A Wednesday Giveaway

I was trying to come up with some good "reason" to host a giveaway here...

But it's just like this: I have too many journals, and I don't know what to do with them all.

So I'm giving this one away -



An 8" x 6", simple lined journal with a matching bookmark.  You could use it as a notebook, too, if journaling isn't your thing.



To enter, leave a comment about something you enjoy doing to relax.  Is it a walk outside?  Playing soft music?  Doing something crafty/creative?  Taking a trip to the library or the coffee shop?  Something else?

Feel free to share this with your friends or link to this post on your blog (or facebook or whatever), too!

The giveaway will be closed by noon, Saturday the 2nd.  The winner will be chosen (randomly) and announced right here at lifealongtheway.

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

Running to Jesus

Jesus invites us to come to Him - quickly, eagerly, without hesitation.  To run to Him.

But...

Running is undignified, desperate, scandalous.

Me?  I like to maintain my composure.  I'm a good girl and there is a reserve rooted deep in my heart.

Running to Jesus just isn't something we good girls do.  We come to Him, sure, but not like that.  We might know we need His grace, but to acknowledge that we desperately need it is a different story.  Maybe we don't even recognize our desperate need.

What keeps us back?  What keeps me back?

If I run to Jesus and fling myself on His grace, it's going to be obvious that I don't have all the answers, that I don't have it all together, that I need Him to hold me together.

Or it could look like I have a dark secret lurking beneath that wholesome exterior.  Right?  Don't we kind of have this idea that it's only those people - the ones who've been saved out of shame and scandal and brokenness - who run to Jesus so undignified?  Like when the girl breaks down crying as she declares Jesus loves her, Wow, Jesus must have saved her from something really bad.

With no dark past or dramatic life-turn-around, I feel no need to run.  I walk instead, clinging to dignity and piety.

There is no place for pretense with Jesus, though.  He sees right through, sees me to the very core of my sinful being, and loves me anyway.

I do not need the mask of strength or the protection of my rules.  I do not need my reputation or a perfect spiritual report card.

It is safe for me to run to Him.

And remember?  He started running towards us first. (Luke 15)

"I Came to the Cross"

I wrote this poem a couple years back from the perspective of someone coming out of a works-based religion or cult.  I had no idea that one day at least part of it would describe me.  Ah, but I love what God has done.

~~~

I've walked down this road too long

For years I have chosen the wrong

Didn't know grace, didn't seek Your face

But then I came to the Cross

I came to the Cross

That once-despised tree

I see the blood-stains

They're pleading for me

You heard my cries

And You looked in my eyes

I'd never known love before

All my sins were as black as the night

I had nothing to set my heart aright

Held in sin's vice, owing a great price

That's when I came to the Cross

I came to the Cross

That once-despised tree

I see the blood-stains

They're pleading for me

You heard my cries

And You looked in my eyes

You shed Your mercy on me

All my past faded away

My soul saw the light of Your day

Blind eyes now see, Your blood covers me

Yes, when I came to the Cross

I came to the Cross

That once-despised tree

I see the blood-stains

They're pleading for me

You heard my cries

And You looked in my eyes

Forgiveness was offered to me

Gone are the works I tried to perform

Gone are the ways I tried to conform

Sufficient Your grace, You took my place

Hallelujah! I came to the Cross

I came to the Cross

That once-despised tree

I see the blood-stains

They're pleading for me

You heard my cries

And You looked in my eyes

Forever I'm changed, a new creation

Justified, free, no condemnation

Your love is greater than heaven or earth

Your cross alone can give me true worth

I came to the Cross

That blessed tree

And now it is empty

Empty for me

You've gone above

To show me Your love

I'm waiting Your face to see

- rld

The whiteboard

Where we encourage creativity at the expense of proper spelling.

Grace: The Growing Pains

When Peter says, "Grow in grace" (2 Peter 3:18), he implies that living in grace isn't just an instantaneous change, but a process.  And that process often involves growing pains at some point or another.

Early on I must have asked myself a hundred times, Am I getting off track here?  Can this really be true?  Through God's Word and His Spirit's work in my heart, I've come to see that yes, this really is true.  God really does accept me apart from anything I do or don't do - it's all because of what Jesus has done.  And He really does continue to accept me (that was the hardest part for me to grasp) apart from anything I do or don't do.  I'm past questioning or doubting that truth.

But I'm still adjusting to the effects of grace.  It's kind of like someone who has been confined to a wheelchair and then has an operation that allows him or her to walk again.  He or she now has the freedom to get up and walk anytime, but has to learn (or re-learn) how to walk.  Being able to walk is wonderful, but it is so very different from the way life had been before.

While I don't question grace now, I do sometimes question what it looks like.  Because sometimes grace seems to lead me in directions that are so different from the way things were before.  It's hard to remember that I'm not sitting in that old wheelchair, that rule-keeping, try-hard-to-make-God-happy-with-me wheelchair, I can get up and walk.

So why don't I get up and walk? all the time?  Why don't I jump and dance and run, for that matter?  First, because I'm not used to it.

And something else?  I'm still learning what grace looks like, but I'm also worried about how grace looks to you.  I formed my reputation, and my flesh won't let go of it easily.  So what if grace means that I don't have to take every. single. good opportunity that comes my way?  You might think I'm unspiritual.  What if grace means that unfinished to-do lists are okay?  You might think I'm lazy.

And I don't like that.  I don't want to be unspiritual or lazy…and I definitely don't want you to think I'm unspiritual or lazy!

Right at the heart of that is pride.  Ugly pride.  Peter has something to say about that, too. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)  Pride puts me back in that wheelchair when I could be enjoying the freedom to move.

God brings His truth to mind; then I get up and walk.  Sometimes I trip.  Sometimes I sit back down in the old wheelchair again.  And, until I get to Heaven, I'll probably continue to do that.  But thankfully, I don't have to stay there.

God has made me able to walk, and He has made me to walk.

Another part of the picture

God is working all over the world.  You probably see what He's doing in your little corner of the picture, and if you're reading this blog, you likely have an idea of what He's doing in my little corner, too.

But there's a much, much bigger picture than just you or I, and today I'd like to share a few little snapshots of His work in other parts of the world.

(Click on the titles to read the full stories from the original sources.)

A New Kind of Love

Hdi (West Africa)

While working on translation, one of the missionaries questioned some of the village leaders about the Hdi word for love.  Almost all the verbs in this language end in i, a, and u.  But the word for love only showed up ending in i or a.  He asked them about this.

"Could you dvi your wife?"  Yes, the leaders said.  "That would mean the wife had been loved, but the love was gone."

"Could you dva your wife?"  Again they said yes.  "That kind of love depends on the wife's actions.  She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well."

"Could you dvu your wife?"  Everyone laughed, saying that was impossible.  "If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water and never made you meals.  Even if she committed adultery, you would have to just keep on loving her.  No, we would never say dvu.  It just doesn't exist."

The missionary paused, then asked, "Could God dvu people?"

The leaders sat, completely silent, until tears started trickling down their faces.  "Do you know what this would mean?  This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, while all that time we rejected His great love.  He would be compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people."

What a vivid illustration of how unique and revolutionary God's love is!

Still Waiting

Nahuatl (Mexico)

A team of missionaries lives among the Nahuatl in a mountain village.  They are still learning the language and culture.

One of the missionaries wrote of how a group of people (called blankos) had started claiming they had "special revelations" from God.  They told the people that God was angry with them.  One of the blankos even started claiming to be God and told people they had to get back to nature.  The people from some of the villages have burned blankets and mattresses, gotten rid of shoes and other "modern" things.  They replaced their tin roofs with pine needles.  As their living conditions become poorer, sickness increased, but the blankos threatened anyone who went to a doctor.  At least one baby has died.

The Nahuatl are living in fear right now.  But God is working: He brought each of the missionaries to this village and has sustained them through many difficulties and adjustments so far.  And the day will come when the Nahuatl will hear of God's love and know that they no longer have to be afraid.

Thanks from a New Church

Biem (Papua New Guinea)

When the Gospel came to the Biem people last Fall (2012), they were completely amazed by God's goodness and love.  They couldn't stop talking about "God's talk".  One man told the missionary that he thought about God's talk from the time he woke up in the morning until night - and talked together with his wife about it while they worked in the garden.  Another man had wondered at first why the Father didn't help Jesus on the cross.  Later he said, "...After today's lesson, I don't have any more questions.  I got it.  I understand it.  I am just going to sit here and be happy."

As these new believers soak up God's love, they are thankful to Him for allowing His "talk" to come to their island.  When one young man thanked the missionaries for coming to share the Good News with them, the missionary explained that it wasn't just their three families; thousands of people around the world had been praying for them to understand God's talk.  The young man replied, "Okay, then you go and tell them, all of them: Thank you.  God's talk has come to our island.  Thank them for praying and sending you guys here."

---

How cool to think that one day, in Heaven, people from every country and language and tribe will be praising God!

When cleaning out your inbox tells a story

I'll be honest, cleaning out inboxes is not my favorite task.  But it has to be done from time to time.

Among the expired coupons and similarly useless items, there are emails that tell a story...

They remind me, first, that I have some pretty funny friends, and that laughter is good for the soul.

They are bursting with glimpses of our ordinary-but-touched-by-God's-grace lives.

We've teased, tossed ideas around, talked about coffee.  We've shared recipes, music, and quotes.



And those emails tell more:

They tell how just a simple bit of encouragement can totally brighten a day.  How a fitting word can change one's perspective.  They tell of struggles, decisions to make, questions to be answered.  Of lessons learned (or being learned!).  Of joys and things to be thankful for.

I am thankful for friends I can be open with, and for their openness with me.  Trust is a precious thing...

There prayer requests - and answers - woven into many of them.  I see God's faithfulness in situations He has taken care of, both in my life and in my friends' lives.  There are some situations He's working in, but hasn't fully answered yet.



Those emails make me laugh (and sometimes want to cry) and remind me of truth.

Like how much I need the Body of Christ.

Like how much I need His grace.  (And joy! it's already mine!)



Sometimes, cleaning out your inbox tells a story.  A story of life, of friendship, of grace.

Calendar to envelope: A tutorial

Have any old calendars that you haven't thrown out yet?  Or ones that are too pretty to get rid?

Here's something you can do with them: make them into envelopes.  Most calendars are big enough to make a 9"x6" envelope out of, and that's what I'll show you below.



Start by tearing out a page.



Fold so that the edges meet in the center.



Using a 9"x6" envelope as a guide, fold/crease the ends.



Trim so that a single thickness is left.



Your paper will like something like the picture above.



Apply double sided tape...



...to the long edge of the paper.



Press long edges together, smoothing the surface as you go.



Apply tape to one of the short sides of the envelope (the one with the smaller tab) in the same way.



You know those little pictures on the back of the calendar?  I cut those out and used those in the following steps, but that part is optional.  I mainly added the little pictures to cover up the hole in the page where the nail goes.



Apply double sided tape to the edge of the square...



...and attach it to the envelope's larger tab.



For the next part, you will need mounting tape, which is different that the double sided tape you used earlier.  This has one sticky side exposed, and a paper layer covering the other side.  (You will leave this paper on until you go to seal the envelope.)



Apply it to both the edge of the tab and the little square, leaving the paper on.



Ta-da!  You're finished.

It may seem like a lot of steps, but once you make a couple, it gets easier.  (And you have twelve pages in a calendar, so by the end you'll be a pro!)

---

My set of twelve:







(Are you happy I finally posted this, Michelle?)