"Evangelism is running your fingers over the surface of someone's life until you find the crack and therein inserting the gospel."

I heard this quote years ago, but it's one that has really stuck with me. I think that I love it, because it focuses on 2 elements.

1. Relationship--My best friend from college, Anna, has said that you have to earn the right to speak into some one's life. I've seen God use testimony from a stranger to lead to faith in Christ, but generally I think that God uses both the words and testimony of our lives to witness to people with whom we've taken the time to build deep relationship.

It takes an investment of time to really get to know someone. It takes a lot of conversation to go from the initial getting-to-know-you stage to the stage when we'll share the deep places of our heart. I remember a fellow student telling my friend Alene that she didn't just want to be a project. I know that I've been guilty of pursuing a relationship because I've seen someone as a "project" instead of letting unconditional love be the foundation for friendship. As a Christian who desires to introduce others to Jesus, I had good motives, but my methods were deeply flawed.

I love to talk, but God is teaching me that asking questions and listening are key to "running my fingers over the surface" of some one's life. I myself have a deep desire to be known, and when I take the time to know the heart of another, it's one of the greatest things that I have to offer.

2. Finding the need--Salvation is very difficult for those who see no need for a Savior. All of us who have come to faith in Jesus first saw ourselves as sinners in desperate need of grace. We know ourselves as weak and unable to achieve our full potential without our Creator. It's obvious that recognition of sin and weakness are not characteristics that our culture values. Most of the people around us are desperately trying to bury their guilt, justify their sin and disguise their weakness. In deep relationships, though, we sometimes feel safe enough to reveal the hidden wounds, confess our darkest sin or grieve our devastating failures. In those times, we as believers have opportunity to introduce Jesus, the hero of our hearts. He is the healer of wounds, the forgiver of sins, the redeemer of failures and the lover of our souls. In recognizing the need for a Savior, the unbeliever opens a door for Him to walk through.

My challenge is to move from building relationship to boldly speaking the words that lead to salvation. I'll share more about that next week.

This Little Light of Mine

Our Sunday School class is going through some restructuring. We're working toward a division of responsibilities that will allow the women in our group to minister through their giftings. We have 2 main goals for this restructuring. We want to make sure that the women in our group are well cared for, that no one disappears without being noticed and that no needs fall between the cracks. Our second goal is to begin drawing women that exist in our spheres of influence into relationship with our class and ultimately into relationship with Jesus.

There's only one small problem. In the "job descriptions" for the new class positions, the word "evangelism" keeps appearing. That's a word that's daunting to most of us. As children we'd sing the words of the familiar song loudly,

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Hide it under a bushel--NO!--I'm going to let it shine

And you can probably sing the rest. It's a children's song based on scripture from Matthew 5:14-16 that says, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

As an adult, I so long to sing that song loudly and with gusto, but I know that sometimes I have hidden my light. It may look differently to those around me. I write and I speak about Jesus all the time. The truth is, though, that those activities are often "preaching to the choir". When it comes to setting Jesus' light in my life on a stand at the bus stop with the neighborhood moms, or at dinner with my friends that don't attend church or at work as I visit newcomers to Holly Springs, I confess that I sometimes fall far short of letting it SHINE. There are lots of reasons--fear, gaining the label of "closed-minded", losing general acceptance...

I love Jesus more than anything, though, and I want to address this shortcoming in my life. He is precious. He is worthy, and He is The Answer for everything that my friends are looking for even if they haven't recognized it yet. I want to throw care for my own reputation to the wind, but I would love some day for it to be said of me as Paul said to the Thessalonians in I Thess. 1:7, "And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere...."

My next few posts will be dealing with the issue of evangelism. Will you join me in this journey toward boldly SHINING in our world? If you read this post, I'd love for you to write a prayer for a person that you want to share Jesus with. I'll start with my own, and I'd love for you to join me.

Sand Between my Toes and Mountain Air

Oooo...I'm such a lazy girl...and I love it! I've been vacationing at the beach with my family, and blogging has just gone by the wayside. We are so blessed as a family to truly enjoy the company of our extended families, so this summer we've planned vacations with grandparents, siblings, neices and nephews.

One of my family's favorite places in the world is on the NC coast. Both my brother and I have families that enjoy the beach--days on the sand and swimming in the ocean, water slides, movies on rainy days, dinner with us all around the big table and nights playing fierce games of cards. (Actually, I love curling up with a book while the rest of the family plays cards and hurls "smack" all around me.) My mom loves to make life a party, and she issued an invitation for a masquerade party this year. Do you recognize this foursome?

Here's a picture of the whole crew. My boys love getting to spend time with their cuz-cuz!!

We drove home from the beach, and I had 24 hours to be off again. You know the drill, ladies. Laundry, laundry, laundry! I hopped in the car for a trip to Ridgecrest in the NC mountains. Van, Tracie and I got the rare and wonderful opportunity to speak together at the national GEMS Girl's Clubs convention. It was a fantastic day with an amazing group of women that were there to refuel after a year of pouring their lives into the girls that they love and serve. Here are some of my new friends from all over the US and Canada.

Enjoying Your Space

I've heard Nate Burkus say that you should always decorate your bedroom first. It's supposed to be your sanctuary and a place that you love to be. I always end up doing it backwards. My kids' room get attention first and then the public areas. Even though I love my purple dining room, I sure wish that I had followed Nate's advice. 4 1/2 years of a yucky bedroom was too long. I'm soooo enjoying the space now.

Here are my last thoughts on decorating.

3. Give your "old stuff" a second look

Let's face it. Most of us don't have Nate's budget for a redecorating project! I had a list of more accessories to add, but I decided that I didn't have the money. I needed to look again at what I already had. The picture below shows a chair that I bought second hand about 7 years ago. I meant to have it recovered then, but it never got done. I dragged it out of the attic, and my mom and I went shopping. There is a store in Durham called Just Linens that sells most of their fabric for $7.99 a yard. The first time I went, I thought that it would be all seconds and out-of-date fabrics. I was wrong!! If you live close to one of these stores, it's well worth a visit. They have trims, pillows, etc in addition to a huge selection of fabric.

I also have a memory wall with old pictures. Our wedding picture is there with a current family picture. I included a painting of I Corinthians 13 that Barry gave me for our anniversery and another painting that we bought on our honeymoon. (Anson said, "That's a weird picture!" I explained that it was the only painting in the store that we could afford as newlyweds. We determined that we would become art collectors as we traveled through our marriage. Hilarious! Groceries are a bigger priority with 2 boys than artwork!) I found the wall-words in a local store, and I love the saying.

4. It's worth it to wait.

Dumb, Dave Ramsey! (Just kidding!) I hated that I read the article in our P31 magazine that he wrote. He said that when we go into debt that we're just like toddlers screaming, "I want it!!!" in the middle of Walmart. That graphic picture has stuck with me as I've been working on the room. Below is a picture of the shelves that will have to do until we save enough money to have someone do buit-ins. I wanted to write a check from the home equity line so badly, but Dave's picture kept popping into my head. (Thanks a whole lot, Dave Ramsey!!)

The last picture shows our still unpainted stairs. We have this funky floorplan with a loft in our bedroom. I love it, because it lets me talk to Barry at night as he works up there. (I'm guessing that he may not love it as much as I do. :) The stair well will be hard to paint, and the office needed some serious cleaning before we painted up there. Thanks to Barry's wonderful hard work last Saturday, we're ready! It will get done eventually...I hope it won't take another 4

years!

A Happy Cheapskate!

Does anybody remember the song "Second Hand Rose"? It was an old Barbara Streisand song that I LOVED as a little girl. I have a now-somewhat-hidden drama gene that was in full bloom as I'd sing that song at the top of my lungs and strut my stuff. (Mind you, I was always Townsperson #27 in the high school musicals, but I didn't care. It was enough to stand on the stage under the lights and sing my heart out!)

Well, I am living out the Second Hand Rose thing this week. My bedroom is nearly complete thanks to Craig's List. I've been remiss in posting pics of the room, because I wasn't really happy about it yet. Today we hit the jackpot on Craig's List again, and I'm happy to share some of the lessons we've learned as we've worked on this room. I'm not an expert decorator by any stretch of the imagination, but I like what we've ended up with. If you're like me and decorating on a shoestring, I'm going to post a few tips this week.

1. Don't be afraid to buy second hand.

Our experiences with Craig's List have been truly wonderful. Here's a picture of the chest that we got at about 10% of the retail price. It was brand new, too! Someone had bought 2 at an auction and was just tired of having the extra in their garage.

We were excited to get a great piece again today. We had been shopping for large, framed mirrors for quite a while to go over the bed. The wall color is quite dark, and we needed to capture some light and bounce it around. All of the mirrors that we looked at that were the right size were $250 and up. We got this one for less than half, and I love it!!

My one warning about buying and selling online is to heed the warnings about scams. We've actually had people try to buy from us using some of the tactics that I read about. Scammers are out there, and our world can be scary. Have fun shopping but be careful as you do.

Shari Braendel, our resident Proverbs 31 fashion expert, says to never buy something on sale that you wouldn't buy at full price. You have to love it! I think that's true on Craig's List, too, which brings me to my second point.

2. Be willing to be patient.

We've lived in our house for 4 1/2 years with an undecorated bedroom. Over a year ago, I found the comforter set and LOVED it. It was a little bit of a splurge but came with all the pillows, so I couldn't resist. It's been our inspiration, and I am glad we did it even though we had to wait on some other things. Finding the other pieces has been a long process because I'm so cheap. I watched and waited as the price of the chest came down. The mirror is just what I was looking for, but I waited for a couple of months and looked online every night. We got the accent table beside the chair at Target. The finish was damaged, but I fixed yesterday with a brown Sharpie! The chair was a Christmas gift from my parents after I drooled over it on a shopping trip with my mom.

I've got a couple more tips, but I'm going to enjoy my new cozy room. I'll post on Wed with a few more pictures and the reality of a partially finished project.

Janet, my sister-friend, even though I've posted, I still want you to make a visit to Holly Springs soon!

Worth a Thousand Words

I thought I'd wind up the report from She Speaks with some pictures. Have a happy 4th and celebrate Freedom!



Here's a picture of the whole group of P31 women. You can just imagine what a hoot it was to get so many women into place. Thanks to my friend Sally for taking on this monumental task!
This was taken on Luann's camera, but don't miss looking at Sally's website.

It was such a blessing to get to see my friends Laura and Lisa again. They are two of the women from Mosaic, an amazing group of singers that give Point of Grace a run for their money.


This is just another example of how God links people. Leah had moved from Tampa to Matthews and was our speaker coordinator when I first joined the team. She was also friends with Lisa and Laura who I got to lead with when I spoke in Tampa last year. Our reunion at She Speaks was sweet!

My She Speaks Story

It's been such a pleasure to get to post other's She Speaks stories on my blog. A friend today reminded me that I still haven't posted my own. She's right, and I'd be remiss not to do it! I will have to admit that it's been wonderful to be able to catch up on my sleep while I had the chance to share for others!!

The last two She Speaks were revolutionary in my life. The first year, God confirmed the calling that I was so afraid to acknowledge. Last year, God exposed a place of sin in my heart that I didn't even realized had crept in. This year, I spoke out loud in the car on the way to Concord, "Lord, I don't know what you'll do this year, but I'm ready and I'm completely open!"

Even being open, I didn't get a huge epiphany this year. I wasn't at all disappointed, though. This whole year of my life has been about finding joy in other's God-stories. I've known God is real and active as long as I can remember. My parents took us to church with joy and led family devotions that drew us closer to Him and to each other. They were such instruments in showing God to me from the very beginning.

But sometimes, you just get tired. At least, I do. Do you? Sometimes I've let God be diminished to my own intellectual exercise and His activities shrink to the size of my own ambition. She Speaks blew all those cobwebs of forgetfullness away. As I listened to story after story of God's forgiveness, provision, redemption and unimaginable power, my heart remembered that He is real, He is BIG and He is involved in every detail of our lives. I needed the refresher course.

I'm going to change the names in this story, but I want to tell one more of a woman's story who intertwined with my own at She Speaks.

I first saw Susan in the hall as she walked toward registration with a look of hesitancy on her face. "Can I help you with anything?" I asked. Susan began slowly and then picked up speed with passion. "I was wondering if you have any scholarships available for my daughter," she said. "She's 13, and she's home alone today. The people who were going to stay with her had to back out at the last minute. She's ok for now, because we live close by. I can't leave her all weekend, though, so I was wondering if you have a scholarship for her to attend Next Generation here this weekend."

I didn't know anything about the scholarships, but I know The Queen (LeAnn, our executive director). Sure enough, after a connection was made, Susan's daughter was given a scholarship for the weekend. Susan was excited but nervous. She told me that her daughter had been going through a hard time and that she might not be pleased about coming to join the group of teen girls.

The next day during a break, I ran across Susan again and asked if her daughter was enjoying the conference. "Oh yes!" she exclaimed. "She talked all the way home last night and all the way back this morning." Susan paused and then added, "I actually think that She Speaks was for her all along rather than for me."

Susan told me that her daughter had recently revealed that she had been sexually abused when she was 6. It all came to light after Susan had found her daughter cutting herself and had started asking her about the depression and change that had come over her. The months before the conference had been tremendously difficult. Susan felt her daughter slipping away--away from her and and away from her faith. Susan was at the end of her rope. As a single mom, she had been desparately crying out to the Lord to save her daughter and to heal her.

God is real. He is at work, and He answered a mother's prayer for her daughter through She Speaks. Mother and daughter left having been touched with the reality of God's love and care for them. The look of joy on both of their beautiful faces as they left on Sunday isn't something that I'll soon forget.

I used to ride roller-coasters for an adrenaline rush, but it's nothing compared to the rush of seeing the transformation of lives by Jesus Christ. Am I becoming an adreneline junkie? I hope so! I hope that I never, ever get tired of being surprised and delighted by God. My friend Christie says, "He's such a show-off!" He really is, and don't you just love Him more every day because of it?!