The Families We Know

I've started a new page that you'll find on the right-hand side of this blog. It's entitled The Families We Know. My prayer is that you'll come back from time to time and see how this page grows. Right now, there are only two families listed because I'm still collecting info, photos and permission from the moms to post them here.

This can be a great tool for keeping the faces of these women in your mind as you pray for this ministry. You can also choose a different family to pray for each day.

Thanks to the moms that are allowing me to use their photos and info! If you are a single mom or know one that you believe would like to have a similar description posted so that people will pray for them as well, don't hesitate to contact me at a.barthauer@gmail.com for more information.

Bottom line...we are blessed to know these women...they inspire us daily with their courage and strength!

January Single Moms' Night Out

Our third Single Moms' Night Out is fast approaching and you can begin registering your children this Sunday, the 1st! For details and a map link to the location, go to the Upcoming Events Page. You can register your children by contacting me at a.barthauer@gmail.com

Registration may be limited based on the number of volunteers we have, so register early!

The Year in Review

At first, it's a little difficult to assess 2011 for this blog, because I've already shared so much. And the countless other blessings that have come our way this past year are either too innumerable to list or too close to the heart to share. Unquestionably, a look back over the year in the life of this blog could leave no one in doubt that there is a loving Abba (Daddy!) who cares for His children deeply...even in the minutiae of life. No detail is too small for His notice. If it matters to one of His kids...it definitely matters to Him!

Nowhere in my life has this been more evident in 2011 than in the life of our family and the life of the ministry God "birthed" this year...Boundless Ministries. [Actually, it was born in our hearts in 2010...He just put a name to it in 2011.] So I've decided to write a year in review focused on this ministry to single moms which is becoming more and more a central part of everything we do...in thought, word and deed.

I'm not going to review the finances in detail for the most part, because you can read the monthly financial statements for yourself.  Just click on Financial under "Labels" section to the left and you can find the links to each of these statements. Otherwise, here's a brief summary of some of the highlights of God's ministry to single moms through Boundless Ministries this year:

• In partnership with Firm Foundation Home School Co-op, we hosted two Single Moms' Night Out events. The first one, we had 10 children participate, the second, there were 5. First Church of Christ in Burlington has been amazingly helpful in promoting the events and allowing us to use their facility.
• We've provided several hours of free childcare to moms. We didn't keep track, so a conservative estimate would be about 15-18 hours since July.
• We coordinated, promoted and participated in a 24 hour Famine event that raised just over $1000 for Kids Against Hunger of Cincinnati. This money was used in their Horn of Africa campaign and will feed more than 8 children for an entire year. Several families participated with us, including single moms and their children. It was an amazing life lesson in obedience and being quick to answer the leading of the Holy Spirit.
• In October, we launched a Bible study, but it quickly became apparent there was either no need or no interest in something like this. I chose to see this as a lesson in obeying the Holy Spirit even if by human perception it could be viewed as a failure. I've learned there are no failures when you're following God.
• Through the thoughtful donations of others, we were able to attend a Cincinnati Reds game along with a single mom and her three sons.
• Twice we were blessed to have the funding to make donations to two families that we've never met, through their connection with others.
• Over $1083.00 in mostly anonymous gifts (cash, gift cards and items) were given away to moms and their families.
• We've started volunteering one afternoon a month at the Henry Hosea House in Newport, KY.
• We volunteered about five times at a local nursing home along with our friends from Firm Foundation Home School Co-op.
• We coordinated a few "donation drives" for three different single moms that totaled over $250 in cash and gift card donations.

Honestly, my memory fails at this point...and that's okay. I don't keep a running list of everything because the point is...God knows it all and we do it for Him and for His true character (His glory) to be revealed to a lost and dying world. So it doesn't really matter if I have an exhaustive list or not.

My prayer is that this "annual report" isn't seen as a brag list. I'm also really not concerned with giving possible donors more confidence that their money will be used wisely...it is only the job of the Holy Spirit to lead people to give. No...my goal in putting this list "out there" is so others who are contemplating a leap of faith into serving our Lord will see that He is faithful!!! If He calls you to do something...anything...He will provide...financially, physically, emotionally and most importantly, spiritually.

I guess my "sub-purpose" is so that you can know that we are just regular folks! We don't have seminary degrees, we don't have intensive training from any denomination, we don't have a background in community service or really excel in anything that our culture would deem as necessary to run a successful non-profit. Shoot...we're not even concerned with being a successful non-profit. We are just two adults and four kids fumbling our way on this journey with hearts that really just want to obey what God calls us to do. I know people say this so much that it is cliche'...but "If we can do it, anyone can!"

Strike that! If God can do this through us...He can do it through ANYONE!



By His grace and by His leading, we are looking forward to an amazing 2012!

Nativity

I love nativity scenes! We have several. I sort of collect them. We have porcelain, plastic, Little Tykes, one that Avon used to make, a nativity Advent calendar (actually two!), a handmade fabric set sewn by my Mom, one I inherited from my grandma and even a hinged stable that when you open it, you see all of the people inside. At after-Christmas sales, nativities are the first thing I'm looking for.

A long time ago, I read a story by a woman that also collected nativity scenes and her family kept a different one out all year just to remember Christmas every day. I thought that was a good idea, so ever since, I've done the same thing.

But what is it that fascinates me so about these little scenes? I mean, they're cute but it's not like any of ours are worth money. Several of the kid-friendly ones have even been slobbered on numerous times over the years. And although this word has come to mean almost exclusively "the birth of Christ"...it's actually meaning is simply, birth.

No, I don't think it's the monetary value or the cuteness or even any emotional or historical sentiment...rather I think it's something...more. After all, I've never been known to be a sentimental person. I think, for me, it's the reminder that no matter how cute we dress up the stable with shiny halos on the holy family or beams of light shining down (like the photo above)...the simple fact is that the Creator of the universe entered into the human existence the same way we all do...a bloody, wet, crying mess. But He went even further.

He was born to a woman whose fidelity and morals would undoubtedly always be questioned. If you don't believe this, there are...2000 years later, still people who question whether she truly was a virgin or not. He also timed it perfectly so that there could never be naysayers who said, "Well, His life was easy because He was born into...(insert your own words here)". No, I can't think of a more humble birth than arriving on a floor strewn with hay and animal feces.

If you're someone who likes to paint a pretty picture of Jesus, I apologize, because I've probably offended you. But I'd also like to challenge you to think along these lines for a little while. What if He'd been born any other way? Would the deeply impoverished, the orphan, the single mom, the hated and despised ever have believed the Savior could love and understand their plight? Probably not.

Just in case you think I'm making too much out of this...because we want to protect our delicate sensibilities...don't listen to my words...listen to God's:

"(Jesus), although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross." (Phil. 2:6-8)
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." (2 Cor. 8:9)

So the next time you see a Nativity scene, enjoy the beauty, delight in the wonder, tell your kids the story of Jesus...but also take a moment to imagine the dirt...imagine the smell...imagine the cold...imagine the loneliness...and take another moment to thank your Abba who loves you so much that He was willing to humble Himself...for you!

Suffering

Throughout the last month, there seems to be this common thread running through my thoughts, my Scripture readings and thus, these blog posts. Sometimes it's vague, sometimes it's obvious...but as I look back over the last four weeks...it's definitely there. The title of this post sums it up completely...suffering.

Now I don't exactly feel like I'm suffering at the moment, so I have to stop and ask the question: Why this theme? And why now?

You know, I wish I could say that every day I wake up with an absolutely clear vision of what my purpose, plan and even goals are for the day. But that's just not the way it works for me. More likely, I stumble my way through each day...attempting to keep my eyes open for how God is working and where He is leading...and hoping I understand and obey the lessons He wants to show me along the way.

So as I sit on this side of the last month and look back, this common theme rises to the surface. It's there in when I was reminded to be Thankful for the Privilege and even in the movies I watched like Slumdog Millionaire. When I shared how I felt parched in Isaiah 58. I know that may not seem like suffering, but it is a "privation" of sorts. Anytime I'm not fully standing in the Love of my Abba, my soul is in some way suffering.

And again, when feeling distant and far from God...like standing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the deprivation can be unbearable because I have experienced the feeling of being as close as His shadow. In the absence of that, there is pain. While even contemplating a Christmas unit study with my kids, the plight of our fellow man and our response to it, rose to the surface as I picked A Christmas Carol for our curriculum.

Finally, Andrew Peterson's music has provided great encouragement in the face of The Silence of God, while Dancin' in the Minefields and the promise that There WILL be a Last One!

During this time when all of these thoughts or lessons have been running through my head, I read a section in Repenting of Religion where Gregory Boyd writes about how we descendants of The Fall, want to always have an explanation for the suffering that surrounds us. It makes absolutely no sense to us why tens of thousands of innocent children have died in the last six months from a famine in Africa. Surely behind the failed marriages or crumbling families or impoverished neighbors that we know, there has to be a place to point our fingers or even wag them if we dare! After all, haven't we been taught that we "reap what we sow"?

But Boyd writes this:
"Perhaps nowhere is the fallen impulse to reject ambiguity more evident than in the way religious people tend to interpret suffering. We live in a  morally ambiguous world in which fortune and misfortune come upon people in an arbitrary fashion. Yet the fallen, moralistic impulse to reject ambiguity inclines many to insist that those who suffer misfortune deserve it or that their suffering is morally justified because it serves a higher cosmic purpose. Indeed, these have been the two dominant explanations for evil within the Christian tradition.
It is significant that Jesus never embraced either explanation. Never once did Jesus suggest that any of the multitudes of suffering people to whom he ministered were being punished or disciplined by God through their suffering. Though he constantly ministered to "the dregs of society," never once did he ask an ethical question of them or raise an ethical suspicion about them. Nor did he ever suggest that they were suffering for a greater good. Instead, he uniformly attributed their affliction to demonic forces (e.g., Mark 9:25; Luke 11:14; 13:11-16; cf. Acts 10:38). And his only concern was to manifest the will of his Father by healing and delivering those he confronted."

"Jesus and the authors of the New Testament assumed that the cosmos was much more complex and ambiguous than allowed for by the traditional explanations for evil. They saw the world as under siege by the Accuser, whom they called "the ruler of this world," "the god of this world," and "the ruler of the power of the air" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2). While they assumed that every aspect of creation that didn't align itself with the will of God was directly or indirectly the result of fallen human or angelic wills, they never speculated about why things unfold just the way they do. They did not pretend to know much about the virtually infinite chain of influences that lie behind each and every event that takes place. they thus didn't try to penetrate the ambiguity of the world and explain why one person was afflicted, another demonized, another crushed by a fallen tower, and another untouched altogether. They did not try to reject the ambiguity of the world by finding God's will in suffering. They rather worked in the midst of the ambiguity of the world to apply God's will to suffering." (I've underlined exactly what I'd underlined in my book.)

Thanks for bearing with such a long passage. I could not have said it better!

I know with every fiber of my being this is a lesson God's Holy Spirit wants to teach me...for myself and to be shared with others. If I'm going to minister to women...particularly single moms...I can not have an attitude that is contradictory to what Jesus taught. I can not approach the subject of a failed marriage, a rebellious child, a bankrupt portfolio seeking explanations or blame. Do we not see that we just drive ourselves insane trying to explain away the situations for which there is a "virtually infinite chain of influences"?

Holy Spirit brought me face-to-face with this attitude of blame even in myself this morning. I've been beating myself up over an area which I struggle. For days I've been asking why I fail in this time and time again. I've been trying to develop an action plan to avoid being vulnerable, my thoughts have been consumed with blame and how to fix this. And Bless His Name!...this morning, He broke through and I finally listened!

Yes, it was Repenting of Religion again: "Instead of trusting in God to love them and defend them in their sin, Adam and Eve became their own defense attorneys. They trusted their own knowledge of good and evil to protect them rather than trusting God."

And there it was...I don't have the knowledge of all things...good or evil. How can I say that any one person (even myself) is to blame for my struggle...my suffering? [Again, I reiterate...what I'm calling suffering for myself is not anything physical. I speak of a spiritual suffering only in this situation.]

Just so He knew I was listening, He perfectly timed a portion of Jesus Calling today too! "Do not fear your weakness, for it is the stage on which My Power and Glory perform most brilliantly. As you persevere along the path I have prepared for you, depending on My strength to sustain you, expect to see miracles--and you will. Miracles are not always visible to the naked eye, but those who live by faith can see them clearly. Living by faith, rather than sight, enables you to see My Glory."

To the naked eye, another may never see my struggle...my suffering...but when each day I trust Jesus to overcome my weakness with His strength, I am a firsthand witness to His miracles...His Glory.

Now here's the awesomely awesome part...the part He gave me over the weekend and because I wasn't listening very well, was delayed in my fitting it into the bigger puzzle:
"Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. And you will defile your graven images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, "Be gone!" (Isaiah 30:20-22)

He placed this Scripture passage in my path on Saturday, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I have lived this...I have experienced this very thing. And His promises are always faithful and true! So if during financial devastation I witnessed this intimately...can't I count on Him to apply it to my life this time too? Absolutely!

When you experience suffering of any form or measure (spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, financial, etc.), God wants to be your Teacher. During this suffering, if you train your eyes on your Teacher, He will no longer hide Himself! Amen! That's enough right there, isn't it?! But wait...His Holy Spirit will also whisper in your ears His Word telling you "This is the way, walk in it". You'll know whether to turn right or left.

And the blessed consequence that happens? That's right...all of those idols veneered with silver or gold even...you realize just how false and defiled they are...that they are impure things. My new phrase is that it's "all smoke and mirrors compared to God's reality"! The crazy thing is that in the midst of the suffering...these idols I've clung to...possibly for years...I will finally wake up and say "Be Gone!"

Do you know what I'm talking about? If you've ever allowed God to work in the midst of your suffering, I can guarantee you've experienced this, even if you didn't realize it. Allowing Him full access in the midst of devastation and heartbreak can help you break free from any idol: a relationship; a house; a job; a church; a sin; a guilty pleasure; a hobby; a vice; a painful past; a schedule; a joyless future; an American Dream...any thing we place before our relationship with Him!

So while I fervently believe and pray I will share with myself and others until my last breath that there is definite ambiguity in our suffering, allowing Him to love us through it brings definitively obvious miracles!



**Endnote: I pray what I have written has not contradicted my belief that there is no grand cosmic purpose to our suffering. Rather, my prayer is that you sense God's desire to apply His will and healing to it.**

Mentioned in this post:

"Dying to Have Known"

I've watched this documentary before, but I try to watch something about food and health whenever I feel like I'm in a nutritional slump...during the holidays is prime nutritional slump season! The documentary filmmaker also made The Beautiful Truth and he is definitely in favor of the Gerson Therapy about which both of these documentaries are written.

If you're not afraid to think outside the box and you're interested in natural healing, health and nutrition, watch one or both of these...you may be shocked at exactly how readily available cures to numerous diseases and ailments are to us. Dying to Have Known attempts to provide a more balanced look at the Gerson Therapy by interviewing doctors and researchers from traditional medicine. These naysayers are entitled to their opinions, but the one thing they keep going back to is that there is no "proof". Even though there are thousands of documented cases of patients healed with the Gerson Therapy, these "experts" lead you to believe that because there has been no "double-blind" study, it can't be affective. Eyewitness, first-hand patient testimony is enough for me. And I am one of those testimonies.

I will readily concede that I have not followed the Gerson Therapy faithfully, nor to my knowledge did I have any form of cancer when I began. But even without adhering to it completely, which I would not endorse anything other than full commitment to it, I have reaped the benefits of the Gerson Therapy nonetheless. Some of the healing I've experienced is undiagnosed so I guess I don't qualify as a reliable source. I'm putting myself out there to reveal some of this...but I know there are many that are more than disgruntled with traditional methods of healing.

If you'd like more information from me, don't hesitate to message me at a.barthauer@gmail.com or leave your e-mail in the comments section. But probably the best place to start is by watching one of the documentaries, now available on topdocumentaries.com. Food Matters is also available on the website for now and mentions the Gerson Therapy too. I've mentioned The Gerson Miracle on here before. This documentary is not as well done, but it is informative about the therapy. There are also several books available about the Gerson Therapy.





Being vs. Doing

Just the other day I had this thought: "Maybe the reason we as Jesus followers miss the mark of what He desires for us is because we're so busy doing instead of being." A few days later, I read some very similar thoughts in Repenting of Religion...he just says it a lot better than I can.

If you've been reading any of my recent posts (see "All We Need is...") you'll remember that the subtitle of this book is "Turning From Judgment to the Love of God". Gregory Boyd, the author, has spent many pages so far explaining how far we have fallen from God's perfect ideal for us. He also goes into a lot of detail discussing just exactly what lay at the heart of the Original Sin (see Genesis 2-3). You see, it wasn't just called the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil that stood in the middle of Eden. It was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ever since that day, every single one of us humans have eaten from that fruit...every time we measure anyone...even ourselves by any measuring stick other than measuring by the Love of God.

With this sin (known as "The Fall" of mankind), came not only evil into this world, but also a sort of veil (interestingly, it consists of the exact same letters as evil!). We are told in I Corinthians 13 that we now see as if we're looking into a dim mirror. I've made numerous references on this blog to things such as "The glory of God is man fully alive" (Sara Groves song line) and Brennan Manning's observation that perhaps the greatest dichotomy in the church today is not between liberal and conservative, pro-life or pro-choice, but rather those that are awake and those that are asleep. Have you ever experienced the feeling of 'scales falling from your eyes', 'the clouds parting' and everything making sense? That's what I'm talking about. I've even said that it feels like I'm being re-wired...which is basically what He is doing.

And this week, I read the following and one more piece of the puzzle fell into place:

"It's important to notice that the serpent didn't promise Eve something she didn't already have. This too is an aspect of all that blocks love and thus constitutes sin. The serpent promised Eve that she could be "like God." Yet she and Adam were already made in the very image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27). The craftiness of the serpent is found in his cunning ability to make Eve think she had to become what she in fact already was. How else could he tempt a person who already had all she would ever need? The serpent convinced Eve that her life had to be found in doing rather than simple being. He convinced her to break fellowship with God in order to possess the very thing God had already given her for free: her being "the image and likeness of God."

"Had Eve remained in union with God, had she rejected the Accuser's lie about God, the serpent's promise that she could become like God would have been utterly vacuous. She would have remained in the peace of knowing that she already reflected God's image and was full because of the unsurpassable worth God continually poured into her. Going beyond the "No Trespassing' sign would not have seemed desirable to her.

"Only when she accepted the lie and forgot who she was did the promise of becoming like God take on any significance. Rejecting the truth that she was already in God's likeness, she blocked out the love that made her in his likeness. Then, instead of living life out of the fullness of who she already was, dependent upon God, Eve chose to try to become in God's likeness by acting out of her emptiness, independent of God. Her life, and the life of her descendants, would from that time on consist of futilely chasing what God had always intended to give us for free." (bold words, my emphasis)

It's lengthy, I know, but what I don't want you to miss is just a few lines up...the "fullness of who she already was (a being verb)" she gave up because she "chose to try to become" (to try is an action verb).

Could we agree that this pretty much sums up our culture? Just take a look around you...everyone striving to become. I even think of kids. When they are just "being" (sleeping, eating, reading, playing, working) there is peace, contentment, even joy. But when they start "doing"...grasping at something that will fill a void (power or being the "top dog"; greediness or lack of sharing; territorial possession or "that's mine" syndrome) that's when fighting, jealousy, and general nastiness ensue. Are we really anything more than just grown up kids?

And here's what my experience has taught me: In the past, when I was involved in too many things to count at church...they were good things and probably ministered to others. But when someone needed something "extra" from me (childcare, a meal, a listening friend, a need to give up "my" time) I dreaded it...even resented it at times because I had nothing left to give. I was too busy doing.

Then a few years ago, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to give almost everything up and to just start "being" His child. Those weren't my exact thoughts, but I know now that's what He was leading me to. My life may actually look like it's pretty boring to most. I'm sure it appears that I don't do much...I've even been told before that I'm a gifted person not using my gifts. But just this week I've had two opportunities to do rather than be (and both good things!)...a nursing home visit where we would have sung Christmas Carols and a chance to serve at Lifeline last night. But I felt led to pull out of both of these because it had already been an overwhelmingly busy week. I knew I could proceed and feel overtaxed, stressed and yet, still feel a sense of accomplishment in having served. But who has God asked me to be? Who is He leading me to become?

He's led me to a place where He wants me to be focused on single moms and their families and often that is a form of service that I can't schedule or plan. Over the last couple of weeks, that's meant some impromptu forms of service for which I wouldn't have the mental or physical energy if I was too busy "doing" these other good things.

Enough rambling! Maybe I just wanted to remind you (or more importantly, Holy Spirit wants to remind you!) that during this season...probably the busiest season of the year...in the midst of all of your doing...take some time to slow down and ask Him whom He already created you to be!

Mentioned in this post:

An Early Christmas Gift

If you've been reading this blog lately, you know I've mentioned how Christmas compounds your already tenuous financial situation. But God has been faithful to provide enough for us to get a couple of small gifts for the kids. On top of that the kids have been amazingly great with the idea of celebrating a new holiday family tradition...Tax Check Christmas! It's no festivus (if you're a Seinfeld fan) but I am considering leaving up the decorations, wrapping the gifts and having a relaxing Christmas in February.

But God just went and did something so like Him...He surprised us with another gift...this time an Xbox 360! Dale won it at work yesterday! How fun to come home and tell the kids that Christmas came early.

There WILL Be a Last One!

I cannot get this song out of my mind. And while I'm still just reveling in the thought of "oceans and oceans of love and love again," as I keep replaying the song over and over...here's what has struck me...and it's a doozy!

There will be a:

• last bullet fired
• last famine
• last trafficked child
• last lie
• last disgrace
• last hungry, homeless person
• last prison inmate
• last chemo patient
• last siren
• last war
• last divorce
• last abused girl

Do we really get this? I know I don't! In our human, finite thinking...we can only focus on what we know. And our experience tells us there is always suffering and pain...but our enemy is a crafty one. He wants us to forget that we've been promised that our sufferings are just "light and momentary affliction(s)". (2 Cor. 4:17)

But this goes further than just meaning that one day we will die and we don't have to suffer anymore. Oh....praise His Name...there will come a day when He will make all things right and we will no longer dwell in pain and suffering as inhabitants on this fallen earth. There will be one last for each of these awful things...and so much more!

There is a flip-side to this as well...and having grown up in a church culture of legalism and scare tactics, I'm a little hesitant to say it...but I feel the leading that it needs to be said:

There will also be a last person that awakens to the reality of God's Love and that He is Sovereign. That just because we've ignored Him...doesn't mean He hasn't existed since the beginning of time.

This reality no longer scares me like it did 25-30 years ago...but it does make me aware of the urgency to tell others of God's Love! Beloved...if you do not know Him...you are loved...with "oceans and oceans of love and love again". And whether you call Him Lord or have yet to surrender that role to Him...there will one day be an end to all of this...there will be a "last" for everything...and honestly...I. can't. wait!!

The "Feeling" of Faith

This morning in Jesus Calling, I read "Bring Me all your concerns, including your dreams. Talk with me about everything, letting the Light of My Presence shine on your hopes and plans. Spend time allowing My Light to infuse your dreams with life, gradually transforming them into reality." Hmmm? Turning dreams into reality...I like that.

Abraham and Sarah are sited in the devotional because due to the long wait their "enjoyment was intensified". Repeatedly last summer, God reminded me to have faith about His vision for our future and for Boundless Ministries by bringing this verse to me over and over: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Galatians 3:6; Genesis 15:6)

But one of the Scripture references for today's devotional was Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The three underlined words each had secondary definitions in my Bible's notes.

• assurance = substance
• hoped = expected
• conviction = evidence

Substance. Last time I checked, substance was something you could touch. I think of expecting something as pretty much a done deal. After all, I have "expected" five children in my lifetime and four of them made it here, so with expectations, there are pretty good odds it will happen. And evidence. Who hasn't watched a police or legal TV drama or movie and learned that the best evidence is concrete? Circumstantial evidence will never win a conviction in a court of law...at least on TV.

So this morning, these three words lept off the page of my Bible, planted in my soul and the Holy Spirit's been growing this question in me: Why do I think of faith and hope as these intangible, ethereal, other-worldly concepts that only a Biblical giant like Abraham can grasp? According to this passage in Hebrews, they are just as tangible as anything I can see.

Then bless His name, Holy Spirit reminded me of another verse, I Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." And there it was...proof yet again that to think in terms of faith, hope or love is to know beyond anything my eyes may tell me that these three are real...tangible...palpable even.

How do I know this? Because this chapter in I Corinthians is called the love chapter. Read it. It describes everything that love is and what it is not. Then in verse 8, we're told that some of the spiritual gifts sought by Christians will pass away. Verse 9 through 12 go on to describe how we can't fully know anything in this life because here there is no perfection. Our lives are actually like looking through a dim mirror. But one day we will understand God's perfection for our lives. Finally, in verse 13, we're told that even when everything else passes away there are three that remain...faith...hope...and love.

Other than what we are taught in Hebrews 11:1, how can I teach that faith, hope and love are tangible...even evidentiary too? Close your eyes (okay, read this...then close your eyes!) allow yourself to imagine a life, a world without faith...without hope...without love. Really fantasize here. Use your imagination to "feel" what life would be like.

There is a difference, isn't there?

Now, if the absence of faith, the absence of hope and the absence of love would produce a different "feeling" in our lives and our world...doesn't it stand to reason that although we may take them for granted, each of these has their own "feel"? And if you can feel something...there is substance...tangible, palpable substance.

So next time you feel like you have no faith, next time you have no hope or next time you believe you have no love, my prayer is you'll remember this verse. And be assured that no matter how awful life may be we are told that because of God's Presence in this world we can undeniably count on His Truth...His Promise...that faith, hope and love will remain.

God is amazing. And I am thankful that this theme in my life just keeps growing. I can't wait to see where He takes me next because... "the greatest of these is Love." Amen!

There is Love...Love, Love, Love

Okay...so Andrew Peterson is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists and this song is just reinforcing the message God's Holy Spirit has been laying on my heart repeatedly...His Love. Everything I want to do for His glory...every freedom I want people to experience...every dream I have of serving others, comes down to Gods Love...allowing God to fill me with His Holy Spirit (His Love) so completely..so fully that it can't help but overflow from my life into the lives of others.
This video, while not the best production I've ever seen, contained the lyrics to the song and the lyrics are the important part. Watch it...and allow God's Love to wash over you completely...perhaps for the very first time.

Beloved...you are loved with a boundless love that we cannot begin to fathom...but it is like "oceans and oceans of love and love again" Amen!

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The Silence of God

If you've ever experienced the "dark night of the soul", you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, and you are a Jesus follower...someday, you will.  This song from Andrew Peterson speaks exactly how it feels...and the promise that you can cling to even in "The Silence of God".

My favorite line? "What about the times when even followers get lost? Cause we all get lost sometimes" Praise God for the Shepherd that comes to find us!

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A Christmas Carol

Today, I started reading Dicken's A Christmas Carol to the kids. We watched the Disney version with Jim Carrey a few nights ago and although when I first saw it, I almost fell asleep in the theatre...I remember thinking that this was probably the version most like the book that I've ever seen. But watching it the other night, I think I was struck for the first time what an indictment the story is to those who are well off...yet ignore the impoverished all around them. There's a scene with several ghosts that really drives home this message.

Then this morning, I was looking for some "Christmasy" things to do for school. I found some websites for home schooling references regarding A Christmas Carol and there was a quote from the book that hit me right where we're living. Because of our family's emphasis on learning to serve others...especially the widow, the orphan and the deeply impoverished (all common themes of Dicken's works), I knew A Christmas Carol needed to be our "Christmas school" for this year.

Here's the quote that helped me make up my mind: "(Christmas-time is) the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." (Fred, Scrooge's nephew)

Hmmm?? We're all fellow passengers to the grave and those "below" us are not another race of creatures bound on a different journey.

What if we lived every day like this? Not just at Christmas. I'm not even sure that we in America could even honestly say that our Christmas-time giving is the same as it used to be...could we? I noticed the Salvation Army bell ringers out earlier than usual. Is that because of greediness or because they know their giving is down and they needed to get a jump start with people thinking about giving their leftovers...their change? One friend posted on Facebook that one bell ringer she spoke to said people had even been making nasty comments because they were out there early.

The other thing that comes to mind is our shopping. Is what we're buying empowering people to become independent and sustainable...or is it enslaving and degrading them through severely inadequate wages and a loan/wage form of payment that keeps them enslaved to their job? In other words, is our Christmas spending creating "peace on Earth and goodwill toward men" or is it sustaining sweatshops and slavery?

Am I perfect at this? Absolutely not! But God is changing my heart and opening my eyes how I can be more responsible. Buying Fair Trade items is always an easy place to start. And this fall I was introduced to an organization called Stop Traffick Fashion. They sell items from companies that help free women from trafficking and bondage to slavery and/or prostitution. Buying from a group like this helps my gift have a dual purpose...something for the recipient and help to a woman half a world away. This is just one organization, there are many more out there and with a little bit of extra effort  and usually not that much more expense, you could make a difference in the lives of the deeply impoverished.

I concede that I'm not 100% aware of the destination of every penny I spend. And we still do our fair share of wasting...but it's a start. And if we would all just start supporting local businesses, avoiding retailers or labels or products that are known for degrading practices or sub-standard wages, maybe one day Tiny Tim's words would ring true..."God bless us...everyone!"

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Grand Canyon

Thanks to Spotify, I've been listening to Susan Ashton a lot lately. I'd forgotten how much I liked her music. I guess once I discovered Sara Groves, I set Susan aside. But there's a song that's been playing over and over in my head for a few days that's expressed exactly how I've been feeling..."Grand Canyon".

"Sometimes I feel like I'm
As close as Your shadow and,
Sometimes I feel like I'm
Looking up and You

From the bottom of the Grand Canyon
So small and so far.
From the Grand Canyon
With a hole in my heart.

And I'm a long way from where I know
I need to be
When there's a Grand Canyon
Between You and me."

Feeling "distant" is the only way I know to describe how I've felt for the last few weeks. Oh, God has still be good, faithful and involved in my life, but there's just been this "feeling" I guess I would describe as an absence of closeness.

Partly, I know why. This is the same time last year that I lost focus and floundered for several months. I know it's the holidays...because for we poor folks (trying to keep this light and upbeat by using "folks")...the holidays just exacerbate our already overwhelming frustration with finances. Sure, I'm okay with having a "lean and mean" Christmas...but that's difficult to explain to your kids. They have responded well to some suggestions we've made about keeping expenses down...but still, as a mom...wait...as an American mom...I have this preconceived notion that my kids just won't be happy with one or two small gifts.

But finances are only a small manifestation of what the root problem is...it's a battle that is waging to keep me distracted from the Love of my Abba. Even as I'm reading Repenting of Religion, and am telling myself that I am in Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me so I can ascribe unsurpassable worth through His Love to others...I'm not ascribing that same worth to myself or those closest to me. Honestly, I've just felt very mean and nasty the last few days and I couldn't understand why.

Then this morning with the song above playing in my head, I wrote this in my journal: "I feel distant, Lord. I don't hear you, I'm struggling to see You. Please give me the faith to believe Your promises. You are faithful and true." I went on to ask Him to fill me to overflowing with His Love, His Holy Spirit, and to help me let His Love flow out of me and to others...especially those closest to me.

Then, nagging in the back of my brain was another song, "Nothing to Say" by Andrew Peterson:

"The mountains sing Your Glory, Hallelujah.
The canyons echo sweet amazing grace.
My spirit sails
The mighty gales are bellowing Your name.
And I've got nothing to say."

Several years ago I had the privilege of seeing the Grand Canyon (these are actually my photos at the top and bottom), and that chorus made a whole lot more sense. The depth...the height...the width of those canyons are just a speck compared to the depth, height and width of God's amazing grace...His Love.

So this morning, I specifically asked God to let me hear Him today...to give me the privilege of seeing His power and His glory. Beth Moore says it takes a lot of chutzpah to ask to see His glory...and today...I was ready. He just never quite does things the way I expect! Amen!

I opened up Facebook about 15 minutes ago and I was sobbing at what He had done. For some reason...and in one of those unexplainable ways that He does...He had a dear friend send me a lengthy letter...addressed from Him and to me. I cannot describe the emotion...the Love that I felt washing over me. My friend could have had no clue how this e-mail would mean so much!

He told me to ask for it...and He was showing me His Glory, Hallelujah! Praise His Name, even when you feel like you're standing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon...those canyons definitely echo with His sweet amazing grace!

Recipes

I know a lot of people who are converting to Vegan, Gluten-Free or Dairy-Free lifestyles...or all three...like me. (With the exception of Goat Cheese...thanks Susan for turning me on to this...I think!)
The holidays are posing a bigger challenge for me than I'd anticipated. Over the last 2 years, I'd already given up baking oodles of cookies and candy to have on hand through the month of December. It just became too big of a battle to keep everyone out of it until we had company or a special family night. [Note to parents with little kids: Your children will one day find all of your hiding places! They get much quieter and sneaky too!]

But all of the old favorites we used to make we either can't have, or the recipe modifications just don't taste the same. So as I come across recipes that I think some of you would like, I'll occasionally share them. It's been a long time since I posted to my Vegan blog. I guess this being one of the biggest food months of the year, I felt inspired to share a few.

Tales of a Newborn Vegan
Enjoy!

Dancin' in the Minefields

Everytime I hear this song I'm moved to tears. I've posted it a few times on Facebook, and thought I'd now share it with those of you who read this blog.

When I hear it, I'm reminded of all of the junk my husband and I have gone through and how even though at times we've been pulling in opposite directions, we haven't yet torn each other apart. That is not because of anything that we did...it's because of a God who has given us strength, mercy and love to endure our fair share of tragedies...some small and some that I thought would do us in.

Life is a minefield...and to be blessed to have someone willing to dance through it with you is undoubtedly the best gift my Abba has given me...second only to the Love He gives me through the life and death of His Son, Jesus.

Because we have a ministry to single moms, I know finding this dance partner doesn't happen for everyone. I wish I knew what to say about that...but words fail. Loved one...please be assured that no matter the minefield...you do not dance through it alone...your Abba is right by your side. My prayer is that someday, in God's Will and timing alone, He will provide that partner you desire to dance through the minefield with you.

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A Time to Serve

Today, our home school co-op helped serve Christmas dinner to the residents and their guests at the nursing home were we regularly volunteer. One of the ladies in our group has a special place in her heart for this ministry so visits are scheduled monthly. Sometimes we play BINGO, sometimes we do crafts, one time they did manicures...but today it was a special day for a special dinner.

They even let us use some of their aprons. My daughter Leah, the one in the middle, loves to serve at the nursing home. She's a little shy around strangers, but something about this just tugs at her heart. One month, we couldn't attend and she was very disappointed until she found out she could go with another family that was going. That's dedication!

It's a chance for our kids to serve with their friends, so serving is a little more fun. Also, I'm sure great memories are being made that will last forever...and they don't even think of it as work!

We've met so many sweet people...mostly ladies...who always ask us to come back and sometimes even not to forget them. Some of the kids from our group have had the chance to hear some amazing life stories...one I overheard who was a teacher in the mountains at a very young age, reminiscing about walking along the creekbed to get to the school where she taught. And sometimes there are surprises...

like when Santa shows up! But most of all, it's a time when some people who are often forgotten are given some love and attention from members of a younger generation that don't even yet understand the fullness of these lives that have been lived.

These kids may not quite understand what a ministry they're providing...but one look into the weather-beaten, deeply furrowed face of a resident beaming with delight and you know it's huge to them!