When You Have to Squint Your Eyes to See the Beauty–a devotion from my garden

April 9, 2014April 9, 2014Leave a comment

Sometimes you have to fight for the glory and squint your eyes tight to find the wonder.

Like today.

My daughter woke me up early. She was ready for the day; I wanted to enjoy a little more night, and so the morning began with a headache, fatigue and maybe a not-so-cheerful attitude.

Then, just as I began to settle into the day, I glanced up at the calendar at 7:58 and realized the heating and air conditioning repairman was coming between 8 and 8:30 a.m. Oops, forgot that one.

He came at 8:20 and normally that time for me is for morning tea and long devotions, starting the week with God and then writing.

But how to be inspired and still with God, how to type out these words on the computer when he’s banging parts and dismantling pieces? Then he calls out, “Ma’am?” and I flinch because I know it’s not to tell me good news.

My to-do list was long. The laundry piled high. The sink stacked with morning dishes.

But I’m fighting for this, so I open to Wonderstruck by Margaret Feinberg:

“God desires to captivate us not just with his handiwork but with Himself–displaying facets of His character, igniting us with His fiery love, awakening us to the intensity of His holiness” (11).

Captivate me, Lord. Right here, this tiny person in this moment when all the mundane is pressing heavy on my heart and I’m just about suffocated from the stifling weight of it all.

Feinberg tells me that this is what God desires and I wonder: If I’m not feeling it, is it because I’ve shut Him down and crowded Him out? Is He willing to reignite me and I’m unwilling to notice?

I flip through my Bible to Hebrews 12:28-29:

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

It starts with thanks, gratitude that anything that shakes apart the foundation of my day can’t touch the foundation of His kingdom, my faith, or eternity with Him–Not early mornings, interrupted routines, home repairs, not even the incessant grinding of the daily.

It requires worship grounded in reverence and awe because my God, Savior, Friend, and Lover of my Soul, is a Consuming Fire, and even on days when I’m just seeing the tiniest ember and flicker of that holy flame, He remains the same.

In Scripture, Elisha stood with his prophet-mentor, Elijah, and asked so boldly for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings 2:9). So, when I read Elisha’s story, I expect the miracles all to be earth-shattering, all fire from heaven with awe and wonder.

It was Elijah, after all, who staged the showdown with the prophets of Baal, who predicted a long and devastating drought over the land and then foretold the rain that started as one tiny cloud as big as a man’s fist. He went head-to-toe with Ahab and Jezebel until he was whisked away to heaven in a flaming chariot.

The double-portion of that Spirit must be pretty spectacular.

But when I read Elisha’s story, he made foul water fit to drink. He cursed a group of taunting boys who called him “baldy.” He gave oil to a poor widow, made some poisonous stew safe for consumption. And when an ordinary worker dropped his ax in the lake, Elisha made the ax head float on the water.

It was everyday stuff, most of it. He had a few moments, like raising a boy from the dead. Overall, though, it seems so mundane. So everyday. He helped people eat and drink. Helped them work and not have to trek to Home Depot for some new tools.

And maybe that’s the reminder here. Maybe it takes even more faith to look for the power and spirit of God at work in the smallest of needs and the most everyday of circumstances.

I look out of the window over my kitchen sink while I wash the last cereal bowl and see the plants we bought the day before, still waiting to be planted in the dirt of our garden. We went on a hunt for milkweed to attract monarch butterflies and came home with these two green pots.

They look like the smallest and plainest of dead sticks. My daughter was skeptical. Could this brown spindly stalk grow anything beautiful? Is it even alive?

But today I’ve fought for the wonder and the glory.

Today, I’ve determined to plant and nurture the pitiful, the brown, the spindly, the weak, the seeming lifeless–and wait for God to cultivate and grow the glory and the beauty.

Yes, in my garden. Yes, in my life and heart.

Captivate me, Lord, today.

To read more about this 12-month journey of pursuing the presence of Christ, you can follow the links below! Won’t you join me this month as I ‘Enjoy Beauty’?

To read more Devotions from my Garden, you can click here!

Originally posted April 22, 2013

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader. Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness. Her book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, is available now! To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

Even When I’m Disappointed, I’ll Love You Anyway

April 7, 20144 Comments

Suffice it to say, hiding the evidence didn’t work.

I found her hidden stockpile, proof of mistakes that she’d stuffed into a corner of her bedroom. I suppose she thought somehow that it’d eventually disappear or I’d just never notice.

But she underestimates a mom’s ability to discover truth (she never did figure out those two eyes in the back of my head)….so we stand there in that corner confronting the reality.

She had done something wrong and I had proof.

But instead of bringing all that trouble straight to my feet and asking for help, she’d hidden it away and hoped I wouldn’t notice.

I tell her I’m disappointed, tell her I expected better, tell her she needs to overcome.

But then, when she’s tearful and we’ve retreated to the sofa, we pray for God’s help.

I hope she’s really listening, deep-down-take-this-to-heart listening, because I don’t want the words to just shoot through her before pushing their impression down into the soft clay of her heart.

When you’re in trouble, when you mess up, when you’re hurt, when something is wrong….

come

me.

Yes, your first impulse will be to run and hide, no different than Adam and Eve crouching among the garden leaves.

Yes, I’ll be sad at first. Yes, I’ll be disappointed. Yes, we’ll have to deal with it and that might be messy and hard and it seems easier in the moment to just avoid that pain.

I understand this. Haven’t I stashed sin before, as well, desperately hoping that no one would notice—that HE wouldn’t notice? I’ve been Eve in that Garden before, too, and I know how it feels to hold my breath and hope that God walks on by.

But God picked me to be your mom and that means sticking with you and helping you learn and overcome That means loving you right on through the tough times.

Mary Kassian tells me:

When we face trouble, we are to pour out our hearts to him. Everybody trusts something; we must learn to trust the Lord, our eternal rock (In My Father’s House).

Trust.

Is that what this is about?

If she trusted me enough to love her through anything, wouldn’t she come to me even when she’s done something wrong because she knew I’d help her?

If I trust His love that much, wouldn’t I run breathlessly to His feet, just run, no looking back, no hesitation, because He is the only One who can handle the mess I’ve made?

Yes, He’ll be disappointed.

Yes, He’ll be sad.

But what hurts His Father-heart most of all is when we trust in ourselves, trust in others, trust in programs, trust in Google searches and advice columns and friends and substances and self-help books, but we don’t trust Him.

The Israelites in that wilderness fretted over destination, clothing, enemies, food, water. They whined. They strategized. They rebelled. They wheeled and dealed.

The Psalmist writes

…they did not believe God
or trust him to care for them (Psalm 78:22 NLT).

Troubles rose up, maybe even just minor annoyances like dietary preferences, and they never did just learn to run to God right away.

He was angry. The Psalm says, “When the Lord heard them, he was furious” (Psalm 78:21 NLT).

BUT

He still loved them. And even when they abandoned Him time after relentless time, He always stayed faithful.

God’s love for them, His love for us, isn’t feeling love, temporary love, conditional love. The Hebrew word that Scripture uses over and over is “Chesed”—it’s the loyal, steadfast, covenant mercy and love God has for His people.

They didn’t trust Him, didn’t bring their troubles to Him and they messed it up over and over and over, but He still went on caring for them abundantly, miraculously, faithfully.

He rained down manna for them to eat;
    he gave them bread from heaven.
They ate the food of angels!
    God gave them all they could hold. Psalm 78:24-25

He rained down meat as thick as dust—
    birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore! Psalm 78:27

So, I rest there with my daughter, my arms wrapped all the way around her and I say it one last time:

Come to me. Do not hide away or lie or run. Bring it all to me.

And I hear God rustling the leaves in my life, calling to me just as He did Adam and Eve, asking me to trust Him enough to bring everything, bring the sin, the mess, the worry, the fear, the troubles big and small, bring it all to Him.

How Can I Dance in Worn-Out Shoes?

April 4, 20142 Comments

She tells me they fit. “Ballet shoes need to be that tight,” she says.

I’m looking at the worn-out gray of the leather where she’s danced and danced on that shoe, and I’m thinking it’s been two years probably since I bought them for her.

Maybe she’s the dance expert, but this momma knows too small when I see it.

When you have to crinkle your whole foot up to cram it into the shoe and then whisk your finger back before it gets trapped behind your heel, that means it’s time to let those beloved dance shoes go, baby girl.

So, she plops down onto the bench at the studio reluctantly and I tell her to show the teacher and let the expert decide.

About two minutes later, we start pulling out new shoes to try on and we have to skip size after size to find one that finally fits correctly.

I wonder this: Am I cramming myself right down all squashed and painful into life that doesn’t fit anymore? Habits I’ve outgrown? Ministries I need to let go? Behaviors I need to put behind me?

Am I stubbornly holding onto what isn’t working just because it’s here, because it’s known, because the ill-fitting discomfort of this seems better than the unknown with all its newness and risk and…dare I say it….change?

Am I saying I want to know Christ more, be more like Him, follow Him more closely, but then stubbornly clinging to the same-old, same-old patterns of faith and even sin?

Jesus saw this man, crippled for 38 years, lying out by the pools of Bethesda, the miracle waters they said, the place where the lame, the blind, and the paralyzed congregated in hopes of a healing.

The man didn’t cry out to Jesus to “have mercy.” He didn’t have friends carry him on a stretcher and lower him down through a roof to get to Jesus’ feet. He didn’t ask for healing at all, not like others in the Gospels who were desperate to get to Jesus.

This man laid by the pool of Bethesda, just laid there because he’d lain there so long. Photo by Ruud Morijn;

It was Jesus who initiated the miracle, and He began with a question, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6 NIV).

Did he want to get well? Wasn’t he there at the pool of Bethesda and hadn’t he been there so long? Wasn’t this what you did when you needed a miracle?

Of course, he wanted to get well!

Yet, we can say all the right things, make all the right promises, repeat all the good-Christian phrases and still miss the honest truth:

That maybe we don’t want to get well.

Not really.

Maybe we don’t want to know Him more, don’t want to be healed, to be transformed from the inside out, to obey Him, to follow Him wherever He leads.

If we did, wouldn’t we be desperate to be at His feet? Wouldn’t we be screaming loud enough to be heard over the crowd, “Have mercy, Son of David!!!?” Wouldn’t we be begging friends to bring us to Christ and crawling on our hands and knees through a crowd of people just so we could brush the corner of His robe?

Instead, too often we lie there and wait for God to come to us.

And when Jesus does come and He asks, “Do you want faith? Do you want healing? Do you want to know me more? Do you want to follow me?”

We can act all offended. Pretend like the answer is obvious. We can make excuses.

The man said, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me” (John 5:7 NIV).

Maybe this was genuine, hopelessness, lack of help.

Or maybe it was justification, excuse-making, avoiding what radical obedience might cost him.

Either way, Grace invited him in. Grace held that hand right out.

Do you want to get well?

And isn’t that Grace? Never belligerent. Never forcing, demanding. Always inviting.

Then, when we accept, Jesus gives us the next step. “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk,” He said. ask-me-anything-lord_kd

The man obeyed. He stopped waiting, stopped making excuses, and he grabbed that mat up and walked right out of there.

Today, let’s put aside the ill-fitting, worn out shoes we’ve been cramming ourselves into. Let’s stop doing what we’ve always done. Let’s stop justifying the inactivity.

And let’s run hard after Jesus.

Let’s be unashamed and relentless in our pursuit of Jesus and the healing work He wants to do in our life, our hearts, our minds, so that He can look right at us and all that we’re doing to get to Him and know the answer without even asking.

Do you want to get well?

Yes, Lord, and Amen.

Want to read more about the questions God asks?
Check out my book, Ask Me Anything, Lord, available in paperback and for the Kindle and nook!

Heart Wide Open, Book Review

April 3, 20142 Comments

Heart Wide Open: Trading Mundane Faith for an Exuberant Life with Jesus
by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

With a little Southern charm, a little friendly honesty, and a lot of genuine passion for God and His Word, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson’s book, Heart Wide Open, encourages women to trade in formulaic devotions and rigid expectations of ‘quiet time’ for a real and relevant adventure of living every moment with God. After struggling herself with routine faith, she finally got honest enough to say, “God, I don’t love you like I should, but I want to love you. Help me!” That heartfelt prayer stirred up a passion for His Word that spills over into the pages of this book.

The book reads easily and naturally, like sharing a conversation with a passionate Jesus-girl over a cup of coffee. Each chapter is subtitled with an honest prayer such as, “Lord, I want to abandon everything to follow you, but I’m scared of what that might look like!” With these prayers, Shellie covers issues such as building faith, obedience, what to do when you don’t like reading the Bible, and loving others even when it’s difficult.

Each chapter ends with a short prayer to start you on a journey of inviting God to help you in the weak areas and in the midst of your faith struggles. In the back of the book, Tomlinson includes a Bible study and discussion guide that would help individuals and small groups go deeper.

Sometimes we feel like we need to already love God’s Word, know God’s Word, feel close to God, be full of faith, and have it all together before we come to Him. But this is a book that helps you pursue Christ even when it’s hard, you don’t feel like it, don’t know how to do it, or maybe even don’t have a passion for it and yet you truly you want something more in your relationship with God. You bring all that to Him, all that weakness, all those shortcomings, and ask for His help.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Will Break for Beauty Because Eden Is What We Were Meant For

April 2, 201447 Comments

We took a day off for beauty.

We climbed into the minivan for a drive on a sunny, warm-but-not-too-warm day, passing horse farms and the river, watching sunlight burst through the tops of trees.

Sitting along the edge of the beach, we tipped over buckets of moistened sand to form sand castles. Pine needles and lost feathers, bits of shell and pebbles smoothed by the waves became castle flags and decorations.

Then we walked and collected treasures washed ashore by the tide.

Children see treasures in ways we do not. I picked up unbroken shells, shiny, smooth, etched with color and patterns.

My little one picked up massive clam shells covered in barnacles and sand, murky in color and awkwardly shaped. She handed me slivers of broken shells and even tried putting fistfuls of sand in her treasure bucket.

It was beauty to her.

What is it about the seaside that brings peace to the soul? Maybe it’s the rhythm of the waves, the comfort of knowing that the wave will come and another and another, in constant motion, totally faithful, reliable, trustworthy.

And that is our God. He doesn’t wash over us and then pull back never to return again. He brings wave after wave of ever-coming, perpetual grace. The world is an uncertain teeter-totter of a place, with unexpected terrors lurking around corners and surprises that drop us to the ground.

But God—He is faithful. God—-He is always grace. God—He is ever true.

That night, we raced home to eat dinner and become beautiful: Choosing outfits, doing hair. The girls fought over bracelets. We traveled to see the Ballet Magnificat, a professional Christian ballet company.

The music began. Just instruments at first. The dancers took to the stage and one lone female voice sang,“Praise the Lord, O my soul and let all that is within me praise His name.”

One ballerina stretched her arms high in worship. Her fingers almost touched heaven she was so long and outstretched.

And I caught my breath at the total abandon in praise to a God so worthy.

That day, we took a break for beauty. We paused and lingered long with friends and we filled our souls in the deep wells of nature and dance and worship. It was like brushing against the curtain of heaven.

Our God did it on purpose, putting those first two human beings in a garden, and we long for that Eden even now. He created us for that place of intimacy in His presence surrounded by beauty. Stasi Eldredge says it here:

Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow our hearts were created for.

Scripture reminds me that God is Himself beautiful:

One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple
(Psalm 27:4)

And God is a Creator of beauty:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

In Captivating, Stasi Eldredge says:

Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal (Stasi Eldredge).

God makes all things beautiful in time—and He has set eternity itself in our hearts. We long for it, ache for the day when we see the transformation He intends, see the untainted beauty of a sinless world.

And so glimpses of beauty here and now stir our hearts for heaven, for eternal glory with Him.

In my 12-month journey of pursuing the presence of Christ, I’m breaking for beauty in the month of April, because, as Margaret Brownley writes,

Beauty puts a face on God and makes his presence known (Margaret Brownley, Grieving God’s Way).

I’m digging deep into garden soil. I’m trekking through a botanical garden. I’m watching caterpillars form that chrysalis and then climb out as butterflies. I’m listening to concerts and walking the halls of museums.

There has to be intentionality here. We can get so distracted by that tyrannical urgent, so caught up in the rush and noise of the day.

After beauty fills you up, it too often spills out and sloshes over the sides of your heart every time there is rushing, stress, tension, worry, boredom, work, monotony.

We must work hard to protect the memory and refill often by taking a break for beauty and by seeking the soul-filling glory of God’s presence.

Will you join me this month?

To hear the song by Kristene Mueller that began Ballet Magnificat‘s performance, you can click here or click Play on the video below from the blog.

To read more about this 12-month journey of pursuing the presence of Christ, you can follow the links below! Won’t you join me this month as I ‘Enjoy Beauty’?

Finding Room to Breathe: A 12-month pursuit of the presence of Christ
January: Be Still and Know
February: Pray Simply
March: Unplug
April: Enjoy Beauty

7 Activities to teach kids about Easter

March 31, 20148 Comments

I’ve been on a bit of a Mom Quest these past few years. We’ve never been an Easter bunny family who lines up for pictures at the mall or decorated the house with rabbits, chicks and eggs every spring. easter

Our goal as parents is to keep the focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection. That’s what we want our kids to remember, ask questions about, investigate and take to heart this season.

But when you bypass the bunnies in the Wal-Mart aisle, you can end up with Easter looking something like this:

Go to church in a pretty dress. The end.

I want to teach my kids that Jesus is the Reason for THIS Season, too, and that needs to be a big deal. Not just preaching at them; engaging them.

So, I’ve collected ideas that we do, some every year, some every few years to keep things new and interesting. Here are some of our favorite ways to focus on Jesus this holiday:

Resurrection Eggs: It’s an oldie but a goodie, a classic that’s been around since I was a kid. I love the fact that the children drive the discussion in this activity. They open 12 eggs in a specific order. Each egg holds a symbol of an event in the Passion week. My kids tell what they think it might be about (the praying hands for the night Jesus prayed in the garden or the coins that Judas received to betray Jesus), and the booklet directs us to Scripture to fill in any blanks.Empty Tomb Snack: This was so fun and only took a few minutes. Each of my kids could basically put the pieces of the snack together. I didn’t tell them what we were making, just gave them directions along the way. Once they put the Oreo in place, they knew we had made the empty tomb. Added bonus: Eating a yummy Entenmann’s chocolate doughnut (a secret passion of mine). You’re supposed to use shredded coconut dyed green for the grass, but coconut isn’t my favorite. So, I opted for green icing.

Butterflies: I order a cup of painted lady butterfly caterpillars every year from Insect Lore. We learn about how butterflies transform while also talking about a long-standing symbol of the resurrection—how the caterpillar goes into the chrysalis and seems to be dead, but then emerges with new life even more beautiful than before. It’s science and Scripture together at its best.

Resurrection Rolls: This was a new discovery this year and what a treat! It’s especially good to do on Holy Saturday, talking about preparing Jesus’ body for burial, placing him in the tomb and sealing it up tightly. When you open the rolls, they are empty inside. A great surprise for kids. It’s easy, too, with crescent rolls, melted butter, marshmallows, and cinnamon and sugar. Bam! Here are some great step-by-step directions.Lamb cupcakes: These cupcakes aren’t just cute, they remind us that Jesus is the lamb of God. Just top a cupcake with white icing (I’m a cream cheese icing fan, personally) and cover with mini marshmallows and one large marshmallow cut in half for the lamb’s head. The kids mostly love the cupcake, but it’s also a great opportunity to talk about the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and why Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.

Jelly Bean prayer: This is truly simple and sweet. I put a handful of jelly beans in a baggie (at least one of each color) and include this little poem to walk my kids through the Gospel. And I sneak a few of my favorite flavors to eat while I’m packing the bag. That’s a mom bonus. Here’s where you can find a free printable for the prayer.

Easter garden: This idea went viral on my Facebook and Pinterest feed last year and instead of just looking at it, I did a unique thing. I decided to actually make it. Shocking, I know! My daughters and I had the best time setting up our little potted garden. After all, it feels good to get your hands into a some potting soil in anticipation of spring! The grass grew very quickly, though, so I’d likely wait until closer to Easter to plant our garden again next year. I loved that my kids were asking questions about the three crosses, about the size of the stone covering the tomb, and how it was rolled away.

Of course, we don’t miss out on the basics. We go to church and worship on Easter Sunday. At night, we read from different children’s devotionals or the Bible, walking our kids through what Scripture says about the week of the Passion.

So, how do you teach your kids about Jesus’ death and resurrection during this season?

How to dominate the smartphone before it dominates me

March 28, 20145 Comments

Apparently it’s a modern psychological condition, Nomophobia: The fear of being without your smartphone.

I have the opposite.

I’m no Luddite, no hater of all things technological or modern, but I have an overwhelming fear of owning a smart phone.

I just don’t want to be connected all the time. Sometimes I want to leave my house and not be available.

I don’t want to fall prey to those stereotypical smartphone pitfalls and gain convenience but lose the beauty of real relationships.

So for years, I’ve ignored a steady stream of phone upgrade offers from my cell phone company and cheerfully toted around my non-fabulous, plain-old dinosaur of a cell phone.

Most of the time, I forgot to have it charged anyway. Or I couldn’t find it in my bag. Or I left it at home. Or I had turned it on silent and forgot to turn it back up.

I didn’t know how to check the voicemail on the thing and didn’t text back when someone texted me.

The truth is, my introverted soul dislikes phones in general. Something about talking on the phone is an overwhelming social experience for me.

What do you say on the phone? How do you know when the other person wants to talk so that you don’t also start talking and end up interrupting them? What about awkward pauses?

And my least favorite….you call someone and they answer, “Hello…” and that’s it. So you wonder: Am I talking to the right person? Or did I dial the wrong number? Will I launch into a conversation and find that I’m spilling my guts to a stranger?

Then, when you’ve completed the phone conversation, how do you say goodbye without getting on that farewell carousel that just goes round and round until someone finally hangs up?

Okay, see you later.

Bye.

Have a good day.

Okay, see ya.

Yeah, bye.

I will do just about anything to avoid talking on the phone. I will write endless e-mail messages back and forth with someone, send notes via Facebook, or wait to chat face-to-face.

I will even put on a stamp, walk to the mailbox and mail a letter first.

Clearly a smartphone and I don’t seem look a good match for each other, this ostentatious, life-controlling, telephoning device and me, the hater of all things descended from Alexander Graham Bell’s initial great invention.

But last week, the cell phone company made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

So I stopped hyperventilating long enough to call them up and say, this free iPhone yada yada yada (I don’t even know what smartphones are called)..is that for real?

The guy says, “Let’s figure out how much data you might use in a month…..what do you want to do with your new smartphone?”

I think of all the things I DON’T want to do with this potential technology tyrant, but I just tell him what I do want.

I get lost. Like, a lot. Pretty much every time I drive in my car, I get lost. I need to be able to look up directions and find out how to get un-lost.

Oh, and, I’d like to be able to look up phone numbers for places while I’m out and about.

Yup, that’s what I want.

I find it strangely funny…or perhaps absolutely perfect….that during the month of March when I’m choosing to Unplug, a new smartphone is on its way to my front door.

After all, there are choices I need to make now to dominate this device before it dominates me.

Maybe you do, too?

I will not fall prey to the tyranny of the urgent. Phone calls can be returned. Text messages can wait for answers. Facebook and Twitter and that endless stream of Internet information doesn’t need to be accessed all the time.
I will not ignore the people I’m with to interact with the people who aren’t with me.
I will remember social graces—make eye contact with my cashiers, thank the person at the desk, chat in a friendly way with the folks waiting in lines, listen to those I’m with.
I will know when to turn it off and set it aside. I don’t want to be distracted and I don’t want to distract the people teaching me, talking to me, or performing on a stage.
I will use the tool (the maps!! the GPS!! the Bible apps!) and not be dominated by the toy (Candy Crush, I have your number).

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out (Proverbs 18:15 NIV).

So, tell me all about it….What do you love about your smart phone? What are your favorite apps? How do you keep nomophobia at bay and stay in control of the smartphone? Fill this novice in on all of the details.

To read more about this 12-month journey of pursuing the presence of Christ, you can follow the links below! Won’t you join me this month as I ‘Unplug’?

After 9:30 p.m. Mommy Needs a Time Out

March 26, 20144 Comments

My daughter emerges from her room at 9:30 p.m.

It is now more than an hour past bedtime.

Showers have been taken. Teeth have been brushed. I have reviewed my daughters’ Scripture memory verses for the week, prayed with them, read them the Bible passage for the night, kissed them on rosy cheeks and sent them merrily to bed.

Or something like that.

But she re-emerges at 9:30 to tell me a play-by-play account of the book she is reading. She is a detail person. I’m pretty sure she is telling me exactly what occurs on each page of this 200-page book.

At first, I nod patiently and politely. I do, after all, love her. And, I do share her passion for reading.

Moms should be good listeners. Moms should make sure their children feel heard and understood.

After a while, though, I hug her close and slowly nudge her back to the bedroom while she is still giving a steady stream of book-narration, and I promise to listen more tomorrow.

Because seriously, it has been loud in my house tonight.

I have helped with homework for 3 children, fed and diapered and carried the crying baby around the house, made dinner, cleaned up dinner, packed lunches, supervised piano practice for 3 kids, sent 3 daughters in for showers and bathed one baby, combed tangles out of hair, folded laundry, read books, brainstormed ideas for a project on Ponce de Leon, prepped backpacks for the next day, laid out the outfits for tomorrow morning, signed agendas and math logs and reading logs, and threatened older children with punishment for any further bedtime delays.

You know, what moms do at night.

At one point, I had a baby crying, a child watching YouTube videos with bracelet-making instructions, one child practicing the piano, and one child asking me to quiz her on Life Cycles because her science test is in two days.

I know you all probably think when I’m in my minivan, I like to blast that worship music right loud and sing at the top of my singing lungs.

But you’d be wrong.

If I have the luxury of just 10 minutes in a car without a child talking to me, I turn the radio off.

O-F-F

Off.

Because, some times, a soul just needs some quiet.

Jesus knew it. After days of constant ministry, a needy mob following them around incessantly, clamoring for help and help and help all the time help, the disciples needed a change:

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31 NIV).

A quiet place.

Jesus knows we need that some times.

And it’s not just a break from noise we need.

We also need to come away with Him.

We need to not answer those e-mails, or check that Facebook, or answer that phone.

Our souls need beauty and filling up after relentlessly pouring out to others. We need Jesus and yet so often we choose to fill that void with anything and everything else.

But as Shellie Rushing Tomlinson writes in Heart Wide Open:

He will ruin you for anything else this world has to offer. However, it is a sweet ‘ruination,’ because the weaker the hold temporal things have on us, the freer we are to lose ourselves in the One who placed eternity in our hearts.

And here’s the hard discovery, that sometimes when I finally sit in relative silence, it rocks my restless soul more than any amount of noise.

That’s when I know I’m an addict, needing that next fix of adrenaline as desperately as others feel the shaking need for another drink.

I’ve become addicted to the rush of activity, addicted to the pride of feeling needed, addicted to the super-hero powers of rescuing people from crises all….day….long, addicted to noise and distraction and busyness.

So, that quiet falls uncomfortably on my shoulders. I fidget. I feel the need to hop up at the slightest distraction.

In my 12-month journey of pursuing the presence of Christ, I am taking time to Unplug in March, taking days off of Facebook, off of Twitter, and away from television, and this takes discipline.

I find sometimes that the quiet (in the rare moments when there actually is quiet) is awkward and uncomfortable.

And I find some times that the quiet is refreshing like an ice-cold lemonade after a couple of hours of yard work.

Either way, this is what I know—the quiet is what this soul needs.

Are you taking time to Unplug in March? How is it going?

To read more about this 12-month journey of pursuing the presence of Christ, you can follow the links below! Won’t you join me this month as I ‘Unplug’?

Don’t expect a laptop or an iPad for your birthday

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014Leave a comment

Laptop, iPad, video game, cell phone.

This isn’t my wish list. This is what my about-to-be-eight-year-old daughter will tell you she wants for her birthday if you ask her.

Seriously.

Her little second grade friends ask her for birthday present suggestions, and this is what she tells them. Not, “Oh, a Barbie would be nice. Maybe some new markers and Play-Doh. I like Legos.”

No, not reasonable requests.

Crazy expensive requests.

So, I tell it to her straight yesterday. Not even mom and dad will get you a laptop, an iPad or a cell phone for your birthday….so when someone other than your loving parents asks you for birthday ideas, think of something far, far, far, far, far…..less expensive.

To be fair, if I take her to pick out a present for her friends when they have a birthday, she always holds up the most expensive item on the shelf (an $80 Lego set or the $40 complete Disney princess collection or a $50 Xbox game) and declare that this is what her friend would like.

I explain that there are presents parents buy you. There are presents other family members might buy you. There are presents friends from school might buy you.

And there are presents so expensive, ain’t nobody gonna buy them for you.

You have to match the request with the giver. You have to know whom to ask.

And sometimes, don’t we all get this wrong? Don’t we carry needs to friends, carry worries to Facebook and Twitter, carry sadness to the phone and bitterness to the coffee shop?

But do we carry it all to Christ?

He’s the only One who can forgive and wash clean. He’s the only One who can care for our every need, deliver us, redeem us, heal us, and restore us.

Yet, there we go, turning to others first and Jesus last.

Why is it that prayer is so often our final act of desperation instead of our first response to trouble?

Why do we so often try every other possible means of escape besides God? And only after we realize that we have no hope in this hopeless and impossible situation do we finally give it over to Him?

Judas, that betrayer, collected his 30 silver coins. Maybe he counted each one, stacking the silver into a pile, planning his financial future.

But Scripture tells us there was regret. There was the deep conviction of sin.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man” (Mathew 27:3 NLT).

He took that blood money right back, hoping to be absolved of the heavy guilt.

And he confessed his wrong. “I have sinned….for I have betrayed an innocent man.”

There, he said it. He was a sinner. Jesus didn’t deserve that cross.

Shouldn’t confession have shaken the conviction right off his shoulders? Hadn’t he tried to take it all back, hand the coins over, and smooth right over that sin-laden path he’d traveled?

But the thing about taking our burdens to anyone but Christ is that no one else can handle them.

Those chief priests and religious elite took one look at Judas’s stack of coins and said,

“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem” (Matthew 27:4 NLT).

He’d rejected, denied, and handed over to death the only One who could have forgiven the very sin he now carried. No Pharisee or religious leader could cleanse or absolve such guilt.

Only Jesus.

No only that…they didn’t even care.

Do we do this? Do we expect worldly goods and other people to assuage our guilt, to calm our fears, to satisfy our hearts, instead of taking everything to the only One who can save and redeem and fill us?

The Psalmist gave this testimony:

For I cried out to him for help,
praising him as I spoke.
If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But God did listen!
He paid attention to my prayer.
Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
or withdraw his unfailing love from me (Psalm 66:17-20 NLT).

God doesn’t turn us away. He doesn’t reject our requests or shrug us off like they did for Judas,’ What’s that to Me? That’s not my problem.”

No, He listens to our prayers and does not withdraw His unfailing love from us.

So, we bring our sin to Him. We bring our needs to Him. We bring to Him our worries, fears, messes and mistakes, our everyday struggles, and the stress that keeps us up in the night.

He alone can save.

Giving Many Thanks, Giving Much Praise

March 22, 2014March 22, 20144 Comments

A little over a week ago, this unexpected envelope arrived in the mailbox.

I had this moment of confusion. Did I order something I’d forgotten about?

I had a moment of Christmas morning excitement, wondering: What’s in the package?

Inside, was indeed a gift.

A copy of my own book dropped into my hands with a letter from my publisher.

My own book? Why?

Then I read those words and gave praise…..Three months after that initial publication, they had done a second printing.

God sure can surprise you with joy on the most average of average days when you’re just going about the day-to-day routine and then suddenly grace arrives in your mailbox!

So, many thanks to you, my friends, for reading, for buying the book, for the positive reviews on Amazon.com, for spreading the word, for sharing the book with others and studying it in Sunday School classes and small groups at your church. You bless me so.

And all praise, honor, and glory to God, who is surely able to do more than all we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Thanks so much to the Women’s Bible Cafe, who chose Ask Me Anything, Lord as the March nonfiction book of the month for their WBC Book Club! If you are on Facebook, you can join me for a fun author’s chat on Friday, March 28th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern DST (8 p.m Central, 6 p.m. Pacific). You just need to like their page on Facebook and log in on that day and time to participate! I hope you’ll join in. I would be so blessed to chat with you!

Many thanks also to Reedswood Christian Church in Gloucester, Virginia, for inviting me to speak at their women’s tea on Saturday, May 3rd at noon. Please keep me in your prayers as I share! I’ll have books on hand that day to sign and sell.

As always, thank you, dear friends, for your encouragement. Thank you for your prayers.

All glory to Him!
~heather~

Heather C. King – Room to Breathe

"He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul" Psalm 62:1-2 (MSG).

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Even When I’m Disappointed, I’ll Love You Anyway

How Can I Dance in Worn-Out Shoes?

Heart Wide Open, Book Review

Will Break for Beauty Because Eden Is What We Were Meant For

7 Activities to teach kids about Easter

How to dominate the smartphone before it dominates me

So, tell me all about it….What do you love about your smart phone? What are your favorite apps? How do you keep nomophobia at bay and stay in control of the smartphone? Fill this novice in on all of the details.

After 9:30 p.m. Mommy Needs a Time Out

Are you taking time to Unplug in March? How is it going?

Don’t expect a laptop or an iPad for your birthday

Giving Many Thanks, Giving Much Praise

My devotional for today:

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So, tell me all about it….What do you love about your smart phone? What are your favorite apps? How do you keep nomophobia at bay and stay in control of the smartphone? Fill this novice in on all of the details.

My devotional for today:

Are you taking time to Unplug in March? How is it going?

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today: