"Out of the Mouths of Babes"

Hi ladies!! I have to agree with Paulette's sentiments below: I LOVE SUMMER!!! And I love it when God so graciously gives me just what I need. He's amazing like that, isn't He? I was having a particularly trying day (okay, actually a trying few days!) with my 14 year old son. And no, he's not exactly a baby, as the title of this post would suggest, but all the moms can probably relate that our kids will always be OUR babies no matter how old they are. So enough rambling...

I was having an extra hard day with his teenage attitude today. He is a little too much like me at that age. Self-absorbed, rebellious at heart, and well.. self-absorbed. This, of course, invokes all kinds of emotions in me. Fear, however, isn't one of them because I truly trust God thoroughly and completely and have a real sense of peace that this stubborn son of mine is going to do GREAT things for the kingdom of God. (Is. 61:3)!! Nevertheless, I do experience a great amount of sadness and anger over his blatant disrespect and self-centered behavior. The boy really tries me in my patience and even my maturity as an adult!! LOL..

A little while ago, my son came and wanted to talk to me about God. This isn't really uncommon and he is at the age where he asks A LOT of questions, which is great! I love having spiritual discussions with my kids. LOVE IT!! And when he isn't being stubborn, he is very, very open and has some spiritual wisdom that goes beyond his young 14 years. One of the things he said to me was that it seems like most non-Christians have a lot of confidence in themselves and some of them even do good things for others. He went on to say that Christians come to God because they know they are failures, but they don't really seem to have much confidence.

I immediately 'got' what he was saying! Do you see it? As Christians, we come to Christ because we know that we need Him and that's GOOD!! But too often we don't live with the confidence of those who are saved by RADICAL GRACE. We don't live FREE. Yes, I'm still on that FREEDOM thing! I was amazed that even my 14 year old observed this truth. We do come to Christ because we know we are failures, we are sinners... but too often we continue on as though we are STILL failures! Is that what we want our children to observe in us?? Is that what we want our co-workers and friends to observe in us?? What is the draw to knowing Christ and making Him known if we aren't living free? If we aren't BOLDY approaching the throne of grace for our children and others to see? If we aren't reaching out to the oppressed and the lost and hurting with the message of HOPE? We have GOOD NEWS to share and our lives should reflect that.

I am thankful for my stubborn, strong-willed son today. I pray and believe that he will be stubborn and strong-willed for Jesus Christ ~ that he will know Him and make Him known. May our lives be an exciting example of life in Christ to EVERYONE who is watching.

Love you girls!
Linda

Be Deliberate!

I love summer. No wait, I don't think I said that loud enough. I LOVE SUMMER!!!!! When it finally starts getting hot enough to make me sweat I sincerely wonder how I made it through the winter. How in the world did I go all of those months with no flip-flops?? Seriously.
This summer I have decided to do things a little differently. I am going to rest. I am making a conscious decision not to get involved in anything new, not take any summer classes (!) and.... are you ready for this? Drum roll please........ I am giving up TV for the summer! (Did I hear gasps?) Yep, you heard me right. No TV! Not only am I going to rest this summer, I am going to grow. Which part of me is going to grow you may be wondering? Well, sadly I won't be growing a few inches taller like I'd like to, but I am going to take steps to deliberately grow my relationship with Jesus. I have adopted Philippians 3:10 out of the Amplified Version as my summer goal:
"For my determined purpose is to know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly."
Isn't that just awesome? That's what I'm aiming for this summer. To KNOW Him. I can't think of anything worth pursuing more than that. Hence me giving up TV. (Were you wondering if I was going to get back to that?) That's where the "being deliberate" comes in. During those times I would normally veg in front of the TV, I am instead going to spend time in the Word, in a good book (Jesus by Charles Swindoll has been recommended to me), and in a good Bible study. I am being deliberate in my pursuit of a deeper relationship with Christ.

What about you? Have any of you decided what you are going to do to pursue Jesus this summer? I'd love to hear the books you may be reading or any studies you may be attending. (Here's where I shamelessly plug Breaking Free at The Creek powered by Ignite, beginning June 8th.)

Let's be deliberate in our pursuit girls. He is so worth it!

Love you all dearly!

I generally do not like to post a new blog so soon after one has been posted. If you have not read the last post written by Linda under this one please take the time to do so.
For those of you who don't know, I work as a Case Manager at the Salvation Army homeless shelter in downtown Indy. I have been in this position for many years and one of the benefits is getting to know some of the ladies who stay at the shelter very well. I met a special lady about 3 years ago named Sandy. She was one of the funniest people I had ever met. She had me in stitches every time she was in my office. Sandy struggled with alcoholism for almost 2o years. I had watched her fall time and time again, each time trying desperately to start over and stay clean. What broke my heart the most about Sandy was that she believed in Jesus; she had trusted Him to forgive her sins. Sadly, the relationship stopped there. I watched helplessly as Sandy lived her life in bondage. I could almost see the chains that wrapped around her keeping her in a real-life prison where she was unable to live the life God had planned for her. She fell prey to the lies of the enemy, "You'll never be able to stay sober. You are worth nothing. Your life will never amount to anything. God could never use you. You will never be free. You would be better off dead."
Girls, my heart is breaking as I write this. I received the news today that I have feared for years. Sandy passed away suddenly this Wednesday.
Ladies, if you ever hear me say anything, hear me say this; Jesus came to set us FREE. If we are believers in Him, we DO NOT have to live our lives in bondage! ANY bondage! The bondage of addiction, of depression, of guilt and shame as Linda spoke so powerfully about last Monday; ANY bondage!
If you have never done the study "Breaking Free: Making Liberty in Christ a Reality in Life" please consider doing so with Ignite this summer beginning June 8th. This incredible study teaches believers how to live FREE in Christ.
Life is short girls. Let's not waste it living in bondage, let's live it to the fullest. Let's live every moment of our God-given lives FREE - to His glory.
I love you all dearly.

Where are the Adequate Words?

Do you know what I'm talking about, ladies? Has God ever done something so incredibly amazing in your life, or with your life -- and you just did not have words adequate enough to describe how absolutely mind-bogglingly (is that a word?... it is now!) ..how mind-bogglingly GOOD He is??? He did that for me on Monday night and I pray that a huge portion of His goodness was passed on, cuz I know my God loves me, but I also know He didn't just orchestrate Monday night for little ol' me and nobody else.. He did it for all of us.

Our Daddy wants us to experience His intimate grace, purchased at the highest price (have you been on your knees today?) and to spread that grace and goodness like wildfire where we live and BEYOND!!! My mind and heart are so full of that fire, passion, and dreaming I spoke about on Monday night and I never want to quench it again!

Can I share with you something so sweet the Lord did for me on Monday night? Here I go being radically authentic again ~ opening myself up and sharing what is deep inside, sharing things I've only shared with the Lord and those who are closest to me. A little over a year ago, I did Beth Moore's study on the life of David (A Heart Like His). I completed the study on my own (remember, I didn't venture out into women's bible study groups!).. and when I finished the study of his life, I actually said out loud: THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL and I wept with a hope and a longing that at the end of my life, Jesus would say to me "That was beautiful."

On Monday night, the first three women that approached me when our evening concluded, all said the same thing. Can you guess what it was??? They all said, "That was beautiful." I am crying as I write this... how does God DO that?? One of the women even added, "Your testimony is beautiful." And remember that for years I believed the lie that I didn't even HAVE a testimony!!!

Girls, I hope you know that I am not here tooting my own horn today.. NO WAY!! I am here blowing a trumpet for JESUS!!! I am here saying LOOK TO HIM because it is HE who makes us radiant. It is HE who keeps us from covering our faces in shame. And it is He who makes Himself KNOWN to us!!! Those ladies could NEVER have known what those three words would mean to me, but GOD KNEW!!! He knows you that intimately, too!! And I would LOVE to hear how God has shown Himself to you!! And if you aren't quite sure how to answer that, but you are longing for Him to do a work in you, then please know that I am praying for God to show Himself MIGHTY to each and every woman who is or will be a part of Ignite!

Don't forget, our sweet Danielle will be starting Beth Moore's Breaking Free on June 8th at The Creek ~ powered by IGNITE!!! You can reach her through www.ignitewomen.com and click on Contacts.


Live free TODAY!

Told ya so!

Today is one of those rare days when I get to say "I told ya so!" For those of you who were at last night's Ignite meeting, you know exactly what I'm talking about! I told you that Linda had something to say and did she ever! Thank you Linda for being radically transparent and radically authentic in front of us last night and for allowing God to speak through you such an incredible message of grace. All I can say is "Whew!" What an amazing, forgiving, merciful Savior we have.
"Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you." (The Message) Not anyone! Not yourself, not Satan, and not the self-righteous. Let's live FREE girls, just as Christ intends!

I love you all dearly!

Something to say

Ever had someone say something to you that struck a chord so loudly that you were barely able to hear anything else they said? That happened to me last week during a meeting. Here's what I heard: "When God gives someone something to say, you can tell. And when someone speaks even though God hasn't given them something to say, well, you can tell the difference." Ain't it the truth???!! When you listen to someone speak with such passion that you think they might just explode, and when they open the Word of God and read it with such strong emotion you sense their deep love for the Savior and you find yourself wanting Him more... it's contagious, is it not? On the flip side of that, we all know what it's like to listen to someone merely teach a lesson. We recognize when heart-felt passion is missing. It's obvious when someone has been given something to say by God Himself and it's obvious when someone is, well, just talking!
This Monday night we will be blessed to listen to someone who has been given something to say by God Himself. When I first approached Linda about speaking at Ignite, I knew that God had directed me to her. What I didn't know was that He had been giving her something to say for quite a while! Her willingness to be obedient was confirmed with the tears that began streaming down her face. Listen girls, God has given Linda a message that I have watched well up inside of her for months and it is burning a hole in her soul. When she opens her mouth Monday night, she will speak the Word of God with great boldness and clarity as God has enabled her to do (Acts 4:29, Col 4:4). I can hardly wait.
God has something to say to us on Monday night. Will we listen?

Love you all dearly!