Lisa notes

Here are 22 things people with fibromyalgia really mean when they say “I’m tired.” I don’t have fibromyalgia. But I have friends who do. This is helpful.

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5. ‘Downton Abbey’ Movie Is Happening

This makes me happy! Anyone else?

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5 Things about Reading, Writing, Listening

1. 12 Podcasts for Summer Listening
at Christianity Today

If you’re looking for something entertaining, faith-sparking or brain-engaging, here are 12 recommendations to listen to. Most of them are new to me.

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2. Why It’s So Hard to Stop Reading Books You Don’t Even Like
by Katie Heaney

This is hard for me. I’ll stick with a bad book too long before I’ll give up on it.

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3. The Most Difficult Languages To Learn For English Speakers

I’m still struggling to learn Spanish, and it’s the easiest.

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4. Summer Reading List
from Barack Obama

I love to see what others are reading. Here’s a list recommended for summer reading by former President Obama.

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5. Nine Books I Recommend – July 2018

I finished reading several fantastic books (nonfiction and fiction) in July.

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5 Things I Love

1. Is It Already Fall?

Not according to the calendar or the weather. But it’s “autumn mix” candy corn time. I couldn’t resist.

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2. Do the Math

From our 50+ years of friendship, we 4 Corners have birthed 9 babies, adopted 1, and buried 2. We’ve married off 6, and they’ve had 5. On this day we are celebrating a bridal shower for a 7th marriage coming soon. We’ve definitely run the gamut of emotions over a lifetime. This time, joy.

Kathy, Julie, Alicia, Lisa

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3. Special Photos

My oldest daughter Morgan and our granddaughter spent the weekend with us. My youngest daughter Jenna took some great 6-month photos. And snapped one with me, too. Even though I wasn’t dressed for the occasion, I’m glad to have the picture.

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4. Everyday Moments

Posed photos are awesome. But random photos are also important to catch the ordinary days. Jenna and I spent a couple days at Morgan’s house in July. I so treasure the time with all my girls. (The baby usually stays in the stroller; rare moment here.)

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5. ~1952

I so love old pictures, too. This one resurfaced recently. My mother is the girl wiping her eye in the back row (she was a teen), and my grandmother is the tallest lady on the front row (why did those genes skip me?)

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5 Things on the Blog

Do You Have to Know?
Do we really have to know for sure? Can we idolize our need to be right?
Is Prayer Enough?
They need help. We say, “I’ll be praying for you.” Is that enough?
Your “Righteous” Anger
How often are you offended? Are you irritated too frequently? Overly sensitive? Are Christians viewed as perpetually angry people?
Why They Listen to You
What are they listening for? Are you saying that? “They look to us for wisdom, for courage…”
If You Pray Well, You Live Well?
He said, “If you pray well, you live well.” If it’s true, why don’t we pray better?

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What was a highlight from your July? What are you looking forward to in August? Please share in the comments.

previous Links and Books

On the Blog – July 2018

By LisaNotes July 31, 2018 Archives 2 Comments

Summaries and links to blog posts for July 2018

9 Books I Recommend (7/30)
Recommended reading from books I finished in July 2018
Learn It, But Live It (7/26)
Learning scripture is one thing. Living it is another thing altogther. Articles here for living through Matthew 5.
Do You Have to Know? (7/23)
Do we really have to know for sure? Can we idolize our need to be right?
Is Prayer Enough? (7/16)
They need help. We say, “I’ll be praying for you.” Is that enough?
What About Your Righteous Anger? (7/12)
How often are you offended? Are you irritated too frequently? Overly sensitive? Are Christians viewed as perpetually angry people?
Why They Listen to You (7/09)
What are they listening for? Are you saying that? “They look to us for wisdom, for courage…”
If You Pray Well, You Live Well? (7/05)
He said, “If you pray well, you live well.” If it’s true, why don’t we pray better?
5 Links, Books, and Things I Love – July 2018 (7/02)
Links and pictures of articles, books, and things I love for July 2018

9 Books I Recommend – July 2018

By LisaNotes July 30, 2018 Books I Recommend, Video Book Reviews 39 Comments

Here are 7 non-fiction and 2 fiction books I recommend from what I finished reading in July, including a 1-minute video review of a favorite.

Once a month we share our current reading list at Jennifer’s.

Books I Recommend

NONFICTION

1. When
The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
by Daniel H. Pink

Great book. We often think about what we do or why we do things. But we don’t always give enough attention to when. Like all of his books, Dan Pink delves into research and science to get behind the timing of things we do. Always engaging, always relevant. I highly recommend this one.

[Click here if you can’t see the 1-minute video about When]

2. The Sun Does Shine
How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
by Anthony Ray Hinton

I wish everyone could read this book. Beautifully written and moving. Anthony Ray Hinton tells his story about being wrongly accused of multiple murders and sitting on death row for almost 30 years in an Alabama prison. He shares of his despairs, his hopes, his friendships. And finally of his release through the help of gifted attorney Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative (also read Stevenson’s Just Mercy—it will change you).

3. The Gift of Years
Growing Older Gracefully
by Joan D. Chittister

Sometimes I don’t want to get any older. I’d rather stay right where I am. But this book helps show the advantages of growing older. Chittister really does make it more palatable—almost inviting—through her emphasis on growing older gracefully. A very encouraging read.

4. Give People Money
How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World
by Annie Lowrey

I’m not sure what to think. That’s why I wanted to read this. I’m still not sure what to think about giving everyone a basic income. But at least I have a framework now. Lowrey does a great job explaining the ins and outs, the good and bad, of a UBI (universal basic income). This is a great primer to start learning about a topic we’re sure to hear about again and again in the upcoming years.

5. Wait
The Art and Science of Delay
by Frank Partnoy

A perfect pairing with When (see #1). This book reminds us that we don’t always need to act immediately. Sometimes we need to hold back and wait. For everyone’s good. It will really make you think twice about why we often rush into things, and other times, not. Very interesting.

6. What Truth Sounds Like
Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America
by Michael Eric Dyson

I had to read this one slowly. I’m glad I did. Dyson’s word choices feel very deliberate to ensure you get what he’s saying about relationships between blacks and whites in the past 50 years. This book is painful but advantageous to get a historied view of racism and the way we talk about it.

7. The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen
Opening Your Eyes to Wonder
by Lisa Gungor

Singer and wife to musician Michael Gungor, Lisa Gungor writes about her journey through faith, loss of faith, and renewed faith. When her daughter, Lucie, was born with Down’s Syndrome, everything changed again.

FICTION

8. Turtles All the Way Down
by John Green

A set of teenage girls stumble onto solving a mystery of a disappeared millionaire. Trigger warning: If you have OCD tendencies, this book might get under your skin. The main character deals with obsessive thoughts about catching a disease from bacteria. Another moving story by John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars.

9. The President Is Missing
by James Patterson and Bill Clinton

This new novel co-written by Patterson and Clinton is about a modern American President faced with serious cyberterrorism. The scariest thing is realizing that some of these things could actually happen. Well-written and the plot moves along quickly.

Reading Now

God of Tomorrow
How to Overcome the Fears of Today and Renew Your Hope for the Future
by Caleb W. Kaltenbach
Reframing the Soul
How Words Transform Our Faith
by Gregory Spencer
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
by Yuval Noah Harari
Inspired
Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again
by Rachel Held Evans
Prayer
40 Days of Practice
by Justin McRoberts

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What good book have you read this month? Please share in the comments.

My books on Goodreads
More books I recommend

Learn It, But Live It {Resources for Matthew 5}

By LisaNotes July 26, 2018 Memorization 8 Comments

We end this week.

For the past four months, our Hide His Word community through the Do Not Depart blog has been memorizing Matthew 5:1-19. You know the passage:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. . .
You are the salt of the earth. . .
Let your light shine before others. . .

But now we’ve reached the final verse in our memory challenge.

Yet the challenge continues.

Learning words is one thing.

Actually, it’s the easier thing. Living it out is another thing altogether.

So as we continue to solidify the words in our brains even in the weeks to come, we’ll also keep praying for them to sink into our hearts. Into our hands. Into our relationships.

For free printable resources to memorize Matthew 5, click here.

If you want to do a quick study of your own through this section of the Sermon on the Mount, below is an index of articles we published on Matthew 5 at Do Not Depart this spring/summer.

Jesus Sees Each One – Matthew 5:1

The first disciples had no idea what they were about to hear on that mountain. Do we?

Are You Poor? – Matthew 5:2-3

Are you poor? Do you feed on God’s grace as a regular staple in your spiritual diet?

A Flipped View of Strength – Matthew 5:4-5

How does Jesus flip our views of strength? Memorize Matthew 5:4-5 to see how mourning and meekness are blessed.

It’s Not Wrong to Be Hungry – Matthew 5:6-7

What are you hungry for? Find satisfaction in showing mercy.

How Do You See God? – Matthew 5:8-9

How do you see God? What does that mean?

Blessed Are the Persecuted? – Matthew 5:10

Blessed are the persecuted. Really? Who? And how?

How Can You Revile Me? – Matthew 5:11

How can we be reviled today? What did Jesus say about it?

Are You Happy to Suffer? – Matthew 5:12

Why did Jesus say to rejoice in persecutions? Can anything good come from pain?

Be Salty – Matthew 5:13

Jesus said that believers are salty. What does that mean? And are we?

You ARE Light – Matthew 5:14

You aren’t light because you’re so brilliant. It’s because of Jesus inside of you. He is the light shining through.

Where Do You Hide Your Light? Matthew 5:15

Don’t waste your light. Someone needs it to see by.

Do Your Good Works – Matthew 5:16

What good works is God calling you to do this week? When you do them, you bring Him honor.

Here on Purpose – Matthew 5:17

Jesus was here on purpose. Are we?

Perfect to the Last Jot and Tittle – Matthew 5:18

Not a jot or a tittle would pass away. What did Jesus mean? Memorize Matthew 5:18 with us and discover.

What You Do, What You Say – Matthew 5:19

You’re not invisible. What you do and say matters to more people than just yourself. Memorize Matthew 5:19 and see why.

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Do you have a favorite Beatitude (see the list of Beatitudes here)? Or a favorite scripture you’re applying to your life in this season? Please share in the comments.

Do You Have to Know?

By LisaNotes July 23, 2018 One Word 2018: Mystery, Trust 36 Comments

Do you like to know? Do you want to be right? Do you want to feel sure?

Yes, yes, and yes.

I want to know that what I believe is 100% right and true and confirmable.

But it’s not.

Excuse my repetitiveness, but it’s my year of paying attention to Mystery.

In May, I recommended on my blog The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our Correct Beliefs (and I took 9 pages of notes from it).
In June, I posted about The Sin of Certainty on Instagram.
And now in July, I’m bringing up again The Sin of Certainty.

Because the desire to know doesn’t go away. And the quest for certainty can morph into an idol.

Thinking we have to have all the answers is unrealistic. We all have to live with levels of uncertainty. About our lives, about ourselves, and even about our God.

We can’t know it all. Because God hasn’t revealed all of it. And we couldn’t understand if it he did.

Peter Enns says,

“The deeper problem here is the unspoken need for our thinking about God to be right in order to have a joyful, freeing, healing, and meaningful faith. The problem is trusting our beliefs rather than trusting God.”

I have to swap knowing for trusting.

Not trusting my beliefs. But trusting God.

“Maybe knowing, as I had been taught to know, is overrated. Knowing like that doesn’t last. Knowing has its place, definitely, but not at the center of faith. And then for me, the bottom line: I can choose to trust God with childlike trust regardless of how certain I might feel.”

So here we wait. With imperfect knowledge. Imperfect understanding.

And we become okay with that.

We still strive to learn and know and understand.

But we don’t bet our lives on our own understanding. We throw ourselves on God’s mercy instead. His mercy with our errors and misunderstandings.

“When we learn that it is okay to let go of the need to be right—that God is not going to pounce on us from behind the corner and give us a whipping but actually welcomes this step of faith—only then will the debilitating stress of holding on to correct thinking begin to fade.”

We don’t have to know. But we definitely benefit by trusting.

Trust God, not our version of God.
Trust Truth will be revealed as we need it.
Trust the process will unfold as he plans it.

Take one step at a time. One situation at a time. One breath at a time.

A greater faith in God, not in my ideas about God, remains a mystery.

But what it unveils is a grace even greater.

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Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Is Prayer Enough?

By LisaNotes July 16, 2018 Prayer 18 Comments

He calls because he’s in deep pain. He doesn’t know what to do. I hear the desperation in his voice.

I don’t know what to tell him.

She calls because life is about to change. Again. New obstacles, fresh challenges. She wants to be optimistic, but so many things are in the way.

I don’t know what to tell her.

Is Prayer a Cop-Out?

Is “I’ll be praying for you” a cop-out?

Do we say, “I’ll be praying for you,” because we don’t want to feel guilty and say nothing? Because we don’t want to do anything else? Because we don’t know what else to do?

Sometimes yes, yes, and yes.

But when the needs seem so urgent and tangible, “I’ll be praying for you” feels inadequate.

“You come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, ‘Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!’ and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you?
Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”
(James 2:15-17, The Message)

People tire of hearing only “I’ll be praying” if they know actions are also needed.

We see it after mass shootings. If politicians tweet only about prayers, they get backlash. Prayers may be good, people say, but they also expect actions, maybe change a law, with the praying.

It’s an old dilemma. James also said faith without works is dead. Faith is completed by works. A person is justified by works and not by faith alone (James 2:20-26).

Who’s the Problem?

Or should we blame the person in need of prayer? Are they responsible for their own dire circumstances?

Doesn’t everyone start Monopoly with free money from the bank? (Since 2008, the rules say you start off with two $500’s, four $100’s, one $50, one $20, two $10’s, one $5, and five $1’s.)

No. Not everyone starts off with money from the bank (or family support or a healthy body or a stable mind). Or maybe as an adult they don’t have enough mental, emotional, or cultural skills, or the right circumstances, to make it last.

According to the World Values Survey, most Americans believe the poor just aren’t trying hard enough. They could dig out if they’d apply themselves. (Interestingly, most Europeans disagree, according to the same survey.)

We’re more comfortable believing success is within our individual control. If someone doesn’t succeed, we say they only have themselves to blame. It’s enough if we only say we’ll be praying. We’ll have done our part.

Or Is It Me?

Or am I to blame for not being able to adequately help others? To do nothing but pray?

I don’t want to doubt prayer, to doubt God, but do I?

Sometimes the problems seem too big.
My resources too limited.
My God too slow?

Pray Anyway

So what can we do?

Pray anyway. It’s always the perfect first step.

And as we pray, maybe God will prompt us to take a second step. Maybe he will supply us with an idea. Or renewed energy. Or proper direction.

When I talked to my friends on the phone this weekend, I encouraged just one step at a time. One day at a time.

Maybe I need to take my own advice in helping them. Take just one step.

Just listen to the problem with fresh ears.
Just look up a resource to help them.
Just ask someone else to pray for me.

Then pray again.

Because prayer is doing something.

Whether or not we see its effects, God is on the move when we pray.

We don’t always have to say “I’m praying for you” if it sounds too trite. If it would offend.

But we can be praying anyway in our hearts. We can still cover their needs. We can still solicit help for our own means to help.

Throwing ourselves on God’s mercy is always the right action.

Maybe God will answer through a change in their circumstances.
Maybe God will answer through a change in the person.
And maybe God will answer through a change in us.

I’ll Keep Praying

I don’t know what will happen with my two friends. This isn’t the end of their stories. They’re still in the middle.

I did tell them both I’ll continue to pray for them. But hopefully I’ll also do for them, too.

I’m in the middle with them. With all my inadequacies, my fears, my own struggles. For now, that’s where we are.

But I’ll keep praying about it.

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Please share your thoughts about prayer in the comments.