Soul-Satiating

07.02.19.  Truth. Trust. Provision. Seeking. Soul-satiating.

Terry, my hubby, knows me inside-out. Terry sees me doing all the things and filling up the daily schedule and, when having been totally spent, he sees me fall into bed. Terry knows I love to travel and store up memories to recall, later. He may have planned this weekend to be a birthday trip to East Tennessee, but it was so much more. 

Soul-satiating space that could not be interrupted by the demands of schedule nor a cell signal. 

Soul-satiating pace with the perfect rhythm for Terry and I to walk hand-in-hand and to talk face-to-face about something or nothing in particular and to sing silly songs.

Soul-satiating place perfectly situated with water and bluffs and wildlife and a canoe for two to explore the good things of our living and loving Heavenly Father. Did I mention I'm a 7w8 on the Enneagram?

Soul-satiating grace. That's what grace feels like to me. 

It runs deeply to care for the things we keep buried, because they hurt too deeply. It soothes

and fills the dry, cracked, calloused areas exposed and desensitized by overuse. Soul-satiating grace is that soft

place to fall back and unclench our spirits to trust Truth. It is the provision of spiritual nutrients we are lacking, because we have gone too long unaware of being depleted and weakened.

Why and how do I allow myself to become empty? When does it happen? It's not penciled into my planner with a set date.

After I was full-up, again, I believe I caught a clue.

An intimate, soul-satiating relationship with God is not accidental. It is intentional.

Even though I plan daily devotions and attend Sunday worship service, my mind can fire a dozen different directions without fully being in those moments with Him. If I am not intentionally listening and not purposefully positioning myself to have my soul satisfied to the fullest measure, I will be back at that place -again- wondering why and how and when did empty happen?

Singer-Song Writer and worship leader, Jason Upton, raises his voice in lyrical prayer in Wild and Free with this one line that makes my soul agree - "Lord, fill my heart till it's full on hunger."

That deserves a two-hands-raised-in-praise!

I'm thankful for spotting the EMBRACED book by Lysa TerKeurst at a ladies' conference. I'm thankful for her devotions sparking my spirit for these 32 days, because the devotions have pointed to what is good and necessary and soul-satiating -- a deeper, intentional relationship with the One who loves me.

Show Me the Weird Thing

06.11.19. You may have noticed a lapse of posting due to a special social event of the summer, my mom-in-law's wedding!

If your vision of the small town pastoral couple is the quiet life of a village parson living in the modest rectory where steeple bells toll the call to worship across the dell and cherry blossoms gently blow on the breeze, you may have read too many Jane Austen books.

Don't get me wrong, I believe the ministry life is one of the best out there, because of the connections and the community and the opportunities of building a life with the common goal of sharing in relationship with God. Alas, there are toilets to be cleaned, bake sales to organize, choirs to direct, Sunday school classes to be taught, pianos to be played, volunteers to lassoed and chickens to be fried! All this while keeping your own home together and being able to drop it all should someone go into the hospital or your hubby-pastor invites the board of deacons over for coffee and homemade peach cobbler immediately following the Sunday night service or your own children start puking -- which, by the way, intermittent, projectile vomit always seems to happen on Sunday morning!

My in-laws lived in the parsonage steps away from the church where they ministered just outside of Tulsa. He loved to immerse himself in the community and she worked beside him. After Paps died, her life changed dramatically. His death meant they were released from the present commission and she needed a new home.

The family helped pack and relocate all of her adult life into a moving van bound for Oklahoma City, where she would start her new life as a widow. This she did for almost 10 years until an 81 year old widower asked her to go out for dinner. On Saturday, June 8th, they started a together-life. 

Over the weekend, I didn't ditch my 100 Days of Summer Devos, we were too busy with the #momsgettingmarried weekend to blog about them. I would encourage you to purchase a copy of Lysa TerKeurst's EMBRACED to catch what I couldn't write about. I did highlight key thoughts:

Meeting with God before we set out working for Him is a place where we are fueled by His presence and power. "This is the daily sacred exchange where ministry duty turns into pure delight." I want to be busy doing the Lord's work WITH the Lord not as a lone ranger.

Lysa repeats a prayer before she meets with God in this "daily sacred exchange." Her simple prayer reminded me of the one I pray not nearly as book-worthy, nonetheless, effective. My pre-devo prayer: God, show me the weird thing I've never seen, before, in Your Word. And, show me how to apply it, today.

Spending time with Him consistently places us in a position of hearing what deep, divine treasures He wants to reveal in our everyday, mundane things, but we've got to look for it. As we develop the spiritual muscle of looking for Him, "we become changed people who live out the reality of God" and don't need to feel overlooked by everyone else, because we are "handpicked by God" to experience His checklist.

There is a pattern. Do you see it? Intimacy. It's not like our human version which holds back a portion of ourselves until we feel enough time has gone by that the other person has proven they are trust-worthy. God jumps in on Day 1 with an invitation to seek spending time with Him with every ounce of our being. With great delight, He wants to show us the hidden treasures and the weird things while on the greatest adventure that has its starting point, here and now, and continues on into eternity. 

Trust the Lord from the bottom of your heart;
Don't try to figure everything out on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do and everywhere you go;
He'll keep you on track!

Proverbs 3:5-6 msg 

You can have that intimacy. If you're unsure as to how that happens, message me!

Grace: Tolerance or Love?

06.04.19.  I confess I don't find all scripture uplifting.

Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are the reasons my goal for reading through the year isn't well, yearly. The other reason is the Children of Israel frustrate me. Why couldn't they just remember all the amazing feats God provided? Miracle after miracle! Why did they keep messing up? 

I would much rather read practical Christianity tips in Ephesians and Romans. But, I chose for this year to be a read-through year and I'm in Judges. <sigh>

Pushing myself through these scriptures, I hear an annoying sound that reaches through to my brain making its way to my one, last nerve and bounces on it. It sounded like someone trying to start their car, but it just won't crank. It keeps on and on and on. 

mee-mee-mee-mee-me.  mee-mee-mee-mee-me.  mee-mee-mee-mee-me.

I look around to see if my neighbor is having car issues. Nothing. The sound stops. I turn back to the nagging failures of the tribes of Israel. 

mee-mee-mee-mee-me.  mee-mee-mee-mee-me.  mee-mee-mee-mee-me.

Once again, I look around for the irritating source. And, once again, the sounds stops.

Off and on for a couple of hours this noise filters through my focus as I work on the computer until focus cracks and I whip around to seek and destroy ...only to see absolutely nothing.

In Day 4 of Lysa TerKeurst's EMBRACE book of 100 devos, she writes about her quiet time with God each morning as a preparation and an invitation. This time spent with Him prepares her for the day at the invitation of Jesus "to do life with Him" and "to look for His activity" throughout the day as she redirects frustration to replace it with grace.

Grace looks like God's tolerance to me. I roll my eyes each time a verse begins with "The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord's sight." He could have crushed them into the

sand they wandered around and complained in for 40 years. But, He did not, because they were His chosen children. With all the moaning and disobedience, He still chose them.

Grace looks like love to God. With all the moaning and disobedience, He still chose to love them and wanted them to choose Him. 

He still chooses to look at me with those same eyes of grace and love when I am frustrating and disobedient. My soul is deeply thankful Jesus is the rose-colored filter covering my sin and shame. 

"Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with Him and to be His holy and innocent and loving people. God was loving and kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God's own adopted children. God was very kind to us because of the Son He dearly loves and so we should praise God." (Ephesians 1:4-6 CEV)

My hubby walked into the office about the same time I caught sight of a gigantic fly buzz in and circle around the office. Once I saw him, I knew the source of my frustrating noise, but it flew out the door before it could be silenced forever. 

If you need God to look at you through eyes of grace, I would love to invite to you consider a relationship with His Son, Jesus. If you have already experienced this love, say so, below.

REFIT LoveRules Challenge Day 13

Today is all about the love touch. Sounds creepy...but it's not. 

#LoveRules Challenge Day 13: REJECT HANDSHAKES & SIDE HUGS.

Somewhere along the way, we let #FEAR get in the way of our daily #connections. We over-thought our intentions and the intentions of others. We worried about being too soft or misunderstood or too raw.

We decided that hugs needed to be "side hugs" only. Because (gasp!) "What if s/he thinks I'm attracted to him/her?!" 

We decided that #handshakes were more appropriate. "It's more professional" we told ourselves, "I don't want to appear too soft." Pride told us:  No #hugs allowed.

**As a result of this over-thinking, we find ourselves in this strange tension of wanting to offer a #lovetouch -- a physical expression of care, concern or closeness-- but fearful of what that touch might mean or more importantly, what it might make us FEEL.**

Today, express your love (friendship, human-ness) through physical touch. (Don't be dirty, people.) Just saying a hug has massive healing power and hyper-connection abilities. 

We live in a faux-connected world... technology makes us feel super close to one another, but our souls are hollow because screens are a barrier to the closeness we all desire.

So grab someone, today, and hug them.  Big ol' giant bear hug OR GROUP HUG!!!!! Or, at least do the 2-handed handshake ...the one where ya grab their hand with both of yours and squeeze, which says "Yes, I'm hugging your hand!"

SHARE & FOLLOW @refitrev + #loverules! 

REFIT LoveRules Challenge Day 6

Today's #LoveRules has two parts to it, but you can handle it! 

LOVE CHALLENGE #5: ASK A QUESTION. THEN LISTEN.

It's one thing to ask someone how someone is doing, but it's a whole other ballgame to ask an intentional question about someone's life. In getting to know people, it's easy to keep asking "How are you?" and get the weekly surface update, but never get any deeper. What a game changer it could be if we asked people REAL questions, like:

**What's something you're excited about? 

**How did you feel when ______ happened? 

**What do you need most from other people this week? 

When we ask real questions, we'll build real #community. 

The second and KEY aspect is to listen, and #listen WELL. Listening is NOT -thinking through what you're going to say next -zooming in on something on their face -mentally writing your to-do list -trying to come up with advice to give them before they're even done talking.

That last one is sneaky because it definitely feels like listening. Listening is giving your full, selfless attention to try to understand what someone else is saying. Listening is remembering. 

Think about what your specific community could look like if everyone involved asked REAL questions and became REAL listeners. 

What kind of questions are you asking? How are you responding to others? 

SHARE on social media adding @refitrev + #LoveRules. You could get a great big ole Love Bomb valued at $100 dropped on ya!

Wanna know more about REFIT? Just ASK!