Lisa notes

Your time with God? It’s not just for you

By LisaNotes June 1, 2015 Community 36 Comments

I thought it was just for me.
I was wrong.

Wednesday had been crazy already. We’d gotten up at 1 a.m. for a second day of airports, trying to get our daughter Jenna on a flight to Houston for her flight to Guatemala. The flights scheduled for Tuesday had been a bust, with one totally canceled flight and no make-ups. So Day 2 required an early morning 2-hour drive to Nashville International Airport instead of the 10 minute drive to our local airport.

JT-to-Guatemala

We watched Jenna check in, kissed her goodbye, and drove away. But before we were even off the airport grounds, she called. Her flight to Houston was delayed. That meant she’d miss her connecting flight (again) to Guatemala.

Why did this going away have to be so complicated, God?

Throughout the day, she’d text us with updates, including when she finally made it to Houston. But now she’d have to wait until nightfall to catch the only remaining flight to Guatemala.

We busied ourselves at home, waiting on time to pass to hear that she’d flown out of Houston and arrived in Guatemala City. But another delay came. And another. And another.

I opened The Soul of a Pilgrim, a book I’m working through during Jenna’s weeks in Guatemala. The passage for lectio divina that day was Genesis 12.

“The LORD said to Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
Genesis 12:1-2

Had I been Abram and Sarai, I would have tried bargaining. Why do we have to go? Why can’t we stay? Can’t we do this nation-building right where we are?

But the message from God to them was the same message we get today: Just go. That’s our part. He calls; we go; he makes us a blessing.

A good word, but what did it have to do with me in this season?

An hour later, I found out.

More texts from Jenna in Houston. She was worried. Mark, the local in Guatemala who would be meeting her plane, had specifically said arrive during the day, not the night. Would she be imposing on him, now that her flight was significantly delayed?

She contacted him about the changes, and he was gracious each time. He would still come, of course. But she felt bad and continued apologizing.

So I texted her back what God had just given me.

God’s call for you is to GO. That’s all. You are doing it.
His call to Mark is to pick you up. That is Mark’s offering of obedience.
Don’t feel bad about how the details play out.
Accept the gift with grace, not guilt.
Then let God make you a blessing to others.

It was the message straight from my lectio time in Genesis 12. MY lectio time. The time just between me and God.

But God doesn’t work that way.

When we spend time with God, it affects not only us.

What we hear, we tell others.

Therefore we should never feel guilty about private time spent with God. It’s not selfish.

But we should never be stingy with what he gives us during that time. It’s rarely just for us. It’s often for someone else, too.

We’re all in this together. Part of our journey is to support others on their journey. Keep passing the grace forward.

About 24 hours later, I received the important text I’d been waiting for from Jenna: she’d finally arrived in Guatemala about 12:15 a.m., Thursday morning. Mark and his wife were waiting on her. All was well.

I’m glad we journey together. God is with us all. And all is well.

* * *

When have you received a message that you had to pass along? Please share in the comments.

On the blog – May 2015

By LisaNotes May 31, 2015 Archives No Comments

Another Psalm 23

By LisaNotes May 28, 2015 Bible 11 Comments

I-have-a-guide

1 – I have a guide—I don’t walk alone.
He not only knows my needs, he fills them.

2 – He knows when I need rest and when I need activity. When I need retreat from reality, he gently pulls me aside to quiet, lush places, and watches over me while I sleep.

3 – He fills my time with restorative things that heal my soul. He knows when I’m tempted to walk away from his best, and calls to me from behind and before to follow him instead, for my own good and for his plans.

4 – In times of trouble, of conflict, of trials, of pain, he never lets me walk alone because he knows I would be afraid without him. He stays by my side and fills me with his peace, with his comfort.

5 – When relationships cause me anxiety or sadness, he shows me that he loves me, and always will. He loves me so much that I can’t even grasp it.

6 – Each day, one day at a time, day after day, he gives me good things and helps me be good. He grants me forgiveness each time I hurt him and others, and he tells me over and over that it is okay, all is well between us because I will always be safe in his hand. No one and nothing can snatch me from his protection and deliverance and salvation.

Forever and always, the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want.

* * *

Flipping back through an old journal from 2005, I found this. Psalm 23 has always been one of my favorite psalms.

Do you have a favorite psalm? Do you ever rewrite it in your own words?

Please share in the comments.

Books I’m reading – May 2015

By LisaNotes May 26, 2015 Books I Recommend 26 Comments

Once a month we share the books we’ve finished reading and are reading now at 5 Minutes for Books.

Here is my reading list for May and early June. I’m still working on eliminating books from my shelf or my Kindle that have been sitting there too long.

BOOKS I’M READING NOW

1. The In-Between
Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing: A Spiritual Memoir
by Jeff Goins

The-In-Between

We rarely live in the “big moments” of life. Most of our life is spent doing ordinary stuff. But those are times worth embracing too. Jeff Goins shares what those in-between moments have meant to him and can mean to us.

2. Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein

Even though I’ve seen movies about Frankenstein, I’ve never read the book. But the 1818 version or 1831 version??? My hardcopy is 1818; my kindle version is 1831. And I’ve discovered they are significantly different. For now I’m going with 1818. This is my pick for the “19 Century Classic” category in the Back to the Classics 2015 reading challenge.

3. When Mockingbirds Sing
by Billy Coffey

When-Mockingbirds-Sing

My review here

This novel is about 9-year-old Leah’s mysterious paintings dictated by the Rainbow Man, and the havoc they cause with the preacher of her town. I’m over halfway finished and I’ve yet to figure out where the author is going with it. That’s a good thing. Surprise me.

4. The Marriage You’ve Always Wanted
by Gary Chapman

marriage-youve-always-wanted

I don’t read many marriage books anymore, but I was gifted this book last year from another blogger. I’ve enjoyed Gary Chapman’s teachings (author of The Five Love Languages) for years. This book may not contain many new ideas to me yet, but it is already reminding me of many areas I could step it up a notch in my marriage with Jeff.

BOOKS I FINISHED FROM APRIL’S LIST

1. The Age of the Image
Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens
by Stephen Apkon

Age-of-the-Image

My review here

Visual storytelling takes on new dimensions in our technological age. This book addresses the how and the why of what it means to be literate in our current times. I found it very interesting indeed.

2. The Invisible Man
by H. G. Wells

Invisible-Man

For a book published in 1897, I found it surprisingly modern in some of its tone. See?

“You don’t blame me, do you? You don’t blame me?”
“I never blame anyone,” said Kemp. “It’s quite out of fashion.”

Being invisible does have a certain attraction, but this short, classic story of a man who discovers a way to become invisible shows the chaos that can ensue from it.

3. 50 Women Every Christian Should Know
Learning from Heroines of the Faith
by Michelle DeRusha

50-Women-Every-Christian-Should-Know

My review here

So many women I didn’t know! I’m glad to learn at least a few things about each one of these 50 women that Michelle DeRusha chose as heroines of faith. Fascinating.

4. A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L’Engle

wrinkle-in-time

If you don’t already know, this wonderful classic is a fantasy novel about children who travel to other planets in search of their father. (But it’s so much more, truly.) It’s my pick for the 1960s of reading one Newbery Award winner per decade with Amy and friends. It’s the first of a quintet. I’ve read through them all years back but needed a refresher.

And in a weird twist of timing, Madeleine L’Engle was one of the 50 women in Michelle’s 50 Women Every Christian Should Know (above) that I also read this month. Michelle writes, “For Madeleine, writing fantasy was a way for her to apprehend the mysteries of God. She claimed the young adult fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time was a theological book because it was a metaphor for God’s love.” (I also discovered that Madeleine was married to Dr. Charles Tyler of All My Children fame, going back to the days when I watched that).

“I hoped it was a dream,” Meg said.
Her mother carefully turned over four slices of French toast, then said in a steady voice, “No, Meg. Don’t hope it was a dream. I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.”

5. The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

the-little-prince

This novella originally written in French in 1943 is about a little prince traveling through space, landing on different planets, including earth. According to Wikipedia, it’s one of the most-read and most-translated books in the world. I enjoyed its simple story on the surface, and I know each chapter could go deeper, so maybe I need a second reading through at some point. It’s a spiritual memoir of sorts for Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French writer, aviator, and aristocrat who died in 1944 while flying a reconnaissance mission for France over the Mediterranean.

“But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed. . . .”

6. The Soul of a Pilgrim
Eight Practices for the Journey Within
by Christine Valters Paintner

soul-of-a-pilgrim

My review here

A book to do, not just read! One of my favorite types. This one shows eight paths to an inner (and also potentially outer) pilgrimage to a deeper intimacy with God. I read through it already—it was good!—to write a review next month at Patheos, but now I’m working it one week at a time for my own spiritual growth. Books like this prove the adage: You get out of it what you put into it.

* * *

What are you reading this month? Please share here.

Whats-on-Your-Nightstand-at-_5-minut

My books on Goodreads
Previous reading lists

She’s leaving tomorrow

By LisaNotes May 25, 2015 Trust 50 Comments

It’s been a busy few weeks in our family. Our youngest daughter Jenna graduated from Auburn University, temporarily moved back home, began looking for a kindergarten teaching position, and is leaving for Guatemala tomorrow to work in an orphanage for 6 weeks.

It’s a lot for a kid to do.

And it’s a lot for a mom to process.

kindergarten-to-college

When our babies are little, we have dreams for them to grow up to be nice people, godly people, people who will share Jesus’ love with others.

It’s rewarding when we can see this unfolding in front of our eyes alongside us.

meals-at-the-towers

But then when it’s time to put them on a plane for the unknown by themselves to do that, it’s a bit harder.

I don’t want to let her go.

We released our older daughter into the world a few years back. She’s done well with an established job and home and husband. But now it’s time to stand back for the baby to fly, too.

Do we have a choice anyway?

She’s been doing her own thing for awhile now. It’s one reason I’m proud of her. She’s been to El Salvador twice with me and once to Guatemala with her college church.

Guatemala collage

Now she’s going with no one but God to Guatemala.

So I don’t want to hold her back—I don’t want to hold God back either (as if I could!).

But still.

When I kiss her good-bye tomorrow, I’ll be counting on God to not let us down. I’ll trust that he’s boarding with her. That he’ll stay with her the whole time she’s gone. And that when she comes back, he’ll be there to help with that transition, too.

I won’t make him promise me that she won’t have hard times. I’m not naïve. But in the trials, I’ll be praying he’ll help grow her faith.

And mine.

As God would have it, I’ve been memorizing James 1 this season. It sure seems applicable right now.

2  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
6  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
James 1

If you’d like to, please pray for Jenna’s journey tomorrow, too, for the orphans she’ll love on, for the God she’ll get love from.

I’m sending her with a copy of Jesus Calling so she can read it there, and her sister Morgan and I can read it here in Alabama to keep us connected in the Spirit while she’s gone. If you read it daily also, let me know and I’ll say a prayer for your journey as well.

Jesus-Calling

alabama-to-guatemala-map

¡Hasta luego, my sweet girl! Dios te bendiga.

* * *

Have you had to release your kids already too? Still to come? Please share in the comments.

“The Age of the Image” – Book review

By LisaNotes May 22, 2015 Book reviews 6 Comments

tell-our-stories

I could never understand why one of my elderly friends at church was so afraid of images. He didn’t want any kind of art creeping into the church. He thought words only were the way to stay on the straight and narrow. Perhaps he was afraid we’d cross the line too far and break the third of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4).

But it’s not images themselves that are inherently good or bad (well, for the most part), but how we use them.

We live bombarded with images. We always have. From the beginning of time God gave us so much to look at. Jesus often used word pictures to relay his message in parables. Visual storytelling was one of his specialties.

So I found Stephen Apkon’s book particularly intriguing: The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens.

The-Age-of-the-Image

According to Apkon, part of being literate in the 21st century is our ability to navigate screens and and communicate with our newer technologies. While I doubt he’d be a proponent of babies swiping iPhone screens (which I’ve seen some 1-year-olds very skilled at), he does urge us to better understand how words and images can work together, not as opposites, but as companions.

And to learn how to use that connection to our advantage to tell better stories.

He gives many examples in his book about how to do just that, including stories of using film in school classrooms.

Here are some quotes from the book (sorry just words, no pictures) to consider for yourself. They’re about more than just images; they’re about the larger scope of communication in general.

“All of us will be called upon to be not just consumers but producers. Listening to the story and judging it is no longer enough. We now have to start telling the story ourselves, all of us, if this is to be a literate society.“

~ * ~

“The manipulation of video is shortly to become a global language, and its seductive powers will be on display for all to see. But it is morally neutral. It can be used for good and evil and everything in between.
The most pertinent question now facing us is not how can we resist this revolution in thought, but how can we respond with the maximum amount of thoughtfulness, energy, and smarts? How will we present ourselves to the world?
How literate will we be?”

~ * ~

“True literacy is always a two-way transaction. We don’t just consume; we produce. We don’t just read; we write. The ability to receive information is always the first part of the literacy equation that is necessary for the masses, and then the ability to express information generally follows, as we strive to quench our desire to communicate. The root of communicate is to commune.”

~ * ~

“We are slaves not to what we know, but to what we see, and this is how we elect our presidents.” [Ouch!]

~ * ~

“We come back to the home truth that stuff doesn’t matter. It’s what you teach yourself to do with the stuff that does. I have always believed that the primary—maybe the only—valuable delivery to the average person through this “stuff” is the transmission of stories.
Albert Maysles said the following, which I have tacked above my computer: ‘The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away when they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other’s memory. This is how people care for themselves.'”

~ * ~

“Literacy has always been the barrier between the haves and the have-nots in our society, and in the larger global society and economy. . . .

We must adapt with the changing times and acquire the necessary skills in order to have full access to this opportunity—to remain competitive and engaged. Because, ultimately, one of the most rewarding things we can do is tell our stories and hear the stories of others. It is one of the fundamental cures for loneliness throughout time, a means of human connection.”

Perhaps one reason this book appeals to me so much is because I’m a visual learner. And maybe my elderly friend was not. Either way, images and increasing use of them among technology are here to stay.

We’d best learn to use them in wise and godly ways.

Below is a short film for The Age of Image.
[click here if you can’t see the video “I AM HERE”]

 

* * *

Are you a visual learner, too? Do pictures sometimes speak louder to you than words? Please share in the comments.