just talking to my Father

Prayer is just talking with God.

In Genesis after God had created the world and mankind God would come to earth in the cool of the day and walk and talk with his creation: Adam and Eve. That would have been so cool.

Today, I called Bethany twice. Just to talk and just to give her some updates on what was happening when she got back into town. Good news all of it. The second time I called she asked me to pray for her for some stuff that she was carrying to God already.

What a priveledge it is to talk with God about stuff that my kids are talking to God about. I know that it sounds confusing, but I am amazed at the fact that I can be praying with Bethany (I'm in Idaho and she's in Michigan) to God who is in Heaven and He knows it all...all of what is on my heart, all that is on her heart and all of the situations.

Prayer is a way for me to empty my heart to God. It is a place of confession and restoration. It is a place where I can lay my burdens down and I can wait and be still. It is a place of transperancy with my creator. I am most content when I spend time with God in prayer and in reading His Scripture, the Bible.

Today was a long day. I have many long days until I see Bethany in May. Until then I will keep praying with her and for her. I know that God is listening. He is alive and well and very concerned about mankind.

Philippians 4:5-7 (New International Version)
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

"...since Easters...."

The first Easter that I remember was in 1971 (?). I wasn't 5 yet. I wore my new dress with matching socks, really cute shoes, white gloves and a HAT to church. I remember a little girl with a sailor dress wasn't too nice to me. I didn't like church.

The next Easter I remember was in 1976. It was 4th grade and pantsuits were COOL! I got a fantastic polyester green one and my sister had a matching blue one. Of course we had cool shoes and ditched the idea of a hat and gloves. At this church I found out that I wasn't really wearing the Easter dress code at the time. I didn't know about that though. I thought that God would really like my new outfit. I liked God and I went to church to learn more about Him.

In 1984, right before Easter, I met my husband in a field in Mexicali, Mexico. I was a junior in high school. No, he's not from Mexico and yes that is a whole other story for another blog. The week before Easter I had worked with the poor in Mexico. When I came home on Good Friday my mom was so cool about taking me to the mall to get a new Easter dress. This was one constant tradition at our house. At the mall I just remember seeing all the abundance and reflected on the poverty that I had just seen across the border. We went to lunch and talked. I think that I just wore something that I had in my closet that year to church and thought that God would be happy with me just as I was. Serving Him in Mexico and worshipping Him at church on Easter.

In 1985 Dave invited me to my first ever sun-rise service. Have you ever been to a sunrise service? It's really early to a challenged morning person. Greg Laurie spoke that morning and told the Easter story. I don't remember much of the rest of the day except a lot of family time with Dave's family and mine.

Fast forward to 2009. Easter over the past years has been different. I spent the Easter of 1989 married to my wonderful husband, Dave. Then came the kids. David Jr. was born 2 days after Easter 1990 (no wonder I was so cranky and emotional when my Easter feast didn't work out the way I had invisioned it). With Bethany coming along in 1991 and Kirsten in 1993 Easter each year changed as the kids grew. Some years we were back in Mexico the week before Easter helping the poor. Some years we had sun and some years we even had snow (in California and in Idaho!). This year we are celebrating with friends in Idaho and our oldest two are celebrating with their friends in Michigan.

I've learned a lot about church and God since that first Easter memory. I've learned that God loves it when I go to church no matter what I am wearing. He loves it when I go to church even when it isn't Easter. I've learned that most people at church are nice and that we all can be not so nice once in a while. In fact that's why God sent His son, Jesus, to the earth from heaven. It is because of our inadequacies and failures, our meanness and selfishness that we needed someone to save us. It is because of God's penalty of death for any sin (not measuring up to God's standard) that Jesus died. It is because of God's grace, mercy, power over death, and hope He promises that Jesus came back to life.

"For God so loved the world, that He sent His Son, that whosoever believes in Him, would not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him all might be saved." John 3:16-17

To honor....

"We can promote healthy communication by adjusting our style to honor each other." (Weekend to Remember notes p25)

It is amazing how I adjust my communication style to honor someone I don't know on the other end of the phone or behind a desk or at a drive through window; and yet I have to consciously think about honoring those I love the most with my communication style.

It is also amazing that when I do adjust my style how clear the communication becomes.

So I have a choice: Speak the way I want to or speak in a way that conveys love.

Proverbs 16:23-24 A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Community vs. Isolation

This was written 3/28/09 at the Family Life Weekend to Remember Conference.

We went to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. I highly recommend it!

I was born into a family which produced a community because of the numbers...I am the oldest of 6 kids. Because of the economics of the day we always had lived in small spaces. It was sufficient for the family, but there definitely wasn't space to feel physically lonely. I felt isolated in this setting though. I felt emotionally isolated. I'm not sure why.

Dave was born into a family that was part of a community physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This intrigued me.

Community is important. Well, it is important to me. In community I feel safe. I can do more in community than what I can do alone. It is in community that my feelings of isolation disappear.

Community takes awhile to get moving sometimes. Once it does get moving the momentum is a greater force from the group than from me as an individual.

I like being part of a community that is like a mosaic made up of bits and pieces of pottery. Each piece has it's distinct pattern, texture and identity. Each piece could almost stand alone. But most mosaics are made up of broken pieces. The brokenness of each piece is safe in the community of the mosaic as all the pieces form a bigger design, pattern and identity.

Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with the power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than wall we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work with in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.