(IN)Courage

[Judy Harder]

How To Give The Moment That Can Change A Life
Jan 16, 2012 Kristen Strong

I read her post, the one where she says writing cards changes lives. Is that dramatic, I wonder? To think a card could really do that?

I recall an earlier time, a time when my thought life sped downhill like a runaway train. I looked at friends who seemingly handled everything infinitely better and wondered why I couldn't measure up as daughter, wife, mama. When the time came for a few of these friends and I to take a trip together, I thought about sitting out. Sure, I needed the rest a girlfriend's weekend would provide. But with this cyclone of insecurity spinning fast, I didn't think my confidence could take another hit.

I confessed my fears through tears to Jen, a true blue confidante. I don't remember one thing she said to me on the phone that day, but I know what she wrote me in a card soon after:

"I want to encourage you to read and memorize a powerful life verse: 2 Corinthians 10:5. Then I want you to do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our struggles with whispers from the Accuser are very similar, for me they can stretch into every area of my life. If I do not filter my thoughts through God's word and take my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, I become quite paralyzed. When I am faithful in this discipline, I see everything much more clearly and I see my value not overly or underly, but reality."

Not only did she encourage through I've-been-there support, but she pointed me to the Void Filler, Cyclone Calmer, and Perspective Giver. With my eyes on Jesus, I see my reality with accuracy. And this message is life changing.

I attended that girlfriend's weekend and had a gloriously good time.

Sure, I can receive and write this kind of encouragement via emails, facebook messages, or blog posts. And those things are beautiful. But I've re-read that taped-up card and other encouraging, special-to-me cards over and over. There's something about holding life giving words in my hands that moves them into my heart. And if God chose the written word as a means for communicating His love to us, there is power in writing words beyond what we even imagine.

A changed life starts with a defining moment. I wonder how God can use me to be that defining moment to a special person in my circle of influence?

So I return the favor and take a moment to give words wings by sending my Jen a moment of real encouragement in a card. I won't stress about making the words deep or profound. It's not how I write, but that I took the time to write in the first place.

It's not dramatic to believe writing cards changes lives. It's cathartic to know God uses us to change lives. He uses us to bring moments to life, to give life through encouragement.

Can you recall a moment when someone sent you life giving words through a card? Do you keep them and re-read them like I do? Did one in particular change your life like Jen's card did for me?

If you have written a blog post about who you sent a card to, why card writing matters, or whatever is on your heart about the topic, please link it below! If you have written a review in part of (in)spired deals, you can also link up your review post here. Also, we will be drawing the names of  FIVE winners from the link-ups to receive a card organizer and a card pack of your choice!

Kristen Strong, Chasing Blue Skies


A Harvest of What is Yet to Come
Jan 16, 2012 Katie Davis


photo by Kim Nunn

At the age of 18, Katie Davis traveled to Uganda for the first time for a three-week short-term mission trip her senior year. She immediately fell in love with the children and people she met. She determined she would do whatever she had to do to get back to the country that had captured her heart.

After graduation, Katie chose to leave her family, friends, boyfriend, college dreams, and the traditional American path, to teach Kindergarten to 138 wide-eyed children who lived in an orphanage. She began chronicling her journey on her blog, Kisses from Katie. In 2008 she became a mother to three orphaned girls. Later that year she established Amazima Ministries, a non-profit organization devoted to caring for orphaned and vulnerable children and the poor through education sponsorship, feeding programs, vocational initiatives, medical care, and spiritual discipleship.



In October 2011, Katie wrote her first book, Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption, released by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. Now a mother of 13 daughters and resident of Uganda, Katie inspires us to put our faith to action every day, saying yes to whatever needs Jesus puts before us.


***

One of my very favorite things about gazing out at my backyard is our sunflowers. Seeds brought from dry Karamoja and planted in the fertile Jinja soil grow at least ten feet tall and radiant, heads lifted to the sun.

Much to my dismay though, the time we get to enjoy the flowers' bloom always seems brief in comparison to the time we have been waiting – days of pulling seeds from the dead heads and drying them in the sun before carefully pushing them back into the soft red dirt of Uganda. Weeks of waiting and finally some tiny green shoots. Then weeks more of watching as the shoots become thick stalks and climb into the sky. Then follows weeks of wonder as small buds open into something glorious and beautiful.

And then so soon, they bend their heads and begin to die. Something in me is so sad as I watch the flowers seemingly loose their splendor. But my 13 daughters are nothing but excited. They rush to the backyard and hack the stalks down, pulling off the flowers that are today bigger than their faces. I cringe. I look at the bare garden and feel loss, but they feel only eager anticipation. Because they remember: next time, there will be more.

Always, the shoots spring up and reach for the sky. Always they bloom beautiful and then always they bow, bending low to the earth and waiting for my children to run wide-eyed in wonder to the harvest. And always, we plant the seeds and next time there is a bigger harvest, more flowers. Many more. My daughters remember beauty from ashes.



I see beauty in the outcome and sadness in the death, but my girls know beauty in the process.

This is what my loving Father taught me every day of the last year, this beauty in the process. That while a healed and whole family is a marvelous thing to behold, the process that got us there is where He was most glorified and where He drew us to Himself. That a wound all healed and covered with smooth new skin is not nearly as wonderful as the relationship that was built while I bandaged that wound everyday for 8 months and cried tears and laughed stories of my Savior. That dreams die and plans change and seasons end, but He is not done yet. He sees the seeds that come with all the endings and He is faithful to turn them into harvest, into beauty.

Sometimes we look out at our lives and it seems the garden is empty – plans dead as withered leaves, dreams laid waste. Could we rejoice in the season of waiting, believing that God who brought Jesus out of the black tomb and brings green shoots out of hard earth will bring new life out of all dark seasons too? Could we know that beauty is in this whole process, the waiting part too, not just the end result?

This year, I have beheld exquisite flowers, glorious outcomes that could have only been designed by God himself. I have watched Him make family out of strangers. I have watched Him sell a book that I never intended to write. I have watched my little girl walk with her foot flat on the ground for the first time in all five years of her life. I have watched alcoholics become moms who work hard to provide for their families. I have watched my 16 year old walk through processing the abuse in her past and learn to jump rope and have her childhood finally restored to her after nearly 4 years of living in a family. I have watched God answer prayers that I hadn't even spoken yet.

As I gaze in wonder, I remember how He brought us out of the dark and the hard.



I remember how He protected us from the pounding rain and the scorching sun, baby green shoots clinging to Him for dear life. I remember that as we reached high to the Son, He came down and pulled us closer. We turn our heads up in awe and we know what is around the corner, but we look expectantly to the bowing and the bending and the death of all we had planned because we know – in Him, there will always be more. Glorious hope.

By Katie Davis, Kisses from Katie






Kisses from Katie is a story of relentless love and redemption by a would-be college student who moved to Uganda instead. Katie is "writing with the hope that as you cry and laugh with my family you will be encouraged that God still uses flawed human beings to change the world."

Learn more about Katie's story. Watch her book trailer below {click here if you can't see it}


To stay in touch with all God is doing in Katie's life, visit: www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com


Is Wisdom On Your Shopping List?
Jan 16, 2012  danisejurado




I love that God uses the simplest areas of my life to teach me some of the most life changing lessons.

Shopping for groceries and household items is just a part of my usual weekly schedule.  I normally don't think much of it.  I always viewed it as routine, nothing special.

I tend to be an organizer and list maker by nature.   Sometimes I make trips to different stores for favorite items or better prices.  This of course means that I make separate lists for the variety of stores I go to.

One morning while I was reading the Bible I came across this scripture.  It's a verse I've read many times before, but this time a specific word seemed to jump off the page at me.  As if God were saying to me, "Pay attention I have something special to show you."

Isaiah 33:6

He will be the sure foundation for your time, a rich STORE

of salvation and wisdom and knowledge,

the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.



"STORE" Now, there's a word I'm very familiar with.

I read the verse again... "He will be the sure foundation for your time, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge..." 

I pondered that word, a word  I have used so many times in such a casual and uneventful manner.

Was God telling me that He had a store?

No sooner did that question cross my mind when I felt I knew the answer.  He does...  God has a store!  He has a wonderful and very rich store filled with beautiful treasures like wisdom and knowledge.  He gently encouraged me to take the time and do some daily shopping in His store for my family's needs.

God's store has an unlimited supply of  priceless treasures that are only available from Him and they satisfy the needs of my household far beyond the simple items once found on my lists.

Proverbs 24: 3-4 tells us that it's "by wisdom a house is built... and through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."

Building a home is so much more than cooking, cleaning, decorating and stocking the shelves with various necessities, it's remembering the most important shopping list of all.

It's a list that can only be written from the heart, by faith in a loving Father who desires to fill each room with rare and beautiful treasures.

I am so thankful that God took a routine part of my weekly schedule that I once viewed as unimportant and turned it into an amazing reminder that He wants to add a few items to my shopping list.

I don't think I will ever write another shopping list again without thinking about God's store and all the treasures He has made available to our family through His promises.

Are there a few things God wants to add to your shopping list?



Single In The New Year
Jan 16, 2012 Annie Downs




Historically, I haven't loved blogging about being single. I mean, I will. I'll do it. But only because I love you.  And I know you single girls are out there, so it's only fair that you get a few posts for you every now again. And as you'll see deeper into this post, I want to talk about being single more in 2012 than I have ever before.

So as 2012 begins, I start another of my 31 years on this planet out of a relationship. [Is that the opposite of "in" a relationship? Or should I say (in) a relationship? Anyways....]

Hey single ladies, I want our 2012 to be different. Don't you? I mean, I'm NOT saying I want us to compromise and be different in a "give up hope and grab the next fella in your line of vision" kind of way. I'm just saying that I think we, collectively, could do some things differently and make an unique impact in our individual worlds.

Maybe I should just say, "hey y'all. I'm gonna have a different 2012. Wanna join me?" because maybe the other way sounds bossy?

Ok.

Hey y'all. I'm going to make the choice to have a different 2012.

1. I'm going to be grateful.

Every. day. Thanks to our beautiful friend Ann, we have all learned how to hone this skill. So I'm going to find one reason every day that I am grateful for my life place as a single Christian woman [Example: I got to stay up way late watching a movie last night and no one cared!]. I want to remind my soul, much like David does in Psalm 103, to bless the Lord.

2. I'm going to be generous.

With my time- because I have more of it than any wife or mom. With my money- because no one else lives off my dime. With my stories- because there are tons of girls in their 20s who worry about how to swim these waters and its unfair of me to withhold encouragement. Because dear girls in your 20s, you will survive this and if you'll let Him, God can really bless this single season.

3. I'm going to read from a book every night.

I know, some of you think that goal is ridiculously tiny. But with the amount of minutes I spend in front of a computer screen, my book-in-hand reading time has diminished greatly. So while I'm still the only body in my bed, I'm going to use some of those last moments each day to hold a book and read it.

4. I'm going to be brave.

I am not, mind you, going to jump out of a plane. But I will try to learn some new skills and talk to boys I don't already know and tell my pastor that I want to meet a nice guy in our church. I will do those things that scare me a little.

5. I'm going to cook.

It's easy to convince myself that eating out is just easier and that making meals for one is annoying. And it kind of is. But. I love cooking. So I'm going to do it.

In conclusion, here's what I'm going to do this year: ENJOY. As best I can, as much as I can, I'm going to enjoy who I am and where I am.

Wanna join me?

What are your thoughts on being single in 2012? Link up with us or leave a comment and let's hear your plans!

[Judy Harder]

When You Think You Are Not Ready

Jan 17, 2012  Katie Davis



With a passion to follow Jesus, 18-year-old Katie Davis moved to Uganda to serve the poorest of the poor.

She did not know then that 4 years later she would be single mother to 13, Executive Director of Amazima Ministries, adoption advocate, and author of a New York Times Bestseller: Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption.

Her blog, Kisses from Katie, has received over 160,000 page views in the last month, averaging between 4,000-6,000 hits a day. She inspires men and women alike to live out their faith in Jesus with a total surrender, trusting that His plan is better than our own, always.

::

:

Can you imagine the stench?

Joseph has walked and Mary ridden 90 miles in the scorching sun, the wind whipping around their faces and caking them with dust from the dirt road. More sweat pours from Mary's brow as she experiences the pains of labor for the first time. The stable is packed with all the travelers' animals. Flies buzz around them in the heat and the air is heavy with the smells of sickly sweet hay and manure.

And into this, a baby enters.

I have witnessed this kind of birth before. Woman sighs and baby falls right into the dirt and in the dark of a tiny mud hut with the light of just a thin candle our eyes search for something, anything, sharp to cut the cord. Water is a luxury and too far to fetch at this hour so we wrap the baby in whatever filthy rag-scraps we can find without even wiping her off first.



Joseph, still merely a child himself, searches for anything he can find in the dim light to cut the cord and swaddle his child, probably rags carrying the afore mentioned stench and the dirt of the journey. Trembling and exhausted they wrap Him as best they can, and swatting flies away lay him in the same trough out of which these animals have been eating.

Behold, the Savior.

And in this moment God fulfills every promise and every prophecy. This, God's perfect time. God does not wait for the world to get ready, He enters right into the mess.

He makes Himself very least, no more status or opportunity than an easily overlooked infant in the slums where I spend so many hard hours. Very least so that He can commune with the very most desperate – you and me. He doesn't mind that I am not ready yet and He doesn't mind the wretched condition of my heart or the stench of my sin. God's time is now and He enters into the mess, ready or not.

His perfect timing, now. Now is where He has called us. And we are just not ready yet. We need to clean up the house a bit and pray a little more and seek more counsel and we don't know how to do that yet and oh, we have our excuses. And God says, "I'm here now, and I am ok with the mess because I am here for the messy."

God doesn't need us to be ready for Him; He has been ready for us since the beginning of time and the Messiah is here calling us to commune with the Holy One, to eat at His table.

I want the house to be organized and kids to be clean and nicely dressed and I want dinner to come out of the oven on time, but at the end of the day the laundry still piles and there are still crumbs in the corner and can anyone remember if I brushed my teeth today? And it can't be the New Year yet because I am just not ready for it to be a new year yet.



But I remember when I wasn't ready to move to Uganda. I remember when I wasn't ready to kiss the people I loved the most goodbye. I remember when I didn't have enough money to start a ministry, and I remember when I wasn't old enough to be a mother, and I remember when I didn't know how to parent. I remember when I couldn't cook for fifteen people and when I didn't want to share my house and my things and my life with sick people and addicts. I remember when I was afraid of the slum community that now holds hundreds of friends and when I was terrified that my daughter would never walk and when I was scared that we would never heal after tragic loss. And I remember that never, not once, was I really as ready as I wanted to be. And I remember that God kept all His promises, every last one, in His perfect time.

This new season looms and I don't know what is next. But He doesn't need me to be ready for this season because He is ready. He just needs me to be clinging to His feet.

Now, God's perfect time.

::

By Katie Davis, Kisses from Katie

Learn more about Katie's story. Watch her book trailer {click here if you can't see it}


To stay in touch with all God is doing in Katie's life, visit: www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

[Judy Harder]

Praying for Strangers: The Resolution
Jan 18, 2012

River Jordan



A few years ago I had this simple resolution.

The inspiration for the resolution and the conditions it began with can be found at the website, PrayingforStrangers.com and of course in the book. The most important thing was that everyday I would pray for a different stranger. Someone I passed in the grocery aisle, the bank, or post office. The sidewalk or a restaurant or in the park. It didn't matter where but just someone different everyday. Someone who might stand out to me in a simple way.

At first my prayers were meant to be silent. Something I kept completely to myself without ever sharing with the person that I was praying for them. But a few weeks into that resolution in 2009, something moved me to speak to a woman in a bus station, to tell her she was my stranger and that I would be praying for her that night before I went to sleep. Her response changed my life forever. She literally responded that she had just been asking God that morning if there was anyone in the whole world that was praying for her. We were both shocked at that moment. She went on and caught the bus home to Kentucky. I went on to pray for strangers. About three or four times a week I'd tell them. The responses from these people are more surprising than you could imagine. Over and over again I would hear, "Funny you choose me today because . . . " and then the person would continue their story of what was happening on that day or in their lives.

"I am a pastor and I recently read Praying for Strangers. I challenged my church to pray for one stranger a day in 2012. I've been doing it too, of course."

Some of those stories are documented in the book that I never meant to write. After all, I'm a fiction writer. Don't get me wrong, I strive to communicate eternal truths in my novels but they are through metaphor, through allegory, and a wide array of characters and places. So telling the truth exactly as it happened was difficult for me. It was personal and revealing. It wasn't a story I wanted to share. But over and over again I'd come home and ask my husband, "Do you want to hear my stranger story?" And over and over again he would ask me if I was writing these stories down. "No," I'd reply, "I'm working on my new novel," which was true. The year progressed that way with me 'journalling' stories of the people I had met and the encounters we had shared but my 'real' writing time was saved for the novel in progress.

"You have changed my life.. I am doing that too... my stranger for today? the receptionist at my eye MD office that looked like she wasn't having a good day... but when I told her she was my stranger... her faced changed."

Somewhere along the way that changed. I realized what  I was dealing with, the journey I was walking out was larger than the plan I had for my life. That there was something phenomenal happening. I discovered that prayers were thirsty for a touch even from someone they didn't know. And that on any given day the people around me were hurting while wearing a mask full of smiles. That on each day people were walking through life pretending that everything was okay because they didn't know what else to do. But when a prayer stepped up to say,

"Today you are my special stranger and tonight  I'll be remembering you in my prayers. I'll be praying blessings for your life and those you love" — it shook their world.

Caused them to stop in their tracks and become real. Pretenses fell to the wayside. And so did mine.

I'm an introverted writer. I'm very good at putting my blinders on and walking though my days focused on what I need to do and most of the time – what isn't getting done because I'm always running behind. Don't get me wrong, I've always cared about children, the homeless, the elderly, the lost, the weak and so on. I care. But caring from a distance for a large group of people or a worthy cause is different than reaching out everyday to a single human being and becoming part of their story. It takes more time, it involves a greater risk, and if I dare to say, in so many ways in produces a great compassion.

At the end of my 2009 resolution I felt I had checked that box.

I had prayed for strangers everyday in spite of when I didn't feel like it. On days I didn't leave home I prayed for someone on the news, a story in a magazine, or a voice on the radio. I prayed my way through thick and thin. On days I felt like I needed prayer much more than anyone I might be praying for.  And the year became another year as 2010 rolled over. There I was with a decision lying before me as I walked through stores, took in people, really beheld them. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop this thing.

That one year of a resolution had indeed rolled into something larger. I had so many experiences of how speaking to people and telling them they were my special stranger had positively affected people that I couldn't rob them of that now. I also couldn't rob myself of the experience. What I had learned and what is portrayed in Praying for Strangers is how that resolution affected me. How it changed me. Trust me, you can't pray for over 300, 600, 800 strangers and not be changed. If I was a compassionate woman before, I'm so much more so now. If I was judgmental before, now  - not so much. 

And I've begun to  see how we all fit together in this life. How very much we need each other. In the simplest and surprising ways. And how sometimes the mission field we've long to visit or to serve in is the mission field just out our own front doors.

The new year rolled over again with the momentous 2012 dawning. Since the publication of Praying for Strangers others have gone out into their neighborhoods, their stores, their cities and begun to pray for strangers. Entire churches of all denominations have adopted this resolution in cities across the nation.

There has been such an interest in making a difference in this world that people requested additional information of ways that they might begin to step out and take this journey. In response to those requests there are now Twelve Keys in Twelve Weeks to Praying for Strangers posted on the website including journal reflection questions and small group discussion points. The book club readers guide may be found here.

"My stranger today is named Brenda from the store. She has Lupus which was acting up this week. Praying for her today. Praying for relief from pain."

What began as a book that I never wanted to write has become a lifestyle not only for me but now for thousands of others. I've included some of their comments because they surprise me continually. They move me and keep me looking outward instead crumbling inside myself on any given day when the battle before me seems greater than my strength to overcome it. When I am sad, weary, disheartened – for whatever human reason I juggle on any given day – I reach out to a stranger who may only whisper a quick, "Thank you," as I go on and it makes a difference. My burden lifts. My soul shifts. And I don't feel so alone.

"I recently finished your book, "Praying for Strangers" and I have not been the same since. It really confirmed something in my spirit that I've known for a long time. There are no chance meetings, no interaction with another that is too small to make a big difference. God is so good."

Last night my stranger was a little girl that will never know me. She was about seven years old and wearing a frog hat with green sneakers. I think she must like frogs. I said a very silent but heartfelt prayer for that little girl's destiny. For her protection and joy, for her whole long life ahead of her. Today I still smile when I think of her. And the most bizarre thing to me is that I will never forget her. These strangers take up special residence in my life, they now have their own place. On any given day I remember any one of them and again, pray for goodness in their life. It's only a pause, a passing prayer, a compassionate moment but something in my heart of hearts says it matters. A lot.

As this new year takes shape and form for you, as you step into known routines and unknown days, I would encourage you to consider as so many people have now, embracing this one tiny thing that you can do. To pray for a stranger. It may make more of difference in their life than you will ever know. I have no doubt whatsoever that it will make a difference in yours.

In blessing,
River Jordan

***





About the Author: River Jordan is a critically acclaimed novelist. Praying for Strangers is her first published work of non-fiction. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Owen Hicks, where she produces and hosts the weekly radio program Clearstory. She writes a regular blog for Psychology Today titled, Praying for Strangers. The book was just featured in Guideposts magazine for January 2012 as "A New Way to Pray". Since 2009 she has prayed for a multitude of strangers and continues on that journey.




My School of Fish
Jan 18, 2012 Lindsay



Recently, my family took a trip to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. As we passed one of the tanks, I noticed a large school of fish swimming together and had a flashback to elementary science class where I learned fish form these groups for protection. God brought to my mind the concept of the"school of fish" He has placed in all of our lives.

This "School of Fish" is exemplified in Acts 2 where the believers "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread together in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people" (Acts 2:42-47).

The members of the early church surrounded themselves with others who were of the same mind and were committed to growing in the Lord. This was a time for them to be encouraged, to learn, and to get recharged to share the gospel. Verse 47 continues to say "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." They were not isolating themselves in a Christian bubble but were still meeting others and sharing the good news message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My "school of fish" is a mix of different people from diverse backgrounds. Some of them I have known all of my life, and others God has brought along in the last year. They are men and women who encourage me to stand firm in my faith, teach me who God is, exhibit the love of Christ, and seek to protect me from sin that can overtake and destroy.

My Husband & Family: Seven years ago, God brought my husband into my life. He is a man whose faith and unwavering resolve to trust God's goodness constantly amaze me as we face various challenges and situations in our life. I also have a family whose heritage is to love the Lord.
My Friends: Long ago I asked the Lord to bring godly friends into my life. I can't even tell you how the Lord has answered that request beyond what I could imagine. These women have held me accountable, cried with me, laughed with me, and shared in my pain and joy!
My Mentors: The Titus 2 command has been lived out in my life. There are older women who have poured their lives into me, teaching me how to be a wife, pray, care for my home, study the Bible, and so much more.
I am not sure who you can count in your "school of fish." You may come from a broken home or an unbelieving family, or perhaps you are married to an unbeliever. Whatever your situation is, you can be like the early believers whose goals were to be with fellow believers and to commit to growing in the Lord

If you are blessed to have a large group of fish surrounding you, protecting you, and encouraging you, take the time to thank God for it! Ask God to make you a fish in someone else's life. Continue meeting together, encouraging one another, and praising God together!

[Judy Harder]

Joy Takes More Than One Coat Of Paint
Jan 19, 2012  Bonnie Gray

Sometimes we approach joy as if we were taking a pop quiz. The art of joy requires more than one coat of paint.
When my son turned three, TJ graduated from the crib to an actual bed.

Solid wood beds cost a big chunk of money. Add in a super-hero boy, arms loaded with hotwheels and tinkertoy spears — and you've got a stressed out mom in the making.

So we settled on a lower cost, saner approach. We hauled a bed made out of "natural wood" upstairs and I was commissioned to hit Home Depot to pick out the perfect shade of honey.

In short order, I piled cans of wood stains into my cart, each promising tints in thumbnail images that looked menacingly alike. I was stuck on aisle 2 with a string of cans under my arms and in both hands, torn between too many colors.

My left brain would've probably self-imploded had it not been for the guy in a canvas store vest.

I walked out of the store semi-traumatized but got educated on the basics of wood staining:

Buy some samples and experiment with colors on the back of the bed.

Apply a layer at a time and allow time in between to dry.

The stain turns deeper with each application.

One detail: Paint looks different wet than when it's dry.

Last but not least: Have fun! ( I definitely threw him a blank look at this point. )


There's quite a lot of new changes I'd like to make in the new year.

I've taken a faith dare:  to see myself as God's delight.

Expressing Joy — in bold and care-free quantities – is a big part of taking on this identity.

Joy is a journey I began last year and now, it's become my soul resolution.


A Soul Resolution
I don't make new year resolutions.  They're great for setting goals at work or getting things done.  But at the end of the year, my life isn't about what I've done, but who I've become.

I've developed a yearly habit way that goes back to my college days, that's continued into my adulthood — from student to working woman, singlen to married — to life now as a mother and a writer.

I take time out to reflect on my spiritual journey.  I look back on the past year to see where I've been.  Then I pray and read Scripture to ask God where he's pointing me in the coming year.

Soul resolutions are not about what I'm doing, but who I'm becoming in Christ.

I call it my New Year's "Soul Resolution", because it's more about living it out in my heart, rather than striving to accomplish a goal.

This year, my one word for the new year is "delight", taken from Isaiah 62:4 –

"It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," nor to your land will it any longer be said, "Desolate"; But you will be called, "My delight is in her,"... For the Lord delights in you."


Five Principles of Joy Staining
As I try on different ways to experience "delight", I see the same principles of wood staining apply to joy.

We even have someone more knowledgeable than the store reps. We get to practice these Five Principles of Joy Staining with our Beloved Carpenter, Jesus Himself.

"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." John 15:11

The Five Principles of Joy Staining


1. Give joy a sampling. Try different things — or doing things differently — to see what joy looks like for you. Experiment in small doses.


2. Give your joy ideas time to dry. Once you try something for the first time, avoid judging yourself or criticizing the experience harshly right away. Give yourself (and others, if they're involved) some space to be imperfect.

3. Joy takes more than one coat of paint. You might not even feel joyful at first. You will find that joy gets a little deeper as you feel the freedom to trust and just try. (I found that by just trying, even as I'm nervous, I feel a tinge of joy!)

4. Joy looks different wet than dry. You're on a journey, not taking a "Joy Test". There is no pass or fail. Joy comes from the heart and the heart is very resistant to demands or "Thou Shalt".

5. Joy is fun! Yes, there is a shade of peaceful, quiet joy that comes through suffering. Don't forget that the kind of joy that is sunny, exuberant and just plain fun is equally as godly too!

Heard of Naaman?
I gathered up these five shots of faith, after being inspired by Naaman, the "valiant warrior" from Aram who was also a leper. He wanted to be healed of his disease. But when the prophet Elisha told him to travel to Israel and dip into the river Jordan seven times, he got angry and discouraged.

After some encouragement from his friends, he decided to do it anyways. On the seventh dip, the Bible says his skin became as soft as a newborn baby!

As you step out new this year  — on your faith journey — you may be tempted like I've been thinking, "Who am I kidding?"

Before you throw in the towel —

~ Remember who inspires your new beginning  — God.

~ Keep dipping!

On the nth dip — God knows when that is — we will see joy deeper and truer in our everyday experience.

Let's keep encouraging each other. Let's keep painting the world with faith in what God's doing.

I'm not even talking about the "big" things.

In the everyday things that no ones sees, that is where God faithfully meets us — because He sees.

~~~~~

What keeps you encouraged to step out in joy?

Do you have a soul resolution?  How is God calling you to become new this year?


Pull up a chair. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Share a comment .

~~~~~

By Bonnie Gray, the Faith Barista, serving up shots of faith for everyday life.


Join Bonnie and the community at Faith Barista as they swap soul resolutions in January's One Word Faith Dare Series on Faith Barista.

[Judy Harder]

An Ordinary Girl
Jan 21, 2012  River Jordan




This past Wednesday, I had the privilege of being a guest blogger here on the Bloom (in)courage Book Club featuring my recent book, Praying for Strangers: An Adventure of the Human Spirit. Many of the follow-up comments reminded me of words that had been whispered to me on book tour.  From my very first bookstore visit at Bookman/Bookwomant to kick off the book,  Memphis, Dallas, Seattle and up the East Coast one thing became clear to me – I am not the only one praying for strangers.

At my very first event in Nashville a woman approached me tentatively after my talk and whispered, "I just had to come see you after I saw the title for your book. I've been doing this too. I just never tell anyone." In Memphis is was the first woman who had arrived at the reading. She took the opportunity to say, "Me too. I do this. I've done it for years."

In Tupelo, Mississippi at Reeds Gumtree Books is was a different story. A woman approached me to share that she had been on the opposite side of the coin. During a recent flight and a stopover in Atlanta she had been trying to calm herself for her connection as she wasn't an easy flier when a woman approached and said, "I just have to tell you – I pray for a stranger everyday and today it's you. I'll be praying for you." She laughed remembering the moment and telling me how odd she thought it was. And how wonderful. The rest of her journey was so much easier for her as she thought about that woman and the fact that someone she didn't even know was praying for her peace and safety.

The stories continued in every city and being able to visit here has renewed those memories. So many of the comments on Wednesday's post were from other people who had indeed already been praying for stranger. The letters, emails, and comments that began to pour in after the books publication confirmed this as well. People have been praying for people for many, many years. I happened to be the girl who had the resolution who happened to be a writer, who happened to capture those stories and write the book. With all that being said, I'm just an ordinary girl. No different than anyone. Still trying to deal with my own fears and messy struggles in life whether they be financial, emotional, physical, or that mental pressure of a thousand deadlines and not enough time. But like me, so many people have been walking out their days including a small prayer for a stranger they see, pass on the streets, or in an airport.

Others have written to say, "I plan on doing this now. I'm adopting this resolution." Some people plan to embrace this practice daily, others on occasion as the spirit moves them. Some people as well as entire churches have decided to embrace praying for a stranger for Lent this year. The fact is, there is no perfect way to pray for a stranger and maybe no perfect time. We are all just everyday people doing the very best we can to move forward with joy and thanksgiving for our blessings in this life.

The power of prayer is something that was never handed down from the Creator to just a chosen few people. It's accessible to all for all. And the tiniest prayer from the tiniest person may be the very thing that shifts someones world into a better place. By tiny I mean people who perceive themselves that way. One of the most wonderful readers that I've met, this adorable, beautiful woman was absolutely amazed that she could do this. That she had something to offer the world and felt it was the first time in her life that she could do something of importance. As sorry as I am that she ever viewed herself as insignificant, I am delighted that she grasped the fact that her prayers meant as much as mine did. As much as anyone's.

What I discovered in my experience of walking out this prayer journey for three years so far and continuing to do so, is that the world is thirsty for prayer. For kindness. For compassion. For a strangers touch and a listening ear. On so many days of my life it would have meant everything to me to have someone step up in times of trouble and whisper, "today you stood out to me as someone special and tonight I'll be saying a prayer for blessings in your life." Many of those days I might have fallen into their arms sobbing my story. Whatever the story was on that particular day, because although seasons change and our troubled times come and go, life is bittersweet and remains for most of us a challenge in some ways. And we can feel guilty for that because we know there are people not as well off as we are, as free, as safe, or as warm – or we can accept the fact that being human means exactly that.

Some of the greatest moments in my life have been divine encounters with strangers. In some of those moments they were ministering to me. Hopefully, in others it was the other way around. Always, we were a blessing to each other. Being real in the moment. Giving and receiving.

I am so very thankful for those strangers of my past, and for the ones before me. To all those people who have whispered to me, "I've been doing this forever," or "I plan to do this now."  - carry on with a great knowledge that your heartfelt prayers hold power. That you releasing that power into someone's life is a brush with the Divine– whether they ever know your name or not. Never underestimate who you are in this world or the good you can do one day,  one stranger at a time.

In Peace and Blessing,

River

(If you ever doubt the need for prayer, the desire for prayer, cast about on the internet for the many prayer sites where people post their prayer requests. The needs are many – but we are many.)

***




About the Author: River Jordan is a critically acclaimed novelist. Praying for Strangers is her first published work of non-fiction. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Owen Hicks, where she produces and hosts the weekly radio program Clearstory. She writes a regular blog for Psychology Today titled, Praying for Strangers. The book was just featured in Guideposts magazine for January 2012 as "A New Way to Pray".


Step by Step
Jan 20, 2012

Heather Gemmen Wilson




As I write this blog post, I'm in my classroom at Anderson University watching my freshman students make revisions to their essays. It's tedious work, so I give them specific things to look for:

in this reading look for passive verbs and rewrite the sentence to make it active;
now give things and people names (i.e., instead of saying she put the items on the conveyor belt, show me the bran cereal and the ruby red grapefruit);
this time cut repetitive material,
and so on.
Making improvements in my spiritual life is also tedious work, and it's hard for me to see clearly what changes I need to make. Just as my students may look at a paragraph and be overwhelmed when I tell them to revise it, so I feel when I try to determine whether I'm spiritually healthy. Like my students, I may be tempted to throw up my hands and say it's good enough.

Except that I don't want to be good enough; I want to be a beautiful and shining servant of God.

What I need is a step-by-step process for evaluating myself. "First look at this, now this, this time consider X..." So I've created a list, and I thought you might be able to use it too.

look for complaints and rewrite them as words of appreciation
turn my unkind statements about others into words of praise
replace my laziness with productivity
instead of worrying, pray
identify my temptations and remove them (or tame them)
do what I said I would do
don't do what I said I wouldn't do
replace an old habit with a new experience
turn bitterness into forgiveness
How about you? Do you have any suggestions for revisions that we can all make to our lives?

by Heather Gemmen Wilson



Step Right Up And See: Our Less-Than-Best
Laura




My right foot has an irksome habit of falling asleep. It goes completely numb at the most unfortunate moments—always without me realizing it. In trying to slip out of Sunday school class early, I wound up stumbling across the room, grabbing furniture all the way to make it to the door. Every man in the room stood up to see if I was okay. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to expunge the scene from memory.

An episode like this doesn't just hurt my pride, it offends my (admittedly overdeveloped) sensibility for what's pretty, elegant, graceful.

I couldn't resist a recent flea market find, a weathered old book titled Charm by Margery Wilson. I'm fascinated by passages like, "To walk well there is only one general rule applicable to everybody and that is this—walk on one line. Don't run on two tracks like a street-car... By walking on one line a woman will appear more graceful, and if there is any soft drapery about her costume she will seem almost to float into a room." What silly, antiquated and good advice, I think, and spend the next ten minutes practicing my walk.

Waddling is not graceful; nor is falling for no apparent reason in public. What does it look like when believers fall down flat in sin or under the weight of sadness?

Sometimes Christians are accused of being too sure, self-righteous, smug. Sometimes we are. Are we watching our backs, suspecting folks are just waiting for us to fall? Are they?

So when we fall, and fall we must, do we make sure no one sees? Can we stand the thought of being caught in our less than grace-full moments?

I don't make small talk about how I snapped at a slow-moving daughter to hurry or lost my patience—again. The icy stares we've given, the cold shoulders, the clumsy words—these aren't what we lead with. And we don't parade around our hardships and hurts, things we worry might make us less.

I'm not an advocate for returning a casual, courteous "how are you?" with a confession or a long sob story. But what about the occasional eye-to-eye "how are you?" that makes us wince if we're in hiding?

No matter how we try to walk head-up (in a line!), gravity and the flesh and a world fallen are laws of this sometimes ugly life. Hitting the floor is no fun.

Now consider the beautiful picture we reveal when we get back up. And what does it show others when we do it not by our bootstraps, but by the loving hand of our Father? I'd argue it's a sight as glorious as a newly born foal struggling to his feet for the first time.

But no one can see if we are strictly undercover sinners and sufferers.

So while I'd rather lose all sensation in my foot only in the privacy of my den, I'd like to have the grace for gratitude that the Maker of my foot doesn't always let me fall down—and get back up— in secret.

[Judy Harder]

Seeking Solitude
Jan 21, 2012 12:10 am | Melissa Michaels

There are days I find myself hiding in the shower, hot water beating down my neck, searching for the elusive moments of quiet I desperately need. Whether it is the noise from a family, a growing online business, our young church or our latest endeavor starting a new local concert house, I find myself craving an escape from the constant chatter of computers, smart phones, voices, music and the never ceasing tug of war on my attention.

Every new thing, every new gadget I need to keep track of my life, every new responsibility God entrusts to me adds more noise. Yet, I could argue that a full life of serving God in community with others and providing for our family is good noise, right?

Yet, there are times when I sense the noise in my life is not so good. Such as when I have moments to myself where I could sit in silence and just spend time in the presence of God, yet by habit and nervous energy I reach for more unnecessary communication instead.

I was fascinated by the insights in the book Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster:

...a day filled with noise and voices can be a day of silence. If the noises become for us the echo of the presence of God, if the voices are for us, messages and solicitations of God. When we speak of ourselves and are filled with ourselves, we leave silence behind. When we repeat the intimate words of God that he has left within us, our silence remains intact.

Foster quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his book Life Together:

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community...Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.

Lately I've been trying to discern the good noise and the not-so-good noise, and the balance between community and alone time in my life. I'm trying to find ways to practice the discipline of solitude in a life that often feels anything but quiet.

Foster recommends several ideas for practicing solitude that I'm trying to implement myself. Perhaps you'd find them helpful as well?

1. Take advantage of "little solitudes" that fill our day:

Early moments in bed before the family awakens.
A morning cup of coffee before the day begins.
The solitude of time in the car by myself.
Embracing the quiet short walk to the mailbox.

We may not have the opportunity for longer periods of solitude, but we can capture little moments as we go about our day. By really embracing those moments we do have for inner quiet, we can be fully present where we are. We can use those moments to reorient our lives like a compass.

2. Find a quiet place.

We have a family room designed as a place to spend time together, but do we have a quiet room to be alone? My quiet room used to be our bedroom. But somehow lately it has become a new hub of activity with dogs, laundry and people! So while I could try to reclaim the peace there (and would if there were no other option!), I'm working on redesigning my home office to give myself a serene place that is off limits to dogs, laundry and noise. It is essential to my sense of health and spiritual balance in life to find that space I can retreat from the world.

3. Use words that are few and full.

Clearly these days we have an abundance of ways to communicate. We can run to the computer or our phones to share words and pictures in dozens of different ways all day long. But what exactly are we sharing and receiving every time we log on? Even though the Celebration of Discipline predates the internet, Foster's words are surprisingly even more true today:

A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think others see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding.

Wow. No wonder being online often leaves me weary and longing for silence! That frantic stream of words and pictures is often noise, distracting me from the presence of God.

I want to strive for more silence by being more selective in words I read, write and speak both at home and online.

4. Withdraw for three or four hours four times a year to reorient life goals.

Longer times of solitude can be so valuable in our quest to seek direction and focus in life. Foster says "our tendency is to over estimate what we can accomplish in one year and underestimate what we can accomplish in ten years." By rushing to set too lofty of goals for too short of a time frame, I might feel compelled to get wrapped up in my own agendas and successes, rather than allowing the will of God to be discovered, revealed and practiced in my life. The frantic rush to succeed fills life with an abundance of noise and chaos, rather than trusting in an all powerful God to supply our every need.

In order to set a healthy rhythm and pace for my life, I need to build in time for silence and reflection as well as time for action and accomplishment. By setting aside that time for reorienting goals several times a year, I'm reminded of my need for the space and time to hear more from God.

Do you wrestle with finding solitude in life filled with noise?

What are some ways you are seeking more quiet this year?

Melissa @ The Inspired Room

[Judy Harder]

Sunday Scripture

Jan 22, 2012 incourage




"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?

Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." ~Jesus.

[Judy Harder]

Because I'm feeling a little weak today

Jan 23, 2012  Lysa


We all have them. Weak places. Places inside us that make us wonder if we'll ever get it together like the together people. Places that make us feel less than. Less than victorious. Less than a conqueror. Less than strong.

Weak places can sometimes trip us up in life.  Weak places can so easily consume us, label us, and knock the life right out of us.

My weak places frustrate me- especially this time of the year.  I just resolved to do better three weeks ago at the new year and already I'm slipping in a couple of places.  And yet I refuse to resign that I can't ever change.

With the power of Christ all things can be made new. All broken things are subject to restoration. But sometimes I get so tired of trying and I just feel weak.  Can you relate?

What is your weak place? A money situation that seems impossible? A temper that flares? An insecurity that stings? A family dysfunction that is always brewing? A food issue that rages even though you just signed up for that new diet program?

One of my most raw weak places for years, was my inability to find peace with my eating struggles.  I hated that this had to be my issue.  I hated that I didn't seem to have the self-control other women so effortlessly exhibited.  I hated that I constantly bounced from feeling deprived to feeling guilty with my food choices.

And I don't flippantly use the word hate.

It's reserved for the most brutal of struggles – which this most certainly was.

I want to share the three best things you can remember if your weak place is a food struggle.

1.  The scale can measure your physical weight but never your worth as a woman. Do you know that?  I mean do you know it the second you step on that scale and start calling yourself names you'd never let other people call you?

Here's a little activity I want you to do this week.  Go get some sticky notes. Write these words on them:  beautiful, courageous, able, called, victorious.

Now, put these notes over the numbers on your scale and for the next five days, receive only the truth when you step on that scale.

2.  You are more than a sum total of your tastebuds. Remind yourself when you think you want that unhealthy food option that only your tastebuds want that... your heart doesn't want that candy bar.  Your arms don't want those french fries.  Your brain doesn't want those chips.  Your hiney doesn't want that cheesecake.

Only your tastebuds want that... so let your arms, brain, heart and hiney boss your tastebuds around.  Let majority rule!

3.  Nothing tastes as good as peace feels. Sweet sister, God made you to walk in His peace. You were made to consume food but food was never supposed to consume you.  Of all the things Jesus has asked the Holy Spirit to remind us, peace was first on His list!

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid,"  (John 14: 26-27).

Ask yourself, "Is this food option going to add to my peace or take away from it? Because by golly, nothing tastes as good as peace feels!"

I pray these three things breathe strength into a very raw, hard, and sometimes seemingly impossible struggle.  Trust me sister, victory is possible.

Even the smallest drop of God's strength is more than enough to cover our frailties, our shortcomings, the places where we deem ourselves weak.

So instead of wallowing in my weak place, I will let the Spirit reveal the one positive step I can take today. I will wash away the condemnation with the warmth of His grace. I will receive His power. For when I walk in His power, I can rename my weakness, my strong place.

By Lysa TerKeurst



The Happiest Way to Spend a Day
Jan 23, 2012  Shaya Kyle


I kept putting one foot in front of the other, but my thoughts? His words had stopped them in their tracks.

Just moments before, I had rushed out the door, this package all wrapped up and in my arms. It was a Bible. And this, a walk from my door to the Post Office, was the first leg of its journey around the world to the Philippines. This Bible will be my little friend Zenia's first, and she is very excited. I walk along, hoping, praying, that she will always love to read about Jesus. I smile at the thought of my friends, these people a whole world away yet so close to my heart.

I'd have to hurry on my mission, since it was nearly time to do something to turn food into lunch. Crossing the block early, I noticed a man in his front yard doing something with a shovel and a wheelbarrow. I didn't know him. I started to call out a greeting. His stopped me, spun me.

"Hi Neighbor! Are ya liven' that dream today?"

There I was, in the middle of a day that seemed so... ordinary. Wonderful, yes, but what did making pizza and paying payroll taxes and walking to the Post Office have to do with living a dream?

And I knew it then, all over again: There's no such thing as an ordinary day. No, not when Extraordinary God has life-dreams for me.

Dare I say it? Dare I answer him with, "Yes!"? My thoughts chased each other. What is God's dream for me, anyway? Am I really doing anything to reach it? Today? How am I spending this piece of forever?

And then He reminded me, "Just because My plans for you are to give you hope and a future (Jer. 29:11) doesn't mean that all those plans are far off in the future. I have a design for your every day. Walk with Me today, and you won't want to leave Me tomorrow. Let Me fill your days, and you'll naturally fulfill My dreams."

Yes. My answer is "Yes!" I called it out to both of them, the stranger and the Lord.

Yes, because today I can serve up the Word, send a smile through the phone line, squeeze a shoulder, say a prayer. The wonder! I can take steps that leave tracks on the other side of the planet. Yes, the miracle of Grace, how He moves in us to accomplish His own plans, how He dreams big dreams for each of us, how He fills our days, our hearts, with Himself.

If Christ is my core, every chore is a glorious project. If He is making my plans, seemingly mundane things can leave eternal marks. I can live His dream today by letting Him live His life in me.

Yes. It's the happiest way to spend a day—swapping dreams and living His together.

By Shaya Kyle, www.thekylefamily.com



Our Holes Breathe Hope
Jan 23, 2012 12:00 am | Lisa Whittle


A self-described grappler, struggler and questioner, Lisa Whittle never intended to live a life of public ministry.  As the daughter of a pastor, Lisa dreamed of a journey less hard on the heart, lived outside a glass house.  But God had other things in mind.  After her husband lost his job and as 3 small children circled her feet, she found herself in desperate need of an outlet.  It was then she began writing.

Lisa has gone on to author 3 books and contribute to publications such as Catalyst, Michael Hyatt, Relevant, The Deeper Story, Church Leaders, and (in)courage. She is a speaker and an advocate for Compassion International, and as the first female originally-launched Barnabooks author, Lisa is a starter of important conversations in the church. Many of those conversations start on her blog at LisaWhittle.com.

Lisa's newly released book, {w}hole, shares her story and that of many others: holes to wholeness by the power of a gracious God.  Lisa says, "{w}hole may be the most honest thing I've ever written. I don't hold back...about anything." It is available, now, wherever books are sold.

***********

I have spent much of my life running away from things that were hard.

I lived to keep busy — writing appointments on my calendar, barely scheduling time to breathe.

I shopped...for clothes that would dress my bones pretty, so I would feel better.

Sometimes I ate, and the food made me happy. The raucous party in my mouth was loud enough to temporarily muffle the growling of my empty soul.

It is the deep down truth I share with others: we all have holes.  It is also our truth...that we try different ways to fill them.

But they exist.  And in the most inconvenient times, in the most inconvenient places, they rise up...in our relationships, our fears, our doubts, our insecurities and even in our greatest moments of success that lead us to stumble over our own egos.

It is why we need God.  It is how we journey, together.

"No matter how different our circumstances may be, we each live and lose and love and cry and work and let go and endure and break down and get back up. It is the universal tie that binds all of us together, and it matters deeply. I know that the fullness of how we love each other as human beings is in our understanding of how similar we really are, and how much we need each other to care. We truly were not meant to take this journey alone." ~{w}hole

But even in our voids, we find great hope.  Because holes are the very place that we can most find God.

Where our religion has let us down, our roles have not proven faithful, and our experiences have threatened to be our life definition, wellness can be breathed into the empty spaces of our life – a rich, full life that is not about what we do or what we have been taught or even lived through, but about what has happened between Jesus and us on the pages of our journey.

Where we have lacked and He has been enough.  Where we have fallen and He has not faltered.  Where we have holes and He has filled them.

Our story doesn't not end with our holes.  With Jesus, it is only our beginning.

Because when we are willing to look at those deep down places we discover truth.  We feel community. We become brave.  We find healing.

As the Jesus, who fills our soul with Himself...makes all things well.



To download a FREE chapter one of {w}hole, as well as a FREE downloadable guide about sharing your own story, visit the book site HERE.  Watch the book trailer, read endorsements from Ann Voskamp and George Barna, and find out more about the book and where to get it.

[Judy Harder]

What a Parent Wants to Say Before a Child Leaves

Jan 26, 2012  Ann Voskamp


Dear Son who is called to climb a thousand walls,

You have to know how your unfolding from me was a miracle.

That's the miraculous thing about miracles – they really do happen.



How is it in this crazy, holy world does a girl-woman bear a boy-child?

How does she raise a squalling boy-child into a man? I've never been one of those.

And this the thing: there's only so much time to go from point A to point B.

How did I waste so many days? How do I make you know everything you need to know before you go?

How to love a woman and when to say yes and when to wear black socks instead of white and when to ask for directions and when to say no.

That you'll be radical about grace and relentless about truth and resolute about holiness and vows and the real hills worth dying on. That you know how to make a bed and how to make a child laugh and how to write a letter home.

Did you know, right when they laid you wrinkled in my arms, you had this curl of hair, this swirl of hair on your forehead? You got it from me. That turning, swirling cowlick that I got it from my Dad. Who got it from his mother. This is how these things go, this turning around and passing torches on.

I turn around and you're 16.

And you're leaving on a jet plane at 3:30 am.

When the first time you ever get on a plane, you fly for the jungles of Indonesia, the farthest away from us on this spinning blue marble, your father says this farm won't be big enough to keep you anymore. When he says it, he says it a bit like something hurts inside.

He's made his life about showing you what real leadership is: not climbing higher towards power and status, but bending down in prayer and service. He's been dead to all ladders and that's what made him so alive — reaching down, to the lonely, the lost, and the least.

I roll all your shirts and stack them, one upon the other, like all the years, and know that this is just the beginning of the leavings. I bite my lip hard and try to be brave, like the day you were born. How could my mothering take so many u-turns and still get here so fast?

I remember when you were small enough to hold in my arms, warm against me, this sun bathed stone, us engraved into rock here. I hadn't known how fast the wings would come and that you would fly into the dark, into the sun, and so soon. That when you became a man, I'd feel so empty – and so very fulfilled. I wish we had read even more books. And I had said yes to every game of Scrabble.



The Bible's true, son. Every infallible, sword-sharp, breathing word of it. Don't let anyone ever rationalize one beautiful iota of it away. Love it because it's your Life.

And the only life worth living is the scandalous one: scandalous love, offensive mercy, foolish faith. Kiss babies. Always have one friend that feels on the fringe, that you have to pray to love, that makes the neighbors scratch their heads. Stubbornly pray for your enemies till you see enemies are illusions and everyone is a friend and somehow grace. Believe in every woman's God-sized dreams. And rub her feet at the end of the day.

Be the kind of person who says sorry first because that's the only way happiness can last.

And never forget that happiness is when His Word and your walk are in harmony. Never stop keeping company with Christ– and all the sinners, tax-collectors and cast-offs. Be an evangelist and use your words with your hands because you're part of a Body and never stop loving God with all your heart, mind and soul, and loving others as yourself. Make that your creed.

It's true, son: Be different and know everything you do matters. It's what the Christ followers know: One man with God can change a culture. People in your path aren't for you convenience; you're there for theirs. Loving the poor will make you rich, I promise.

Only when you offer yourself as bread, broken and given, to a hungry world, will you ever be satisfied.

The only life worth living is the one lost.

And no matter how loud and crazy and broken the world is, child? Let joy live loud in your soul.

And believe that you are His beloved – it's only when you trust He loves you that you really begin to live. Really, count a thousand blessings more, never stop. Why wouldn't you want joy? Sing to no one and everyone on the front porch in the rain and laugh so much they question your sanity. Pet the dog long.

Because really, none of us knows how long we have. Remember that a pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over. A whole life can be lost in minutes wasted... in the small moments missed. None of this is forever grace. That's why it's amazing grace.

Do it often: grab a lifeline by stepping offline. You'll see your true self when you look for your reflection in the eyes of souls not the glare of screens.

This is what you always need to know: You have nothing to prove to anyone – if you're in Him, you are already approved.

Be okay with not being liked: life's about altars not applause. And be okay with not being seen or heard. It'll let you hear and see better.

It's late when you lay your Bible on the last of the packed clothes and check off the last thing, thinking you've remembered everything.

I know I've forgotten something – many things.

This parenting gig's an experiment in radical grace and the work of every parent is to fully give to the child. And it's the work of every child to fully forgive the parents. This is how it turns, the torch passing from one to the next.

Remember that we made meals and beds and mistakes and memories – and look hard for the good ones.

You zip up the suitcase. I try to keep it in, what's blurring and spilling. And I rummage about in the closet for
that necklace I've been saving for someday and I think today's the day. That necklace one that maybe can call you to what your mother's been stammering at.

And I go to hand it to you. No – put it around your neck.

Like a benediction.

A mantle.


That no matter the road or what paths you cross: Wear the call to His sacrificial, radical way.


You finger the steel in your hands.

You've taken hold and I'm letting go.

Maybe that's what I am trying to say? I will never stop loving and letting you go. A mother and child live the first great love story and there is no love story without loss, and this is always gain.

Remember this no matter where you fly?

Love your mama...

who believes in the thousand-fold miracle that all's grace.
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~ Ann Voskamp.... fledgling mama to six kids who are teaching her what it means to fly

Resources :Radical necklace
Q4U: What are your concerns for your kids as they embark in the world? Your prayers?


What's one thing you regret as a parent?

One thing you want your kids to really know?

How can we pray for you today as you parent?

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[Judy Harder]

Discovering The Holes That Hold Us Back {and a giveaway}
Jan 25, 2012 Lisa Whittle




Back in the days of 70's stained glass and orange padded pews, I was a happy little girl twirling around in the foyer of my daddy's big church.



The world felt safe.  Church people felt good.  Jesus existed, to give me sweet things.

But one day, things were different.  My father stood in the pulpit and said goodbye to his big church. Lots of people were sad. Lots of people, including me.

My perfect world changed. I was a pastor's daughter, and then I wasn't.  My role went away, and I was left with a hole in my heart, the size of Texas.

It is how I journeyed, for years.  It is how many of us journey – as victim to our voids, self-inflicted or chosen for us.

So we eat. We shop. We become addicted to things like success, beauty, religion, alcohol, tv, and sometimes even, our friends.

And then...we fear. We doubt. We get prideful, or we get angry. We live, swimming around inside a bucket of shame.

But what happens next is up to us.  Because choosing the thing that will make our soul well is a now decision.

Despite the past or what has been chosen for us.

Despite the disappointments, successes, or moments in between.

In the discovery of our voids, our life can begin to change.  Oftentimes, it begins with our own soul-searching, in questions like these:

When did my life take a turn?
Is that "hinge moment" (or anything else) a definition or limitation...in the way I view of God, myself, or others?
Do I have the peace, joy, passion for the Gospel, and lasting fulfillment that are symptoms of a whole life?
Am I willing to move past what limits me, even if it means I have to face some hard truth in the process?
When we can see our voids for what they are, we can travel down the path to move past them.

It is the path to the whole, full life...and it is ours, to choose.

**For help in identifying the holes in your life, order your copy of {w}hole, available HERE or wherever books are sold.


{Over 70 million people say that something in their past is holding them back in their life. ~Omnipoll research, {w}hole}