The Flu
I have to laugh…it’s just my luck. Read the following with a sense of humor.
Last Tuesday I started getting what seemed to be a sinus infection…lovely. 
Then Wednesday came a fever and a serious sore throat…even lovelier. So Thursday morning I go to the doctor to be told that I have a cold and strep throat. How marvelous!!! Isn’t it fascinating how you always feel worse once you know what you’ve got? Is anyone else like that? Anyway, so I got put on some lovely medications and……………………………………. NOTHING. 5 days later the fevers continue, now add the fact that I have gone through 5 Charmin Double Rolls of tissue paper by blowing my nose, now add a hacking cough, wheezing, chills, sneezing. And on top of that because I feel so bad I can’t sleep so I look and feel like a zombie. Lovely.
So, I call the doctor and they tell me to come back in….diagnosis, the flu! The flu!!! And what’s even better, I apparently picked it up while waiting in the doctor’s office waiting room. Lovely. So, I’m at home this week, in bed, feeling rather “lovely”.
Hope you got a good laugh out of this one. I’m trying to….I’m blaming it on the Hill curse. Prior to getting married my maiden name was Hill, and for those of you that knew me then, I literally had some of the worst luck. So, the Hill curse has struck again. Pray for me.
I promise once I can think clearly again I will come up with more important things to blog about.
I Believe
I am an avid believer that God can speak through just about everything, from the spectacular to the mundane. Recently there’s been this song that has just blessed me and challenged me. Here’s the words:
“I Believe” by the BarlowGirl
“How long will my prayers seem unanswered?
Is there still faith in me to reach the end?
I’m feeling doubt I’m losing faith
But giving up would cost me everything
So I’ll stand in the pain and silence
And I’ll speak to the dark night
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe
Though I can’t see my stories ending
That doesn’t mean the dark night has no end
It’s only here that I find faith
And learn to trust the one who writes my days
So I’ll stand in the pain and silence
And I’ll speak to the dark night
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe
No dark can consume Light
No death greater than this life
We are not forgotten
Hope is found when we say
Even when He is silent
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe.”
So, may you choose to believe and have faith in our Father who adores you and passionately pursues you. When it seems his back is turned and life is at it’s darkest, remember Jesus’ words from Matthew 6, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” He has a deliberate plan for you, one that involves your provision and care. You are not forgotten, you have not been left behind. It’s time to remember that you are called beloved and valuable. May you have the eyes to see the Father beside you, and ears to hear His whispers of love and care. Blessings to you today.
Testimony Request
Thanks to all of you who have asked for the full story about Eric and the rest of the Leicht family after hearing my mom and I give testimony to the work in their lives during church services on Sunday. Rather than re-write, I’ll send you to a previous blog post.
The Lord completely humbled me when Steve asked all those who had family members who were far from God to raise their hands. I wanted to weep. I would say about 80% of the congregation had their hands raised. My prayer for you, if you were one of those, is to persist. Even when it seems hopeless keep praying for them. My mom prayed for 30 years daily for our family. I must admit that I was often skeptical and chose not to commit to daily prayer for a long time. It’s only been in recent years that I have felt that burden and begun to pray daily for them again. It’s so hard to keep praying when it seems that there is no way that your family will change. Our family is living proof that it’s never too late to hope. That our God is ALWAYS listening to the cries of our heart. He hadn’t been ignoring us for 30 years, He was responding…in His own time and in His own way. I pray that you would find the strength to persist in prayer for your families. I pray that you would not give up. There is hope because our hope is found in a God who never fails us and is always there.
Sunday Thoughts
Man! What an amazing day we had at CRCC yesterday morning. It was probably the most passionate worship experience I can ever remember in my four years here. Between the talk and the openness and freedom in worship…my face was seriously rocked off! The Lord is breaking chains off our church and off our people and I am so thankful to be a part of this movement with Him.
Rich Butler one of our awesome pastors led a talk from Matthew 6:5-18. He covered the Lord’s Prayer, Forgiveness, and Fasting. I plan to reiterate my thoughts on all 3 of these things over the next few days…starting with the Lord’s Prayer.
Many of you have heard a thousand messages on The Lord’s Prayer and many of you have likely said it a thousand times as well. However, the Lord definitely stuck a new cord in me regarding this passage. The part the Lord wanted me to hear was the very first part of the Lord’s Prayer, “This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven…” Haha. This is as far as I got! You got it, we are asked to call God, Father. It is because we are sons and daughters of God that allow us the ability to hang out at the feet of the Father and speak words of honesty with him. We become sons and daughters when we accept Christ as our Savior, we are then adopted into His family. We don’t need to speak prayers that are long-winded (simply for the sake of sounding like you actually have something to say) or speaking prayers so that others would think you are more “religious” than they are. God simply wants us to sit before him as His children and have a conversation with Him. He gave us this right when we were “adopted” into His family.
I realize that for a lot of people being able to speak to God as their Father is tough. Namely because they don’t have positive relationships with their fathers. Maybe their fathers were passive and therefore not much a part of their kid’s lives, maybe their father’s were abusive, maybe they were just out of the picture. Who knows. But when we move into this place of adoption with the Lord, we discover that we are desired, wanted. I know many people who are either adopted or adopting. There is so much hope in adoption. So, I hope, today, that you would recognize that you are an adopted son or daughter of the King of Kings. And that position brings you the privilege of access to the Father in an intimate way.
One of my favorite parts was when this picture was shown…
Here was one of the most powerful man in America…John F Kennedy, Sr. At the time this was taken in his presidency he was responsible for dealing with these things: the Civil Rights movement, the Cuban missile crisis, the race for domination in space (vs. Soviet Union), and the beginning of the Vietnam War, along with many more things. This man was seriously busy and had the weight of so many things on his shoulders. And yet, his son was given access to be with his father. JFK desired for his son to play at his feet in the Oval Office. Why was JFK, Jr. allowed there? Because he was a beloved son. Just as you are…. walk as sons and daughters, with full access to the Father.
New Blogger Alert
Please visit CRCC’s newest staff member to join the blog world. Cathy Baker is CRCC’s Communications guru! Check her out here!
Belated Valentine’s
Due to a severe sinus infection, which led to a bronchial infection, which led to an ear ache…I’m a bit behind this week in blogging. I figure you can forgive me. There’s not much to update you on, as of Tuesday-Thursday I spent almost all day each day at home, in pajamas, on the couch. I think I’ve seen enough Law & Order and wedding shows to last me a lifetime. I don’t know how senior citizens manage it…television during the day is awful!!! Anyway, so Hal and I aren’t big on this Valentine’s Day stuff, so….
I love you, Hal. More now than ever.And Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you. May you come to remember the ultimate love of God, that surpasses all attempts of love that man can make.
Shattering
Can you hear it? That’s the sound of the shattering of the expected in my life and the subsequent paradigm shifts that have ruptured throughout this journey in which I find myself. Whew, that was a fun sentence! Ha-ha!
Seriously, I am being shattered! I love it and I hate it all at the same time! In one of my recent posts I shared with you about one area that the Lord has already shattered…that was my idea of commitment. Understanding that commitment comes in the form of a continuous action, versus a step-by-step and finalized deal. There is no end point in the relationship with Christ. I can reasonably assume that when I die, I will still be in a committed relationship with the Lord, and based on this idea of a continuous action in relationships I could infer that this would continue even after death.
Another area I am being shattered by is my role in Kingdom. Our teaching team at CRCC has been rocking my face off with truths about the Kingdom these last few weeks. God has been moving in and through them to teach so many of us some amazing insights into this idea of being Kingdom-minded. I’ve always considered myself to be a second-tier citizen. I work behind the scenes in most all areas of my life. I prefer to avoid the limelight. I don’t necessarily need someone to recognize what I’m doing. And thus, created this second-class citizen idea, the notion that I wasn’t quite as important as the pastors of the world, or the missionaries, or those that have the gift of prophecy, etc. You get the point. Don’t get me wrong, I was completely ok with my role. I pursued my role actively and with effectiveness and excellence (most of the time).
But again, the Lord has shattered this idea in my heart and mind. It made the comparisons I had accepted in my heart no longer ok. Every person in the body of Christ is of great importance to the Kingdom. Romans 12:3-8, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” There are no classifications or segregation in the Kingdom. Each person is uniquely outfitted with gifts that qualify them for ministry. Although I would not say that I have the ability to teach/preach, I have been given the gift of compassion. Through this gift, the Lord has called me to serve teenagers, to love on the brokenhearted, to comfort those that are hurting, to reach out. He has given me a dream of being a safe haven for those that are bruised, beaten, and broken. (I’ll save that for another post). Through this willingness to serve, the Lord has raised me up as a first-class citizen in His Kingdom. He desires for me to openly, actively participate in His Kingdom, and to never accept that I am not good enough to participate. It’s easy to slip into the mindset that we aren’t good enough to be part of the Kingdom of God. It’s easy to accept that we don’t have the “right” abilities to do anything of importance. It’s easy to accept this idea until the Lord shatters that perception and reminds us that we have been uniquely crafted in the image of Himself. That He created us for relationship with Him, He created us as brothers, sisters, co-heirs. Friends of the utmost importance.
You, my friend, are a first class citizen in the Kingdom. Participate fully in the gifts God has uniquely given to you. Be transformed by the shattering power of our God who calls you His own. I, myself, am praying that the Lord would continue to shatter me, may you also be willing to be shattered.
New Blogger Alert
New blogger alert!!! CRCC’s very own Teaching Pastor, Steve Keyes, has started a blog. Check it out here. Welcome to the blog world, Steve!
CRCC
Great news!!! CRCC’s new website has officially been launched. Major thanks to Details Communications for the awesome new design! And HUGE thank yous go out to Cathy Baker and Phil Townsend for working so hard to get the new text/pics/stuff inserted into the site. Please note that there may still be some glitches, but we are working through those. So, please go check out our new website!
Commitment or Faux-Commitment?
I mentioned in a previous post that the Lord has been shaking me up in regards to a couple areas of my life. It’s interesting that even since that time, the Lord has shaken me up even more. I don’t know why I find it so insane that He likes to shake things up. For goodness sake, that’s what He’s about. Haha! God is changing my views on my commitment to God. It’s not simply a matter of compromise or give-and-take like most relationships. It’s a relationship that is rooted in a deeply committed, action-oriented, intimate way.
Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this…” Committing your way to the Lord implies a continuous action, not a one shot deal. It requires faith that the other person in the relationship will be faithful as well. It’s not something that can be accomplished in a task or two, but is something that takes a continual effort. It requires constant maintenance. It requires active obedience, not just abstaining from some action. It’s not even close to being one-sided. The Lord longs to know us intimately, to be our best friend. A best friend relationship requires that each person invests in the relationship. That investment occurs through honesty, trust, communication, quality time, love. In fact, this commitment implies a continuous, habitual action which reflects the lifestyle of the person in the relationship. Meaning that that each person in this relationship must daily pursue relationship with the other person. If only one person is in a committed pursuit, and the other chooses to be lazy, the relationship becomes one-sided…no longer intimate.
So as I pressed deeper into this look at commitment, I was reminded that it is impossible to commit your way to the Lord unless your way has met with His approval. The Lord has a plan and purpose for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). By faith, we walk through this purposed plan the Lord has for us. We have a reasonable expectation (due to the commitment the Lord has made to us) that He will guide us through His desires for our life. Sometimes this means being willing to allow the Lord to lead you to the very edge of a cliff and telling you to jump, sometimes that means being willing to sit quietly and wait. This commitment to the Lord indicates that we have an innate need to examine our views, our habits, our actions, and our thoughts, and we throw off all those things that would hinder this continuous, action-focused relationship with the Lord. In my own life, I am finding that those things that hinder require much work to eradicate them from my life. The trouble hasn’t been in the action of removal itself, more a laziness in the actual removal, so that parts of the sin remain. For example, the Lord has challenged me in knowing His word. I can tell you the general idea or the practical meaning of a verse and I might be able to tell you where it is. But there has been a laziness in actively memorizing these scriptures and where they can be found in the Bible.
So how committed was I to knowing Him in an intimate, continuous way? Harsh question = harsh reality. I’m tired of having a sometimes action-oriented relationship with the Lord. I”m tired of only giving part of myself in this commitment. If the Lord can give me all of Him, I should be willing to give Him all of me. Right? No more faux-commitment for me!! Moving forward, I will be continually seeking intimate relationship with the Father. Shaking out the cobwebs and shaking things up is what the Lord came to do, I’m willing to be shaken up, are you?
