65 posts categorized "Laced With Grace"

Love is All Around!

6a00d83451ee9f69e202c8d3aec177200dHoly Week. It’s one of my favourite weeks of the year, but also one filled with sadness. It reminds me of Lectio 365’s Lenten Evening Meditation which they title, “Bright Sadness”.

I find the week is a microcosm of life with Jesus. We journey with Him, suffer death, wait for something to happen, and then there is newness in a resurrection of some sort.

It’s good to walk gently through this week and linger. I was reminded of this when I read Ann Voskamp’s post this morning  where she writes:

“Those looking for something sacred travel slow. Those looking for the holy linger.”

Linger with Jesus. However, you do this, but reading his Word is a great place to start. I enjoy reading the week’s liturgy as they walk you through Jesus’s week. We experience him entering Jerusalem on a donkey, him clearing out the temple, Mary’s wonderfully beautiful blessing with the expensive nard, preparation for Passover, the Passover meal in the Upper Room and then Easter.

I listened to Lectio 365's morning reflection today and it mentioned how the fragrance of the nard probably lingered on Jesus as he was crucified; the soldiers would have smelt it as they nailed his hands and feet to the Cross. Amazing.

Encountering Jesus

I’ve been reflecting for several weeks how the world is saturated in love. God is love and He is always present and therefore, His love is all around.

Every day we can choose to receive this love, to step into it, in some way. Receiving love can be hard for many of us, for a variety of reasons. It typically involves us making a conscious decision to do something and often requires making ourselves vulnerable which can be hard at the best of times.

If love is really all around (as the theme of the movie  ‘Love Actually’ suggests), how do we see it or receive it?

Pexels-enrique-15800379
Photo courtesy of Pexels and Enrique

I love clouds. I’m fascinated by the variety of shapes and designs that God provides for us to view. God knows I love clouds. I talk to God about them, “what’s that shape, Lord?” I often see angel shapes which I love and varieties of other creations. I soak in His creativity up as a way of receiving His love for me. "Thank you, Lord. I know you're close!"

It might be taking the time to chat to a neighbour. Hugging someone and allowing yourself to receive the hug as well (Fiona and I are huggers, and we think they’re one of the best things ever!) It might be a grandchild hopping up into your lap and cuddling. It might simply being silent when you start to pray, allowing God to love you in the stillness and quiet of the morning.

Lingering is so important to realising the many ways God is actively present in our lives. In this special week of brightness and sadness, it’s especially relevant. God is always with us, loving us in our own unique ways, just like Martha mentioned on Monday that Jesus speaks to her in her southern language.

May I encourage you to linger this week with God and allow Him to love you.

What aspect of nature and/or God’s creation do you find stops you in your midst and makes you linger and ponder with the Lord? Why not share it in the comments as we’d all love to the encouragement.

Wishing all our SUMites a delightful Easter.

Grace and peace.


Abiding and Abounding

ID-10014120
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hello SUMite friends, Ian from Down Under here.

I keep bumping into a recurring theme of how to do this Christian life well. I’ve probably made reference to it in previous posts. It has two elements to it, and different people use different terms to describe these elements. A nun I listened to a few years back described a typical day as consisting of time for ‘contemplation’ and then time for ‘action’ ending the day with more of the former. 

Interestingly, if you studied a typical day Jesus lived we would probably find that’s how His day would be broken into. What’s critical is that a good life includes both elements.

Recently I came across an alternative description: ‘abiding’ and ‘abounding’ which are taken from two key New Testament verses: 

John 15:4 (NRSV) – Jesus says, Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV) – Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

I think we all broadly understand the notion of abiding, of staying close to Jesus. The notion of abounding similarly is relatively straight forward, of doing the work of the Lord. One might suggest it’s hard to do the latter without the former but I think we all know from experience it’s often easier to do the ‘doing’ without spending any time ‘being’.

Tension Between the Two 

John Ortberg who was the one that brought this new moniker to my attention reflected on the tension between the two. It was a fact of life and we even see evidence of it in Jesus’ life when He was torn between doing more or spending time in quiet contemplation with the Father. 

We’re often implored to have ‘balance’ in life, aren’t we? Sometimes we’re even made to feel bad because life is nowhere near being balanced. Right? But I’ve been thinking that life is more about ‘seasons’. There will be ‘seasons’ when we do more of something and other ‘seasons’ when we do more of something else. Think of those weeks and months after having a baby, for example. Or those times when we had major projects to complete or exams to study for. Trying to achieve any semblance of ‘balance’ is simply not possible and why overlay ourselves with additional burden of feeling guilty about being imbalanced.

Yes, the Sabbath is very important to God and so it should be to us to. By that I mean doing it not just believing in it. So we should seek to incorporate regular times of rest in our schedules.

“Anyone seeking to have a long obedience in the same direction needs a regular rhythm of stopping.” (Rich Villodas)

Realistically there are likely to be seasons when we abide more and other seasons when we abound more. But remember there is always going to be a tension between the two and that’s okay. That’s normal. 

Systems

What I particularly appreciated in Ortberg’s outline was the importance of implementing systems in our lives to both ‘abide’ and ‘abound’.  Many of us will be more naturally inclined to do one or the other but a ‘system’ will help create healthy habits to implement the one we’re less inclined to do. 

I’m actually more inclined to spend time ‘abiding’ but am learning how to be more ‘active’ in doing the work of the Lord. BTW, I don’t think this necessarily means we need to be adding more things to our already busy schedules rather taking advantage of opportunities around us to “love in action”. Always remember the families we love are our closest “neighbors” when reflecting upon “loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.” It’s easy to forget that. Our homes are where we can actively demonstrate "love in action". 

A critical aspect to abiding is to get away from the noise within our individual worlds. That enables us to hear God. A healthy habit or discipline that enables us to disrupt all the stuff running through our minds is a positive thing.

“Uncluttered time and space to distance ourselves from the frenzy of our own activities so we can see what God has been and is doing.” (Eugene Peterson)

I walk Beanie, one of our dogs every morning and night. It’s a wonderful time for me to ‘withdraw’ and free my mind. Interestingly, in the afternoon or night it can be the most productive time for me to get new inspiration for story ideas or for work. And that’s because I’ve switched my mind off from all the other stuff and simply focused on the one thing. 

In the morning though I try to start by looking up at the sky and praising the Lord for the day. Most days it’s sunny where I am so the morning sunshine is an easy thing to praise God for. Then I will pray Psalm 23 and meditate on each line. It’s a really soothing Psalm and so powerful in drawing us close to the Lord, our Shepherd. More often than not this will lead me to start praying for people or things in my life that I sense the Lord has put on my heart. It’s quote normal for me to start conversing with the Lord where we chat. About all sorts of things. I love these times.

But what we’re trying to do is give ourselves the opportunity to hear from God.

Similarly, with abiding we need to implement a system or discipline that help us to “abound in the work of the Lord”. I’ve already gone on too long so I might leave discussion of what this looks like for next time.

Where do you find the most tension between abiding and abounding (or contemplation vs action)? How do you go about creating some space to abide with the Lord during your day?

Blessings, my friends.


Deliverance After YEARS Of Torment! Hallelujah!

Hello SUM Family, Tiffany Here!

The last couple of months I have been sharing a bit about what I have learned from reading a book called From Dream to Destiny by Robert Morris. I was assigned to read this book in class and I am so glad that I read it! This book has been truly amazing. To read the previous two posts I've written in this "mini-series" click on the links below.

This Is Just The Pits!

Do You Want Evidence Or The Truth?

In September I began to take steps to transition into a new church. As you read this, I have now been at this new church for 3 weeks. Each and every week has been so powerful and effective. Today I want to share with you a recent experience unlike anything I've ever had. It happened a little over a week ago on October 14, 2018. The following is what I posted the next day on Facebook (sharing here as well since a lot of you may not have Facebook or seen it because we aren't "friends"):

 Worship at Hub is amazing. God is there. Holy Spirit presence is thick and tangible. We were singing a song I had never heard before. The lyrics were powerful and the words that floored me at the time were talking about laying my whole life down before Jesus our Savior. I was already worshipping on my knees but I couldn't help but crouch face down before God. I felt so heavy and overloaded. I was just crying and crying before God. My words spoken in tears and sobs. All of a sudden it was like God said, "get up." Not in an angry way but an empowering way...if that makes sense. I sat up and it was like I saw myself in the place of the woman caught in adultry that was brought before Jesus. The crowd, stones in hand set to stone her. Jesus calmly and matter of factly said, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone." Slowly, one by one the people left. Once everyone was gone, I pictured Jesus Freedom foreverlift up my chin so I would look him in the eyes. Crouched on the ground seeing His eyes intent on mine. Looking into my soul. Just like He did with the woman that day, He said, "who condemns you?" Looking around I reply, "No one Sir." In that instant...I felt all the weight of condemnation lifted. It was like I had an hour long deep tissue massage. Every fiber of my  being, relaxed and stress free. I realized later after worship and after the service...reflecting on what happened in that moment. Those people standing and surrounding me so quick to condemn and judge...were different versions of ME. How often I have shot myself down, I have stoned myself for a mis-spoken word, a harsh tone, a forgotten task, a wrong thought...I have been stoning myself for years and as God clearly told me to get up - it was giving me my life back. It was His GRACE UPON GRACE. His mercy. His true love. He doesn't keep record of wrongs...and neither should I. NO LONGER DO I. This morning, as life went on as usual...I reacted in ways I am tyring to change (short with my daughter when she cries about everything she wears - meltown after meltdown this morning and my shortness with her, attitude from tired children, etc) but the major difference was this. No one condemns me...not even myself. I made a mistake, asked for forgivenenss and moved on. The first instance my flesh tried to condemn me I heard the words "no one Sir." Loud and clear and it reminded me of the freedom that I was given. Once and for all. I will never go back. Once that transaction was finished Jesus said, "Go and sin no more." Can you image the freedom, the joy, the apreciation she felt with that moment? I can...because I do.

 You may have to click on the picture to better see but I found the moment in worship where this exchange happened. Today I stand free from years of mental torment. As I think about this moment it still brings tears to my eyes because every moment since then has been a blessing. Please know that it doesn't mean that I am perfect or care free. I still have some struggles that God is working on in me. Holy Spirit is still pruning and I've got a lot of work to do. However, I am no longer hopeless.

I've gone a little long this time so let me wrap up with this:

I have been blessed to be a blessing. So today, I bless you with joy unspeakable; freedom from weight (even YEARS worth) of torment - mental, emotional, spiritual, physical; victory beyond belief; confidence in your Daddy; hope to weather the storm; faith, life, salvation for your spouse and loved ones; light in the darkness; advancement in the Kingdom where you feel backslidden; fire shut up in your bones; fight and fierceness; and love beyond compare.

Below is the song that brought me to the feet of Jesus and ushered me into freedom.

See you in the comments. I would love to pray over you for your own deliverance.


A Fresh Anointing For ALL Mothers By Lynn Donovan

 

On September 26th I opened my Bible and found a note scribbled in the margin. It said:

2006: Today I was asked to be part of the writing team for Laced With Grace. 

As I read this note in my Bible, my heart soared. Seven years ago Iris Nelson found my tiny blog, Spiritually Unequal Marriage and we began an amazing friendship. We began to write, simply from our hearts about our Lord and His hand in our lives. I can’t thank Iris enough for asking me to be part of this Award winning team of writers. I left Laced With Grace a while back as our ministry grew. But my heart will always be part of this home on the web.

So today, Iris has allowed me to come back as a throw back post to September 2006 and share with you a devotion for Moms. This message is from the Holy Spirit for every mom whether they are walking the difficult path of being the spiritual leader of their homes or not.

Join me now and be filled with the truth of How God sees you. I love you the family of Laced With Grace.

Fire…
by: Lynn Donovan
I am filled with fire my friends. And this fire that burns in my stomach also is burning in yours. How do I know this?

Because you sacrifice!

Read the entire post and be filled with a fresh anointing of God's Holy Fire at Laced With Grace.

 

Also, leave a comment over there and be entered to receive a copy of Not Alone Trusting God To Help You Raise Godly Kids In A Spiritually Mismatched Home. 

Train Up A Child and


Today I say Goodbye

Today I say a tearful goodbye to all of my co-writers at Laced With Grace and tell them I love them.

I say goodbye to all of you who faithfully stopped in to spend your precious time with me. I love each of you. I expect to meet each of your face-to-face at the throne of Grace where we will hug and laugh with glee because God allowed us to share life together here on earth even if it was in this amazing world of the web. I love you deeply.

I treasure you Iris and Laurie and all of my past and present co-writers.

Mostly I love and adore Jesus. To Him all glory, honor and praise belong. Be blessed, Lynn Some of my Favorites:

-----

To read my Goodbyes and some of the my all-time favorite and best stories, visit Laced With Grace.

Laced With Grace


I Saw God

I saw God.

Let me explain.

Lately I have discovered that my spiritual eyes have opened just a little bit wider. I’ve witnessed glimpses of God around me. Most recently, I heard God. It was early Easter morning. You can read about that story on my Facebook page (look for the post on Sunday, April 15, 2012.)

But the story I feel compelled to tell is this one:

Join me for a great devotional at Laced With Grace and catch a glimpse of God. Be blessed, Lynn

 

Laced With Grace


I'ts In the Walls. It's at Laced With Grace.

Sometimes I can be so blond.

Color me surprised!

When we first moved to California, I found myself sharing our home with unwanted critters. I moved from an extremely arid region, translation – Las Vegas, where the only small animals around our home were a few scorpions and tiny ants.

Following our unpacking and a few nights in our brand new home, I was sound asleep enjoying the cooler nights of Southern California. That’s when I heard it, a rustling noise in all places, the walls of our bedroom. EEK! I mean, I sat straight up in bed, freaked. Can I get an Amen here?

To read the rest of the story, head over to Laced With Grace.

Laced With Grace

And five names were selected by the random number thinging again from the comments last Friday.

They are:

Keli Gwyn
Celia
Barbara Jenkins
Sherillynn
Emily Arndt

Please email me your address and I will get your copy of Winning Him Without Words in the mail.

Be blessed, Lynn


Interrupting Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I'm interrupting our scheduled series on courage, well sorta. Today I want to introduce you to a woman who stepped out in great courage, Heidi.

I've know Heidi for a number of years and she has overcome so much through the transofrming power and love of Jesus. I was priviledged to interview Heidi last fall. And today I bring you her amazing story.

This is a story to encourage all women, join me at Laced With Grace today for:

Triumph After Childhood Sexual Abuse.

 

Laced With Grace


Tears and Beauty

Carhand Her eyes brimmed with tears as she listened. She sat in the passenger seat of the car. It was dark outside and we sat together in the car in front of her home. Our conversation on the long ride home finally brought us to our destination. Her home, yes, of course but it was that deep and raw place in her heart that was in need of healing and we were touching upon that secret place not many open up.

If you ever feel like no one sees you, the real you, this is your story.

Laced With Grace: Tears and Beauty

Be blessed, Lynn


A Tale Worth Telling

Indulge me today.

Let me introduce the cast:

One- small furry, cute (deceptive) cat
One- small dog named Peanut
One – teenaged girl 16 going on 27.
One – believing mom and keeper of the home.

It started several months back. The rainy season. It’s cold, wet, and dark. One early evening during a light downpour as we sat in the family room watching TV. From the hallway we hear a tiny, “Meow.”

To read the entire story, join me today at Laced With Grace.

 

Laced With Grace


Go Ahead, Pray Really BIG

A few weeks ago, I read the book, Heaven Is for Real. It’s a little boys astounding story of his trip to heaven and back. I read it in less than a day. I was thrilled, had goose bumps, wrangled with some the secrets he shared about the afterlife and I was flat out craving my heavenly home.

Thus begins a story in which I share with you one of the most astounding answers to prayer I have ever experienced. Join me today at Laced With Grace.

I still can't beleive it and it happend to me, Hugs, Lynn

 

Laced With Grace


The Intentional Marriage - Stand Up or Shut Up???

Welcome to our video broadcast of The Intentional Marriage. We are looking at how to sift our marriage conflicts, failures and questions through a small but powerful passage in the Bible.

18 minutes of power. Take a listen. Lynn

 

 

The Intentional Marriage Show March 2011 from Lynn Donovan on Vimeo.

Also, find Dineen today over at Laced With Grace where she shares: Parenting Struggling Teens.


Book Giveaways and BFF's

Today I'm going to tell you about two friends I met way back when I was a tiny baby blogger.

I began blogging, let's see, it will be five years ago in May. I stumbled my away around in this crazy and fantastic cyber community and was blessed to find two amazing friends, Iris Nelson and Darlene Schacht.

Darlene was the editor of Christian Women Online, an online magazine and devotional site. Almost everyone who was a Christian woman and a blogger found each other through CWO and we all read and loved Darlene's writing. Through Darlene's ministry I join the devotional writing team, now named Internetcafedevotions.com (read my articles here) and that's where I met Iris Nelson. I wrote for the cafe for a year, took a break and then returned there last summer.

Darlene was instrumental in launching Spiritually Unequal Marriage and so was Iris. I joined Iris's devotional team, Laced With Grace, and remain one of the original contributors. God has given me some of my best stories to share there. I also write articles for the Cafe specific to living unequally yoked.

It's been an amazing journey and I love and adore these two women.

What is so cool about God's community is this, Darlene and Iris are enthusiastically willing to help us reach out to others who haven't found us yet. Today at Darlene's place, The Time-Warp Wife and all month at Laced With Grace, they are offering free copies of our book. Please enter. Even if you have a copy, enter and then give it away to a woman who needs encouragement.

Please take a stroll over and visit Darlene and Iris. You will be richly blessed through their writing. Be blessed, Lynn

 

 


The Hummingbird Atheist

I snapped this photo last night from my family room window. We are looking into the backyard. It’s twilight in this scene. It’s the mad rush of the Hummingbirds.

If you know an unbeliever this is a good story. If you are a believer, this is a GREAT story. Let this tiny bird reveal some very BIG things about our God! Read the entire post at Laced With Grace, The Hummingbird Atheist.

Here are a few more photos I snapped last night.

Imported Photos 00204

Imported Photos 00200

Imported Photos 00199

 

 

 


He Found My Glasses

glasses

I have an ornery side to my character. 

It’s my Dad’s fault. No. Actually it’s my Dad’s, Dad who is at fault. I hail from a long and silly heritage of practical jokes and teasing of family members. 

Good Grief!

Read the rest of the story today over at Laced With Grace, He Found My Glasses. If you're married to an unbeliever, I hope you will be encouraged by what I share about my husband and my ornery character.



Hide and Seek

Good Monday Everyone:

I'm playing Hide n Seek today. You can find me over at Laced With Grace where I share a story about things that scare our kids at night and how we can help them overcome fear.

Visit me today and read about: Things That Go Bump in the Night.

Also, I absolutely love the Marriage Monday meme over at Chrysalis. E-Mom is one of my dearest and oldest online sisters. This month we are linking up and chatting about: Romantic Favorite Foods.

I will share a secret about marriage as it comes to food. My husband has traveled as part of his job all of our married life until recently. One of the best gifts I could give him was a home cooked meal. And, if I spiced it up and he broke out in a sweat, all the better.

Watching him take his napkin and wipe down his entire face is a sure sign the man is euphoric. *grin*

Here is a favorite recipe. Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas compliments of Kraft Foods

1 small Onion, chopped 

1 clove Garlic, minced 

1 lb. cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded 

1 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa, divided 4 oz. 

(1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed 

1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro 

1 tsp. Ground cumin 

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheese, divided 

8 Flour tortillas (6 inch) 

This is my part: Add sliced jalapeños on top of the chicken mixture to turn up the heat.

To make it HEAT oven to 350°F. HEAT large skillet spayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 min. Add chicken, 1/4 cup salsa, cream cheese, cilantro and cumin; mix well. Cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 cup shredded cheese; mix well. SPOON about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining salsa and shredded cheese. BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until heated through.

_____

One more thing. Next Friday, August 13th, Spiritually Unequal Marriage will launch a new meme up, The Intentional Marriage (read more about it here). We have a great idea for our first meme up that I pray you will find a meaningful experience for your marriage and will likely inspire others in their marriage. So stop in a be part of the day. More to come about this new adventure. Stop back this Friday. Hugs, Lynn





It's Okay If You Don't Believe

Today I have a story to share with you that will give some of you goose bumps and will cause others to roll your eyes. And that’s okay. But, it’s a story worth sharing because so many of God’s faithful will be encouraged to watch for the miraculous that happens more frequently than you might expect.

Read the rest at Laced With Grace. This is one of the strangest and hardest events for me to share. I really mean this: It's okay if you don't believe. Hugs, Lynn


Also, today I am sharing some of the basics about living unequally yoked over at Exemplify, The Marriage Channel. Find my article, Hope for the Unequally Yoked Marriage. This is a look at living unequally yoked from the beginning. In this series we will walk through some of the basics such attending church alone and the loneliness that we experience on this unique path toward Heaven. Please join me and I pray you are encouraged. Hugs, Lynn 


Thankful Thursday - What's In Store?

Let us give thanks. It is Thankful Thursday.

I am thrilled to be hosting Thankful Thursday in April. Next month we will meet with Laurie at Women Taking A Stand and then in June we will share our thanks over at Iris of Grace Alone.

Can you believe five weeks have past us by? Say WHAT? 

What happened to April? 

ChickentopWOW, what a month. I shared with you my multiple neighbor encounters of God dealing with my pride while I was out walking the dog and how I was a chicken in the grocery story. 

Imported Photos 00023This month you lived my discovery of the baby bird egg and our Living Hope.

And on the first of April you joined me and a bunch of my friends for our Passover seder. 

Imported Photos 00009 

 

Wow, I’m humbled and thrilled to count you as my TT buddies and friends. Thank you for sharing your life with me. One day in heaven about 100 years from now, we will all sit together and talk about our many Thankful Thursday adventures. I can’t wait for that day my friends. I surely can’t wait. I have a bear hug for each of you. 

I now pass the hosting on to Laurie at Women Taking A Stand. We will meet there next week and I still plan to participate, and will catch up with you then. But for now, I leave you with some coming changes, events, a new series and a miracle. 

On May 3rd we will launch our new blog design. I love the rings and grass my friends but it’s time for a change. You will love our new look. Stop back on Monday. 

On Tuesday, we are launching a new series, Friendship With God. What does that really mean? How are we supposed to fear God as the Bible says yet be His friend. What does that friendship look like in 2010 and ultimately we will discover together a friendship so profound, we will never, ever feel alone again. How cool is that? God is writing this so stop back. 

On Wednesday, I am sharing a personal story of the supernatural. It really happened but it is so weird and different, I’m not sure what you will think. Please let me know if you get goose bumps or do an eye roll….. It’s fantastically strange. 

Finally on May 10th I am going to share my personal story at A Woman Inspired Conference, Who Killed Cinderella? You will want to see what really happened to our Princess. I hope you can tune in.

I am deeply thankful that God held my hand each day of the month of April. He is always near, teaching, correcting, astounding me and loving me to greater heights in His Kingdom. 

What are you thankful for this week? Write you post, link up and give glory to the name of Jesus for all He does in your life. Hugs, Lynn