Friends,

I had something sweet happen to me at church this past Sunday. 

But I'll say this first: It's funny, I'm finding that because I'm writing this series on church, church memories are bubbling to the surface, including some of the harder moments in years past, and I've had a more difficult time than usual with church since I've been writing this series. It's strange. Sometimes I guess we live out the things we write about.

Anyway, this past Sunday at church a lovely young girl who I admire (age 20) bounces over to see me. We talk for a while about her life. Then she asks if she can pray for me. 'Do you need anything in particular?' she says. I smile: 'You just pray whatever God puts on your heart to pray for me. I'd love to hear it!'

So she closes her eyes and puts her arm around me.

Out of her mouth comes a beautiful, long, long prayer. She is speaking words about the various good things I bring to this church! On and on she goes about all those good things, elaborating on them in quite a lot of detail. 

... Then suddenly I feel another arm come around me from the other side. It's one of our elders. So, these two are both standing there, arms round me, like a pair of family members.

The prayer finishes, and the girl says to me straight away: 'I love what you bring to this church, Ann. I love what you're doing here. In particular, I find you such a SAFE person.'

The elder nods to all that, adding in things. 'You're very safe.'

Safe -- hmm, that's interesting. I think us SUMites are safe people for others.

I thanked them hugely for those words. Honestly, it was just what I needed to hear.

Finally, I headed to the door to go home to Bryce, but as I did I hugged another girl by the door, hello and goodbye. 'Oh Ann, you make such a difference!' she said, not knowing anything about the conversation I'd just had.

Do you think God was trying to send me a message? ((laughing)). But seriously, to have that experience just after writing a blog post about feeling invisible and not properly part of the family, I thought "I really must take notice and know that I DO belong in this church family."

In that spirit, I'm including a photo from my church. That's me in the glasses on the far left of the photo. I sit alone in the pews without my husband. AND, I am part of the family.

I genuinely don't think the people who gave me those words this past Sunday had read my last blog post. People in my life don't read this blog even though they know it's there. No, instead I think it was all God: He wanted to bring perspective.

So, let's ask ourselves what do we bring to church, as SUMites? Do you think it would be true to say that we underestimate what we bring to the church?

What we bring is a unique, sparkling, shiny, glorious, hand-crafted set of gifts that the Father has placed in us. And beyond our unique personalities, we also bring some common strengths as a direct result of our unequally yoked marriages:

1. We know how to pray.
2. We know about spiritual warfare because we live with it.
3. We know how to talk to people who are on the fence.
4. We understand those who are on the periphery at church
5. We have an uber-strong dose of faith -- Faith that has been tested like crazy.
6. And, finally, we are SAFE people. Yes, we are safe!

So today I pray one thing: I pray that we all know, and settle in our hearts, just how valuable we are to the church, and to our church family.

For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body', is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.' (1 Cor 12:14-18, NKJV)

By Ann Hutchison

This week, Lynn and I had a good old chat live on Facebook, about what Jesus is doing in the world right now. It was fun! If you haven't seen it yet, you can catch up here.

In that chat, Lynn said something that I'm going to focus on today as we continue our series on navigating church.

She said: We have to let go of our offense with the church. It's really important that we do that.

Gulp. Big GULP. Can I tell you, that really convicted me? See, I still struggle with offense at the church as a SUMite. In my current church I feel lonely, like I'm 'Nelly No-Mates'. And deep in my heart I get annoyed because of that feeling.

Oh dear, this is going to be a transparent post isn't it? Is it ok to be this transparent as a leader? I think it is. We can admit a failing or a difficult emotion. But then we mustn't feed it. Admit it, but then try to change it.  

Right then, let's elaborate on this, because I know many of you experience this: I get annoyed because I feel invisible at church. It's my SUM situation that makes it so: I don't fit the mold. I am not part of the singles crowd, but I am not part of the couples crowd either. The couples crowd is tight knit and have been friends for years. It takes many hours of time spent with someone to become their friend... I'm not there yet.

For all my annoyance, there are moments of deep connection in that church building. Still, offense still tries to hit me relating to how I feel within the family. The SUM situation is a big cause of that: It just makes me different. If my husband were there with me we'd have forged friendships by now. As it is, he's not, and I haven't.

OK then. 

Now, I mustn't feed this offense in church. It's a little demon, and if I do feed it it will get bigger. I could feed it by saying things like 'I have no friends here', or 'I don't fit in.' Or, I could overcome it and say 'NO, I'm not going there with those thoughts; nor am I going to say those things out loud any more.'

It's easy to get offended. Churches are flawed, but hey so are we! They're not good at a lot of things because they're a bunch of humans, but equally we bring with us our baggage and selfish needs. Through it all, the truth is that they are still our family.

The risk is that when we get offended we then are tempted to isolate ourselves. When we isolate we risk developing unusual ideas or make ourselves too susceptible to the enemy's attack. We so need to stay connected.

But we also need to keep our hearts free from offence while we're in those connections. Here are some ideas of how to handle it when offense at the church comes knocking:

• Say out loud 'I refuse to partner with offense'.
• Take some time to sit quietly and put ourselves in the shoes of the people at church who we're offended at. 
• Ask God for help healing from offense, and forgiving
• If offence comes into our minds, straight away say 'NO!' and cast it away. 
• Spend some time examining the beauty and positive things in our church.

If a church is particularly unhealthy there IS a place for asking God if we can leave and move into a different church. That certainly happens. But if we are in the church family God has put us into, our job is to steward that placement well, which includes honoring others and staying free of offence. It's a big task but a beautiful one. And what's more, God will love those efforts because that's what it's all about. God knows church is hard; the question is, how are we going to walk it?

This week, my friends, I am going to sit in church and reflect on some of those above bullet points. It will do good.

So that is my Friday thought. Perhaps we can be real in the comments: What have you been offended by, in the past, at church, and how might you overcome that?

Love to you all,

Ann

Photo courtesy of MinAn at Pexels.com

Hello, Ian from sunny Sydney. Lent started last Wednesday 22 February with Ash Wednesday. It’s a season that marks the 40 days leading up to Easter, mirroring the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Accordingly, it’s a season when we have an opportunity to consider that we too are sent into a wilderness of sorts by the Holy Spirit so that we can draw closer to Him and deepen our faith.

Repentance

Often, much of this season can be spent on penitence which can be misconstrued as an emphasis on our sinfulness. As we know when Jesus stepped out of the wilderness His first words were:

“The time has come; the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15 NIVUK)

This is an invitation to turn our lives around; that’s the meaning of ‘metanoia’ which is the Greek word used here in this verse for ‘repent’. Lent is a great season for us to do just that; take some time with Jesus and reflect on our friendship with Him, how we’d like it to deepen or otherwise.

Glass Half Full

One of the opportunities in Lent is to reflect on the goodness of God. And our inherent goodness as His beloved children. Remember at the end of Genesis 1, God sat back and reviewed all He’d created and regarded it as ‘very good’.

As some of you will recall, I tend to read one or two books during Lent to aid my devotional time. One I’m reading this time is “Small Surrenders” by Emilie Griffin. She says this in one of the early pages:

“One way to spend Lent, even as we reflect on our sins, is to consciously dwell on our redemption. No, the glass is not half empty. It is half full. The full half is the important half, the part that can make our lives complete and whole.” (Kindle edition, 14%)

I love that notion of glass half full. Let’s be people who meditate on the goodness of God, of what we have in being in relationship with Him.

Small Surrenders

Griffin weaves the idea of daily small surrenders through each page. We often think we need to do “BIG” things to turn our lives around when often it’s the daily choice of surrendering something to God. He understands us, He knows everything we think, and what we’re going to say and do before we say and do. He’s always gracious and always kind.

A small surrender might be to ‘fast’ from something for some days during Lent. Or it might be to linger longer on a Bible passage, to try to sit in silence with God for a few minutes, to pop in next door to say hi to your neighbor who you haven’t spoken to for months.

Small surrenders are a choice. Ours to choose. We might be surprised by the grace we receive in response. As Griffin says, “grace comes little by little. But we can choose” to live a life of small surrenders or not.

Let’s share in the comments whether Lent is a season you observe. If not, that’s okay. There are no brownie points for observing it. If you do, what do you do to observe it. Are there any practices you take up or do you fast? Love for us to start a discussion or two below.

Many blessings, dear SUMites.

Hi Friends,

Yesterday, I purchased two tickets to the movie, Jesus Revolution. Mike rarely will accompany me to church, so I was surprised that he went with me. Perhaps his miserly ways were tweaked because I'd already spent the money on two tickets?? 

We were early and after 30 minutes of commercials, the theater was mostly full. Say what? Do these people know this is a movie about Christians?

The timing of this movie that highlights the Jesus People movement in the 60's with the self-described hippies, is uncanny. Truly, it was a recap of a revival with disenfranchised people. And how us normies, those of us who are regular attenders or lifers, created a church that loves and follows Jesus. 

I'm blown away that we are positioned, right on the edge of an unprecedented NEW REVIVAL. The Asbury movement has spread to other campuses, as far as other countries. 

I believe we are going to push out all the divides and cling together with those whom we may not normally hang with to welcome the Holy Spirit into our world and that we would experience Holy Spirit and Jesus in a unifying and healing manner.

For me, I don't want to be left out. I want more. I want the miracles. I want the unexplainable. I want people you wouldn't expect to go to Christian movies, attend church and find that.....

JESUS SAVES!

Let's pray this movement forward. Jesus is moving. Be the new wine in new wine skins.

Blessings and hugs, Lynn

Jesus, we bow and humble ourselves. Your will be done. We live to love you. We live to bring you and the Kingdom of our Father great glory!!!  In Your Mighty name, Jesus. AMEN

PS. Mike and I have had several conversations since watching the movie. Who knew??? 

Hi everyone, how fun was it sharing that story of the two visitors! The word jolly comes to mind.

That's God and who he is for us. He crafts stories for us, and he is full of joy. But the story is not done yet, because something else just happened. Get this:

Today I was all set to continue our series on navigating church, and was preparing to write my next post. Well just as I was preparing to start writing, the phone rang. It was none other than one of the two visitors!! The girl.

I'm not making this up. I promise.

At this point you may be wondering if you should grab a cuppa. I think so. And let me catch my breath for a minute ... !

Anyway --

I answered the phone and declared "HELLO!" buoyantly, surprised to see her name pop up.

She came straight out with the reason for her call: "Hey I know this is a crazy idea, but I just wondered if I could come over and play your piano? I don't have one at home ..."

Could she? Why not. I was only planning to write SUM posts today, so she could play while I wrote.

"Please do!" I said. "I won't be very present as I have some writing to do, but just come over and make yourself at home, I'd actually love that."

It turns out she is a song-writer. She usually uses her guitar to write songs but she saw my piano when she was at my house the other day ... And being young and having parents overseas she doesn't have one of her own. She was so enticed she just had to ask.

So she is here, in my living room, as I write. She is tinkering on my piano and singing out certain phrases over and over with different combinations of chords.

Now, this is the interesting part. What is she singing? Hang on, she sounds like she's writing a song about my church! And she has the most beautiful, deep, rich singing voice.

How do I know she's singing a song about my church?

Well, the other day when she was at my house she mentioned the fact that God is doing things in my church, which meets in a school hall. She said when we roll out the carpet and bring out the chairs we're doing something wonderful for God ... And she made an especial point about how good the simplicity is in my church. 

And now she is literally singing out those same phrases from my piano. It seems she's writing a song about my church, just as we're about to carry on writing our series about the church. Could this whole story get any weirder? LOL.

Rolling out a carpet ...

Bringing out chairs ...

This old school hall .... 

Was it always this simple to let you in, Lord?

Quirky. Weird. Cool. 

After all that, I just had to ask our piano-playing visitor for another photo, so here we are, she and I at my front door. I asked her 'Was that song you were writing about my church?' Yes it was, she confirmed.

"Please come and play my piano again," I offered-asked. And we hugged and said goodbye.

So now we come back to reality: Yes, we are the SUM Nation, and we can do church. We can roll out the carpets, bring out the chairs, and be ready to bring that simplicity that God wants to his church: Simple intimacy with him. Next week we will start writing again about that topic ... Well, unless God interrupts me/us again. 

Have a great weekend, all of you. Love you!

Ann 

Friends

This week I had such a nice treat: I got to talk to Ian on 'Let's Talk Live'!

Usually our videos are on Wednesday at 3pm Pacific (on YouTube and Facebook), but we did this one yesterday instead as Ian wanted to talk about Lent. If you haven't already seen it, grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, and listen to Ian share his heart.

How fun is the story of the two visitors at my door!

The two visitors, part one

The two visitors, part two

We left off where the two visitors had prayed for me, and as they did so they got visions and words for me from the Lord. 

WOW.

Now, anyone can say to us "I've had xyz word from the Lord for you", and we don't automatically have to receive what they say. It is our job to choose whether a particular word resonates with us or not. Some people will be speaking accurately from the Spirit of God, some will not.

So there is a caution there. However, the gift of prophecy is a very real thing in the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:10, Acts 21:9), and when someone has genuinely heard God for you and speaks a word from his heart, man is it a blessing!

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith (Romans 12:6, NIV)

Anyway, in this case with these unusual visitors in my living room, I already had a sense their words were going to be from the Holy Spirit. And what followed resonated with me 100%. You'll see why.

The girl begins. After sitting a while and praying for me, she says:

"The Lord says, don't worry about your sons. At all."

Well, I hadn't even told her I had two sons! So that blew me away right there and then.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34, NIV).

Dear SUMites, do we hear this? Let it sink in and let's receive it: We must not worry about our children. Of course, we must care, and contend for them in prayer, but we must still have peace. There is no place for fear in our lives.

Amen.

The girl continued: --

"Ann, there are many, many people behind you on the path. You have a responsibility to keep standing in your faith and keep walking this path, because it will make all the difference to them. You standing in your place of authority will impact so many people."

She said --

"Yes, it's hard being a Christian, but you just have to keep standing."

I nodded. I needed that. I actually needed the conviction of that, because as I said in my earlier post I had been struggling.

And now we come to my favorite bit, a part that made me burst out laughing. The boy said this: --

Ann, I've got a really crazy vision of you. I see it in cartoon form, which is funny. I see you sitting on a desert island. You're all by yourself, and you're sitting under a lone palm tree. There's rain and miserable conditions on this island, but you yourself are doing ok, you're actually quite cheerful.

I opened one eye to peek at him, thinking "Ok........ I'm listening ... what's next?" Then I squeezed my eyes shut again.

He continued --

And then SUDDENLY a spaceship comes down at top speed, picks you up and whisks you away! Just like that. God is going to swoop in and change your circumstance.

At that I burst out laughing. But then I became serious. Yes, that palm tree scene rang true.

My SUM circumstance IS the desert island. I have learnt to be content. I have got the point of being quite cheerful in it. I wasn't always like that -- Actually, I was a basket case a few years ago -- But 'coping' and 'fine' is the point I've got to.

Still, it is a desert island, there are battering conditions, and I am by my lonesome.

Well, the spaceship suggests that there's a change of scene coming. Right then!

And you know what, my friends? That's exactly what I've been hearing God about for the last 3.5 years: That there is going to be a change of scene for me of some sort, sometime. I won't always be sitting on this desert island.

And when that change of scene happens, I'll write about it. And I'll pull out this blog post to say 'See, God told us!'

Well, I hope you liked that story. Have you had an experience where you've been given a prophetic word by someone? Oh how I'd love to hear that if you feel like sharing.

So much love to you,

Ann

My friends,

I'm so glad you loved the two visitors randomly knocking on my door in the middle of a cyclone. If you missed part one of that story, it's here. 

Before I carry on, I need to tell you where Bryce was at this point. We had a national emergency going on in New Zealand, there was a cyclone raging outside and the government had told us all to stay at home.

This meant that Bryce was home. He was working in the shed in the back garden and could have come in at any moment to find these two sitting on my couch. 

In addition, my son Miles (age 16) was home, upstairs in his room.

So, there we were: Me and these two strangers, with Bryce and Miles also in the house. And now we continue:

It turns out the boy visitor was from California, he had a full-on American accent. And so I tell him I have been to California, to Temecula, specifically.

Now, some of you might remember that the reason I went to Temecula was that we had a SUM conference in 2019 there. It was where Lynn was living at the time. 

"I used to go to church in Temecula," says the boy. Temecula is some 10,500 km from where he and I are sitting at that moment. 

I look down at his hands and see that some of his fingernails are painted gold. Was he an angel? It was just so crazy.

I don't actually think he was an angel as I got his phone number later, but he might as well have been.

He continued --

"I went to a church called Providence Church," he said. "In Temecula. It's a Presbyterian church."

Hmm, I went. I didn't even register that properly.

After talking for quite some time, I said "Shall we pray for each other? I would LOVE to pray for you!"

Yes, yes, they were keen. And at this point I can say that if Bryce had walked in on me praying with two strangers in the living room he would have found that really weird. But for some reason I was ignoring that.

So we pray. You know, often when praying with others there's a pressure to speak too quickly but on this occasion it wasn't like that. We took it in turns to focus on each of the three of us. We lingered, sat in silence, lifted the person to God and listened for his heart. Then we spoke for five or ten minutes what we felt God was saying. 

As the boy and the girl together prayed for me, they prophesied over me. They got visions and words for me. God, where did you get these two????

I'll share that part in my next post. But first I need to come back to this: Temecula.

After two and half hours the visitors left. Bryce was still in the shed having missed all the action. Miles was still upstairs. Once they'd gone, it occurred to me to look up the church the boy had mentioned, Providence Church. As I typed it into my phone up popped a road called Pauba Road. 'Oh!' I thought. 'That's where we had the SUM Summit!' 

And THEN, my friends, my eyes nearly popped out of my head at what I saw next: Providence Church meets in Linfield School, which is the very school that we had our last SUM conference in.

WHAT???

Take a moment for that to sink in, and I'll recap:

I was feeling spiritually lacklustre. A random visitor turns up at my house in a cyclone. He has gold nailpolish on. He proceeds to tell me he used to go to church in Linfield School, and I find out that's where we held our last SUM conference. All of a sudden I can tell you I am no longer lack-lustre. God is here.

My friends, that story is a gift for us. God wants us to know he's in our community, he was all over that last conference in 2019, he is all over our upcoming one in September, and he adores us, his SUM Nation.

Honestly, I feel like blowing trumpets, but instead I celebrate by sharing a little picture of SUMites sitting in the sunshine at Linfield School, on that day way over in Temecula in 2019. 

As for what those two visitors prophesied over me, oh wow that's a whole other bottle of wine. Stay tuned for that on Monday.

God is real. God is good.

Ann

My friends, I am interrupting the series on church because something really crazy happened yesterday. Settle in for a good story!

OK:

The last two weeks, I have had an unusual spiritual battle. I've been wrestling with a weird spiritual weariness I've not had before.

Now, I'm normally bouncy when it comes to God. I'm completely ruined for him, and I hope with every fiber of my being that I stay HIS for the rest of my life.

Amen!

BUT the last two or three weeks I've struggled with a weird lack-lustre. God has felt like a distant 'fact', rather than a vibrant presence. I've struggled to read the Bible, which is unusual. And, this past Sunday I felt like I couldn't be bothered going to church. That's no good, is it, when I'm writing a series on that very topic!? Uggh, no fun. And a bit freaky. It's especially difficult to have something like that happen when you know you have a community to keep writing for.

Anyway, my response was this: I have to just keep going. I know that Christians sometimes experience dry patches. I also know that God does not promise that we will always feel his presence, even though he is surely there. So I determined to do that: Keep going. I made a deliberate point to keep reading the word, keep showing up for time with God in the morning, and get prayer for the issue from a couple of people.

Have you been there too? I know a few of us have. It's been a strangely difficult couple of weeks, and that's the backstory to what happened yesterday. 

Now for yesterday:

I was standing in the kitchen. My house was a little untidy, I was in my most unflattering clothes, and my hair hadn't been brushed yet even though it was lunchtime. We have a cyclone going on here in New Zealand, which you might have seen on the news, so I did have an excuse: I was settled in for a full home day while the wind and rain roared outside.

I texted a friend, "I am having a weird time ... feeling spiritual lacklustre." The friend texted back, "I'm praying for you." And no sooner had that message arrived than there was a knock at the door. Two people stood there who I'd never seen in my life: A boy and a girl in their early twenties.

Two knights in shining armor.

"We're here the prayer meeting!" they said.

"Prayer meeting?" I paused for a minute. "Ohhh! Yes, I WAS going to have a prayer meeting today, but cancelled it because of the cyclone."

I then hugged them both as if it was the most natural thing to wrap my arms around two strangers and said "COME IN!"

(Side note: I have no idea how these two found that there was to be a prayer meeting at my house.) 

Having hugged them I said, "Sit down. Let me just go and comb my hair .. and then I will be back." My hair definitely needed a taming before I sat down in front of these two again.

Two minutes later, with duly neatened hair, I plonked myself down in front of them, and we started to talk ...

Me and two strangers. This could be awkward? No, it wasn't.

We proceeded to talk .... about GOD. We talked about fiery things. The boy was 23, a traveler from California. The girl was 20, an Aucklander who lives an hour away from me. We connected deeply. We talked about what we were each wrestling with and hearing from God. In fact, I began to share quite a lot of my heart with them.

At this point I started to feel completely refreshed, like 'This is just what I need right now,' and 'How is it I can talk to these two like I've known them forever?' 

The effect these two were having on me they might as well have been angels.

It got better though....

The boy was from California. "California?" I said, "I've been there. Actually, I work on a ministry for Christians married to non-Christians, and that ministry was set up by a lady who lives in California."

And this is where it got particularly interesting, but I've gone on too long now, so will continue this story on Friday.... Be sure to tune in because this next part is a goody. Till next time!

Ann

 Hello all, Amanda here. I am excited to share with you all what has been going on so we are going to dive right in!

 I shared a post not too long ago about the throne of my husband's heart. How I audibly heard God tell me to be prepared for Him to take that seat, and the changes that would take place in my husband and in our lives as a family. Well, for a while nothing new happened. Things have been going along pretty normally and I had really stopped thinking about that moment so much. It seemed to spring up hope in me, and I was afraid that hope would lead to disappointment. So I put it on the back burner of my mind and got on with life.

 Then last Sunday something else happened. After church service an older lady I greatly respect came up to me and said, "I just want you to know God has put it on my heart to pray for your husband. So I want you to know I will be praying for him.". I almost started sobbing on the spot! Haha! I had not talked about my husband in a long time, and this woman and I are not super close. So it was very surprising for her to bring him up out of the blue like that.

Again, hope started to grow... God is something about to happen?!

Fast forward to this past Friday. I was grocery shopping with our kids and discovered one of my kids had stolen something! It was a very small, cheap thing, but stealing is stealing! I promptly took them back to the store and made them apologize and return it. When my husband came home that evening I told him the whole story, one of his responses was, "Did you tell them not stealing is one of the ten commandments?". WHAT?!?! You could have knocked me over with a feather in that moment! Haha! My "atheist" husband bringing up the commandments in a respectful way??? I sat there like a deer in headlights for a moment before I could respond!

Something must be happening...God, what are you telling me?

The cherry on top of this whole thing came this Sunday morning. One of the verses my pastor preached on was Romans 12:12 "Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer" (CSB). Once again, I felt God shouting in my head, this time saying to REJOICE IN HOPE!

 My dearest SUMites, we cannot have faith without hope. It is vital to our survival, to our thriving and our growing. We MUST hope! We must have our eyes so very focused on the hope Jesus offers that even if the world around us is burning down we still have hope in HIM! Wild, reckless, consuming hope! Hold on to that hope during afflictions, it will help you to be patient. Believe in His hope during prayer, it will make you more persistent! Hope is key!

There may be times when we fail. When we lose hope and just cannot seem to find it again. If this is where you are it is okay, we have all been there. It will not last forever. I have found when this happens one of the best things we can do is reach out! Share with a trusted, Godly friend how you are feeling and ask for their prayers. Another thing we can do, the best thing, is GET IN THE WORD! The truth is, if we have time to be on our phones, we have time to read a few verses and pray for a minute or two. Just that happen alone can change the atmosphere of an entire household. Trust me on that one :)

I pray this post inspires hope in you my friends. I would love to hear how you keep your hope alive. What promises are you standing on? Let me know in the comments!

By Ann Hutchison 

Attending church is quite the adventure, and I think it can look very different from season to season.

By that I mean this:

Sometimes you have a season of attending a particular church. You're there because God wants you to learn a particular thing. And then when he wants to do something different, he moves you on to a new church.

And:

In some seasons you are fed by the church, while in other seasons you're the one doing the feeding.

So I thought today I might share a little about the different seasons I've had in church.

Season One: Spectator

As a new Christian I started out attending a Bible church of 200 people. I would walk in, listen to the sermon, then walk out. I sat there and watched the body of Christ as a spectator. But the sermons fed me. Did God ever want me in that church? For that season, I think so. I heard the Gospel in that church.

Season Two: Nurtured

Quite soon after that, God seemed to show where he wanted me to attend. This new church was different in flavor. It was charismatic, and a little wild. It had 50-70 people, some of whom were homeless, and a culture of praying for each other.

I had never been in a charismatic church before. It fascinated me. And in that first service when they asked 'who needs prayer?', my hand shot up. After that, I was nurtured by that church's people week after week. I brought all my pain about my spiritual mismatch into that church and was prayed for like crazy. I was the broken and bruised one who was bandaged up and loved.

Season three: Grown up

In that same church, I began to grow up. The pastor discipled me, others discipled me, and I grew ... into something sturdy.

Suddenly I wasn't the one wanting prayer all the time; I was praying for others.

Eventually I was prayed into the leadership team by that very same pastor who'd discipled me. Here I am on the far right of this photo, August 2019. The pastor is the guy in green.

Season four: Quiet support

Well, the above church suddenly closed, and we disbanded! Quite simply, the pastor felt we were to close, so we did, and we all got thrust into new churches. For my part, instantly God showed me a new church to attend. My son, Miles (age 16), miraculously began attending with me, and here's a photo of us on Mother's Day. Can you see my smile at having my handsome boy by my side?

The adventures continued: That church then moved into the school hall where my old church had just closed!!

My place in this new church felt different to the above phases. For a start, the church was primarily young people and, I'll be honest, I've been lonely there. 

How do we deal with loneliness at church? Well in this case I've laid it aside and persevered because I have known that God wants me at this church. 

See, since joining that church I've had prophetic words about God's purpose for it. I have had a burning in my heart to see it succeed. I have prayed like crazy for it. And that's why I've labelled this season 'Quiet support'.

That church experienced a huge crisis in May last year, which nearly derailed it. The pastor left suddenly in fractious circumstances, and we had no elders in place. So, in this uncertain situation I volunteered to work on a task-force with four others to research the topic of elders and figure out how to put elders in place. That was six months of hard work. 

Finally, at the end of last year I stepped into leading the prayer team at this church, and in December had the joy of praying in a brand-new team of lay elders. That's me on the far right of the photo, in the very same hall as the first photo in season three above!

We're still waiting for a pastor, but our church is in good health.

So, what a ride. It has certainly not been a stagnant journey. We learn different things from church ... And then we give. But one thing I know: This present church is my church family.

Hope you like those stories. Have you been through phases in your church life?

Loads of love,

Ann

It's time to start our new series on navigating church, so let's roll up our sleeves and dive into this meaty topic.

From the comments last week it's clear that many of us face challenges in relation to church, and these challenges are similar. So that's a good start: We're not alone.

For some of us we struggle to attend church in the first place. For others of us, we struggle with a range of complex emotions while there, including missing our spouse, envy of couples and families, and loneliness. 

I thought I might start today with the challenge of trying to attend in the first place. So, let's unpack this one.

As I said in the last post, that was my struggle for a while. I yearned to be at church on a Sunday, where my tribe was gathered. In fact, I needed it because the rest of the week was so secular. Yet, while I did have some strong Christian friends outside of church, I struggled to actually attend church gatherings.

The situation was complicated by the fact my kids were young, so to get there I had to drag them out of the house at an early hour of the morning, and worry about settling them in. But it was Bryce's disapproval that most influenced me and made me stay home. And on the days I stayed home I was miserable because of what I was missing. 

The problem was this:

The church was my family too. I was one flesh with them, for we are one body (1 Corinthians 12:12; Romans 12:5; Ephesians 4:16, 5:30). And we are one household (Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 2:5). 

So, while I was one flesh with my husband, family to him, and of the same household, I also belonged in that building, with that tribe, in the house of God on a weekend. 

In other words, I did need to be there. That's how I see it now: We do need to be there, and we do need to fight for our church attendance. The church needs us.

In a famous story from the Gospels, Jesus was with the multitudes one day when he was told 'Your mother and brother are outside looking for you.' He could have dropped everything there and then and gone off to see these important people in his life, but no, he had a job to do. Instead, he said:

"Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And he stretched out his hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." (Matthew 12:48-50) 

And from this we are to understand that the church is our family. We know it in principle, but it's good to be reminded of it.

We don't choose our family, they're given to us. And I do believe that God puts us in a church family too. Sometimes -- always? -- that family is imperfect. Sometimes they disappoint us, and sometimes we disappoint them. Sometimes we have to put boundaries around family relationships if they're toxic. But, in general with a reasonably healthy family we identify as a unit.

I've actually been reflecting on this feature of church as family, relating it to my own family. Here's my mum, step-dad, and I at a wedding last year. I also have two younger brothers, and a sister. I love them all dearly, but it's not a perfect family. My parents got divorced when I was nine, and each remarried. Not perfect, but we are a unit, and we love each other.   

Well, there's something about a church family too. It's a unit. We have big siblings and younger siblings, mothers and fathers.

That unit does look different to, say, a Christian friend who you have coffee with, as there's a Godly placement that goes along with being part of a church family. I do believe God puts you in a church family, and you serve and support them. Even just showing up is your part in spreading the Gospel.

So, it's worth persevering, and I do believe that being part of that unit -- however tough it is -- is God's design.

With all that said, the next question is how to find a healthy church, and that's a whole other bottle of wine. A topic for one of the upcoming posts.

All for now. Feel free to share any thoughts you have in the comments.

Love

Ann

SUM family!

Thanks for your comments about the 'Navigating Church' series. I can't wait to start that next week.

In the meantime, I have something to share today that's a little bit different.  Addiction - whether it's alchohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, gaming, or something else -- is something that many families deal with in some form or other.

In our recent survey of our community some of you said you would like to see us address that topic, and quite a few shared that either your spouse or someone else in your family is in the grip of an addiction.

So, with that in mind I invited one of the elders in my church, Chris Gaskell, and his lovely daughter Katy, to come and share their family's testimony on video and talk about how on earth to help a loved one with addiction.

We streamed the video yesterday on Facebook and YouTube, and Chris and his daughter Katy were gracious guests who shared openly. So, without further ado, here we are, talking about how to help a loved one who has an addiction:

Photo courtesy of Karolina Grabowska at Pexels.com

Hello, everyone. Ian, from hot and humid Sydney here. One of our challenges as SUMites is the spiritual welfare of our children. I know for many of us it causes us a great deal of angst for a host of reasons but one that often raises itself in our situations is the lack of support (sometimes downright discouragement) in being able to have our kids attend church/Sunday school. I’m not wanting to focus on the attendance matter in this post, rather, what we, as parents can always being doing irrespective of whether our kids attend any structured Christian activity.

Pray!

Praying Mom (and Dad!)

When we were young, Mom asked the four of us to attend Sunday School at a nearby church. Mom always asked us to give new things a go. Try them for 6 months and if you don’t like it, then you don’t have to go any longer. We didn’t like Sunday School. I can’t recall why, but I think it might have had something to do with the 4 of us being our own unit, and we really didn’t need to be entertained by others.

We complained and Mom then said come to church with her. And we did. Until our 6 months were up. And then it all stopped. I think this grieved Mom because it was her way of being able to attend church herself if we went with her. So she stopped attending.

It wasn’t until we were teenagers, we learnt that Mom had a faith in God. Much to her disappointment she had ceased attending a church due to her responsibilities at home.

Roll forward 10 or so years and emptying nesting after moving to a new suburb, Mom took the opportunity to join the local church which just happened to be a short stroll from home. And there she reacquainted herself with the wonder and joy of a church community. She stayed until her declining mobility made it too difficult for her to attend.

A few years ago, I wrote a novel which attempted to reveal the thin veil that exists between the natural and supernatural worlds. Further, it was a story that sought to demonstrate the power of prayer. The hero’s mum, Louise Haines, was a praying mom. Louise, in the story, drew her inspiration from my mom.

Mom showed us the wonder and power of a praying mom.

One of God’s qualities I so appreciate is His fierce love for each of us. He loves us so intensely and when this love meets the desperate cries of a praying mom (or dad), I reckon God finds it irresistible. He cannot not act.

One of my greatest joys from publishing Angelguard was receiving emails from readers thanking me for Louise Haines and they’d share their miraculous answers to their desperate prayers for their children.

One of the emails I received was from a mom in America. She recalled being woken by God during the night. She got up and knelt not sure what God was asking her to pray about, so she just prayed and prayed.

A few weeks later her son was back on furlough from the war in Afghanistan. They got talking about a particular day when it appeared they were walking into a dangerous situation. Miraculously, the son shared, the severity of the danger dissipated for some unknown reason. This mom asked him what the date was. Between them they determined it was the exact time she had been praying in the middle of the night.

Mystery of Prayer

Yes, there’s much mystery in prayer and the life of faith. As many of you know, over the last five or so years we’ve had two seasons when cancer made its presence known in our family. My sister’s husband and my older brother. We as a family witnessed something very special initiated by Mom. She went on a mission. Prayer became pivotal to Mom’s daily routine. We as a family all started talking about prayer and even Dad, who never demonstrated any level of faith before, started praying. Which interestingly continued until the day he no longer could talk.

One day I was at their home and the supermarket delivery arrived. The delivery man clearly had a connection with Mom when I answered the door. He asked me to pass on a message to Mom – “tell her my mom is praying every day for your brother, John.” That was Mom. Even the supermarket delivery man had been enlisted in the prayer chain. And that’s one of the wonders of prayer. It hops from one person to another, to another, to another and on on  …

Gratefully, both my brother-in-law and brother are now in seasons of full remission.

To all you praying Moms (and Dads), thank you. And please keep praying.

Remember that the welfare of our children’s faith isn’t just in our hands but in God’s. He cares just as much as we do as they’re His beloved children, made in His image. He’s not going to let them go without doing everything to stir their hearts, souls, and minds. But there is one thing we can always be doing – praying for our kids, handing them over to the safest and most faithful set of hands that exists.

To our knees we go!

Grace and peace

PS. If there's a particular prayer need you might have for your kids, please don't hesitate to share it in the comments (if that's okay) so we can get around each other in praying for our kids. 

By Ann Hutchison

My friends, it's been a while since we talked about the grand old topic of navigating church!

Yep, it's one of our favorite topics.

Navigating church is such a big issue for us. Even that topic alone has so many facets to it, and it's often one of the most challenging issues that we deal with in our spiritually mismatched marriages.

Some of us can't even get to church easily, let alone integrate into it well. That was my situation for a number of years: My attendance at church on a Sunday caused such marital disharmony that I'd attend then stop, attend then stop, attend then stop. My pastor came up to me one day and said "Everything ok?" after he hadn't seen me for weeks. The tears brimmed as I nodded and looked desperately into his eyes. What could I say?

Eventually, however, I got into a routine for somehow making church work. And I know others of us have worked out a similar kind of system. but it's still tricky.

I was talking to a lovely SUMite this week who had been spiritually mismatched for many years now. She and I both agreed that even though we are walking in a lot more peace than we used to, church remains one of our hard issues. I know the other writers in our team find this too. Will we ever stop missing having our other half by our side?

So with that in mind, I'm going to write a series next about navigating church. Specifically, the flavor I want to focus on is this:

How do we connect with the beautiful bride of Christ?

And how do we care for the broken and bruised body of Jesus?

I've phrased it that way because the minute we become mature Christians that's what one of our tasks is. There's a theological thing going on here, in that the church is a big deal: It's his bride (Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelations 19:7-9), and it's his body (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).

So, we connect with his bride and body whenever we're connecting with a fellow Christian, whether or not that's on a Sunday. But these features of the church -- His body, his bride -- in collective form make it such an important part of our faith life.

In fact, connecting with that body and helping to prepare the bride to meet Jesus again is as important as our private relationship with him that we carry out on our knees.

YET, some or all of these issues crop up and they are tough:

• Christians at church say tactless things and don't 'get' us 
• We often feel lonely at church
• We often feel on the outside in the Sunday gatherings
• We can't easily attend church activities outside of Sundays
• We can't easily make friends with Christians, because our spouse isn't wanting to be part of it
• Christians of the opposite sex are challenging for us to befriend, yet they're our brothers/sisters 
• And finally, church is massively imperfect!

In addition to that, we struggle to know what to do about financial giving (thanks, Lisa, for Friday's post on that), and serving. Further, we have doctrinal differences, denominations, and strange things that go on in church that aren't always of God. So there is a discernment too that we have to bring to it.

Well, phew, there's a lot to talk about there. I could write a book and I imagine you could too!!

So let's start by chatting about this one in the comments: What are your biggest challenges with church at the moment?

See you in the comments!

Ann

Today we have a guest post from Lisa McFarland -- Our friend and a long-standing member of our community. Many thanks to Lisa for writing for us, and now I will hand over to her:

**

A few weeks ago, my pastor (who is also my boss) spoke on Irrational Generosity. He shared, as a  pastor, he gets a front row seat on observing many people. He noticed that those who radiate authentic joy have two things in common: they passionately love Jesus and they are irrational givers.

If you are like me, you cringe at that word “giver” because many of us in a SUM relationship, when our pastor speaks on money we want to shrink into that pew.  We want to be able to financially give, but our circumstances don’t permit it. For me, this topic is really hard. I not only work for the church and the lead pastor is my boss, but I run the finance department!!!! My salary comes from those who faithfully give; yet, I’m not able to contribute. As I was listening to the message, God spoke to my heart and whispered, “I know your heart.” The Holy Spirit reminded me that we can be creative in our generosity. We are able to freely give of our time, our voice, a kind note, or even in making a meal.

It's not easy to allow our husbands to lead us when we don’t always agree with their decisions; especially when it comes to contributing to our church financially. My boss has said to me many times that my mission field is my spouse and God honors my obedience to my husband.

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives. (1 Peter 3:1, NIV)

Lynn also shared in Marching Around Jericho the freedom in letting our spouse lead us even though he may not be a Christian. This has been extremely encouraging to me and has opened up ways for me to bless the church and others differently. God knows our hearts and He will show us many ways to use our generosity. I like the way that Focus on the Family puts it: "Remember, it’s not the money but the attitude of the heart about which the Lord is most concerned.”

If financially giving is a sore point in your marriage, give it to the Lord in prayer and trust Him to work in this area of your spouse’s life. And, in the meantime, get creative!

As a SUMite we have a passionate love for Jesus but how can we be creative with our giving? Share with me in the comments how you bless others with your “Irrational Generosity”.  

My name is Lisa MacFarland and I’ve been in a SUM relationship for 35 years. We have 4 adult children, one grandbaby and 2 more on the way. We live in sunny Florida on the East Coast. I have been following the Spiritually Unequally Marriage ministry for over 10 years, and I am so privileged and honored to be a guest writer. I pray that you are encouraged by this post. Thank you for the opportunity to share.

Hi SUM Nation:

Lynn Donovan here. The other day I read something about making marriage goals for the year. I'll be transparent here; I've never considered making marriage goals. Perhaps I should. Perhaps we all could. One of my goals is to create intimacy within our relationship. 

Today I want to share a tip to develop an intimate conversation with your spouse. I will offer this fun tool to many through my coaching ministry. I actually have used this tool with my shy husband of over 30 years. AND I learned things about him I didn't know before. We sat down at a restaurant, and I told him that this was part of our dinner experience. While munching on an appetizer, I popped out an envelope and we took turns pulling questions from it to ask the other.

It's called the Fishbowl game. 

Of course, it works better with a real fishbowl this question inside. But the envelop worked well for us and I could tuck it in my purse. Here are some questions to ask. Just print them off and cut them into strips and TaDa! Have a great date night. Hugs, Lynn

• What do you like best about yourself?

• What do you like best about me? Why?

• Plan the perfect date.

• What is one of your favorite memories about us?

• Is there a favorite memory you remember most about our dating?

• What do you remember most about our wedding or honeymoon?

• Is there something I could do to please you more sexually?

• If you could be any animal, what would you be? Why?

• How would you like to see the household responsibilities divided?

• What do you think heaven will be like?

• Tell me about your salvation experience.

• Tell me about a spiritual high point in your life.

• What is the best advice you ever received?

• If you could have three wishes, what would they be?

• How can I show you that I love you?

• Tell me about a time when God answered a prayer.

• What makes you laugh? *

*Marriage Missions

Hi SUM family, we have an exciting thing to share today.

Would you like to meet other SUMites in person?

Well, at the end of September, we're hoping to make that happen. Read on ... 

First of all, from Wednesday 27 to Friday 29 September, Lynn and I are going to attend the Bethel Open Heavens conference in Redding, California, and would love any SUMites to join us who would like to. Would you be keen?

It would be an amazing way of us meeting face-to-face, worshipping together, and spending quality time with each other.

The conference itself is something that Lynn has attended regularly for over a decade, and it has had a marked impact on her faith life and this ministry. She has been very blessed by attending, and in past years she's sometimes had groups of friends attend with her, so we would just love to do that this year.

As for the conference itself, registration has just opened here. More details will follow soon, but it's a good idea to register early, which I'm going to do this week. I realize it costs money and spouse's support to attend, and that can feel completely impossible. However, if God wants you there, it's surprising what can happen. So, if you're reading this and would like to go start praying about it.

Wouldn't it be amazing!

The second thing is, the day before the conference, on Tuesday 26 September, Lynn would like to invite you to her house in Sacramento for a big meet-up involving food, prayer and fellowship. If you can't attend the conference, you can even still come to this.

Next Steps

If you are at all interested in attending any part of this, send me an email on annhutch42@gmail.com. You're not committing by contacting me, you're just registering interest and that way we can keep in touch. I'll then set up a chat group on WhatsApp or a closed group on Facebook for discussing travel plans.

As for God making a way, I can tell you I had to pluck up the courage to ask Bryce if I could go, which I did this weekend. As often happens I thought it was a ridiculous request on my part. He knew I had some air-points that I could use, but he didn't even ask about that. He simply said yes!

So, believe that God will make a way. We love miracles here at SUM. Be brave, and game ... And let's see where this takes us. I, for one, cannot wait to meet some of you in person, pray with you, hug you, and just generally... talk.

Are you keen to attend? If so, post in the comments and let's start praying for God to make a way.

Loads of love,

Ann

SUMites, I popped a video onto Facebook and YouTube this past Wednesday, sharing a little something we can do next. Happy Friday to you all.

By Ann Hutchison

On Monday of this week, I rose early while everyone else slept, opened my Bible to where I'd left off the day before and began to read. I was still thinking a lot about the fast we'd just been through.

I happened to be in the book of Exodus and, as I was reading, suddenly I saw a piece of glitter sitting on a verse I had just got to. It sparkled like a shard of light, glinting. It was next to the word 'Memorial'.

"Ooh... !" I thought, excited, and strained further to see whether it could be, could be, a speck of gold dust. Of course, the more realistic explanation is that it was a piece of glitter from a Christmas decoration, but we had just fasted.

Well, as soon as I noticed it, it instantly disappeared! I had not touched the page at all, blown on it, or done anything to make it move. Where did it go? It had been a definite chink of brightness, and now it was gone. I strained and looked some more, but nope it was gone.

I concluded then that I had seen it in the spirit. I had no problem believing that. And then I sat back and went 'WOW'. Wow. I stared into the distance for a minute, thinking Was that because we just fasted? Then I decided I need to go back to look properly at the verse in question: Exodus 30:16. Where in the verse was the sparkle located, and why did I see it there? In other words, what was God wanting to show me?

Ok, so let's look at this verse. I'm game! It sure is a tucked-away little part of scripture. In fact, if I hadn't seen the sparkle next to it I would have skimmed over this part of the Israelites' story.

The verse is part of a passage where the Israelites each give a sum of money to the Lord, while in the wilderness. It is a specified amount: half a shekel.

The purpose of the money was so that the people wouldn't be touched by a plague. That money would be an offering to the Lord. In other words, like our fast, their offering afforded them protection.

Well, that was the very topic I wrote about on Monday. So that was interesting. But verse 16, where I saw the sparkle, then built on that:

"And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves." (Exodus 30:16, NKJV)

The sparkle was next to the word 'memorial', so this stood out to me. 

What's more, I noticed that I had previously scribbled a note in the margin, about another place in scripture where a 'memorial' to the Lord is mentioned. That place was Acts 10:4, where we see a Roman Centurion, Cornelius, who has been faithful to God. An angel appears to him and says:

"Cornelius! ... Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God." (Acts 10:4, NKJV)

My friends, I believe that God is taking us on a little journey this week to say well done for this fast, and to show us what it's done.

On Monday we talked about how the fast afforded us protection. That was a beautiful thing to know, and though we may never see on earth what that means exactly for our lives, I believe it and receive that word.

And now today it seems God is saying that our corporate fast came up as a memorial before him. What is a memorial? My dictionary tells me that it's something that preserves the memory of anything, serves to keep in remembrance.

It is that God remembers what we've done and will remember this for the rest of our earthly lives. We remember it too. We have put ourselves into God's remembrance.

That is such a simple, but new thought for me in relation to these corporate fasts. It thrills me!

Well, SUMites, wasn't it good fasting together! Let's see if God has anything else to share with us by Friday... And I close with this scripture, which seems relevant:

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him (Malachi 3:16, NKJV)

Love you all,

Ann

By Ann Hutchison

Hi SUM family,

We finished our fast on Friday, and WOW what an effort. I talked to a few of you over the week and know it was a special time for many of you.

I'm going to linger on this topic of fasting a little longer, if you don't mind. What did our fast do?

Personally, as a little wink from God, I've sometimes found that something happens in the last hour of our corporate fast. In one of our first fasts, for example, I walked into the bedroom in the very last hour to find Bryce lying on the bed reading a Christian book!!! 

It's as if God was saying "Yes, your fast did something in the Heavenlies. Be assured."

This year, however, nothing happened in the last hour, and I wondered... Would God show me anything about the fast? Well, roll around Saturday morning and I had a cool thing happen. That morning, I rose early. The whole house was quiet, I wrapped myself up in my cosy robe and stood in the kitchen making coffee, ready for some time with God. 

As I did so, I checked email and saw that I'd received an email from a ministry friend. The title was "Sorry, weekend note that could not wait." This man did not know I'd/we'd been fasting.

He had not wanted to disturb me on the weekend but said that he felt like a baker who had just produced a fresh warm loaf of bread and it had to be delivered NOW. As in, the Holy Spirit was prompting him to write.

Well, that was fun, as I'd been fasting for a week and now it seemed God was sending me a loaf of steaming warm bread as if to say "I'm giving you a word now in response to your hunger." Awesome!!

For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things (Psalm 107:9, NIV)

So, what was in the email? What was the loaf of steaming warm bread that God wanted to deliver to me so urgently in the form of words? Well, wouldn't you know it: The email was about fasting!

I reiterate, my friend did not know I was fasting, but in this email he had been led to tell me about a difficult fast he'd done, and how there was evidence that fast protected him from later attacks by the enemy. The crux of the email was that fasting had afforded him protection. 

Because of the timing and content of this email, I believe it was a word from God for us. And I think what God wants us to know is that our fast has afforded us protection. It might be protection we never see with our earthly eyes or understand, of course, so perhaps we just have to know it's there.

I personally had never given much thought of that outcome of fasting -- protection -- but what a great reason to fast.

It's always important to check everything against scripture, of course. And there is an example in the Bible of a corporate fast bringing protection. It's in the book of Esther, where Queen Esther asked the Jews in her city to fast for protection, and that protection does come following their fast:

Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish! (Esther 4:16, NKJV)

So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. (Esther, 5:2, NKJV)

So, our word to take to heart and believe today is this: Our SUM corporate fast has afforded us protection. There is a massive battle in our lives. That we know. And in some form or other the Lord has decreed, "Do not touch, do not touch, my anointed." I thank him for that.

SUMites, I have another insight about our fast too that I received this morning in my prayer time. So I will share that on Wednesday. 

In the meantime, would you like to share anything else about how your fast went?

Ann

By Ann Hutchison

Hi everyone, we have made it to day five! It's Friday morning here in New Zealand, as I write. How has it gone for you? I can't wait to hear.

I don't feel too bad here but am slow. At points in the week, it has felt overwhelmingly long and difficult. This morning, I could finally see the end: I went out to buy a big lasagne and garlic bread for tonight... Which I cannot wait to gobble up.

But first -- before that joyous lasagne -- I am going to have the afternoon with God in my shed, and you know wha .... I'm looking forward to that more.

Sometimes our fasts go smoothly, other times less so. So don't worry if you did less than you hoped. I have had some fasts where I have given up, then re-started. One time God showed me how much he valued even those failed attempts. He smiles on our efforts.

One new thing I did this year was carve out more time for God. I've suddenly found myself at the stage of life where I can do that. The cabin in the garden was a real treat, and I even got to retreat there in the evenings this week. 

Bryce didn't seem to mind that, so I went for it. And there I would lie .... on the floor in that cabin, talking to God. Because our theme was friendship with God, I tried to just go there.

It was a gentle, quiet week with the Lord that seems apt for a week where we're trying to be God's friend. I personally didn't feel his presence more strongly than I do normally, but perhaps you did. In a way, the flavor for me was more quiet than usual. But on Thursday I was excited to receive a word from him about our community, and so I recorded that on video yesterday, and I did it from the shed, in the spirit of fasting. Here it is, and I hope it blesses you. He is good to us.

As for ending our fast, shall we do this one last thing? Just before the fast draws to an end today, let's all get a piece of bread and some wine/juice, and take communion. As we do, think of this scripture and even read it out loud:

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." (John 6:35)

It feels especially meaningful to take communion when you're hungry, and to say "Thank you for being my bread of life, Jesus, and thank you for your blood, which also has given me life."

SUMites, we love him, and we are his army of warrior men and women. I think he would say to us, as soldiers who've gone through a lot, "I know what you fight for and what you do." As I think of those I know in this community, I find you pretty incredible.

Now, I would love to hear how your fast is going so far -- or has gone. Share in the comments, and all the very best as you cross the finish line!

Ann

SUMite Nation, Lynn here.

I wrote a post for this fast last week. Today I deleted it.

I deleted it because right now, as I sit in a tire center waiting for my car to be worked on, I sense the Lord. Is that weird? I feel His presence in the middle of all this rubber smell and with a TV blaring in the background, going on and on about the Superbowl.

It's Jesus!

He's here and He's asking me, "Lynn, what does it mean to be a friend?"

"Lord, it means that I truly see people. I look beyond the surface and see their heart, their need, their fears and failures. I look into their heart and see pain and choose, in some way, to do what You would do to bring them comfort or hope or something even practical with generosity."

"That's right, Lynn. You see them with My eyes. How does friendship with Me respond," the Master continues.

"Jesus, sometimes it's as easy as a smile and a silent prayer. Jesus, sometimes it's giving a bottle of water. For me, it's often a quick declaration or blessing over them in Your name. Jesus, NO it's more than that. It's love! " I reply as I overhear the desk clerk conversing with a man at the counter.

Jesus wraps His arm about my shoulder and pulls me close. I can hear the passing traffic and then the idle chit-chat of the girls behind the counter. I also listen as He speaks again, "Lynn, every day that you choose to be compassionate, generous, loving, even in your imperfectness and failings, you are displaying for all of heaven, your friendship. Because your friendship with me, is loving others."

My eyes are tearing up now. I hope I don't have to dig out Kleenex and give a big blow in front of all these customers that are waiting for their tires. My heart responds, "Oh Jesus, help me to love more. Help me to see more. Show me how to love and pray for those whom I'm able. Help me to be Your good friend. I love you Jesus."

"I love you, Lynn. I love every SUMite who is making an effort to be my friend and love the difficult people in their life. I love them because they don't give up and they always turn to me for help and comfort. I love them because they seek Me and Father. I love to bless them because they bless others. They bless me."

I am definitely teary now, "Oh Jesus, thank you for your friendship. Keep teaching me. Keep leading all of us. We can make a difference for your Kingdom on earth. We love you and we are Your friend." 

The clerk behind the counter is calling my name. I click save on my computer. I know that Jesus is with me and as I pay, I think how amazing it is that Jesus met me in a tire center to say....... He is my friend. ....... He is your friend.

-----

Okay, my SUMite family, what is friendship with Jesus to you?

Hello all! Amanda here for day three of our fast. I hope all of you are doing well and staying hungry for more of HIM!

  As Ann mentioned in Monday's post, our theme this week is Friendship with God. I have been rolling this concept around in my head the last few days and asking myself the question "what does friendship with God look like?". I have been jotting down thoughts as they come to me and I wanted to take this time to share with you what I believe God wants us all to remember about what it means to be friends with him.

 For my side of the friendship it means I want to know him deeply. I want to know his thoughts, his desires, and what pleases him. I want to know what angers him, what he finds detestable, and what he will not tolerate.

  Friendship with God means I talk to him often. Throughout my day I have little conversations with him. I talk to him while I am doing dishes, sweeping, cooking ect. Just like I would one of my girlfriends on the phone. I chat with him about big concerns, little annoyances, and everything in between! One day I may be telling him all about how someone angered me as I furiously scrub pots and pans, another day I may just proclaim my love and thankfulness as I fold towels. No matter what I am doing I want him there with me.

  God and I being friends also means I can be REAL with him! I can let him in all the raw, ugly parts of my life and share what I am really feeling. I do not have to pretend like everything is fine when I am with him. I can let the fur fly! He already knows what I am thinking anyway so its not like any of it surprises him. He just listens patiently, as a good friend would do. He holds me as I cry, corrects me when I'm wrong, and comforts me when I hurt. Oh, what a wonderful friend he is!

  God is the kind of friend we all desperately need in our lives! Yes, he will hold you. Yes, he will comfort you. Of course he will listen to you! What he will NOT do however, is tell you what you want to hear all the time! God is that one true friend who is not afraid to tell us what we need to hear, even if it may sting a little. He is not a "yes man", he cares about us too much to feed us easy lies that may placate us for a time. He will always tell us the truth.

Here are few of the most beautiful things I learned about what this means: First, He loves us unconditionally. When we royally mess up, he loves us. When we get caught up in pride or people-pleasing, he loves us. When we say things we shouldn't, he loves us. When we are lazy, angry, or full of self pity guess what? HE LOVES US! 

Second, he knows us. He knows me. He knows exactly what shade of green is my favorite color. He knows I love the smell in the air after it rains. He knows I love music, sunrises, and lilies. He knows I love the beach, but loathe the feeling of sand between my toes. Haha! He knows my innermost thoughts and feelings. He knows exactly what comforts me as well. He knows ME. More than anyone else ever could.

The Father, our precious Lord, is closer than a brother, parent, husband, or human friend. He is the one in whom we live and breathe and have our being (Acts 17:28). And he desires oneness with us! We only have to reach out and grab hold of him!

During the last half of our fast I hope you find yourself growing closer in friendship with our Father. Even if you don't "feel" him trust that he is right there, because Matthew 28:20 says he is! Enjoy your time with him as much as you can. Let him lavish his love on you, and soak it up!

I would love to hear about how the fast is going for you in the comments!

Happy New Year, dear SUMites. I do hope you all had a blessed time with loved ones over the Christmas/New Year period.

And now we Fast. It’s become the traditional way we SUMites start our years. It’s a great way as individuals to draw closer to God and doing it together can deepen that experience and strengthen our bonds as a group.

Transition Seasons

“We become what we behold” – William Blake

I think I shared this Blake quote in a previous post as it’s become one of my favourites over the years. During Advent, I was drawn to the notion of how we spend our time while we wait; Advent, of course being a season of waiting.

I mentioned last time in my Advent post that I’m presently in a season of transition. Looking forward to what the next season in my life holds having spent much of the last few years caring for my parents.

We’re all probably familiar with the story of Anna, the prophet, who greeted Mary and Joseph when Jesus was presented in the temple. Let’s meet her, here in Luke:

“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36-38 NIVUK)

Anna, like we SUMites, knew a thing about waiting. She had been waiting for the redemption of Israel through the fulfilment of the OT prophecy of the Messiah. After becoming a widow, likely to have been in her early 20s assuming she married as a young teen like most women did in Biblical times, she spent around 60 years hanging out in the temple. Now that’s a lot of waiting.

And what do we read she does? She worships, fasts, and prays. Continually. Incredible, isn’t it? Her faith is extraordinary. Anna is formed in her devotion to Jesus as she waits for Him. Waiting, even though (often) uncomfortable, is a significant time for our spiritual formation.

What we look at while we’re waiting is very important. Read that again.

Focus

Increasingly, I’ve found myself being very distracted, struggling to ‘focus’ and as a result be present with God and others. Life with all the technological advancements of the past 20-30 years has made it very easy to get distracted. We’re constantly bombarded but also drawn to social media and the like. We have hundreds of streaming channels to navigate, and we can buy anything at any time of the day and night. I’m a research geek, so I can lose myself for hours on end trawling down the internet for all manner of seemingly interesting tidbits.

Late in the year, I was drawn to some writing about seeking God more intentionally and felt the nudge by the Spirit to adopt ‘focus’ as my Word for the year. What have I done to become more focused:

• straight after Christmas by turning off social media. It’s become an easy time waster for me.
• I’m intentionally reading the Gospels this year as my Bible study reflections. Two scribes I admire both mentioned that if we desire to seek more of Jesus in our life, starting with the four books He stars in is a good start. I like that idea. Intimacy with Jesus requires focus. Being a good friend with Jesus requires focus.
• I’m praying specific short prayers during the day to invite God into the moment. One that I regularly pray is very simple:

“Lord, I want to know you more intimately,

So I can love you more intensely

To follow you more closely.”

• When I’m exercising, I’m picturing Jesus doing it with me. Even the other day at the cinema, I pictured Jesus sitting in the seat next to me inviting him into the activity.

These are just some of the things I’m doing. Seeking to invite Jesus into more of my day.

And fasting requires focus too, doesn’t it? To relieve the hunger pangs, we need to focus on another. And that is the idea of fasting. We use the hunger pangs to in fact draw us closer to Jesus. We focus more on Him and invite Him into our hunger as He is able to sustain us and carry us through the day. I'm praying I might gain some greater clarity around what's next for me and where I should next step.

Do any other SUMItes have a Word for 2023 yet? It would be a wonderful discussion for us to have in the comments if we share them and perhaps provide a little background as to why this Word is significant this year.

Go well this week. We’re excited to hear of some of the fruit we may experience as a result. But do remember, that often the fruit comes later, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t receive a lightning bolt of inspiration during the week.

Grace and peace