The Days I Always Dread

“Sunday Night Syndrome”.  It’s honestly a real thing.  I don’t make this stuff up.  (Plus, Google says it’s real so I’m going with it… 😉 )

But seriously, I do believe it’s actually a REAL deal of a psychological phenomenon.

It’s that “blue-ish” kind of feeling many of us get on Sunday evenings (or ANY evening, really) as the fun and relaxation of the weekend comes to an end and we get ourselves back into “go” mode for the work week/school week, or whatever kind of week you might be dreading!

Know what I’m talking about?!

I’ve been known to experience it from time to time, especially around the time an elongated vacation comes to an end (as in:  summer vacation) or even the end of a special time I’ve spent with people I care about (as in:  the last day of Bible study).

That’s where I find myself today – feeing the blues – because today is the final day of our Fall 2014 Bible study series:

So, yeah.  I’m feeling a smidgen “blue”.

I know, I know.  “All good things must come to an end”, and all that.

And yes, I know that we’ll start up again after the holidays have come and gone.  But it doesn’t change the fact that, today, I’m sad.

But here’s the crazy thing.  I’m also elated!  I’ve seen friends grow exponentially through the study of this amazing book of Romans.

I’ve watched as light bulbs went on in the spirited minds of people in our study because of Paul’s honesty and willingness to share from his heart.

I’ve witnessed moments of faith, steadily maturing, as we full-on dove into God’s Living Word and let it change us from the inside out.

I’ve listened as people told stories of sharing insights with their families and friends (even in the grocery store!); I’ve been amazed at stories of spouses sharing back their own experiences.

And I’ve been overwhelmed with gratitude for a Father in Heaven who so graciously gives us exactly what we need, when we need it.

A God who speaks to us in inspired words penned 2000 years ago, yet still somehow relevantly apply to our life situations today.

A God who hasn’t once left our sides, even when we veer directly off course, and shines the light back on the path to encourage us to come home.

So, even in the feeling of not wanting this to end, I’m realizing there is an abundance of joy in my soul!  There is evidence of change for the better; proof of His faithfulness, grace, and mercy; and a hopeful sense of anticipation for what’s next!  Listen to this:

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are.  Romans 8:15, MSG

So, my friend, maybe you’re like me today and facing the end of something you treasure.  Well… take heart!  God promises that if we stick close to him, something equally amazing (OR POSSIBLY EVEN BETTER) is right around the corner.

Experiences with our awesome God change us for the forever better, sweet friends.  Don’t miss out on opportunities to participate in them.  They exist all around you:

Join a Bible study; plug in to your local church; GO FOR A WALK; listen to some great music.

PRAY.

Have lunch with a friend; read a great book; hug your dog.  Take a warm bath; write a letter to someone special; or simply BE STILL.

Let’s encourage each other not to dwell on endings, but instead, seek out new beginnings with God.

He’s waiting!  Go find out what He’s got up His sleeve for you.  I guarantee it’s gonna be good.

And speaking of GOOD…

Even though this session of Bible study has come to an end, we are already gearing up behind the scenes to get ready for our NEXT one beginning in early 2015 – and it’s pretty awesome!  We’ll be announcing it soon right here.  In the meantime, beginning next week, we’ll be moving our posting schedule back to Tuesdays.  And not only will we be posting cool new stuff, but we’ll also be reprising some of our most popular posts from the past!

Thank you for your friendship, your comments, your insights, and your encouragement as we journeyed with Paul through his letter to the Romans!  I loved every second of it and sure hope you did, too!

One last song before we go, tho!  Check out this video for “Start a Fire” by Unspoken!  It’s the perfect anthem for our God-ignited souls!

Peace, love, and JOY!!!

Wendie

Up Next Week:  The Beauty of Saying Thank You!

Sometimes You Gotta Just Rip Off the Band-Aid and Clean out the Cut

I have Lupus. It’s an autoimmune disease that affects my body and various organ systems in ways that, if I were not under medical care, would cause my body to turn on itself in not-so-fun ways.

I see a doctor (a rheumatologist – such a fancy name!) every three months to have labs taken, meds tweaked, and to get her advice and directives on how to continue to successfully treat Lupus so that I can live a normal, healthy life, just like most of you.

Sometimes, though, I really don’t like what my doctor has to say to me! Things like, “You’re overweight and out of shape, which is causing your body to worker harder.  Thus, your inflammation markers are sky high, which is why you are experiencing joint pain. Lose some weight and exercise.”

Or, “The more you continue to ignore your body’s need for rest, the more likely you are going to stress out your nervous system. This is why you have a fever and cannot see out of your eye. Time for you to take a break.”

It’s not like I LIKE having her tell me those things.  But in the long run, I’d much rather her speak the TRUTH of the matter so we can address the symptoms and I can get better.

I’d rather endure a few moments of uncomfortable, yet truthful, commentary on her part that have her just look at me and say something easier to say for her and easier for me to swallow like, “Well, things don’t look TOO bad. I’ve seen patients much worse than you so let’s just ignore your symptoms.  We’ll just address it if and when it gets life threatening.  We’ll just assume you’re all good and going to be fine.”  And then send me off with a handshake and a smile.

If we have something wrong with us, we want to know about it, no matter how hard it might be to hear, right?  Because once we know the issue, we can make a plan to solve it.

Well, that’s what Paul is doing in this next section of Romans – the one we’re calling “The Wrath of God”. Instead of sugar coating sinful behavior and the human condition of sin, he starts right off with what my grandma always referred to as “calling a spade a spade.”  Instead of saying, “well, I guess those crazy humans will just be human”, he reminds us (or maybe even enlightens us for the 1^st time…) that God means business when it comes to sin and He even uses a little tough love action on us to get His point across.

I think Paul does this to get the cards out on the table up front – and THEN he uses the remainder of the book to explain the remedy – or cure – for our condition:  Jesus.

First, however, Paul wants us to come to terms with one thing – we are all sinners. Every single one of us.

 

Amen to that.

So, what IS sin?

Anything that separates us from God. It’s human behavior that “keeps the world from working as God intended it to.”  (Chuck Swindoll, Insights on Romans).

Sin entered the world with the choices made by Adam and Eve way back in the Garden of Eden and remains here today. Scripture tells us that will continue to be the case until Christ returns.

We pick up this section of Romans with the second half of Chapter 1. Paul spends the remainder of the chapter explaining God’s anger at sin, and he lists a variety of sins, calling them out by name.

My sweet friends, this bit is going to make us uncomfortable on couple levels. First, because we may see ourselves and our own behavior listed here (kind of like me at the rheumatologist).  Paul states things here like:

“…every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip…backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.” Romans 1:29-31, NLT

Ouchie.  Paul sure ripped that Band-Aid off quickly.

On a second level, we might feel uncomfortable reading those words because we may see word pictures develop in our brains of people who have wronged us in the past. We need to try really hard right here to resist the urge to jump on what possibly seems like Paul’s finger pointing band wagon (more on why we need to resist that in just a second – I promise.  Just push the pause button on the judge-y smudge-y feeling that might be brewing inside!).

As we may have already sort of deduced, judging the behavior and “sins” of others just makes us hypocrites, because we are all flawed. We’re so tempted to do so, though, because of our own insecurities and maybe even a “need to be right” all the time.  Pointing out someone else’s mistakes and flaws (and even their sins…) lets us feel a smug sense of righteousness (albeit misplaced).  We can get all caught up in “Well, at least I’m not as bad as so-and-so!”

I don’t know about you, but it’s when I feel the worst about myself that I can pull out what might look like my dearest, sweetest platitudes, but they’re really a guise to use against someone else. But just because I can speak it and look like it, it doesn’t mean my inside matches.

THIS is why we need this “Wrath of God” section from Paul. Not to feel condemned or hopeless or bad about ourselves, OR to stand in judgment of others.  Instead, we need it to know we are all in that same boat.  We are all at the same place.  None of us are ahead of the other in God’s favor, regardless the number of Band-Aids we put on our imperfections.

Sometimes we gotta just rip that Band-Aid right off to see the depth and dirt of what’s hiding beneath it.  Then, the wound can be tended to, cleaned up, and begin healing before it has a chance to really fester.

So, in pointing out our faults, Paul is really just getting us ready for the grace and mercy and beauty of Christ that HAS come and WILL COME again!

Have faith, sweet friends.  Hope is simply right around the corner!  Stay tuned for next week’s lesson on that FACT!  In the meantime, check out this week’s “homework” and song of the week by clicking RIGHT HERE!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Peace, love, and JOY!!!

Wendie

Up Next Week:  Are you happy to see me?  (The TRUTH of being a prodigal daughter of God.)

 

 

Changing Wishes Into Prayers (instead of Praying for Wishes)

 

When I was a little girl, one of my FAVORITE days of the year was the day the Sear’s Christmas Wish Book arrived!  Nothing was more exciting than going through that book from front-to-back, and then again from back-to-front, making notes of all the shiny new things my little heart ached for.

(copyright Sears, Roebuck, & Company)

I’d spend days and days making and remaking my wish list for Santa, erasing then re-adding items back in, only to scratch them off again as soon as something shinier and bigger was found on a subsequent page.

Finally, list colored and detailed to the greatest of degrees, I’d head off to the mailbox and drop my envelope addressed to the Big Jolly Man Up North inside (without my parents noticing, of course – had to make sure Santa was actually real, you know).

And then, I’d wait.  And wait.  And wait. For what was sure to be THE BEST Christmas ever.

Ohhhh, and I’d “pray” a lot, too.  You know: “GOD!!!  You must make sure Santa brings me Chatty Cathy!  I’ll just die if I don’t get her for Christmas!  She’s on page 245 of the Sears Wishbook, in case you need to know the EXACT one I’m talking about!”  And, “Lord, I NEED that potholder making kit on page 230 – I’ll be the absolute laughing stock of 2nd grade if you don’t tell him to bring me that, too!”

And the thing was, Christmas morning would come and I’d receive a few things off that list, but certainly not everything.  And (if I can be honest) sometimes, as a naïve little girl, I was pretty disappointed.

Disappointed that the very THING that I just KNEW would make me the “happiest”, “prettiest”, “most envied”, “bestest” kid around wasn’t delivered, even after I spent all that time wishing and “praying” for it.

What was Santa thinking?! 

Better yet – what was GOD thinking???!!!

Well, He was probably thinking my parents would’ve blown through any savings they’d managed to sock away that year if they foolishly gave into my childish whims.  He was probably thinking, “This girl needs to grow a spirit of generosity and gratitude, not of selfish gluttony”.  And no doubt He was thinking, “I can’t wait for her to write a blog about this 40 years from now…!”  😉

You may have heard me say before that wishes are not the same thing as prayers.  And the truth of the matter is that neither one has to be “granted” or answered in the way in which we have asked it.  Remember Isaiah 55:8-9? (Hint:  His ways are higher than our ways, my dears.)

Don’t misunderstand me.  Any honest, heart-felt prayer that has a reason for being can truly be brought to God.   Just doesn’t mean that God has to answer it in the way it’s been prayed. Prayer isn’t a wish list – it’s an opportunity for soul growth.

When we earnestly pray to God, we grow in our relationship with Him. We spend time talking with Him, learning about Him, sharing our life with Him.  That’s the miracle of the vertical growth of prayer.  When we honestly pray with others, we grow with them, learn about them, share our life AND OUR GOD with them.  That’s the  miracle that comes with the horizontal growth of prayer.

The more we pray, the more in tune we become to God’s beautiful voice and His sovereign and holy will for this earth. The more we pray, the more in tune we become to the needs of those around us.  The more we pray, the more joyful we can be in celebration and praise when those needs have been beautifully met by God.

If we aren’t careful, we begin to look at prayer as some sort of magical, direct line to God to get requests granted the way we want them to go.  But honestly, but prayer is a supernatural mystery.  God orchestrates healing, creates beauty from ashes, and brings the blessings our minds could never have imagined.  Not us.

We cannot possibly know why and how some prayers get answered in the way we ask but other prayers don’t.  But what we DO know is that God is good always…always God is good. And we live for that FACT, regardless of the earthly outcome of our human prayers.

The Bible has many directives for us on prayer. But my favorite it this:

God always gives grace, peace, and mercy to those who pray.  I encourage you to bring your heart to the “table” of prayer. Watch how fellowship and prayer can change everything and create hope. Participate in the supernatural mystery of prayer that our human minds cannot even remotely begin to fathom.

The true miracle of prayer isn’t necessarily in the answer we expect to come. Instead, it’s in the knitting together of the lives of those who are participating in it.  Changing things on the inside and out.  Partnering with God, and with one another, so that God’s will is indeed done here, as it is in heaven.  AMEN.

Are you following along with our Seeing The Big Picture series this fall?!  Click here for everything you need for Week 2, including the link to our song for the week, “Hope Can Change Everything”, by a group of amazing K-Love artists!  See you back here next week, when we jump right into our first section of the Book of Romans!

Peace, love, and joy,

Wendie

Up Next Week:  Salutations To You, and You , and YOU!!!!!  (Romans Style!)

 

The Gospel According to Paul (…and sage words from Julia Child, too!)

One of the things that makes me the happiest about having an eternity in heaven is that I believe we will NEED IT in order to ask all the questions we have about everything of everyone! And I don’t know about you, but I think it’s going to take me about half of eternity to recover from being in the presence of Jesus!

But after THAT?  Well, let me tell you something:  Poor, ole Saint Paul is going to be hounded by me, God bless his sweet soul.  (If you see him hiding up there, it’s probably because he’s avoiding me.  I’m serious.)

I WILL find him, however.  And he’s going to have to start with explaining the book of Romans to me. And if you don’t know much about it yet, let me tell you it’s been called a lot of things, such as:

• The Proverbs of the New Testament
• The Gospel of God
• The Gospel According to Paul
• The Hope of Christ

Personally?  I call it one crazy roller coaster ride that takes us from the wrath of God, through His grace and mercy, and spits us out right into His faithfulness, majesty, and righteousness.

It is NOT a book for the faint of heart. It is NOT a book with quick fixes and easy answers.  But it IS the closest thing I’ve personally found (so far) in this amazing Word of God that speaks to my spirit on a level where there is absolutely no veil between me and the author.

Truth is truth.  Sin is sin.  Mercy is mercy.  Grace is grace.

That’s Romans.

So get excited, sweet friends, because this is where we begin!

I want us to dig deep into the Word and come back up with new life breathed into us on who God is, how He desires relationship with us, what that looks like, and how to make it happen.

It isn’t about knowledge for the “sake of knowledge”. This isn’t a classroom.  There won’t be any tests.  We are not going for a degree or certificate in theology.  We’re going for growth.  Personal growth with our Savior.

And because we all know that life places us all at different seasons and stages at any given time, we have brought back our ever-popular “Do What You Can Plan” , which you can review by clicking the “Seeing the BIG Picture” tab above, and then click the “Do What You Can Plan” tab!   OR simply click here!

This time, we are going back to the basics.  Looking at the “BIG Picture”.  Searching for the simple, uncluttered truth of who Jesus is and how He can provide intimacy with God, and honestly transform our lives and our faith.

Sounds good, right? We thought so.  (And in case you want to know who “we” are, just click here!)

So.  Let’s all get on the same page, shall we?  Some of you reading this are here in local studies with me for the next ten weeks and have already received all your materials at Study this week.

 

 

 

LOVE IT!

And, I’m SO EXCITED that many others of you are following along via the blog!  If this describes you, all you need to do each Thursday is to read the blog, then click on this link to get what you need this week! .  There, you will find .pdfs that give you our discussion questions, inductive Bible study pages, Practical Applications pages, and Weekly Devotions, and even a song for the week.

Print them up, do the work at whatever level works for you, and tune back in here the following week for the updated scoop.  Leave us comments and messages as to how things are going right here.  Ask questions and praise God alongside us.

To get you started, here is the link to this week’s “homework”!  Stick with it and give it a go for a few weeks.  It will make far more sense as we go along, I promise!

Sounds easy, right?

Here’s the thing…

Many of you know I love to cook, and that my favorite “chef girlfriend” is Julia Child.

She had some of my favorite EVER quotes:

“People who love to eat are always the best people.”  (Sooooooo true.)

AND…

“Fat gives flavor to everything.”  (Yep.  Everything.)

But my FAVORITE of all is her line in regards to her potato-leek soup, about which she said, “Just because something appears simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.”

What she meant there is that even though her recipe has very few ingredients and only 4 steps, it isn’t easy to master. We’re about to find that out first hand.

(Well, not with potato-leek soup, but gosh, I’d love that, too!  Here is a link to the recipe! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cream-of-leek-and-potato-soup-recipe.html )

 

 

“Easy” usually doesn’t equate to LIFE CHANGING.  But “simple” can.  The BIG Picture clears the clutter to help us see what’s truly important and let’s us focus on growing with God.  Growing closer to Jesus. Growing more confident in our ability to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Yep.  That’s what I want, how about you?

Speaking of simple, PLEEEEEEASE spend FIVE minutes sitting back and watching/listening to the swooniest song about God you will EVER have the pleasure to hear:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkUiPJdBZQs .

Oooooooh.  I’m super excited about all this and am praying you are too!  For now, do your homework for this week, and check back next week for Week Two of Seeing the Big Picture:  The Book of Romans!

Have an entirely wonderful week!

Peace, love, and joy,

Wendie

Up Next Week:  Changing Your Wish List into Prayer

Time to Get Off the Bench and Get Into the Action!

This is my amazing Elle Belle.

 

As you might guess from her photo, she plays softball.

Elle spent some “time” this past year on the bench.  Now, on the surface, this can seem like a bad thing for an athlete.  Elle was not exactly pleased about it, let me assure you.  But, there are some good things about playing this game of softball that relate to living in real life (click here to see the post I wrote about that).

One of the good things about sitting on the bench is that you become a very well-educated spectator.  You watch the game while it’s played, learn a lot about the rules, the “spirit” of the sport, what NOT to do when you’re out there, and also some great tips on what you SHOULD do when you’re a real-life participant in the action.

One of the BAD things about sitting on the bench is that all your instruction is by observation, not action.  Sitting on the bench, Elle learned a lot last year.  But I don’t know how much of a better game-time player she became.  Why?  Because being part of the actual action is where the most true growth comes from.

But this upcoming year?!  Oooooh.  THIS year, Elle is on a new team.  One on which she is a starter.  One on which she will see a lot more playing time.  And, because of it, I have no doubt she will grow into a much stronger and better player.

This season of Bible study is one I believe will be a season of major growth for each one of us because we are getting into the action!  This season, let’s commit to getting off the bench (or couch as the case may be…)!  Let’s commit to coming to study not just to be entertained or filled with information.  This season, let’s GET IN THE GAME.

We’re getting off our warmed bench and running out onto the field.  Let’s participate in the miraculous truth that God, Himself, wants to “do life” with us.

More than simply “do life” alongside us, He desires to be our Head Coach, our Head Cheerleader, our Teacher.  He wants to demonstrate how it’s done right, and then let us try our own hands at it.  He knows we’ll miss some catches and even strike out sometimes.  But He promises not to bench us, as long as we are willing to try.

Before we dive on in, let’s get geared up, shall we?  Here’s a few things you might need to know and do before we begin:

Step One:  Get a good Bible!  It is essential in getting to know God and letting Him reveal Himself to us.  Without His word, we are clueless, sweet friends, to know how this life is to be lived for His glory. Click here for my Bible Buying exercise and get yourself a good one that you can read and understand!  Even the most sophisticated French dinner cannot be truly savored unless you know what it is you are eating, right?!  I can personally attest to the same thing when it comes to Bible translation.  If I don’t “get” what I’m reading, I’m not able to understand it on that gloriously delicious soul level!

Step Two:  Use it!  Your Bible, I mean.  I think this is self-explanatory, don’t you?  Afterall, it doesn’t matter how many paper towels you have stocked up in your pantry.  If you don’t open them and use them, that mess on the counter isn’t going anywhere!  And speaking of USING it, we’re digging deep into the book of Romans this session to encounter God in a fresh, new, life-giving way!  (We’ll talk about that a bit more next week!)  For right now, once you have a Bible you love, open it up, take a look at the Table of Contents and the extra stuff at the back (like maps, index, concordance, etc.).  Then, place two post-it notes in your Bible – one on the Table of Contents Page, and one on the first page of the book of Romans (use your Table of Contents to find it!).

I’m so excited to begin our NEW study next week!  In case you missed the “memo” (!), we’ll be studying the book of Romans for our series, Seeing the Big Picture:  The Book of Romans.  And don’t worry if you aren’t local because everything you need to participate alongside us will be posted up here each week, starting NEXT week!

Speaking of next week, I’m switching things up with my posting schedule.  Starting next week, my weekly blog posts will be going up live on Thursdays instead of Mondays.  This just helps with the flow of our Bible study dates!

You ready to get in the game with me?  To do Bible study for more than just the sake of knowledge?  To actively dig into His Living Word with me AND with a lot of other sister friends both here and around the globe together?  I hope that answer is a resounding YES!

See you here next THURSDAY with Week One of Seeing the Big Picture:  The Book of Romans!

Peace, love, and joy!

Wendie

Up Next Week:  Permission to “Do What You Can”