Brendan and I gave a talk together tonight about God's love for us, specifically how He delights in us. It was amazing to prepare and do together.
What was most amazing though, at least for me, was how I felt God's delight in the midst of the talk. Part of me does not even care if people got anything out of it because just giving the talk was good for me! (Ok, all of me cares... hah. I guess I'm just trying to say is that even if no one got anything out of it, I know it was still a good thing! This is, of course, silly, cuz I know people got stuff out of it... so now I'm just rambling!)
God rocks! He loves me. He delights in me. He brags about me to angels (YES, angels!) He jumps up and down! I am His masterpiece and I should be hung up on the wall for all to see! I was specially created. He knows me inside and out. He is pleased in me. I am His. He rejoices over me with singing. He loves me with a no-matter-whatness that is hard to comprehend. Nothing separates me from His love. He chases after me when I try to get away from His love. He loves uncontrollably!
God is good.
Practical ways to remember God's delight:
1) Reflect on a few passages that have been helpful in the past (some for me are Psalm 23, 27, 28, or the story of the "Prodigal son" which is really the story of our AWESOME Father!)
2) Pick a worship song to sing in the morning while you get ready for your day, thinking about God's goodness.
3) Do something that you REALLY love (I generally recommend tactile activies, aka not tv): baking, hiking, drawing, play guitar, going on a walk, swimming, eating good food, etc. and as you ENJOY the activity, reflect on how God enjoys you so much!!! :)
4) Pray for God to SHOW you His love and delight.
5) Spend time with a close friend or family member and work on delighting in them. As you do so, pray that God would help you to see the way He delights in you!
6) Remember the amazing things God has done for you, how He provides for your needs, etc.
7) Go on a date with God. Seriously. Rent a movie, get a bottle of fancy Trader Joe's beverage, your favorite candies, and curl up in a blanket! Go on a picnic! Do something fun with God
8) Praise Him. Even if you don't feel like it... I promise, with time it helps to see the things you are saying as a reality.
9) Write out a helpful verse and put it on your mirror/ some place you will see it every day (Jeremiah 1:5 for example).
10) Since obviously there must be 10 things... pray with someone else to see/experience God's love. Check in every couple of days. Remind each other of God's goodness, ask to hear exciting stories. As you share, encourage the other person. As you listen, rejoice with them in the ways God is good :)
Just some thoughts, they work for me; at different times I need different things. God bless!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Faith's Testimony on Gender
Written by Faith, and all I can say is praise God, He is sooo good! Also, may He bless the IV men on staff who have brought a lot of healing to a lot of women I know :)
I grew up in a conservative Protestant environment where I embraced, without question, the truth that men were pastors and women were Sunday school teachers. The men taught and led the adults, and the women taught and led the children. My father was a leader in that church for as long as I can remember (not the one who preached on Sunday mornings, but the one who was trusted to handle all the money, and thus important in all matters of church business). My mom was a Sunday school teacher, usually mine. It wasn’t until we left that church and entered a different religious community that I had any context for questioning my upbringing. Naturally, the first thing I did at this new church was evaluate which things were the same as my old church,which were different, and whether I was okay with the differences. This was
the first time I had a real understanding of the reality that not all communities do church the same. Moreover, not all Christians do Christianity the same. Two big things really captured my attention at this new church. First, the head of the children’s ministry was, as expected, a woman, but she was given the title of Pastor in front of her name. Second, during certain sermon series, the pastor preaching would periodically invite his wife up to speak with him. Both of these things were very different from my first church. Women were never called pastors. And they never stood on the stage on a Sunday morning unless they were a part of the worship team.
Around these experiences I was also learning that few churches have women in preaching, teaching, leadership positions over the entire church. And I was being told church should function in this way because the Bible says this is the right way to do it. (I won’t cite the epic amounts of 1Timothy, other letters of Paul, and Genesis which were used as evidence.) I never wanted to be a pastor, so I let the question rest. It never bothered me that my father’s role in the church was different than my mother’s, or even that it was not acceptable for them to switch places, because in their marriage and our home life I watched them treat each other as equals. There was never anything about these differences which felt unequal to me. But as I got older, and more critically examined WHY women didn’t/couldn’t/weren’t allowed to preach to a congregation, I kept hearing this implicit
explanation that it was because they were unable to. And as a hard-working, intelligent woman, beginning life at a women’s college, that finally became impossible to stomach. I knew my mother was able to interpret scripture and regurgitate what God revealed to her in an eloquent, captivating way. She did to me almost every day; she could do it on a Sunday morning. And I knew also that, even though I still had no desire to pastor a church, I do had the ability to interpret scripture and teach what I had learned to others. So, I began to disregard the parts of the Bible which (as interpreted to me by male pastor figures) made women and their role in the Kingdom of God inferior. (My mom once cited Galatians 3 something to me about now there is no male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus, and, while I liked the ideas in that verse, it was never strong enough to combat the plethora of evidence in the Bible seemingly preaching the inferiority of women). In
my eyes, women didn’t have to cover their heads or remain silent in church or refrain from braiding their hair or any of that nonsense because Paul was just a stupid outdated man, writing in a way that esteems him and his gender by demeaning women. The problem was that my throwing away of scripture I didn’t like kind of became a habit. But the more I did this, the harder it became to relate to God and to trust in the goodness and power of the rest of the Bible. WinCon 2011 was a transformational experience for me, but not in the area of sex, dating, or relationships. WinCon was transformational because, for the first time, I received teaching, from a wise MAN I already respected, on the Genesis story in a way which finally esteemed woman as man’s equal, and biblically explained gender clashes and oppression and struggles as part of the inevitable consequences of sin, rather than part of God’s original, perfect plan. It was literally life changing for me to hear
him point to Genesis (3:16?) on the board, recognize that it’s a place of confusion and misuse in the church, and differentiate between God’s punishment that child bearing and growing food will be painful from his declaration that the inevitable result of sinful people in a sinful world, is that women’s desire WILL (meaning in the future, only after sin, not in the beginning) be for her husband, but he WILL rule over her. And if anything, this verse reflects on some level the wisdom of the writer of Genesis to understand how sin perverts God’s original plan for relations
between men and women. Now, what Paul writes doesn’t bother me so much. I don’t understand it all, and I am cautious of it’s misuse, but I don’t throw it away because I have confidence that nothing Paul says can conflict with my image of a loving God who created man and women equal in his sight.
I grew up in a conservative Protestant environment where I embraced, without question, the truth that men were pastors and women were Sunday school teachers. The men taught and led the adults, and the women taught and led the children. My father was a leader in that church for as long as I can remember (not the one who preached on Sunday mornings, but the one who was trusted to handle all the money, and thus important in all matters of church business). My mom was a Sunday school teacher, usually mine. It wasn’t until we left that church and entered a different religious community that I had any context for questioning my upbringing. Naturally, the first thing I did at this new church was evaluate which things were the same as my old church,which were different, and whether I was okay with the differences. This was
the first time I had a real understanding of the reality that not all communities do church the same. Moreover, not all Christians do Christianity the same. Two big things really captured my attention at this new church. First, the head of the children’s ministry was, as expected, a woman, but she was given the title of Pastor in front of her name. Second, during certain sermon series, the pastor preaching would periodically invite his wife up to speak with him. Both of these things were very different from my first church. Women were never called pastors. And they never stood on the stage on a Sunday morning unless they were a part of the worship team.
Around these experiences I was also learning that few churches have women in preaching, teaching, leadership positions over the entire church. And I was being told church should function in this way because the Bible says this is the right way to do it. (I won’t cite the epic amounts of 1Timothy, other letters of Paul, and Genesis which were used as evidence.) I never wanted to be a pastor, so I let the question rest. It never bothered me that my father’s role in the church was different than my mother’s, or even that it was not acceptable for them to switch places, because in their marriage and our home life I watched them treat each other as equals. There was never anything about these differences which felt unequal to me. But as I got older, and more critically examined WHY women didn’t/couldn’t/weren’t allowed to preach to a congregation, I kept hearing this implicit
explanation that it was because they were unable to. And as a hard-working, intelligent woman, beginning life at a women’s college, that finally became impossible to stomach. I knew my mother was able to interpret scripture and regurgitate what God revealed to her in an eloquent, captivating way. She did to me almost every day; she could do it on a Sunday morning. And I knew also that, even though I still had no desire to pastor a church, I do had the ability to interpret scripture and teach what I had learned to others. So, I began to disregard the parts of the Bible which (as interpreted to me by male pastor figures) made women and their role in the Kingdom of God inferior. (My mom once cited Galatians 3 something to me about now there is no male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus, and, while I liked the ideas in that verse, it was never strong enough to combat the plethora of evidence in the Bible seemingly preaching the inferiority of women). In
my eyes, women didn’t have to cover their heads or remain silent in church or refrain from braiding their hair or any of that nonsense because Paul was just a stupid outdated man, writing in a way that esteems him and his gender by demeaning women. The problem was that my throwing away of scripture I didn’t like kind of became a habit. But the more I did this, the harder it became to relate to God and to trust in the goodness and power of the rest of the Bible. WinCon 2011 was a transformational experience for me, but not in the area of sex, dating, or relationships. WinCon was transformational because, for the first time, I received teaching, from a wise MAN I already respected, on the Genesis story in a way which finally esteemed woman as man’s equal, and biblically explained gender clashes and oppression and struggles as part of the inevitable consequences of sin, rather than part of God’s original, perfect plan. It was literally life changing for me to hear
him point to Genesis (3:16?) on the board, recognize that it’s a place of confusion and misuse in the church, and differentiate between God’s punishment that child bearing and growing food will be painful from his declaration that the inevitable result of sinful people in a sinful world, is that women’s desire WILL (meaning in the future, only after sin, not in the beginning) be for her husband, but he WILL rule over her. And if anything, this verse reflects on some level the wisdom of the writer of Genesis to understand how sin perverts God’s original plan for relations
between men and women. Now, what Paul writes doesn’t bother me so much. I don’t understand it all, and I am cautious of it’s misuse, but I don’t throw it away because I have confidence that nothing Paul says can conflict with my image of a loving God who created man and women equal in his sight.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Seeing God in Everything
While I think TV, movies, media, etc. have a lot of negative things about them (sex, drugs and rock n roll? Well, I'm not certain about rock n roll. Then again, music IS a form of media, so I'm sure it has some issues too. Anyway...)
I also think that we can always pull things from media and "secular" art. Not because it is secular, but because it is human. And, as God made us in His image, and He is the great Creator, so also we have some of His creativity sturring in our bones and brains.
I just watched the critally acclaimed film the English Patient (including Best Picture 1996). Nothing like a Ralph Fiennes drama to put me in a contemplative mood. One quote stood out to me, "We are the real countries. Not boundaries drawn on maps with the names of powerful men." While the movie itself is R for various reasons (including three short but explicit scenes of nudity) it none the less contains in it gems of creativity--namely, it is wonderfully written, directed and acted. (It is about a Hungarian explorer who cares more about maps then men caught between the English and the Germans during WWII).
But, my point of all of this is how I see God in this quote. People talk of nationalism, the State, immigration, Patriarchy, etc. I think this simple quote points me back to the truth of all of these things: people, not countries or allegiences or powerful rulers, are what truly matter to God. Thus, though politics certainly has its place and discussions of these topics are definitely worth having... I am convicted to ask myself what am I doing day in and day out to express love to PEOPLE? Those living with me? Next door? Who I run into at stores and movie theaters, restaurants and walking Orion on the side walk?
The great commandment is to Love God... and to Love Others. It seems that these things matter far more than who is right or wrong about almost everything else.
DISCLAIMER: while I consider this a GOOD film, it is probably not the best movie. It was kind of a downer overall... but something about it made me think a lot, so I went with it and posted :)
I also think that we can always pull things from media and "secular" art. Not because it is secular, but because it is human. And, as God made us in His image, and He is the great Creator, so also we have some of His creativity sturring in our bones and brains.
I just watched the critally acclaimed film the English Patient (including Best Picture 1996). Nothing like a Ralph Fiennes drama to put me in a contemplative mood. One quote stood out to me, "We are the real countries. Not boundaries drawn on maps with the names of powerful men." While the movie itself is R for various reasons (including three short but explicit scenes of nudity) it none the less contains in it gems of creativity--namely, it is wonderfully written, directed and acted. (It is about a Hungarian explorer who cares more about maps then men caught between the English and the Germans during WWII).
But, my point of all of this is how I see God in this quote. People talk of nationalism, the State, immigration, Patriarchy, etc. I think this simple quote points me back to the truth of all of these things: people, not countries or allegiences or powerful rulers, are what truly matter to God. Thus, though politics certainly has its place and discussions of these topics are definitely worth having... I am convicted to ask myself what am I doing day in and day out to express love to PEOPLE? Those living with me? Next door? Who I run into at stores and movie theaters, restaurants and walking Orion on the side walk?
The great commandment is to Love God... and to Love Others. It seems that these things matter far more than who is right or wrong about almost everything else.
DISCLAIMER: while I consider this a GOOD film, it is probably not the best movie. It was kind of a downer overall... but something about it made me think a lot, so I went with it and posted :)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Delighted :)
I've been thinking about this all day... so I thought I'd share.
The LORD delights in me. I sin. I'm messy. Broken. All around icky. I don't love enough, do enough, care enough, read my Bible enough, witness enough. I'm not always friendly, kind, compassionate, gracious, merciful, or gentle. I do not always love the poor and serve amongst my brothers and sisters.
The point: for all the teachings in the Bible that convict me daily, for all the ways I fall short of being like Jesus Christ, for all the sins (and it's a long list) in my life... I am loved by GRACE incarnate. We all talk about God's grace like it is miraculous. "I sin, and He loves me anyway!"
But grace is just that, loving those who do not deserve it. And it is the very framework of God's essence. Everything about Him is grace. So, I sin, and He loves me just the same... but here is the REAL kicker... God DELIGHTS in me. I sin, and He loves me sure. But shouldn't it be a disappointed "ugh, there she goes again" response? NO. Delighted. Straight up singing and dancing. Big ol' smile on His face. Twinkle in His eye. Warm feeling in His heart. He just can't fight the desire to run up to me and give me a hug. He wipes away my tears and tries to make me laugh. He laughs with me as I try to bake (and the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies turned out well too!). As silly shows like Scrubs and Friends make me laugh out loud, He smiles. When I play polo, He watches proud. When I delight in His creation, He delights in me.
Take a moment to let this sink in: GOD, Your LORD, delights in YOU. Yes, YOU! We are too quick to put our LORD in a disappointed-god-in-a-box. The truth: He loves more than we can understand... so maybe instead of sitting in self-loathing, self-pitying, guilty influenced perspective of God... we can get OVER OURSELVES and let the Love of Christ wash over us. So, go do fun things, delight in them, and realize how much God delights over you :D
For some verses, here:
Psalm 51, 147, 149; Proverbs 3:12; Job 1:8 (Jesus brags about you to FRIGGIN ANGELS!);
The LORD delights in me. I sin. I'm messy. Broken. All around icky. I don't love enough, do enough, care enough, read my Bible enough, witness enough. I'm not always friendly, kind, compassionate, gracious, merciful, or gentle. I do not always love the poor and serve amongst my brothers and sisters.
The point: for all the teachings in the Bible that convict me daily, for all the ways I fall short of being like Jesus Christ, for all the sins (and it's a long list) in my life... I am loved by GRACE incarnate. We all talk about God's grace like it is miraculous. "I sin, and He loves me anyway!"
But grace is just that, loving those who do not deserve it. And it is the very framework of God's essence. Everything about Him is grace. So, I sin, and He loves me just the same... but here is the REAL kicker... God DELIGHTS in me. I sin, and He loves me sure. But shouldn't it be a disappointed "ugh, there she goes again" response? NO. Delighted. Straight up singing and dancing. Big ol' smile on His face. Twinkle in His eye. Warm feeling in His heart. He just can't fight the desire to run up to me and give me a hug. He wipes away my tears and tries to make me laugh. He laughs with me as I try to bake (and the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies turned out well too!). As silly shows like Scrubs and Friends make me laugh out loud, He smiles. When I play polo, He watches proud. When I delight in His creation, He delights in me.
Take a moment to let this sink in: GOD, Your LORD, delights in YOU. Yes, YOU! We are too quick to put our LORD in a disappointed-god-in-a-box. The truth: He loves more than we can understand... so maybe instead of sitting in self-loathing, self-pitying, guilty influenced perspective of God... we can get OVER OURSELVES and let the Love of Christ wash over us. So, go do fun things, delight in them, and realize how much God delights over you :D
For some verses, here:
Psalm 51, 147, 149; Proverbs 3:12; Job 1:8 (Jesus brags about you to FRIGGIN ANGELS!);
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