Jana Spicka and Women Getting Real Ministries
Posts tagged women getting real
Working for the Breakthrough
Jan 26th
Marriage is hard. Fun. Exhausting. Enjoyable. Maddening. Titillating. Boring. Hilarious. Numbing. Satisfying.
How can one relationship be all these things? Why would God set up this structure? Was He looking for cruel amusement. Or cosmic transformation?
God loves marriage. More than we do, I think. Perhaps it is because He sees more than we do. And He knows what He is capable of when He is invited INTO a marriage.
Chuck and I passed the 20 year mark last year. I mean, in all seriousness, it was an act of God. I can’t believe how different we are now, and how glad I am that we kept believing for more. Maybe it is that God kept believing for more. Just like this photo, He broke through our hard hearts, and brought new life. More than we could have asked or imagined.
And in this last year, I have watched many marriages fall apart. There is grace and hope of course. But what about your marriage?
Would you like see God perform a miracle? Then press into your marriage and beg Him for transformation. It won’t be easy or pretty. But it will be worth it. Get some godly counsel. Learn how to do marriage God-style. Take a great big dose of humility. It is the best medicine around for marriages, hurting or thriving.
And, I have just 2 or 3 spaces left for the True Intimacy Marriage Retreat. If you need a little help, or a great big dose of Jesus, we would love for you to join us next weekend. It is never too late for God to be God in your marriage.
Seeing, and Speaking, Truth
Jan 6th
Charis and I were watching a football game with Chuck and of course being bombarded with the ads as well. There were two ads that continued to repeat in the same order every couple of minutes. Then it hit me.
“Charis, watch this ad. What is the guy doing?” I asked. She proceeded to tell me how he “thinks he is all cool, and doing all that rapping and talking about how good he is because of his shoes. And he got all those different colors. He doesn’t need so many pairs.”
“Do shoes make you cool?” I asked.
“No mom, but that’s all he’s talking about. ”
“Okay now watch this one.” We sat in silence watching the ad, again, but this time focused on its message even though both ads had already washed over us at least four times before. Pay attention to what you are soaking in.
“Charis do you see the difference between these two men? One is about the outside appearance. He is saying, what I wear makes me cool. It’s all about him, what he gets, what he wants. But this second ad is about a man who is giving to others. It is about him being strong and brave because he is serving others. His value is on the inside pouring out.”
Oh, the difference between sports shoes and the Marines. But in a two-minute time capsule the great war was revealed. It’s not the argument surrounding materialism vs the military. Those are secondary opinions. It is the war of shallow self focus vs a surrendered life of sacrifice. When we think we have to own, or wear, or look on the outside a certain way, to feel right on the inside, we have been deceived by our enemy. It’s that simple.
Our worth is who we are in God, to God, through God. It is the truth we possess on the inside that creates our strength, power, beauty, love. Indeed our worth.
You know this. You just unwrapped Christmas presents. Regardless of the wrapping, you judged the gift by what was IN the box. Not the paper and bows.
You are the dwelling place of the The Most High God. No pair of sneakers will substitute for, or add to, this great gift inside you. And honestly, nothing will satisfy our aching hearts like His presence. Are we seeing, and speaking, this truth to ourselves and the next generation?
Every time we turn our hearts toward heaven, every time we breathe a prayer of thanks, or ask in faith, we are strengthened to live inside out. May it be so.
“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” Romans 1:25
Reorder Your Life.
Jan 4th
This is a weighty statement. It is not one you can just blow past or check off. But when the question is: how can I live my life with more of You, more peace, more connection, and this is God’s answer…what do you do? What will you do?
It stopped me cold in my tracks.
If minutiae is a demonic distraction, if fretting is evil, if my busyness just avoids the rest and trust in the Almighty, if there is more and all I have to do is reorder my life — then how and where do I begin?
This blows new year’s resolutions right out of the water. This requires a surrender of supposed needs, desires, wants, isms, have-to’s and ought-to’s.
Think of Abraham. Think of Deborah. Think of Paul. Their lives were as loaded, strained, demanding, and draining as ours. And, God totally interrupted their lives for a holy calling. I don’t think the calling was the “outcome.” I think the calling was saying yes when God asked them: Will you do whatever I ask? This is before the outcome was known. Maybe we deceive ourselves and think we will respond to God when He calls us to “big” things. But it is the “yes” in the moment He is after. Will you lay aside whatever YOU think is important to follow Him?
Think of Jesus. He actually knew and understood the outcome of His calling. Yet he was not hurried. He was not distracted from the person in front of Him, though the masses pressed in. Nor was He distracted by the person in front of Him, though they wanted more and more from Him. He was utterly present, and completely surrendered to His Father to live and move according to His will. His surrendered intimacy changed and challenged the status quo. He lived a “reordered” life. We can too.
But it might kill us in the process. What I mean is, it might kill the whims and excuses, the fads and phones, the complaints and crammed calendars. How about just keeping up with all the “stuff”? I don’t know about you, but I am ready for some of this to die off, not to become monks or hermits and withdraw from life. But to shed the layers of lies that keep us from our God and each other.
He and I are still talking about exactly how to “reorder” when I have obligations and others depending on me. But the first step was my “yes.” Yes Jesus, I am willing to do whatever it takes to have more of You. I will gladly trade the American manic panic lifestyle if I can have more of His presence. How about you?
The Manger Moment: The Common Denominator
Dec 21st
The manger scene is a wonder to ponder with the poorest of the poor in the shepherds and the richest of the rich in the magi. What a spectrum of humanity it is. Not unlike our own spectrum of Salvation Army bells ringing for donations and registers ringing up designer gadgets and clothing. Yet we will all come to “the moment.” And it will be the same moment for us all, rich or poor.
The gifts will all been opened, and the glee for the “next” will subside. From the meager gifts of the Angel Tree recipients to the gaudy gifts of the materialists, the packages will lie unwrapped in a heap, exposed for what they are: more stuff.
And then the moment comes. The manger moment. In that split second we ask, we all ask, whether young or old, wealthy or wanting, we ask, “is this all there is?”
This is the very answer they were given at the manger. Here, wrapped in his mother’s arms, “is all there is.” Jesus is the all in all. He is the first and the last. The rich who became poor only to become rich. He is ancient of Days who became a newborn, the servant who became King. The crucified who rose again. He is the embodiment of the question “is this all there is?” To which He boldly answers, Yes I am. I am the way the truth and the life.
A new song on the radio declares a glorious truth much like the angels did on that first morning: “our Salvation has a name.”
He is Jesus, Savior,
Son of God, the King of Kings.”
Our salvation has a name.
Jesus, Savior,
Precious Lord of Everything.
Our whole world’s about to change,
And it will never be the same.
He is one thing that binds us all together… “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Luke 2:10 Beyond the gifts, and the goodies, and the yummies, and the laughter, tears, torment, and longings, Jesus is the great joy that fills in our spirits like no gift card can. Jesus is joy. And He is ours for the taking, if we will only believe.
Don’t miss the answer of the manger moment. Our world will never be the same. Your world will never be the same.
Real Life. Real Relationship.
Dec 13th
An afternoon with Jana as she discusses a real relationship with Jesus and real relationships with those around us. This event is open to men and women, young and old, ”churched” and “unchurched”.