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The ABC’s and 123’s of God’s Love 

August 5, 2016

lightstock_ABC'sGod'slove_medium_christieHere’s the repeated phrase I heard all summer and again this morning:  “I’m 100 percent excited and one percent scared. What if nobody likes me?” My soon-to-be kindergarten daughter said this with a painful wince, like she’d just been bitten by a nervous bug.

Like mother like daughter.  I’m four decades in, and I still can’t escape the little school girl within.  While school starts back this week, I just returned from back-to-back weekends at writers’ and speakers’ conferences, where I too felt like the new kid on the block.

Toting notebooks, fresh packs of pens, and pockets full of nervous butterflies. Hustling and bustling among 800 other girls, I mean, women.  Taking in the sounds of heels clicking through lobbies, constant chatter, and the sound of me exhaling and sinking into well-worn chairs.

Although there were countless God conversations that melted my heart and lit up my confidence, there was that one that didn’t.  Why, oh why, do I glide by the positives that were plenty, but stop at the one that was negative?

Here’s the flashback.  I loaded up at the breakfast buffet, scanned the cafeteria for a loner, and then made my way through the maze of women. Carrying my tray—and the familiar thought—I’m 100 percent excited and one percent scared.  What if nobody likes me?

I spotted a table of one, stepped up and said, “Is this seat taken?”  My heavy hands got ahead of my ears as I started to set my tray down before hearing, “I’m sorry, it is.  I’m saving it for a friend.”

“Oh, OK,”  I stammered as I painted on a smile.  And I’d love to tell you I brushed it off, went and gobbled down my food, and happily greeted the day.  But I didn’t.

I walked around the corner, left my tray and my confidence behind, and then hightailed it up to my room to sink into my chair of silly school-girl rejection.  I know.  I know. It wasn’t her.  She was still nice as can be—it was just me.

So I prayed and listened for the response of the Teacher.  Here’s the phrase that ushered me back and welcomes us daily:

When you’re filled with nervousness and insecurity, and even if that seat is taken, just SIT IN MY LOVE.

So that’s what I’m telling both my girls on the first day of school.  Just sit in God’s love. And be on the look-out for the lonely and the timid, and especially those who look like they’ve got nervous butterflies swirling in their tummies.

Then you hightail it over to them and offer a seat right beside you. 

And always be ready to teach them the ABC’s and 123’s of God’s love. Tell them what I’m telling you:

You’re an: Adored, Beautiful Child

1.) Loved by the Father

2.) Redeemed by the SON

3.) and Empowered by the Holy Spirit

There you have it.  The simple ABC’s and 123’s of God’s love.  And they are for ALL of us daughters.

I’m so grateful that whether we’re five or ninety-five, we’re never too old to be taught like a child or too young to receive wisdom from the Teacher.

And thank YOU for allowing me to sit and learn beside you as we share His sweet words of love here at our table.

Feel free to share any of YOUR school-girl moments with me.  And if you haven’t already, subscribe to the Well and go share our site with a friend.  Whether it’s a round table or a circle of women, we are all to be a welcoming Well—where faith is better shared.

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.” John 13:13

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

Filed Under: Love at the Well Tagged With: 123's, abc's, daughters, faith, faith like a child, First day of School, God's love, learning

THE RETELLING: FACING THE FEAR OF SHARING JESUS IN WORDS

July 29, 2016

The-Retelling--e1458255041964

At Women at the Well, we believe faith is better shared.  But we know it isn’t always easy.  Truthfully, it’s down right scary sometimes.

Christina Hubbard knows that all too well, as you’ll soon see–and feel.   God knit our stories and our hearts together last week at a writer’s event, and I know the beauty and honesty of her words will bless you as much as they did me.

Sharing Jesus in words has always been a struggle for me, especially in person. Many of us are afraid to tell our Jesus stories because we think our words are not good enough. Or we’re not good enough. SHARE is the word for this week’s Five Minute Five free writing challenge, a creative community that joins forces in a beautiful flash mob of words for five minutes. (The lines indicate where my free write begins and ends.)

He was thirty, but I withheld water. 

He asked me outright to share.  On a plane enroute to Baltimore, I sat next to a U.S. soldier on his way home after a long overseas posting. He was eager to eat a McDonald’s hamburger again and sleep in his own bed. I was on my way to spend two weeks with my college boyfriend.

Shortly into our conversation, he asked me point blank, “Like what else is there? God? Heaven? There’s gotta be. What do you think about all that?” His brown eyes lit up in hope of my answer.  The silence hung above us like yellow air masks had just fallen from the ceiling, their tubes dangling awkwardly between us from a sudden change in cabin pressure. I probably reached for my mask, but it wasn’t there.

I don’t know if I’ve met someone so eager to know about God since then. Someone who was completely open to the gospel. Call it spiritual hunger or a deep thirst for God. Whatever it was, he wanted to know how I could help him. Even after I stuttered for about fifteen seconds, he asked me again, “Do you ever think about that?” But I didn’t give him the water.

Shame and stammering.  I’ve never loved putting my beating heart on the table. That is also what keeps me from sharing. The fear of rejection and subjection and objection to the person God made me to be, the me who feels fleshy and boney, completely and frustratingly imperfectly human, the girl who used to dance in her driveway unashamed.

I don’t love putting it out there—my thoughts, feelings, and stories. It’s hard to be honest and sometimes I’m not. I fumble and stumble, mumbling, “What am I doing?”

Continue reading her faith story at CreativeandFree.com.  

Filed Under: Love at the Well

How to trust God–no matter what

July 16, 2016

IMG_Christen3

“The Dr. said there’s no heartbeat.” My little brother’s words assaulted my ears and blew my mind, leaving my own heart racing and twisting my stomach into a tangle of knots.

A defeated “I’m sorry,” was all I could whisper, but what I wanted to scream was, “WHY God?! I just don’t understand!”

They’d prayed for a baby, believed for healing, and then I received a blessing.  “You’re gonna be an aunt!”   I practically had the whole nursery design completed for them before God cradled and lifted those words back up to Heaven.

And a miracle became a miscarriage and a prayer that was answered turned into a question that wasn’t.

So what do we do when our grim reality collides with God’s limitless ability?  That’s what I pondered as I piled up tissues and collected gifts for the SONshine Box I had never planned to make.

Unlike the gift box, I couldn’t wrap this one up neat, or make all the pieces fit, much less place a pretty bow on top. 

As much as I tried to straighten every crease, smooth out the crinkles and the questions, and then fold in all the right reasons, it still didn’t look right.  Didn’t seem right.  Not even when I taped on His Word.  The result was that life still looked messy and torn.

I couldn’t reconcile why God would give a gift He was just going to take back.

And enough was enough.  My sister-in-law had already battled through PCOS, an endocrine disorder that can bring infertility, and YET like my favorite woman in the Bible, that one with physical issues, she pushed through the obstacles of time, doubt, and fear, and she received her healing.

I was there during a prayer night to hear her cries as Jesus caught her tears and touched her body.  And called her daughter. I imagine her receiving the long-awaited words, “Daughter, your faith has made you well” not long before hearing, “You’re pregnant!”

And I thought of my brother hearing, “Son, you’re going to be a father.”  Those words would have to come from God because he’d already buried both parents in his 20’s.

So again I implored, “God, wasn’t that enough?  Hadn’t we been through enough?  Couldn’t we have just kept this one gift?”

Days later, I trudged up their driveway for her women’s Bible study that she wouldn’t cancel. Carrying my Sonshining gifts and hiding my cloudiest questions.

Still asking, “What do you do, what do you say, when it looks like faith flatlines and dreams die?” I didn’t find the perfect answer, but I watched as God unwrapped a perfect example.

We’d been a cozy five-girl Bible study group, with most of us just wanting to huddle around her that night. To cry.  And then cry some more.  But we didn’t. We couldn’t.  A new girl showed up, so we exchanged quiet smiles and loud, knowing glances instead.

Honestly, I kept waiting for the new one to leave so that us old ones could have a moment to grieve.  But it got late, so we finally pulled out our surprise box of SONshine, and then we watched the real gift arrive.

Because that night my sister-in-law became the gift.  A vessel of God’s light shining forth.  She didn’t tuck away grief and hide disappointment.  She dug deep. Letting His words flow out.  Gently pulling out her pain and reaching for His purpose.

He’d healed her body and her fear, and now was a time to simply draw near.  And grieve.  And breathe.  But even more, to STILL BELIEVE.

She gripped the tassels of His Word—”Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6) Followed by, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)

And she shared how a sign had gone up on her road the very week she’d been tempted to fear during pregnancy.  It said, “Trust in me” with a picture of Jesus. She didn’t know who placed it in the ground, but she knew God tilled the soil for her faith and wrote those words on her heart.

Because it’s easy to trust Him when everything is in place, but trust can only be activated when all we have is grace.

“I told God I would trust Him no matter what, knowing HE is enough,” she said.

He is enough. Yes, enough was enough.  Those words still echo, as I recall rocking in a chair, but sitting at a Well. Watching tears drip and walls fall.  Listening to women, friends and strangers, freely share as He washed over us with buckets of love.

And that’s exactly what we did every week after that, as she poured out her faith and God’s love, encouraging women to surrender fear and to shred shame—and to never give up hope for their miracle.

No wonder ladies went from trickling in to flooding in.  Because she pointed to Him.  And she still does.  Because He was enough.  And He still is.

Even if we weren’t family, she’d still be my friend.  A Woman at the Well who personifies the essence of this site:  “When we share our lives and our hurts, God connects our hearts—to each other’s and to His.”

And that’s why and when we celebrate. And why I’ve made her my FIRST official “Well Done Woman,” here at the Well.

Although that’s reason enough to celebrate, we’re also celebrating another first this month.  The first birthday of her daughter and my niece.

A one-year-old pure gift, all wrapped up in fifteen tiny little pounds.  And though she may be little, she is fierce in faith already.  And she sure is a keeper.

She deserves a story of her own, so I’ll save that one for later. Meanwhile, comment and share your faith and your trust story here as I prepare to share some new SONshine Box ideas soon.  Until then, I’ll sit at the Well with you as we trust and believe–no matter what–because He is enough. 

IMG_Hepromised

Filed Under: Believe at the Well, Love at the Well Tagged With: believe, encouragment in difficulty, faith, Hebrews 10:23, hope, how to trust God, miscarriage, SONshine Box, the sunshine box, trust, unanswered prayer, woman at the well

What Grace Looks Like

July 9, 2016

lightstock_JEBerry_download_medium_christie_There’s no better time to look for grace than this week, when so many around us are thirsty for it.  

And one of the grace-giving opportunities I have along this journey of faith and writing is to meet women at the Well who personify it.  Women who pour out their hearts for us to feel and write out their lives for us to read.

So I’m applauding J.E. Berry for doing just that, and I’m also celebrating the launch of her book this week, The Truth About Happiness.  Be blessed as she shares a dose of grace from her blog right here at the Well:

On a regular basis, we walk through life missing a good portion of things that make up the big picture. We get in the car to drive and don’t pay much attention to the engine under the hood, unless it doesn’t start.

We order our food in a restaurant and don’t give much thought to the process it took to get the food to the table, unless there is something in the food and then you wonder what the sanitary conditions are in the kitchen.

As a people, we become numb to a lot that happens around us if we aren’t intentional with our attention.

What about the doses of grace we receive all day, everyday? How close of an eye are we keeping on those?

As a mom, wife, redeemed soul, I have been taking glimpses at those every-day graces, moment by moment. In the moments when I count my children coming out of the grocery store and realize how much grace God has lavished on me to trust me with 5 children.

Or the moments when I look at my awesome husband and see God’s grace in the redemption of my purity through the marriage He planned for me. How time and time again His grace shows up and redirects me onto the path He laid out for me. These moments are the picture of God’s grace. 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 ESV

Today I challenge you to slow down, and take a look around you. Look at every dose of grace that surrounds your existence. Look for every moment to give God praise for His undying love and never-ending GRACE.

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16 ESV

Read more about J.E. Berry and her new book at J.E.BerrySpeaks.com, and don’t forget to see and share some grace today.

Filed Under: Love at the Well Tagged With: Biblical truth, faith, God's love, grace, intentional

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About Christie

What about me? Ugh! Don’t ya just loathe this part? How do you cram who you are into a few chunks of paragraphs? I like doing that about as much as I liked saying cheese in the bobble-head photo hovering above. But just like the pic and the blog, I’m a work in progress. A real WIP. Read More…

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