That Thing I Do Now - Vol 61

Good morning! I pray you are enjoying a weekend that is filled with just what you need, whether that is rest and peace, or adventure and work... maybe a divine mixture of both!

Happy Reading!

Enjoy! (Ya'll know to click on the authors' names to read their whole posts, yes?)

* This one by Elizabeth Esther over at Incourage.me with Living at the End of the World"...
"My story isn’t as unique as many Christians would like to believe. My story is everywhere—you only need eyes to see.

And sometimes? Sometimes the only way to “move on” is to completely deconstruct everything. Sometimes it’s not enough to try a different flavor of the same religion. Sometimes before you rebuild you must question everything.

I did.

I dared God to prove that the Real God was different than the God I knew. I dared the Real God to show me love.

God did."


* This one by Lysa TerKeurst over at Women of Faith with The Rhythm of Rush...
"Exhaustion gnawed deep places in my heart, demanding me to slow down. But how? I’ve made my decisions and now my decisions have made me. Me—this shell of a woman caught in the rush of endless demands.

Ever felt like you’ve set your life to the rhythm of rush?

Sometimes it takes stepping out of the rush to see things. Not too long after the day I stood at the sink drowning in life, I went to the Holy Land. It was a trip I’d longed to take for years. But as the day to leave marched closer and closer, I wished I’d scheduled it later—another time, a time when life didn’t feel so busy.

But the trip was booked, so I went. And I’m forever glad I did. In the Holy Land, busy took a break from chasing me. This trip forced me to “unrush,” and I discovered I like who I am so much better when I’m not set to the wrong rhythm.

I also learned so much about Jesus. His life. His decisions. His lessons.

And do you know what the most impactful lesson was for me, personally? Jesus never rushed. He set His life to the rhythm of connection and compassion. With great intentionality Jesus stayed unrushed. This is what I want."


* This post by Deidra Riggs  with What if Grief Opens Us Up?...

"Grief is powerful. I wonder if it makes us raw enough so that we’re like children once again—sensing heavenly exchanges that go unnoticed by adults with our grown-up schedules and agendas and theories about things. Like I said, I’m no theologian. All I have is my experience.

It’s a mystery." 

* This post by Edie Wadsworth over at Life(in)Grace with The Most Important Thing to Remember About Parenting...
"Parenting by law or by sheer will will often get us the results we want but those results won’t endure because they will begin a long and slow fracture of the heart. Just like in our spiritual life, the law requires us to be a certain way, to follow certain rules, but it does nothing to win our hearts. 
Only love can do that. The law requires but love inspires. 
The law kills but love makes alive.  The law leaves us empty, despairing at all the ways we never measure up.  Love fills us to overflowing, and the overflow seeps out to everyone in our wake.

Often the end result is the same, so we assume that because we got the right result or the appropriate behavior,  we must be going about it the right way.

But a lifetime of living (or parenting) by the letter of the law—for results— will bankrupt us and our kids and leave them snatching and striving for approval and love."


* This post by D. L. Mayfield with The Ministry of Funfetti...
"The older I get, I realize now that the ministries I once thought so trivial I know think are the most radical. I spent the last year being stripped of anything that would make me feel lovely to God and I came out a different person. Because I discovered that he always loved me anyways.

I’m not Joan of Arc, it turns out. I’m just somebody who likes to bake cakes.

If I had said that at the beginning of this post, it would mean almost nothing. But because I am writing out of a place where I know that God loves me, my ministry of Funfetti is different. It’s radical. Anything that asks us to walk in our belovedness and extend that to other people is the best kind of madness there is."

* This post by Cadence Turpin over at Storyline with What You're Missing on the Way Up...
"Every day we tread into unknown territory hoping to catch a glimpse of what’s to come.

We spend tireless hours trying to ensure our success or predict how our stories will unfold, and while ambitions indeed help us move forward, we cannot control what we will encounter. We don’t always know what will or won’t happen for us.

But I think if we keep moving forward in hope and letting God surprise us along the way, this whole messy-long-beautiful-hike ends up being worth it."


* This post by Robin Dance over at A Deeper Story with The Gas Station Evangelist...
"I’ll never know if this man’s story is true, but these things I know:
he was telling Truth
his boldness puts my timidity to shame
he was eager and excited to share how Jesus had changed his life
he wasn’t just begging for a handout, he was selling hand-crafted jewelry, a symbol of his conversion"


* This post by Lori Harris over at Redemptions Beauty with Why We Need 24/6...
"I remember the cool of the floor against my flushed cheek and the quiet whirr of the refrigerator and the way my tears pooled on the linoleum. My chest ached and my head pounded and my heart was splintered into bits.  I didn’t want to die but I could not imagine living another day like I’d lived the last twelve years.

Twelve years of babies and seven moves and years of seminary had left me body worn and weary. Twelve years of doing good and right and noble things had left me puffed up and proud.  Twelve years spent thinking that I had to do good to earn God’s pleasure had left me angry and bitter and jaded.

Twelve years of striving had left me chasing the lie that what I do matters more than who I am.

I don’t remember how long I spent sprawled out on the kitchen floor but I do remember that in the stillness of the moment, I felt Jesus come near to me.

And when He came near, I surrendered every piece of me.

Jesus, the Come to Me and I will give you rest Jesus, came to me, and the nearness to Him was the very thing my soul was craving."

* This one right HERE where I talk about The Mighty Power of a Simple Shift in Perspective...
"I find when I am uncertain, I stop all the things. It's not that I need to know every detail or have a color-coded mapped-out plan (although... ) but I find when I am uncertain, my perspective starts getting all out of line and I can fall for the same old lies.

I can feel small. Insignificant. Unimportant. 

I can make excuses or put things off... ignore promptings of the Spirit or hesitate long enough to miss an opportunity.  I can forget that it's not all about me or that it should always, really, be all about Him. 

When my perspective is fuzzy or spinning, I forget Whose I am and Who holds this whole fuzzy, spinning world in His hands anyway! 

I begin to look down and inward, instead of up and outward."

And lastly... the video... because, of course! (You guys... I mean... gah! Turn on the subtitles on YouTube!)

                            

Happy Weekend, ya'll!