Why I Am Blaming Gloves for Missing the Bus Twice in One Week

November 21, 2014Leave a comment

We missed the bus two days in a row this week.

Yes, we did.

I think we typically only miss the bus once or maybe twice in a whole school year. If that.

So, twice in a week like this?

That’s crazy talk.

I know what you’re thinking—-that mom is seriously failing at getting her kids out the door.

Maybe so.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the bus showed up early.

Or that it’s absolutely beyond all limits of seriously c-c-c-c-cold here in Virginia for November (all those of you from the north can pick on me for whining later), so it takes us like 20 minutes longer to get ready in the morning than it did when the kids could just pick up their backpacks and head out the door in short-sleeved shirts.

We missed the bus the first day because, after just a few times of needing to wear gloves this year, my kids had already lost every pair of gloves we possessed.

I drove them to school and then spent the rest of the day digging out purple, teal, black, white, and pink gloves from every crevice, cranny, and pocket of my home.

So the next day, I laid out their hats, coats, and gloves in advance. That’s wisdom: learning from your mistakes when your kids missed the bus last time (as in yesterday).

Then we had a miss-hap with the gloves.

Seriously, who designed these things and why do children’s fingers always stick together like they’ve been drizzled with crazy glue when they need to go into gloves?

The bus drove past our house while I stood at the front door trying to push my five-year-old’s fingers apart so they would fit into the frustrating finger holes.

Please can it just be spring already?

The truth is, I am a slave to the bus route.

And I am a slave to the school bells.

Also, the after school activity schedule, the church service and meeting times, my infant son’s naps, my kids’ bedtime, the alarm clock, doctor’s appointments and meetings.

My life is shackled and chained by the calendar, the agenda, the to-do list and the daily schedule.

I’m a slave to the expectations and needs of others.

I’ve spent this month studying about the Sabbath, reading about the Sabbath, and changing my life so I actually keep the Sabbath.

I’ve focused completely on how God created the Sabbath on the seventh day. Rest is part of the perfection and completion of His creation. It is a way for us to re-connect with our Creator God. That’s what God said in Exodus 20:8-11.

But I read this also and find there’s something more:

“Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).

In her book, Breathe, Priscilla Shirer writes that:

The Israelites had never developed the discipline of declining. They had been trained to acquiesce and comply. But now the Sabbath would help them remember they were free. Free to say ‘no.’ Free to rest. Free to no longer be controlled by that which they were previously mastered. Free to enjoy their relationship with Yahweh.

The Sabbath reminds me that Christ also has set me free from slavery.

For one day a week, I choose to please Him and Him only. I remember that my value isn’t based on productivity. I am not what I do. I am who He created me to be.

Priscille Shirer also writes:

He loved them simply because they were His. He had chosen them. That was enough.

Egypt demanded performance.

God offered rest.

It doesn’t matter how many times my kids missed the bus this week. Or whether I caved in and bought my child mittens instead of gloves.

I will never perform enough, produce enough, or be enough to earn His love and affection; but He gives it to me abundantly anyway.

Sabbath reminds me of this: He loves me.

Sabbath speaks to a weary heart and says, “You’re free. You don’t have to do and do and do. Just rest in Him.”

Do you ever feel like a slave to the to-do list, the calendar, the schedule or other people’s expectations?

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 ‘Practice Sabbath-Keeping’?

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.

Learning to Linger

November 19, 2014Leave a comment

I’m tempted to rush.

On a rare day when I have this time, the temptation is there to fill it right up with more activity, more going and more doing.

Most days, I don’t have this luxury, of course. It’s the mad morning scramble of toothbrushes, hair brushes, ribbons, bows, socks, shoes, lunches and backpacks to send children out to the bus stop.

Then, zoom into the day with the baby and the errands or meetings or Bible studies or appointments or whatever busyness has etched itself onto the schedule.

But this day. This one day.

After I watch my girls step onto that school bus, I return to my home and breathe in and out this uncertain freedom. I don’t have to run out the door. I don’t have to meet an external agenda or deadline until the afternoon.

So what to do?

Rush through my home, stuffing laundry into the washing machine and another load in the dryer? Frantically move cereal bowls from sink to dishwasher and then grab the broom (maybe the mop if I’m inspired). Respond to messages. Catch up on the to-do list. Fill out the forms.

So it goes, me filling up this one little space of time with too much, cramming in activity and sitting on the lid in hopes it will fit.

My tea, poured hot this morning turns cold.

My morning devotions, rushed through just to be done, leave me unfilled, uninspired, unopened to what God wants to say.

Too busy…too busy…just always too busy.

But today I consider Joshua.

Moses met with God face-to-face in a tent. A pillar of cloud covered the entrance while the Israelites looked on from the flaps of their own tent dwellings, bowing in worship in the doorways.

When Moses finished talking with God, he returned to the camp to share the message with others.

Not Joshua, though.

“his assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the tent” (Exodus 33:11 HCSB).

He wouldn’t budge from the glory and the presence, lingering there stubbornly while others moved along.

What if I chose to linger here….chose to be Joshua refusing to leave the tent as long as God’s glory electrified the air….chose for this one day to be Mary at the feet of Jesus rather than Martha slamming pots in the kitchen?

Because serving perpetually means serving empty and that means dying of spiritual starvation and dehydration.

We need the Mary moments so we can re-enter the kitchen as Martha and care for others cheerfully and ably until we have that opportunity once again to lay down the dish towel and sit at Jesus’ feet.

It’s not practical, of course.

That crowd of more than 5000 who sat on the hillside listening to Jesus hour upon hour should have been watching the clock. They should have known what time it was and how long they had to travel back for food. They should have abandoned the sermon and packed up their blankets and lawn chairs at a reasonable time so they could eat dinner at a reasonable hour.

Yet, Jesus rewarded their time in His presence.

Had they left early, they would have missed the miracle.

In order to witness God’s glory, they had to wait, they had to sit patiently and linger there until they received.

This is what I consider as I spend this month Sabbath-Keeping during my year-long pursuit of the presence of Christ.

In Living Beyond Yourself , Beth Moore writes:

“He placed them in a posture to rest in His provision. He commanded them to “sit down” and fed only those who were “seated” (vv. 10-11) . . .”Are you ‘sitting down’ in a posture of trust and sitting quietly to receive it? If so, prepare the baskets!”

For me, it’s just this one day a week to take my morning slow before the afternoon and evening wave of stress and busyness crashes down again.

For you, it may be a morning, a day….even a season of sitting and waiting on that hillside so you can see His glory, or a season at Jesus’ feet instead of in the kitchen, or a season of lingering in the tent.

Whatever the length of the wait and the stillness, it’s a discipline to rest rather than rush.

When we remain there, though, insistent on lingering where His presence is, we see His glory displayed and He fills us up with the sustenance of His presence and His Word.

But only when we wait until He says it’s time to move on.

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 ‘Practice Sabbath-Keeping’?

25 Ways to Create Rest

November 17, 20142 Comments

Thanks to all who entered the Big Giveaway! It was so fun hearing all about what you wanted to be when you grew up. Some of you were far more creative than I ever was! And what a testimony of how God redirected some of us, transformed some of us, and used our desires and giftings for His glory.

I am so thankful for all of your support and encouragement in this first year since my book, Ask Me Anything, Lord was published.

Here are the winners!

One first-prize winner of the $25 Amazon gift card is: Kimberly!!!

Three runner-up prizes of an autographed copy of Ask Me Anything, Lord go to:

Betsy Marmon
Genia Allen
CoreynEva

If you didn’t win, I have to at least give a quick, shameless plug: You can still buy a copy of Ask Me Anything, Lord here. Don’t forget: Christmas is coming! I’m knee-deep into my own Christmas shopping list, so if you’re looking for a gift you can always buy a copy of the book for you and another to give to a friend!

You bless me so, dear friends and followers!

~heather~

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25 Ways to Create Rest

My husband teases me about never watching TV or movies. “You don’t watch; you just listen,” he says.

Photo courtesy of Viktor Janacek, picjumbo

It’s true. I like to listen to the dialogue while doing chores and working on projects.

I feel restless just sitting still without something for my hands to do.

I read the verses, how Scripture tells me to rest, and all this time I thought I just failed at this.

Could this be sin? Am I a hopeless case of incessant busyness? A certifiable Martha who can’t possibly be Mary at the feet of Jesus?

And, after all, I’m a mom with four young kids. Doing nothing sounds unreasonable and downright impossible.

So, when I think about Sabbath and rest, I feel guilty.

But I’m finding freedom here as I spend this month Sabbath-keeping:

In Priscilla Shirer’s book: Breathe: Making Room for Sabbath, I read this quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel, a rabbi and author:

“The words: ‘On the seventh day God finished His work’ (Genesis 2:2) seem to be a puzzle…We would surely expect the Bible to tell us that on the sixth day God finished His work. Obviously, the ancient rabbis concluded, there was an act of creation on the seventh day. Just as heaven and earth were created in six days, menulza (rest) was created on the Sabbath…..they believed that it took a special act of creation to bring it into being, that the universe would be incomplete without it. ‘What was created on the seventh day? Tranquility, serenity, peace and repose.“

God didn’t do nothing on the seventh day. He created Rest, and the universe wasn’t complete until He did.

So, Sabbath isn’t about sitting still or napping or doing nothing.

It’s about creating peace and repose. It’s about creating rest for your soul, whatever that looks like.

In her book Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God, Margaret Feinberg writes:

“rest isn’t a purely passive activity. Rest invites us to participate in restorative activities….Sometimes what’s most restful and restorative to you might involve activity…Sometimes what feels like rest to you may feel like work to someone else (and vice versa)…

Some people experience rest and rejuvenation through physical exercise, others prefer a creative outlet like painting, sculpting or finding a project on Pinterest. Still others experience rest through spending time at the rifle range, reading an entertaining book, working on a car, enjoying a comedy, or cooking a new recipe” (p. 72).

So, the question I’ve been asking myself is: What kind of Sabbath am I creating?

Here are 25 practical ways to choose rest for your soul:

Put off the big chores like laundry, vacuuming and mopping until another day.
Spend time as a family playing board games or have a movie night with popcorn and hot chocolate.
Go for a picnic in the park with your kids.
Lie on the couch and read a book.
Take a nap.
Create something beautiful–knit, sew, paint. Make sure it’s something you enjoy but never seem to have time for and not just another project you need to get done on the to-do list (like hem pants or something).
Bake something delicious. Maybe use a favorite recipe or be daring and give a new recipe a try!
Light a candle or plug in your warmer and make sure your house smells amazing.
Play music to soothe the soul. Maybe some worship music. Maybe something classical so you don’t even have to think about the lyrics, just enjoy the beauty.
Dig deep in the dirt and enjoy your garden.
Sit on the porch with a glass of lemonade or iced tea or maybe a hot cup of tea or coffee and enjoy the breeze while the kids play outside.
Light a fire in the fireplace.
Use paper plates just for today so you don’t have to do a million dishes.
Keep dinner simple. Order pizza, eat leftovers or maybe go for a Crock-Pot meal or breakfast for dinner (is that officially called ‘Brinner?”.
Or—-if you love to cook, make a big family dinner and enjoy the time together in the kitchen and around the table.
Spend extra time in God’s Word today.
Take a day off from social media and email, or perhaps at least stay offline from sun-up to sun-down.
Don’t answer the phone unless you have to/want to.
Take a walk.
Do a puzzle as a family.
Prepare for your day off in advance: Make sure the laundry is done, the kids’ homework is done and their agendas for school are signed, so you aren’t tempted to dig deep into a project or chore.
Meet a friend for lunch.
Write a letter. Like, an actual letter. With pen and paper, not typed out via e-mail.
Journal.
Treat yourself. If you exercise all week, keep away from caffeine, soda, sweets, and chocolate….or however you discipline yourself…enjoy a little treat today. A cinnamon roll for breakfast perhaps? Your favorite chocolate after lunch?

What kind of Sabbath are you creating?

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 ‘Practice Sabbath-Keeping’?

If I sit down for 15 minutes, will there be a cosmic meltdown?

November 7, 2014November 6, 2014Leave a comment

I made a Mom-speech in the minivan to my kids as we headed home long past bedtime the other night:

These two weeks are going to be crazy busy. You will be tired. And that means you’ll probably be grumpy. When we get this tired, the ugly comes out. So, for the next two weeks we have to show each other extra grace and patience and we need to rest whenever we can….

As soon as my speech ended, they continued bickering over prime-seating in the minivan and when we got home, they fought over prime seating during nighttime prayers and who knows what else.

I made the speech again.

I do this for my kids: I prepare their hearts and minds for busy seasons. I remind them about grace.

I ease the burden some, removing some expectations, allowing them to slack off in some areas so they can focus on what’s important right now.

I give them this breathing room.

But I don’t often do it for myself.

In my 12-month pursuit of the presence of Christ, I’ve reached November—the month when I’ll study and focus on the Sabbath.

And interestingly enough, I’m entrenched in two of the busiest weeks I’ve had since school ended last year.

Isn’t God funny that way?

I’m slowly reading Priscilla Shirer’s study: Breathe: Making Room for Sabbath and she teaches me about building Sabbath Margin into my life. How to leave space for God to work. How busyness can crowd out His will.

How there’s only so much time and if I’ve packed in the activity too tightly, I’ll run out of room to breathe.

But rest takes great effort for me.

It’s a spiritual discipline that I struggle with. I’m better at keeping up with my yearly Bible reading plan and juggling multiple Bible studies and devotionals, memorizing Scripture, praying, and journaling than I am about obeying this Biblical command: Rest.

I’m physically incapable of napping. Instead of sleeping, I lie awake thinking about all the things I should be doing instead of sleeping. By the time I finally give up and throw back the covers in defeat, I’m frantic about the wasted time and move faster through my to-do list to make up for it.

I feel guilty for leisure, embarrassed by free time, and apologetic for fun.

Taking a break feels like laziness.

There’s something else at work here beyond just an addiction to adrenaline. Oh, how I hate for it to be true, and yet digging down deeply enough reveals its ugly presence—-pride. Truly, it feels good to be needed. It feels important to be so busy.

When I run around in a breathless pace, doing, doing, doing all the time, I act as if the world depends on me to function, as if me sitting down for 15 minutes would create cosmic meltdown.

And that’s why God, from the very first week of creation, instituted a Sabbath rest. It wasn’t for His benefit, as if the Almighty God who created a sun, moon, and planet with the power of His words grew weary and needed to sleep.

No, the Sabbath was not for God. Instead, Jesus “said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27).

The Sabbath is for us.

It’s a reminder that the universe can exist without our involvement and labor. It’s a re-ordering of our perspective, so that we remember it is God who is essential and not us.

So often, we forget that our jobs, our families, our ministries, our relationships, our everything depend not on our ability, but on God’s power.

We stress about meetings because we think everything relies on how well we present ourselves. We plot out conversations because we think the outcome depends on the words we choose. We think. We plan. We do. We fix. We busy ourselves. We worry. We analyze. We lose sleep.

God knows the pride that burrows itself into our hearts; the tentacles it wraps around us as we seek fulfillment in accomplishments, in tasks completed, in people depending on us.

Sabbath isn’t about Pharisaical hypocrisy and legalism. It’s not about do’s and don’ts.

It’s about Rest.

And Rest is about humbly stepping aside.

It’s about the placing and continual re-placing of God in control of our lives.

So, I’m going to take some rest time. At least for next week, I’ll stay quiet on the blog….spending time reading, creating, being with God, being with my family, instead of writing and posting on my regular days.

I’ll be back the following week and I’ll announce the winners of the big giveaway, so keep entering!!

And I’ll hopefully remind my soul that it’s all about Him, always Him, never me.

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 ‘Practice Sabbath-Keeping’?

25 Bible Verses About Trust

October 31, 2014Leave a comment

2 Samuel 7:28 NIV
Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.
Psalm 9:10 ESV
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 13:5 ESV
But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
Psalm 20:7 ESV
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 22:4-5 NLT
Our ancestors trusted in you,
and you rescued them.
⁵They cried out to you and were saved.
They trusted in you and were never disgraced.
Psalm 31:14 ESV
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
Psalm 33:21 NLT
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
Psalm 37:3 NLT
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Psalm 37:5 NLT
Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.
Psalm 40:3 NLT
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
Psalm 40:4 NLT
Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,
who have no confidence in the proud
or in those who worship idols.
Psalm 56:3 ESV
When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
Psalm 84:12 ESV
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
Psalm 91:1-2 NLT
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
²This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
Psalm 112:7 NLT
They do not fear bad news;
they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 11:28 ESV
Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
Proverbs 28:25 NLT
Greed causes fighting;
trusting the Lord leads to prosperity
Proverbs 28:26 ESV
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Isaiah 12:2 NLT
See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.”
Isaiah 26:3-4 NLT
You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
⁴Trust in the Lord always,
    for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Daniel 6:23 ESV
Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
John 14:1 NLT
Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
Romans 15:13 NLT
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 21:5 NLT
And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”

How peeling potatoes makes me feel like a domestic diva

October 29, 2014October 29, 20142 Comments

When precise circumstances align just right, I feel like a domestic diva.

The windows are open.

The house smells like it’s filled with flowers or pies—-maybe it’s because I baked; maybe it’s artificially provided by a candle or scented wax in my burner—it doesn’t matter, as long as the house doesn’t smell like diapers and the litter box.

The children are not fighting.

The washing machine and dryer are humming away.

Bread is in the bread machine.

Soup is in the Crock Pot.

I am peeling potatoes.

It’s the peeling potatoes part that really counts. That’s what makes ordinary household chores feel less like mundane drudgery and more like prize-worthy expertise. Like the angels are singing and the children should be rising up and calling you blessed and your husband sings your praises.

I’m telling you…..peeling potatoes can do that for me.

Which is funny, because they’re just ordinary potatoes and I’m just an ordinary gal and I’ve sure nicked myself enough times with the potato peeler.

The truth is there are plenty of days, when I feel less than capable, less than expert, less than extraordinary.

I collapse next to my husband in the evening after four little ones finally fall asleep and survey the mess left behind by the tornado of activity. I confess what’s on my heart—-“I hope you don’t think I just do nothing all day.”

He calms me down. After all, I don’t really need to say it to him. I’m really saying it to me.

Because it’s me wondering, “What exactly did I do all day?”

Photo by just2shutter; 123rf.com

I have a one-year-old:

Enough said?

Maybe I don’t always feel accomplished, but for some mysterious reason, peeling potatoes makes me find value in the most mundane act. I feel this wind of inspiration and encouragement. It’s like breath for my very suffocated soul.

What I really feel in that moment is that God finds value in me. He finds joy in the home I’m making for my family. He showers me with favor. He teaches me to sing praise over the ordinary.

In his book, Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas tells me that Brother Lawrence “felt equally close to God peeling potatoes in the kitchen as kneeling at the altar in prayer…”

Maybe that’s because potato peeling became the sacrifice on his altar.

Maybe it’s because he prayed while he peeled.

Maybe I can do both.

I remember one of the Scriptures I’ve been clinging to all year:

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually” (1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV)

And I read in Romans:

Clothe yourselves with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14 NLT).

Put on the presence of Christ with each new day. Rise in the morning, take a shower, put on jeans and a t-shirt and put on the presence of Christ at the same time.

So, I’m trying my best to invite Christ’s presence into my routine and the ordinary of my every day. Invite Him in as I cook dinner. Invite Him in as I throw open windows and light the candle. Invite Him in as I get dressed in the morning.

Because His presence is constant. He’s always there. It’s my awareness of His presence that varies from day to day.

Just like I always have the same amount of domestic capabilities, but somehow peeling potatoes makes me feel particularly accomplished. Nothing changes except my perspective.

As I finish up this month of Finding the Sacred in the Ordinary, I’m choosing prayer prompts to help me connect with God throughout the day.

These aren’t hour-long prayer sessions spent on my knees. These are whispered prayers I share with God while I go about my day.

Like:

“Give me wisdom for this day” before I get out of bed.

“Clothe me with Your presence today” as I get dressed.

“Show me how to love my family best” as I pack lunches.

“Thank You for Your provision” as I fold clothes.

“Feed me with Your Word” as I cook dinner.

“Forgive me of my sins” as I wash those dishes clean.

“Thank you for your many good gifts to me.” And when can I pray this? Well, anytime perhaps, but maybe especially when I peel potatoes.

What prompts you to pray throughout the day?

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 ‘Find the Sacred in the Ordinary’?

7 Ways to have a quiet time when you don’t have quiet or time

October 27, 2014July 12, 20174 Comments

“You dropped your head.”

That’s what he tells me as we leave church. He points to a spot on the floor with this twinkle in his eye, just waiting for me to fall for the joke he’s played on me many times before.

He gets us all the time. “Your shoe is untied,” when you’re wearing ballet flats without laces. “You dropped your head” and people look to see if their head actually is rolling around on the floor, abandoned.

But I don’t even move my eyes. I just lean right over to him, pat him on the arm, and say, “You know what, I probably did. I probably did drop my head.”

Some days, you know?

Some days maybe you feel like you’ve been running around without any command center on top of your shoulders to help you hold it all together.

You feel a little famished, starving for time in the Word.

You feel a little parched, desperate for the Living Water of His presence.

You feel maybe like you really are missing that head of yours.

One missed quiet time turns into a week and then a month and more if we’re not careful. Sometimes we think if we can’t pray for a solid hour on our knees in a prayer closet, or if we can’t finish a whole Beth Moore lesson in one uninterrupted sitting, or we miss a day or two in our devotional or our Bible reading plan, then maybe we just need to wait until we can get it perfect.

If you can’t do it right, why do it at all?

Why? Because we’ll drop our heads, that’s why. We have to be women of the Word and women of prayer even if it means we need to adapt and adjust for the busiest seasons of life.

Maybe it means we just hold on for dear life to the hem of Jesus’ robe until life finally brings us to a place where we can sit uninterrupted at His feet again.

Sometimes faith has to be on-the-go…..and the good news is that God’s presence can invade the minivan.

Here are 7 ways to have a quiet time when you don’t have quiet or time:

1. Make a Bible To-Go Bag: Keep a bag in your car with anything you might need for an impromptu quiet time while you wait in the minivan to pick up your kids: a devotional you only use for those times, paper, pens, and an extra Bible or maybe just a Bible app on your smartphone.

2. Find Great Bible Apps: Load your phone with apps that will let you read the Bible, listen to the audio Bible, tune into podcasts, read devotionals, memorize Scripture, and keep a prayer log. I’ve listed my favorites below. Here are some of my favorites:

Bible (by LifeChurch.tv)
BibleGateway
BibleMinded
PrayerNotes
Scripture Typer

3. Use Prayer Prompts: Pray while cooking dinner, doing dishes, folding laundry, driving home from work. Pick specific places or activities that will remind you to pray every time you do them.

4. Break it up: I don’t have time to read a devotional, read the Bible, do a Bible study, write in my journal and pray all at once. I need to do these things all day long, a little here, a little there, grabbing time when I can. Try breaking up your quiet time into 10-minute activities you can spread throughout your day.

5. Do it with your kids: If your kids have memory verses for their church activities, memorize the verses with them. Read the book of Matthew together and choose a devotional to read as a family.

6. Exercise your faith: People often jog to their favorite work-out music or hop on the exercise bike and watch TV. Try replacing that with God-time. If you’re on the exercise bike, you can read your Bible or devotionals or listen to podcasts of sermons. If you’re walking or jogging, you can be listening to worship music, sermon podcasts, an audio Bible, or just praying.

7. Study online: I help to lead online Bible studies at The Womens Bible Cafe. I love that I can spend one hour in accountability, fellowship and encouragement and I can do it while my baby is napping in the next room. You can also check out online studies with Proverbs31 Ministries and Love God Greatly.

Most importantly, give yourself grace: If you expect the perfect quiet time to happen, then you’ll likely give up completely and never take time for God. And you’ll probably drop your head. Take every opportunity to spend time with Jesus even if it’s short, messy, interrupted, and on-the-go. If you fall behind, don’t get overwhelmed. Just start fresh where you are supposed to be and keep going. And when the day is done, rest well and start fresh with new mercies for a new day.

How do you make time for God when you don’t have quiet or time?

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 ‘Find the Sacred in the Ordinary’?

That will never happen to me….

October 22, 2014October 22, 20142 Comments

She flat-out bawled uncontrollably at the tragic news.

Her two older sisters had brought home five—-count them, five—–birthday party invitations within three weeks.

She had not.

I assured her: You will have parties to attend. You will receive invitations. Your social life has not collapsed, bit the dust, or ended in ruin within the first few weeks of starting kindergarten.

You will be the one bringing home the party invitation soon. It will happen to you. Moms know these things. We’re smart that way.

I promise.

Meanwhile, she screamed with one long Lucy Ricardo-style wail at the total hopelessness of the situation.

“No, I won’t.” She finally screeched out. “I’ll never (wail) be invited (wail) to a party (wail) again (extended wailing).

As a mom, I know I should feel this deep compassion for her tiny broken heart, but really, I hid my smile behind the folder of papers she handed me from school that day.

Five-year-old drama can be so amusing.

I sent her on her way to wash her face and to overcome her despair. Then I opened up the yellow folder and sorted through all of the projects and worksheets.

Right on top sat a tiny white envelope: a birthday party invitation that had been there the whole time she’d been having a meltdown about a lack of birthday party invitations.

Oh mercy.

God sure can act quickly when He has the mind to.

I carried that invitation right over to my still-tearful child and I taught her right there: Didn’t Momma promise? Didn’t I say to have hope?

But I tuck this truth deep down in my own heart because sometimes I’m a five-year-old child wailing about a party invitation.

Oh, the crises get bigger with time. My own adult life has trials and traumas of its own, but my reaction hasn’t altered so much with ‘maturity.’

I have grown-up ways of jumping headfirst into hopelessness instead of bringing my needs to the God of Hope.

We cling so often to the promise in Scripture:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

But we miss out on so much in this verse if we overlook what was happening to God’s people when Jeremiah was writing this promise.

They weren’t headed into victory or into a promised land of rest and blessing.

God was declaring a season of enemy siege that would lead to utter famine, a time when they’d be tempted to eat the flesh of their own dead children.

God told His people that Jerusalem’s walls would be crushed and the Babylonian enemy would drag them off to a foreign land where they could no longer worship in the temple.

This was more than a childish meltdown about a birthday party.

This truly was desolation and despair. It was the ugly of life at its ugliest.

And yet, here is mercy in disguise.

God tells His people, “Yes, it looks bad. It’s going to hurt. Discipline does that. But I don’t have plans to harm you. I have a hope and a future for you even as you face captivity and exile.”

He would never abandon them.

God’s mercy shines even in the darkest places.

Jeremiah pours out God’s promises. He declares:

“After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place” (Jeremiah 29:10 NKJV).

“Behold I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. (Jeremiah 33:6-7 NKJV).

“Again there shall be heard in this place…..the voice of joy and the voice of gladness….” (Jeremiah 33:10-11 NKJV).

More than that, God assured His people:

‘In those days and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David
A Branch of righteousness;
He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. (Jeremiah 33:15 NKJV).

Oh yes, He’d send the Savior. The Messiah would come and rescue them indeed.

God’s promise to them wasn’t “if…”

“If you make it out of captivity….”

“If you ever get to come home again…..”

“If you don’t all die off or get subsumed in the foreign culture while in exile….”

Gods promise was “When” and it was “I Will.”

Has He given you promises like this? Assurances that help you through the wilderness, the darkness, the valley, the trial?

In case you missed it or the darkness is so great that it’s blinded you to grace, remember this:

He has plans to give you a hope and a future.

Yes, He does….and He will.

Where I Confess How Long It Has Been Since I Saw the Dentist…

October 6, 20147 Comments

I skipped the first appointment because my baby was due and the C-section delivery meant no driving for me. Plus, there was the normal craziness of schools, carpools, and activities piled on top of having a newborn.

I was justified.

I skipped the next appointment because our schedule never slowed down. Every time I thought we’d finally made it to the ‘easy’ part of the year, life got all unexpectedly hectic.

Imagine that.

At some point as a mom with four kids, you’d think I’d just learn to expect hectic.

So, now here it is….a year-and-a-half since I’ve been to the dentist and time for yet another 6-month check-up that I have not made yet.

Here’s the problem.

It is now easier to miss the appointments than it is to make them. I know instead of just 6 months of cleaning, they’ll be doing extra scraping and polishing.

I hate going to the dentist on a good day.

My mouth never hurts until they clean my teeth. They find a sore spot and then continually poke and prod and ask, “Does this bother you?” Well, it really doesn’t bother me as long as I don’t stab at it with a sharp mental pointy instrument of torture.

I brush my teeth, use mouthwash, and reluctantly floss, but I know I need to go to the dentist….eventually…..when I have the time (which of course I never have).

“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

Wise advice.

Because the problem with delay is that it just makes it easier to keep delaying and harder to do what needs to be done.

Miss one Sunday of church, you can go back the following Sunday without a spiritual revolution.

Miss a month, and you’re out of the habit of going.

Miss a few months and even when you know you should go back, you don’t want anyone to ask you where you’ve been.

So it goes.

Take a day off exercising and you can make it up the next day.

Take two weeks off and why bother exercising today since you’ve missed the last 14 days?

Now it will hurt.

Now you have to start all over.

Now you might have to answer questions.

Now I might have cavities. (Might? Yeah, that’s pretty much a guarantee at this point. Hence, why I don’t want to go.)

Now it will take longer.

Now people might judge.

Now you feel hopeless, flawed, messed up. You are the failure who stopped doing what you knew you were supposed to do and rather than call that dentist or head to the gym or slip into the pew on a Sunday morning, you just want to shrug it off and avoid going back.

Returning requires humility and repentance. It requires bending that willful knee low and confessing that you strayed or stopped or missed or sinned or miscalculated or got it all terribly wrong.

That prodigal son could have run back to his dad at the first sign of disappointment with the free and wild life.

Yet, he stayed. And the longer he stayed, the harder it probably seemed to head back home and face his dad.

Guilt, shame and regret heaped themselves like heavy burdens onto his back.

So, he kept marching in the direction of death because going forward was easier than changing direction.

Jonah, the wayward, runaway prophet, could have changed his mind at any point and taken the easier journey to Nineveh.

Instead, it took a violent storm and a hungry fish to convince him that obeying God was better than stubbornly heading in the opposite direction.

The thought of going back frightens me a little. I know I’ll have to face the consequences of poor decisions and procrastination.

But the longer I wait to call that dentist, the worse that appointment is going to be.

And the longer we wait to obey Him, the more obedience might cost us.

Yet, even when it takes effort and repentance, even when pride has to crumble, even when we need to confess, God beckons us to return.

He gives us new mercies.

He gives us fresh starts.

He re-places our feet on the solid ground.

He journeys with us.

He beckons us home and celebrates the turning and returning it took to get us there.

That’s grace.

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you (Isaiah 44:22 ESV)

Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 1:3 ESV).

For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him (2 Chronicles 30:9b ESV).

“Come, let us return to the Lord;
    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up (Hosea 6:1 ESV).

Let us test and examine our ways,
    and return to the Lord! (Lamentation 3:40 ESV).

I like my marshmallows crispy (AKA burnt)

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014Leave a comment

She holds the marshmallow too close to the blue flame and it ignites. Then she blows with one puff of her cheeks and giggles at the sight of her charred and blackened puff of sugar on a stick.

I tease her that she burns them on purpose and she confesses as much: “I like them crispy.”

We’ve huddled around the tiny Sterno burner set in the middle of our kitchen table with long forks poked through marshmallows to roast them and make S’mores, a favorite treat.

On a night when we have time, when we miraculously aren’t scarfing down dinner and rushing into the car for an evening of dance classes followed by church activities, we like to roast the marshmallows over the flame.

photo courtesy of Viktor Janacek, picjumbo

Not living on a campground, however, we use the Sterno instead–filled with fuel that burns blue and purple when lit by my match.

When we’ve each charred our marshmallow and smashed it down on the milk chocolate with the two graham crackers, I smother the flame with the lid, blocking the fire from the necessary oxygen for burning and thriving.

And it dies.

Just sputters right out, so simply, so quickly, so inevitably… suffocation through lack of breath.

How breathless I’ve been.

The running, the pace, the schedule.

The remembering: appointments, agenda books, reading logs, library books, dance schedules, Bible verses, lunches, emails, jackets, reaching out to friends, counseling my children.

Trying not to forget the Holy Spirit words stuck to my fridge, my bathroom mirror, my car: Love is patient.

Remembering that, too.

It’s beauty day in and day out, watching these children grow, loving on them, learning from them. This is the blessing that makes me pause and whisper thanks to God.

It’s beauty to minister, beauty to serve, beauty to love others with God’s love and to give generously to them just as He has given generous heaps of mercy and grace to me.

Beauty takes sacrifice, though, it takes giving and giving and giving and sometimes I forget.

I forget that running breathless too long suffocates, cutting off the oxygen we need to survive.

How often we do this, too: Fueling our flames with our own resources, running our own self-provided fuel.

Then we run dry.

The prophet Zechariah teaches me this truth. He has a vision—-“a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left” (Zechariah 4:1-6).

I rush past the words in my Bible, treating them like just another mysterious prophetic vision, obscure, and disconnected from my life.

But even Zechariah didn’t understand at first, and the angel has to explain:

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6).

In the Our Daily Bread Bible, I read:

“The prophet saw two olive trees that supplied oil to a bowl that fed seven lamps on a golden lampstand. As we think about the reality behind this symbolism, we can be encouraged. You and I are not the source of light that enlightens the world. We can only receive the oil of the Holy Spirit that fuels the living flame He produces. If we burn steadily through the long, dark hours, it is because we have learned to yield our lives to the Spirit’s unlimited supply of power and strength. This comes only through continual fellowship with Jesus our Savior (p. 1018).

I sang this as a kid, a little sing-songy Sunday school tune: “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning…..”

It was catchy and cute then.

It’s breath in my lungs now.

Do you feel the grace here?

You and I don’t have to be enough, don’t have to keep ourselves going, keep up the pace, keep things together….we aren’t the source and the world doesn’t depend on us or rest all heavy and cumbersome on our wimpy shoulders.

We seek the oil of His Spirit poured into us and that is our Source, our Strength, our fuel that keeps on going and doesn’t run dry or sputter out or suffocate and die.

Not by my might (I’m so weak and helpless really).

Not by power (I tire easily and can’t keep all this together).

But by His Spirit.

Oh yes, Lord, fill us anew with Your Spirit.

Originally posted September 20, 2013

Heather C. King – Room to Breathe

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

Tag: God

Why I Am Blaming Gloves for Missing the Bus Twice in One Week

Learning to Linger

25 Ways to Create Rest

25 Ways to Create Rest

If I sit down for 15 minutes, will there be a cosmic meltdown?

I’ll be back the following week and I’ll announce the winners of the big giveaway, so keep entering!!

25 Bible Verses About Trust

How peeling potatoes makes me feel like a domestic diva

7 Ways to have a quiet time when you don’t have quiet or time

That will never happen to me….

Where I Confess How Long It Has Been Since I Saw the Dentist…

I like my marshmallows crispy (AKA burnt)

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

25 Ways to Create Rest

My devotional for today:

I’ll be back the following week and I’ll announce the winners of the big giveaway, so keep entering!!

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today:

My devotional for today: