Don't have time to post much news today. Lots going on. Still processing it all. But got this picture from Mom and thought it too cute . . . so decided to share it with you!
7.21.2008
7.14.2008
The Current
My soul feels very heavy today. Not sure why I feel the need to blog today. But sometimes this is therapy for me . . . so bear with me. I have worship going on in my mind via my iPod . . . I had a longer than quiet time this morning . . . and yet, my soul is weeping uncontrollably and my body is close to that point. And I'm not even sure why exactly. There's so much stuff going on all around me. I won't even get into it. I'd be posting all day to go into all the details. I think the Spirit is preparing for something and I'm not sure. My mind says I should be looking forward to this week because I have sweet friends coming to town . . . and it may not be a long visit but I'm hoping to get sugar from sweet children later this week . . . then will be loving on other sweet children while their parents are out of town. On paper, it looks like a good and busy week.
But then there's my soul who is over in the corner just weeping. Weird place to be right now. Just weird. A friend talked yesterday about how he feels how he's living life in extremes right now. I hadn't put my finger on it but my heart agrees with that statement. I go from looking at flesh all around me to seeing God move in the most amazing ways in the matter of just moments. I feel like I have a split personality or something!
But all this is not why I'm blogging. During Sunday School class yesterday, God gave me such a picture of my life in Him right now. I can't remember exactly what our teacher was talking about (because my brain went off on this tangent) . . . but she was talking about being in the current of a river (I think). So, after processing for a few minutes, my mind went to the many times I've been in a boat. I first went to being in a sailboat because, well, you know me, I'd rather be sailing! But for this word picture, you need to be in a rowboat.
When you are in a rowboat, you have 4 choices as to what you'll do while in the boat: (1) Get to the shore and just do nothing; (2) Row with all your might against the current to get where you think your supposed to be; (3) Row with the current but do more steering than rowing, and (4) pull up the oars and let the current take you wherever it wills.
So, now. Current. Capital C. Current = God. Rower = you.
I know. Lightbulb is going off, isn't it? I was there too. I've chosen to live in everyone of these scenarios. Today though, I find myself at #3. I'm rowing with the current but trying to steer where I think things are/should be going. But that means I am justifying my steering because I think I know the will of God.
Where are you today?
We should all be #4. But it requires something that is of great price. Trust. To pull my oars up and stop rowing means I trust that the Current is going to take me where It wills. Oh, wait. Look at that. This is nice. I don't have to focus on guiding the boat. I can look around. Aren't those beautiful trees and look at that sky. Wow. Um, are we going faster than we were just a moment ago. Oh. Wait. Are those rapids ahead? What about those rocks that seem to be right in the way. Um, is that a waterfall ahead? Yeah, I'm feeling like I should lay down my oars in the water to help guide the boat. Seriously, I think I hear a waterfall ahead. Nothing good can come from that.
Trust . . . or lack thereof.
Today . . . this hour . . . this moment, I choose to trust the Current. Wherever it goes, I will trust that is where I'm supposed to go. Today, I will trust the Current. I will.
But then there's my soul who is over in the corner just weeping. Weird place to be right now. Just weird. A friend talked yesterday about how he feels how he's living life in extremes right now. I hadn't put my finger on it but my heart agrees with that statement. I go from looking at flesh all around me to seeing God move in the most amazing ways in the matter of just moments. I feel like I have a split personality or something!
But all this is not why I'm blogging. During Sunday School class yesterday, God gave me such a picture of my life in Him right now. I can't remember exactly what our teacher was talking about (because my brain went off on this tangent) . . . but she was talking about being in the current of a river (I think). So, after processing for a few minutes, my mind went to the many times I've been in a boat. I first went to being in a sailboat because, well, you know me, I'd rather be sailing! But for this word picture, you need to be in a rowboat.
When you are in a rowboat, you have 4 choices as to what you'll do while in the boat: (1) Get to the shore and just do nothing; (2) Row with all your might against the current to get where you think your supposed to be; (3) Row with the current but do more steering than rowing, and (4) pull up the oars and let the current take you wherever it wills.
So, now. Current. Capital C. Current = God. Rower = you.
I know. Lightbulb is going off, isn't it? I was there too. I've chosen to live in everyone of these scenarios. Today though, I find myself at #3. I'm rowing with the current but trying to steer where I think things are/should be going. But that means I am justifying my steering because I think I know the will of God.
Where are you today?
We should all be #4. But it requires something that is of great price. Trust. To pull my oars up and stop rowing means I trust that the Current is going to take me where It wills. Oh, wait. Look at that. This is nice. I don't have to focus on guiding the boat. I can look around. Aren't those beautiful trees and look at that sky. Wow. Um, are we going faster than we were just a moment ago. Oh. Wait. Are those rapids ahead? What about those rocks that seem to be right in the way. Um, is that a waterfall ahead? Yeah, I'm feeling like I should lay down my oars in the water to help guide the boat. Seriously, I think I hear a waterfall ahead. Nothing good can come from that.
Trust . . . or lack thereof.
Today . . . this hour . . . this moment, I choose to trust the Current. Wherever it goes, I will trust that is where I'm supposed to go. Today, I will trust the Current. I will.
7.10.2008
What God Said at Deeper Still
As I've pondered and chewed on everything God spoke while in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, I've been visiting the Deeper Still blog and the Lifeway blog that has been set up for this event. And I've decided that the blog with all of the notes really conveys much more thoroughly what was taught than I could ever communicate.
So here's the link . . .
Deeper Still - The Blog
http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/deeperstill/
(By the way, if you watch the cool video posted on June 30, pay close attn to min 3:40-ish... I was caught on film getting my worship on!)
Lifeway - Women - All Access Blog
http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/womenallaccess/?WN=20080626S1
. . . my prayer is that God will speak to you as you read the notes of this annointed speakers!
So here's the link . . .
Deeper Still - The Blog
http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/deeperstill/
(By the way, if you watch the cool video posted on June 30, pay close attn to min 3:40-ish... I was caught on film getting my worship on!)
Lifeway - Women - All Access Blog
http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/womenallaccess/?WN=20080626S1
. . . my prayer is that God will speak to you as you read the notes of this annointed speakers!
7.08.2008
Fields of Grace
Not normally a "head-banger" in my taste of music, but our contemporary service was doing a sound check with this song this past Sunday and I fell in love with words. Enjoy!! My goal is to live where these lyrics take me . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HalpbqoVwYQ
7.07.2008
Sometimes I Wish I Had God's Perspective
Now, there are many, many reasons why I wish that I had God's perspective. If only I could see with His eyes. But this weekend, I think He had to have been just shaking His head laughing at His children on Friday night. Well, a group of specific children who were gathered at Casa de Rushing to celebrate our freedom. We all gathered late afternoon for fun and food. It was a relaxing afternoon of just "being". It's been a long year and just "being" with friends just doesn't come around nearly enough because the topic of conversation usually centers around stuff with church. I obviously wasn't a part of every conversation, but I don't know that church stuff even came up once. We were just glad to be among friends. We decided after we finished eating to play a game. Every now and then, someone would look at the clock on say that it was getting close to the time we should leave for the drive to the fireworks. And so we continued playing. "Hm, it's getting a little close." "Okay, one more round." "Well, should we go?" "Okay, we have enough time. One more round."
Then. All of a sudden. It's as if we had never looked at the clock before. I'm not even sure how to describe it. But pandamonium broke out. You would have thought we just heard that the President was going to pass by and we had to get everything in order before he came by in about 4.3 seconds. Casa de Rushing is not a small house. It's very comfortable. But it quickly became very small as all of a sudden, like an alarm went off, we realized we had no time to get everything put away, children ready and loaded in vans, say goodbye to all, etc., etc., etc. . . I think at that point God had to be looking down and wondering if He was looking at mice on speed or something. We kept running around . . . and running around . . . "gotta get the kids shoes on . . . oh wait, we need to put the food up . . . hey grab the chairs . . . it was great seeing you . . . and we'll need a blanket . . . how about some water to take . . . the boys still don't have their shoes on . . . no, don't go out that door . . . this was fun . . . please get in the van . . . ok, where are we going to meet . . . please get in the van . . . thanks for coming over . . . have the Inmans left yet . . . can I ride with you . . . where's the bug spray . . . ok, where are we meeting . . . has cathybell left . . . please, just get. in. the. van . . . did we get the water . . . oh, wait, I forgot the chairs" . . . . . . . . all of this happened in the span of oh, maybe, 2 mins!! Everybody finally was out of the house and headed east to the fireworks. Whew! Happy Birthday America!
Then. All of a sudden. It's as if we had never looked at the clock before. I'm not even sure how to describe it. But pandamonium broke out. You would have thought we just heard that the President was going to pass by and we had to get everything in order before he came by in about 4.3 seconds. Casa de Rushing is not a small house. It's very comfortable. But it quickly became very small as all of a sudden, like an alarm went off, we realized we had no time to get everything put away, children ready and loaded in vans, say goodbye to all, etc., etc., etc. . . I think at that point God had to be looking down and wondering if He was looking at mice on speed or something. We kept running around . . . and running around . . . "gotta get the kids shoes on . . . oh wait, we need to put the food up . . . hey grab the chairs . . . it was great seeing you . . . and we'll need a blanket . . . how about some water to take . . . the boys still don't have their shoes on . . . no, don't go out that door . . . this was fun . . . please get in the van . . . ok, where are we going to meet . . . please get in the van . . . thanks for coming over . . . have the Inmans left yet . . . can I ride with you . . . where's the bug spray . . . ok, where are we meeting . . . has cathybell left . . . please, just get. in. the. van . . . did we get the water . . . oh, wait, I forgot the chairs" . . . . . . . . all of this happened in the span of oh, maybe, 2 mins!! Everybody finally was out of the house and headed east to the fireworks. Whew! Happy Birthday America!
7.03.2008
I Had No Idea . . .
Well, my head didn’t explode. But I did discover something about myself. I was missing something and didn’t even know it. You know how when you have an experience and then for whatever reason, you go for a long time without it. Then when you experience it again, you realize you have been starving for that and didn’t even realize it. But now, there is no turning back. Being in the wilderness doesn’t mean you have to compromise who you are and what God has called you to. And who I am is a daughter of a King. I will not relinquish my birthright just because the circumstances have come “this close” to consuming me. I choose to stand in the knowledge of Whose I am. I will not allow the passion that God has given me to adore Him to be squelched by others lack of passion or understanding. So there!
Now onto last weekend . . .
My weekend of going “Deeper Still” was more than anything I could have imagined or tried to plan on my own. Like I've said before, I am a spoiled daughter of the King. When the opportunity came up for me to go to Atlanta for this conference, I felt very strongly that two specific friends needed to go with me. I would have taken many friends if I could. But felt that these two specific friends needed the encouragement that this weekend would hold. Another friend supplied comp tickets for the event. I found a great hotel room and promised the girls as birthday gifts for each that I would cover the hotel expense. So they just needed to make the arrangements with husbands and family. God orchestrated every step. And off we went to Atlanta.
Both of my friends are in ministry and its been a long year. So even though we’d only be together for about 36 hours, I prayed that God would allow it to be a retreat for them. We arrived Friday afternoon, settled into our room, had a good dinner and set off for the arena. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going and ended up walking around to find where our seats were. Worship had already begun and it was pretty dark in the arena. But we saw were our seats were . . . and to our chagrin, we had to walk down front by the platform right in front of Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and Kay Arthur. We hesitated for a moment . . . I turned to the girls and said, “I’m going; ya better follow!” And off we walked, right in front of God and everybody. But what a funny memory. Our friend who got the comp tickets completely set us up with incredible seats (we sat in the row right behind the speakers and praise team!) And they were reserved the whole time, so we could come and go without fear of our seats being taken. Another indication that God had plans to spoil us on this weekend.
I’ll post another blog that tells about what God spoke over the weekend. But needles to say, Beth, Kay, and Priscilla are three of the most anointed speakers I have ever heard. And they each had a specific word to share with the 18,999 woman in that arena . . . and yet, every word was for us individually.
After Friday evening’s session, we hung around to see friends and ended up being one of the last people to leave. As we begin to leave, we heard from somewhere in the building "AAAWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAA”. I look around and here comes a child whom I haven’t seen in probably 7-8 years. Except she’s not a child anymore. She has grown into a beautiful young lady. Kelly is now in college and this summer is interning at Lifeway. We connected a couple weeks ago through facebook.com and knew we both would be in Atlanta but two people finding each other among 18,999 women was going to have be a God thing.
And a God thing it was. We didn’t talk long because it was so late. But getting to hug one of my children after so many years, well, words can’t tell. My friends who witnessed the reunion said that the look on our faces said it all. And it felt like we just stood there and hugged for 30 mins. What a sweet blessing! And I thought this weekend was going to be for my friends!
Saturday proved to be just as amazing with the words these leaders had to speak and worship among this group had to have been a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. Amy needed to head back to Florida because of a prior commitment. So during our lunch break, we spent the last fleeting moments of our girls weekend making a run to the airport. Suzanne and I headed back to hear the final sessions. Then we parted ways as she went east to visit family and I headed back to Nashville. As I drove the 4 hours back, it gave me time to reflect over the weekend. It really was the perfect weekend. I don’t know that anything about this past weekend could have been anymore perfect. The weather, the friends, the seats, the hotel, the parking, the speakers, the worship, the memories . . . He made it all perfect. And we left with the promise that we’ll try to make this a yearly event.
Now onto last weekend . . .
My weekend of going “Deeper Still” was more than anything I could have imagined or tried to plan on my own. Like I've said before, I am a spoiled daughter of the King. When the opportunity came up for me to go to Atlanta for this conference, I felt very strongly that two specific friends needed to go with me. I would have taken many friends if I could. But felt that these two specific friends needed the encouragement that this weekend would hold. Another friend supplied comp tickets for the event. I found a great hotel room and promised the girls as birthday gifts for each that I would cover the hotel expense. So they just needed to make the arrangements with husbands and family. God orchestrated every step. And off we went to Atlanta.
Both of my friends are in ministry and its been a long year. So even though we’d only be together for about 36 hours, I prayed that God would allow it to be a retreat for them. We arrived Friday afternoon, settled into our room, had a good dinner and set off for the arena. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going and ended up walking around to find where our seats were. Worship had already begun and it was pretty dark in the arena. But we saw were our seats were . . . and to our chagrin, we had to walk down front by the platform right in front of Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and Kay Arthur. We hesitated for a moment . . . I turned to the girls and said, “I’m going; ya better follow!” And off we walked, right in front of God and everybody. But what a funny memory. Our friend who got the comp tickets completely set us up with incredible seats (we sat in the row right behind the speakers and praise team!) And they were reserved the whole time, so we could come and go without fear of our seats being taken. Another indication that God had plans to spoil us on this weekend.
I’ll post another blog that tells about what God spoke over the weekend. But needles to say, Beth, Kay, and Priscilla are three of the most anointed speakers I have ever heard. And they each had a specific word to share with the 18,999 woman in that arena . . . and yet, every word was for us individually.
After Friday evening’s session, we hung around to see friends and ended up being one of the last people to leave. As we begin to leave, we heard from somewhere in the building "AAAWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAA”. I look around and here comes a child whom I haven’t seen in probably 7-8 years. Except she’s not a child anymore. She has grown into a beautiful young lady. Kelly is now in college and this summer is interning at Lifeway. We connected a couple weeks ago through facebook.com and knew we both would be in Atlanta but two people finding each other among 18,999 women was going to have be a God thing.
And a God thing it was. We didn’t talk long because it was so late. But getting to hug one of my children after so many years, well, words can’t tell. My friends who witnessed the reunion said that the look on our faces said it all. And it felt like we just stood there and hugged for 30 mins. What a sweet blessing! And I thought this weekend was going to be for my friends!Saturday proved to be just as amazing with the words these leaders had to speak and worship among this group had to have been a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. Amy needed to head back to Florida because of a prior commitment. So during our lunch break, we spent the last fleeting moments of our girls weekend making a run to the airport. Suzanne and I headed back to hear the final sessions. Then we parted ways as she went east to visit family and I headed back to Nashville. As I drove the 4 hours back, it gave me time to reflect over the weekend. It really was the perfect weekend. I don’t know that anything about this past weekend could have been anymore perfect. The weather, the friends, the seats, the hotel, the parking, the speakers, the worship, the memories . . . He made it all perfect. And we left with the promise that we’ll try to make this a yearly event.
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