I Will Also Dance

I am so thankful to be part of Bonnie Gray's launch team for her beautiful - inside and out - new book, Whispers of Rest. It just released yesterday!

I've been reading it for close to four weeks* and it's been like I imagine cups of water feel when handed to marathon runners. This devotional has been poetic, practical, and peaceful relief and refreshment on a daily basis during a time when I have desperately needed it.

Jesus has met me through these pages.

In recent days, God has used Bonnie's words to remind me my hope is in Him. Not doctors or teenagers or myself or anyone else. My hope is in Christ and the Holy Spirit IN me and IN God's people. But even so, clinging to my God of Hope lately has felt like a tug-of-war with desperation and anxiety trying mighty hard to defeat me.

Monday this week I tried to count everything as JOY. Ten years ago I wrote a song called "Count It All Joy", and I dug it out so I could remember the words. What amazed me wasn't the song, but ALL of the songs. I found song after song after song after song I had written 3-10 years ago.

Where had my song gone?

I opened this Monday afternoon. Even the chocolate was preaching at me!

I was so sad to see how grief and stress and other problems in recent years had stolen my joy.

I woke up in the middle of the night and cried a bit. Then I woke up yesterday morning and read these words in Whispers of Rest:

God whispered to me that it was time to PLAY. A couple of pages later, I read this:

"Dare to be renewed. Dare to play. Today. ... Make time to play. Be child-like. Laugh, waste some time, SING, dance, try something new. Renew your spirit with joy."

I cried again, but this time touched by the tenderness of the Holy Spirit. I downloaded a song I'd heard on the radio and made it my anthem for the day. I danced and sang in the morning. I exploded marshmallows in the microwave with the kids in the afternoon. I even took pictures of the dishes when I noticed the colors were all matching each other (and the tile and Bonnie's book!) last night.

Ok, so I did have to add some red and purple and black and brown eventually. But the blues and whites and silvers made me smile. :) 

As I wake up today, the worries are threatening to steal my joy again. I'm choosing this time, however, to remember the things I'm worried about may be real and hard and confusing, but they are not the end of the story or the whole story. There is more to life than the difficulties and a good way to deflate my anxiety is to focus my attention on something else. To count my blessings and remember the Blesser.

I will still grieve when I need to grieve and work when I need to work. This marathon is far from over and I have to keep running this race. So, run I will.

But I will also dance.

(You've GOT to hear this song. Dance with me?)

In His Joy,

Melissa

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 *In order to participate in the Whispers of Rest Launch Team and write a review of the book (which I'll do in full once I've finished it in a few weeks), I was given an advance copy of the book. (Yippee!) Whispers of Rest is a 40 day devotional detox designed to help the reader hear God's voice and enter into His rest. It's now available everywhere books are sold! Check out Bonnie's website for more info and free downloads, and join us June 5 for a 6 week online book club. 

Walk with Me

I went for a walk this morning.  The peach trees (or nectarine trees. I'm not actually sure.) are blooming and I hadn't taken time to stop and savor them yet this year. I thought about you when I was out there and wondered what it would be like to take you on a virtual walk with me... Have you ever seen an whole orchard in bloom?

Parked here next to an old olive grove, it's just us and the crows.

But the blossoms are gorgeous. Even more beautiful than my phone can capture.

Ever since I was a little girl I've been mesmerized by rows... rows of trees, rows of cotton plants, rows of vines... They make me happy.

It's interesting how grapes don't have blossoms like the fruit trees. There are signs of new growth, though. See the green new leaves popping out?

The olive trees behind us still have a few olives hanging on them. Drying out leftovers after the harvest, I guess.

Walking back, I can't help but notice the branches that have been pruned in preparation for this year's harvest. The trees are beautiful partly because they've been lovingly, painfully cared for by the workers who aren't afraid to prune back branches so there will be better fruit.

Some blossoms started blowing in the breeze. It was dreamy, snowfall-like loveliness. I picked up a few scattered petals to take home. That's when a word came to mind:

 GENTLE.

To carry a handful of petals, you have to be gentle. You can't hoard and carry too many, or they'll be crushed. It reminded me of one of the lessons God taught me at the retreat this past weekend.

I have to take the pressure off of my life, or I will crush it instead of letting the GENTLE life of Christ in me CARRY my life. 

My heart was made for GENTLE living, not PRESSURED striving.

My kids were made for GENTLE training, not HARSH impatience.

My marriage was made for GENTLE love, not DUTIFUL obligation.

"I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and GENTLENESS, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." ~Ephesians 4:1-3 (NET)

We are also instructed to allow the Spirit to grow the fruit of GENTLENESS in our hearts (Galatians 5:23), to clothe ourselves with GENTLENESS (Colossians 3:12), and to let everyone see our GENTLENESS (Philippians 4:5). 

Why? Because Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I AM GENTLE and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry." ~Matthew 11:28-30 (NET)

We can be gentle with each other and on ourselves, because God is gentle with us.

My friends Wendy and Debby both became grandmothers yesterday. They are so excited, and rightly so. Their granddaughters are adorable. While neither of them have older siblings or cousins, you can bet that if a toddler or other child was holding or touching those baby girls, the word "GENTLE!" would be on the lips of those grandmas. Why? Because we treat babies with gentleness. It's instinctive.

It's RIGHT. 

Friends, let's remember that it's also right to treat ourselves and those around us with gentleness. Somewhere along the way, it becomes less instinctive. By the grace of God, though, we can learn again. Because we can learn from him. And HE IS GENTLE.

Thanks for walking with me today, friend!

Have a blessed and gentle day. :)

See you next time,

Melissa

The Big "IF"

It's interesting how I can read things into scripture that aren't really there. Actually, "interesting" is the wrong word. It's actually scary how I can read things into scripture that aren't there. I wonder how often I do it and pray that God would point it out and correct me when I am reading what I THINK the Bible says instead of what the Word really says. 

This is the verse I've had on my kitchen sink windowsill this week (as evidenced by the water spots!) but it wasn't until this morning that I realized I was reading it wrong. 

2 Corinthians 13:11 (NET) "Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you."

It's all good stuff. I think I'm going to have my kids memorize it this next week. :) Now that Summer vacation is over and we've started homeschooling again, we all need to be reminded to agree with one another and live in peace. We need to remember to REJOICE! (Which by the way, I learned last year doesn't have to mean being noisy and exhuberant. Because let's be honest. I'm not always feeling that way. To "rejoice" can also simply mean to "be glad".  And that makes me glad!) And we need to live encouraged especially when we're in new places doing new things.

But the last part is where I was getting off track. See what it says there? "and the God of love and peace will be with you." I kept thinking that somehow that last part was conditional on the first part, event though it didn't really made sense. (And how could it?) I was thinking that IF we rejoiced enough, and IF we set things right and were encouraged, and IF we agreed with one another and lived in peace that THEN the God of love and peace promised to be with us. "But doesn't it already say He is with us always?" I wondered. So I set out to figure out what it really meant for Him to be with us. Maybe it meant He would be with us in a different, special way. But the more I looked at it, the more I realized that it didn't actually say "IF" in there at all. It's a simple declarative statement. "AND THE GOD OF LOVE AND PEACE WILL BE WITH YOU." It's not true only IF I get it all right. It's true even and especially when I don't. It's actually WHY I can set things right (because the God of love and peace is with me!), why I can be encouraged (the God of love and peace is with me!), why I can agree with my husband and 13 year old daughter and my boys (the God of love and peace is with me!) and why I can LIVE IN PEACE. (You know what I'm going to say... The God of love and peace is with me!)

There ARE plenty of "If, then" statements in the Word of God. I just want to be more careful not to be mistaken about which promises are conditional and which promises aren't. And I trust God will help me... Because the God of love and peace is with me.  And He is with you, too.

Peace,

Melissa

Just some verses I found...

Scratched on a piece of paper, folded and refolded... probably in a pocket for a day or two earlier this year. In the process of moving out of our house I found this and thought I'd share with you these verses that are possibly songs but are certainly prayers, written a while ago but echoed in my heart today.

More of You

More of You, Jesus, and less of me.

More of your strength, and less of my striving stress.

More of your patience, and less of my snapping restlessness.

More of your endurance, outrunning my weakness and worry.

More of your faith, putting to flight my fears.

More of your love, sweet love, all over me.

More of You, Jesus, filling all of me.

More of You, Jesus.

More of You.

(John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease.)

Jesus

Jesus, You're my shelter

You're my refuge in the storms of life

Jesus, You're my Peace

I am safe when I'm by your side

Don't let me wander, don't let me stray

Without You I can't find my way

Keep me close, holding fast to You

By faith I know You'll bring us through

It's not for me to figure out

It's not for me to understand

My job is to follow You

As You lead me hand in hand

Jesus, You're my Light

In the dark to You I'll lift my eyes

Jesus, You're my Savior

Because I have You all I need is supplied

You are more

So much more than enough

I love You

Jesus

Peace Pics

I wrote this post when we were still in Peru and just noticed I never published it! So here it is. :)

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I've been having fun this year with an iPad app my daughter found a while ago. (It's called Rhonna Designs, in case you're wondering.) Learning how to use it has been a relaxing distraction and sometimes a way to meditate and memorize scripture for me. If I have something to remember or memorize I'm making it pretty and turning it into my homepage or background. It's fun and helps me remember what I want to remember! And I'm sharing some of them on instagram too, because who can't use a reminder to live in PEACE?

Blessings! (Of grace and peace...)

~Melissa

Just wondering?

2014. Grace and Peace to you.

PEACE. It's there at the beginning of NINETEEN of the books of the New Testament. Almost always alongside it's best friend Grace. Over and over and over again it's declared: Grace and peace to you!

Peace. If I've ever had a "holy grail", it's PEACE. I have longed for it, searched for it, dreamt about it, schemed about contriving it, cried over not having it... but it has eluded me in many ways for many, many years. You have to know, though, that I'm not talking about peace in my relationships with people. Sure, I like it when my kids are all happy and when my hubby and I are laughing together. (Who wouldn't?) But being the good middle-child that I am, I've always been pretty good at making people happy and keeping the peace. Everywhere, that is, except inside my own heart and mind.

That's why when I started to sense that 2014 was supposed to be about peace I hesitated to embrace it. Why, you might ask, if that's all I've ever wanted? Well. For nineteen years now (yes, I'm also noticing this is the second reference to "19" I've made in this post.) I've been choosing a new word for my new year. I don't even know how it started, I just remember back in 1995 wanting to learn more about grace. I didn't really understand it and wanted to. So my New Year's tradition of picking a new word to study for the year was born. Since 1995, I have picked a variety of words (some that I loved, some that I was scared of, some I've forgotten, some I've remembered) and often they became my wrestling partner for the year. This last year my word was "Alegría" (Spanish for joy, happiness, and/or gladness) and as happened often in years past I found myself in December saying "OK, Lord. Our time is almost up. Am I ever going to get this or not???" The quick end of that story is that YES, God indeed tied 2013 up with a bow of alegría - but my point is that it took much of the year to learn the lessons.

So when considering choosing (or accepting?) PEACE as my word for 2014, there was some fear that it would mean wrestling with peace all year - or practically declaring it would be a year of struggling with peace. And I don't want that. I mean, I've had enough of that already and sometimes it seems safer to leave well (or not well) enough alone rather than actually intentionally wrestling with it. Or wrestling with myself. 

But there was no other word. Peace beckoned. Peace wooed. Peace won. And I believe my Prince of Peace has whispered to my heart that this year will be different. He is offering peace and it is mine for the taking and I don't have to wrestle with it for a year first. (And really, I already KNOW I'm going to need it this year in extra measure.) So I have accepted the offer. And I think instead of a wrestling match, this year is going to be more of a dance. I might not be much of a dancer and will probably trip and step on God's toes a lot as we do this, but we're doing it anyway.

19 years.

19 words.

Starting with Grace and finally coming around to Peace. 

Sounds perfect to me.

"Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace) and be thankful." ~Colossians 3:15 NET

I make no promises, but do hope to be back here more often this year to share what I'm finding. : ) Do you have a word for 2014? I'd love to hear what it is!

Grace and peace to you, friends.

~Melissa

(Oh and by the way. Photo credit for that awesome flower picture goes to my brilliant daughter. Isn't she amazing?)

Linking up with faithbarista.com : )