Happy New Year and Wrap-Up

My 31-day series on Renewal of the Mind was quite the journey for me.  Not only convicting, but also forced me to dig deeper on a subject that can be life changing.

One of the insights I have gained is how my mind is renewed by practicing gratitude regularly.  I see gifts and blessings from God when I stop to see.  I cannot be grateful and complain simultaneously.  And gratitude is not just lip service, but comes from the deep caverns of one's heart.

"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want (for anything)." 

Psalm 23:1 (italicized my addition)

If you are interested in digging deeper into renewing your mind or practicing gratitude in your walk with Christ, I would encourage you to read "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp and/or "Idol Lies" by Dee Brestin.  I will be...AGAIN!

Happy New Year.  May 2015 be a transforming year for you as God continues to complete the work that He has begun.

Confessions of an Idolater

Did you know that I found happiness in West Virginia????  I did!  I took a photo of it, see?

Ed and I were visiting favorite friends in Morgantown, West Virginia which included the football game of the year for the Mountaineers.  I saw this when we got gas...and I had to photograph it.  I knew it would be coming to a blog near you soon.

I started this series and acknowledged my idolatry here...but I stayed pretty benign and safe with my confession.  But I bow down to the idol of security and comfort (details to follow).   To review, the main idols in our lives that can manifest in a myriad are:

• power/control
• approval/affirmation
• security/comfort

I admit it!  I don't necessarily go after highs or to feel spectacular...I just don't like to feel bad or uncomfortable.  I did not return to school until 46 to finish my undergrad (while working full time) and then went straight to graduate school (leaving an income behind) getting my Master's one month shy of my turning 50.  Scholarly work is solitary work...a lot of writing and reading.  And I would get anxious under the pressure...and I did not like that feeling.  Eating curbed that feeling...and I could do it while writing or reading!

After grad school, I had to develop my career, which means you go to boot camp.  For me it was doing outpatient therapy with children, adolescents and families in inner city Cleveland (an hour away), putting in 60 hours at least eacg week with immense pressure to meet productivity of billable hours. I would get home around 9:30 at night to follow with several hours doing paperwork.  I noticed I would experience a small woosah by stopping at Swensons for a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake without leaving my car before digging into regurgitating therapy progress notes.

Eventually, I got into healthcare and a job that had been on my radar since I interned there. I was working in a premiere center where the performance bar was pretty high.  Weeks into the job, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer...in six months he was gone.  I had to perform (I was still in proving ground) despite the horrible feelings of grief and loss.  But what seemed like harmless calming with carbs had now become a stronghold  in my life.

I did not notice this when I took this photo, but do you see that evil creature in the corner of the window where you place your order?  I did not notice it because I was focused on the happiness.  In the same way, I did not see that I was becoming enslaved with worshiping security and comfort...seeking it through other ways than finding those things in Christ alone.  Not only have I allowed this stronghold in my life, but I have also crushed the heart of God when He wants me to worship Him only...  He is not only worthy, but He also knows that He can meet my need for security/comfort.  He's so clear on this!

Come to me all who are weary and beaten down, and I will give you rest.  Matt. 11:28

From the ends of the earth will I cry unto You: Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.  Psalm 61:2

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the right time.  Casting all your anxiety upon Him, for He cares for you.  I Peter 5:6-7

When my anxious thoughts multiply in me, Your consolations delight my soul.  Psalms 94:19

So at the end of this series, it comes down to the conviction and gentle guidance the Lord has laid on my heart...to seek Him and Him only...casting my idol aside...as I continually renew my mind with His word.

Road to Bethlehem

Another person unsolicited told me they love reading my blog...

Humbled...I have no idea how much exposure it has...but God is using it...and I've been neglecting it.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a big fan of Ann Voskamp's writings and blog.  I purchased an advent "wreath" handmade by her son, Caleb.  It was so fresh, I could smell the shellac when I took it out of the box last year.

Adding a candle for each day in December, it leads the donkey, Mary, and Joseph to the manger.

Another new advent tradition has been reading these 3.5 x 3.5 sticky notes from Ann you can download here.  Reading one a day has made a huge difference this Christmas...

I know many our experience desperate circumstances when this season emphasizes cheer and "troubles will be out of sight."  I sent a set of these to an incredible friend of mine who is hurting because I knew how they were helping me.  I've had my share of heavy, loss-laden Christmases. Mind if I share one?

I will believe in God's grace for

impossible things today.

Because no situation is more hopeless than

my Savior is graceful.

And no personal choice that

muddied my life can ever trump

the divine choice to wash my life clean.

That is always the secret to unwrapping

the biggest, greatest, grandest gift:

believe that the love of Jesus is in

the place where I don't expect it.

And THAT my dear friends is TRUTH!  Let's remember Bethlehem...where it all began...

...and let it lead us to the Greatest Gift.

PS:  My 31 days will finish before the end of the year...I'm waiting on God's timing for the next post as it is a difficult one.  Stay tuned!

Let Go or Be Dragged!

I'm down to my last three days in my series...and there is still so much left unsaid.

One consistent theme that has God keeps bringing back to is suffering.  Another beheading was broadcast yesterday. A couple was burned in a kiln as they were falsely accused of blasphemy for desecrating the Quran.   An off-duty policeman and father was shot and killed down the road.

And I have a very very dear friend who is experiencing multiple losses...

I sit here in my living room.  Ed is reading humorous emails and watching Monday Night Football.  And I contemplate how short life is...and how little time we really have to make a difference.  In light of that, what is really important about a football game or all the trinkets waved before our face during the commercials?  To coin a phrase in the news of late:  What difference does it make?

I remember a book written by Max Lucado called Traveling Light.  I've never read it but the title is intriguing.  I wonder how much we carry around or we allow to drag us around, because we refuse to let go.  This year has been about letting go...releasing...and practicing humility.  Trust me, I'm still in the beginner's class...

So what have I been learning to unload?

• Judgment and resentment
• Self-reliance
• A critical spirit
• The burden of others' opinions
• Irrational guilt, perfectionism, and legalism
• My idols (which I have to do daily...sometimes moment by moment...trying not to fondle them)

And how can I do this?  Only by grace...grace that comes from renewing the mind.  Reminding myself that I have blind spots and faults of my own that I cannot see.  By praying Psalm 19:12-14:

Who can discern his errors?
    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in your sight,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (ESV)

A Lesson from Ebola

I heard on the news tonight that the United States is now Ebola-free.

Our area made national news when one of the nurses treating the Ebola patient in Dallas, Texas who died, traveled home to northeast Ohio, later testing positive for Ebola.

Volunteers at the hospital stood vigil and asked the two questions photographed above to every person entering one of the hospital entrances.  A task force was formed.  Every precaution was taken.  One little virus posed a huge threat to all of us.  It was hard to wrap my head around how something microscopic could be so dangerous!

And yet, isn't that what Paul talks about in Galatians how something so small affects everything?

A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.  Galatians 5:9 (NIV)

And yet daily so much fodder invades our hearts and minds that endangers our spiritual health.  What do you listen to?  What do you participate in?  What takes your focus, your time?  Does anything have a hold of your heart, something that appears benign on the surface, but is indicative of an idol crying out to be worshiped?

We cannot renew our minds unless we are vigilant about the covert ways the world will try to conform you into its mold.  This is particularly true in a society where wrong has become right and evil has become good.  It's those little things...the little foxes as stated in Song of Solomon...that spoil the vineyard.

So what are those little things...nearly microscopic...seemingly benign...that can destroy our spiritual health and our effectiveness with others?

You know I write this...because I need the reminder!

Just a Lazy Old Dog

So, I took my own suggestion and spend a "half day in prayer..."

I looked at two excellent devotionals...both from The Navigators:  Daily Discipleship; Daily Holiness with Jerry Bridges.  (You can get both of these in your email daily by signing up here.)

The focus of the article by Jerry Bridges was on knowing your enemy.  He stated that our culture is a major enemy that wars against our Christian resolve, and the enemy of Satan is real...BUT...the greatest enemy lies within us.

I was profoundly hit by a 2 x 4 when I read what Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 26:41 as stated in The Message:

Stay alert; be in prayer so you don't wander into temptation without knowing your in danger.  There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God.  But there's another part of you that's as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.

Ow!!!  What a visual!!!!

I participated in a live webinar Sunday night for Open Doors in honor of International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  I heard Nik Ripken talk about the many Christians severely persecuted in Somalia.  I heard an Ellie Davidian, born and raised a devout Shiite Muslim in Iran, now Christian serving the persecuted church of Iran speak of the imprisonment of women for their faith, how the government will trap Christians by posting phoney Christian pages on Facebook for Christian Iranians to "like," and how the greatest pressure on the Christian churches there is making it illegal for services to be spoken in Farsi, the native language of Iran.  Mosques and Quran use only Arabic.  In 60 countries all over the world, 100 million Christians are experiencing extreme and severe persecution...

While I am here lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire...

What a mind renewal!

May my heart and mind be focused on those things that break your heart.

Do You Want an Intense Renewal?

It's November 1...a high of only 40 degrees...and the sparrows foraging at my feeders are all puffy to keep warm.

Saturdays are precious to me.  Most Saturdays do not require me to get up to an alarm clock and immediately do the shower-put on my makeup-dry my hair-get dressed routine.

I went through The Navigators discipleship curriculum known as The 2:7 Series decades ago.  One concept we practiced was "a half day of prayer."  It is basically about spending some lengthy, uninterrupted quiet time with the Lord...putting a stop on our busy lives for a season.  I have done this multiple times and it has always been so rich in changing my perspective...renewing my mind.

You can download this publication free here...but one point that Lorne Sanny makes really hits home to me as a reason for doing this:

Like flying over the battlefield in a reconnaissance plane, a day of prayer give opportunity to think of the world from God's point of view.

That's what I need...I challenge you to take some time this weekend.