Lisa notes

Halfway Through 2021, Is Your Life Back to Normal?
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes July 16, 2021 Grace & Truth Link-Up 16 Comments

We’ve passed the midpoint of 2021.

Where are you in your pandemic recovery?
Is your area still in lockdown?
Has your life returned back to normal already?

For me, I returned to the dentist for the first time this week (no cavities, whew). I’ve been eating inside restaurants again. And my book club has dropped our zoom connection and are connecting again in person.

But unfortunately, the covid infection rates have been trending upward, upward, upward again here. My home state of Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate in the United States (although we swap the title occasionally with Mississippi). Some people call it “faith over fear.” Others call it “craziness instead of common sense.”

But however you frame it (and the labeling from either side is rarely helpful or even accurate), the uptick in new cases via the Delta variant is a reminder that life is not back to normal yet for everybody, even in the United States.

Featured Post—8 Questions to Consider

Before we fly through the summer, Linda Stoll asks us to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve been through with the pandemic. And where God is leading us next.

Linda offers us “8 questions to consider in the presence of the Lover of our souls, the Holy One who numbers our days.”

Here are a few of my answers.

During the pandemic –

1. What did you yearn for?
For camaraderie, for peace, for safety.

3. What did you lose?
A sense of my innocence, that our country couldn’t get in agreement for concern over each other’s collective welfare ahead of our individual interests.

And now –

5. What’s stirring inside?
To bridge some divides. To let some of the forgotten people know they still matter. To continually seek God’s help to forgive individuals and groups that I’ve harbored grievances against.

8. Is God beckoning you toward ‘a new thing’?
Still unknown. . . .

Read all of Linda’s post here at her blog, then link up your own blog posts below.

“WHAT’S NEXT? 8 QUESTIONS TO GET YOU READY TO ROLL”

What’s life like for you now? Are you on the other side of the pandemic or are you still in the thick of it?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

HEATHER HART & VALERIE RIESE – Candidly Christian
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

3 Ways to See How God Is Good to YOU

By LisaNotes July 14, 2021 Encouragement 13 Comments

We can’t share about God’s goodness if we don’t see it.

Do you know how God has been good to YOU? Personally?

On any given day, we can see bad things happen around us. We wonder why obstacles aren’t removed or sicknesses aren’t healed.

When we don’t understand what is happening, we can be quick to see only the bad things.

But what if instead of seeing only the bad in our pain, we also look for the good in God’s grace?

Oh, Say Can You See?

It’s happened again. I need to read my daughter’s text to me. But I can’t find my glasses.

I can’t see fine print anymore without my glasses. And I can’t always find my glasses.

I realize people often need reading glasses when they’re older. Yet I didn’t think it would happen to me.

But of course it happened to me.

How often have I misplaced my glasses when I need to read instructions for a recipe? Or when I want to look at a picture someone is showing me on their phone? Or when I’m reading a book to my grandkids?

When I’m not intentional about keeping my glasses with me, I miss out on seeing good things.

Maybe that’s what David was talking about in Psalm 145. Not about reading glasses, per se. (How did they manage without glasses back in the day?)

But about vision.

“The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.”
Psalm 145:9-12

Put simply, David was saying this:

Be intentional.
Look closer.
Pay attention to the good things that God is doing in your life.

3 Ways to Discover God’s Goodness to You

1. ATTRIBUTE GOOD THINGS TO GOD

When David saw good things happen, he attributed them to his good God. He knew God was full of mercy and grace and love. He knew to look for God’s goodness in creation and all around.

Be specific. When you see good things happen, explainable or mysterious, you, too, can give thanks to God for them.

Perhaps God worked through a person or science or nature to make the good thing happen. It doesn’t matter.

All goodness still originates with God.

Thank him for it.

2. FIND IT TO SHARE IT

I’m glad David shared his words about God’s goodness with those around him, and consequently down to us. We still praise God through many of these same words, thousands of years later.

Sometimes we can miss the hand of God in our busyness. But if we intentionally want to share about God with others, we’ll intentionally look for good things. When we do, we’ll find his sweet fingerprints all over our lives and in the lives of others.

Don’t keep God’s goodness to yourself. Let others know when you see him at work in your life and in their lives.

Grace multiplies when we see it and share it.

3. DOCUMENT TO REMEMBER

Another way to see God’s goodness to you is to keep a record of it. By looking at what he’s done in the past, you can relive it in your memory in the present.

Keep track. David wrote poetry and songs to document the good things he saw God do. You might not write poetry or compose music, but you can set up similar signposts to remember God’s goodness in your life.

Write it down. Make an altar. Take a photo. Practice remembering your own stories with God. God wasn’t only good to those in Bible times; he is good to each of us in this very day.

God is as alive and present now as he ever has been.

Focus on His Goodness

I did eventually find my missing reading glasses. They were on the kitchen counter where I’d last used them. I’ve since learned to stock up on reading glasses from the dollar store. I keep a pair tucked away in several spots around the house.

Likewise, we can keep our goodness glasses handy, too. When we’re having a bad day or need to encourage a friend or just simply want to praise God, put them on.

When we look closer for the good things that God is doing:

We’ll begin seeing more and more good things.
We’ll have more peace about the future.
And we’ll discover our faith is growing deeper and stronger.

By keeping good theology plainly in sight—that the Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all—we will find it easier to give thanks to the Lord and bless his name.

Focus today.

Open your eyes to God’s goodness all around you. It’s there. It’s glorious.

And it’s personal.

How has God been good to YOU lately? Share in the comments.

revised from the archives

But God, What If…? Another Tool to Love Better

By LisaNotes July 12, 2021 Encouragement, Uncertainty: My One Word 2021 28 Comments

But What If. . .?

I’m in the car. Chicken tortilla casserole and a lemon pie are resting hot and cold respectively in the backseat. I’m looking forward to seeing my newborn great-nephew and delivering the meal.

Except for one problem.

I have a runny nose. I’ve had it for a week. I’m 99% sure it’s just sinus drainage. I’ve had a bad season of allergies. I’ve been fully vaccinated against covid for weeks now.

But what if it’s not just allergies? What if it’s more?

I want to help my family. But I don’t to make a newborn sick.

The uncertainty of what if can wreck my good intentions. I sometimes have great plans to love well.

But the what if’s often step in and hijack it all.

Trust God More Than His Answers

When I take my what if’s to God, I sometimes get clear answers.

But more often, I don’t get the clarity I want. I have a hunch God wants me to trust him more than his answers.

But in this situation with the baby and the food, God gives me a solution. It’s a solution I wouldn’t have thought of 18 months ago. But now it’s an easy and ready option.

Put on a mask.

Many Ways to Love a Person

Before the pandemic, I’d rarely worn a mask (not counting the hard plastic Halloween masks of my youth). And I certainly didn’t have a stack at home, washed and ready to wear, available for any outfit.

But now masks are just another handy tool we ordinary people have on hand, ready for easy use whenever we have a doubt.

I pop on my mask, take in the food, and ooh and ah over the baby. I still don’t hold him; I don’t get too close.

But at least I’m not afraid that I passed along a germ that could be harmful.

There are many ways to love a person. We have more options than we realize. I’m thankful that wearing a mask when needed is now another way to show love to each other.

Thank you, God, for helping me with this what if. Now how about those others on my list. . . .

With my One Word this year, I’m learning that God has more to show me if I’ll stay humble, giving him the UNCERTAINTY of my what if’s, instead of jumping to the same old conclusions.

What has God taught you lately? Share in the comments.

Stay Open for an Unexpected Comment
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes July 9, 2021 Grace & Truth Link-Up 10 Comments

I’m sitting in the recliner scanning email. I have a notification. Someone posted a comment in the Nextdoor app. It’s July 5 and a neighbor is adding yet another post on how noisy the past few days have been.

And they’re not wrong. Neighborhood fireworks were especially loud night after night leading up to and on the 4th.

The initial post is usually all I read on the Nextdoor app. I don’t delve into the comments very often. Because they can turn ugly fast. I glance, though, at a highlighted comment under the fireworks post. And regret it immediately. It is quite hateful.

However, there has been one exception to reading app comments that I am glad I made.

Someone posted a question in the Nextdoor app a few months ago:

What’s being built on the corner with all the construction?

The property recently sold as commercial. Piles of dirt have been brought in. But no signs have been posted yet explaining what it is.

I’ve been wondering, too. What it will be?

I jumped down to the comment section and started reading.

There were a few wild guesses, many involving things we already have a lot of: storage units, tire stores, car washes.

And a lot of suggestions that it’s perhaps another Dollar General.

We have MANY Dollar Generals in our neck of the woods. There are three Dollar Generals within three miles of my house.

Yet this comment from one of the neighbors regarding Dollar General caught me off guard:

“I went to use the restroom in a Dollar General and there was another Dollar General in there. Fully stocked and staffed.”

And I laughed out loud.

And laughed. And laughed. (I’m actually laughing again even as I type this here!)

You never know where your next belly laugh might come from. Stay open. Even in the comments.

Featured Post

Donna shared at the linkup last week about reframing how we look at unexpected surprises. We often dread the thought of one, anticipating that it will be negative.

But Donna reminds us that we can actually celebrate looking for the unexpected. Sure, sometimes we’ll find hard things. God will stay with us in those.

But we often may discover pleasant surprises that God sends our way.

“The next time the unexpected presses into your day, sit up and take notice, a God moment sits on the precipice. If you look with a view of finding Him, even in the unexpected hard, the treasure of transformation awaits you. God does His best work in the unexpected places.”

Thanks for sharing, Donna!

Read all of Donna’s post here, then link up your own blog posts below.

“LOOKING FOR THE UNEXPECTED”

When is the last time you had a true, unexpected belly laugh? Share your thoughts in the comments.

I also link up at these places.

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

HEATHER HART & VALERIE RIESE – Candidly Christian
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Do You Feel Guilty When You Read?

By LisaNotes July 7, 2021 Book reviews, Reading 35 Comments

I sometimes feel guilty when I sit and read in the middle of the day.

It feels so unproductive, like I’m doing something solely for my pleasure and not benefiting anyone else. Like a waste.

It’s a bad mindset. I need to change it.

Granted, if there is something that needs to be done, I don’t need to forsake work just for my pleasure.

But if I’m caught up and nothing is pressing, it’s okay to take a little time for myself and read.

It’s often profitable.

It teaches me.
It changes me.
It connects me to others.

These are valuable reasons.

But this is another valuable reason, too: Reading is simply enjoyable to me.

I recently finished the new book, Books Promiscuously Read: Reading as a Way of Life by Heather Cass White. It’s about the pleasure and power of reading.

While I didn’t enjoy all of the book (it felt very disjointed; I give it 3 stars out of 5), I did enjoy enough of it to grab hold of White’s message:

“We should move a step beyond our preoccupation with dissipation and luxury where reading is concerned. The price is too high—it makes us read less. Even the pleasant aura of nocturnal dalliance we get for carving our life into daytime duty and nighttime reading, however attractively naughty it makes reading seem, is a distraction from the challenge of bringing our reading into the daylight. In the daylight we can affirm it, even and perhaps especially if only to ourselves, as a mode of living. We also serve who sit and read.”

I hear her say to bring our books into the daylight.

Reading doesn’t have to be relegated to the last thing we do if we happen to have time left over. (I fall asleep if I wait that late.)

So if you have a spare moment today and you’re off the clock with no child crying for dinner or no emergency calling your name, pick up a book.

Without guilt.

And read.

“Reading is a morning’s work.”

When is your favorite time to read? Do you ever feel guilty about it? Share in the comments.

MORE ON READING

My thanks to NetGalley + Farrar, Straus
and Giroux for the review copy of this book

You Are Meant to Know God

By LisaNotes July 4, 2021 Book quotes, Trust 27 Comments

I resisted reading Spiritual Depression for awhile because the title sounds, well, depressing.

But the book is anything but depressing.

The book is actually a collection of sermons that Martyn Lloyd-Jones delivered on consecutive Sunday mornings at Westminster Chapel in response to the need for more joy among Christians. It was originally published in 1965 and has since become a classic among Christian literature.

Enjoy this short excerpt on the connection between joy and knowing God.

: : :

Excerpt from Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure

Man is meant to know God. So the question is: Do you know God?

I am not asking if you believe in God, or if you believe certain things about Him.

To be a Christian is to have eternal life, and as our Lord says in John 17.3: ‘This is life eternal to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’

So the test we apply to ourselves is that. Not, `Have I done this or that?’

My test is a positive one: `Do I know God? Is Jesus Christ real to me?’

I am not asking whether you know things about Him but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the centre of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy? He is meant to be.

He made man in such a way that that was to be the position, that man might dwell in communion with God and enjoy God and walk with God.

You and I are meant to be like that.
– Martyn Lloyd-Jones

: : :

This excerpt originally appeared in the series, 31 Days of Books. Find more excerpts here.