Houston in August

For those of you who have asked about my upcoming speaking engagement in Houston, I have a little more information for you. It is on Sunday, August 10, at Champion Forest Baptist Church. If you are interested in purchasing tickets and coming, you can go to www.championforest.org and go to the "Events" section. There you will find this event listed and the ability to register and purchase tickets online. Tickets are $12 and childcare is available.

It looks like a neat event! They are having yummy mexican food and a fun fashion show put on by the staff wives. I will be sharing the message of Behind Those Eyes . Please pray for me as I prepare for this night with a new message God has laid on my heart.

And oh, by the way...if any of you know Beth Moore personally, tell her I am coming into town and would love to have lunch with her! :) (Wouldn't that be incredible?)

Well, a girl can dream. :)

Hope to see some of you in Houston!

New look, but same me! (And did I scare you off? : )

Well, what do you think of the new look? Isn't it great?

Many thanks to Jennisa, who designed a beautiful blog page for me. I love, love, love it!

Now on to why I think I might have scared you off...

From the lack of response I have gotten on my "offer" for two free books, I think I have scared you out of participating in sharing your stories! (Either that, or I should have offered you Starbucks gift cards instead! :))

I can totally understand you not wanting to share personal stories that might hurt someone else. Please know that it was not my intention to get you to share things like this. I am talking about the things -- little and big -- that happen to us everyday that are relatable and funny and thought provoking, all at the same time. Basically, the stuff of life.

I would love any little humorous story you have -- maybe something your child or a child you know said that was the truth but hurt a little bit to hear -- or something that you said to someone that was the well-meaning truth but might have hurt them a little bit in the process. (Like a few years ago when someone said my new haircut looked like a wig.) Things like that. I really had humorous stories in mind when I wrote my last post, but I didn't communicate that very well! (Sorry -- for those of you who commented or emailed me with your serious stories, please know that I appreciate them and may ask you to use them in something else down the road!) If you read my new book, the opening story in the book is a perfect example of a humorous story where the truth hurt a little!

And if you are reading this post and are totally confused as to what I'm talking about in the first place, it's a sign to you that you should go back and read my last post! :)

Thanks for the grace, friends! Does anyone else out there relate to me when I say I make sense to myself alot more than I make sense to anyone else most days?!

More on Monday...

Some long overdue updates and an offer I hope you won’t refuse!

Hey Friends!

First, let me acknowledge that I am officially part of the “forget to fill you in” club. Yes, I have become one of those annoying people who leave you hanging and left to wonder. I recognize that I owe you some long overdue updates on a few things I have blogged about in the recent past, so let me get right to it. (For those of you who weren’t tuned in to this blog at the time, please stick around to read about an offer I hope you won’t refuse! :))

In my reference to Kris Lawing in my last post, I realized I hadn’t updated you lately on his condition. Because he has a team of people who are closer to him than I am, I thought I’d simply refer you to his caringbridge site for you to read for yourself. I do know that he has been in the hospital the past few days after having an additional procedure and is still in his battle with cancer. Please keep Kris and his family in your thoughts and join me in praying for God’s sovereignty in this situation. Many of you have posted messages on his guest book, and he has told me personally how much this has meant to him. You blog-friends rock!

I also mentioned my sister, Jen, in my last post. As you can read here, Jen is a 25-year- old wife and mom who has recently been diagnosed with MS. After seeing a neurologist who specializes in this disorder, Jen has finally decided on a treatment option that best suits her. So…after getting the insurance details worked out (the medication is astronomically expense) this week, she will begin her treatments. Please be in prayer for Jen and her family as she travels down this unknown road and manages her condition. She is truly the sweetest of souls, and, needless to say, means the world to me.

Several of you have asked about our personal Biggest Loser competition among some of our couple friends. Well, let’s just say that we were a bunch of “losers” with this, but not in the weight category. :( We did pretty well for a few months but did not lose the weight any of us wanted to. Seems we prefer meeting over a Starbucks Strawberries and Cream with a shot of Mocha and talking about how we want to lose weight to actually going out and trying to lose it. Hence, I am back at the drawing board and still wanting to lose those 23 pounds I’ve gained. Sigh.

On a positive note, I will be embarking on a new fitness journey, as three of my friends and I are taking tennis lessons, starting in a few weeks. What is the sudden interest in tennis, you might ask? Well, I have to say that I have wanted to learn to play tennis for a long time but never had friends who were as bad as me at it to have to play with. (Sorry, girls. :() And it’s not what you’re thinking…I’ll have you know that I have only mentioned to one of them how very cute tennis outfits are ONE TIME. So it’s not entirely about the tennis outfits. (Ok, maybe just a small side perk.) Those of you who have read about my goals for good health and weight loss in the past, I can almost hear the skepticism in your mind right now, as you read this post. But hey – once I can actually look decent in the tennis skirt, I will post a picture of me in one. THEN you will believe me! :)

And now…without a clever segway in sight…I present to you the offer I hope you won’t refuse!

I am traveling to Houston, TX, in a few weeks to speak to a group of women at a large church there. As I am getting my message together, (for some reason, God prompted me to write a new message for this event...again!) I find myself needing another story about telling the truth and how the truth sometimes hurts. It can be a funny story or a child story or whatever story you want to share, but I’d love for you to share your true stories about this with me! I know you’ve got some good ones!

And for the one I choose to use, I will send you a two-book set of my books, The 7 Hardest Things God Asks a Woman to Do and Behind Those Eyes: What’s Really Going on Inside the Souls of Women! (valued at $25.00) Two for the price of one story…hopefully that is a deal you can’t refuse! Please feel free to tell your bloggy friends about this, as well. I’d love to have maximum participation. I’ll post the winner sometime next week.

And on the Houston note, please say a prayer for me as I go and share the message of Behind Those Eyes. I am speaking on Sunday, August 10, in the evening. I can’t wait to hear what God has to say to all of us!

Oh, and one more thing. Don’t be surprised if you visit my blog in the coming weeks and see that it had a major face lift! I’m finally getting someone who actually knows about blog design to do one for me. I’ve peeked at it, and it is looking awesome! It will have some new features that several of you have asked for, like an opportunity to subscribe to my blog. Thanks for the interest!

Well, friends…that is about all for now. I will post again on Monday with another question in my series. That is, if I survive the diet I just started yesterday. (Sigh.)

Again.

Lisa

Question Series: Week #5: Have I gone there?

“My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.”
Job 17:7

If ever anyone was a griever, Job was. In fact, had Job known he was going to have to lose all his money, his health, and even his family in order to get a book of the Bible named after him, I suspect he might have passed on the offer. He sure had to endure some heavy stuff for his name to go down in history.

Job knew intimately what most of us, at this point on our journey, know, too...

Sometimes life just doesn’t go the way we want it to.

On the life spectrum, this can mean many things, from the more minute to the most monumental. The more minute might include taking a burnt roast out of the oven as the doorbell rings and company arrives for dinner. Seeing a cute hairstyle in the magazine and asking your stylist to cut it that way, just to find out it looks better on the model in the magazine. A rained out picnic. A surprise party that goes south. Unexpected dental work followed by a really large and unexpected dental bill. A car that won’t start.

These things are disappointing, yes. But are they truly grief-worthy?

I doubt it.

It should be noted here that Job would have probably jumped at the chance to have any of these life inconveniences happen to him. After all, when you are facing issues that have the potential to rock you to your core and change your life forever, you opt for the slightly less tragic door #2. You’ve peeked, and you already know what’s behind door #1.

Loss of health. Loss of love. Loss of life. Missed opportunities. Total life letdowns. Should have been, could have been, would have been. Almost. Not quite. Never will be. Period. End of story. Major life experiences that impact you forever. Things you would never wish on someone, and that includes yourself. A state of being that includes hurt, disappointment, denial, and yes…grief.

It’s not a very pretty picture.

But it is a very real picture of life.

This morning, as I am coming off of a Sunday Bible study lesson in the book of Ezekiel, I find myself reflecting on the question, “Have I gone there? Have I really let myself grieve?”

At first, it seems like a funny question to ask myself when I haven’t lost anyone I love recently. The truth is, I haven’t had anything overwhelmingly bad enough happen to me lately to cause me to want to tear my clothes, shave my head or take a piece of something really sharp and broken and run it across my body to relieve pain. (All things, by the way, Job did in his grief.)

But I have had things in my life that I needed to grieve over. I have had times in my life that bad things happened to me or someone I loved…things I didn’t understand or appreciate. I have had losses and pain and letdowns and sorry endings. I have had things that exceeded just being a bummer and could be gotten over easily.

I have had to look my sin in the face and call it what it is. I have had to go to bed at night wishing I would wake up in a different place, at a different time, in a different life circumstance. I have cried in a closet. I have worried about tomorrow.

Because sometimes, that is just life.

Just ask Kris Lawing.

Or my sister, Jen.

Or the man himself, Job.

If any of us live for very long, we face things we need to grieve over. Because of the fallen world we live in, it is just a reality of life. Life is not always roses or daisies or even, carnations. But life has to be kept on living.

So, we choose to live. But first, often, we need to grieve.

This doesn’t mean we spend our time in a fetal position, curled up in a state of despair or hopelessness. As my good friend, Amy, says, hope is a choice. It is a choice to press on…live on…love on…

…and look at tomorrow with God-colored glasses.

And grieving is a part of that.

Grieving is acknowledging that life is not always good and things that happen do not always seem fair. Grieving is seeing our missed opportunities, our dreams that haven’t been realized, our goals that are unachieved and our hurts that have been worn in our hearts for what they are. Grieving is letting go of the would have beens, should have beens, and wished they’d have beens for what is real and true and parked right under our noses. Grieving is letting go of the past to focus on the future. Grieving is saying it is what it is, and though I don’t love it, I can’t change it. Grieving is prayers of honesty, integrity and maybe even, anguish. Grieving is Godly sorrow over sin. Grieving is letting yourself go there, even if you’d rather stuff it inside for a while longer. Grieving is real, and grieving is good.

Because of what comes after.

“I'll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.” Jeremiah 31:13 (the Message)

Often…

Crying precedes laughing.

Pain precedes comfort.

and…

Grieving precedes a beautiful invasion of joy.

It’s not that we want to go there; it’s just that sometimes…we need to. We have to so we can move on to the really good stuff.

Lisa

Sweet Pursuit, Love and Random Thoughts

Two verses stuck out to me today as I am wading through the incredible book of Deuteronomy...I wanted to share them with you...

I'm reminded of the beautiful way God pursues us when we try to run away from Him in this verse...

"Though you are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will go and find you and bring you back again." (30:4)

And I'm reminded of the truth about love in this verse and how it is a choice, not a feeling...

"Choose to love the Lord your God to obey him and commit yourself to Him, for He is your life." (30:20)

I don't know who these verses are for, but I know they spoke to my heart. As I have often been a "runner," in my life, the thought of God running after me time and again makes me remember just what pure and holy love looks like. And then to choose to love Him back, even when my feelings don't match what is inside my heart, brings me back to what my last post was all about: choosing to love God is choosing to offer Him my best, no matter what I want to do at the moment. If I say He is my life, I will be willing to back it up with my actions.

Just a few of my random thoughts today.
Lisa :)

Question Series: Week #4: Is this the best I've got?

I can vividly remember the way my youth pastor at church used to pray. Even now, I can picture the way he looked when he spoke to the Father in the midst of our little holy church huddle. With one eye cracked open, I would watch him almost every time.

His eyes tightly shut, he would tilt his face upward, as if looking at Someone through closed eyelids. He would sway sometimes, back and forth, with a half smile on his closed lips. I can remember the way his voice would sound when he would pray – bold…honest…convinced…and madly in love with the One he was talking to. Innately, I knew he meant every word he said. Watching him pray, my overwhelming teenaged thought was always the same…

I don’t think I’ll ever pray like that man. But I wish I could.

I admit, I was envious of his ability to pray in such a way that I knew he meant it. I guess what I was really envious of was the kind of relationship he had with God that would cause him to be able to pray like that in the first place. It was the one I always wanted to have but wasn’t sure I ever would.

It was the same kind of feeling I would have when someone would tell me they craved more of God or longed for God or hungered after the Word. It was the way I felt when I would read Scripture like Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”

Longing for God? Craving God? Panting for Him? What did all of it mean?

I wasn’t sure. But what I was sure of was that I didn’t. And I didn’t know why.

I was ashamed to admit that even the concept of craving God was a bit foreign to me. But even in my teenaged mind, I knew enough to know it wasn’t something that could be taught. If it were so, I would have already learned. After all, I was practically born in a church pew. I knew all the acrostics and catchy word pictures to prayer and all the Christianese and buzzwords to use to impress someone with my knowledge of Scripture. I knew what I was supposed to say and how I was supposed to feel.

But I also knew enough to know that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t “it.”

It was years later that I would find out just what that “it” was and what it was all about. It wasn’t anything fancy, nor was it anything profound or something I could learn my way into. There was just one thing missing to my life and my relationship with God that kept me from praying and meaning it -- from my longings and cravings for God.

Very simply, I wasn’t giving him my best.

Oh, I was giving Him my kind-of best. I was giving Him my runner up best. I was definitely giving Him my Sunday best. But it wasn’t my best-best. It wasn’t the kind of best that allows a person to pray like my youth pastor prayed.

And He wanted more of me.

He wanted me to love Him like I had never loved anyone before. He wanted me to desire Him like no desire I had ever had before. He wanted me to crave Him like the strongest craving I had ever had before. But there wasn’t anything He could do to get me to feel those spiritual urgings. He had already done enough. The rest was was all up to me.

It was up to me to choose to give Him my best.

What that meant, was no more half-hearted living. No more clinched fists or “maybes.” No more things to control. No more means to my end. It would mean lots of questions and self-inventory and “yes’s” instead of “nos.” It would mean an uncluttered heart and a single mindedness and a death to self and a release of control.

I would have to give Him best.

And then, it would mean cravings like never before. Longings like none other. Hunger pains to trump all other hunger pains. It would mean sheer abandon and beautiful impulse and crazy, insane amounts of love.

And yes, prayers coming from a heart that meant them.

Though I now know what this kind of love and meaning requires, the question “Is this the best I’ve got?” is a question I still often ask God and myself. Even now, when my prayers feel stale and my longings are seen heading in the wrong direction, I have to re-visit the question.

And when I do, I find out that I am offering Him less than my best.

And then I have to, once again, unclench my fists...take the padlock off my heart... and present my little and my much to Him to do with what He wants.

Lisa

Too Much Truth to Keep to Myself

Hi friends!

I had no real intention of posting the rest of this week, to be honest. My week (like many of yours) has been full and crazy and a bit stressful. I was up working towards a writing deadline tonight when I came across a passage of Scripture that struck me in a new and fresh way. I couldn't help but think of many of you who have shared your heart with me this week...friends like Kris Lawing who I am praying for...and yes, even myself. There is so much truth in this passage that I could not pass up the opportunity to share it with you on this post. Anything I would write today would not compare on any level to the richness and beauty of this passage. There is truly nothing like the inspired, infallible Word of God. May it speak to you today, as it did me, tonight.


Psalm 51: 7-15 (The Message)

Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,
scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don't look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I'll let loose with your praise.

Soak it in, friends.
Lisa