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Saturday, January 28, 2012

We Forget




















Unfortunately I had a less-than-lovely encounter with someone this morning that left me feeling a bit disheartened. And I hate it when that happens. I hate it when I allow someone else's bad mood to interfere with my joy... I really do.

My daughter had a 4-hour play practice this morning at 10 at the school. It happened to be on the side of the school that isn't unlocked on the weekends which made it pretty difficult when we arrived.. on time.. to a prescheduled practice yet unable to get in. Thankfully there was another student who had arrived a bit earlier who graciously held the door open for us or we wouldn't have been able to get in. We would have had to get back in the car, drive around to the other side of the building to see if that door was unlocked which would have made us late for practice which would have cost us as the director charges for every minute you're late (which I am not arguing isn't a good idea... I find lateness totally intolerable).

As we made our way in I thought it would be a good idea to tell the director about the experience we had and let her know that the doors to that side of the building were not unlocked. I thought it would be something she might want to be aware of. Since we struggled to get in, I was certain there would be others who would struggle as well and perhaps she had something to wedge in the door to keep it unlocked for others. Her response was, "I don't have anything in my back pocket." She then proceeded to tell me that the others would need to figure out a way to get in. She and the others were where they needed to be. They were inside the building... warm and safe and taken care of. But there were others who would struggle to get in and be left out in the cold because we failed to offer them a way in or at the very least, provide a way to warn them about the locked door.

As I walked back out of the door and to my car I noticed that there were several kids who were walking back to their own cars after having attempted to come in before noticing that the doors were locked and there was no access. Thankfully I was able to catch a few and help to let them in before I had to get into my own car and drive away.

As I drove away I began to think of this scenario from an eternal perspective...

Isn't this sometimes how we Christians can become?

We accept Christ because of a sacrifice someone else made to get us there. Maybe it was a school teacher who spent some extra time with you because she saw so much potential in you. So you ended up having conversations about Jesus with her and because of the investment of her time, you accepted Christ as your Savior. Maybe it was a coach who became your mentor and through his personal sacrifice of spending quality nights away from his family while coaching and mentoring you, you surrendered your life to Christ. Maybe it was a singe parent or a best friend or a Sunday School teacher or a pastor. But more than likely, there was someone who gave up something to share the gospel with you. Someone invited you to church, someone prayed for you or someone read scripture with you... but chances are someone in your life cared enough about you to make sure that they would see you again in eternity.

So what happens to many of us after we have crossed the line of faith? Unfortunately what happens to so many of us is we forget. We forget what it's like to be on the outside. To be searching. To be lost. To be afraid. To be without Jesus. We forget. We become numb to the hurting world because of our security. You see - we're safe. We've got our act together. We know where we're going... but we forget that there's a hurting, dying world out there lost without Jesus. We forget that we might be the only link they have to a Father who desperately longs for a relationship with them. We forget.

When we accept Christ we're safe. We're an insider now. We... like those few kids and the director who made a way inside the doors this morning... are warm and content. They found their way. But what about the others? What about the ones who were left outside? With no way in? The ones who were left out in the cold? What about them?

Isn't it our job to spread the Good News of Jesus to the world? Mark 16:15 says, "Go into ALL the world and preach the Good News to EVERYONE." (Emphasis mine.)

And this was Jesus' command to us believers. I don't think it was a suggestion - but rather an order. And it was intended for ALL the world - not just a few. He said it pretty plain and simple... everyone.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Be imitators of me, as I am in Christ." And wasn't it Paul who turned from Christian Persecutor to making his life's missions to see to it that the Gospel was presented to as many as he could?

There is a hurting world out there who needs to know how much God loves them and what great length He went to to prove it. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people who will suffer an eternity separated from God because they don't know this man named Jesus who had them in mind when He hung on a cross for their sins. Salvation is not just for you and for me... it's for everyone. It's to be an offer for all people of all tribes and nations. Salvation isn't something we take for ourselves and hide from the world. It's something we were made to share. It's something we were meant to pass along. It's a gift that we received and that gift is to be given away so that others can experience the same freedom we've found.

I don't believe God intended for us as Christ-followers, to stay inside our warm, safe homes and churches and schools, while there are cold, hurting, hungry people who will miss out on the greatest gift ever given if we don't do our part to introduce them to Him.

It's up to us. We have the choice. We can either hang a sign on our door that says, "The door is locked - good luck finding your own way in" or we can unlock the doors, creating a way in for lost people and embrace them with the love of Christ.

Let's not forget that we, too, were once lost...

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Friday, January 27, 2012

Week Two: A Perfect Mess

















I am blessed beyond measure for the privilege and honor of being with some amazing women on Thursday night. I know I'm sounding a bit like a broken record, but there is no where else I would rather be than with these ladies for this hour and a half on Thursday night! Thank you, Jesus, that you made a way for us to study Your word and for loving us enough to meet us where we are but for not being content to leave us there. I am in awe of Your mercy and grace!

Chapter two, Leaping Over Legalism, proved to be another rich chapter as we discussed the ways "religious rules" can get in the way of our relationship with the Father.

It was my Senior year of high school and I was... well... to put it mildly... a little on the rebellious side. I didn't care for "rules" so much. I don't think it had as much to do with rules not applying to me as much as it did with my inherit desire to see how far I could test the waters and get away with something clearly identified as a "rule". I knew rules applied to me. I knew I was expected to follow them, I just wanted to push the limits as far as I could to see if I could actually get away with disobedience.

And it worked a lot of the time. It worked for me my Junior year when our skirts would get measured at the beginning of the school day to make sure they were to the knee or below. I'd get measured and then immediately run to the bathroom where I would hike it up and roll it down at the waist in order to look cooler with a shorter skirt. And it worked my Senior year when I would park in the teachers lot because it was closer than the Senior lot and no one ever noticed. Well.. until that teacher came back from maternity leave. And even then I figured something else out that worked even better.

And here's the thing... I know we have rules to live by. I know that. I know you shouldn't kill your neighbor. I know you should drive the speed limit. I know you should not wear white after Labor Day. I know these things. But I just wonder how many of our "rules" as Christians are actually tripping up new believers in such a way that it's actually turning them off to their faith in Jesus.

I heard the lyrics to a song the other day that made me thing of this very thing. It's called Jesus Friend of Sinners by Casting Crowns. There's a line in the first verse that says, "People are on there way to Jesus, but they're tripping over me."

I don't want to be a stumbling block for people. I don't want to be in the way of their authentic relationship with their Savior. Just the opposite. My heart's desire is that when people who are non-believers look at me - they will see something in me that they want for themselves. In other words... I want God to use me in such a way that my daily walk with Him alone will make such an impact on the world around me that they, too, will want to know how they can have a relationship with the Living Water.

That is my sincere desire and my daily prayer for my life.

But living in our world is messy. It's difficult. And often times painful... even (and sometimes especially) for Christians. We give our lives to Christ with sometimes a view of perfection for our future, yet the opposite is true. Carrying the cross... which Jesus instructs us to do (Luke 9:23)... is a difficult task. A serious act of obedience and a necessity of Christian living.

And there's clearly been rules spelled out in scripture that we must live by if we desire to live a Christ-filled life. Rules like the ten commandments which God designed for our protection and well-being. But focusing on rules as opposed to a relationship can often times be a deterrent for a seeker in search of grace.

I love what author, Lisa Harper, says on page 29, "Walking in faith means trusting in God alone, not in what we say or do or wear. It means being honest about the fact that each of us is a mess and we need God's mercy. It means recognizing our complete dependence on His protection, provision, and providence."

She goes on to say on that same page (29), "I think fixating on our own competency - or obsessing over our incompetency - is one of the biggest mistakes believers make. Because when we focus all our energy on trying to be in control, we forget our innate sinfulness and our desperate need for God."

Our Psalms verse this week is Psalm 62. It's a psalm written by King David during a time scholars believe he was facing a family crisis involving his son, Absalom, who betrayed his father in some of the worst ways imaginable. In the beginning of the Psalm (vs 2) David pens these words, "He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken." However, when you hop over to verse 6, David seems to have shifted his thinking and gained some strength by saying, "He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken."

I shall not be shaken. Period.

Lisa writes on page 33, "David's still the same mistake-prone man he was when he started the Psalm. In fact, the slight mood swing from verse 2 to verse 6 reflects the genuine wrestling of a regular guy, not the fake piety of someone pretending to be perfect. David isn't playing the part of a big hero here; the Holy Spirit just reminded him of how huge his God is."

I wrote at the bottom of my page, "In our weaknesses and inadequacies - our job is to make God great through them."

And you have to love what she says on page 34, "No one but God deserves our absolute devotion. Whether prosperous or poor, human beings aren't worthy of worship. If we put our hope solely in humanity, were going to need a whole lot of Prozac." Amen to that!

Lisa ends the chapter with this on page 36, "God's love frees us from meaningless rules and religious propriety, which means we can live authentically and abundantly by relying on Him instead of ourselves."

Here are some of my bottom lines to this chapter:

We, as believers, are called to stand out. To be set apart from the world. But we can't allow our rules and regulations to misguide people who are in desperate search for the Savior.

We must seek God's face daily and listen to what He has to say to us.

We must recognize our complete dependence on His protection.

God used David in a mighty way in spite of all of his failures... because he learned how to give praise to God in and through anything and everything.

It's not about us - it's all about Him.

Thank you for joining us for another week of A Perfect Mess. I believe God is just getting started with the transformations He wants to make in our lives! Praise Him!

Enjoy reading friends!

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Friday, January 20, 2012

Week One: A Perfect Mess

















I have the sincere blessing of meeting with some wonderful ladies every Thursday night for a book study. No where else I would want to be on a cold, snowy Thursday night! This will be our second study since the inception of Women of Thanks and we are studying an amazing book entitled A Perfect Mess by Lisa Harper. Lisa describes her book this way...

"On those days when french fries litter the floor of your minivan, when you think bad words about other drivers, when your smile hides an anxious heart - in those moments when you fall short of all you'd hoped to be - what does God see when he looks at you? In your less-than-lovely moments, God sees a precious daughter in need of His perfect love."

Lisa is a master story-teller who weaves her real-life stories with humor and honesty. It's a breath of fresh air to read from a writer who is authentic about her faith and how God used her in all of her messes and mistakes, to make significant Kingdom impact on this generation of women!

You can watch more on Lisa here as she describes how she came to writing this book... A Perfect Mess...



What I appreciate about this book is that it takes you through the Psalms in a very practical way. We're not reading about people who had their lives all together. We're not reading about people who were perfect... in actuality, we're reading about people who in Lisa's words are "bemoaning something". People who came humbled before God who were imperfect. Who messed up. Who were broken and weary and tired and weak. And who can't relate to people like that?

As children we loved to play dress-up... but as adults, don't we do the same thing? Don't we try to mask our true feelings in an effort to "compete" for perfection? I know I am guilty of this time and again as I look back over the course of my life. And I'm sure you've found yourself there too... in a similar situation... You're on your way to church... you get into an argument with your husband about the lack of attention he's given you lately, you're yelling at your kids because they made you late AGAIN and you have NO desire to go to that family picnic later in the day that you still have to make eight pounds of potato salad for and you haven't even been to store to get the potatoes yet! Oh - but as you walk inside the church doors, anxiety still at an all-time high, you burst through all smiles. And when someone greets you with "Good Morning, how are you today?" you confidently lie and tell them, "GREAT! How are you?"

Really? Great? And just moments before you were ready to start a war with the very people you love more than anything on planet earth including the family dog?

But isn't this what we do?

Because heaven help us if we don't "appear" to have it all together!

Lisa speaks very clear to this in the opening pages of chapter 1, Walk This Way. She talks about an experience she had purchasing a pair of black, knee-high, leather boots in Chicago with her girlfriends on the night before a big event in which she was a speaker. As much as she loved them - they were extremely uncomfortable. In fact her girlfriends could tell that she was having a difficult time walking in them - but she was not about to let them think they were anything less than perfect! She ends up buying the clearenced boots and wearing them the following evening to her speaking engagement. I laughed out loud when I read her words on page 8, "I no longer had any sensation in my toes. I limped mincingly to the podium and tried to focus on speaking while fearing my feet were in the initial stages of gangrene."

And so the question... when was the last time you hobbled around in pain due to your own foolish choices?

I can think of countless times when I metaphorically "hobbled around" due to some poor choices... Poor eating habits, poor exercising habits, poor choice in boyfriends growing up. You name it! Lisa says it best on page 8 when she says, "we must follow our heavenly Father's path instead of being lured off course by what ungodly people proclaim to be fashionable. And this ode to obedience includes a warning as well: attempting to be hip in ways that aren't cool with God will ultimately lead to hobbling around in pain, separated from the only One who loves you unconditionally."

The Psalm focus for this week is Psalm 1:

"Happy are those who don't listen to the wicked, who don't go where sinners go, who don't do what evil people do."


The Hebrew word for "happy" in Psalm 1:1 can be translated as "blessed". Here we aren't talking about being happy people all the time. People with fake smiles to mask the pain. No. Instead we who know Christ as our personal Savior, understand that there is a BIG difference between being happy and being filled with JOY. This should bring us all a little relief. While we are here in this world there are going to be days when we just don't feel "happy". When the smile won't come... when the road is hard... when the pain runs deep. But we DO have reasons to be women filled with the joy of the Lord. Because when we follow His path for our lives... when we live in obedience to His commands... JOY will come. It will indeed flow from our relationship with the Father.

And the bottom line to Psalm 1 is this: happiness can't keep company with wickedness. We must keep ourselves away from those things that lure us away from the best that God has for us. God calls us blessed. We were made for so much more than this world has to offer!

Psalm 1 continues:

"They love the Lord's teachings, and they think about these teachings day and night. They are strong, like a tree planted by a river. The tree produces fruit in season, and its leaves don't die. Everything they do will succeed."

We are to be like trees planted by a river whose roots grow deep. Nourished. Strengthened. Spiritually healthy. That is God's desire for His children. For our roots to run deep in Him.

Lisa takes us through the New Testament scripture in Matthew regarding sheep and goats. When Jesus teaches on doing to the 'least of these' (including feeding and clothing and housing) He says "Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored that was me - you did it to me". Sheep will be the ones who do this as Jesus... while goats on the other hand will be the ones who didn't do as Jesus and by doing so ultimately ignore and reject Jesus.

I love her illustration of sheep here. And she describes this well on page 19, "they (sheep) have walked closely with Jesus and have begun to mirror some of His mannerisms. It's not that they're inherently better than the wicked guys; sheep and goats are both stinky; hairy manure machines." She goes on to say that "furthermore, my veterinarian friends tell me that goats are actually smarter than sheep. That means that sheep don't have more intrinsic value than goats. The real reason they're elevated in this gospel imagery is their relationship with the Shepherd."

So - wait a minute. Goats are the bad guys and they are actually "smarter" than sheep?? It's more proof that God uses the weak in the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). It's another demonstration of sheep being elevated in scripture due to their inherit ability to obey they master. We are ultimately and thankfully separated from the goats because of our RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.

And so the next question... am I a goat or a sheep?

I'm looking so forward to our time together during this study on A Perfect Mess. I believe God is going to do amazing things as we discover all the ways God loves us!!

Enjoy reading friends!

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com

Monday, January 16, 2012

Feeling Thankful
















Feeling thankful this morning for so many things - I felt like I must hop onto blogspehere and share. Some mornings... well... some mornings I'm simply so thankful that I nearly burst!

Here are some things I'm thanking God for this morning...

Wet kisses from my favorite furry friend, our Golden Retriever, Buddy (who happens to be the best dog on the planet earth!).

Long goodbyes with my husband before he departs for work for the day (overwhelmingly thankful for the way he sacrifices to provide for our family!).

The way the snow glistens in the sun on this beautiful Michigan morning in January!

A working washer and dryer. (Love the swishing sound that the washer makes when it's running. I'm ever-so-grateful for the loved ones I share my life with who make this laundry possible.)

A day off from the busyness of ordinary life for Martin Luther King day... including no school for my daughter, Chloe!

A good nights rest!

Prayer warriors who lift me up in prayer daily.

Friends whom I can feel safe with and trust completely.

My freedom of speech.

God's protection on snowy, icy roads.

Our servicemen and women who are fighting for our country while I live a life privileged by their sacrifices.

Women of faith who have gone before me who were brave enough to stand for what they believed in.

A warm home.

Cell phone service.

Great books I'm enjoying reading right now... (A Perfect Mess by Lisa Harper, Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman, Honestly by Johnnie Moore, A Women After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George and Women of The Bible by Ann Spangler).

Thank You God for another day of being blessed. Thank You for your provision. Thank You for Your comfort and strength. Thank You that You've promised to never leave me or forsake me. Thank you for Your mercy and grace and for calling me Your precious child even though I am messy and awkward. Thank you for calling me to do Your work even through my own failures and fusses. You are a great God and I am in awe of Your presence in my life.

How about you? What are YOU thankful for today? I'd love to hear!!

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



www.wendybender.blogspot.com