Vacationing With Jesus

I'm so glad you're visiting me today! If you came from the Encouragement for Today devotion, it was an excerpt from the chapter that I wrote for Marybeth Whalen's new book The Reason We Speak.

It was a delight to get to write for Marybeth, and it was bitter sweet to look at my own daily time with God. I wish I could tell you that I bounce out of bed every morning at the crack of dawn to spend a completely consistant time with Jesus. Most mornings it is a joy, but sometimes it starts as discipline. Scripture tells us, though, that God rewards those who seek Him. He is faithful! He rewards my discipline with His presence, the thrill of having scripture come to life and the comfort of the Holy Spirit to indwell me in this tough world.

The post below is also part of the chapter from Marybeth's book:

Daily time enjoying God is essential, but I am envious of one of my pastors. He takes a week each year for a spiritual retreat to a monastery. He goes where it’s quiet and simple and spends a week with Jesus. Maybe someday when my children are older and I’m caught up on laundry I’ll be able to do that, but recently God led me to do something equally wonderful on a smaller scale. I took a spiritual retreat during the school day in a room at my church.

As I walked up the stairs to the empty room, I felt nervous. I had spent hours in prayer with others, but I had never spent this long alone with God before. Would I have enough to say to Him? Would He speak to me in the silence? Would the minutes drag by? Would I walk out unchanged or disappointed?

At the end of the day, my questions were answered. God met me there. We filled our time together with prayer, Bible reading and worship. God spoke words of direction to me in the silence. I came in knowing that I was hungry, and He was faithful to fill me. Having mini-vacations with Jesus is something that I plan to do now at least twice a year. In the midst of ministry, it’s necessary to intentionally set extended time aside to seek His face and worship Him. I’ll still look forward to a week in an abbey, but in the meantime I’ll bask in a school day retreat as I renew my relationship with God and feast on His goodness!

I encourage you to examine the time that you spend with God. Are you like I was? Has your time become regimented and joyless? I hope that the devotion today was encouraging to you. Would you write out a prayer for help? Would some of you share with us ways that God has reignited your quiet time?

She Seeks

Do you remember your 20s? Wait a minute....just another minute....yes! There are those memories. I had some digging to do.

Oh, I was so in love with Jesus. The passion I felt is one that I long for sometimes in these in-it-for-the-long-haul days. I felt passion about a lot of things, though--for the deepening thoughts in my brain, for the causes that made my heart pound, and-- oh yeah (duh!)-- for boys.

All those strong feelings.

All those deep thoughts.

All that joy.

All that confusion.

All that heartbreak.

They were wonderful days, and they were wrenching days. I was married by my mid-twenties and starting a family by my late twenties.

So much change.

So much happiness.

So much struggle.

How did you experience your 20s?

I'm so excited to announce that Proverbs 31 is launching a new ministry for women in their 20s called She Seeks. If you are like me and out of your 20s, go visit and take some time. If you know women in their 20s, take them with you to the new site. If you are a woman in your 20s, don't miss it!!

It's edgy and honest. It taps into the heartbeat of young techie women (make sure to watch the video--powerful stuff!). It speaks to those Gen Y young women who need an ipod in their ears, a cell phone in their hand and air on their toes (thus flip flops). It gives an opportunity to add your two bits (or five).

Make sure to go visit She Seeks today, explore all the tabs and then share. Have a great Thursday!

Go Ahead and Cry

As an addition to the thoughts yesterday, here's a quote I just read:

People have said, "Don't cry" to other people for years and years, and all it has ever meant is, "I'm too uncomfortable when you show your feelings. Don't cry." I'd rather have them say, "Go ahead and cry. I'm here to be with you."
----Fred Rogers
The World According to Mister Rogers:
Important Things to Remember

Blissfully Happy?

I want to send you to Marybeth's blog today where she addresses if all the Proverbs 31 team is blissfully happy.

Here's my two cents. I love the saying that comparison is the trap of comparing my insides to everybody else's outsides. Haven't we all gotten very practised at presenting a blissfully happy outside. Sometimes it's because it's the image we want to present, and sometimes it's to make others more comfortable with us. Let's face it. We are all more comfortable with happy people. Happy people don't present us with the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what to do or say.

On one hand we have this crazy reality-tv mentality that says that nobody has the right to a private life any more. A friend of mine who has a public persona was once attacked by a fan for not letting her audience know some painful things going on in her personal life. My opinion is that we all should still have the right to keep some things personal especially when it involves protecting our families.

On the other hand, I think that it grieves God that we live with so many masks. Bringing pain into the light helps with our own healing and with other's as well.

To debunk the myth that women in ministry are "blissfully happy", here are some of my struggles today:

• making a budget and sticking to it--hate it! hate it! hate it!
• concerns about my boys' next school year
• wondering whether I can pull off teaching while prioritizing my family
• feeling frustrated about my book proposal
• did I mention living within a budget?

Do you have any?

Mail

I love getting mail. The year my family lived in England we had a mail slot in our front door. The mail came really early, and we all ate breakfast with one ear cocked for the tell-tale slap of metal on metal. We couldn't wait for mail from family and friends.

I've always retained that love for the mail. Even though most days my mailbox just contains bills and credit card offers, hope springs eternal. Today I got some mail that will keep my hope stoked for a long time.

My copy of The Reason We Speak came. Months ago, my friend Marybeth Whalen asked our team if we'd like to contribute to her latest book. Me?! Really?! Of course! I didn't feel competent giving speaking advice to speakers, but I did have something I wanted to share.

Today I ripped open the box, yanked out the book, ran my eyes down the table of contents and flipped quickly to p. 115. There it was. "He Speaks: Getting Time Alone with God" by Amy Carroll.

Now I hope ya'll will celebrate with me and know that I'm not bragging. I'm just excited. The only other time that I've had something published was my fourth grade haiku:

Mushrooms in a storm

Umbrellas for frogs and toads

Hiding from the rain.

Now let me just tell you that I can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday, so the fact that I remember that pitiful little poem let's you know how excited I was way back then about being published.

The publishing world is tough. I'm waiting for the second time for feedback on publisher meetings. The first round resulted in a mailbox and inbox full of rejection letters. It's all good, though, because I'm learning tons and being refined in the process. It sure was nice to get a little encouragement in the mail today in the midst of my wait. Thanks for the opportunity, Marybeth!

ps--Speaker Girls, don't miss this book! Even though I had to look for my chapter first, I can't wait to read it cover to cover. It's chock full of everything a speaker needs to know from others much wiser and more experienced than I.

A Fork in the Path

I'm whipping out the post in mid-run! I've got a little change of life coming, and I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends in our household.

For five years, I've had a wonderful job visiting newcomers to Holly Springs. I have visited almost 2000 households in my hometown during that time and worked for one of the greatest bosses ever, Joy Wilkes.

God has been so faithful over the years to provide part-time work that allowed me to help with family finances and to be at home with our boys. My job with New Neighbor Welcome Service was a true blessing. It allowed me to learn about the business world and marketing, practice my presentation skills on a captive audience :), and get over the jitters associated with talking to strangers. Most of all, it allowed me to be wife and mom first. I'll be forever grateful for the past 5 years.

I've started a new job this week, though. I'm heading back into the classroom! God's faithfulness never ceases to amaze me. I'll be teaching sixth grade to 3 fantastic boys. I teach 3 hours a day four days a week. I know--who's ever heard of such a thing? Well, it's true at Atlas International School in Cary. It's school like I've never seen it, but it's a neat setting. The owener describes it as a combination of private school and homeschool. Parents are very involved, and the kids stay home on Fridays to work on projects. Pretty cool concept, huh?

I'm excited, and I'm nervous. I haven't taught kids since Anson was born--over 15 years ago. I feel rusty, and my teaching chops are going to have to kick back in.

My boys are getting ready to go back to school next week, too. Anybody else? Thoughts on the end of summer and back-to-school?

My Gourmet Boy

This is Nolan.

He's my razor-sharp funny, trombone playing, gourmet eating boy. One lunchtime this week, we had an exchange that made me shake with laughter. I was explaining what kind of sandwich making components we had when he said, "Mom, I don't really like sandwiches. I just REALLY wish we had some seaweed." Seaweed?!!

Turns out that Nolan wanted to make sushi for lunch. How many 12-year-old boys do you know that want sushi for lunch? Nolan does! He has been enamoured with Emeril, Paula Dean and Alton Brown since he was a wee little boy.

Besides Sponge Bob marathons and playing soccer, his other big summer activity has been baking the most delicious chocolate cakes. He's made one for us, one for a group that Anson was spending time with and one for a friend's birthday. Tomorrow he's baking one for my friend Holly who is paying him. The other thing my boy loves is to be paid for anything he does. Score!

Anyway, I've been reflecting on God's imagination and creativity. His creation is diverse and fascinating. Do you know how many species of butterflies there are? 17,000!! He could have been efficient and utilitarian by making one type of butterfly to pollinate one kind of beautiful flower, but instead He painted their wings with every immaginable pattern and with all the colors in the rainbow.

My boy is another exquisite example of God's creativity. He's a quirky and wonderful example of the unique. Thank you, God, for making our world such an amazing place to live where your glory is alive in all creation.

The Power of One

Several months ago my friend Wendy Pope wrote about the power of one. Her message resounds around in my heart daily, but it sounded like a gong when I watched this video.

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So many times I think we feel paralyzed by the needs of the world around us, so we don't do anything. Compassion International gives us all the opportunity to flex our muscles for change in such a simple way.

It's only $38 a month. Our budget is tight, but we regularly pay more for that when we eat a meat at a restaurant. It has become a pleasurable tradition at our house to eat beans and rice one night a month. We pray for Manuel, our sponsored child, and write letters to him.

If this video has given you hope that you too can change a life, click on the link to Compassion at the right. You could give a child their best birthday present ever and start to change your own life too.

The Ndebele Sisters

One of the huge blessings of last weekend was the power of 600 women with a single vision gathered in one place. There were women of widely varied accents, heights, colors and denomination, but our hearts beat as one. We are girls who want to walk beside God and help build the Kingdom.

In my first contact with my speaker eval group, I was curious to see an unusual email address, so I wrote specifically to this woman to find out where she was coming from. Imagine my surprise when she let me know that she would be traveling from South Africa!

Michelle, our sweet South African sister, was a delight to our whole group. She had deep spiritual insight and a joyful presence that rubbed off on all of us. She also brought us each a gift.

This is an Ndebele doll. Michelle explained that these dolls are made by the beautiful women of the Ndebele tribe.

The story that Michelle told us was poignant. Ndebele women made these dolls by hand and give them to their sisters for their wedding. They are symbols of blessing and abundance. Michelle explained to us that we are her sisters and that she is praying for spiritual blessing, abundance and fertility for each one of us. Even though we might not see each other until the Wedding Day, she would look forward to our time together again on that day.

We were all so blown away not only by Michelle's generosity but by the story. Our little group is now officially named the Ndebele Sisters. These women with incredible stories to tell are knit together now by love and a desire for the Wedding Day to come soon!

The Ndebele Sisters

It's How He is Ya'll!

I heard the funniest joke a few weeks ago. Now ya'll, I CANNOT tell a joke. I have a total of 3 in my repertoire, and Barry says there's one so bad (not in a dirty way, just in a totally corny way--I think it's hilarious) that I should never tell it again. One's about a crab, one about a frog and one about Billy Graham's chauffeur.

The one I heard lately was about where God lives. Without typing out the whole long joke, here's the gist:

A man was traveling across county starting in California. All across the great US of A he stopped in phone booths and tried to connect with God by phone. In CA, it was a $500 call. In the mid-west, it was $250. The disappointed man didn't have enough money to call God and was desperate to reconnect with Him by the time he reached North Carolina. In that booth, he realized the call was FREE!! Amazed, he called God to reconnect and asked, "How come I can call you from NC for free?" God answered, "Why because it's a local call!"

I thought the joke was funny, but I didn't proudly write out my new joke at the time because I didn't want to offend my sweet sisters who live outside of the local call. I decided to retell the joke, though, because of all the buzz from the Ndebele Sisters (I'll explain who this band of women is on Thurs.) on Facebook last night.

Several of my new She Speaks sisters were saying that they had returned from this heavenly state saying "ya'll", considering fat back in their green beans and using more hair spray than usual. Some said that they even believe that God's gentle voice now has a southern drawl. Check out my friend Connie's blog--hilarious!

It's funny, but I kind of am hearing God today speaking with an accent from South Africa, Ghana, South Carolina and all the other states of the union. It's funny how God's voice sounds when you've been around the Holy Spirit speaking through women of every tribe and tongue. It makes me wonder about those folks that got to witness Pentecost and look toward the day when it says:

"And they sang a new song: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (Revelation 5: 9-10,13)

What a day that will be--the day we all worship with God's accent!