Divine Ordinary

I am so excited and honored that Amelia Rhodes asked me to guest post on her blog this week (go visit!!). She recently published the book, Pray A to Z: A Practical Guide to Pray for Your Community. It is all about prayer and praying for others. Sometimes, the needs of the world around us can seem overwhelming, so I love that this book showcases a very practical way to intercede for others.

However, her readers told her they were unsure of how to pray for things they had never experienced. One of those things was the devastating effects of suicide. Since I’ve shared publicly about my journey through grieving my brother who took his life in July 2015, she reached out to ask me to share my story. I was more than willing to do that.

The thing is, though, I had planned to kind of re-haul this blog. I wanted to make it easier for you to find things other than the most recent posts. I’ve been offering the same little printable to readers who sign up on my email list, but I really wanted to offer something of more substance that my readers might find more useful. I had planned on working on those things in the month of January, but then sickness hit our house.

Once we were all mostly back on our feet, suddenly it was the end of the quarter at school. I not only had to get things wrapped up for one quarter, but I had to prep the following quarter, too.  I also had a fairly large newsletter due, and I had an article that was due.

All these things needed to be done in about a week’s time, and  I was feeling all kinds of frustrated and overwhelmed.

And behind – always behind!

The other morning, it just all seemed like too much. I was in my prayer time, and I just started crying, telling God I just couldn’t do ALL. THE. THINGS. I asked God if he REALLY wanted me to be more purposeful and intentional with this blog while also writing children’s books and teaching middle schoolers English and keeping up my household and nurturing my relationships because it just seemed like too much. Impossible.

As I prayed about this (okay, whined a bit too, if I’m honest), my eyes fell on my open Bible. I’ve been reading Chip Ingram’s book, The Real God and meditating on the Scriptures in each chapter. So, I had my Bible open to Galatians 5:16, 17, and I had been reading about the flesh and the spirit – totally different topic.

As I waited for God to respond to my pleas, my eyes were drawn across the page to Galatians 6:9, and I started crying all over again.

God reminded me that all He was asking me to do was to be faithful – to faithfully use the time I had set aside for my writing and let Him worry about the results.

He reminded me of my word for this year – CONTEND. 

The thing is by nature, I’m not much of a fighter. It’s easier to give up when things get a overwhelming and difficult. That’s what I wanted to do this morning – to let it go. To make excuses and justify giving up because it wasn’t like I didn’t have a job and a home and family to take care of. It all seemed TOO HARD, and kind of impossible.

But God doesn’t call us to do the impossible in one big swoop. He calls us to being faithful in the small, daily steps of obedience. Those small steps eventually add up to a much bigger whole than we can imagine when we are in the trenches of the everyday.

Sometimes, it’s so easy to forget that my job is just to do the work.

Have you been feeling overwhelmed lately? What small step can you take today to continue on the path God has called you to? I’d love to hear about it!

Best Laid Plans

I had this really great post all written out about my word for the year- CONTEND. I was going to tell you all about how I ordered my first set of Power Sheets (you can find them HERE) and how helpful they were in pinpointing some lies and a few deep-seated fears I was carrying around. Fears like the idea that maybe success would end up being too hard to keep and lies like financial success was somehow wrong or selfish or would make me less spiritual.

I also wrote about how I found my word through using another resource – Arabah Joy’s Grace Goals, a 5-day, Scripturally-based study on setting goals (you can find that HERE). I wrote about how the verse Deuteronomy 2:24 hit me like a mac truck and my word for the year was tucked into the text.

I wrote about how Moses was instructing the Israelites right before they went in to claim the Promised Land. I had all kinds of great points about how claiming the Promised Land wasn’t easy, and the Israelites had to fight or contend for the blessing God promised them.

I even found this picture that I loved to make my word of the year graphic. (I’m still planning on printing it out and hanging it somewhere near my writing area). I had this great statement of faith of how I was going to contend for my promised land and live out all that God had for me.

And then I got sick.

For almost 2 weeks, I dragged myself around, barely able to do the basics. I took 2+ hour naps almost every day. The goals and dreams I had carefully prayed over and written down with colorful markers were set aside.

It’s halfway through January, and instead of feeling on top of my game, I feel behind. The train of New Year’s resolutions has pulled out of the station, and I’m still on the platform without a ticket.

I am now feeling much better, and I was determined to tackle some things during this long holiday weekend (we have Martin Luther King Day off on Monday), but once again my plans got derailed. As I sit typing this, my oldest son is lying in the recliner after along day of puking. I think I have washed my hands approximately 518 times in my efforts NOT to catch the plague that has entered my house.

Instead of celebrating my mom’s birthday tonight,  I have a hot date with a gallon of bleach and some plastic gloves.

This was NOT what I envisioned when I sat down with my pretty Power Sheets and colorful markers. I expected to be on my way to achieving my goals, gloves on, knocking down the obstacles that were foolish enough to step into my way.

Reality bites, doesn’t it? 

I can feel my resolve falter and waver. I can feel the doubts and excuses creeping in. The enemy is whispering in my ear. Why not give up? It’s just too hard. You’ve failed already.

My gloves are lying in the corner, gathering dust.

Already – and it’s not even February yet.

Here’s the thing, though, when you choose to fight, you’re going to get knocked down. A real contender, though, gets back up again.  

Getting Back Up Again

Although it feels like I’m behind, there is nothing to stop me from getting back up and taking the next step forward.  As Lara Casey is fond of saying, “There is nothing magical about January 1.”

So, I’m going to pick up those gloves (after I thoroughly disinfect them, of course), and I’m going to start where I am.

How about you? Did your new year start the way you had planned or did life get in the way? I’d love to hear about it!

Blessings, Rosanne

I was teaching Sunday school the other week. I’m doing a series on women in the Bible, and this week, I was looking at the woman who annointed Jesus with the perfume in Luke 7:36-48. Whenever I teach, I try to pull out things we can apply to our own lives. One of the things that stood out to me in this story was that the woman, who is described in verse 37 as “a woman in the city who was a sinner,” went into a Pharisee’s house where she was probably NOT welcome.

The word sinner in this context indicates someone who lived a habitual life of sin. The common belief was that this woman was a prostitute, but it also possible that she was in debt or married to a tax collector as those were also considered a life style of sin. Whatever her particular habitual sin was, it was very clear that Simon the Pharisee was NOT happy to see her, especially as she brazenly interrupts a meal.

Like Simon’s home, sometimes, our churches are not places where sinners feel welcome. Instead, we put on our plastic smiles and pull out our spiritual responses. This atmosphere of spiritual having it all together doesn’t always invite people who feel broken and messy.

As I shared this lesson what I thought we could take from this story, a lady in my class said that maybe it was because people didn’t think they could find Jesus in our churches. Her comment resonated with me, and I nodded my head in agreement.

Then I heard God’s soft voice in my ear, “You ARE the church.”

It is all too easy for me to point my finger at the collective Church and point out its inefficiencies and where it is weak and where it needs improvement. It’s easy for me to feel self-righteous and superior because I see the flaws in the Church as a body.

But here’s the deal,  if people don’t see Jesus in my church, then that means, they aren’t seeing Jesus in me. 

Yeah – ouch! What draws people to church is not usually the church itself, but the people they know that attend that church. If a lost person is searching, and they see in you Jesus shining through, then they might then seek Jesus in the place where you worship.

Do I think the Church in America is perfect? No.

Do I think we, as a corporate body could do better? Yes.

Do I think that individual churches have a personality and culture? Yes.

But, the failure of the Church as a whole is a result of the failure as Christians as individuals. It’s not up to our pastors or church staff to reach out to the lost. It’s not up to the Sunday School Superintendent to love our co-workers or neighbors.

It’s up to us!

As the Church is often described as a body, let me use this analogy. If I ate really crappy food, only drank soda and never exercised, could I then blame my body when it can’t run a marathon? That would be crazy right?

We are meant to work as one unit. We each have a gift, a calling and a mission field (yes, even if that means you never leave the neighborhood you were born in!).

While I totally get what that member of my Sunday school class was trying to say and even agreed with her, I also found myself once again convicted about how I spend my every day life and asking the question, How am I drawing those around me to Jesus?

I’d love to hear how you live out the Great Commission in your daily life! Please feel free to share so we can all learn from each other!

Blessings, Rosanne

I love reading Jon Acuff. Maybe it’s because we are of a similar age, but I totally get his humor. It’s very rarely that I read something of his that I don’t laugh – usually loudly. I recently read one of his posts on anger, and instead of laughing, I found it very profound. You can read it HERE.

One of his main points is that when you are angry, you have two options: blame others or fix it.

I don’t know about you, but there has been a lot of anger lately with the election and the aftermath of said election. To be honest, some of the anger has made me angry. (I know – kind of weird right?)

Personally, I don’t believe anger is wrong in and of itself. It’s okay to be angry – it’s what we do with that anger that can be an issue.

A few years ago, I was studying the life of Moses. I’ve always found the story in Numbers 20 to be puzzling. If you aren’t familiar, the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness and find themselves waterless. This isn’t a small problem since finding water for that many people could be challenging. However, God had ALWAYS provided, yet every time the Israelites find themselves looking at a lack, they immediately start to complain and express their desire to return to Egypt (i.e. return to bondage). Moses has had to put up with this group of people whining, complaining and in some cases, seeking to stone him for decades now. It makes my job of teaching middle schoolers seem like a cake walk in comparison.

In Numbers 20, once again the people are complaining, but this time, Moses has just experienced the loss of his sister Miriam. He is grieving and vulnerable. So, when God asks him to speak to this rock so water can come from it, Moses is too angry to speak. Instead he strikes the rock. Because of this disobedience, Moses is barred from entering the Promised Land.

Does that seem as unfair to you as it does to me?

I mean, I can find so many justifications for Moses’s disobedience. Sure, he sinned, but didn’t he have a good excuse? Who wouldn’t get angry with that bunch of whiners? Who wouldn’t have been angry with their ridiculous declarations that they were better off in Egypt where they were being worked to death? Wasn’t it better he struck the rock with his staff rather than one of the aforementioned complainers?

But here’s the deal – Moses sinned. Other people’s disobedience/behavior might have been the cause but it wasn’t an excuse. 

When I look at the aftermath of one of the weirdest election cycles in history, I have to say that Jon Acuff offers some profound answers for people on both sides of the political divide, and it echoes this lesson we see in Numbers 20.

Anger is not a sinful emotion in and of itself, but it is also not an excuse to sin.

No matter who you voted for – Trump, Hillary or neither; whatever reason you are angry – your person didn’t get in and you feel the apocalyse is at our door OR you look at all the rioting/protesting and it just seems like sour grapes –  we all still have two options: blame other people or fix it.

The thing is only one of those options leaves us feeling hopeful and empowered. (hint, it isn’t blaming others). The problem with blaming others is that it leaves us in the position of being helpless.

No matter how much you want to, you can’t change people – not their thoughts, their beliefs, their convictions or their actions. You especially can’t change those things by calling people names and telling them how to think and feel.

Instead of blaming others for the mess we find ourselves in as a country (because whether your guy won or not, nobody can deny that the divide in our country is long, deep and festering), how about instead, we do what we can to facilitate healing.

That looks like listening.

That looks like not stereotyping people who think/feel differently than you do.

That looks like being kind.

That looks like giving people the freedom to feel what they feel.

That looks like not assuming to know what’s in another person’s brain.

That looks like returning evil with good.

That looks like praying – even for the people or groups that upset or make you angry.

Instead of striking the rock in our anger, let’s allow our anger to drive us toward solutions.

Blessings, Rosanne

Today is Thanksgiving! I wasn’t going to blog today because, well, it’s Thanksgiving. But, as I was having my quiet time with God, I found this verse, and wow! Have you ever read a verse and you feel like God put it there just for you, just for this season?

That’s what it was like as I read and studied Psalms 107:9 this morning, and I knew I had to share it with all of you. I love Psalms 107 because it is such a picture of God’s patience and goodness to us. If you read it, you can see how the psalmist is praising God that He rescued His people after they strayed from God – again.

I don’t know about you, but I, despite my best intentions, stray from God’s side, too. No matter how many times I’ve seen how foolish it is, like the Israelites, it is all too easy to allow idols to take up residence in my heart with their false offers of fulfillment. I often wonder why, when I know better, that is. I think Psalms 107:9 gives a key insight to that question.

Being the Bible nerd that I am, I decided to look up the key words in that verse, and I was surprised to find that the Hebrew word for thirsty, shaqaq, actually means, “to run, run about, rush, run to and fro, be eager or greedy.”

I know, right? It totally gives a new insight into this verse. If you look at the root of this word, it has this connotation of being desperate for something, to run and rush about looking desperately for something you crave or long for.

When I look at our world today, I see a lot of shaqaq going on. There are so many thirsty souls that are desperate for something they can’t seem to find no matter how much running to and fro they do.

Yet, that verse also tells us the answer to the problem. It tells us how to find fulfillment for our great need. GOD is the one that fills us with the good stuff. All that other stuff we go rushing after – the impossible expectations, the successes, the wealth, the love – we will never, ever find it in the world around us. Instead, ALL of what we desperately need and crave is found in the person of Jesus.

That word fill is also an interesting word because it can mean the more obvious, “filled to abundance,” but it can also mean, “to be armed.” Isn’t it interesting that the good God fills us with actually arms us?

Centuries after this psalm was penned, Paul shares the same idea. In Ephesians 3:19, it says, “and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled up with all the fullness of God.”

Again, the words filled up and fullness have this idea of liberal abundance. God doesn’t partially fill us up. He isn’t stingy with His goodness. He fills our souls liberally, IF we will come to Him to be filled.

As we enter the Christmas season and think about celebrating Jesus’ birth, these verses mean all the more to me. Because Jesus came as a baby, because He was willing to be crucified for my sins, I CAN find satisfaction for my thirsty soul. I don’t have to shaqaq. Instead, I can be filled with all the fullness of God.

I can’t think of anything to be more thankful for on Thanksgiving Day. Can you?

This year, I want to slow down and really savor the idea of Immanuel – God with us. In an effort to do that, I created the 28 Days Advent Journal: Savor the Season. It’s available on Amazon and Createspace, and I’d love it if you joined me in going through it this Christmas season.

But even if you don’t, I hope that you will allow the God of the Universe to fill you up with all of His fullness, so your soul’s thirst will be quenched and you won’t be left to shaqaq!

Blessings, Rosanne