimpses of heaven.

Blessings,
Deb

trust

This post is a bit longer than normal but it is gave me a different perspective on life. If only I could camp in this place…..

“Fourteenth-century theologian and mystic John Tauler prayed for eight years that God would send him a person who would teach him the true way of perfection. One day, while at prayer, he heard a voice from within telling him to go outside to the steps, and there he would meet his mentor. He obeyed without hesitation. On the church steps Tauler found a barefoot ragamuffin in rags, wounded and caked in blood.

Tauker greeted the man cordially. “Good morning, dear brother. May God give you a good day and grant you a happy life.”

“Sir”, replied the ragamuffin, “I do not remember ever having had a bad day.”

Stunned, Tauler asked him how that was possible, since sadness and grief are part of the human condition.

The beggar explained, “You wished me a good day, and I replied that I cannot recall ever having spent a bad day. You see, whether my stomach is full or I am famished with hunger, I praise God equally; when I am rebuffed and despised, I still thank God. My trust in God’s providence and his plan for my life is absolute, so there is no such thing as a bad day. Sir, you also wished me a happy life. I must insist that I am always happy for it would be untruthful to state otherwise. My experience of God has taught me that whatever He does must of necessity be good. Thus, everything that I receive from His loving hand or whatever He permits me to receive from the hands of others – be it prosperity or adversity, sweet or bitter – I accept with joy and see it as a sign of His favor. For many, many years now my first resolution each morning is to attach myself to nothing but the will of God alone. I have learned that the will of God is the love of God. And by the outpouring of His grace I have so merged my will with His that whatever He wills I will too. Therefore I have always been happy.”

love

Last year I was reading a book by Donald Miller. It’s called Blue Like Jazz. This book spoke to me in a powerful way. I want to share with you what God showed me but I am changing the names in this story so don’t even go and try to figure out who is who. :)

My friend, Marge, asked my opinion about a moral issue. She had asked a few other friends as well. One of the friends, Laura, didn’t like the choice she was going to make and told Marge, if she made that choice, she wouldn’t be spending time with her. I think she did this to re-enforce her stand on this issue and on what she believed to be God’s standards on this issue. When Marge asked my opinion I gave it to her. I felt the choice was not a good one for her…not a choice that would take her deeper into her relationship with God but farther away from him. Honesty, I also thought about putting some distance between Marge and myself if she made this choice.

The same time all of this was happening, I was reading Blue Like Jazz. One of the chapters is on love. He talked about how we, as Christians, sometimes use our love as a weapon. We give it or withhold it to get others to do what we think they should. As I read that chapter, I felt convicted, deep in my heart. The author was talking about me. I had used love like that. I had considered using it like that in this situation.

That night – the night I read that portion of the book, I felt God say to me, “Deb….it’s my job to convict. She asked for your opinion and you gave it to her. Don’t punish her by withholding love. Speak lovingly to her about what she is considering and let her know that you will love her no matter what she chooses. That is how I love you. I don’t always like your choices, because I know they are not best for you. Even when you made really bad choices, I still loved you. Please ~ just love her.”

I did. I just loved her. She made a good choice but the lesson wasn’t for her, it was for me. I want to learn to love better……to love more like Jesus.

Love,
Deb

trust

Why do you think it is so hard for us to know, in our hearts, that God loves us? That He wants the very best for us? Why do you think we fight that so much?

If we have spent any length of time walking with God, we know that God loves us. I am using the word “know” in an intellectual sense. We can have verses memorized (and that is great thing), we can read books about trust, we can tell others what ‘trusting’ in God is. But is that how we live our lives? There have been so many times that has not been true for me. Intellectually, I know that He loves me….but I live as if I don’t, taking back whatever it is I am fearful or concerned about.

We may know things intellectually but we live out what we truly believe. Take some time over the next few days to reflect on the following quote by Brennan Manning. Allow it to sink in and find a place to settle in your heart.

“The splendor of the human heart which trusts that it is loved [by God] gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight or the scent of millions of orchids in bloom. Trust is our gift back to God, and He finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it.”

As you spend time thinking about this quote ask yourself if you know that God loves you, in your head… or in your heart.

Peace,
Deb

fresh start

“Is there anyone I can level with? Anyone I dare tell that I am benevolent and malevolent, chaste and randy, compassionate and vindictive, selfless and selfish, that beneath my brave words lives a frightened child, that I dabble in religion and pornography, that I have blackened a friend’s character, betrayed a trust, violated a confidence, that I am tolerant and thoughtful, a bigot and a blowhard, that I hate hard rock?”

Brennen Manning
Ruthless Trust


I think this quote hits home for all of us. I know it does for me. I was reminded of the duality that we struggle with as I had lunch with a friend yesterday. (I know…thoughts resulting from another conversation. Soon, no one will talk to me! So often this is the way God speaks to me, so I think you may see this a lot.) We were talking about how, sometimes, we can hardly believe that God doesn’t just smite us (don’t hear that word everyday, now do ya!), that we both have thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that we know aren’t what God would want of us. But, the amazing thing is that He waits…He waits for us to come around, to acknowledge those things within ourselves, turn back to Him and allow His love to enfold us, once again. He knows that we live and move in a fallen, broken world and that no matter how much we try, we will never be fully whole until we see Him face to face. That means we will never be free of the struggle that Brennan Manning describes but it also means that there is hope and forgiveness found in God’s love.

May today be a fresh start for you. Know that we all struggle with the ‘dark’ stuff in our hearts but also know that God is waiting for you, desiring you to move back toward Him. Allow yourself to experience His love today.


Deb

prayer

prayer

In her book, A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary, Macrina Wiederkehr, says:

"So how do I pray? I listen. I talk. I weep. I am silent. I am embraced by the beloved. I gaze with reverence. I wonder and adore. I share my needs. I have tea with God. I give gifts. I receive gifts. I give thanks and I say I'm sorry. I scream. I get angry. I show God all of my life, including my very divided heart. I relax. I'm at home. Sometimes I read a poem or tell God a story. Sometimes I dance. God loves stories and poems and dances. Sometimes I get a bit dramatic with God."

This is how I want to pray; to pray with all my heart, with all my emotion, with all of who I am..in transparency, with honesty.


Today, take time to think about how you pray. Do you have a set pattern? Is it controlled and predictable? Maybe God is inviting you to share everything with Him...the good, the bad and the ugly. 'Cause that is beautiful...that we can be who we really are in His presence and still know He loves us.

Peace,
Deb

sabbath

No psot today ~ enjoy your sabbath

prayer

Last night I had a conversation with someone about prayer. We were talking about how she had been praying and praying for something to happen and not understanding why God wasn't answering. The question came up, "What do you think God may be asking of you in regard to this prayer?" and "Do you think you have an expectation about how He will answer it...what that will look like?" I could ask these questions because I have lived them.

Then, just this morning, God brought something to my attention that I had been praying about for years. In the past couple of weeks, things have happening and that prayer is coming to pass. But you know what? I almost missed it. Not only that, I was frustrated by what was happening, not seeing it as an answer to prayer but experiencing it as something negative. Because the answer didn't come in the way I had expected, I nearly missed it. ( God always surprises me. He never does things the way I think He should...thank goodness!) Once I realized this I was able to let go of the frustration and thank Him for the answer, which is beyond anything I had imagined.

Today I am thankful for answered prayer, no matter what shape or form it takes and for those conversations with others that God uses to bring clarity to our own relationship with Him.

Peace,
Deb

awareness

One of my favorite authors is Ken Gire. He has a way of helping me learn to pay attention to the movements of God in my life. He has written numerous devotional books. The first book I read by him is an excellent book called, Seeing What is Sacred: Becoming More Sensitive to the Everyday Moments of Life, (old title - The Reflective Life) that is written, specifically, to help you become more aware.

I want to share a quote from him:

"He[God] has much to say, not only from the Scriptures but from the circumstances of our everyday lives. However prosaic the pages of our lives may seem at first reading, within the lines or in between the lines God may be speaking. Every book we read, every movie we see, every person we talk with, every song we listen to, every moment in our lives, in fact, should be subjects for reflection and could be ways through which God is speaking."


Consider asking God to help you today...help you pay attention to where/how He may be speaking to you, perhaps speaking in ways you had not considered before. Feel free to share what you noticed.


May you see Him in a different way today,

Deb

everyday sacred

“To conclude your meditation…you must gather a little devotional bouquet. I explain my meaning. People who have been walking about in a beautiful garden do not like to leave without gathering in their hands four or five flowers to smell and keep for the rest of the day. In the same way, when our soul has carefully considered by meditation, a certain mystery, we should select one, two or three points that we liked best and that are most adapted to our improvement, think frequently about them, and smell them spiritually during the rest of the day.”

Frances de Sales

There are things that speak into our lives every day….conversations, songs, books, movies, signs, etc. Everywhere, God uses these to engage us. But, unless we are paying attention, we will miss it. And, if we notice it, unless we linger with it, it will soon be gone and any depth it may have been held within, will escape us.

Be aware of the things He is saying to you through the ordinary things of life and ponder them in your heart as you move through the rest of your day. Treasures lie within.

Grace and peace,
Deb

sacred text

"To pray the Scriptures means to allow the words of the sacred text to form our prayer, either directly or indirectly.”

Unknown

Engaging Scripture on a heart level is transformative. When I approach the text as if God wrote it directly to me, certain words or phrases seem to be illuminated. I pay attention to those words and sit with them. They then become my prayer, as I give myself over to whatever God wants to work in my life through them.

May your reading of the Scriptures become more than an information gathering exercise …may it be an encounter with the Sacred.

Grace and peace,
Deb

morning

“No one knows what makes the soul wake up happy. Maybe a dawn breeze has blown the veil away from the face of God.”
Rumi

I am, by nature, a morning person. My favorite time of the day is early morning. I love the quiet, dark cloak that covers the earth before the first peek of the sun breaks through. This is the time I feel drawn to be with God. I sit in my sacred space…a space I have created to just be with Him. I start with silence. I then read a devotional and I always journal about whatever is on my mind. I ask God to help me be present to His presence during this day. I read this quote today and I want to put it by my bed as a reminder that I may get a glimpse of God in a fresh and new way.

May the breeze blow the veil back for you, if only for a second, so you may see experience God anew this morning.

Grace and peace,
Deb

deeply

"If you read [a passage in the Bible] quickly it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skims the surface of a flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you become as the bee who penetrates into the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove the deepest nectar. Plunge into the very depths of the words you read until revelation, like a sweet aroma, breaks out upon you."
Madame Guyon in Short and Very Easy Way of Prayer:

I have come across a devotional called Solo, written by Eugene Peterson. It takes portions of Scripture (from The Message) and walks you through the stages of lectio divina, a devotional way of reading the Word. Instead of merely reading the text, you move into the text.

May you penetrate deeply in the truth and meaning of Scripture as you allow God to meet you, to love you through His Word.
Grace & peace,
Deb

awareness

One thing I want to increase is my awareness of God. I seem to forget that He is always near me, always speaking to me, always loving me. It’s like the verse in James that talks about a man (or woman!) looking in a mirror and then walking away and forgetting what he, or she, looks like. It seems like that sometimes, for me. There are things I know about God and about how He wants to be with me. I can think about it, talk about it, experience it and then within ten minutes, forget it. I don’t forget-forget, but it leaves my awareness.

I had written this in my journal;

“Our striving to be close to God is not so much a journey of finding Him but it is more of a journey of consciousness. He is here and He is in me in all the fullness I could ever imagine but I am not aware of the depth of it…right now I can see only glimpses of it…glimpses of heaven.”

My prayer today is that I would be more and more aware of God’s presence and movements in my life. I love praying a prayer that I know is close to God’s heart.

Consider taking a few moments this day to invite God to allow you to have a deeper consciousness of Him and His presence as He gives you glimpses of heaven.

Blessings,
Deb

space

S p a c e……I need space! Yesterday was a long day. It was an awesome day, filled with incredible conversations and interactions. It started early and ended late. But it seemed like something was missing. What was it? S p a c e. I had not spent intentional time in the morning with God. It’s not magic. It just helps me center on what is most important to me….my relationship with Him.

What I say I want is to have all of my life reflect God…hopefully, that others would see Him in me. What doesn’t make sense to me is the relationship I say is the most important I can neglect. So many reasons why….I want to sleep in, I need to get a few things before I leave the house, or at night, I’ve already put in a full day and want to veg in front of the tv. So what gets moved to tomorrow? Sometimes, my time with God.

Thank goodness it’s different now than a few years ago. I work now to be more aware of God’s presence in my daily life, so my relationship with Him feels rich and deep. But I realize that when I don’t have my special time with Him in the morning…..I miss it. I feel a bit more scattered throughout the day…not quite as focused. And I love that I miss it…that I miss it because I love being with Him during that time and not because I feel guilty because I didn’t fulfill an obligation. I don’t think God wants us to come to Him out of obligation. I think He wants us to come to Him because we love Him and desire to just sit with Him.

May your times with Him be so special that when you are unable to spend intentional time with Him….you miss Him.

Peace,
Deb

desire

“It is a rare self-understanding today which lets one believe that his or her aches and yearnings are mystical.”

Richard Rolheiser

So many times, I ignore or push down those longings I carry deep within. To think about them creates an ache inside. To voice them seems inconceivable, opening me to extreme vulnerability.

I want to be able to trust God with these longing, to talk to Him about them. To allow Him to bring them to pass in my life if that is what is to be. To be able to get out of the way and allow God to use me, to move in me any way He chooses…even when it means fulfilling some of my inner desires. It requires a shift in my thinking…that God not only calls me to those things that I might find difficult and need to fully depend on Him to accomplish but also to those things that I deeply desire to do.

I invite you to spend some time in silence today, allowing those desires to surface. Share your thoughts and feelings with God and remain open to how and when He wants to bring them to pass.

Grace and peace,
Deb

prayer of st. francis

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is jury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;

O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled,
as to console;
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is dying to the self that we are born into eternal life.

transformation

The other day I was talking with a friend of mine and she was telling me how she was seeing God work. He has a very specific way of speaking into her life. She is beginning to notice when He wants to say something to her and she creates space in her schedule to listen, to journal, to process. The things she has come to know about herself and about God are beautiful.


I am in a place of feeling incredible gratitude for being granted the privilege to listen and be a witness to these kinds of stories…to have a front row seat to holy transformation…to sit in the midst of sacredness.


Thank you to God….and to my friend for allowing me to be a part of it all…


Grace and peace,

Deb

identity

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said:

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

I love this quote. It helps me gain perspective on my life and my role. At the core of who I am, I am spiritual. I am made in the image of God. This is so easy for me to forget. I get so caught up in my life…my things…my plans. I can be upset about something that won’t mean anything two weeks from now, let alone be important in the grand scheme of things.

I can tend to live as if this is all there is. Fear sets in as I think of the years swiftly moving by and the knowledge that my days are numbered. I get so caught up in my earthly existence that I don’t give a thought to eternity.

Imagine what it would be like if we began every morning reflecting on the truth that we are spiritual beings on a human journey. If we constantly carried this thought with us through our day, how would it change the way we act…or react? What would look different? Be different?

I encourage you to think about this today. Live this day with the full knowledge that you are a spiritual being on a human journey. Look at all today holds for you through that lens and see how it changes you. And, consider offering today’s part of your spiritual journey to God, asking Him to allow that spirituality to shine through your human-ness.

Blessings,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy the sabbath

surprises

Have you ever had the experience of praying for something and seeing, in your head, how it would work out? I do that all the time. But…you know what? It NEVER works out that way.

Or, how about this….you’re not sure what’s ahead, what’s around the next corner. You may be sensing that God is calling you into a new adventure but you cannot possibly see how it will come to pass. Or, you may be facing a very difficult situation that is full of uncertainty. If only you could see what’s ahead, then you could trust Him with whatever it is.

I used to fear these circumstances (sometimes I still do). I wanted to have more control, to be able to plan things out, to know what was coming next so I could better prepare. What I really wanted was for God to answer my prayers my way. This kind of living caused me a great deal of anxiety. But then, slowly, God began to change my perspective. I began to relax and truly trust that He knew what was best. I didn’t need to know everything.

I have been on this journey long enough to know that God always works it out. Not always in the way I want Him to and never the way I think He will, but, none the less, He works it out.

Now, instead of fearing what’s around the next corner, I am looking for the surprise. I know God loves me and that He will take care of me, even if it is in unexpected ways. So, instead of needing all the answers, I am able to live with the questions and anticipate the surprise, looking at it like a gift. It may not come when I expect it, be wrapped the way I think it should be or even be the gift I want…but it will always be the gift I need.

May your day be filled with “God surprises”. May you not be fearful and anxious about what lies ahead but learn to be open and excited about the surprises God has in store for you. Enjoy the gift; the gift that is, trusting Him with everything.

Blessings,
Deb

florescents

“If we can’t discern the Lord’s voice in our life, we will be at the beck and call of every other voice. The voice of shame, perhaps from some failure in our past…If we have heard from the Savior’s own lips how much he loves us and delights in us, it will silence the taunts of voices that put a makeup mirror to our face and point out all the reasons why Jesus couldn’t possibly be in love with such a blemished person.”
Ken Gire

Who is the genius who decided it was a good idea to put florescent lights in women’s bathrooms…or dressing rooms? I swear, I would go out of my way to shop at a store that had beautiful, soft lighting in the dressing room.

As women, we all know that fluorescents show each and every little flaw. You touch up your makeup to try and cover some of those flaws and step out into daylight looking like Bozo the clown! YIKES!

That is what can happen to us when we choose to look at our inner life through voices other than the voice of God. They will tell us that we are not worthy of His love. They tell us that we will never be good enough. They tell us that we might as well give up because we will never arrive. They are the mirrors that show us every single flaw and exaggerate the ugliness.

Jesus is the one who reveals to us what we need to look at. He is gentle, he is kind. All of our flaws are looked at in the light of His love…and in that beautiful lighting, we can come confidently before Him and allow Him to do the work that needs to be done.

Grace and peace,
Deb

transcendance

“Life is difficult
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

M. Scott Peck
I know so many friends who are going through difficult times. Often, as Christ followers, we have been taught that life will be good, absent of most difficulties, if we are living in God’s will. Where did we get such an idea?
Life is life. That means it will sometimes be better than we could ever have imagined and sometimes it will be more painful than we think we can survive. We live in a fallen world.
But, I believe that Peck is on to something. The more we struggle against the difficulty, the more it consumes us. When we look for God’s grace in the midst of the struggle, we focus much less on the struggle itself and more on the God we cling to within it. That is transcendence…moving into and through the difficulty where God meets us.

Grace and peace,
Deb

listening

“Many of us prefer listening to a pastor or a speaker rather than training ourselves to sit in quiet and listen to God.”

Jan Johnson

I wonder why this is? I think, for me, it is because listening to someone else speak is, for the most part, a passive activity. There is the ‘active’ piece of paying attention but because their voice is verbal and audible, we can take it in.

When I listen to God, it becomes more active even though I am silent and listening. It takes so much more of my resolve to listen to that ‘still small voice’. I not only need to be in silence and solitude, I need to bring something to this time. I bring the work of surrender. I need to abandon myself to the work of God and sit quietly and let Him ‘speak to me’. It is not audible but it comes in pieces through the days and weeks to come. It is a mosaic…a beautiful puzzle that I can begin to see parts of through circumstances, relationships, readings, movies, sermons and other surprises that come in all different ways.

Do not neglect listening to those who are in a position to speak truth into your life…but I invite you to not substitute it for listening to the One who created truth.

Grace and peace,
Deb

My apologies for the late post. I just returned home from a funeral in Ohio.