It is the living it out first in private before He lets me share it in the public.

Therefore you can imagine my hesitation to teach on healthy relationships. No, more than just healthy, He is going after loving relationships with others, even the “others” that I can’t stand, can’t forgive, can’t believe will be different.

I can talk about a loving healthy relationship with that Lover Boy Jesus all day long. But when you get into other peeps or my family, ouch, this cuts a little too close to home. And yet. Isn’t this precisely the way of God? To so overwhelm us with His love and affection that we spill out and over on others? Proverbs says “the tongue of the wise brings healing.” And we need to hear Jesus speak healing into every relationship we have.

So this new seminar  on June 9, is very simply a time plant a few seeds of Jesus in our lives. Most of us have been through some sort of counseling, even Bible studies. Yet most of us would say our relationships don’t change much. I find that to be so counter to the way of God.

When people in the Bible had an encounter with Jesus, their lives were changed. Some instantly, some over time, but all were changed because He put something in them that produced His life.  Real Life. That is what we are going after.

Plan to come with a desire to pull weeds in your heart, and to let God plant His healing and wisdom instead.

Real Life. Real Relationship.
June 9, 9:30-Noon
Fuse Church, Midpark Drive
Open to All: women, men, couples, singles
Love Offering Event
Pre registered Childcare Only.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I would post one of my favorite photos of the Spicka Chicks. Shot nearly five years ago,  I love is how this picture captured the “Who” of them before they came to “Be” them.

Salem, the oldest, is the strong, not so silent type.  Her face is full of thought and her gaze on others and life is straight forward. Today, we see this is growing more and more. Charis, the youngest, here is just beginning to “strike a pose.” But now we know that she is  full of color, sass and joy.

I love that God knows them and what they need more than I ever can. I love that God loves being Our Father and that we all get to journey together for a season.

If I had to pick one of the 1000 pictures I have taken over the last fourteen years of this amazing madhouse journey of motherhood, this one stops my heart every time. I love my girls. I love being their mom. And, I am so thankful that God heard my cries and gave me children against all odds.

The Lord woke me up with this song at 1:30 a.m.  I had gone to bed with a rolling question that needed His answer. And although this didn’t answer the specific, it absolutely answered the deeper, greater questions. Are you with me? Have you got me?

I remembered as I woke up this morning and saw this scribbled on my mirror what the chorus of the song is:

His love endures. Forever His love endures.

To make it even sweeter,  I had great memories of this song.  He and I  had just shared  the most amazing time on Sunday morning with this song. I had to go in the back of church and just sing out and dance in worship of Him. When I sat down Chuck turned and asked me, “Did you  just have a spell?”  Smiling ear to ear, I nodded yes.

How tender of the Lord to use it again in the middle of the night. This is the beauty of worship. Jesus said that true worshipers would worship in spirit and in truth. I don’t think I understood that verse fully until today. Now I see that  He planted that “truth” into my “spirit” on Sunday morning. And in the wee hours of Wednesday, He began harvesting its fruit. Worship is when His truth is deposited into our spirit. It is when our spirits are connected to His Spirit. It changes things in our present moments but also in our futures.

I had to abandon everything Sunday morning to get to that sweet spot with Him. The issues, the preferences, even the grumblings. I had to get to that place of intimacy that all I could see and feel was His presence. The great exchange… Breathe Him in. And watch Him pour back out when you need it most.

Bless you Lord for your amazing love.

The One Who Saves, by Hillsong

Come join the song, lift your voice
As Heaven and Earth give praise
Fall to your knees at the feet
Of the Son of the One true God

Turn from old ways, lift your eyes
For the kingdom of God is here
Open your heart, offer all
For Jesus Christ is here, now

We have found our home
We have found our peace
We have found our rest
In the One who loves

He will light the way
He will lead us home
As we offer all
To the One who saves us

Call on the name that is hope
Jesus, the Son of God
Lord over all, He is good
And His mercy endures always

His love endures
Forever His love endures
Forever His love endures
Forever and ever

So many people are paralyzed about what to do with their lives, what God’s will is, how then should they live, or how are they going to make this work?  They are not paralyzed out of the prospect of handling God’s blessing, they are paralyzed by the fear of losing something, or doing something wrong. But we have green lights from God.

Does that mean that we can do anything sinful that we want? God forbid. However, It does mean that when our hearts are “tuned to sing his praise” and  we are motivated out of love for Him, then we can run full out expecting his favor. And just like in traffic, when danger is present,  a red light appears. God  protects us with a red light when he wants us to stop or sit still.

I have three friends who have stopped dead in their tracks. Not because God has given them a red light, but because they are terrified of just running in His grace. They really don’t trust God to direct and guide and provide, so they are constantly trying to calculate their every action. “I just don’t know what God wants.” they complain.

We can trust  the Holy Spirit to lead us. He uses our aches, groans, hunches and desires to reveal our path. As we mature He leads through the Word  or speaks to us directly. But always He is responsible for getting us to and through our lives.  Therefore we can run in confidence believing our good God will direct our paths.

Listen to the song Sometimes by Dave Crowder. I love the line, “let’s risk the ocean, there’s only grace.”  God stirred that in my heart about four days ago and it is literally haunting me.

What am I willing to risk to follow God? What do I think I will encounter that God won’t handle? How much will I throw myself into His grace? No matter if I choose wrong…there’s only grace.

Check your heart, your plans, your relationships. Are you paralyzed by fear, or are you running in His favor? Your job is to love Him with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength. His job is to take care of everything else. He’s got you.

My kids still act shocked by it, but on occasion, I tell them “No.”  I usually have  a good reason, or insight, or hunch that they may, or may not see– or agree with. But the answer remains a no. And, I still love them. I have begun saying to them, “My No is as loving as my Yes.” I want to plant in them that I am not mad when I say no. I am not delighting to torment them, or purposely spoiling their idea of fun.

As a parent, I have to look at the big picture, the overall story of what they want  and what I want, who else is involved, the long term effects, even the unforeseen consequences or rewards. Out of love, I tell them–yes. Out of love, I tell them– no. But both are love. My kids Love my yes answers. I get all kinds of gleeful responses. My no answers are not greeted with such enthusiasm.

I ask my kids to trust me even if they disagree. I ask them to trust that I am moving out of heart of love for them. Obvious, right?

Now if I do that so imperfectly, how much more trustworthy is Our Father? When the Spirit tells us ‘no, you can’t have that, do that, go there, say that,’ how much love is He showing us? He cares so much for us that He walks with us, in us. He says because of His goodness and abundance we can run full out.

God says with a smiling whisper, “Go!”  When we fall, no worries, He is there. Just get back up and keep running.

But then He says—no, stop, wait. He wants us to respond with as much love and affection as we do when He says run full out.  Picture His face when He says no.  Is He scowling, condemning, smirking, or ridiculing? God forbid.

He is still smiling, with a secret twinkle in His eyes, and whispers, “No. But trust Me. I can only give you good.”

God does say “no.” And He still loves you. It’s obvious. But we need to translate it rightly. His no is as loving as His yes.

Take weddings for example. The bride and groom’s ardent affection make me remember when love was new and the wounds not yet inflicted. I need to remember the helplessly giddy feelings—and cry. Am I still willing to give my heart to my husband with abandon?  But their beaming faces also make me smile because I know, with God’s grace over time, those fresh, gushing promises of forever love and good behavior will turn into more than they could imagine. The wish for “happily ever after” will become a deep reservoir of victories and defeats, little deaths and resurrections, a history of two lives being melded into one. Love is transformed from shallow rapids in a stream into deep still waters.

Baby showers are bittersweet too. Reading the fear and panic on the faces of new moms, or moms again, remind me of just how fast time flies and just how faithful God is. You only have to be a few miles down the road to realize that the sweet cuddles are gone in a moment. Did I stop long enough to enjoy them? Did I plant the seeds of loving God in my children? The messes, questions and hopes of those beginning years will soon be whispers in our memory. God really is big enough to be God to our children, not just to us.  And He will be their God even in our bad moments and failures.

Fortunately, this funeral celebrated a woman who loved God. So we did “not grieve as they who have no hope.” It was a refreshing change to celebrate a life well-walked with Jesus. It caused me to pause and reflect. Am I living in such a way that people know I love God? Not works. Just fruit. This woman had a beautiful display of fruit in the testimonies of others’ lives.

In contrast, the last several funerals I’ve attended have been for unbelievers or spiritual fence-sitters. It is amazing how we speak with gymnastic prowess around death when hell is very real.  None of us can bear the thought of eternal separation from God, yet those people chose separation from Him in this life.  Here is a hard question. If you don’t want to be with Jesus now, why would you want to go to heaven and be with Him forever?

When I die, I  don’t want the speakers to be hanging on some tightrope that I am with Jesus based on some long forgotten church experience. I told Chuck, “If I go first, you tell the people at my funeral that there is no question about whose I am and where I am. I am with my Lover and I had just talked to Him the day I died.”   Chuck laughed and shook his head. “I know honey, I know.”

Life well in Christ so you can die well Christ.

Don’t sleepwalk through your life. Examine, reflect, celebrate, change course. Plant God and harvest His life.