Open Up Let the Light In {Letting God's Word In on Every Dark Area}

Every morning when I wake up, one of the first things I do is open up all the curtains in the house. Letting in the sunlight has always been a priority. It helps to warm the place up and let’s the little one know the sun is up, so they should be too.

Even when my oldest wakes up before me, he’s taken on the habit of letting the sun in. I enjoy waking up and seeing early morning sunlight pouring in. Then, I look around and see that the sun, while beautiful, is shining its light on some not-so-beautiful things like: all the dusting that needs to be done, the millions of tiny fingerprints on the windows, the sticky square of juice that some kid of mine spilled on the hardwood floors and the yogurt that another kid wiped on one of the couch cushions.

Light has a way of being beautiful while at the same time shining a light on the ugly.

. . .

Listening to Steffany Gretzinger's Open Up Let the Light In made me think about the verse: The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130 (NKJV)

The entrance of God’s Word into our hearts brings Divine light and glorious revelation of the scriptures. But it also shines its way into those dark areas of our lives that we’d rather not look at.

But everything that is exposed to the light becomes visible, Ephesians 5:13 International Standard Version

 It’s not just the hearing or the reading, but the opening up of ourselves to the light that gives light. We know that we can hear and the Word can fall or be snatched away.

Today I’m thankful for a life that’s open to the light, even when it’s painful, ugly and downright embarrassing to see that shadowy areas of my life that I’ve tried to turn my back on.

God, help me to continually open up and let the light in.

When the Road to Nowhere Opens Up

When I first got married, I didn’t have a job. So I settled into the role of housewife. Settled is probably the wrong word. I accepted my plight as housewife. But all around were voices (husband NOT included)  telling me I needed to get a job, help provide for the household...blah, blah, blah. By the time our first son came along two years later, I had happily accepted my role as stay-at-home mom. This after countless weeks, months even, searching for a job, any job. When one didn’t come, I realized I needed to stop stressing myself out over something that wasn’t happening.

One day while at home with my son, I received a phone call from the president of a large ministry here in Los Angeles. She had just had lunch with my former boss, who had recommended me for a job that she desperately wanted to fill. She asked if I’d be interested in the position. Above the din of two-year-old squeals. I agreed to meet her for an interview.

The interview went swimmingly. There was a daycare on site and the pay was far more than I would have ever asked for. And it was doing exactly what I wanted to do.

All that time I’d spent agonizing  over looking for a job just a few years before and here was a job that came knocking on my door.

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought.  You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I even say it.  You both precede and follow me and place your hand of blessing on my head. Psalm 139:1-5 Living Bible

God went before me and prepared the way for the job. He set up the lunch meeting. He put it on my new boss’ heart to tell my old boss about the job opening and he brought me to the conversation with a good referral. All the while, I was at home, oblivious to the path being charted ahead of me.

Even all these years later, the course of events blows my mind.

God knew that when I had a child my desire was to stay home with my baby and I got the chance to do just that. He knows everything about me...every single desire, even the unspoken ones.

Lately, I’ve been forgetting this fact about God: that He paves paths where none previously existed. That He goes behind us to make sure nothing is left behind as we travel upon that path.

The King James version of verse 5 says: Thou hast beset me behind and before. Beset comes from the Hebrew word tsuwr which means  to shut in or secure.

God doesn’t just lay a path out for us. He goes with us as He protects us and guides on the way so we aren’t led astray. If you are living for Jesus, don’t ever think that you are wandering aimlessly through this life. There’s a path with your name on it. Just when it looks like the bridge is broken and there’s no way over, He lights the way and shows us just what He had in store for us all along.

*photo credit Viktor Hanacek

Surprised By A 6 Year Old's Faith: How My Son's Prayer Turned a Profit

A few days ago, my six-year-old son asked if he could set up an art stand (think lemonade stand) featuring his Charlie Brown drawings. I was hesitant. I mean, who is going to stop on our street and buy drawings from a kid they don't know?

He kept asking, so I finally relented. The first afternoon nothing happened since it was late and getting dark. I thought he'd forget about it. But today, he kept asking, so again he set up shop. I made sure to give him a pep talk so he wouldn't be let down. I let him know it's Sunday and most of our neighbors are at church. Plus, we live on a quiet street that doesn't see much traffic. Even with all that, he was convinced he was going to sell a drawing. He even asked if he could go door to door. 

He got his older brother in on the action yelling, "Charlie Brown pictures! Get your Charlie Brown pictures! $2." A few cars drove by with only one passenger turning to see what my son was doing. My heart sank.

After about 30 minutes of sitting out in the hot sun, I told the boys they'd have to come in for lunch. Just as they were about to pack up, a guy in Mustang drove by and waved. Then, he slowed down and backed up.

He asked my son, "what are you selling?"

"Charlie Brown drawings," my son replied.

The man got out of the car and asked how much.

"$2 for one and $4 for 2," my son announced.

"Do you have change for a ten?" the man asked.

"Aw man, we are not prepared," my 10-year-old son said. "We don't have change."

"I'll take three drawings," the man said as he handed my son a $10 bill.

I wish someone could have captured the looks on all of our faces.

"You have to sign each one of the pictures for me though, okay?" the man said.

My son happily obliged.

The man waved at me and said, "This is how dreams start." He took his drawings, shook my son's hand, told him to keep up the good work and drove off.

With just one customer, my son sold more than half of his inventory of Charlie Brown drawings.

When we got inside I asked him if he was shocked. He saId, "well, last night I prayed for a customer to come. I told God I would be patient and just do whatever He wanted me to do." His bedtime prayer turned into today's profit.

He had faith when I didn't. And I felt just plain bad about it.

Looking at it logically, it probably was unlikely that anyone would stop on our street and buy from him. But in the world of "with God all things are possible" this was definitely in the realm of possibility. 

I had to apologize to my son for not having faith in his endeavor. It's definitely a lesson that I'll be carrying with me for the rest of my mothering years. No matter how unlikely I think their dreams are or how it doesn't make sense to me, the least I can do is stand in faith with them. I'm amazed at how these children challenge me to up my faith at every turn.

Six Ways To Be in the Will of God: Saturday Night Sermon Notes

I love Saturday night church!

Getting all three kids ready for church on Saturday is so much easier that corralling them early Sunday for 8:45am service. Plus, it gives us a day of rest on Sunday.

The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory. – Chinese proverb

My pastor mentioned this quote last night when he was urging the congregation to take notes to help the message sink in. For a few weeks now, I’ve gone back to handwriting notes after switching from using my iPad to follow along and take notes. I had to chuckle at myself tonight because I forgot my notebook so I had to use a scribbled up sheet I found in my Bible. 

Tonight’s message was good solid teaching so I thought I’d share sermon notes from my pastor's message at Saturday night church.

The topic: Six Ways To Be in the Will of God.

1. The will of God is sitting at Jesus’ feet. Mark 3:31-35  Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

We need to hear God’s Word and spend undistracted time in the Bible. Meditation = illumination = manifestation = action.

2. The will of God is giving to the Lord then through something He is doing through people. 2 Corinthians 8:1-7 

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

We are to give of ourselves, our time and talents. Then we are to support the work that God is giving through others like missions, volunteering for programs, etc. When we see God moving through a work, it is His will that we give to it.

3. God’s will is that you work hard and enthusiastically.

Ephesians 6:5-8 Living Bible (TLB): Slaves, obey your masters; be eager to give them your very best. Serve them as you would Christ. 6-7 Don’t work hard only when your master is watching and then shirk when he isn’t looking; work hard and with gladness all the time, as though working for Christ, doing the will of God with all your hearts.8 Remember, the Lord will pay you for each good thing you do, whether you are slave or free.

This scripture should be read in the context of employer and employee. We should work as if Jesus is our boss and not man. Don’t just do enough to get by but do your work and be happy about it. Even if you think you have a calling on your life, still work as unto the Lord until you are moved to your next assignment.

4. God’s will is that you be sanctified. I Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. Sanctified means set apart for God. We have to choose to live within the boundaries that God has set for our sexuality. God created us and sex. When God sets boundaries it’s for our benefit. He has our best interest at heart.

 3 Ways to Live Pure When You are Tempted:

1.     Run away! Joseph ran away from Potiphar’s wife who pursued him sexually—even to the point of leaving his beloved coat behind. 2 Timothy 2:22, I Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality.

2.     Make no provision for the flesh Romans 13:14 No provision = no advance planning. If you make provision for the flesh then you will fulfill the lust of the flesh.

3.     Renew your mind with the Word. Romans 12:1-2 . Change your thinking. Conform means to squeeze into a mold from outside pressure. The spirit of the age in which we live will squeeze you into its mold.

5.    God’s will is that you find something to be thankful for. I Thessalonians 5:18. Don’t be thankful for everything but in whatever circumstance you find yourself in you can find something to be thankful for.

6.    It’s God’s will that you turn to Him. 2 Peter 3:9 The first step in salvation is to turn from sin. There’s an SOS that goes out from every heart and God sent rescue through Jesus. This rescue can’t be fulfilled any other way or through any other relationship, not through noble works or religion.

Impressing God's Word on Little Hearts

As mommas, we are careful to teach our kids while they're young.

We teach them to brush their teeth. Wash behind their ears. Ties their shoes. Chew with their mouths closed. We teach them to say please and thank you. We do our best to equip for the world.

I realized I was going to great lengths to teach them all I could about how to navigate this big world they'll soon be facing on their own, but I was neglecting the most necessary thing: the Word of God.

Before baby girl was born, I would spend time in the Bible with the boys. But three kids + a tired momma soon squeezed out any extra energy I had for walking with them through the Bible. That is until I got a quiet nudging from the Holy Spirit recently.

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9: 

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

My kids go to a Christian school, but it's not the school's responsibility to teach MY children about the Word. We got to church every week, but it's not on the church to be the primary teacher of my children about God. Our role as parents is to impress God's word upon our children's heart.

Sure, we can wait until they get older and let them decide for themselves, but that's not what the Bible requires. Waiting means the impressionable years would have since passed and getting that Word on their hearts is not such an easy task then.

I believe we are to impress the Word on our children's hearts when they're young because that's when it will make its mark best. I think about all the Play Doh that the boys have played with down through the years. New Play Doh is so lovely. It's soft and moldable in your hands. A joy to play with. They would mold the clay in their hands and then stamp it with designs or carve smiles on Play Doh people. Down the line, the new Play Doh would get left out, the tops not put on tightly resulting in dry, hard balls of clay. Hard to mold and carve Play Doh when it's old. It's mostly just a crumbly mess that has to be tossed. 

I see my kids hearts like that new Play Doh: pliable and totally ready for the Word of God.  This is is why I'm taking every effort to impress it upon their little hearts right now.

So every night before bed, this tired momma pulls out the Bible, gathers the little people and we walk through the Scriptures as they are read aloud. And last night, wouldn't you know what our Bible verses were? Deuteronomy 6: 4-9. Just a little confirmation that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

And as I asked the boys what this verse meant to them, my oldest recited word for word a New Testament verse that supported what we were studying.

My making an impression is not in vain. And our time together has become a welcome part of their day.

I'm making it my business to walk and talk the Word of God not just during our evening Bible study but also when we're sitting at home and when we are riding in the car. When we wake up and as we get ready for bed. I want their roots to run deep and for them to have a genuine love for God's Word....not just on Sundays (or Saturday nights which is when we go to church). I want the Bible to be woven into their every day lives. 

Praying the Write Way: A Look At My Prayer Notebook

About six years ago I started a prayer notebook. It started out of sheer desperation really: too many prayers to keep in my heart so I poured them out on paper. 

Quite a few years ago, I'd taken a class at church where the instructor had us write prayers to God. I'd never been taught that and found the exercise to be a powerful expression of prayer.

Back to my first prayer notebook, It was a combination of scriptures turned prayer, chapters of the Bible written out, lyrics from songs whose words were like prayer to me, answers to prayer and little snippets of prayer encouragement to name a few. 

It was a simple Mead composition notebook that I toted everywhere. It's seen better days. One thing I didn't like about it was that it was bound so when one section filled up, there was no way to insert more pages.

When I made my DIY planner and discovered discbound notebooks, I decided to transfer the prayer notebook to that system. It's been lovely to have sections that can be added to.

I created sections for:

Praise: More than prayer, it's a section to praise God for who He is.

Myself: Mainly declarations, lots of prayer requests and scriptures turned into personal prayers.

Husband: self-explanatory.

Kids: There's a general prayer page for all three kids. But each one of my kids also has their own page(s) so I can focus on prayer specific to their individual needs.

Fam+: Includes extended family and friends. I am always saying I'm going to pray for someone. This section helps me not to forget.

Misc: Church, pastor and whatever else doesn't fall into the above sections.

There's also an unmarked tab where I keep articles on prayer and encouragement to pray. 

I used scrapbook paper to make dividers and printed out labels for each section to put on the Post-It tabs.

This notebook helps me to stay organized in prayer more than anything. There's no schedule for who gets prayed for on a certain day, it's just more of a place to jot down requests and answers. Some prayers have been noted on paper for a long time with no answer yet...but seeing it on paper reminds me to keep on praying.