Posted by
L.
In:
Child Brides
I’m thrilled there has been such a response to the article I
posted on facebook about the child bride that passed away due to internal
injuries in Yemen. So I decided to write a blog in response to some of the
questions and reactions I received. I’m glad to be held responsible for the
things I post on my facebook page. It helps me process at a higher level the
information reported in that article. I would like to say here that today there
is a new conflicting report that this particular story is possibly untrue.
However, upon further research the tradition of child brides in Yemen is true
and stories like this one have occurred in the past.
My heart breaks over stories like these, because it’s not
that the children are being taken and exploited by some mysterious bad guy but
rather it’s the parents that are handing them over, and the government/their
society is ok with it. It’s part of their culture, a horrible part of it but a
part of it, an accepted part of it unfortunately. It’s almost harder when it’s an accepted part
of a culture in a country because there are no laws, written or moral, that
oppose it.
Upon researching this issue I learned that under pressure
from worldwide human rights groups in 2009 Yemen did pass a law setting the
minimum age of marriage at 17 years old but this law was later overturned. The
other thing I’ve learned through looking into this further is that there is a
lot of worldwide exposure of this practice and that exposure has sparked
outrage among the worldwide humanitarian community and pressure is being put on
the Yemen government to do something about it.
I know this article is hard to read, and I'm sorry it’s
wrecking you a lot of you, and yet I’m not. This is a way for us to help, by exposing it
to the worldwide community. To be upset and outraged by it. To talk about it
with our friends, and inform people that it’s happening. Perhaps it will cause
the people of Yemen to stop and think, "why do people think this is bad
but it is so accepted here?". Who knows? But if we can be a voice for
those who are voiceless I say that is the least we can do.
We need to pray. Pray for renewal of mind, for Jesus to reign in the hearts of men, and for revival to happen in the earth. Pray for the Holy Spirit to change hearts, attitudes and culture. For people of influence in Yemen to be radically changed by the Holy Spirit.
I love that our prayers don't fall on deaf ears of an uncompassionate god. But that they are precious to the Lord and they move his heart of compassion and moves his Spirit to action. I love that when we come into agreement with the Lord’s heart in prayer over something that grieves the Spirit that there is power and invitation for heaven to come to earth and change the atmosphere. We are promised that when we ask we will receive.
Posted by
L.
In:
A 3 Cord Strand Not Easily Broken
4 more weeks and I’ll be a Mrs.! How in the world did that
happen?! As I continue on this journey of discovering marriage I am in awe of
the Lord’s design. As my post about surrendering singlehood testifies this hasn’t
always been an easy journey. In fact at the beginning it was with a reluctant
heart that I allowed the Lord to open my eyes to his definition and design of
marriage. But how glad I am of his persistence to purify my ideas and heart of
what marriage truly is.
While I was on the World Race I met, became best friends,
and fell in love with the most incredible man. How surprised I was when this
man, a man of integrity and honor, desired me, and pursued me! This man of
purity and character ACTUALLY wanted me. Did I mention he is stunningly
handsome!? To be completely honest I
didn’t think I deserved him and have tested him and left the door open so that
he could leave if he wanted to, I expected him to. Yet every time I would share
a part of me that was difficult and I expected would be a deal breaker he drew
closer to me, attracted to the vulnerability of my heart. He understood who I
really was, it wasn’t the mistakes of the past, present or future that define
who I am, but rather the image of God in me that defines me. I am continually
blown away by this man, I’ve never known a man to love like he does,
unconditionally, patiently.
In the past I have been fearful that a relationship with a
man would only cause distraction and a hindrance from my relationship with the
Lord. I loved my close intimate dependent relationship with the Lord and never
wanted it to change, or have someone ruin it. I thought that I would have less
energy to love the Lord like I did when I was single, and that my attentions
would be divided. To some degree this is true. My attentions are now divided,
but also multiplied. My relationship with the Lord has never been richer and my
understanding of who he is to me has never been clearer. It is through this
relationship with this man, that I will soon call husband, that he has taught
me about his deep love for me. I can’t tell you how many times as we traveled
and navigated this relationship and its joys and difficulties that I’ve said, “Ah
Lord, that’s how you pursue me, that’s how you love me, but times infinity.
That’s how you want me to pursue you, love you, respond to you, and receive
from you”. Marriage is part of the Lord’s design to give us an earthly taste
and representation of who he is for us and who we are to him, deeply desired,
beloved. And a foretaste for what is to come.
This is only the beginning and I can’t possibly know what
lessons are to come, and what depths are to be reached, but I can’t wait for
the adventure of marriage.
Posted by
L.
In:
Shut Up In My Bones
We are at the core made up of bones. It is the foundation of our frames.
They are the things that allow us to move, and have our being. They are the launching pad of every possibility in our physical world.
But, what is at the core of those bones?
What is it that makes them up, composes them?
What is the foundation?
What are you and I? What is the Foundation of who we are?
What am I composed of? At the core of me, what is there?
Tonight I'm haunted by the Love of the Creator.
I'm tripping hard core on that Love. THE Love.
You see there is a fire shut up in my bones. Ignited from my very beginning. Even before I was knit together in my mother's womb. In the design plans of me, the essence of who I am, my Creator made me out of the fire of PASSION. His deep, deep passionate love. I was birthed, cut from the fabric of LOVE.
There is a fire shut up in these bones. It is a fire of passion. Born out of love!
In You we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28) Apart from you I cannot understand me, I cannot understand the foundation of me, the fire shut up in my bones. Or perhaps the fire is only lit when we encounter The Love, You, and begin to understand the fabric of our beings. All I know is that when I'm far from you I feel cold, stony, uninspired, dead. But when I'm near you everything ignites. I come alive, I gulp the fresh air of life. I am revived. I am reminded, like a tree in spring, how to bloom, and flourish and be what I was created to be. AND I SING, my heart soars, the rivers of joy rush to the low places and once again I am swept away. With the waves of who you are crashing over me, again and again. Covering me, shaping me, and spinning me round and round until I'm pulled in deep, and deeper still. Melting back into You, the fabric from which I was cut. I was created out of Love, for Love, to Love, to be Loved.
This is the Fire Shut Up In My Bones, this is the anthem that they sing:
"We love because He first Loved Us."
God IS Love.
Whoever Lives in LOVE Lives in GOD, and God in him.
And so we KNOW and RELY on the Love God has for us.
(1 John 4:19/1 John 4:16)
Live in love, for when you are living in love you are living in God! But remember that you cannot love, really love without knowing His love first. Receiving it, soaking in it, sucking it in, lapping it up, because we RELY on His love for us. So sit and soak it up and remind your bones of the fire that is inside of them.
There is a fire shut up in these bones.
Stoke the flames.
Let it out.
"I am weary of holding it [the fire shut up in my bones] in; indeed I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9
Posted by
L.
In:
The Sun's Still Shining
Who was crazy enough to fly out on a day so stormy and dangerous? Well, this girl but not by choice more by default! Yesterday Walda came barreling through the mid-west and my dear city Minneapolis was hit pretty hard and while the rest of the city hunkered down to take it on I took off for Atlanta. Did I mention that the weather service deemed travel "hazardous" on this particular day?
I've flown more times than I can count but yesterday was the first time I actually felt nervous and hesitant. If I didn't have plans I really wanted to make that evening I probably would have re-booked for today, but as it was I pushed through and did the "brave" thing and boarded the plane. My plane was initially on time but after waiting in line to be de-iced it was our turn and the captain came on the loudspeaker to inform us that the de-icing was underway and that they were looking at the numbers to see if we could make this whole take-off thing a reality today. Oh boy. That was not what I needed to hear. What if they miscalculated the numbers. As I pondered the last announcement I gazed out my window at the snowplow clearing off the snow covered runway...not a confidence booster.
About a couple minutes later the pilot came back on the loud speaker to announce that a take-off was in our near future. So into line we went and as we waited our turn for our delayed take-off I watch the planes in front of us take -off, for as far as I could watch, which wasn't far. Visibility? Oh it was VERY limited that day. I noticed that as the planes tried to gain speed down the runway that they kicked up so much snow it created its own mini blizzard in its wake.
After waiting a few minutes it was our turn to head down the snowy runway. I let go of all control I was holding onto and gave into the plane as it hurled down the snowy runway. As we lifted off the ground and jerked our way up, up, and away I watched the airport and precious ground get smaller and smaller and cloudier and cloudier. And then there was nothing but grey clouds. We were in the storm, surrounded completely. But yet we climbed, bumpy, and dipping, we kept going up, and up, to meet our goal.
And then through the hazy grey I saw it. The sun. At first it was an obscured circle and then within seconds it was a brilliant ball of light against a blue sky with a carpet of white clouds.
"Hello sun, you really are still here! I'm so glad you woke up this morning. I'm glad you are here even though I couldn't see you through the storm. I'm sorry that I let my circumstances question your existence, and your presence, your loyalty in that moment. I'm sorry I called you lazy, I'm sorry that I grumbled, and complained about you forgetting about me, accusing you of leaving me for a season. You are always here. You never change, you stay the same. Thank you for being here. No matter what." And at the sight of the sun, clear blue skies and smooth ride all fears of the raging storm below are gone. Just. Like. That.
Hello metaphor! Hello revelation! Thank you God, you are more faithful than the sun.
Posted by
L.
In:
Seasons of Our Life
Seasons...the word doesn't seem like it translates into real life. I know that our life is constantly changing like seasons, but really what this life is, is a constant molding process.
Have you ever felt like you are actually going backwards? Like the very ground underneath you is being pulled out, crumbling beneath you? Do ever have moments when you look in the mirror and wonder who the person is that stares back at you? Not because your outward appearance has morphed, but that your inward man is going through so much change its hard to keep up?
I get you, I'm there. Here is where the word season doesn't actually fit into whats happening in these times. Season in this moment of deep refinement that includes deep searing wounds that are painful is an insult to what God is up to in my life. This isn't about a "season" this is about a process, its not buying into a "season of time" but rather a life long process. It's not about learning something and moving into the next unit or season. Life isn't a video game of levels passed and dangers over-come and put away. No life looks different, and the process when going well looks like the biggest mess, the biggest failure to us. How strange is that? When its going the way its supposed to, it often doesn't feel like it is!
I have believed the lie these past few months that I am a big fat failure. That I am not good enough. That I'm not doing enough for the kingdom. That I am a fake, a fraud. That I'm the worst _______ .
Here's why: God spent the last year, the World Race building my identity as a daughter. Growing me in walking in that identity, operating out of that identity, thinking and loving out of that identity. Now I'm looking in the mirror asking who is that? I get offended when someone doesn't see that value, when I'm rejected. HOW CAN THIS BE?? I already know who I am, we spent a year stripping off labels, and identities. I am a Daughter! I am a princess! Why am I struggling with these lies?? Why can't I just be already who I am??
My conclusion: I have failed at understanding my sonship. I don't really know who I am. I'm a failure. I'm obviously not as close to Jesus as I thought. I obviously didn't get the lesson the first time, what a waste of a year. Repeat last season....
Hold the phone...wait...who is that? Where is that coming from?? hmmm...that doesn't sound like my Daddy.
Some food for thought...Immediately following his baptism, after heaven opening and the Father saying "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased." What was the first thing the devil attacked in Jesus in the desert?? His identity. (Matthew 4:1-4)
- "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil." Ok, whoa...the Spirit led him into a place knowing he would be tempted there. The Spirit was allowing the attack...
- "After fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry" Jesus would have been weak at this point, the Spirit actually let him be vulnerable and weak, open to attack. In a sense the Spirit left him out to dry in our eyes. We would think what a cruel exercise! How can that be loving?
- "The tempter came to him and said 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread' Jesus answered 'It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'" When his identity was attacked even though he hadn't eaten and was weak Jesus battled it with truth the tempter could not combat. Truth always conquers.
Maybe instead of it being a season of learning and walking its a process that is tested and tried over and over no matter how old we are, or how long we have known the Father? What if its actually the Love of a Father that drives us into circumstances where our identities are challenged? What if those weak times, those times of desperation, those desert circumstances were orchestrated because of the things his has already spoken and worked in us, that he needs to set as steel in our hearts? What if the moments when we felt the most distant from the Lord, those moments when we felt dry, we were actually closest to him, that we were actually delighting his heart most?
There is no shame in the process, in the confusion, in the WEAKNESS. NO SHAME! It is a beautiful thing to feel weak, to be weak, to struggle! STRUGGLE IS OK! haha! It is! God LOVES struggle, he's ok with MESS!
I hear the Father speaking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit over me tonight. And you know what? FAILURE is NEVER mentioned. MESS UP is not a phrase even alluded to. NOT GOOD ENOUGH is not associated with my name. NOT DOING ENOUGH for the kingdom is never brought up!
They say, "There is our little princess, isn't she incredible? She is perfect, exactly what I want her to be today. How is she doing? Ohhh I am SO proud of her, she is rooted in truth, in the things we've taught her. You know something else? She looks like me, and she sounds like me more and more. I overheard her the other day saying something to herself that I say to her all the time. She hears me, she knows my voice, she understands. She is my baby girl and I'm so delighted in her. She's so cute, she doesn't always believe she's pleasing me, or that she is doing good enough, but oh that girl, she is my FAVORITE! Oh she brings so much pleasure to my heart. This time of testing has been hard for her, harder than I intended, but she doesn't have to worry, because I'm not worried. I believe in her, she will be just fine, she'll get through it just fine. I know her. I trust her COMPLETELY. Oh how I love this one. Oh I wish she knew just how much I love and delight in her! She is beautiful just as she is."
You know what? They are speaking that over you tonight too. If we only knew how the God of the Universe loves us and is moved by us. Oh if we only knew the fullness of his affections!
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