Share In God's Heart In a New Way Today?

Dear friends...

I want to share with you something that I tend to struggle with... and I wonder if many of you do also.

When I am presented with the face of a child who lives a world away, may or may not (most likely not) know Jesus, and barely has clothes to wear or food to eat... it makes me uncomfortable.

Can you relate?

It makes me squirm a little on the inside because really, what can I do?  Hunger and poverty are such rampant issues in "those parts" of the world.... How can 1 person really make that much of a difference?  And I squirm because I'm sitting here in my comfortable, air conditioned house with a dresser full of clothes for my child and a fridge full of food, thinking, "hmmm... which of my 7 different options should I decide to make for dinner tonight?"  And there are sweet mamas on the other side of the world (and in my neighborhood, maybe next door?) who are just hoping and praying that they can come up with SOMETHING to feed their kids tonight.

I have a feeling many of you identify with this squirming I'm talking about.

And yes, it IS Compassion International's "Blog Month," and yes, they are giving away (small) prizes to blogs that direct the most traffic to their child sponsorship page this month.  But really, there is no way I am going to win those prizes. :)  My blog is way too obscure and nowhere near enough people hang out here for me to even have a shot.  I'm very okay with that.

(Wait.  Don't leave yet... because even if you don't have an extra DIME to give each month, there are ways that you can get involved, and your life, and your heart, could be changed by it.  Yes... without financially sponsoring a child.)

I say all of this to let you know that I'm writing today simply because Compassion International is an organization that I really, really believe in.  

(Stan and I sponsor a child through Compassion, by the way.  Stan had actually sponsored her for years before he and I got married.  Her name is Tarikwa and she lives in Ethiopia.  She is precious.)

And here are a few (of a hundred or more) reasons why:

• He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD... (Prov. 19:17)
• Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
• Cultivating a heart that is willing to not turn away from poverty because it is uncomfortable to look at will pave the way for intimacy with God in ways you maybe haven't experienced before... because His heart is so committed to these precious little ones... and as we share in His heart for them, we grow to know Him more.

So.... this is my challenge and my invitation to you today....  Ya ready?

Go, just GO...and LOOK at Compassion's child sponsorship page.  And if sponsoring a child would put your finances out of order, then don't do it.  Really, I mean it.  BUT... look through some of these precious children's pictures....and ask the Lord for His heart for them.  Pray over the pictures.  Pray for the families that those pictures represent.  Ask the Lord to meet each practical need, and even more, ask Him to reveal His love to each heart.

I am nearly in tears as I write this. 

Sometimes we almost equate "just praying" to doing nothing.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ask the Father to share His heart with you.  He will.  You will be wrecked.  It will be more than worth it.

Here's the link, one more time.

Be blessed today friends....and seek to share in His heart today.

Such A Long Way To Go (Celebrate the Journey)

Hello Friends,

I've been sitting here pouring out my heart to the Lord and I just need to write my heart today....real and raw and honest....in the form of a letter to God.


Father,

I feel like I have such a long way to go.  As a wife, a mom, a leader, and just as a human being on this journey with You.

I want to be so much more than I am in so many areas... and there are so many places in my heart where I  long to see rapid growth and yet Your processes inside of me seem.....so..... painfully.....slooowwww.

I want to be MORE focused and fully alive and present to those You've put before me daily: namely, my husband and my son, and those with whom we pursue community.

I want my heart to be continually in a place where I'm still inside and at peace and tuned in to Your nearness and Your whispers to me.

I want to derive my identity totally from You, from Your heart toward me, and not be influenced or swayed or defined by the opinions of people.

I want the priorities of my heart and time and energy and focus to be in order and pleasing to You.

I feel so far from where I want to be.... in more ways than I can count.

Oh Father, sometimes I look at my own inadequacy and it makes me shudder and tremble on the inside.  

Sometimes I look at myself and all I can see are my weak spots and the places I want to be that I am just....simply....not.


And then these precious whispers from Him come cascading down over my heart...


My Sweet Daughter,

It's very true that you have a long way to go....and I am thrilled by that... because the journey, the process, is what this whole relationship thing is all about.

I want you to walk here, right beside Me as I mold and shape and steer you toward all that I have for you and all I want you to become.  And if you were to quickly arrive at all of these places where you want to be, think how much you and I would miss out on together along the way.... 

Intimacy is forged along the way...as you take your eyes off of your own inadequacy and fix them on My MORE-THAN-ADEQUACY.

I'm inviting you to celebrate the journey.  Celebrate the long way ahead.  When you're tempted to be frustrated because the path is so long....relax, lean into Me as we walk together.

In this space in time where you see the goal ahead and are tempted to so quickly rush to compare the now version of yourself to who you know you will be then...see each of those gaps between the now and the not yet as opportunities... 


...opportunities to be filled by Me, empowered by Me, to be a vessel in which My strength can be made perfect and through which My glory can pour out all around you.

And remember this truth... if you could meet people's every need, you would draw them into dependence on you instead of pointing them toward ME as their ultimate Source.

So... let's walk this road together today...and the next day....and the next.  And let Me hold your hand and guide you and be the Strength and the Beauty that fill your weak places.  Let Me fill in your gaps.

And as you learn to lean into Me still more, the depth of trust and relationship we will share will be beyond your wildest dreams.  I can't wait to share more of My heart with you as we walk this path....

I love that we have a long way to go....together.

*********

As always, I love to hear your heart, friends.  If you're here today, I'd love for your to let me in on your thoughts a little, to let me know how I can pray for you.... to let me walk with you for a few minutes here...?  

Be blessed today to experience His completeness, strength, and beauty in all your weak places as you lean into Him more...


(Related:  For the Days We Feel So Inadequate,  Gentle Reminders to Slow Down)

Happy Labor Day! Moms, Why Do You Love Your Job?

Happy Labor Day, friends!

2 years ago, I was praying I would go into labor on Labor Day.  It was my due date with my sweet boy Isaac....whose birthday, by the way, isn't for 10 more days. :)  Nope... I did not go into labor on Labor Day.  (But wouldn't it have been cool if I had?)

Labor Day was instituted to pay  "tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers" (source: Wikipedia).... and it does seem like, in our society, there's a lot of emphasis placed on all of the "WORK" involved in being a mom.  Meaning, we can so easily slip into focusing on how HARD and "thankless" our job as a mom is.... developing this heart attitude of "mommy-martyrdom".... as opposed to rejoicing in the fact that we GET TO partner with the Father to shepherd our children's precious little hearts.

Soooooo....... As a way to continue to cultivate gratitude in our hearts......

 I wanted to begin a list of reasons that I LOVE my "job" as a mom today....and to invite you, fellow moms (of any age or stage of mom-hood), to finish the list.  This is a group project. :)  Ready?  Set?  Go!

Why I Love My "Job" As A Mom

1. Adorably mispronounced toddler words (i.e. dinosaur = tight-o-for; oatmeal = ay-meelt)
2. Wild little boy hugs
3. Reading an extra book at bedtime, seizing this moment because it will be gone too quickly
4. Sneaking into his room at night and watching him sleep
5. The joy of seeing his little heart learning to trust and obey Mommy and Daddy
6. Getting to hold and rock and comfort him; choosing to cherish the opportunity, even when it's 2 AM
7. His little hand under mine "helping" me stir, or sweep, or "dust-bust" away his crumbs
8. Watching him and Daddy run (or fly or slide or jump or march) wild through the house
9. Belly laughs over the baby monitor while he's "falling asleep" at night
10. His little voice calling me "mommy"
11. A playroom filled with matchbox cars and toy bulldozers and helicopters and dump trucks and airplanes
12. Painting the items listed in #11 for his room
13. Having to go look at the lawnmowers every time we're in a hardware store
14. His requests for "2-2-3! 2-2-3!" (which means, "will you please say 1, 2, 3! and swing me up in the air?")
15. This precious gift of partnership with the Father to shepherd and shape and nurture his little heart....

16. God's gentle nudges of my heart, reminders of His love for me, His delight over me, in the way that my heart so often feels like it could just burst with love and delight over my son.

I love my job. :)

Your turn!  Comment and add your own reasons that you love your job as a mom.  Be as creative as you like. ;)

Splashes of Beauty: Captured This Week

Join me on my continuing journey of responding to the Father's invitation to keep our eyes open for beauty all around us... for moments that might, on the surface, appear to be "mundane," in which the Lord captures our hearts and our attention with these "splashes of beauty...."

...to turn our heart back toward Him in worship in these moments as He whispers His love to our heart.

My plan is to post these moments each Sunday in pictures from the previous week....inviting you to join me in this exercise of keeping our eyes open for beauty...and together cultivating gratitude in our own hearts.... a greater awareness of His love mediated to us through His perfect gifts.

This Week's Splashes of Beauty...

So thankful for almost 2 whole days of beautiful, glorious RAIN here in Kansas City......

Rain...after the longest, hottest drought I can remember. The earth (and I) breathe sighs of relief...and praise God

for the beginning of September... never been

so thankful to see Autumn on its way.  

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.

 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.

    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

 They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.

 For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

~Psalm 36:5-6

Would you join me?  Comment with a link to

your splashes of beauty from this week?

(Or comment this week to let me know you're beginning this week... :) )

For the Days When We Worry.... (Guest Post)

Well.... it happened.  And honestly, I can't say I'm surprised... I got Isaac's cold.  Because really, how can I possibly resist kissing his adorable cheeks just because he has a cold?  I can't!  So... here I sit.  Sniffling and sneezing till I think my head might fall off.  Fun mental picture, huh?  Sorry. :)

Anyway, in light of the fact that I do most of my writing during Isaac's naps, and the fact that today, I am in need of a nap.... I'm leaving you in the hands of my incredible, sweet, Jesus-loving, gospel-teaching husband. He sent this out in the form of an email a couple mornings ago to the house church that we lead together... and it is so good that I just have to give you all this taste of his heart...  SO... Without further ado... meet my husband Stan. :)

For the Days When We Worry...

Dear Friends,

I am up early this morning with the Lord and I really feel his encouragement to guard ourselves from fretting. Here are the verses that I got from Ps 37:

• Ps 37:1 - do not fret because of those who are evil
• Ps 37:7b - do not fret when people succeed in their ways
• Ps 37:8b - do not fret—it leads only to evil

I really feel like this is an area in which the Lord wants to partner with us... taking our eyes off what is naturally discerned and outside our control and putting our eyes on what is spiritually discerned and controlled by God. 

This is a discipline that takes meditating on the Word in order to seal up the gaping, black abyss of worry and step into the spacious, sunlit place of faith in God's character and promises.

Here are the verses in that same psalm that we can use to counteract worry:

• Ps 37:4 - Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart... 
• Ps 37:5-6 - Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
• Ps 37:7 - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him (to me, this means stop the mental exercise of trying to fix my own problems)

If these verses do not bring you peace (they might even frustrate you), then I invite you to meditate on them.... write them out, speak them out loud, permanently ingrain them in your mind... then ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom to discern them, and He will give it! We have the mind of Christ, we have his Spirit as our counselor, so believe it and act on it (I'm speaking to myself here). 

I don't claim that if we do what the Lord is asking us to do, our problems will go away, only that we will enjoy peace in the midst of things that USED to trouble us and eat us up with anxiety.

Grace and peace ARE ours in abundance today... they were purchased for us, now let's take hold of them!

-Stan

Ummm, hey.  It's Dana again.  I just have to leave you with this very brief, completely unrelated (but helpful in that it allows you to know a bit of my hubby's personality) video. (I didn't tell him I was going to do this... Ha.... Don't be upset with me, babe! ;)  ) 

 Enjoy... (You'll want to stop the music if you're listening to it by scrolling up to the top of the page and pausing the audio player.)

**You may have to turn up your computer's volume fairly loud... for some reason this vid turned out a little quiet.**