 Just last week, I watched my college town and the Blue Ridge Mountains that have served as my second home be decimated by Hurricane Helene. Even as I type this, another hurricane, category 4 storm Milton, is just hours away from slamming into Florida’s shoreline and is expected to bring catastrophic devastation. We are a matter of weeks away from one of the most polarizing and (dare I say) exhausting elections in America’s history. Wars are escalating in the Middle East. My heart is pulled in one thousand directions and breaking for a handful of reasons and this doesn’t even include any personal problems, like the new roof and AC unit our house needs or the fact that my eldest daughter has outgrown her pants and needs a winter coat.
You have your own version of this top paragraph don’t you? Together, we are reading the news headlines and scrolling on social media and our souls are shattering. People need help. Maybe even we ourselves need help. We want to pray but this is all so overwhelming. So, where do we start? This isn’t like we’re asking Jesus for a nice car. None of those shiny things have any significance at all right now. These are matters of life or death. This is survival. How do we find words to wrap up our devastating and divisive moment in order to bring it all to the feet of Jesus? What do we say when we don’t know what to pray anymore?
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 “I was recently invited to speak at a women’s event titled “Glory to Glory.” As the first speaker, I was asked to unpack the meaning of the word “glory” and I was honestly stunned during my research by the complexity of it. Mainly because I had gotten so used to hearing it.
“Glory” is one of those words we use so often in Christiandom that we can forget what it means. “God we give you glory…” At Christmas in all the Church plays we quote the angel saying, “Glory to God in the highest.” “All glory and honor and power…” We’ve all heard some iteration of this, right? But what are we really talking about when we use the word “glory?”  As I was sitting in worship yesterday, we were singing “I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, holy.” It’s a beautiful worship song called “Crowns Down” sung originally by Josh Baldwin and Bethel Music. Over and over, as if the title of this song was in neon letters blinking in my brain, I kept feeling God say— Crowns down. Crowns down.
My mind was jogged to Deuteronomy 12. In this Chapter, God warns the Israelites that the new land they are claiming has high places that the people who went before them used as places for idol worship. Here’s what God asks them to do: “These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” (Deuteronomy 12: 1-3, NIV) Break down the altars. Burn down the pillars. Cut down the idols. All of these thoughts came together in that moment of worship to lead me to ask this question: What high places and crowns must come down?  Spring means it’s time to plant things. Fix up the yard. Finally put something in that empty pot in the front yard.
I'm an amateur gardener at this point in my life. I have a small space in the yard with a few veggies sprouting up. There's an arch entryway with morning star jasmine trailing up the side. While I still plant things that don't survive and put things in the wrong place in my yard, for the most part I'm finally successful at keeping more things alive than not. But, I had to start somewhere. Years ago, when I planted my first real plant, my grandmother was the first one I called for advice. She's a green thumb if there ever was one and an expert when it comes to spring gardening. You'll never guess what she told me…  We have really made this word “calling” a complicated, mystical thing. Like it’s reserved for only those who are preachers. Or Bible teachers. Maybe even it’s for the rich and famous. Like Justin Beiber was probably “called” to sing right? Or that boss in that really fancy company was definitely called to that business. Or that homesteading, homeschooling mom of six we follow on social media was for sure called to be a mother.
But “calling” is actually quite simple. If you’ve been overwhelmed by the question, “What am I called to do?” Let’s change that. Let’s walk away today as women on mission, confident in our calling in Christ.  You’re FREE ebook is at the end of this blog!
We’ve all heard the phrase “New year, New Me” about one thousand times. But here’s the deal, we don’t really need a new “us.” Why? Because we start things and don’t finish them. We make New Year’s resolutions and forget what they are by February. When the pressure is on us to fix us, we’re fail every time, right? What we’ve been doing isn’t working! That’s why we don’t need a “new me,” we need a new strategy. Here’s what I’ve been doing each new year and I’m tossing this plan in the trash. I’ve been adding things onto my life thinking these new additions will make my life more fulfilling, that I’ll even experience greater growth in my walk with Christ. More healthy food and exercise… More quiet time with God… Achieve more goals… Make more money… More date nights with my husband… Be more intentional with my kids… Gosh, just thinking of “more” makes my chest start to tighten. Is it doing that to you too? Because I know I need “more” of these things but life already feels full to the brim. If I throw on “more” I’m going to explode. I can’t handle more. I need less. And that is exactly how do we do more of what we know God is calling us into next year….  “Hey! How are you?”
It was the generic question that we all throw out to passersby. However, my friend offered back a response that stopped me in my tracks. “Honestly, not great…” We stood for a moment and chatted. I shared how grateful I was that they gave me an honest answer. They could have said “pretty good” and kept going, heart still heavy. But vulnerability in healthy spaces creates community and invites others in to help us carry the weight. I pray they walked away a little lighter. The reality is that this season isn’t always ribbons and bows, silver and gold, light and lifegiving. Christmas can be hard, dark, and a season of mourning. How many of us are pretending to be “pretty good” when we’re “honestly, not great”? What do we do when our Christmas isn’t exactly merry?  There are more days I wake up already feeling behind the ball than on top of it. It’s as if, no matter how fast I move, time won’t slow down enough to allow me to catch up to it.
You get it. We’re busy women! We have families and kids and jobs and homes and to-do’s and chores and food and then…. we toss in Christmas. A season of light, laughter, families and memories that we’ll so easily rush through if….  This is not the sharing of my two birth stories but rather, a sharing of God’s redeeming grace in and over all things nonetheless. A sharing of hope, of how the Lord brings beauty from ashes and makes all things new in accordance with His perfect plan.
Before divulging too much more, a disclaimer: There will be some details discussed from my two c-sections that could give rise to heavy emotions, thoughts, and feelings if you are in a delicate place processing your own birth, pregnancy, or postpartum experiences. My heart is for yours! God knows every emotion you are encountering. Nothing surprises Him or catches Him off guard. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16 As we come to understand with greater clarity what it looks like to hold grief and joy simultaneously, to live in the “already, but not yet”, we can affirm how that reality permeates different arenas of our every day lives. Our birth stories do not define us. But that doesn’t mean the very means in which the Lord chooses to use in refining us do not matter.  Not might. Not maybe. Jesus promised us that we WILL have suffering. This isn't a popular conversation topic because we want to believe that being a Christian will mean our life is easy. God is on our side so everything will be perfect now. Our prayers are heard so, poof! Amazing things are going to happen for us. Here’s the truth because I think you can handle it... |
