Lisa notes

What’s on your nightstand? June ‘13

By LisaNotes June 25, 2013 Books I Recommend 13 Comments

Just started

Occupy Spirituality
A Radical Vision for a New Generation
by Adam Bucko

[My review here] Hmm…I’m not sure about this one yet. It’s about “sacred activism” and has some very intriguing parts that challenge me but also some sections when I ask, “Why is this in here?” Overall, it’s more thumbs-up than thumbs-down, but I’m not finished yet.

Messy Spirituality
by Mike Yoconelli

(No relation to Occupy Spirituality above.) So far it’s spot-on about the importance of being an authentic Christian with imperfections versus one who acts as if she has it all together. I’m borrowing this small book from Jenna.

Still reading

Dancing Priest
by Glynn Young

This novel by a fellow-blogger I admire has just taken a dramatic turn (I’m about halfway finished). An enjoyable read about a young priest in Europe and his encounters with faith, friends, and a young American woman.

Understanding Jesus
A Guide to His Life and Times
by Stephen M. Miller

Still slowly working my way through this book about the culture that Jesus stepped into. The latest chapters have been about Jesus’ most famous sermon, fasting, and the Sabbath.

Finished from May’s nightstand

The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green

I cried. But that’s okay. I laughed an equal amount (if not more). It’s a story well-told of the lives of some teenage cancer patients. I enjoyed Green’s writing style as well as the realism he employed in this supposed work of fiction.

The Icarus Deception
How High Will You Fly?
by Seth Godin

Care about what you do. Treat your work as art. I love how Seth Godin packs so much in so few words. “Don’t worry about your stuff. Worry about making meaning instead.” – Godin

The Mercy Prayer
The One Prayer Jesus Always Answers
by Robert Gelinas

My review here. A rich walk through scripture to see how people asked God for mercy, and how he gave it, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament through Jesus. Then how we should be asking for it as well.

“We actually desire God’s mercy more the closer we get to him, not only because we see our shortcomings in light of his perfection, but also because knowing God is knowing that he is merciful.” – Gelinas

The Gospel According to Peanuts
by Robert L. Short

Almost 50 years old, this book is still a treasure. Well-written and nicely illustrated with Peanuts cartoons, it pierces to the spiritual meanings underneath the comic strip.

“This is why all real art, though at first it may seem to be a most welcome escape from reality, will inevitably lead one into a face to face encounter with reality—but always with reality in a different light from which it was first seen.” – Short

Rumors of Another World
What on Earth Are We Missing?
by Philip Yancey

Another winner from Yancey. He reminds us to appreciate being here, but to continue longing for there.

“Live for God in the here and now. Live also in the future, storing up for yourselves eternal treasure—which you do by living in the here and now.” – Yancey

Writing to Change the World
by Mary Pipher

A sweet book. A nice blend of writing tips and ideology about why we write.

“Writers foster the growth of readers’ souls, and the best soil for growth is love. Writing can be love made visible. In the end, one of our best ways to truly change readers is to love them.” – Pipher

A Whole New Mind
Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
by Daniel H. Pink

An excellent book! It explains the 6 aptitudes needed in this new millennium to successfully navigate the world. They are: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning. And as the title suggests, they involve tapping into the right side of the brain as well as the left.

* * *

What book(s) are you reading this month?

My books on Goodreads
More nightstands

Worship in rhythm

By LisaNotes June 21, 2013 Worship 23 Comments

When it comes to the nitty-gritty . . . God has commanded us to refrain from grumbling about the dailiness of life.

Instead we are meant to accept it gratefully, as a reality that humbles us even as it give us cause for praise.

– Kathleen Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries

It’s Friday (again) and my house needs cleaning (again) and I don’t want to do it (again).

The rhythms of daily, weekly, over and over tasks can be soothing, but they can also feel mundane.

But if Jesus is my heartbeat and praise is my breath, the rhythms of my work and play are my worship. To see him in the vibrations of my Friday, my everyday, is to bring him pleasure.

When I depend on him for meaning, everything I do matters.
. . . because of why I do it and what it is transforming me into and who I am thinking about as I do it.

In dusting the family photos
In sweeping away our tracked-in dirt
In wiping the surfaces we wash clean in each morning

In these I find flow.
I can worship in rhythm.
I can worship with rhythm.

Instead of reviling the rhythms, I want to revel in them.
Oh, Jesus, be my rhythm.

So it’s Friday (again!) and I get to clean my house (again!) and I want to do it in, with, and for my Rhythm (again!).

* * *

Taking 5 minutes to write about rhythm.

What routines in your week do you do with drudgery? What helps you find grace in them instead?

Lord, have mercy—Book review of “The Mercy Prayer”

By LisaNotes June 19, 2013 Book reviews, Grace, Prayer 10 Comments

What’s the most common prayer in the Bible?

Lord, have mercy.

What’s the most answered prayer in the Bible?

Lord, have mercy.

So why don’t we ask for his mercy more often?
Maybe because we don’t really believe he’ll answer us.

Robert Gelinas wrote The Mercy Prayer (to be released July 30, 2013) to provide more evidence that God has and will continue to answer that prayer every time we ask. Because of who God is—one whose loving-kindness endures forever.

God’s mercy explains why good things happen to bad people (a concept that Gelinas says troubles him more than why bad things happen to good people).

If not for a merciful God, how can any of us explain why we experience the abundant life?

But if I were to come up with an argument against God’s existence it would be this: There is an incredible lack of justice in this world. All too often evil—at all levels—goes unpunished.

. . . So many people do bad things and are not punished—me included! So if I make this more personal, either God doesn’t exist or God is merciful—otherwise, how do I explain all the wrong I have done that has gone seemingly unnoticed?
– ROBERT GELINAS

Gelinas reaches back to stories collected in the Old and New Testaments to give examples of God’s mercy.

In the courtroom of the Scriptures, I have seen his mercy in action as murderers, adulterers, slanderers, and outcasts stand before him all with one simple request: Lord, have mercy—the most prayed prayer in the Bible.

He also reminds us that when we accept the Lord’s mercy, we are transformed by it. Mercy changes us. It changes how we view God.

True change occurs as we bask in the warmth and comfort of God’s compassion and grace. True transformation is brought about not by making commitments that begin with “I am going to . . . or “I will try harder to . . . .”

No, any strategy for change that begins with “I” is doomed to fail. True change begins with God.

Ultimately, the alteration of our hearts takes place in the hands of a God who is slow to anger and abounding in love. His kindness leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4). God’s mercy is for sinners.

And mercy changes how we treat each other. Once we know his mercy for ourselves, we’re better able to point others toward it. Gelinas shares a story in the book about a man sitting on a curb, weeping uncontrollably.

All I knew to do was to sit next to him, wrap my arms around his shoulders and whisper, “God is merciful and desires to lessen your pain. Pray with me: Lord, have mercy . . . Lord, have mercy . . . Lord, have mercy.”

Sometimes just the act of praying the prayer is transformative. Just the recognition of the compassion, grace, and loving-kindness of God is enough to soothe a wounded soul. Just the anticipation of God’s mercy is transformation in and of itself.

His mercy on us doesn’t mean we always get what we want (I’m glad I haven’t gotten everything I once thought I wanted!). Sometimes the very situations we want to be released from are actually God’s mercy already in action, and we just can’t see it yet.

Grace is receiving what we don’t deserve. But before we can receive what we don’t deserve, God must first refrain from giving us what we do deserve. Mercy carves a path for God’s grace.

I loved being reminded over and over in this book about the great mercy of our God, and about my own need to ask more for it so that I can give him glory when I receive it.

Praying often for mercy and making the most answered prayer a way of life is to choose to put God on display in all his glory.

. . . It’s about letting the world see our God for who he really is. It’s not about us; it’s about God.

Near the end of the book, Gelinas tells the story of Jesus having mercy even on the demons when they requested to be sent into pigs instead of being sent out of the country (Mark 5:12-13). And then encourages us:

If Jesus will say yes to an unclean spirit’s request for mercy, then what is stopping us? Let us all get in line. Let us all make our requests. Let us all recognize that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

Yes, let us all make our requests for God’s mercy. Ask for it often. And believe he will give it.

Lord, have mercy.

* * *

Stay right here

By LisaNotes June 17, 2013 Jesus, My stories, One Word 2013: Jesus, Prayer 45 Comments

Final update:
Lindsey was released from his broken body on Saturday, March 29, 2014.
He is now completely healed and alive in a perfect new body. Thanks to all who prayed.
– March 31 2014

Update on Lindsey’s situation on Facebook here. He continues to decline and has no movement left in his body. Please keep praying.
– March 2014

She’s not crying as she tells me over the phone.

But I am.

I’m calling to see how she is. Her news is horrible. Her son’s doctor had that very day put out a death watch—four to six months. Her baby boy’s recent but aggressive ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) diagnosis may take him before his 22nd birthday this fall. [Update: ALS was later ruled out and the diagnosis eventually changed to Progressive Muscular Atrophy.]

We’ve all got to go of something. I know that. I’m even thankful for that, truthfully. Please don’t make me hang out here forever when the best lies ahead.

Jesus keep me near the cross
There a precious fountain

But still it hurts to hear about someone getting ready to go.

And I’m hearing a lot about it lately.

About people fighting death like it’s the devil himself.
Or about people initiating it likes it’s some kind of escape hatch.

But also about people accepting it.

Free to all a healing stream
Flows from Calvary’s mountain

I say to my friend, “How can I pray for you? What should I ask God for?”

Her answer catches me off guard, “That I’ll stay near the cross.”

I say I will, as soon as I stop crying, but why wait even then.

In the cross in the cross
Be my glory ever

I search “cross” in eSword and copy the list. I mark off 1 Corinthians 1:18 as I write it on a card and stamp it full of prayers and Spirit from my mailbox to hers, my heart to hers.

Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river

Stay near the cross; stay near the power of God; stay near Jesus. Remember he stays near you. In you.

In life. And through death. And forever on the eternal side.

I pray it for my friend and her boy.
I pray it for me and mine.
And I pray it for you and yours.

Stay near the cross.

Near the cross I’ll watch and wait
Hoping, trusting ever
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river

* * *

If you want to pray for healing, too—however the Lord wills to bring it—go to the cross and lift up Lindsey and his mom Linda. May God bless you also as you sit at his feet. Thank you.

Memory verses for trips (and free printable)

By LisaNotes June 13, 2013 Bible, Guest posts, Memorization, Spiritual disciplines 8 Comments

Before you hit the road this summer, take these easy steps to make your trip more meaningful.

Through the intentional use of memory verses, you can discover God’s love in new ways everywhere you go.

1. Choose the right verse
Set yourself up for success—pick an easy one. Either concentrate on one you’re already learning, or pick a fresh one specifically for your trip [see suggestions here]. A mission trip might need a different scripture than a visit to Grandma’s.

The family might learn one verse together, or each member learn a separate verse.

2. Gather your supplies
Write out your verse on sticky notes ahead of time to place on the hotel fridge or the ice chest in your tent. Bring a pack of 4×6 cards and markers for your kids (and you!) to write out the verse or sketch a picture of it during travel time. Consider bringing a simple rewards chart with stickers for once-a-day (or every other day?) recitations.

3. Get creative
Take one picture a day where you see this verse in action—maybe in a colorful wildflower or a child’s toe dipping in the ocean. Collect physical mementos that remind you of the verse. Draw a picture; write a song; compose a poem.

Proactively make tangible connections between the truths in the verse and the God all around you.

Read the rest here

* * *

I’m writing at Do Not Depart today. Will you join me there?

Have you ever memorized on the road?
What theme scripture might describe your summer?
Is there a verse you’re learning right now?

Women still with us

By LisaNotes June 12, 2013 Community, My stories 27 Comments

“Because she has a tube shoved down her throat.”

That’s what Loud Nurse tells my friend Julie about why Julie’s mother is sedated, about why her mother doesn’t even blink an eye when we enter her CCU cave with, “We’re here! How are you?”

A daughter looks at her mother dependent on oxygen from a machine and nutrition from a bag of liquid inserted in veins. And wonders, “Are you still with me, Mom? How much longer?”

She tries to keep her tears minimal, unnoticed.

~ * ~ * ~

Another hospital bed, another mother. This one holds my friend T, fighting back from surgery that means she’ll never house kids inside her body again. She wants to get better now for the kids she already has.

A daughter herself, she introduces us to Father at her bedside, watching over his baby girl, grown, but still his.

~ * ~ * ~

A third day, a third hospital, a third woman. Well, and fourth. My niece Whitney has just birthed her first child, a perfect little girl prepared for, wanted, loved. And now fought over, “You have to share her, Mama Jo. It’s my turn to hold her now.”

We flash cameras at faces, documenting first steps off the start line of this mother/daughter journey, one that won’t end until not one but both of them have completed the race.

~ * ~ * ~

My own mother crossed the finish line three years ago, trading earth for heaven. We’d switched roles already, her Alzheimer’s leaving her in need of a daughter playing mother to her.

It was okay. She was my mom. She is still.

Because as long as I’m here, she’s still here, too.

As is my middle girl. Still here, even though I haven’t seen her in 20 years, my last look in her eyes at a hospital.

Being a woman—being human—is sometimes complicated. And oftentimes uncomfortable. And many times so full of joy that you can barely hold it together.

But still, from beginning to end—and beyond, where there’s love, there’s life.

God sustains us still. Mother to daughter and on and on and on. We birth. We die. With each other we breathe the moments in between.

Thank God for baby girls and old mamas and daughters in the middle, some we see with eyes and others only with hearts.

But all still here.

* * *

What woman in your life is “still here” even though she’s gone?

What women currently in your life keep you going?