Living Simply: Seasonal Friends vs. Lifelong Friends

Lately, I've been reading a book by Joanne Heim called "Living Simply." My friend Katie Murrey let me borrow it after a deep conversation we had when I visited her in Toccoa a few months ago. It's about choosing less in a world of more, and I love it so far. The chapters are entitled A Simple Life, A Simple Home, A Simple Family, A Simple Friendship, A Simple Sabbath, etc. Last night a read A Simple Friendship, and I just had to share a few things from it! Heim writes, "I think friends can be divided into two groups-- friends for a season and friends for a lifetime. Looking at all of the friends in my life, I'm sometimes surprised by which is which. Friends for a season are those close to us when our lives intersect at a certain point-- living in a certain neighborhood, going to the same schoool/college/church, sharing a similar interest. Friends for life are those friends we are connected to despite divergent interests, distance, or time. They are the kinds of friends with whom you can just pick up where you left off without any akwardness (I was delighted to find my name written in blue pen next to this sentence. This next sentence is something I needed to hear, because I tend to feel guilty when I start to drift away from my seasonal friends). Both kinds of friends are important, both kinds of friends can sharpen us, both kinds are okay and wonderful to have. I want my friends, of any kind, to sharpen me, who will challenge me and gently help me see those things in myself that should be changed, and who will cheer me on to continue to grow in Christ. I want friends who are walking down the same path, not pulling me in another direction (she's referring to Amos 3:3, which says, 'Can two walk together unless they have agreed' (being unequally yolked)). I want friends whom I aspire to be like. I find myself befriending women I admire and look up to." Then she names a few friends and their qualities she loves, and I wanted to do the same! I want to be an incredible wife like Katie, trusting in God and full of life like Lindsey, confident like Emily, a wise mother like Celia, honest and genuine like Jessica, optimistic like Kara, and sensitive to the Holy Spirit like Sandi. I love you all :) 

speaking of greener grass...

Tanner and I have decided how to begin to decorate our house :) Knowing I have (most) all we already need, this is more for gift ideas, registry ideas, and dreams to collect over years and years. We want our home to reflect the place we love the most... the location we hold the most memories in... a natural, comfortable environment... the outdoors (and more specifically, the woods). Here are some dream pictures... 

Grass

I was thinking today about my home. When I have too much time on my hands, I turn on HGTV and watch all the DIY shows about renovating your house for next to nothing, and then start looking around. I wish I had picked different colors. I want to COMPLETELY re-do the bedroom... sick (what was I thinking). I shouldn't have bought that. I wish I had this. Kitty needs to quit shedding on my furniture. I wonder if they make a pet-hair-picker-upper that actually works. What cleans tile grout? Why can't my house get cold enough? Well, Kitty does eat the bugs, so that's good. Then, there are those moments when I come in from fishing outside in July, or from a long vacation, and I just about kiss the floor. Those petty things begin to fade, and I realize that HGTV just gives me a glimpse of greener grass; not a happier, more God-centered home. Then I started to think about my home church: Kiokee. Lately, I have focused on the petty things, like music, ministries for my age group, etc., and have lost sight of the only kids ministry in Georgia that I would place my kids in, its men's ministry that builds men up in Christ, who go home to lead their families to Christ, its pastors who are incredibly educated yet humble, Godly men, and most importantly, its ability as a whole to be Biblically sound and God-centered. Lately, I have lost my priorities in tall, greener grass. But thank you Lord for a grounded, patient, fiance who waited for me to realize this fact, while keeping an open mind to my adventure and praying for me through it. God has a place and a time for all of His people in different churches across the world, and as for us, as for now, it is at Kiokee. 

No Way

SO, there is NO way that I can post something from each week; I would basically be copying and pasting the entire study. All I can say is that it's amazing, Sandi is amazing, and God is amazing!!

Week 1, Introduction

Okay, wow! This lady is amazing. Next time we meet, I'll ask her if it's okay to pass on her testimony. God is SO GOOD!!

Our 8 week study is entitled Living Life God's Way by Dennis Peacocke. Sandy says it's a great foundation of why their church believes the things they do and it will also give me a good understanding of spiritual gifts (since later, we will discover what mine is and have me use it). I will listen to 1 CD per week and then anwser questions in a work book. This week's title is Introduction: Inheriting God's Heart.

I have listened to the CD for this week already, and I wish SO bad that I could type out the ENTIRE thing. It was amazing, to say the least. Here are a few keys points that grabbed my heart:

1. Christ was free, unlike many 20th century Christians, to relate to the common person with conviction and authenticity. Our message must be relevant to the person on the street and in the office building, founded on truth. Religious unreality, that binds Christians into irrelevancy, must be broken.

2. Living life God's way is about giving you the ability to move through life with a plan and a vision that is on the offense. The Church is not a group of victims, but rather rulers set free by the Truth. Matthew 16:18 says, "And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it." Gates are defensive, and we are warriors for Christ!!!

3. Hebrews 5:11-14 says, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not aquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by patience have trained themselves to discern good from evil." The key here is that the mature have TRAINED themselves. Living a victorious life is about practicing the Word of God and having someone, who knows how to make it work, train you. Many people who KNOW God's heart and aren't practicing it are still infant Christians!! This passage and explanation was tough to swallow, but life-changing.

4. On that note,1 John 5:3 says, "This is love: to obey God's commands. And his commands are not grievous." Yet, God's Word is so hard to keep! However, the more you practice a skill, the more it becomes second-nature or like a reflex. Truth that becomes a reflex makes life easy.

5. The positive outlook on pain is that it's a stimulant for growth (it is the sand in the oyster that produces the pearl). These pains force us to grow up, so the Father allows pain to grow us up.

6. "The joy of the Lord is my strength" = what makes God happy makes me strong.

All of his points seem random, but that's because they are (as I wrote them). His message tied together beautifully, I promise!! Have a good week! I'll keep ya updated :)

2009 discipleship

In my life, there is so much to be thankful for and look forward to in 2009. The most important one of all is spiritual growth.

Lately, I have grown closer to my aunt Celia and spiritual conversations have arose. Her church, Grace Fellowship of Augusta, is much different the Kiokee Baptist, so our talks have always been long and deep. I would carefully say that they are more Spirit-led and Kiokee is more knowledge-led, and both are Biblical. My desire is to find truth in both, because so far, each church finds fault with the other in certain areas.

I got saved at the age of 12 and raised up in Grace Baptist Church (different from Grace Fellowship). All of my spiritual growth came from Kiokee... however, because I was 18 at the time I joined Kiokee, I was thrown (not unwillingly, of course) into a leadership position and soon started feeling like I have missed out on the receiving end of discipleship. Not only do I desire to be poured into, but I have an immense amount of questions and searching that I want to do with someone at my side. Because I'm not married yet, it is only appropriate to do the deep, intimiate searching with another woman (preferably an older one). I expressed all of this to my aunt and she was so excited to hear it because she has been praying I would desire this!! After much prayer and consideration, I decided to ask my aunt's best friend, Sandy, who is an AMAZING woman of God, to say the least. Sandy replied by saying she has been asking the Lord to bring her a girl to disciple!! WOW!!

Our first meeting is this Friday for lunch. She likes meeting in public places so that we can pray the Lord will allow us an opportunity to share the gospel with people around us. I cannot barely contain myself, thinking that I will be studying the Word with a more knowledgable woman who will help me through my confusions, struggles, and pain! I will be posting revelations that I'm coming to. Oh yeah, that's Sandy and her family in the pic!!

Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go, and make disciples of every nation..."

Couples in Different Directions

The following is just me copying and pasting an article by John Piper. If you are a Christian, it applies to you.

What would you say to a couple who feel very differently about the direction their life should take?
By John Piper

I believe that the man is called to be the head, according to Ephesians 5:23 ("The man is the head of his wife"), and that headship implies leadership, protection, and provision. I think those three things are implicit and explicit in the Ephesians text, and that the leadership part implies that, in general, a woman marries a man with the understanding that his life calling will govern their relationship.

When I was dating Noël, I would ask her, "If I'm called to do this, how would you feel? And if I'm called to do that, how would you feel?," because most women marry men before the men are fixed in their life calling, and they know that the life callings change. Of course, if you don't believe in the biblical view of headship that I do, then you're going to say, "Well, we're just going to negotiate this 50/50 and figure it out, somehow."

I just think men should be very clear with the women they're courting or dating and say to them, "Will you follow me wherever God leads me?" Now here's the catch. Jesus said to the men, "Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her." Therefore there is no bone in this man's body that wants to drag his wife where she does not want to go. That's just not the way he wants to lead. Jesus doesn't want to lead us that way. He won't drag us to heaven against our will. If we want out, we can get out (and thus prove that we were never in). But Jesus clearly does not lead coercively.

So this is a real problem. I understand that. It's a real problem and it's not simple.
Let's just assume the man is the one who is dreaming the bigger, harder dream and the wife is slower in coming. I would not urge any precipitous action on his part. I wouldn't say, "She's supposed to submit. Tell her to submit, buy the tickets, sell the house." That's not the way Jesus leads. It's not the way any man with any brain would lead. However, he is going to say to her, "I do believe God is calling us to this. I'm not going to act precipitously. I want you on board with all of my heart, and I will give you time. Can we pray about this? Can we do whatever we need to do to grow together in this vision?"

I have seen it work. I've seen it work both ways in this church, where the woman is just fired up for missions and the man is a business man, and he is thinking that she is crazy. But I know where they are in the world right now, because he came around. It took about 5 years, but he was set on fire. And she was very patient. I think the man has more authority and more leadership responsibility, but he may also take 5 years.

The degree to which a woman's "No" should trump a man's "Yes" depends in part on how serious her "No" is. And I don't think you should divorce over a sense of pastoral calling, like "I'm leaving you if you won't come." That won't work in the pastoral ministry.

I want to say to the women: give yourself earnestly to pray through to following your man. And I want to say to the men: don't drag her, coerce her, abuse her, or ignore her wisdom. She may see things you don't see. Listen to her, and then patiently, wisely, lovingly win her to the vision.