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.

Praying believing...?

I went to my aunt's church, Grace Fellowship, this past Sunday. The worship was just incredible (Revelation song, The More I Seek You... but not just the songs, it was the way they were delivered and how big the Lord showed up) and then we started to pray. The preacher asked for an old man to come to the front and we laid hands on him and prayed for him. He has been having pain in his back that radiates down one arm and one leg, and the doctors can't find out what's wrong, so are unable to effectively treat his pain. Some people around me spoke in tongues, some asked for healing in this man's life, and I stood there and asked for the Lord's will to be done... because it would be tragic to ask so confidently for healing and that not be in the Lord's plan, right? Wrong. I realized in that moment (Lindsey... you and I talk about this ALL the time)... that praying believing comes with desiring a specific, God-honoring outcome. For a long time, I was scared to pray with a specific outcome in mind because I didn't want to pray for the wrong thing and then get it (weird, huh). But, I think that if we are in the word and walking closely with Him, our desires will line up with His desires, and praying for the wrong thing is not something to worry about. So I think I'll be more bold now. I'm sorry it took so long, Jesus.

Nursing

Well, I forgot that I have a blog again. How can I stop this vicious cycle of remembering and then forgetting (when it comes to blogs)?! Sometimes remembering things are fun... like when you remember you hid your favorite candy somewhere (haven't done that since I had siblings in the house), or found money in your wallet AFTER you left the vending machine thinking you should start to carry cash in your wallet... actually that's not fun, that's just remembering... anyways...

My life is so busy lately! Nursing school is SO much fun, but time consuming. I love having those, "AH HAH!" moments, and I have numerous "ah hah" moments every day because I have a body and I experience things that I learn in class!! I love it so much. However... when it comes to loving school, actual patient care (clinical) trumps all. There is just something beautiful about the combination of being a woman, seeing a dying/hurting person, knowing how to meet that need, meeting it, and then seeing their reaction that gives me an immense amount of joy. It makes the poop, the vomit, the pus, the sputum, the blood, and the urine smells all worth it.

Maybe I experience what custodians experience... and hair dressers... and nail ladies... and moms. We get to see people at their worst, identify their need, and make them healthy and beautiful.

And can I say... in a weird way, in some circumstances, people at their "worst" are actually at their most beautiful. For example(s)... when girls don't wear makeup. When the "tough one" cries. When God's people break over their sin. Or take it from Matthew 5...

3Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Soon As You Can by Dierks Bentley

When a man wants to be with a woman

There ain't no way of gettin' there too fast

When you know who you wanna spend

The rest of your life with

You wanna start the rest of your life

As soon as you can

Into The Wild

If you are a human, PLEASEEEEEEE go see the movie Into The Wild.

"After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters who shape his life" (plot summary from a website).

Yes, I just cited in a blog. Anyways... this is not the kind of movie you can anticipate. It absolutely tugs your heart strings. No sex, little language, no gore, no drugs... just a little guy with a huge, hippie heart. It's raw, real, and heavy. It is the best movie I have ever seen in my LIFE. I have never cried so hard or had such a deep conversation afterwards. It made me question. It made me think. It made me love.