Matthew 11:28-30, The Message "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me... Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace."
Stanice Anderson Stanice is a dynamic author and speaker on addiction and recovery, not to mention a preacher in the first degree. Her blog and books reverberate with power. She updates a few times a month.
Robin Lee Hatcher Robin shares about faith, fiction, politics, Bible study and all sorts of cool stuff. This was one of the first blogs I ever read.
Claudia Mair Burney A great author and great friend. Known throughout the blogosphere for her moving posts. Author of MURDER, MAYHEM AND A FINE MAN (Navpress, July 2006)
Bonnie Bruno With beautiful photos and poetic prose, children's author Bonnie Bruno shows God's grace with every post.
Lisa Samson Lisa is one of my favorite writers...and people. On her blog and in her books, she asks questions that don't always have answers. And she's funny. She updates all the time.
Angela Benson Christy finalist and author of THE AMEN SISTERS
Xenia Ruiz Blog of author Xenia Ruiz, author of CHOOSE ME
Faithchick Blog of several authors of Christian chick lit. Faith, fiction and fun!
Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to
defend ourselves before you in this matter.If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to
save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not
serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18, NIV)
Sorry for the silence last week. I was pondering the resurrection and celebrating the birthday of my youngest, who just turned five. It struck me that I spent the weeks leading to his birth rewriting Rhythms of Grace and I spent some of last week doing the same thing. It struck me because that book had been declared dead.
Well, God specializes in raising the dead. Dead relationships, dead dreams, even dead folks. He doesn't always show up when we expect or in the ways that we want, but He is able to walk with us amidst the fire, to lay aside our grave clothes and roll away even the biggest stones.
Not just on holidays, but on every day of every year, Jesus is in the resurrection business. So whatever it is in your life that has been declared dead, put it in your hands and wrap it up tight, scented it with the perfume of your best prayers and offer it up to the risen One who is able to quicken both the living and the dead.
DON'T GIVE UP. LOOK UP. HE WHOM THEY CRUCIFIED IS YET ALIVE!
Today's Grace: Father God, I thank you that man doesn't have the last word. I praise you that even when the doctor says no, when folks shake their heads and turn away, when our best things begin to rot and stink, you come and breathe life into our lives. May every person reading this be blessed with a miracle of resurrection in some area of their lives. We don't know what You will do, O God, but we declare today that you ARE able! And we thank you and praise you for it.
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV)
Today's Grace: Father God, Thank you for going ahead to prepare the places we're going to. Help us to be strong and courageous and keep on the path, Your path. May our love, perfected, cast out all fear. Bring encouraging, positive people into our lives.
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. (Psalm 96:1)
Sometimes God sends you friends to help you get over the deep places or to help you up off the ground.
Sometimes not.
Sometimes, you've got to find your own voice and cry out to your God, asking Him which way to go and when to step out. God's will and God's timing are both crucial to finding your tune - the beat that only you can play. It's music written with your tears, sprinkled with your laughter, words that only you can speak.
And only God can give them to you.
So, don't fret if you can't find a mentor. I didn't get one either. Sometimes God gives you Himself instead, burning without being consumed, dancing in a desert waiting for you. Some people get a guide, other folks get a bush. If you walk up on fire, don't be disappointed, just take off your shoes...
And listen for the music that comes after.
Father God,
Thank you for the experiences you've given us, the high and low notes that make us who we are. Give us a clear vision of the people and purpose to whom we are called. Help us share your glory with the world in a new and fresh way, a way they can understand. Help us to get free of our own ideas so that we can receive Your God ideas instead.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Today's Rhythm: Jesus Musik, Lacrae (featuring Trip Lee)
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. (Psalm 118:14, NIV)
It's a Fred Hammond kind of day. We're nearing the end of the missions class at church and the warfare is getting INTENSE. Some stuff happened last week that I didn't see coming at all and I allowed myself to be disturbed and hurt over some trivial stuff. I really need to turn a corner in my manuscript this week, so I can't let myself be distracted.
So I've been cleaning and praying and praising and thinking and God gave me something for the book. Something good I think. I'm so glad. I think it my be something good for my real world life too. Something that can only be made strong in my weakness. Which is good because I've got plenty of that. And yet, He can make us strong, strong enough to finish the things we begin, to be a blessing when we need to be blessed, to stretch out when we want to curl up.
Strong enough to open our mouths and sing a song of strength, to do a dance of deliverance.
Just strong enough.
Today's Grace:
Father God,
Thank You for promising to be strong when we are weak. Be a fence all around us, Jesus. Help us to forgive and be forgiven. May we take Your broken bread and poured out wine in unsteady hands to whomever You send us. Make us strong enough to do what is needed.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isaiah 43:2, NIV)
Sometimes, there are places in my life too wide and too deep for me to get over alone. Often, God shows up Himself and lifts me over or guides me through, but other times He uses people to be His hands, to give me a little help. If I'm lucky, they become my friends.
Today, I'm going to share with you two women who stood and clapped their hands to the rhythm of my words when everyone else was either staring with a raised eyebrow or not listening at all. As you'll see in today's music clip (forgive the quality, it's worth it), there is power in one person getting it and getting in. Remember that when you enjoy someone's art or food, a little encouragement goes a long way. Especially when the water gets deep.
Jessica Ferguson
I was tempted to make that picture REALLY small since I look like some kind of radioactive makeup monster, but I love Jess so much that I wanted you to see her smile. Have mercy. (That was my last set of braids before the Big Chop and the 'Fro). There was a Texas theme to the conference if you're wondering. I had on my boots. It was in Houston.
Back in 2001 (I think) I joined American Christian Fiction Writers after a host of secular critique groups and other arrangements. The online classes were great (except all the rewrites from what I learned!). I even joined a critique group with some fabulous authors. I loved reading everyone's chapters, but when I sent mine, there was usually silence. I could almost hear the "huh" resounding in cyberspace. Then new people would join and I started getting some crits, but often felt like I was the worst writer in the world.
Then Jess came.
"This is great! Send more!" I think she said in one of our first emails. I blinked rapidly. Great? More? Hmmm... And so I sent more and some of the other people started to get it too, even if it was a little outside their experience (what's with all those hair appointments?). Rhythms of Grace began to take on its own song when Jess encouraged me to not to water it down into some "publishable" format as I'd been advised but to just give her the whole thing, the way I'd written it. (She could read the holes where the other characters had been). And so there they were, the whole messy crew of them, black and white, Christians and not, trying to get their grooves back, their hearts healed. And while almost nobody seemed to get it, a beautiful white woman in Texas got it. And she never let me give up on it.
When I tried, she talked me into leaving my then six kids and coming to an ACFW conference on a scholarship. We roomed together. By the end of the first night, I was in tears. What in the world was I doing here? Had I lost my mind? Jess shrugged, hugged me and sent me to bed. "You've got it. People love you. Tomorrow will be better. Now go to bed."
I did. And it was. And well, the rest is pretty much history with Rhythms of Grace finally coming to print this Fall. Jess, Nancy, Beth, Dorothy and all the ladies from ACFW Crit 2 believed for me back then what I'd become too beat down with rejection to see: no book will be published before its time, but when its time, nothing can stop it.
Visit Jess at her writing blog, Praise, Prayers and Observations. She's got a great post up write now about counting the cost of being published and whether writing in today's industry with it's marketing and production demands can be done while still putting God and family first.
I sure hope so, but you go and chime in your thoughts too.
Peace,
Mary
Today's Grace:
Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear, both what the Spirit is saying and what the people in our lives are doing. Give us the courage to clap when no one else is clapping, the humility to see beyond our own experiences and into the hearts of others. Bless Jess and all her wonderful words, including the thousands that are yet to be printed. May You pour out every blessing and encouragement upon her that she has so freely given others.
"..whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." (James 4:14, NKJV) .
This past Sunday, during our missions class, we took a field trip.
To a graveyard.
Yep. You read it right. The whole class packed up and road off to a nearby church with a graveyard next to it. Our assignment? To consider the dash, the years between birth and death that we are all given. Look at how people were remembered and what they were remembered for. How can we make our "dash" count? What will we be remembered for in this world.
The assignment made this writer's mind go into overdrive as every tombstone told another story. Here are some of them:
The plot of 30 unmarked graves from yellow fever in 1841.
The twins, Albert and Alberta, who didn't make their first birthdays. They were born December 23, 1884. Unlike many of the other infants and children, I did not see their parents nearby. I wondered if the loss set them off in other directions.
The man who whose first and third wives were buried next to him. Did the second one get away? Marry someone else? We couldn't figure it out.
The stone that read, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." That cracked everyone up, but I'm still pondering what that "idea" might have been.
The mother of 15 children whose husband died thirty years before her. As a mother of seven, that one line spoke volumes.
One of the most troubling stones was inscribed to a "loving mother, wife and indulgent mistress." What in the world? There was no getting away from sin back in the day, huh?
Perhaps the most compelling though, was a family of eight, a doctor's family. He and his wife had six children. None of them lived past age 17.
The shortest and best? "Here lies _____________. He loved Jesus." Don't you love that?
I wondered a lot about what those people had dreamed America would become. Some of them we recognized as pioneers of local businesses or entities still named for them. I doubted that any of them anticipated a black woman walking among their graves with her Sunday school class (it was an all white cemetery as most were throughout the south. I may visit the black cemetery of the same time period next). And yet, I think some of them would have been pleased with much of what we have become. Pleased and dismayed too.
There were many tragic stories in that graveyard and yet almost every stone had some praise or inscription to God. Perhaps when loss is so close, love and faith seem that much stronger. I left there reaching for both and breathing in all I could of the day before me. Though we may see a lot of life changing things on the mission field, some of us were ever changed on a February morning when we considered the dash that is our days.
Today's Grace:
Father God,
Thank you for each day of life we've been given. Forgive us for the time we've wasted or the mistakes we've made. Help us to overcome our flesh and our fears that we might fulfill our purpose. Guide us into Your glorious destiny, O God. Fill us with Your Spirit.
In Jesus' name, Amen
Today's Rhythm: Come and Go With Me to that Land, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon (original Freedom Singer and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock)
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were
assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
they spake the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)
A time to tear down. A time to build. A time to pray.
In a room full of broken, frightened people with bowed heads and humbled hearts, something happened. Something that would turn the entire world upside down, starting with their own lives. May God give each of us the courage to become a house of prayer this year.
Father God, We are amazed at Your power. We praise You for shaking the lives of some to bring in so many. Forgive us if we've stepped out in our own strength, if we've forgotten the power of Your promises. May you show Yourself strong to us this day as we bow our knees and admit our weakness.
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in
the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it;
but I found no one. (Ezekiel 22:30, NKJV)
Some of the best books I've read have been written by people who are passionate about their subject. Even in fiction, it is evident when someone has a purpose, a passion and a people that keep them awake at night long after they've turned off their computers.
As Christian writers, our literary mission fields may vary. Some spend their days feeling the heat of hell, licking at a lost world, a fire that once smoked at the edge of their own lives until someone pulled them away. For others, it is the church itself, full of people following what Paul calls "a different Jesus", an idol of their own making who obeys their man-made edicts. These people have often had the same experience, but escaped it before the real Jesus could say, "Depart from me. I never knew you."
Wherever we've come from, whatever we've lived through, we mustn't forget the others who are still broken and bleeding in the land. Though our flesh desires safety and comfort, let us ask God to give us the strength to be a wall for the world, to stand in the gap for those who are unable or unwilling to rise.
Let us fulfill our destiny.
Father God,
As the song says, Lord prepare us to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, we'll be living sanctuaries for you. Clear the land of our hearts that You might build in us Your kingdom. Show us our purpose and people and give us the strength to stand in the gap.
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NIV)
So much of walking and working with God is being in season. There is a time for everything under heaven and for each of us these times differ. Last year, it was a time for peace and a time to be silent. This year, I think, will be a time to build, which excites me, except for the little part in front of that...
A time to tear down.
There is so much new coming to me, coming through me and yet there is only so much room. Yesterday, my husband and I took had our first lesson in the missions class at our church (I don't know if I"ll make it to the house of my father, but I'm definitely headed to my Father's house, wherever that may be). As I heard Paul Sheppard, one of my favorite preachers teach recently, every great work digs down before it builds up. Or as I teach so often, you have to have an upreach before you have an outreach.
I'm feeling that now, stretched out, hands raised. This is the "something" I've been feeling for over a year now. Though I don't know what type of structure it will be, I know that God is going to do some excavating.
And I'm glad.
What about you? What season are you in? A healing season? A waiting season? A season or preparation? Wherever you are, don't be afraid to let God dig deep. He's going to build something great...if we'll let Him.
Father God,
Thank You for Your timing. Though I do not always understand it, I know that it is for my benefit. I stretch myself out today on the chief Cornerstone asking that you will give me deep roots and tall shoots to reach the nations for generations. May every good thing that You have promised come to pass, in the time and season that You have determined.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
Today's Rhythms: Jonathan Butler with Kirk Whalum, Falling in Love with Jesus
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2, NIV)
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down
the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river
stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its
fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of
the nations. (Revelation 22:1, 2, NIV)
Yesterday at church, someone brought up the water cure, a not-so-new group of scientific discoveries tracing most of our illnesses to dehydration. (I'll be drowning those boys after school!) It's not a surprising concept. There is always water. It flowed at the beginning and will flow at the end end. Alpha and Omega. Our bodies are mostly water. Our brains more so. And our spirits?
Even more.
Last week, we talked about becoming rooted and grounded in God's love, growing into the fullness of all we are intended to be. I want to do that. I want to be fluid and flexible, hearing more than I talk, instead of rambling nervously when my attention splinters or feeling compelled to lend an answer instead of an ear. I want to be a Baobab, with roots fingering the ground and a heart big enough to store water for others. I want to be all the things my mother dreamed for me when she, with tears streaming down her face, told me of the glory of Jesus and His kingdom. I want to do more than make a living, I want to make a life.
A life flowing with living water, filled with peace and power. A true life, an honest life. That's hard to have in a world based on lies, but it's not impossible. Not if you're thirsty.
I talk a lot at writer's conferences about being humble and hungry as one of my favorite NBA legends Avery Johnson loves to say. There's something else too. The thirst. It is what brings us to our knees with parched souls and salty lips, crying out to God for something to happen, for someone to be shaken, even if that someone is us.
And so it is me, waiting with wonder for the heavenly leaves that will heal the wounds of nation against nation, of man against God. Until then, let's dive deep into the Living Water, drinking as we never have before. We have the mustard seed of faith and the roots of love. May the water of God's word bring the fruit of righteousness, sweet in this world...and the next.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. (John 4:13, KJV)
"Remain in me, and I will
remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in
the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." (John 15:4, NIV)
Sometimes, things come to me that shake me from sleep and make my fingers grab for some invisible pen. Some of them cut deep and bleed long into a time before times. Others speed up and blur off into a future only seen between my ears.
They press hard, these things, sharp, shiny story-shells or fast-moving people with nowhere to go. They are tired of waiting, some of them, and yet they must wait, until time ripens and breathes it into bloom.
People ask how long it takes to write a book. We mumble our best answers, knowing that for some of us, the answer is more confounding than the question. I see now that everyday God is inking some new truth on me, something I didn't know, couldn't see. So often, I know the tale, but have not lived enough, loved enough, lost enough to tell it. Sometimes it is there, ripe and full, but my courage fails me, knowing that most times my characters pave a rocky road that I too must follow.j
And yet, without Him, it is all nothing. Even less if that is possible. And so I wait here, cradling my best intentions and watering them with my tears, wondering what kind of fruit will grow behind my ribs, between my fingers. If it's anything like before, it will be strange...but wonderful.
Father God,
Thank you for the direction of your Word, even for my feeble words. Forgive us when we take wrong turns. Light the way well, that we might choose the right paths. Thank you for the wonder that is Your Word, that is You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Today's Rhythm: Martin Luther King, April 28, 1963
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