A Real Answer to A Real Problem: HOPE

Here are some cold, hard facts to ruin your day (nice way to start a blog, eh?):

Did you know that every 11.7 minutes someone in America dies by suicide?

Did you know that 123 Americans take their own life each day?

Another fact - more than 494,169 people were admitted to hospitals last year with self-harm injuries, suggesting that for every suicidal death, there are almost 12 more people who may have considered it, yet were unsuccessful.

Still, suicide was the second leading cause of death in Americans who are between the ages of 10 (did that register? That's 10 YEARS OLD!!!!) and 34.

It claims more lives than war, murders, and natural disasters COMBINED!

Up to 75% of those who died had, at one time, been diagnosed with depression...and, depression is, for the most part, treatable.

Why start a New Year with these discouraging statistics? Because...

...This whole notion breaks my heart!

💔

Over the course of last year, some of the statistics were reality-played-out in young lives with whom I have rubbed shoulders. It's beginning to touch us all - another cancer that threatens to consume......and it's VERY PRESENT in Christian circles.

It's an unspoken, messy truth, that we need to bring into the light.

There's a journey one takes to get to this kind of despair.

It's a journey quite frequently travelled by some more than by others.

I remember reading about this dark-road-oft-traveled in a seminary class I took on anxiety and depression.

If all of this is true, we need a compass to stay off that dangerous path (and, QUITE OFTEN, MEDICATION!!). With information and a few tools, we can proactively fight this cycle and be warriors against this very real struggle.

Despair begins with disappointment. Simple disappointment.

When one is heaped with disappointment upon disappointment, the pain and hurt turns to discouragement.

Discouragement upon discouragement turns into a trauma that leads to doubt.

Doubt leads to distrust.

Distrust to disillusionment...

...then depression, then despair...then, more often than we care to admit, death...

It doesn't take a mastermind, or a thesaurus, to know that a common antonym to all of these is found in ONE WORD:

HOPE.

It's one of the "BIG 3" essentials of Christianity:

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love." 

(1 Cor 13:13)

Hope, like her siblings, faith and love should NEVER be an absent figure from our lives, but continue to be present day, by day, by day. While the greatest of the three is love (that's obvious, after all, GOD IS LOVE, and He's the source of faith and hope), hope is a central figure in maintaining a peaceful condition in our hearts - especially in times of trial, hardship, pain, and suffering.

Without even looking into Scriptures, researchers who've studied the psychology of hope tell us this:

"Hope is empowering. Hope is what brings us through the toughest of times, allowing us to emerge as survivors, not victims. In fact, hope is the one ingredient found between a victim and a survivor..." 

(The Power of Hope, Dale Archer, MD.)

I don't want to just take psychology's words on this answer to such a severe issue present in our world...so, I've started following a THREAD OF HOPE throughout the WORD-OF-LIFE THAT BRINGS LIFE to our disappointed, discouraged, disillusioned, doubting, despairing hearts.

I'm a wee-bit suspicious that believers are, perhaps, falling down in the hope-giving-department. We aren't dispensing this crucial spiritual-vitamin, as we should. I don't want to be a hoarder, not when so many lives are at stake. May we all be hope-restorers in 2018. Join me, if you'd like, on a fresh look into hope. My prayer is to forget what I know, and for the Lord to show me things yet unseen...

Why New Year's Resolutions Fail, and How to Course Correct

I  received a New Year's revelation on New Year's morning. (Note: that was revelation, not resolution.)

As mentioned, I don't do resolutions, but I do vision-casting (see last week's blog if you're curious).

However, once the vision has been cast, the direction determined, and the starting steps logged-in-for-the-go, an excitement starts to build inside of me.

I'm ready to get after it...to be "all-in" with Jesus on this pursuit of what will be written down in the next chapter of my story titled 2018.

My revelation hit me on my morning walk, January 1.

It's been simply lovely in Colorado, so far this winter. I'm sure the ski area isn't happy, but this Phoenix-weather-loving-girl is quite happy. We're unseasonably mild for January.

I found myself walking at a more-than-normal rapid pace...a definite indication of my "let's-get-this-new-year-show-on-the-road" attitude.

That's when it dawned on me.

I always do this.

I always start the year with a gung-ho spirit, filled with enthusiasm and eager to get going.

I attack my new goals a bit like a race horse, pawing at the ground, antsy for the starting gun to go off, ready for the gate to rise.

However, what I tend to forget, and why my gusto seems to get up and go away (sometimes within weeks, if not months), is that  I am NOT a race horse.

I am a plow horse. 

That's the very thought that popped into my head.

I can have a tendency to falter, get off track, take a side road and move away from the direction I've tracked on the map, and have to re-group to get to my destination by the next December 31, when I re-cast my vision for yet another season of life.

That's exactly why resolutions, and, even, vision-casting can diminish or be thrown aside, forgotten, in the garbage heap of past resolutions and next-steps.

I'm a plow horse, not a race horse.

I want to be a race horse. They are much prettier, sleeker, graceful...

It's not who the Lord made me to be, however.

The Lord God created me with a different purpose in mind.

(Oh, I know, we're to run the race that the Lord has set before us with perseverance...those were Paul's words to Timothy. Yet, even this race we run is a marathon, better endured with a steadiness to the pace, and not an all out gallup.)

Plowing. That is my purpose.

Most of us are in this same category.
You are probably not a race horse, either (I hate to be the one to break the news to you); and, because you forget you're not a race horse, you may experience a less-than-stellar-end to your resolutions, or new year's goals, as well.

One plows to level the ground for seed-planting.

We plant seeds to grow new crops for Heaven's sake.

So, I wondered...what does Scripture instruct us about plowing? To, probably, your dismay, I looked.
There are some good lessons as we set our pace for this new year.

First, some Scripture, then the lessons.

In Isaiah 28, the prophet says, "Listen closely. Listen carefully. A farmer doesn't plow his field continually...He does the work, and plants the seed. His God teaches Him and shows Him the right way (23-26)."

Hosea 10:11-13. "Sow righteousness and reap steadfast love. Break up fallow ground; it is time to seek the Lord and He will come to rain righteousness... but, you have plowed iniquity, have reaped injustice and eaten lies, because you trusted your own way."

Luke 9:62. "No one who puts his hand to the plow, looks back. If you look back, you are not useful for God's Kingdom."

1 Cor 9:10. "The plowman plows in hope..."

Plowing lessons for all plow horses, in this new year:

1) At all times, listen carefully for the Lord's voice. He will teach us when to plow, where to plow, what seed (Word) to plant.

2) It's not the horse's job to harvest - that job belongs to the farmer. We just do the work. To repeat a former blog: we just do the next right thing...

3) First, break up the hard ground. This is generally an allegory for repentance. Our hearts can become hard without even realizing it. Keep seeking the Lord to shine a spotlight of his loving-conviction deep into the soul, in order for the hard ground to become broken. Once broken, the Lord rains down on us, softening the soil for future use.

4) Don't look back...but remember. The Scriptures are filled with the admonition to recall what the Lord has done, His great works, His life lessons, His grace and love, His hand of provision, His constant care... But as we are remembering, we keep our eyes ahead, focused on the end-goal. If we don't the furrows will be crooked. Don't know about you, but I want an orderly garden.

5) Always plow with hope: a confident expectation in what is to come at the end of this next chapter...even at the end of the story of life (this, by the way, is my new year's word: hope...so, you'll be seeing some blogs in upcoming weeks on that topic).

 So, plow like you were meant in 2018!
As my kids might have said at one time, "Plow like the wind!"

Finding a New Direction for 2018...and Why I Look for One

In the beginning, God created...By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested...

Genesis 1:1a, Genesis 2:2

We've just about finished our work for 2017.

It's time to create some space and follow the Lord-God's lead to initiate a Sabbath Rest as we enter into a New Year.

A Sabbath Rest with purpose.

A day to intentionally cast a vision for my New Year.

I'm preparing for some time-alone-with-God already, in order to do so.

I've gone back over this last year's calendar and thanked the Lord for all the good...
Wept a little over some of the significant losses and a few of the difficult days...
...and, I've expressed gratitude in both cases...

I've pulled out a new calendar for 2018 (I use the one on my phone A LOT, but I sure still like the tangible hardback-kind that has a month-at-a-glance and space to fill in for the week (the weekly-format gives me space to write down reminders of each day's happenings - those things I want to cherish; and, often, how the Lord has helped me through...). The new calendar is most handy when I sit at the end-of-the-year and do the look-back.

I've said it often: I love sitting on the end of a year to look ahead. For me, New Year's Eve holds all the excitement of opening the pages of a new novel. I can't wait to see what is written on the pages, and see how the story will unfold. To be sure, some authors are better than others; and, some stories have happier endings...but every story has some kind of a lesson to learn.

The good news is the Lord who has our every-day planned is the BEST author of all.

He knows what He is doing with our story.

He will make no mistakes, no matter what turns and twists, ups and downs, difficulties and delights await us in the chapter of our lives named 2018.

For this I am most grateful.

I do have a hand in my story to a degree. I'm not simply a puppet on a string...there are a few choices I can make that will help me be a better me at the end of 2018 (regardless of those things over which I have no control - like aging).

I'm not talking about New Year's Resolutions, where I begin strong on January 1 and by January 15 have fizzled and failed.

Rather, I'm thinking more about creating an action plan that will help me establish an attainable  destination, and to set some steps in the right direction that will get me there...or get me close! After all, every decision I make in 2018 will either head me in the right direction to arrive at my destination, or I'll end up somewhere I never planned.

In order to set those directional steps, there are a few things that I like to do in preparation.

1. I set aside some quiet alone time (Sabbath Rest) on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It doesn't have to be long...

2. I ask these questions: What big life lessons did I learn last year? What ones are positive and helpful; which ones do I not ever want to repeat? Are there things that need completing: projects, promises, personal plans/goals? Are there relationships that need mending? Am I being a good steward of the body, mind, and soul the Lord-God has given me for the journey?

3. These questions help me get started on my action plan...to set some priorities (like finishing what needs to be completed, taking ownership of righting some relationships, fulfilling previous promises-made)... and, to put into place some intentional steps that lead me in the right direction (beginning a Bible Study, reading specific new books, finding a new exercise plan to follow, taking an online class...this list is unique to each of our needs).

4. I, then, sit with the Lord and ask if there is a one-word-focus that sums up His goal for me in the New Year (one year, the word I heard from Him was GRATITUDE and I began a gratitude journal, which totally began turning around my glass-half-empty-mindset; one year, the word was AWE and I looked for the magical mystery of God in the world around me, discovering that it led to a proper "fear-of-the-Lord," which helped eliminate some of my own personal fears that I have so long struggled with...) Don't wrestle with this, or overthink it...as you pray, what word comes to your mind? Now, explore it...

There is only one guideline for all of this reflection: It's not to make perfection a standard (if that's the case, I fail EVERY! TIME!)...

Perfection is only attainable the other-side-of-heaven. The whole concept is simply to set a tone for the new chapter that God will write on the pages of our lives. No, the aim is NOT perfection!!!

The plans I make at the beginning of a New Year are simply making a statement with my choices that I AM ALL IN FOR WHATEVER THE LORD'S PEN HAS FOR ME IN THE NEW YEAR.

Tattoos and Christmas

As we drove home from an early Christmas celebration in Arizona with our Mace family (including a surprise visit from our soldier-son, Adam), Bay and I tuned into a radio talk show to pass the time.

My precious game-loving family (missing our Steph)

One of the random discussions somehow came around to tattoos. The host began to ask his guests what their choice would be for a tattoo if they decided to get one (hypothetically speaking, of course).

I didn't have to think too long, or hard, about that one. I know what I'd choose.

Now, the thing is, I will never get a tattoo:
1) I don't like pain!
2) My skin is getting too saggy and papery as I age, so it would look terrible and unshapely in not too many months.
3) I, personally, don't see the reason...
4) I don't like pain!

Strange, then (right?), that I would know what my choice would be?

I would pick a Hebrew word that looks like this:

Transliterated in English it is the word "hineni."

It's a powerful word that means: "Here I am" or "behold."

It's not used in the sense of a roll call, as in "present."

It has a much deeper meaning, as in "I'm here and I'm all in."

Isaiah may have expressed "hineni best," when he said, "Here I am, send me."

Moses said it...eventually.

Abraham used it, and meant, "Whatsoever you ask, wherever you tell me to go..."

Samuel used hineni, when he said, "Your servant is listening."

Mary used it, too:  "Behold, I'm your hand-maiden. So be it unto me."

In a sense it means, "I'm here...I'm present"...then adds, "ready for action."

It is summed up in Jonathan's words to David in 1 Samuel 20:4:  "tell me what your soul desires and I will do it for you."

Hineni is best defined as devoted readiness, unconditional action (my definition).

Now then, the best part of "hineni" is this: God doesn't just expect us to do all the responding. He has said it first to us. He is hineni: our ever--present help in times of trouble...the I-am-everything-you-need-me-to-be. He is Immanuel: God with us.

Jesus looked at the blind man and said, "Hineni (inferred in Greek)...Here I am, what do you want me to do for you?"

Hineni is an AMAZING Christmas word.

The angel used it in the fields with the shepherds:  "Hineni (Behold), I bring you tidings of great joy. Today in Bethlehem, a Savior has been born and He is Christ, the Lord."

In fact, hineni is the essence of the Christmas story.

Jesus came to be present.
He came ready to act on our behalf.
No matter what it cost;
And, it cost Him a great deal.
Yet, he counted the cost, and the result was worth it to Him, because He is LOVE:

Jesus' hineni meant my salvation.

The least I can do is respond back: "Hineni..."

This Christmas, my hineni is the best gift I can give on Jesus' birthday.

We don't have to wrap it up in flowery words or bag it in Christmas packaging...it just has to come from heart.

And, should you be one who is looking at a tattoo to give yourself this Christmas, would you get this one on my behalf (only, may it come from your heart)...then send me a picture.

Christmas Will Bring a Hallmark-Movie Ending

It's Advent....and we're almost half way into the Season.

When Advent arrives, at our house, that means Hallmark Christmas movies.

Every year.

As an aside, please take time to applaud my loving husband.

From the end of Thanksgiving until Christmas Day, he sits through one a night, and, yes, he watches them with me. Now this is TRUE LOVE!!!  It is also indicative of a man who is very confident in his manliness. He's no closet-watcher. I've heard him enthusiastically tell dinner guests, "Yep, I watch them, too..."

Hallmark Christmas movies.

They are as much a part of our tradition as Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, and Elf.

They are cheesy.

They are predictable.

They are predictably cheesy.

There's not much more to say, right?

Wrong...

In a world full of chaos, serious real-life problems, huge losses, and confusing uncertainty, it's quite lovely to feast on the knowledge that somewhere in the world things work out; Christmas magic is still casting spells; and, every new day brings second chances (even if it is only in TV-land, specifically on Hallmark).

It's nice to turn off the news for a few minutes, set aside personal struggles, and languish in someone else's hope.

But, hope isn't just reserved for Hallmark-land.

Second chances aren't just for actors and actresses cast in leading roles within the world of television.

Christmas "magic" is....well, still awe-inspiring.

Christmas-Hope is not just for someone else.

Each of us can find it all gift-wrapped in one word:

Jesus

One author wrote:

"Without the gift of Jesus, grace would be a promise with no power. 

Without the presence, life, and work of that baby in the manger, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for sinners. There is no happy ending for rebels. There is no home waiting for the lost. There is only darkness, defeat, judgment, and death.

This season, in the midst of all the celebrations and gift-giving, be careful to remember that at the center of what we celebrate is one game-changing, life-altering, hope-giving reality..........Jesus."

(Paul David Tripp)

Here's the reality. We have this hope:

Everything works out for anyone who is in Christ Jesus. 

There is assurance that every tomorrow is filled with second chances.

There is a promise that life has incredible endings for the one who is in relationship with the babe-turned-Savior born in a manger in a land far away from a distant past.

We don't need Hallmark movies to remind us.

We have the facts:
Jesus was born.
He died.
He delivered those who would receive him from the power of their sins.
He rose, defeating the slavery of death.

Hallelujah, the story doesn't end there!
Because He did all the above...
Because He accomplished what the prophets of old predicted...
We can KNOW and BELIEVE in the miracle of tomorrow's Christmas:

Jesus will come again!

There will come another Christmas...and, on that day:

The redemption-story will be completed with a happy-ever-after-Hallmark-ending.

It is truth for all who believe and receive the Son-of-God!

The ending is predictable, but it is certainly anything, but cheesy!

The Magical Mystery of Christmas

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote:  

“We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love, and of God’s coming at Christmas, that we no longer tend to feel the shiver of awe that God’s coming should arouse in us. We so easily become indifferent to the message, that it is tempting to only take the pleasant and agreeable out of this holy season, forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us.”
(God is in the Manger)

"The shiver of awe..."

The wonder of the season...

The mystery of divine love...

Oh, may Mr. Bonhoeffer be wrong on my account...and, yours, as well. 

May I (we) NEVER be one of those who become accustomed to the incredible story of redemption!

Once upon a time, God drew near...

It isn't a fairy tale...

It is a story of majestic proportions...

A story that only an omniscient holy Creator could conjure...

While Christmas trees are magical (mine is)...

...and, hunting for the perfect gift is adventurous (elk hunting has nothing on Christmas-gift-hunting)...

...and, surrounding ourselves with family and friends is encouraging...

...and, cooking up all the traditional dishes is comforting...

...there is NOTHING that compares to the magical, awe-inducing, rich, comfort of the real Christmas narrative (ponder these words):

"Veiled in flesh the Godhead see

Hail the incarnate deity

Pleased as man with man to dwell

Jesus, our Immanuel...

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth..."

What is our response?

"Joy to the world! The Lord is come...

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart, prepare Him room..."

"Fall on your knees..."

"Go tell it on the mountain

Over the hills and everywhere..."

Hallelujah! We have a Savior: Jesus Christ, the Lord!

Christmas was just the beginning of God's redemptive love story.

One day, He will come again, and His love story will be forever complete. 

Look up...Advent is near!

A Most Important Message as We Prepare for Christmas

I chased a bible-rabbit the other morning, and landed in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. As the chase wound down, I caught my breath, while contemplating verse 18 and the Apostle Paul's mandate:

"Therefore, encourage one another with these words."

Turns out, this was a valuable chase, considering this upcoming Holy-Day-season, and some important thoughts as we enter Advent.

"What is Paul talking about?" you might ask.

Glad you asked. Basically, it boils down to these four words:

JeSuS iS cOmInG aGaIn!

He is!

Tragically, that truth is often lost in the Christmas chaos.

Don't get me wrong - I'm so thankful for Christmas. 

I love celebrating the birth of my Savior.

His sacrifice in leaving heaven for earth, in order to rescue me from my lostness, is overwhelming.

There must be special moments set aside for reflecting on what that means for you and me.

No, I will never get over Jesus' birth.

Not even if I live a million years, which I hope I don't.

Yet, in real life...

In the middle of this moment's messy...

In the hardship of our trials and pain...

In this world filled with evil and catastrophe...

Focusing only on Jesus' birth does not always bring much needed solace.

So, Paul says, 

"Draw near to one another; console and comfort; admonish and appease; exhort and encourage with whispers ever so soothing: Jesus is not staying gone. He will, physically, come again. When He comes, He will fix the messy, heal the hurt, obliterate evil, and save us from ourselves." 

There is to be another Advent; and this Advent's planning was in the making from the moment God-the-Father prepared Jesus for His earthly birth.

Christmas should be both a looking back and a looking forward.

As we celebrate Advent (The Coming #1), we should be celebrating Advent (The Coming #2)...

...because we all need hope!

There is no greater hope than this: Jesus is coming again!

Sadly, I've been guilty of marking, and commemorating, only half of that equation.

It's time for change in our house.

So...

This year, I will purposely, and with as much intent, as possible:

Celebrate 

throughout this season,

not just that Jesus came born to die;

but that He's coming again 

to LIVE, and REIGN, with us on high!

Advent is near.