Hi friends

Ann here --

Today I wanted to interrupt our 'house' series, to write a short and sweet post. I've had the word 'Resolute' in my head for much of the day. So that's what I wanted to say:

Be RESOLUTE, SUMites.

I pray that God enables you to be resolute.

I bless you to be resolute in your hard and bumpy path.

An online dictionary definition of 'resolute' says that to be resolute is to be 'admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering.'

That's what we have to be. 

My friends, the SUM situation might be a journey of many years. Your faith journey might involve some unexpected twists and turns, disappointments, steps back, or detours. Things don't always look the way you think they're going to look; God's move on your life is always surprising. God is surprising! 

Stay resolute.

Love you all

Ann

By Ann Hutchison

My friends, today I went a-walking through country lanes with Bryce and my parents (photo attached).

As we did so, I walked past quite a few houses that I deemed my 'dream home'. I salivated over these houses and wished they were mine. 

Yep, a little material lusting went on this morning. What would your dream home be, I wonder? Mine would be old, British, in a country village, with a thatched roof, a rose-overgrown garden, and spacious .... Of course, way beyond what I could afford!

But is that really my dream home?!

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife (Proverbs 21:9, ESV)

And

Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened calf and hatred with it (Proverbs 15:17, ESV)

God tells me, through these verses, that the most precious thing that I could have -- house-wise -- is a home that has love in it. My dream home, then, should be a home with love. That's it.

That means love around the dinner table and an atmosphere of love within the walls. It means a home that a spouse and children want to come home to in the evening, because it 'feels' like a place of love.

Have I been undervaluing that? Perhaps I have.

Specifically, it means an atmosphere that is patient, kind, not self-seeking, not boastful, hopeful, rejoicing in the truth, bearing all things, and believing all things (1 Corinthians 13); and it means interactions between family members that ooze those qualities.

Ok, that last one is a noble idea, but easier said than done. What if you live with a particularly cantankerous family member? What if you're at the end of your tether and struggle with anger issues yourself?

Well, we're not perfect, so it's not going to be love, love, love all the time ... It might be very much a work-in-progress. I suppose the point is that LOVE in the home is far more precious than material possessions. God in the home is far more precious than having a materially nice house. And that dream is where our energy is best spent.

If you already have a home that is full of love, wow, rejoice and thank God: You already have your dream home! Who cares how many bedrooms it has, whether it has a garden, whether it has a thatched roof, what style it is ...... You already have the very best thing possible. 

And if you currently don't have a home like that, love goes out to you. I know that many in our community face a struggle there. We have all kinds of homes here at SUM. But these verses do bring to the fore an important question: Is it time to make a change? 

Well, that's all today. Is this a 'work in progress' in your home? Do you need prayer for this one? Reach out for prayer if you need to.

Much love

Ann

Hello SUMites!

Today, I'm going to pop two verses from Proverbs on here, so that we can chew them over during the weekend. They are two similar verses. Here we go:

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife (Proverbs 21:9, ESV)

And

Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened calf and hatred with it (Proverbs 15:17, ESV)

My friends, what do these verses bring to mind?

• What does a dinner of herbs vs a fattened calf look like in today's society?
• Have you ever eaten a dinner where there was hatred with it?
• What does a quarrelsome person behave like, and what do they do to their home?
• What does a dinner with love look like?

I can feel some tough stuff a-brewing. I personally have lived in a home with a quarrelsome person, and it wrecked my heart. I've also sat at a table where there was hatred, and I can contrast that with a table where there is love. Finally, I've had dinners of herbs and dinners of fattened calves. 

Well, we'll continue after the weekend. Bye till then!

Ann

Ann here!

Well, SUMites, this week I had a very pleasurable experience, from a SUM point of view.

My son Miles is in Birmingham, England, right now playing sport; and, so, we are watching. He is playing in the under-20s world championships for Disc Ultimate, a team sport involving a frisbee. He and a team of other boys are battling it out on the fields against teams like Belgium, Canada, Japan, China, and Mexico.

Exciting!!

One of the sweetest parts of this week is that one of our SUMites, Libby, who lives locally, came for the day to support our team and join in the fun of the tournament.

Not only that, Libby brought her two sons, one of whom is in his early teens and the other in his twenties, along with the older son's girlfriend. The Son was shining on us as we watched the games together and chatted a wee bit. But for me there was something extra special about this: We have been talking about our houses here on the blog, and now here I was hanging out with Libby's house.

She and I, and her boys, and the girlfriend, chatted away as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And quietly, I sat and thought, "She and I each stand in faith for our families, and we support each other in this."

We don't always feel strong in it, but the spiritual truth is we're positioned. We've put a stake in the ground for our family. And even if we don't see change in the natural, the impact will be seen in eternity. What a job it is, and what a privilege.

Proverbs 31 speaks of a woman who puts her all into her life, house and family, however hard it is. In that passage it promises two things, among several:

Her children will rise and call her blessed.

And --

Her works will praise her at the city gate.

When I read this, I think of the SUM men as well as the SUM women. For any person who fights for the faith of their whole home and does it alone, I believe that chapter is for them. When it speaks of their children arising, I think of that as our children being resurrected into eternal life; and when it speaks of works praising us at the city gate, I think of that as happening in eternity when we reach heaven's gates. 

Keep fighting, dear friends! The story's not over yet.

Ann

My friends, I am still lingering over Proverbs 24, which encourages us to build our houses with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

Sometimes God plants you in a scripture, and you don’t move on from it for a while! Well, that’s the case here.

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4, NIV)

I did a little study of these three words -- Knowledge, wisdom and understanding -- as I was keen to know what they looked like more specifically. Here we go:

Wisdom, in Hebrew, is the word Hakma. It means, skill in war, wisdom in administration, shrewdness, prudence in religious affairs, and wisdom in ethics.

Understanding, in Hebrew, is the word Tabun. It means intelligence, discretion, reason, the act of understanding, insight.

Knowledge, in Hebrew, is the word Da’at. It means cunning, knowing something, discernment, perception.

Together, these three descriptive words – which do overlap in meaning – capture the ingredients of how to build a strong house (i.e., family). They are the builder's materials, as we wisely build our homes.

So now, let’s take some of the above definitions and discuss what this looks like, in practice, when building our own homes:

Skill in war: I understand spiritual warfare. I understand that there are forces of evil as well as good, that are trying to derail my house, and I actively fight in prayer for the protection and spiritual health of my family. (Side note here: If you haven't yet, and want to become upskilled in spiritual warfare for the unequally yoked, read Lynn's book, Spiritual Enforcer!)

Wisdom in administration: This could refer to having Biblical wisdom about things like finances, lending and borrowing, the management of a family, and linking your family in a healthy way to community, church and society.

Discernment: It is important to be able to discern spiritual things in relation to our home. That is, we learn to discern the spirits. If there is a problem, we should be able to ask ourselves and God 'What is the root cause of this, spiritually?' God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear, so that we can keep our homes healthy.

Prudence in religious affairs, insight, wisdom: I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ and understand what pure and undefiled religion looks like (James 1:27), then I bring that into my home in insightful ways.

Intelligence: I know why I believe what I do, I have examined truth and error, I have a good grasp of scripture, and I am growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Cunning: I am wise as a serpent but harmless as a dove in my home, and as I lead my family.

When I say 'I' in all the above statements, I don't mean myself: I mean all of us, and what it looks like to build our homes with these ingredients.

My friends, we could go on here, but that gives us a little taster: Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are profound things, and have a key impact on our homes. What’s more, scripture shows at various points that these are things that others unwittingly recognize and find themselves attracted to – Like the Queen of Sheba who came to see Solomon and marveled. There are quite a few statements in scripture that say others will be attracted to, and will notice, your hakma, tabun and da'at.

So with all that said, all the best building your homes with knowledge, wisdom and understanding; and once again I pray for a downpour of these things for our SUM houses!

Love you all

Ann

Hello all!

Today's post was delayed due to the global IT outage – Oh dear! But thankfully the blog is up and running again, phew.

I have been, once again for a few days, staying at my parents’ house in Oxfordshire, England. Sitting at their dining table yesterday afternoon, I looked up to see my Mum’s Bible sitting open. She reads it all the time and leaves it sitting around here and there. I thought to myself, ‘That is a woman who builds her house with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.’

Later, she and I went for a walk along the River Thames, and to a pretty village. We passed a church, and it had a verse on it. She stopped me and said, ‘You know, that verse is a special verse that I pray over Travis’ (my son).

Then she spoke it out, the whole verse to me.

She then said, ‘I have a special verse for each of you – I have one for you, one for Miles, one for Travis, one for Bryce…. I feel God has given me a verse specifically for each person.'

‘Oh, what’s mine, what’s mine?’ I said, like a kid in a candy shop.

She told me…

And then –

‘What’s Bryce’s?’

She told me that too.

That’s one example of how you build a house with wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

Here’s a pic of us out for lunch in an English pub garden. My mum with the house she's built.

Love you all!

Ann

By wisdom a house is built,
    and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled
    with rare and beautiful treasures.

Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV)

SUMites, today we're going to talk about how the above verse applies to our houses.

Collectively, we each have a house that we treasure. Mine is in Auckland, New Zealand; and it consists of Bryce, my husband, and Travis and Miles, my two young adult sons.

Yours is somewhere else, in another pocket of our world. I love that about our SUM community.

We each build our 'house' carefully: We think about what we teach our children and spouse, and we think about what we allow into that house. I would say every SUMite I know thinks ever so carefully about such things. And in this way, we are each already building with wisdom.

Sometimes God will give us a blueprint as to how to build our house; sometimes he will be very specific. For example, one time he clearly asked me to remove Pokemon cards from my children. Eeek, that was hard. It was unpopular and my family still talks about it with a groan. "The time that Mum made us get rid of our Pokemon cards". I still don't understand why God asked that of me, but I did it and, in so doing, I built according to the blueprint.

At other times, we don't have a clear blueprint, so we go for it and do our best.

It's not just about what we allow in. It's more positive than that: It's equally about the encouragements we give our family, the way we conduct ourselves, the routines we build, and the things we enjoy and celebrate together.

I've been thinking about whether wisdom, understanding and knowledge are different to each other. Having studied the use of these three Hebrew words over the weekend, I don't yet grasp the difference between them. But the point is all three of these things come from God. Scripture makes it clear that it is God who gives wisdom, knowledge and understanding, and that these three things are things we are to pray for. So, a first prayer for our houses can be this:

God, give me wisdom, knowledge, and understanding so that I can build my house well.

Go into a quiet place, and deliberately pray this prayer. Find a photo of your house and/or your family, lay it mentally before him and say:

God let this house be built with wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

The next part of the scripture talks about the rooms of our house being filled with rare and beautiful treasures. I like the sound of that! But what might these rare and beautiful treasures be that come from God's hand? For me, I think of these things:

• The ability to hear God's voice
• Favor from God
• Salvation
• Knowing Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit
• Promises from God
• Gifts of the Spirit
• The fruits of the Spirit.

The above list is the best thing in the world, better than any bank account full of dollars, or any material possessions. And these things are rare indeed: How many people do you know in your life who have the above? Me: Not many at all. Though I will say that through the SUM community I am blessed to know quite a few.

Next, just imagine that the 'rooms of our house' are actually our family members. Say, in my case, that one room of my house is Travis's life and legacy; another room is Miles's life and legacy; another room is Bryce's life and legacy; and another room is mine. Imagine each of those rooms being filled with the above list of rare and beautiful treasures.

Oh God, please!

So then, let us pray:

God, fill the rooms of my house with rare and beautiful treasures.

My friends, God will honor these prayers, and will make our houses richly beautiful -- Brimming with rare and beautiful treasures. Some of these rare and beautiful treasures might not be seen or perceived until we are in eternity, but they are there.

For he is faithful who promises.

Ah, what a nice thing this has been to write about today. Can you think of ways in which you have built your house with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding?

Much love

Ann

SUM Nation,

Lynn Donovan here. 

I'm joining the Amazon Prime Days and ALL of my titles are on sale. $12 or less on some titles. That's it. Pick up a title you have been missing. Read it on the beach, at the lake house, read it with a group of ladies. Start your own online study.

Please be encouraged and equipped. You can walk through marriage, raising kids and a spectacular faith life!

Here is a link to the books under my name on Amazon. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your faith life. Amazon.com: Lynn Donovan: books, biography, latest update

I pray you experience freedom, hope and the power of God's love as your turn the pages this summer. Blessings and hugs, Lynn   ...-

Ann here, with the beginning of our series on building our house.

As a reminder: Our 'house' =our family, and our descendants. It includes ourselves, our spouse, any children and grandchildren we might have, our home, and the legacy we leave. 

So, let's go! Here is the first proverb we're going to look at:

By wisdom a house is built,
    and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled
    with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV)

I am going to pause here and ask some questions before we continue with the next blog post (which I am yet to write):

• What is the difference between 'wisdom', 'understanding', and 'knowledge'? Is there a difference?
  
• What are 'rare and beautiful treasures' in Kingdom terms - what might they look like?
• What about the different 'rooms' of our house in spiritual terms? What might that mean?

Can I suggest we all have a chat with God about these questions -- I will too -- and then perhaps you can share in the comments any insights you might have?

This is going to be fun!

Ok, catch you again next week once we've prayed into these questions.

Much love,

Ann

My friends, hello.

We're shortly going to be looking at the concept of our houses -- What does it look to build and care for your own house, spiritually?

But before we do, I wanted to share a visual that God gave me a while ago: He showed me that the SUM community is a collection of individual houses, all clustered together into a mountain.

Take a look, if you would, at the illustration of it that I've made here, and have a think about what this picture says to you.

Why do you think our houses are in the shape of a mountain?

For me this speaks of the sheer strength that we have in the spirit realm. You may feel like your little house, your family, is alone ... But the truth is that it is part of a gigantic force, a mountain constructed by God.

Well, I am going to keep this brief as my own little 'house' -- Bryce, me, Travis and Miles -- is off on a day out together. But feel free to share in the comments any further thoughts that you have about this picture.

Back again soon. 

In Christ,

Ann

My friends,

Bryce and I have been joined by our children for this next month. They have flown over from New Zealand for their university holidays and we are now in Italy together.

It is precious being with them. 

This past week we have stayed in the home of an Italian family, on another house exchange. This house is in a non-touristy part of Italy, the north-east, in flat farmland. For miles and miles in every direction there has been nothing but flat fields. So we have taken bike rides to the local supermarket, enjoyed the fields of sunflowers, and driven to the places locals hang out, such as the local beach.

The house itself is a cheerful family home, rural style. On the walls, the children and family are celebrated, with many messages of love and huge home-made photos. The kitchen has a bruschetta machine in it, and a ginormous meat slicer, both of which might be Italian kitchen must-haves. For the boys, there's been table-football, and a well-worn but fabulous massage chair upstairs, which they've used every day.

We have loved being here.

I am continuing to think, therefore, about the concept of one's house. You can enter someone's house and it will have a feel to it. It might feel cosy and welcoming, or particularly orderly and serene. Or, it can be the opposite. A house contains special things and is often specially crafted or put together with love and care. Then it is opened up to others.

The book of Proverbs contains a lot of wisdom about one's house. As I mentioned last week, this doesn't mean a physical house so much as a spiritual house: Our house is our nuclear family, spouse, children, and then, in time, any descendants. We ourselves have a special job in all this: We're the spiritual leaders of our house. So, in the coming days I'm going to do a study from Proverbs on this concept -- The concept of our 'House' -- and discuss what it looks like to build our house well. When I write next I'll kick off a little series on that.

The SUM community is a house. But then we have our own individual houses too: Families of our own that we have lovingly formed.

In fact, recently God gave me a vision of the SUM community being a mountain of houses. 

What is your house like? Do you live in the city or the country? Do you put a lot of time into your physical house and space? What special things does your spiritual house have in it?

Phew, lots of questions!

Ok, back soon friends. Much love,

Ann

Dear SUMites, Ann here.

Quite often I’ll receive an email from a reader saying "Help! I am overcome by feelings of regret about having married out of disobedience to God."

For these dear ones, it is a truly difficult battle, where they are wrangling deeply with the life they've constructed; and, of course, they cannot share these feelings with their spouse.

((Hugs to you if that's you right now)).

Know this: Many in our community have battled this one, and you are not alone. Some were Christians who chose to marry a non-believing partner, suspecting deep-down that it was not God's will. Once married, and once having drawn close to God again, a period of deep reflection and regret follows.

Those who’ve gone through this have asked questions like, ‘What now?'  'Is it possible to celebrate my marriage?’ or, ‘Can my marriage still be blessed?’

Often, they love their spouse dearly; and often the marriage has resulted in beautiful children. This makes it all the more painful and complex.

So, how do we tackle feelings of shame and regret? Well, first of all we are certainly to shed them, after going through a process of reflection. But although we might know in our minds that God has forgiven us, sometimes it is easier said than done to shed intrusive thoughts.

I myself have suffered deep regret over certain things I have done in my life; and sometimes thoughts about those things continue to bubble to the surface and make me groan with regret. Does God want me to marinate in such things? Intrusive, shameful or regretful thoughts are a battle, and I know this. Yet it is hard to remove them.

Well, first of all, for those who married an unbeliever, God has shown our ministry that, although we are to understand the ramifications of that decision and repent where we believe repentance is due, we are to then to walk in our identity as a forgiven child of God. What's more, our love of covenant means that we are to cherish our spouse now -- We made a covenant with them -- and throw ourselves into being the best spouse we can possibly be. This is now what means to be Christian in our homes. It's an exciting and wonderful calling.

That last part is really important and is what it's about to walk well in a spiritually mismatched marriage. As long as our spouse is not abusive and is in the marriage, then we too honor that covenant.

However, intrusive regretful thoughts will still come, and we have to go to battle against those. It is a battle of the mind. So, practically, here's what we do:

• When a regretful or shame-filled thought bubbles up, say out loud ‘NO! I take this thought captive in the name of Jesus!’
• Pray each day, ‘Lord, sanctify my mind and give me the mind of Christ.’ Say it loud, for there is power in your tongue.
• Say, each day, ‘I bless myself with the mind of Christ.’
• Pray, ‘Jesus, heal me from shameful and intrusive thoughts.’
• And say, each day: ‘Jesus, show me what lies I’m believing, and show me what the truth is instead.’ 

Part of the battle is having the discipline to do this as frequently as needed. It is easy for our minds to become embattled and infiltrated with ungodly thoughts that try to implant themselves. So, we have to roll up our sleeves and do battle for our minds.

It seems to me that this thing is a real process. Many who walk this particular battle do so for a season, while they grapple with the topic and learn to understand God's heart for them. But then it is done. Once the battle has passed, you can indeed relish the clean page of a new and healthy marriage, knowing that you can be blessed, and that God does honor and support your family. For now you have a new task: To stand in the gap for your family, and to build a house that stands for the Lord.

We do this last part together.

My friends, what has your own process looked like in overcoming regret?

Much love,

Ann

Photo courtesy of asadphoto and Pexels.com

I’m writing this post on a chilly winter’s afternoon here in Sydney. However, I know for most of us, it’s summer in the northern hemisphere and many of you will be enjoying long days and hopefully some down time.

Those of us in the southern hemisphere, I trust are coping with the cold and are able to enjoy some slower days in a warm home.

Leaning into God

Often these slower seasons allow us a bit more time to seek out time with the Lord. I wanted to share a few thoughts on stillness, some of which I’ve shared previously.

“Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10)

We’re all very familiar with this verse. I’ve written on it many times but I’m increasingly discovering the wonder of its truth. Because it is in stillness and ONLY in stillness where we are able to hear God. I’m discovering this truth. We need quiet to listen to and hear God.

I consciously seek after some quiet with God most days. I frequently visit Contemplative at Home to assist me in slowing down and becoming quiet. It’s in the quiet we develop the ears to hear God. Yes, distraction is always present, but don’t fight it, simply roll with it and try to send it away. Using a word to bring you back to God is a useful practice. I typically use the phrase: “Come, Holy Spirit, come.”

Jesus and the Quiet

As we know, Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness soon after being baptised. Besides the noises of animals, birds, and insects, He would have spent those days in silence. As he didn’t eat, I expect Jesus spent much of his time simply being quiet communing with the Father.

In the quiet, we discover how to let go and surrender our hold on everything that’s going on in our worlds. We like control, don’t we. Even of bad things. God wants us to let go and discover the wonder of learning to depend on Him and Him alone.

“The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still.” (Exodus 14:14 NIV).

Its significant how Moses instructs the Israelites as they’re standing on the shore of the Red Sea, terrified that the chasing Egyptians will re-capture them. Can you image what they must have thought! “What! You want us to be still! We’re about to be overrun by those horses charging at us!”

We all know what happens next. God fulfilled his promise to the people, only when they were still. I’ve found this invaluable when anxiety strikes. For much of my life, I would hold onto Jesus, but at the same time, hold onto the ‘thing’ that’s stressing me. But Jesus says, let go of the ‘thing’, whatever it is, and then I’ll fight for you. Does that make sense?

“In repentance and rest will be your salvation;

In quietness and trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15 NIV)

“Stillness is your strength because it shows your trust in God. In your stillness, God moves.” (Ann Voskamp)

An Exercise to practice

Over the next weeks, may I encourage us all to minimise our distractions and simplify our schedule (postpone things to next week or beyond if you are able). Take some time each day to simply be still and quiet with God.

Just find a comfortable quiet spot and use a word, a phrase, for example, ‘Come Holy Spirit’, ‘Jesus, I’m here’) and listen. When a distracting thought comes (they will and that’s okay), simply say the word/phrase again.

You might hear nothing. That’s okay. Try again tomorrow.

We’d love to hear how you go.

Grace and peace.