Keep in Mind

Some scenes from our backyard... One of my favorite moments came Wednesday while the littles were playing in the sandbox. We had added water to the box for the day, and I was delighted to hear that they were 'digging wells for kids in Chad'. 

I am passionate about instilling a global worldview in these sweet little ones God has entrusted into my care. I know I've written about it before, but I am often asked about how we do this, especially in a way that doesn't drive them nuts. You know, like in the way they ask to watch a show 'that doesn't want them to learn something'. Um yeah, Remy said this once, so I get it...

I've got to say that I really take Deuteronomy 6:6-9 to heart. These verses talk about living God's Commandments. Verse 7 says 'Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.' Conversation in our house just includes missions. Whether it's reading 'Window on the World' at dinner, which is more deliberate, or just pointing out a different way that people live on a show on tv. These littles things add up!

I once took a missions seminar, and I'll never forget the teacher saying that 'missions-minded families eat rice'. So we've just begun having simple suppers of rice and vegetables. A bonus is that it is a super inexpensive meal, but the real payoff is that this out-of-the-norm meal for us brings some great conversation about God's children all over the world. Some research says that nearly half of the world's population eats rice 2-3 meals a day!!

 There are many, many resources online, books, etc. that talk about ways to help families see the world outside of their own, and we are just at the tip of figuring out what works for our family. But I love the things I see occurring already. And I must say that while these things are great in my kids, they have also done wonders for my own heart.

So what do you do in your house? I would love to glean more ideas from you about how you help engage your family to see the world around them!

Deuteronomy 6: 6-9 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Child of God

Hi, sweet things! If you knew how many posts I have in the 'drafts' stage, you would die. But I feel like each time I try to crank a post out, I have felt that God just wants me to be still. To soak in His word. And to be taught. So while it's quiet on this page, there is so much going on in my heart that I can't even begin to tell you.

I've been trying to get my mind and my pen to work together to come up with some things to say about my trip to Florida, but it's been slow going. (And yes, I do actually write everything down with an actual pen in a journal before it goes online... I'm old school like that!) I want to honor God and the miraculous things he allows me to witness, and choosing my words thoughtfully and carefully is a necessity. I owe him that.

But as Father's Day came and went last Sunday, I have been constantly singing a particular song. It's by Kathryn Scott, I think, and we used to sing this one in the days before Trace and I got married... its words never cease to bring me to my knees. I take such comfort in the love of God as my Father and am beginning to see that its in learning to receive his love as my Father that I am better able to love those around me. Don't we so often put unreal expectations on the ones around us? Once I lay my expectations in the only hands big enough to hold them, I am much less likely to be disappointed by the humans I dearly love on this earth. Anyway...

Child of God
With every breath, with every thought
 From what is seen, to the deepest part
I offer all that I've come to be
To know your love, fathering me


Father, you're all I need
My soul's sufficiency
My strength when I am weak
The love that carries me
Your arms enfold me,
Til I am only a child of God


With every step on this journey's walk
And wisdom's songs that my soul has sought
I give myself unreservedly 
To know your love, fathering me


Father, you're all I need
My soul's sufficiency

My strength when I am weak

The love that carries me

Your arms enfold me,

Til I am only a child of God

Thanks, friends, for being patient in my quiet here. I just feel like God is requiring my to be a good steward of my time. And if he says to bathe in his word, I want to do that. So know that I am learning and writing tons of things that I think he'll bring out on these pages... just not now, not yet. Love you bunches!!

To My Teenage Self~ Third Thursday Thoughts

Hey, y'all! I just realized that I had my Miscellany Monday post ready to go and never hit 'publish', so it's been sitting under drafts... no wonder it's been so quiet around here! I'm trying to get back into the swing of things after my week in Florida. I cannot say enough how much your prayers and kind words meant to me last week. Dad's surgery went great, and he is home and healing. The trip was even more healing for me, I think, but that's for another post. I'm still trying to wrap words around all those thoughts.

Today I'm linking up again with Hearts at Home, and the question is "If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self one thing, what would you say?".  At first I brainstormed a long list, including 'please do not go through this terrible grunge phase'... but the more I thought about it, I think it comes down to something that is tied up into so many other mistakes and regrets. If I could whisper one thing into those pierced up, self-centered little ears it would be this: find Love. And if I could speak beyond those two words, I would say 'it's not where you're looking'. 

The hardest part of this is that I know my teenage self wouldn't listen. If I could shake me and guarantee that I would hear, I would know that so many other voices were already saying the same thing. God is Love. In Him there is no darkness, there is limitless grace and patience and wisdom and an all-encompassing, abundant Love. It isn't where you're looking at all, Mandy. Temporary acceptance doesn't equal love. Admiring glances at skinny jeans after the daily binge and purge does not equate to the abounding love of your Father. Find Love by looking deep into His pages, falling further into the arms of the One who created you. This Love will carry you through years of hurt and confusion. And this Love is there just waiting to be found.

Now if I could speak those same words to this 30 year old self and believe them as much as I know them! 

So what would you tell your teenage self? 

Distance

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect." 

1 Corinthians 15:10

I wish I could introduce you to my teenage self. The girl who struggled to keep up with the Joneses, the girl who used to wear nothing but high-end designer clothes and buy $20 lip gloss, the girl who choked in the bathroom to rid herself of a few extra calories... I wish so many could see the old me. And not to glamorize where I came from, but to show you the distance God's brought me. I love that verse for his grace truly has had such great effect!

Recently our church has been making some big changes, and as the wife to someone on staff there, there has been this feeling that it must be easy for me. That going out and serving, tithing, feeding the homeless, that these things must be natural for me. Oh, sweet friends, that couldn't be further from the truth. I must admit that before I whole-heartedly told Jesus that he could have all of me, I held on with tight fists. I was terrified of speaking with strangers and about sharing what's in my heart. This new, Jesus-in-me stuff, is my adapted personality, but definitely not my natural one. And there are days when the old me, the easier to be me, comes right back to the front line.

But God has not called us to be our natural selves (and thank goodness, because my natural self is pretty ugly!). We are not called to be comfortable but rather to stir in our seats until we can sit no longer and must jump up in action. Hebrews 12:1 calls us to 'throw off everything that hinders', and in Ephesians Paul says 'to put off your old self... and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness'. Do you hear those words? It's an action! It is something that we have to do. Every. Single. Day. It isn't some magic trick, but instead it's us making a conscious decision to throw away the things we used to be!!

And herein lies the miracle~ God can use you, whoever you are, wherever you're at. I just got the feeling this morning that someone reading this, one of you sweet girlies, needs to know that it's not at all just for the crazy hippie missionaries. You in the trenches, up to your elbows in dish water, play-doh, and dirty diapers~ your ministry is here. You who are still wondering what it is that God has in store for you, you are in the midst of His great mission! We are in this together and up to our necks!!

I firmly believe that often it's simply our willingness that he requires. Obedience sometimes means just letting go, saying yes, and waiting to see what you're obeying. God can take a girl who never wanted any of this 'ministry stuff' and turn my world so upside down that I can't not be completely in love with the amazing God who just knocked me off my feet. The day I said 'I'm all in' was a day that I think Jesus sighed a bit and said 'finally. Now I can begin.' I have days that I'm at home, sweeping floors and putting away toys, and in the midst of that seemingly mundane moment, God reveals some bit of his grace. And ministry isn't some grand thing but rather in that moment it's my palms simply facing up to catch that beauty he's handing me. It's there amongst the Polly Pockets.

I truly didn't mean for this to become a sermon, but I'm sure you've gathered that I'm definitely preaching to myself here. Some days I want to wear my old self like a comfy pair of yoga pants. But I'm learning to again lift up my eyes and hands to the One who fills me up and again say 'I'm all in. I want it all.' And he is gracious to give without holding back.

Sunny Monday

Happy Monday, sweet things!  I am writing to you from sunny Naples, Florida this morning. I woke up to the most beautiful palm trees and sunny skies. I'm also feeling a bit like the Golden Girls, and I can't seem to get their theme song out of my head. It's my first time in Florida, and truly my only frame of reference for the state is that those crazy ladies lived there. I am right now looking out on the water from my dad's 'lanai', which cracks me up because I seriously thought that was a made-for-Golden-Girls word, and then my dad tells me it's actually a Floridian word. Who knew?!

So which Girl would you be? I'm pretty sure I'd be Dorothy. I don't wear drapey pantsuits (though I could totally pull that off!), but I am more level-headed than the rest of that nutty bunch. It's more of a process of elimination at this point~ I'm not quite as racy as Blanche or as ditsy as Rose and I don't have the Italian mafia connections that Sofia had...

Anyway, I would appreciate your prayers as I'm down here helping out with some family health matters. I truly didn't just run away from Trace and the littles for the week! Dad showed me around a bit this morning before we settle in for the day. Aren't these scenes gorgeous? I even managed to snap that one shot (above) of a dolphin at the pier... My little animal 'experts' would love this!

Hope y'all have a wonderful week! I'll try to post a time or two, but as always, no guarantees. =) 

The Line

What is the line between guilt and action? Feeling guilty for all that we have keeps me from doing something for others. The Compassion Bloggers are in the Philippines this week, and as I read posts like this one, the lump in my throat forms, and I look at all we have accumulated with different eyes. Eyes found again when the veil is lifted.

So that line? The line for me is love. The guilt causes me to store, to stew, and to look at stuff with distasteful eyes, but love~ love for God's children~ stirs me to my feet to do something. It's not about my stuff, but my desire to have less so that others have more...

And this is how they will know us. Love. I often think in my spending in terms of what I could do with that amount. One nice meal out for our family could pay for an entire month of support for another Compassion child. Or buy enough food at a bank to feed 20 homeless brothers & sisters.  I often get stuck in a hole feeling guilty... how did I get dropped down into this lavish life when others live in drastically different circumstances? But while guilt allows me to wallow, it's love that challenges my heart to loosely hold these comforts and even give them away. Many rich people feel guilty. But love is the thing that cleanses our guilt and calls us to move. Suddenly I see that it's not at all about my stuff!!

And God is doing many things~ He doesn't need me to feel guilty. He doesn't need me to pity. He has called me, allowed me, to partner with him in doing something amazing.

You Can Have Me

Heard this song by Sidewalk Prophets yesterday on the way to the grocery store and scribbled the lyrics that I could remember as soon as I parked just so I wouldn't forget. (Am I the only brain-challenged crazy person that does this?! Please reassure me that the rest of you are as forgetful as I am...) This is an amazing anthem, and a great thing to think about as the Church.

If I saw You on the street
And You said come and follow me
But I had to give up everything
All I once held dear and all of my dreams
Would I love You enough to let go
Or would my love run dry
When You asked for my life 

When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me 

If You’re all You claim to be
Then I’m not losing anything
So I will crawl upon my knees
Just to know the joy of suffering
I will love You enough to let go
Lord, I give you my life
I give you my life

I want to be where You are
I’m running into Your arms
And I will never look back
So Jesus, here is my heart

My heart breaks when I realize that Jesus' love isn't changing me some {most} days. At what point did I become unmoved, unconsumed by his grace? After writing down these lyrics, there was a momentary torrential rain that lasted only seconds, and while at first I was a bit annoyed (getting two littles into the store), it hit me that it only takes a second. It only takes one moment for me to forget who I am and Whose I am. I pray to be moved. To be consumed.

*As a p.s., it unnerves me that every time I try to type the word 'consumed', my hands automatically type 'consumer' and I have to fix it... telling, isn't it?!