World Changer

Posted on August 31, 2021August 31, 2021 by FZadmin

Brokenness

We are living in a broken world. That’s not new, it’s been true since the fall, but just in case we weren’t paying attention or didn’t think things were “that bad,” this last year has shed a whole new light on brokenness. Everyday my social media posts are flooded with horrible customer stories. I don’t mean the demanding the manger stories, I mean “the pregnant waitress who was told by a customer that they hope she miscarried” type of stories. The war between opposing opinions on politics, religion, health, and the places those meet. The growing unkindness, impatience, and straight up anger at everything from inanimate objects to neighbors to families.

It is easy to become disgusted by these stories. It is easy to get angry at the people we know that are behaving badly. It’s also easy to buy into the anger and agree with someone, if not verbally, then emotionally or spiritually or by action (or inaction). But my heart has been softening lately and hurting. In all the anger and resentment lies loss. In all the attitude and language lies fear. In the meanness and pettiness lies uncertainty. Our world has shifted and nothing is quite as anyone expected it to be. In a world of hurting and broken people, the default has become to hurt and break others so that we may be less broken. To fill the missing pieces with anything that makes us feel better about ourselves. To silence the internal accusations by pointing the finger to others. However, no matter how wrongly we are treated, what values are questioned, what character attacks we suffer, Jesus is not in the biting comeback or snarky defensiveness.

Love, peace, patience, joy, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self control. Those are the fruits of the spirit, where you find those things you find Jesus. Where you share those things, you share Jesus. Where you are led by those things, you are led by Jesus. In a world that is growing excessively negative and loud, how are you doing in sowing these seeds. This is what the world needs from us. This is what the world needs from Jesus. This is how we change the world.

Tale of Two Restaurants

I went out to eat at two similar casual restaurants, the kind where you order at the counter. One was a burrito place; one was a sandwich shop. Both were ridiculously short staffed and busy. At the burrito place, which admittedly, is not my favorite, I was helped by a young adult who was clearly new to the job, didn’t or couldn’t answer the couple questions I asked, and made a mess of my burrito – not rolling it up all the way and allowing it to tear in several places, when I ate it (with a fork) it was cold all the way through and dry. I was frustrated. I didn’t do anything that I owe the clerk an apology for, but my family, and probably anyone close enough to pay attention were acutely aware that I was unhappy as I stabbed at my food and grumbled about it. I’m not proud of that. We were having a good day, celebrating a two-day football win for my son, and I got grumpy about a burrito.

Then, just yesterday, we went grocery shopping and stopped at the sandwich place. It also had a new young employee. I’m pretty sure he was the only one there. They were out of several toppings, the freshly baked bread (which is my favorite thing about this chain) was flat and misshaped. We ordered our sandwiches, skipped the items they were out of, watched him sloppily roll up my sandwich that was also falling apart. We helped him update his sticky note with the list of “out of” items and thanked him for our meal. As we sat down to eat and laughed at the mess we were making with our sandwiches as mayo and onions clung to the outside of the bread and other veggies dripped onto the paper. Our hands were a sticky mess and the fountain drinks weren’t working (so no water), but we laughed and ate. I told my kids that it looked like he was the only one working today, we should just be glad he showed up when others’ didn’t. Despite the mess, we had a good time, and everyone left in a good mood.

Change the World

One of those encounters reflects the fruit of the spirit in my life, the other does not. To be clear, I wasn’t mean and I didn’t say anything. But I also showed no love, peace, patience, joy, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control – If somebody had chosen that moment to ask me about Jesus, I would’ve been a poor witness to the life change Jesus offers.

Friends, this is what it’s really all about. How are you impacting the world around you? What kind of seeds are you sowing? What will you be remembered for? Sadly, my kids see the best and worst of me, just like they did on these two occasions (ok, maybe not the worst of me, but the not so great), hopefully they see the best more that the worst. Hopefully they see a growing curve of more great days than not so great days. Hopefully, they see me offering love, peace, patience, joy, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self control more than not. Those are the seeds I want to sow. Those are the seeds Jesus wants us to sow. And one person at a time, one kindness at a time is how we will change the world. Love well today. Be kind today. Share Jesus with your words, your actions, and your reactions today.

One Enemy

Posted on August 24, 2021 by FZadmin

Our Only Enemy

War Waged

The truth is, you have an enemy. The villain in God’s story is the same villain in your story. You have spent your whole life in battle, against the enemy who has come to steal, kill & destroy. We will talk more about warfare a little later, but for now, would you just consider that you have been at war.

Lies

And because you are gifted with strength and beauty and empathy and compassion the enemy has come in like a thief and told you lies, lies about men, lies about church, lies about society, lies about women, lies about God, and lies about you. He has been your accuser, he has called you too much and not enough, he has called you shameful and worthless, he has called you unloved, unprotected, not worth fighting for and even before you understood all the words, you agreed with him, in a million small ways and later in life in bigger ways.

Truth

So it seems, that in order to move forward, to be able to fully embrace the truth of who we are and how God sees us, we will have to spend a little bit of time acknowledging the agreements we have made with the accuser, the places we haven’t always let God’s voice be the loudest, hidden places we prefer to not even look at ourselves much less allow others into.

Want more? Order our “Crowned” Journey Box today.

In The Moment

Posted on August 17, 2021August 17, 2021 by FZadmin

Division

It’s back to school season for the mom’s out there. Here in Colorado it’s also back to church season. The beautiful weather in the summer beckons us to be outside and usually with the return to the rhythm of school, the church rhythm is found again too. For women serving in churches this can be a very busy season as new home/school schedules emerge, new groups and programs are launched, and honestly in just a few short months we’ll be full steam into the holiday season.

This quote showed up in my social media this morning, and got me thinking and reflecting…

My brain and heart divorced a decade ago over who was to blame about how big of a mess I have become.

Eventually, they couldn’t be in the same room with each other now my head and heart share custody of me

I stay with my brain during the week and my heart gets me on weekends, they never speak to one another

Instead, they give me the same note to pass to each other every week and their notes they send to one another always say the same thing: “This is all your fault.”

On Sundays my heart complains about how my head has let me down in the past and on Wednesday my head lists all of the times my heart has screwed things up for me in the future. They blame each other for the state of my life. There’s been a lot of yelling and crying.

So, lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my gut who serves as my unofficial therapist most nights, I sneak out of the window in my ribcage and slide down my spine and collapse on my gut’s plush leather chair that’s always open for me and I just sit sit sit sit until the sun comes up.

Last evening, my gut asked me if I was having a hard time being caught between my heart and my head I nodded I said I didn’t know if I could live with either of them anymore, “my heart is always sad about something that happened yesterday, while my head is always worried about something that may happen tomorrow,” I lamented. My gut squeezed my hand. “I just can’t live with my mistakes of the past or my anxiety about the future,”

I sighed, my gut smiled and said: “in that case, you should go stay with your lungs for a while.” I was confused, the look on my face gave it away “if you are exhausted about your heart’s obsession with the fixed past and your mind’s focus on the uncertain future, your lungs are the perfect place for you. There is no yesterday in your lungs, there is no tomorrow there either,

there is only now, there is only inhale

there is only exhale, there is only this moment

there is only breath,

and in that breath you can rest while your heart and head work their relationship out.”

This morning, while my brain was busy reading tea leaves and while my heart was staring at old photographs, I packed a little bag and walked to the door of my lungs.

Before I could even knock, she opened the door with a smile and as a gust of air embraced me she said. “what took you so long?”

~ john roedel (johnroedel.com)

Working Together

My youngest child started High School today. She’s the youngest of four, we’ve done this before. I know that the next four years are going to fly by and my heart is a little tender and also excited. It’s the beginning of the end, of a season with kids at home that has lasted 24 years (with 4 more to go). It’s also the beginning of a new season which promises freedoms, and maybe sleep, and plans which felt elusive and distant for the last 24 years.

As I swirl in the emotions; pride, joy, hope, sadness, fear, loss, expectation, I become increasingly aware that each of the feelings lives somewhere in my body. The fear and control live in my brain, as it plans and worries about the future, the hope and joy and sadness all live in my heart as the pulse quickens with joy and hurts in sadness. Stress and worry rest in my neck and shoulders. Pride and expectation and loss all hangout in my gut as I alternately feel my stomaching dropping or quieting as I reflect on this stage.

But today, right now, this moment, lives in my lungs. One breath at a time. One moment at a time. One experience at a time.

There was a time when various parts of my body, sought divorce, or at least separation from each other. Much like in the quote, my mind and heart were often at odds with each other. Sometime I just couldn’t find the doorway to my lungs or find the time to visit. Sometimes my gut overruled everything else, and sometimes it was mysteriously silent. But my body is not divorced. It is sharing space and working together. Jesus is molding and guiding me on seeing and honoring each emotion, each experience, and then laying them at His feet.

This month, as we establish our new rhythm, It is my prayer for all of us that we would walk in the balance between head and heart, gut and shoulders, and that we remember to prioritize our time with our lungs. Our time breathing in and breathing out. Our time being in the moment. Experience now. Learn now. Reflect now. See Jesus now. Tomorrow will come with it’s own worries, lets not lose today.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matt 6:34

Dusty Corners

Posted on August 10, 2021August 10, 2021 by FZadmin

seeingthe mess

I’ve mentioned before that I do a daily devotional with a few friends. This week’s topic has been healing hurts. In the study a few days ago, there was a comparison made to spring cleaning and clearing out the remnant protective behaviors we tend to wrap ourselves in when we are hurting.

It was interesting timing (I won’t say coincidental, usually God’s nudges aren’t coincidental). I had just started the process of deep cleaning our bedroom. Through a combination of a general dislike of cleaning and the total flip to anything resembling a normal routine during the last year and a half, it was way past due.

That’s not to say we hadn’t cleaned it at all over the last 18 months, just not really. We had cleaned “at it.” Moved things around, organized a pile into another pile, taken out obvious garbage, but there was so much that hadn’t been dealt with. As I proceeded to move furniture to really get under it, take down curtain rods with an incredible amount of dust piled on top of them, and generally dive into the corners and crevices of my bedroom, the comparison of the devotional came to mind. There were remnants of dirt and debris in my bedroom, what about remnants of hurt and unforgiveness in my heart?

deep cleaning

Taking a hard look at my heart, I had to realize the same was true. Over the course of the last two years, I have cleaned “at it” but maybe not deep cleaned. I had thrown some obvious resentment and hurt out, but had often just reshuffled and re-piled the junk I didn’t want to deal with. Hurts had settled like dust in the hard to reach places, unforgiveness got swept under the furniture, not obviously visible, but still enough to impact the air quality of the space.

As I cleaned my room and found myself looking at things I was pretty sure I had previously evicted from this space, I realized, there are things camping out in my heart that I had also previously removed. But just as the objects in my home, if not removed completely, have a way of turning back up, so had my hurts and fears. As I finished deep cleaning my room, dusting all the hidden corners, taking out garbage, cleaning the windows, and filling bags to donate, I am left with one tub of items that I’m not sure what to do with. Donate, sell, garbage. It’s that tub of miscellaneous stuff that I know I don’t need any more, but at one point had value and it seems a shame to just throw it away, and so even now, as the rest of my room has been cleaned, it sits in a corner.

Clearing out the Junk

::::::::::::::::::::::::

I acknowledge I still have some work to do. How about you? I have spoken forgiveness, I have given hurts and disappointments to God, I have cleaned at my heart. But it’s been a while since I deep cleaned. Since I moved all the furniture and climbed up the hard to reach places. It’s been a while since I truly looked into the corners I didn’t want to look into, and somewhere in the mess, I know there is a tub of things I haven’t gotten rid of yet. The things I know I don’t need anymore, the things God has already replaced with newer and better, and yet because they once had value, I am struggling to let them go.

So this week, I commit to finishing my deep clean. Both in my bedroom and in my heart. I’ll walk with Jesus into dark and scary corners, and I’ll hand over the tub of things and trust that He knows what to do with them. I’ll speak forgiveness again over the events and people who have found their way back into this space and I will not shuffle around piles, but rather tackle them head on.

How about you? Will you join me? I know it’s not easy, there are parts that feel so hard, and yet I know it’s worth it. Here’s to brighter spaces and better air quality for all of us.

Setback Setup

Posted on August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by FZadmin

Setback or Set-Up?

Ever thought you knew exactly where God wanted you or what He wanted you to do, but things just didn’t work out? Of course you have. This is often the story of ministry and serving God. Too many times to count, I have found myself at the end of a path (or at least what looked like the end) with the words “… but God! I thought I was where I was supposed to be. I thought this is what you wanted from me. I thought you were in this.” And in that moment the voice of accusation comes, the voice of the enemy. “Who do you think you are? You are the problem not the solution. Like God would really choose you!” and so may others not worth repeating. And in the pain and silence of the moment, in the quiet desperation of feeling lost, we have a choice. We can give up and give in or we continue to lean on God for further understanding.

You see, in my story, and in yours as well, our perception of the moment is not always accurate, more likely it is rarely accurate. What looks like the end, may actually be the precipice of something new, something supernatural, something amazing. Recently I heard a speaker say “Every advance in the Kingdom of God was precipitated by a setback. It’s not a setback, it’s a set-up.” WOW!

You don’t have to look very far in the story of God to find examples of this, but one of the most obvious ones would be the story of Joseph. From being sold into slavery by his brothers to being the 2nd in command of Egypt, there were an awful lot of setbacks along the way, but each one led to the next big step forward.

This is true in my story and in yours too.

If you’ve recently reached a next step after a hard season I would love to celebrate you. Way to run the race, stay in the fight, exercise your faith, and lean into God. Your life, your ministry, your calling, your purpose will be better for it and you are taking the next step in the living the life God has for you. Great job!

If you are currently nearing the end of path that looks like it’s a dead end, and you fear you may have missed the mark, can I say this: Way to run the race, stay in the fight, exercise your faith, and lean into God. Your life, your ministry, your calling, your purpose will be better for it and you are taking the next step in the living the life God has for you. Great job!

How can I say the same thing? Because it’s true in both cases. Your journey isn’t over and what feels like a setback right now will not end that way. Your job is to lean into Jesus and move, He will take care of the rest. He is a God that makes a makes a way when there is no way, trades beauty for ashes, has plans to prosper you and not to harm you… EVERY TIME!

A LOOK AT JOSEPH – SET BACKS

HATED BY HIS BROTHERS
THROWN INTO A PIT
SOLD INTO SLAVERY
FALSLY ACCUSED
IMPRISONED
FORGOTTEN

A LOOK AT JOSEPH – SET UPS

BELOVED SON
REWARDED SERVANT
FAVORED PRISONER
WISE INTERPRETER
POWERFUL LEADER
RESTORED FAMILY

Friends, I know the joy in victory and the pain and fear in the face of possible failure. I am currently fighting the fight to keep my eyes on the promises of God in an area that feels like a path headed directly for a wall, but despite my emotions and distractions, the evidence of my life and experience with Jesus causes me to KNOW that when I reach that wall, He will make a way – through it, over it, around it, or He will just move it. I choose to praise Him for the work He has planned, even when I can’t see it, will you join me?