Becoming His...

A Year With Oswald - Week 38

2012-01-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

VERSE: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:8

MY THOUGHT: This week’s entries were so powerful, I’ve decided to let them speak for themselves. They cry out to each of us to respond to the call God has on our lives with complete abandon and absolute joy. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” the Lord asks today.

I hope like Isaiah, you and I will answer with a resounding, “Here am I, Lord. Send me.”

January 14th – God did not address the call to Isaiah; Isaiah overheard God saying, “Who will go for us?” The call of God is not for the special few, it is for everyone. Whether or not I hear God’s call depends upon the state of my ears; and what I hear depends upon my disposition. “Many are called but few are chosen,” that is, few prove themselves the chosen one. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ whereby their disposition has been altered and their ears unstopped, and they hear the still small voice questioning all the time, “Who will go for us?” It is not a question of God singling out a man and saying, “Now, you go.” God did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah was in the presence of God and he overheard the call, and realized that there was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom, “Here am I, send me.”

January 15th – No one enters into the experience of entire sanctification without going through a “white funeral” – the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crisis of death, sanctification is nothing more than a vision….

Have you come to your last days really? You have come to them often in sentiment, but have you come to them really? You cannot go to your funeral in excitement, or die in excitement. Death means you stop being. Do you agree with God that you stop being the striving, earnest kind of Christian you have been? We skirt the cemetery and all the time refuse to go to death. It is not striving to go to death, it is dying – “baptized into His death.”

January 16th – The call of God is not the echo of my nature…As long I consider my personal temperament and think about what I am fitted for, I shall never hear the call of God.

January 18th – Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him…Are we being more devoted to service than to Jesus Christ?

January 19th – Whenever God gives a vision to a saint, He puts him, as it were, in the shadow of His hand, and the saint’s duty is to be still and listen…Never try and help God fulfill His word. Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all self-sufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on common-sense ways. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not of displeasure.

Complete dependence on Him. That is the life of a sold-out Lover of God. Not rushing here and there in an attempt to do something for God, but so intimately acquainted with the Father that we learn to wait on Him. So that when He says go, we go. Not in our own strength – but in the strength of the Lord.

A Year with Oswald - Week 37

2012-01-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

VERSE: “When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples.” Mark 4:34

OSWALD: “It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We do not know envy when we see it, or laziness, or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that this body has been harbouring before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look in with courage?” (January 13th)

MY THOUGHT: How many of us have learned to look in with courage? I’ve been thinking a lot about that question this past week. It’s the new year, and as I do each January, I’ve been asking the Lord to change me, to make me more like Him.

But a chance comment by my husband made me realize that while I want to change, I don’t necessarily want to face the hard questions transformation usually requires. I’d rather just pray a blanket prayer stating my vague, yet passionate desire to be different than deal in any specifics.

Unfortunately, when we do that, we rarely see the things we need to see. “We do not know envy when we see it, or laziness, or pride,” Oswald points out. All because we’ve refused to allow God to “take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters.” Crooks and crannies we’d prefer to remain hidden and unexplored.

After reading that “crooks and crannies” line to my friend, Angela, while working together the other day, she immediately responded without looking up, “We’re like English muffins.” She stated it like a fact.

To be honest, at first I didn’t get the correlation. But then I remembered how perfect English muffins appear to be on the outside. Lightly toasted brown, they are smooth except for a cornmeal dusting. It isn’t until you open up one that you see how imperfect they are. Filled with bubble-shaped holes perfect for holding melted butter and raspberry jam, the marred muffin is made up of more air than bread. Which might be okay in a muffin, but you certainly don’t want it in a life.

Back to the chance comment. After noticing some strange eating habits at a local restaurant, John asked me if he had any annoying tendencies when he ate. Gratefully, he doesn’t, and I told him so. But rather than keep the conversation going by saying, “what about me?” I allowed the moment to pass for fear he might take the opportunity to point out a few.

In my reluctance to be vulnerable and teachable, I realized how my pride keeps me from asking for perspective – not always, not even often. But I’ve had to admit there are some topics I tend to sidestep whenever the Holy Spirit begins to whisper in my heart. Excuses I default to whenever conviction arises in a certain area, or God asks me for something I’m not quite willing to give.

But if I want to know God completely and be made wholly complete, I’m going to have to give Him access to every corner of my heart. Every hidden crook. Every heavily-guarded cranny. So that He might fill the holes - the more-air-than-substance places in my soul - with the fullness of Himself.

For that is what He promises to do. If I'll only have the courage to look deeply within.

A Year in Bethany - Week 36

2012-01-09T23:21:00.002-07:00

VERSE: “And he pitched his tent having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he builded an altar.” Genesis 12:8

OSWALD: “Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift…If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded.” (January 6th)

MY THOUGHT: Hoarders. I don’t know if you’ve seen the TV show by this title, but every time I watch it, my heart goes out to the many people who struggle under the weight of their own belongings. I’ve been there, at least in small part. I understand what it is like to feel overwhelmed by the disorder of clutter and paralyzed by too much stuff. Drowning in excess, yet, inexplicably, feeling the compulsion to go out and get more.

Over the past five years, the Lord has taken me through a shedding season, a pruning and letting go of thirty years of accumulation. I can’t begin to tell you how freeing it has been! But there is a spiritual hoarding we must deal with as well. For it can be just as detrimental, just as debilitating.

Especially when we clutch to ourselves the blessings, the spiritual gifts and talents God has given us, clinging tightly to the very things we were meant to give away.

“Blessed to be a blessing.” That’s what we’re called to be as children of God. But so often we operate from a poverty mentality. A subconscious fear that "this is as good as it’s going to get – so I better get while the getting’s good."

Like the Israelites on the first day the manna fell, we run about gathering as much blessing as we can carry – both spiritual as well as practical. Stuffing it in our mouths until it comes out our ears. Packing it in our pockets and briefcases and storage units; taking bread we don’t need out of hungry people’s hands.

But just like the Israelites discovered, hoarded manna doesn’t keep well. No matter how carefully you store it, it rots overnight. Just as the blessings we keep for ourselves tend to deteriorate. “God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself,” Oswald says, “it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.”

For God wants our lives to be “poured out like a drink offering,” as Paul puts it in Philippians 2:17, so that the “grace of our Lord” which He “poured out on [us] abundantly” (1 Tim. 1:14) might be released.

Jesus never hoarded His life. He gave it away, and He asks us to do the same. Calling us to a joyful generosity that shares with no reservation rather than a self-centered preservation. Giving what we’ve been given – including our very lives! – until there is no more to give. Then falling into bed at night exhausted, yet strangely fulfilled. Only to wake up the next morning to find rich food lying all around us. Grace for the day. New mercies provided each morning.

Fresh manna provided. And once again, our hands are filled…

Blessed to be a blessing.

Year With Oswald - Week 35

2012-01-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

VERSE: “All my fresh springs shall be in Thee.” Psalm 87:7 P.B.V

OSWALD: “Watch how God will wither up your confidence in natural virtues after sanctification, and in any power you have, until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through a drying-up experience!” (December 30th)

MY THOUGHT: I had to giggle a bit when I read this entry. I’m currently going through a “drying-up experience” in several areas of my life – a coming to the end of my strength and ability, thoroughly overwhelmed with my disabilities, forcing me to admit that apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). Not big, huge, monumental things. Not smaller, less-demanding daily things.

After confessing my undisciplined nature when it comes to writing this blog, I had thought the revelation might spur me to write a timely, heartwarming post on Christmas Day. (Or at least help me get last week’s post out on Friday.) But here it is Wednesday. Four days into the New Year and despite all my resolutions to change, I still can’t seem to get it together.

I’ve brought my problem of procrastination to the Lord many times over the years, but instead of changing me drastically as I’ve so often requested, the Lord keeps reminding me as He reminded Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). In other words, Joanna, trust Me. And trust Me in you.

I wish I could, like Paul, “boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me”(vs. 9), but my pride and frustration with my personal flakiness makes it hard to do that. However, I am realizing that perhaps the Lord has allowed several of my personal weaknesses to remain so that I might be more dependent upon Him. And less reliant upon myself.

Drying up any “confidence in natural virtues” or personal strength so that I would cling all the tighter to Him. Causing me to daily access His Spirit’s enabling so that I might do both what God asks and what life requires.

I’m learning to turn to Jesus not only in the areas I struggle with, but also in the tasks I feel somewhat equipped for. Especially when it comes to ministry.

“It is the saddest thing to see people in the service of God depending on what they have by the accident of heredity,” Oswald writes. And I would have to agree. I’ve not only witnessed this type of “professional ministry,” I’ve also participated in it – waving the cheap penlight of my abilities as I go through the motions of service without accessing the fire of the Holy Spirit made available to light the dark night we are called to invade.

Maybe that is why our heavenly Father often asks more of us than we can possibly give or ever accomplish on our own. To wean us from the idolatrous, haughty-hearted lie that we are little “gods” – slightly omniscient, occasionally omnipotent, nearly always capable on our own. But using those same impossible requests to simulataneously free us from the flipside false belief that we are too flawed, too fallen, too flakey, to ever be of use to God.

Both all-too-human responses come from the same root – over-dependence on self. And both will keep us from drawing upon the “reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus.”

I don’t know about you, but this year, I want to find my “fresh springs” only in Him. Even if it means a season of “drying up” when it comes to self-confidence, self-assurance and pride.

A Year with Oswald - Week 34

2011-12-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

VERSE: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34

OSWALD: “Never be sympathetic with the soul whose case makes you come to the conclusion that God is hard. God is more tender than we can conceive, and every now and again He gives us the chance of being the rugged one that He may be the tender One.” (December 19th)

MY THOUGHT: It’s hard to watch people hurt. It’s even harder to stand back when everything within wants to leap forward and intervene, to somehow fix what seems so wrong and senseless in the lives of those we love.

“Never be sympathetic with the soul whose case makes you come to the conclusion that God is hard.” Oswald’s words bring me up short every time I read them, for if I’m truthful, there are some situations that make me scratch my head. Trials and tragedies that leave me wondering if God really cares about my friend as much as I do.

But I’ve learned in my own life that God often appears cruel so that He might be kind. For there is a deep work that can only be done in a crucible. In a fiery trial so hot, all the dross of my heart finally releases its grip and comes to the surface. Not a pretty process, let me assure you. But a necessary one. For if I am ever to be like Jesus, I’m going to have to embrace the furnace and destruction before I’m ready for the anvil and reconstruction.

In times like these, I need to trust God and His goodness in my life. But I need to trust Him when He’s working in the lives of others. Even though I question His methods.

“If a man cannot get through to God,” Oswald writes, “it is because there is a secret thing that he does not intend to give up…People want the blessing of God, but they will not stand the thing that goes straight to the quick.”

Wow, isn’t that true? We all want blessings, but few of us welcome the soul surgery we so desperately need. More and more, I’m hearing Christians use the excuse that “no one’s perfect” – thus implying, “why even try?” We don’t like the hard message of holiness. We’d rather not look to closely at shortcomings or sin. It seems too antiquated and harsh for today’s cozy Christianity. We’d rather cuddle under God’s mercy, thoughtlessly trampling His grace underfoot, than do the inevitably hard work of actually changing.

Which is an incredible tragedy – for when Jesus came and died, He bought more than our salvation. God sent His Son so that the Perfect One might perfect you and me!

Our job as servants of God is to “cut down to the very root,” Oswald says, by erecting the standard of Jesus Christ for people’s lives. When they respond, “We can never be that,” drive it home – “Jesus says you must.” But then add, you cannot without a new Spirit (Luke 11:13). The very thing Christ came to give us. His Spirit – His strength, power, and presence at work in and through our lives.

I wonder what would happen if we stopped sympathizing with people, especially when their situation involves sin, and started speaking the truth in love? Not from a holier-than-thou perch of judgment or spiritual pride. But from the humble position of a son or daughter who has been chastened by God.

There is always a chance we’ll be misunderstood or misinterpreted – and that’s something we’ll have to leave with God. But as we step back, God will step in. Allowing our friend, perhaps at that very moment, to finally discover just how tender and kind, forgiving and loving our heavenly Father really is.

A Year With Oswald - Week 33

2011-12-20T13:39:00.002-07:00

OSWALD: “We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse todiscipline ourselves, physically, morally, or mentally. ‘I wasn’t disciplinedwhen I was a child.’ You must discipline yourself now. If you do not, you willruin the whole of your personal life for God.” (December 10^th)

MYTHOUGHT: I knew from the moment I started blogging through “A Year withOswald” I would struggle with discipline. Being areluctant writer, I’m fairly amazed that I’ve made it through 33 weeks of thescheduled 52 (with the help of a few guest bloggers, thank you very much!)

But as those of you who follow my blog may have noticed, thegoal of posting every Friday eventually pushed back to posting on Saturday, thenSunday or Monday. For the past few weeks, my “Friday post” has appeared onTuesday.

So much for discipline.

I was just bemoaning that fact to God in my journal thismorning. My blogging isn't the only part of my life feeling the lack. There's a renewedstrain on my waistband as well. After losing 30 pounds this year, I’m currently straddlingthe must-not-go-past line on my scale. It’s time to do something about it. But that’sgoing to require the renewed discipline of telling myself, once again, no.

No, you don’t need that Christmas cookie. No, eggnog is notyour friend.

No, Joanna. No.

Because you see, I have a problem. Unlike many of you, onceI start saying yes to my flesh, she tends to take over. And believe me, myFlesh Woman has no idea what the term “everything in moderation” means. She’sinto excess. Excess food, excess shopping, excess escapism. Excess excess.

That’s why God puts such a high premium on discipline. Heknows that our flesh is in direct opposition to His rule and reign in our lives (Romans 7:23). That’s whyHe’s given the Holy Spirit to help us live victorious lives. To help us standagainst the whining manipulation of our flesh that demands we give into herevery whim, fancy and craving. But we've got to dethrone our natural self if Jesus Christ is to ever be enthroned in our lives as Lord.

That happens best as we learn to say no to ourselves. Such discipline isn't meant to deprive us, but to set us free from the bondage of wanting more,always more. For as we push back against the idolatry of self, something amazing happens. As we begin to willingly sacrificewhat we want, we mysteriously beginto receive what we need.

I love how Oswald Chambers puts it: “God is not with ournatural life while we pamper it; but when we put it out in the desert and resolutelykeep it under, then God will be with it; and He will open up wells and oases,and fulfill all His promises for the natural.”

God doesn’t want to withhold good things from us – He longsto bless us! Right here. Right now. Wells and oases for our souls. Fulfilledpromises for our natural lives. But suchrichness is only possible when we cooperate by sacrificing the natural so that Godis able to release the supernatural.

Now that’s what I want. That’s what I need. Ain’t noChristmas cookie or cup of eggnog on earth that compete with that!

Don’tyou think it’s time to start saying no to our flesh so we can say yes to ourGod?

A Year With Oswald - Week 32

2011-12-14T00:34:00.002-07:00

VERSE: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.” 2 Corinthians 7:10

OSWALD: “The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for ‘the gift of tears.’ If ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness. Examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be sorry. ” (December 7th)

MY THOUGHT: For a “good girl” who grew up obsessed with the idea of being good, Oswald’s words concerning repentance rocked my religious world the first time I read them twenty-some years ago.

You see, I had spent the majority of my life pursuing holiness – with my ultimate goal, perfection! Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I constantly fell short. Even on my best days, I was a pale imitation of what I instinctively knew God wanted me to be.

Making conscious holiness my pursuit led to wild extremes. Inordinate pride when I did well and seething self-hatred when I didn’t. “Do good, be good,” I told myself as I tried to produce “fruit” in keeping with holiness (Romans 6:22), beating myself black-and-blue with condemnation when I failed. Unwittingly practicing penance rather than true repentance.

The analogy of bearing fruit in John 15 really helped me understand better what I believe Oswald meant when he said that “conscious repentance” results in “unconscious holiness.”

Just as a branch cannot produce fruit on its own unless it is connected to the vine, apart from Christ, I too can do nothing. My responsibility as a branch isn’t to produce fruit. My job is to tend my connection to the vine.

Because sin disrupts that connection and separates me from the life of Christ, I desperately need repentance! For when I repent on the basis of what Jesus did on the cross, I am immediately restored to right relationship with the One who gives me life. Then the Spirit of God, who longs to produce His fruit within me, can do the work only He can do (Gal. 5:22-23).

Conscious repentance leads to unconscious holiness – “never the other way about,” Oswald writes. But sadly, repentance is often the last thing we do though we need it most. So busy trying to be holy on our own, we never access the gift of repentance He provides. As a result we don’t experience the power of God that comes through right relationship with Him.

Perhaps it’s time, as Oswald says, to “examine yourself to see if you’ve forgotten how to be sorry.” To ask, like the Puritans did, for the “gift of tears.” To allow God to break our hearts with what breaks His. So that nothing breaks the communion He longs to have with you and me.

For when we tend the connection between His life and ours, fruit happens! Not the wax counterfeit of religious piety or the plastic facsimile of self-induced purity, but the fresh, satisfying fruit of “unconscious holiness” that emits a fragrance hard to ignore and even harder to resist.

Though we, the branches upon which the fruit grows, remain delightfully unaware.

A Year in Bethany - Week 31

2011-12-06T09:29:00.001-07:00

VERSE: “His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

OSWALD: “The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are.” (November 30th)

MY THOUGHT: So often I am guilty of focusing on my glaring inabilities rather than focusing on God’s almighty power available to work within me. I’m much quicker to do personal inventory of what I bring to our relationship rather than consider “the incomparable riches of his grace” that are mine in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).

As a result, I spend a lot of time telling God what He can’t possibly do through me.

Midway through writing Having a Mary Spirit, I hit a wall that I couldn’t seem to get around. The topic was just so huge and my ability to wrap words around it felt so very small. Plus there was my undisciplined nature to contend with as well as a three-year-old who constantly needed my attention.
Surely God had chosen the wrong person to write this book.

The Lord was patient at first, reminding me of His grace and power to enable me to do what He had asked, but I continued to push back at His will, bringing up all the reasons why I was inadequate for the task. Finally, God whispered to my heart:

Let me get this straight…Although I spoke the universe into existence and hung the stars in space…even though I promised to help you when you said yes to My call … and even though you’ve cleared your life and made time to write this book … you still keep saying you can’t do it.

Well, that hit home. I started to squirm, but I could tell the Lord was just warming up.

What you’re really telling Me, the Lord said, is that you’re the omnipotent one around here. Because no matter how much I help you, no matter how willing I am to give you the words and the ability to write…you just know you’ll find some way to mess it all up!

Well, yes. That was pretty much what I was saying, only it sounded so ugly and prideful the way He put it. Not nearly as humble and desperately pious as I felt.

It’s unbelief, Joanna, the Lord concluded. It is blasphemy. And it breaks my heart.

When it comes to God helping us do a task or become more like His Son, the majority of us tend to make excuses why that isn’t possible. “That may sound wonderfully humble before men,” Oswald Chambers writes, “but before God it is an attitude of defiance.”

False humility. That’s what it is. An upside down exalting ourselves against God’s ability to save. The answer to that dilemma?

“Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not,” Oswald concludes, “but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all.” After all…

“One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.”

A Year in Bethany - Week 30

2011-11-28T18:07:00.001-07:00

VERSE: “Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.” Psalm 123:3

OSWALD: “Refuse to be swamped with the cares of this life…[and] the lust of vindication. St. Augustine prayed – ‘O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.’ That temper of mind destroys the soul’s faith in God. ‘I must explain myself; I must get people to understand.’ Our Lord never explained anything; He left mistakes to correct themselves.” (November 23rd)

MY THOUGHT: In November 23rd’s entry, Oswald makes this statement: “The thing of which we have to beware is not so much damage to our belief in God as damage to our Christian temper.” The attitude from which we live our life. We must beware “the cares of this world,” Oswald says, “because they are the things that produce a wrong temper of soul.” But there is a second distraction that is just as deadly. The all-together-human fixation with vindication.

I sure wish I would have read this entry on the day it was assigned. Perhaps it would have prevented the emotional meltdown I had the day after Thanksgiving. It all started with a hurt feeling that leaked out coloring my words. When a loved one tried to point out a problem with my attitude, the way they did it only reinforced the hurt feeling. Suddenly I was desperate to vindicate myself. To explain away my bad temper as rational, while pointing out how off-base and hyper-critical they were.

As you might imagine, it didn’t go well. My pride collided with their pride and suddenly there was “wrong temper” and self-vindication all around. I spent the 45-minute drive home trying to make sense of a situation that had come out of nowhere. “I must explain myself,” I pouted aloud between my tears. “I must make them understand.”

My husband, John, prayed for me when I got home and that helped. As did the admission that when it came right down to it, pride and ego fueled my emotional reaction – whether I was right or wrong didn’t matter, it was my response to the situation that needed work.

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” As I lay on my bed praying, wise words from an ancient philosopher came to mind, echoed by Paul’s injunction in Romans 12:18 – “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

Slowly, I realized there was only one thing to do. Wipe my eyes, blow my nose, and dial my loved one’s phone number. Then humble myself and apologize. Seeking first to understand, rather than demanding to be understood.

It wasn’t easy on my ego, but it was good for my soul.

A Year With Oswald - Week 29

2011-11-21T14:30:00.001-07:00

VERSE: “Lord, what shall this man do? …What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” John 21:21,22

OSWALD: “One of our severest lessons comes from the stubborn refusal to see that we must not interfere in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interrupting with God’s order for others. You see a person suffering and you say – He shall not suffer, and I will see that he does not. You put your hand straight in front of God’s permissive will to prevent it, and God says – ‘What is that to thee?’” (November 15th)

MY THOUGHT: I have a friend walking through an incredibly difficult time right now. Things seem to be getting worse not better, and I confess there have been times I’ve wanted to put my hand out and say, “This can’t be right! Please, God! Make the suffering stop.”

Because I love her, I wish I had a magic wand to make her pain poof-disappear. My prayers have provided endless suggestions on how God might want to handle the situation differently. After all, can’t He see what strain she’s under? What good could such prolonged torment produce?

With Oswald’s words this morning, I’m reminded of how often we humans tend to secretly judge God as being less loving than us. Less concerned and somewhat careless, surely less wise. If we were in charge, we think, we wouldn’t allow our friend to go through such intense pain.

Now, I’m sure none of us verbalize these thoughts, but if we could peel back the layer of frustration, I wonder if we wouldn’t find an insidious form of pride hiding below? Lurking beneath our near-clinical fixation with fixing those around us?

“Amateur providence,” Oswald calls it – I’ve played that part more times than I’d like to admit. For sincere concern can morph into creeping unbelief which screams for action when the situation goes unchanged. It isn’t long before I find myself masquerading as the Messiah – playing the hero-rescuer rather than allowing the gentle Redeemer to do his work.

When I do, however, I may unwittingly rescue my friend from the very thing intended to bring them freedom. Worse, I may perform unholy CPR on something God has intended to die.

I’m learning it’s better to trust God than attempt to trump Him. Better to “be still” when I don’t understand than be sorry when finally I do. Better to wait on God to what He deems best in my friend’s life than rush to interfere.

For, when it comes right down to it, as 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, I only “know in part.” Our Heavenly Father, on the other hand, really does know best.

A Year With Oswald - Week 28

2011-11-14T11:15:00.001-07:00

VERSE: “Fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ.” 1 Thess.3:2

OSWALD: “I have to learn that the aim in life is God’s,not mine. God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asksof me is that I trust Him… He can crumple me up or exalt me, He can do anythingHe chooses. He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself and Hisgoodness. Self-pity is of the devil.” (November 10^th)

MYTHOUGHT: “Self-pity is ofthe devil,” Oswald says. Pretty harsh words to describe the emotionally cushyshroud I’m often tempted to wear. After all, self-pity is never completely unjustified.Life offers plenty of reasons to wall ourselves inwith our pain so that we might lick our wounds and tend our battered egos.

In times like these, self-pity always appears to be a friend,tenderly wrapping itself around our bruised feelings and commiserating with ourpain. Whispering how badly we’ve been treated and how we deserve to wallow inthe sorrow of it all.

Usually I don’t recognize self-pity’s demonic origin becauseit seems the justifiable response. But whenever I feel the seductive weight of itscomfort pushing me down, down, down, in my mood and in my feelings, I’velearned to stop and reconsider my response. For entertaining self-pity is justone step away from being enslaved to it. Believe me I know. I’ve been down itsslippery slopes a few times and it only leads to depression, discouragement and despair.

The cure to self-pity, you might ask? A new point of view.And a generous dose of faith.

“I have to learn that the aim in life is God’s, not mine,”Oswald writes. “God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all Heasks of me is that I trust Him… He can crumple me up or exalt me, He can doanything He chooses. He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself andHis goodness. Self-pity is of the devil.”

Hasself-pity been knocking at your door lately, my friend? I’ve heard the doorbellseveral times over the last couple of weeks.

Though it’s been hard to master my emotions so I canexercise my faith, I’ve tried to respond to the Lord rather than resort toself-pity. Praying out loud with Oswald, “You can crumple me up or exalt me, You can doanything You choose. I trust You, Lord! I’m not going to give in to mysituation. I’m going to give my situation to You!”

A Year With Oswald - Week 27

2011-11-05T13:19:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “Know ye notthat …ye are not your own?” 1 Cor. 6:19

OSWALD: “Whyshouldn’t we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening upways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first gripof pain; we sit down on the threshold of God’s purpose and die away ofself-pity, and all so called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death bed.But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, andsays – ‘Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.’ If through a brokenheart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him forbreaking your heart.” (November 1^st)

MY THOUGHT: Are you walking through a heartbreak right now? Does it feelas though everything worthwhile has been ripped away, leaving only remnants toremind you of what might have been?

There is nothing more devastating, humanly speaking, than abroken heart. And yet, in God’s economy, nothing holds more potential forgrowth and Christ-likeness than those wounds that have seeminglyshattered us beyond repair.

I was surprised this week to find I’m still dealing withresidue of heartbreak. So many years past the pain, I had expected to be fullyhealed by now. To be able to clearly articulate all the benefits of thebreaking. To neatly tie up the loose ends of my experience into a spiritualanalogy I could share with the world.

But, instead, I’m still wandering somewhere in the “land ofinbetween” – that difficult “mean”time that stretches between ourhurt and God’s redemption of the pain.

However, I’m reminded that while I can’t necessarily see the valueof my heartbreak right now, that doesn’t mean the benefit isn’t already at work. Time-lapseunderstanding is always hard on our humanity. We need our pain to make sense sowe can file it away properly and move on to better things. At least that’s whatwe tell ourselves. But I’m learning that I’ve got to let God do the filing. Foronly He knows how to categorize the work He’s doing in me.

More importantly, I’ve got to give Him my heartbreak so Hecan do another kind of "filing" - that all-important shaping, honing work that seems to happen best in the difficulties and injustices oflife. The “iron sharpening iron” process that makes me less and less like me. Andmore and more like Him.

Unfortunately, the temptation is always there, as Oswaldpoints out, “to sit down on the threshold of God’s purpose and die away ofself-pity.” But I don’t want to miss the gift of suffering. That mysteriousopportunity Paul says we have to “fill up in [our] flesh what is lacking in theafflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church” (Col 1:24NKJV).

I’m so glad I have a Savior who understands the pain of abroken heart and yet takes me by His nail-pierced hand and helps me to arise.To enter into a deeper fellowship with Him – perhaps the sweetest reward ofbeing broken.

But Oswald reminds us there are other rewards as well: “If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes topass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.”

What a strange paradox this is! That through our breaking, we findour making. Though we may not fully understand the “whys” of our circumstance,Lord, we trust that You will bring Your purposes to pass. In our lives and inthe world we live. Though it involves pain, thank You for including us in the process.

From the bottom of our still-being-mended hearts.

A Year With Oswald - Week 26

2011-10-29T11:06:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “I am made all things to all men, that I mightby all means save some.”
1 Corinthians 9:22

OSWALD: “’Ihave chosen you.’ Keep that note of greatness in your creed, It is not that youhave got God but that He has got you. Here, in this College, God is at work,bending, breaking, moulding, doing just as He chooses. Why He is doing it, wedo not know; He is doing it for one purpose only – that he may be able to say,This is My man, My woman. We have to be in God’s hand so that He can plant menon the Rock as He has planted us….Never choose to be a worker, but when God hasput His call on you, woe be to you if you turn to the right hand or the left.” (October25^th)

MY THOUGHT: Mostof the entries in My Utmost for HisHighest came from lectures given by Oswald Chambers during devotions atClapham, England’s Bible Training College he founded in 1911. He had a passion to train the next generationof Christian leaders. Men and women who had a distinct call on their life forministry.

Inthe introduction to My Utmost, BiddyChambers notes that this weekly “Devotional Hour at the College” was “an hourwhich for many of the students marked an epoch in their life with God.”

Thoughwe can all glean from these entries, Oswald consistently points to the highercall of those who’ve dedicated their lives to full-time ministry. Not in asense that they are more valuable to the Kingdom of God, but to the fact thatthey are more accountable. Called to a higher standard, they are to be an “examplefor all the believers” (1 Tim 4:12).

Amonumental task which requires those of us who’ve answered that call to makeourselves constantly available to the rebuke, discipline and the “bending,breaking, moulding” of the Lord.

Today’sentry reminds me of poem that describes the process God often uses to shape usinto instruments “fit for the master’suse” (2 Tim 2:21 KJV).

When Godwants to drill a man,

And thrill aman,

And skill aman

When Godwants to mold a man

To play thenoblest part;
When Heyearns with all His heart

To create sogreat and bold a man

That all theworld shall be amazed,

Watch His methods,watch His ways!
How Heruthlessly perfects

Whom Heroyally elects!

How Hehammers him and hurts him,

And withmighty blows converts him
Into trialshapes of clay which

Only Godunderstands;

While histortured heart is crying

And he liftsbeseeching hands!
How He bendsbut never breaks

When his goodHe undertakes;

How He useswhom He chooses,

And whichevery purpose fuses him;

By every actinduces him

To try Hissplendor out-

God knowswhat He's about.

Author unknown

A Year With Oswald - Week 25

2011-10-20T11:53:00.002-06:00

Today's Guest Blogger is my dear friend Tricia Goyer! Be sure to check out the fun giveaway she's hosting over at her website in celebration of her latest novel, Along Wooded Paths!

VERSE: Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world--" John 18:36

OSWALD: "The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This world insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is on the wrong thing. Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God does not come with observation...For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you...If You waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God's redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens." (October 19)

MY THOUGHT: This post almost didn't get written today. That is the truth. I've been pretty busy lately, you see. I work full-time writing Christian books--books that I hope will share God's hope through story. I blog, too, because I know there are a lot of people out there who need encouragement. Last week, I dedicated myself to my family and we went on a family vacation. I never want them to feel as if my work and service are more important to me than them. We have three older kids, and an adopted baby. My 82-year-old Grandma lives with us. Why? Because the Bible says to care for the orphans and the widows. I should mention I run a week support group for teen moms, because they need to hear the good news of Jesus too? Oh, yes, and I can't forget, as of last night we have five more people in our home. A young couple with three kids needed a place to stay for a while. Of course we opened our doors. How could we not?

All that seems pretty important right? It's not.

Yes, it's good to care and love and serve. I do feel called to write and to evangelize, and there should always be time in my schedule to help with the needy and spend time loving those God put into my life, but none of those things should take the place of God. Of spending time with Him. Of thanking Him for my salvation. Of filling up with His Presence.

I've been feeling weary and overwhelmed lately, and Oswald reminded me that I need to soak in God for a while. I need to immerse myself once again in the great fundamental truths of God's redemption. In life there will always be stress, strain, things to do and people to help, but I'll only be able to handle it when I'm rooted in Jesus and filled up with Him. Then His love can pour out to others through me, instead of me depending on my own strength, which never works.

So, yes, I'm glad I got this post written. Out of all the things on my to-do list today it's reminded me where my focus needs to be. I'm off to soak in Him for a while.

###

Tricia Goyer is the author of thirty books including Songbird Under a German Moon, The Swiss Courier, and the mommy memoir, Blue Like Play Dough. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from ACFW, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference in 2003. Tricia's book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in 2005. In addition to her novels, Tricia writes non-fiction books and magazine articles for publications like MomSense and Thriving Family. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences, and has been a workshop presenter at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International Conventions. She and her family make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas where they are part of the ministry of FamilyLife. Visit www.triciagoyer.com for more information.

A Year With Oswald - Week 24

2011-10-14T12:18:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days in the same place where He was.” John 11:6

OSWALD: “Has God trusted you with a silence – a silence that is big with meaning? God’s silences are His answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything analogous to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking for a visible answer?” (October 11th)

MY THOUGHT:When I read Oswald’s words about God trusting us with silence, I thought of a story I once read in L.B. Cowman’s devotional, Streams in the Desert.

A woman had a dream where she saw three people praying. As they knelt, she watched Jesus draw near and approach the first figure, leaning over her tenderly, smiling and speaking “in accents of purest, sweetest music.” Then He proceeded to the next figure, placing a gentle hand on her head and nodding with “loving approval.” But what happened next perplexed the dreaming woman:

The third woman He passed almost abruptly without stopping for a word or glance. The woman in her dream said to herself, “How greatly He must love the first one, to the second He gave His approval, but none of the special demonstrations of love He gave the first; and the third must have grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word at all and not even a passing look.
“I wonder what she has done, and why He made so much difference between them?” As she tried to account for the action of her Lord, He Himself stood by her and said: “O woman! how wrongly hast thou interpreted Me. The first kneeling woman needs all the weight of My tenderness and care to keep her feet in My narrow way. She needs My love, thought, and help every moment of the day. Without it she would fail and fall.
“The second has stronger faith and deeper love, and I can trust her to trust Me however things may go and whatever people do.
“The third, whom I seemed not to notice, and even to neglect has faith and love of the finest quality, and her I am training by quick and drastic processes for the highest and holiest service.
“She knows Me so intimately, and trusts Me so utterly, that she is independent of words or looks or any outward intimation of my approval….because she knows that I am working in her for eternity, and that what I do, though she knows not the explanation now, she will understand hereafter.”

Dear friend, don’t be afraid of the times when Christ seems “silent in his love” (Zephaniah 3:17, DRA), when “He [answers] not a word” (Matt. 15:23, KJV). Because God is up to something more in your life and mine than just giving us the comfort of His voice. He is working in us for eternity. He wants to be able to say of us, “She knows Me so well…I can trust her with my silence.” I love how Oswald Chambers describes the blessing of such times: “A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that the contagion of His stillness gets into you and you become perfectly confident – ‘I know God has heard me.’”

Have you experienced the “contagion of His stillness”? Is God able to trust you with His silence? I’d love to hear from you…

Facebook ... finally

2011-10-08T08:45:00.003-06:00

Most of you already know this .... but, after avoiding Facebook for years, I finally succumbed to its gravitational force. For the most part it's been fairly painless. Though, just as I feared, I often feel insecure, in a junior-higherish kind of way. Like when people misunderstand my humor and suggest I get more rest. Or when no one asks to be my "friend" and I don't have as many "likes" as my husband does.

But it has been fun connecting with old friends and new. So I hope you'll stop by at www.facebook.com/becominghis and "friend" me and "like" me several million times so I can surpass my husband in a loving, noncompetitive and completely supportive way.

A Year with Oswald - Week 23

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “Jesus leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves.” Mark 9:2

OSWALD: “We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God’s standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong…” (October 1st)

“…We see His glory on the mount, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the [valley] of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed.” (October 2nd)

MY THOUGHT:
Oh, how I love living on the heights with God! Those glorious mountaintop moments when, as my friend Michael Snyder says, “heaven touches earth and I happen to be standing there.” I have experienced many transfigurational times alone with God that have elementally changed my life. But how to bring down the things I’ve seen and the truths I’ve learned to the valley in which I live?

Well, that’s where transformation gets tricky.

On the mountain with God, clouds lift and skies clear allowing us to see spiritually for miles. But down in the valley, things seem a little murky and unclear as the truth we’ve received is challenged or gets lost in the monotony of life.

For instance, it’s easy to say I’m filled with the love of God when I’ve just spent time in His presence. But to take that love and give it away – especially to people who don’t deserve it! – well, that can be difficult to say the least. And yet, the Bible makes it clear: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother [or father or mother or spouse or co-worker or neighbor – you get the picture!], he is a liar” (1 John 4:20).
In other words, we may have felt a lot of warm fuzzies on the mountaintop, we may have received revelation after revelation and waxed poetically about the heart we now have for the lost. But if when we descend to the drudgery of everyday life, we find we can’t love the people right next to us…then I have to ask. What good was the mountain?

Unless our time with God causes us tap into the deep things of God, accessing a transfusion of love that goes deeper and stretches farther than our own, then we’ve only had a religious experience that does little except make us want to build monuments to the memory [see Peter’s response in Luke 9:33].

It is in the valley of humiliation, “we find our true worth to God,” Oswald says. For it is there “our faithfulness is revealed.” Daily life is meant to be an anvil on which we hammer out the things we “know” until they become the truths we “live.” For until we live out in the valley the truth we’ve received on the mountain top, we run the danger of becoming addicted to experiencing God, but never experiencing true change.

What has God told you on the mountain top that you’ve either refused or forgotten to live out in the valley? Obey Him at that point of contradiction. Then see if He doesn’t reveal Himself to you in a deeper, sweeter way than ever before. It may cost you humiliation to obey, but it will bring the transformation you long for.

Oh Wait! There's more!

2011-10-06T07:21:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I posted about the Year in Bethany contest - well today I have something else I need your input on - and I'll reward you. :)

The second contest involves gathering questions for a Q&A companion video I hope to release for each book.

Who better to come up with those questions, than those of you who have read my books!

Here's the premise: "If you had a chance to sit down with Joanna after reading [book title], what questions would you like to ask?"

HAVING A MARY HEART

My question/s would be:

HAVING A MARY SPIRIT

My question/s would be:

LAZARUS AWAKENING

My question/s would be:

Click here for video entry form.

We'll draw three winners for $75 gift certificates and if your question is chosen for the video, you'll be entered in a drawing for a Kindle.

Feel free to pass this on to your Bible study friends so they can share their questions as well.

DEADLINE: In order to have your name entered in either drawing, we must have your entries by NOVEMBER 10th, so don't delay!! Winners announced on 11/15 at my blog.

Again, if you have any questions, please email amy@joannaweaverbooks.com.

Interested in Winning a Fab Prize?

2011-10-05T07:06:00.004-06:00

I'm excited to announce two great contests. How would you like to win a $75 gift certificate from Christianbook.com? Or a Kindle E-Reader? What would you think about winning an IPad2???

The first contest involves a new project I'm working on called "A Year in Bethany." I'm looking for devotional-sized excerpts that have spoken to your heart from one of my books:

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life
Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change You From the Inside Out
Lazarus Awakening: Finding Your Place in the Heart of God

You can enter up to ten times for each book. Just choose portions no longer than 1 ½ pages long, then fill in the following information on the excerpt form:

Click here to access the excerpt form!

This is what I'll be looking for:

BOOK TITLE:

Portion selected:
[starting phrase...]

[ending phrase...]

Located on page #:

Comment on why it spoke to your heart: (Optional)

You'll notice that you don't need to type out the entire entry. Just type in the starting phrase and the phrase that ends the portion and don't forget to add the page number(s). We'll do the rest.

When you're ready to enter - click here. Please fill out a separate form for each entry.

If I receive 500 entries, I'll give away a Kindle and a gift certificate. If I receive 1000 entries, I'll give away an IPad2, a Kindle and three gift certificates!

Once again, please choose excerpts that are meaningful to you. Each excerpt you submit will put your name in the drawing - with up to 30 chances to win!

DEADLINE: Contest runs from 9/19 - 11/10. Winners announced here on the blog 11/15.

If you have any problems or questions please email amy@joannaweaverbooks.com!

Stay Tuned - 2nd contest coming tomorrow.

A Year With Oswald, Week 22 (9/24-9/29)

2011-10-02T18:16:00.002-06:00

Wow. Oswald has done it again (though I should credit his wife, Biddy, who organized the devotional with the help of the Holy Spirit).

Entry after entry this week has sent arrow after arrow into the self-centered part of my flesh. Here are the “zingers” God used on me:

September 24th – “Never discard a conviction. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to have brought it to your mind, it is that thing He is detecting. You were looking for a great thing to give up. God is telling you of some tiny thing; but at the back of it there lies the central citadel of obstinacy: I will not give up my right to myself.”

September 25th – “Jesus Christ demands that there be not the slightest trace of resentment even suppressed in the heart of a disciple when he meets with tyranny and injustice.”

September 26th – “”First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.’ Never object to the intense sensitiveness of the Spirit of God in you when He is educating you down to the scruple…Jesus does not mention the other person, He says – you go. There is no question of your rights. The stamp of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.”

September 27th – “Never apologize for your Lord. The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to hurt or offend…If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you may be sure that there is something that He wants to hurt to death.”
September 28th – “If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on your own way, certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, it is an indication that there are whole tracts of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.”

September 29th – “The call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. God can never make us wine if we object to the fingers He uses to crush us with.”
Do you want to be used by God but feel like there is something standing in the way? Perhaps God has used Oswald’s words to put His finger on a “central citadel of obstinacy” in your life, as He has in mine – a place of disobedience He just can’t bless.

Agree with the diagnosis, my friend. And do it quickly. Give God access to that stronghold of pride and let Him deliver you. Repent of your sin and then obey what He tells you to do.

You do your part and God will do the rest.

A Year With Oswald, Week 21

2011-09-23T11:11:00.006-06:00

VERSE: “Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well; for so I am.” John 13:13

OSWALD: “To have a master and to be mastered is not the same thing….Our Lord never enforces obedience. He does not take means to make me to what He wants. At certain times I wish God would master me and make me do the thing, but He will not; in other moods I wish He would leave me alone, but He does not.” (SEPTEMBER 22nd)

MY THOUGHT:
In the pursuit of our utmost for His highest, there is no more important question than the one Oswald highlights in this entry. “’Ye call me Master and Lord’ [Jesus told his disciples] – but is He?” Oswald asks. “Master and Lord have little place in our vocabulary, we prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, Healer.” In other words, we prefer what we can get from God, rather than what we can give. We tend to prefer reveling in the promises of His Word rather than wrestling our hearts into complete abandonment to His lordship and rights over our lives.

Where does Jesus sit in your heart today? Is He on the throne or seated slightly to the side as you call the shots in your life? Perhaps you’ve seen the bumper sticker, “God is my co-pilot” – but may I tell you, our heavenly Father doesn’t operate that way. As the old song says, “If He isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.”

I wonder if part of our problem with lordship doesn’t come from a misunderstanding of the relationship God longs to have with us. When we think of the word “master” we tend to link it with the word “slave.” The thought of an underling being subject to the whims of a selfish, controlling lord. And yet, as Oswald describes it, the true meaning of having a master is not that of being mastered or manipulated. It is not being enslaved and abused but being so cherished and loved that we are precious brides rather than slave girls. Beloved by God.

“To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself,” Oswald writes, “one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it, one who has brought me into the secure sense that he has met and solved every perplexity and problem of my mind. To have a master is this and nothing less.”

What we do with that intimate offer of lordship is up to us. For Christ is a gentleman who never forces Himself upon us. And yet, while we may resist His advances, He never stops pursuing us. For you and I were made for relationship. To be covered and sheltered in the mighty arms of our God. To be led by His Holy Spirit and mastered by His love.

Each morning before I get out bed, I’ve learned to take a moment and pray this prayer. “Take the throne of my life today, Jesus. Here’s my agenda, but You call the shots. I abdicate my right to myself and what I think this day should be like. Be the Lord of all…be enthroned in every kingdom of my heart.”

A Year With Oswald, Week 20

2011-09-16T07:06:00.003-06:00

VERSE: “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.”2 Corinthians 4:2

OSWALD: “Have you ‘renounced the hidden things of dishonesty’ – the things that your sense of honour will not allow to come to the light? You can easily hide them. Is there a thought in your heart about anyone which you would not like to be dragged into the light? Renounce it as soon as it springs up; renounce the whole thing until there is no hidden thing of dishonesty or craftiness about you.” (SEPTEMBER 15th)

MY THOUGHT:

Growing up in church, we were warned not to “smoke, drink or chew – or go with boys who do!” There was a list of big-S-sins we were told we must always avoid, and for the most part, I did. I was “Pollyanna DoGood” almost from birth. I played by the rules and did my best to make sure everyone else did as well.

Like the time I found my little sister Linda and cousin Chuckie hiding down the block, though they were told not to leave the yard. They begged me not to disclose their location as they huddled next to a fence. But justice demanded action – they had broken the rules and had not come home when they heard us calling. The fact they’d left me out of their escapade didn’t help, but being merciful and forgiving, I chose to disregard the slight. The overarching sin of rebellion, however, had to be punished.

“Grandma!!” I yelled as I smiled down at their pleading little faces. Grandma came and justice was served. Though it was dispensed through several layers of snowclothes, Chuckie never stayed the night again. Poor wimpy whiney fellow.

Sin and hiding. Funny how they always seem to go together. Even when the sin isn’t overtly obvious.
I somehow avoided the big sins as a teenager, but never quite escaped the insidious sins at work within. In fact, like most people, I became quite adept at hiding them. The pride and anger, the anxiety and doubt. The microscopic and not-so-microscopic attitudes which are deadly if not examined and extracted by God.

They are the “iniquitous ways” David refers to in the Psalms. I’ll never forget a sermon I heard on the meaning of the word, iniquitous. At its root, it has the idea of “twisting.” Playing with the truth to further our agendas. Protecting our rears by omitting important details. Saying we’ve already done something when we know we haven’t. Rationalizing away our sin or blaming someone else. “Walking in craftiness” – that’s another way the Bible defines it.

The spotlight of the Spirit shone so bright that night at the altar, I literally wept for hours. It was a big-S-sin no one had mentioned in Sunday School or youth group but I had felt its deadly effects since I was a little girl.
Because no one seemed to see me hiding behind the fences and facades I’d built, no one had called me on it. Until that night, my Big Brother found me and put His finger on that sin-soaked place in my soul.

Instead of smiling smugly and calling down the wrath of His Father, He disciplined me tenderly as I cried. Allowing me to feel the pain and conviction of my sin without allowing it to swing into self-hatred and condemnation. Accepting me as I was, but still challenging me to change.

Oswald’s advice on dealing with these “hidden things of dishonesty” is so important. For simply feeling guilty about iniquity doesn’t change a thing. We have to “renounce it as soon as it springs up,” Oswald writes, “renounce the whole thing until there is no hidden thing of dishonesty or craftiness about you. Envy, jealousy, strife – these things arise not necessarily from the disposition of sin, but from the make-up of your body which was used for this kind of thing in days gone by (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-2).”

In other words, don’t be surprised when dishonesty and craftiness happens. But deal with it when it does. Don’t wait for your mean, know-it-all sister to do the revealing. She enjoys it far too much.

Instead, run to Jesus and tattle on yourself to God!

A Year With Oswald, Week 19

2011-09-10T10:49:00.009-06:00

Today's Oswald is written by Susie Larsen. ENJOY!

Verse: He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38).

Oswald: God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others…Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessings for others.

My Thoughts: One of the things that excites me most about the promise of forever in heaven—next to seeing Jesus, of course—will be listening to the stories. I can’t wait for the stories! Once we get to heaven, we’ll have an eternity to learn about the countless ways God divinely intersected our lives with others for the very purpose of pouring out His blessings.

The Bible says that our own souls are nourished when we are kind. Can you even count how many times you’ve been kind, or how many times others have been kind to you? Every cup of water given in Christ’s name is written down in His book. Every tired smile offered with grace means something to God.

If we had any idea how many times a day God used even the sparkle in our eyes to speak to another soul, we might grow more self aware than God aware. The thing is, what others see and receive from us, they receive from Christ in us. Christ in us, our hope of glory. God uses us more than we know, and it’s His delight to do so, but our focus must remain on the Source, from whom all blessings flow.

It’s not for us to consume ourselves with how much or often we’re used by God during our time on the earth. We’ll have all kinds of fun in heaven hearing the stories of how God worked through the divine moments of our lives. Ours is the call to become a constant and consistent vessel through which God’s blessings flow to a world very much in need, whether we’re aware of it, or not.

We are on a pilgrimage, a sacred journey, traveling towards the day when we see Jesus face to face. We are saved solely by faith in Christ alone, but sanctification comes through the process of walking with and learning from our Savior. And though He promises never to leave us, He also promises that in this world we will have trials and tribulations.

We’ll walk through seasons when the storms rage and our fears rise. We’ll walk through places that feel like a dry and weary land where there is no water. We’ll wonder at times if there’s more to life than just surviving. We’ll feel quite sure that God has all but forgotten about the thought of using us. But it’s in these places, we find God to be an ever-present help in times of trouble.

We are God’s care and we are also under His charge. In other words, He has promised to take care of us, but, in every situation, He also intends to use us. God is faithful. And once we start to trust Him, our questions will change from “God, what are you doing to me?” to, “God what does obedience look like here? How can I obey you here?” We are under His care (He’ll never leave us) and we are under His charge (He intends to use us for His glory).

When we understand who we are and what we possess in Christ, we will more readily embrace the idea that no season or scenario can hinder God’s mighty river from flowing in and through us. Our only obstacle is our own unbelief.

You no doubt remember the runaway bestseller, The Prayer of Jabez, written by the wonderful Bruce Wilkenson. Bruce unpacked a tiny little prayer from the Bible to make the point that God most certainly wants to use us in ever increasing ways. If you’ve not heard of the book, here’s the prayer straight from Scripture:

Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request (1 Chronicles 4:10 NLT).

I love this prayer and I pray it all of the time. Years ago I decided to internalize the prayer and ask God to increase His territory within me. My prayers often go something like this:

Oh, Father, please bless me with more of Yourself! Increase Your territory within me! Increase Your sphere of influence within me that I may have a greater capacity for You! May Your hand of power be mightily upon me. Keep me from evil and pain, both causing and enduring it. And may I live out the number of my days abounding in holiness and fruitfulness. Amen.

We really don’t need to focus on how much God is using us; we simply need to focus on Jesus. When we cultivate an intimate walk with Him, when we take Him at His Word and do what He says, out of our lives will flow rivers of living water. That’s what the Word says. That’s what Jesus says. So we can know it to be true!

~~~

Susie Larson is an author, speaker, national media voice for Moody Radio, and the host of the daily LIVE talk show, Live the Promise with Susie Larson. Susie has been married for 26 plus years, has 3 grown sons, and one beautiful daughter in law. Susie comes with a passion to see women strengthened in their faith and mobilized to live out their high call in Jesus Christ. http://www.susielarson.com/

A Year With Oswald, Week 18

2011-09-05T10:51:00.006-06:00

VERSE: “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16 RV

OSWALD: “Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind – every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.” (SEPTEMBER 1^st)

MY THOUGHT:
Holiness. Not a terribly popular word in Christian circles these days.

We’d rather talk about mercy and grace; the forgiveness and tenacious patience of our Father who is “not willing that any should perish.” All wonderful topics and the bedrock of our Christian faith. And yet, if we insist on seeing only a loving God we run the risk of never experiencing the power of a life-changing God.

We are saved by grace alone, not by works nor any self-induced appearance of holiness. We could never be perfect enough to bridge the gap between us and God. That’s why Jesus had to come. That’s why He had to die.

But to stop at the cross and never enter into His resurrection and a new way of life would be a tragedy. For the same grace that saves us is also the grace that changes us. Sanctifies and purifies us. Sets us apart and makes us holy. Makes us more like Jesus and less like us.

But we have to cooperate with that grace. And therein lies the rub.

To choose holiness means we have to be willing to embrace certain limitations on our freedom. To allow certain restrictions be placed on our lives by the Holy Spirit, though we’re surrounded by others who seem to have no restrictions at all. Bottom line, if we want to be holy, we are going to have to call sin what God calls it. Missing the mark. Disobedience which not only separates us from His heart, but discredits our claims of love.

Holiness means no more sugarcoating our sin or trying to explain it away. Scruples. That’s what they used to call such convictions back in the 1900s. Now it’s called intolerance by the world. Rigid legalism by the church. Or another Christian label which really bugs me, “a religious spirit.”

Since when is having moral absolutes a “religious spirit”? Since when is following God’s call to holiness “rigid legalism” and living by His commands suddenly “intolerant”?

To be honest, even as I write, I’m convicted of black-and-white areas in my life which have grown gray over the years. Scruples that I used to live by which have slowly become muddied. Certain behaviors and past times I partake of that I had a strong sense of conviction against – a conviction brought by the Holy Spirit not a set of rules and bylaws. Covenantal guidelines that determined what I would watch. What I would read. Activities I would forego simply because I knew they grieved His heart and quenched His Spirit’s work in my life. Forgive me, Lord.

I don’t want to “tolerate through sympathy” with myself “any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God.” A call to holiness may not be popular right now but that doesn’t mean it is no longer valid. Though we may have changed our mind about how we should live, God hasn’t.

In fact, now more than ever, we need to be LIGHT as Christians founded upon the ROCK of God’s Word. Not occasionally nice people made up of mixed shadows and shifting sand.

“Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is,” Oswald writes. “The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness.”

A Year With Oswald, week 17

2011-08-30T12:15:00.002-06:00

VERSE: “When though prayest, enter into thy closet, and…pray to thy Father which is in secret.” Matthw 6:6

OSWALD:

“Prayer is an effort of will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray…Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door open and pray to your Father in secret and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.” (AUGUST 23^rd)

I’ve appreciated Oswald’s thoughts on prayer this week. But the question arises – how do I develop a daily habit of prayer? Especially when I struggle with the mental wandering Oswald describes in the August 23^rd devotion?

I’m reminded of the words of J. Sidlow Baxter who describes his battle to reestablish a regular devotional time after a “velvety little voice told him to be practical . . . that he wasn’t of the spiritual sort, that only a few people could be like that.” Baxter was horrified to think he could rationalize away the very thing he needed most, so he set about to make some definite changes. He writes:

As never before, my will and I stood face to face. I asked my will the straight question, “Will, are you ready for an hour of prayer?” Will answered, “Here I am, and I’m quite ready, if you are.” So Will and I linked arms and turned to go for our time of prayer. At once all the emotions began pulling the other way and protesting, “We’re not coming.” I saw Will stagger just a bit, so I asked, “Can you stick it out, Will?” and Will replied, “Yes, if you can.” So Will went, and we got down to prayer . . . It was a struggle all the way through. At one point . . . one of those traitorous emotions had snared my imagination and had run off to the golf course; and it was all I could do to drag the wicked rascal back. . . .

At the end of that hour, if you had asked me, “Have you had a ‘good time’?” I would have had to reply, “No, it has been a wearying wrestle with contrary emotions and a truant imagination from beginning to end.” What is more, that battle with the emotions continued for between two and three weeks, and if you had asked me at the end of that period, “Have you had a ‘good time’ in your daily praying?” I would have had to confess, “No, at times it has seemed as though the heavens were brass, and God too distant to hear, and the Lord Jesus strangely aloof, and prayer accomplishing nothing.”

Yet something was happening. For one thing, Will and I really taught the emotions that we were completely independent of them. Also, one morning, about two weeks after the contest began, just when Will and I were going for another time of prayer, I overheard one of the emotions whisper to the other, “Come on, you guys, it’s no use wasting any more time resisting: they’ll go just the same. . . ”

Then, another couple of weeks later, what do you think happened?

During one of our prayer times, when Will and I were no more thinking of the emotions than of the man in the moon, one of the most vigorous of the emotions unexpectedly sprang up and shouted, “Hallelujah!” at which all the other emotions exclaimed, “Amen!” And for the first time the whole of my being--intellect, will, and emotions--was united in one coordinated prayer-operation. All at once, God was real, heaven was open, the Lord Jesus was luminously present, the Holy Spirit was indeed moving through my longings, and prayer was surprisingly vital. Moreover, in that instant there came a sudden realization that heaven had been watching and listening all the way through those days of struggle against chilling moods and mutinous emotions; also that I had been undergoing necessary tutoring by my heavenly Father.[1]

So my friend, what obstacles do you face when it comes to developing a life of prayer?

“Teach us to pray, Lord!” we cry along with the disciples. Teach us to pray.

[1]From J. Sidlow Baxter’s personal correspondence, September 8, 1987. Quoted in Kent Hughes, Liberating Your Ministry From the Success Syndrome (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1987), 78-81.

A Year with Oswald, week 16

2011-08-24T17:08:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “Despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him.” Hebrews 12:5

OSWALD: “It is very easy to quench the Spirit; we do it by despising the chastening of the Lord, by fainting when we are rebuked by Him…do not despise Him when He says to you – ‘Don’t be blind on this point anymore; you are not where you thought you were. Up to the present I have not been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now.’ When the Lord chastens you like that, let Him have His way. Let Him relate you rightly to God. ” (AUGUST 14th)

MY THOUGHT:
Isn’t it interesting how quick we are to say, “I’m not perfect” – but then deeply resent it when someone points out the particulars of that imperfection?

The Lord has been focusing on a few flaws in my life lately and to be honest, it’s not a lot of fun. I would rather He turn a blind eye to my humanity. More to the point, I’d rather He’d focus on the people and situations that tend to reveal the uglier part of my lower nature. “Fix them, God!” I suggest. But He doesn’t seem to be listening.

Because God’s up to something more than just making me comfortable. He wants to mature and complete me. He wants me to run, not waddle. He wants me to fly, not faint.

But such athletic ability doesn’t just happen. There is always a training period involved. A time of both discipline and critique. “Pump your arms, don’t flail them,” the coach barks as we run by. “Keep your eyes fixed on the goal, Weaver, not on the competitor beside you,” he shouts as I stray off the track yet again. Perfect form doesn’t just happen. It has to be developed.

Hebrews 12 talks about this process and the necessity of discipline and chastening if we hope to complete the “race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). But it also points out that the discipline isn’t meant to limit us but enable us. And that the chastening isn’t intended to demean and demoralize us, but to infuse our hearts with the power and the know-how to run.

So dear friend, what flaw is God putting His finger on in your life right now? Don’t despise His instruction. Don’t be “blind on this point anymore.”

Receive the rebuke of the Lord and repent. Ask for wisdom and then apply it. For there is a race marked out for you. It’s time to run!

A Year With Oswald, week 15

2011-08-13T16:31:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Matthew 8:26

OSWALD: “When we are in fear we can do nothing less than pray to God, but Our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His Name should have an understanding confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the reliable ones. [Unfortunately] our trust is in God up to a certain point, then we go back to the elementary panic prayers of those who do not know God.” (AUGUST 12th)

MY THOUGHT:
This entry hit me hard today. I’m up against a challenge and once again I find myself giving in to fear. I feel inadequate for the task, so I waffle and waver dancing with my doubt rather than standing against it. Why is it that I can believe God set the moon and stars in place, that He does miracles today and turns impossibilities into possibilities, but still struggle with the thought that He might want to accomplish something difficult in me and through me?

Oh Lord, I want to be one of your “reliable” ones – a woman who isn’t fickle-hearted and fainty, whiney and ungrateful when faced with something challenging – but one who rises to the task with faith in her heart and Your name on her lips.

Oswald reminds us of the stormy day the disciples awakened Jesus to bring attention to the dangerous situation they found themselves in. “O ye of little faith!” was Jesus’ reply.

“What a pang must have shot through the disciples,” Oswald writes. They had missed a chance at faith yet again. “And what a pang will go through us when we suddenly realize that we might have produced downright joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, no matter what was ahead.”

Lord, I want to produce joy in Your heart today. And today, like most days, offers an opportunity to do just that. But it comes down to a really important question: Will I choose faith or will I choose fear?

Will I believe what You’ve promised BEFORE I give way to my emotions? BEFORE I fixate on the difficult challenge I’m facing? That’s what the “reliable” ones do. They include You in the equation before they ever come to a conclusion. And because of that they are able to stand confidently, bravely, victoriously. Even in a storm.

Though I may have failed to exercise my faith today, tomorrow will give me another chance to overcome. Because that’s just the way life is. May I answer it with the confident faith of a woman who knows You intimately rather than the panicked prayers of the uninitiated.

A Year With Oswald, week 14

2011-08-02T09:18:00.001-06:00

Hannah Keeley is our wonderful Oswald guest blogger this week.

VERSE: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

OSWALD: An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is very different. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High . . . there shall no evil befall thee" - no plague can come nigh the place where you are at one with God.

If you are a child of God, there certainly will be troubles to meet, but Jesus says do not be surprised when they come. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, there is nothing for you to fear." Men who before they were saved would scorn to talk about troubles, often become "fushionless" after being born again because they have a wrong idea of a saint.

God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you will accept the strain. Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the step, and God will give you to eat of the tree of life and you will get nourishment. If you spend yourself out physically, you become exhausted; but spend yourself spiritually, and you get more strength. God never gives strength for to-morrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. The temptation is to face difficulties from a common-sense standpoint. The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God.

MY THOUGHT:
I love how Oswald puts it: “An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is very different." One thing is certain, you and I were not created to be average. We are created by an abundant, all-powerful God who never does anything “average.” We were created to soar, not to crawl. We were meant to be victors, not victims. We have that water-walking, mountain-moving power within us, so why on earth would we ever be content to just be average? The average person gripes and complains and begs for God to come to the rescue from a situation. The overcomer knows that God is already at work, growing us in ways we could never imagine. Sure, none of us want to go through difficult times. If it were up to us, we would probably all be content with a comfy sofa, a remote control, and some chocolate ice cream. But God didn’t put us here to be comfortable. He put us here to change the world. God knows what He designed us to do, and it’s not to stay comfortable.

Just like that lump of coal would never become a diamond until it is put under pressure, God has to pressure cook us all to be the world changers He created us to be. He never said it would be easy, but He did promise He would give us the strength to persevere. But here’s the deal, His strength is only activated when we quit cowering in the corner and take a step forward. And as soon as we take that step, His strength meets us right where we are. It’s not about tomorrow or yesterday or next month when the bills are due. It’s about right now, this very moment. Instead of running in fear, understand that God has already overcome this world. It is powerless to hurt you.

I can honestly say that it was only in the strain that I truly realized the “big-ness” of God. He became more than the cross I wore around my neck or the bumper sticker on my car. He became my all-in-all. That’s when we know God best, when we have nothing else to plant our feet on except Him.

What are you going through today that is growing you out of your comfort zone? Are you still clinging to what you know in your head, or Who you know in your heart?

Hannah Keeley is the producer and host of the national television series, "Hannah, Help Me!," author of "Hannah Keeley's Total Mom Makeover" (Little, Brown and Company, 2007), founder of the mom website, "www.hannahkeeley.com," and the mother of seven rambunctious kiddos!

A Year With Oswald, week 13

2011-07-29T07:06:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side…” Mark 6:45-52

OSWALD: “We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not…What we call the process, God calls the end.” (JULY 28th)

MY THOUGHT:
This entry has meant a lot to me – especially during the early years of ministry when I had such big dreams of doing something significant for God. Rather than blessing my husband and I with immediate success, God in His wisdom took us another route. For He knew the “selfish ambition and vain conceit” of the flesh that can so easily wind up around the call to ministry.

In our first years, I remember setting up 30 to 40 chairs for youth group, only to have 30-35 empty ones. One sad Wednesday night there were just three of us – John, myself and the pastor’s son. And he didn’t want to be there.

It was tutelage in one of the hardest lessons of life: Learning how to be “faithful in little” when everything within our humanity would prefer the opportunity to be “faithful in much.”

But this passage became intensely personal a few years ago as we said goodbye to a church we loved without knowing where we would go or what God would have us do. For a year and a half we waited for direction. Gone was the busy calendar, the full-time ministry. Gone was the title and position. We just belonged to Jesus. It was a sweet and wonderful undoing.

One morning I read the portion above and then the following words:
“[God’s] purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now … that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea.”

In my journal I wrote this response: “Oh this moves me so deeply! It is what You’ve been doing in me, God. Helping me see You in all things – both the good and the bad. I feel like a little girl jumping up and down in glee – ‘I did it!’ I want to yell. But not only that, I think I finally ‘get it!’”
“Seal this work in my heart and life,” I prayed. “Don’t let me lose this heavenly perspective. I don’t want to go back to my old way of life, fearful and frustrated, angry at injustice and desiring to control…

“Help me see you walking on the water of my situation. So clearly, Lord, that it is the most logical thing in the world to leap out of the stale safety of my reality so I can run unhindered on the water with You.”

So, my friend … Where do you need to see Jesus walking on the water in your life? What does the idea that it is the “process” God values rather than the “end” result we so often make the focus?

I’d love to hear from you…

A Year With Oswald, week 12

2011-07-22T11:23:00.000-06:00

VERSE: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:39 (ETC)

OSWALD: “These verses reveal the humiliation of being a Christian. Naturally, if a man does not hit back, it is because he is a coward; but spiritually if a man does not hit back, it is a manifestation of the Son of God in him. When you are insulted, you must not only not resent it, but make it an occasion to exhibit the Son of God.”

MY THOUGHT:
Oswald’s challenging words remind me of an entry from another devotional I love. Springs in the Valley is filled with many treasures (perhaps we’ll explore it next year), but one of my favorite quotes is from Stephen Merritt reminding us of Christ’s example, who when mistreated, “answered…never a word” (Matthew 27:14).

Not railing for railing; not a word. How much is lost by a word! Be still! Keep quiet! If they smite you on one cheek turn the other also. Never retort! Hush – not a word! Never mind your reputation or your character; they are in His hands; you mar them by trying to retain them.
… Are you misunderstood? Never mind! Will it hurt your influence and weaken your power for good? Leave it to Him – His to take care and take charge.
Are you wronged and your good name tarnished? All right! Be it yours to be meek and lowly; simple and gentle – not a word! Let Him keep you in perfect peace; stay your mind on Him; trust in Him.
Not a word of argument, debate, or controversy. Mind your own business. Be still!
Never judge, condemn, arraign, censure. Not a word! Never a disparaging remark of another. As ye would others should do to you, so do ye.
Pause! Be still! Selah! Not a word, emphatically; not even a look that will mar the sweet serenity of the soul. Get still! Know God! Keep silence before Him! Stillness is better than noise.

Such stillness is easier said than done, I know. The first thing we want to do when accused or mistreated is to lash back with the most convenient weapon at hand. Our tongue. But the discipline of our words is crucial if we want to be like Jesus.

For “when words are many, sin is not absent,” Proverbs 10:19 reminds us, “but he who holds his tongue is wise.”

A Year with Oswald, week 11

2011-07-12T10:01:00.001-06:00

ENTRY FOR THE WEEK
When she started studying shorthand as a teenager, Gertrude Hobbs surely had no idea the words she’d record would one day be read by millions…

If you are under the age of thirty, you may not even know what shorthand is. A series of strokes, dots and dashes that replace letters and whole words, I took shorthand in high school. It came in handy at Bible college when I scrambled to take down Dr. Hobson’s unending wisdom in New Testament Survey. Unfortunately, I never took time to transcribe my college notes so it’s all Greek to me. Or some other ancient and illegible alphabet which makes no sense to me.

Shorthand made a lot of sense to Gertrude, however. In fact, she hoped it would lead to her dream of serving as secretary to the Prime Minister of England. Kept home from school each winter by recurring bouts of bronchitis, Gertrude studied and practiced Pitman’s shorthand for hours, teaching herself to type as well. By the time she was ready to work full time, “she could take shorthand dictation at the phenomenal rate of two hundred fifty words per minute – faster than anyone was likely to talk,” according to David McCasland’s biography, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God.

But then love happened. A lanky young man named Oswald Chambers caught her eye, and she, his. On May 25, 1910, they were married and “Biddy,” as Oswald liked to call her (with none of the negative connotations of today), joined her beloved husband in full-time ministry, spending the next seven years traveling from ministry post to ministry post.

Along the way, Biddy took down Oswald’s sermons verbatim as well as the Bible school lectures he gave. Did she sense the importance of her husband’s words as she scribbled in her stenographer’s notebook or was she simply keeping her dictation skills sharp and up to date? I don’t suppose the reason matters. It was simply the fact Biddy used what she had and did what she could.

God, in His time, would use those voluminous pages to one day bless you and me. After Oswald died seven years later of complications following an appendectomy, his wife spent the rest of her life transcribing her husband’s words and turning them into books for the world to read.

“What is that in your hand?” God asked Moses in Exodus 4:2. He asks the same question of us today.

• What interest or hobby do you find energizing?
• What talent or gifting do you possess?
• What odd skill can you do better than most?

Hone it and train it to the best of your ability. Then put it in the Father’s hands and watch what God can do with a life surrendered to Him. Gertrude “Biddy” Hobbs Chambers never made it to England’s halls of power. God used her giftings to build His kingdom instead.

What might He want to do with you?

A Year with Oswald, week 10

2011-07-01T07:04:00.037-06:00

Today's A Year with Oswald is brought to you by Jill Hart.

VERSE: “Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing.” Psalm 37:8 (R.V.)

OSWALD: “It is one thing to say "Fret not," but a very different thing to have such a disposition that you find yourself able not to fret.…Fussing always ends in sin. We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an indication of how really wise we are; it is much more an indication of how really wicked we are. Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. Our Lord never worried and He was never anxious, because He was not "out" to realize His own ideas; He was "out" to realize God's ideas. Fretting is wicked if you are a child of God. . (Utmost for His Highest – July 4th)

MY THOUGHT: I started off my day today by dropping my kids and my niece off at Vacation Bible School. All was well until we got there and they asked for money for the offering. I dug through my purse, but couldn’t come up with more than a few dimes (too bad they don’t take debit cards at VBS!). Then we walked past the VBS t-shirt display offering shirts that proclaim I <3 [heart] VBS! They are so cute and I really wanted to purchase one for each of the kids, but money is tight right now and I knew it was an expense we didn’t need.

As I drove home after getting them happily settled into the proper groups at VBS I began fretting over what I wasn’t able to provide them with that morning. You know the kinds of thoughts that plague us: “I’m the worst mom.” “What kind of mom doesn’t have offering money in her purse?” “I wish I could afford to buy them everything.”

These things ran through my head over and over and I was feeling pretty low when I got home. My husband was heading out the door on his way to work and noticed my downcast expression. He asked what was wrong and I launched into an explanation of why I felt I was a disappointment as a mom.

He looked at me a little incredulously and promptly solved each dilemma. He said something along the lines of, “The kids should be learning to give out of their own money. We can encourage them to take money from their allowance tomorrow. And as far the t-shirts go, we can swing them if they are truly important to the kids … but I have a feeling they won’t get worn after this week.” I was, I will admit, a little stunned that he had so easily handled what I thought were major failings in my life.

And then I sat down to read Oswald....and was promptly put in my place by the Lord.

“Fret not...”

The tears began pouring down my face at that one simple phrase. How did God know exactly where to meet me this morning?
“...it tendeth only to evil doing.”

Could this be true?

And then I saw it - the pride of wanting to provide that offering money for my kids instead of teaching them the valuable lesson of sacrificing their own money as an offering to the Lord.

And the desire to want to buy them things they want, not things they need. I know in my head that giving them everything they want will only produce spoiled children with an “I deserve it” attitude, but as a mom I long to give them everything they want. And yet, that’s not my job is it? My job is to give them what they need. If God blesses us and provides some "extras" in life that credit should go to him - not me.

And so, I start this day over with a fresh, new outlook. Trusting God to with my “fret” and as Oswald went on to say, “Put all 'supposing' on one side and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing.”

Today I will be deliberate. And tomorrow, too.

~~~

An entrepreneur at heart, Jill's passion began as a teen when she spent a summer working with her father who ran his own business. When he put her in charge of a Coke machine and allowed her to keep the profits, she saw the benefits of being her own boss. She is the founder of the popular Christian work-at-home website,CWAHM.com. Jill a contributing author in several books including Faith Deployed ... Again and co-author of So You Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom. Jill also has articles published in In Touch Magazine and P31 Woman magazine, as well as across the web on sites like DrLaura.com.

A Year with Oswald - Week 9

2011-06-27T08:31:00.007-06:00

VERSE: “We…beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” 2 Corinthians 6:1

OSWALD: “In stripes, in imprisonment, in tumults, in labours” – in all these things manifest a drawing upon the grace of God that will make you a marvel to yourself and to others. Draw now, not presently…Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in every conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace. (Utmost for His Highest – June 26th)

MY THOUGHT:
I had a rough day of sorts yesterday. Like most days, it wasn’t all bad. My family came over for a barbecue and that was great, especially since the sun was shining. But earlier that day I had received a disturbing email and after everyone left, a phone call came that was unsettling. Both the call and the email had an accusing undertone which is always hard on a people-pleasing person like me. Especially a prideful, people-pleasing person like me.

I spent most of the evening trying to figure out what I had done wrong. Flesh Woman weighed in with her opinion on the matter, calling the individuals’ characters into question and demanding they reconsider their approach. A response which Oswald talks about in June 27’s entry: “If we look for justice, we will begin to grouse and to indulge in the discontent of self-pity – Why should I be treated like this?”

I had to smile when I read that entry this morning: “Jesus says – Go steadily on with what I have told you to do and I will guard your life,” Oswald continues. “If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.”

Wow. Marching orders from the Lord. “Put your life in my hands, Joanna,” I heard the Lord say. But it was Chambers’ words from the day before, June 26th, that diagnosed a heart condition and the source of the cure I so desperately needed.

“One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated [and I might add, “accused, misused, abused, etc., etc”] without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace.”

So I’m wondering… what situation do you find yourself in that is humiliating some part of your flesh? Some difficulty that is causing you to react rather than respond? To demand justice rather than give mercy?
Lord, may we draw upon the grace You so generously provide. Not upon our human understanding or our tendency to angry self-justification. May we drink so fully of Your love and acceptance that we aren’t offended when human approval is removed but instead give out of what You have so freely given us. May we be so filled with You that when life squeezes us – and it will! – it is grace that comes rushing out to meet the person and the situation. Grace to forgive and be forgiven. Grace that, as Saint Francis of Assisi once prayed, seeks first to understand before it demands to be understood.

That’s the response I want to have…I need to have. Grace, grace, grace, Lord Jesus! What about you?

A Year with Oswald - Week 8 (June 11-17)

2011-06-17T06:43:00.011-06:00

MY THOUGHT: Wow. What an incredibly rich week. Nearly every day I found something that spoke to my heart and spurred thoughts that could fill pages. But I’ve decided to let Oswald’s words speak for themselves. To allow the Holy Spirit to whisper truth between the lines to your situation. Your condition. Your particular need.

June 11th – “…and I will give you rest,” i.e. I will stay you. Not – I will put you to bed and hold your hand and sing you to sleep; but – I will get you out of bed, out of the languor and exhaustion, out of the state of being half dead while you are alive; I will imbue you with the spirit of life…

June 12th – “Thou art Simon, thou shalt be called Cephas.” God writes the new name on those places only in our lives where He has erased the pride and self-sufficiency and self-interest. Some of us have the new name in spots only, like spiritual measles.

June 13th – Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.

June 14th – With our Lord the inner abiding was unsullied; He was at home with God wherever His body was placed. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek towards His Father’s dispensations for Him.

June 15th – The tiniest detail in which I obey has all the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I do my duty, not for duty’s sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of obedience the whole superb grace of God is mine through the Atonement.

June 16th – Salvation is easy because it cost God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a man and endues him with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect – “Now work it out, be loyal to Me, whilst the nature of things round you would make you disloyal.”

June 17th ¬ If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me…Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man’s case about which we know nothing.

Good stuff, isn’t it? There are even more rich nuggets to be found. If you haven’t already read this week’s entries, I encourage you to do it. You can find the devotionals at www.myutmost.org.

Okay, I’m dying to share one more snippet with you! It is from June 12th and it’s just so good…

To say “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable to human pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. It literally means that you defy God to make you a saint, “I am much too weak and hopeless, I am outside the reach of the Atonement.” Humility before men may be unconscious blasphemy before God.

What spoke most to you from this week’s devotions? I’d love to hear from you…

A Year with Oswald - Week 7 (June 10)

2011-06-10T06:43:00.001-06:00

SCRIPTURE: “Seek, and ye shall find.” Luke 11:9

OSWALD: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” Are you thirsty, or smugly indifferent – so satisfied with your experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a gateway, not an end. Beware of building your faith on experience, the metallic note will come in at once, the censorious note. You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have.”

MY THOUGHT: Oh, how I love that last sentence: “You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have.” I have to wonder… does my life awaken a hunger for more of God in other people or do they simply consider me a nice person who happens to live a nice, upstanding life?

Their response may depend largely upon the freshness of the bread in my basket.

Nothing’s less appetizing to me than stale bread. I like saving money, but you’ll never find me in Eddy’s Bakery Outlet picking up two-week old bread to feed my family. No, I’m the annoying woman who digs to the back of Safeway’s bakery shelf squeezing loaves as I go in order to find the softest one, then taking even more time comparing dates on multiple packages to make sure it’s the freshest bread as well.

Unfortunately, when it comes to my spiritual diet, I’m not as picky as I should be. Too often I live on yesterday’s revelation or last week’s sermon rather than going to the Word for fresh manna each day. I’ve been known to be so enamored with last year’s mountaintop moment and spiritual high that I don’t seek to hear what God wants to speak to my heart today. As a result, I can become so satisfied with past experiences that my spiritual hunger is dulled; so complacent in my Christianity that as Oswald says, I “want nothing more of God.”

I need fresh bread in my basket, Lord. I want a living, vibrant walk with You that isn’t based on spiritual encounters from my past (though wonderful!) – but flows from an encounter with Your presence each and every day. Releasing, somehow, the “fragrance of Christ” to those around me. Making them hungry and thirsty for something more – Someone more.

Creating in them a homesickness for a place, that while they may never have visited, they instinctively know they somehow belong.

So, how do you keep your relationship “fresh” with the Lord? What do you think of Oswald’s statement: “Beware of building your faith on experience, the metallic note will come in at once, the censorious note”? I’d love to hear from you….

A Year with Oswald - Week 6

2011-06-03T10:12:00.006-06:00

SCRIPTURE: “Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25

OSWALD: Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God. (May 31st)

MY THOUGHT: After enjoying a long season of favor in ministry many years ago, I read this entry while walking through a difficult time – a painful, yet life-changing event I describe in Having a Mary Spirit. A difference in opinions between me and some dear friends had grown into a huge rift. The removal of their approval hurt so bad I thought I was going to die.

“Our Lord never put His trust in any person,” I read one morning during my devotions. That statement and the scripture Chamber cites from John 2 put a finger on a weak spot in my soul, illuminating the people-pleasing tendency that ran like a dark streak through my soul. I loved Jesus and I knew I was supposed to get my identity from Him alone, but more often than not, I looked to people around me to tell me who I was. If they approved, then I was okay. But if they were critical, it would send me reeling emotionally.

I was suffering from idolatry – the sin of looking to someone or something other than God to give me significance. The problem with such sin is that it gets you coming or going. You either feel inordinately proud when people applaud or swing into doubt and self-hatred when they don’t.

Jesus didn’t waste time monitoring popularity polls or playing to the crowd. As a result, He was the most balanced human who ever lived. His secret? “Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25 One version says, “he did not entrust himself to them.”

Now, this verse wasn’t written during a difficult time in ministry. It was during a time when Christ’s work was getting great press – it was in its ascendancy! Verse 22 tells us many believed in His name because of the “signs which He was doing.” But, wisely, Jesus didn’t buy into the hype or people’s applause. Instead, He listened for only one thing…the approval of heaven. The “well done” of His Father.

As a result, Jesus was able to meet opposition and disfavor when it came with the same unruffled God-confidence He’d had when things were going well. Instead of despairing or becoming bitter when His approval rating began to plummet, He continued to reach out in love. Going so far as to embrace the cross so that God’s grace could pour out to those who’d so cruelly rejected Him – and to you and me as well.

May we be conduits of that grace, Lord Jesus. In the good times and the bad, may we love other people yet never “entrust” ourselves to anyone but You. May we believe the best in others and be slow to expect the worst – not because we’ve put our hope in the basic goodness of man, but because we believe in a mighty Savior and the power of His grace to save.

Trouble leaving comments?

2011-05-31T14:17:00.001-06:00

UPDATED: Fixed!

I just realized that the comment feature on my blog is not working. I hope to get that resolved soon. In the meantime, if you have a comment you'd like to leave about one of the Oswald posts, you can do so by emailing me at joannaweaver@hotmail.com.

A Year With Oswald - Week 5

2011-05-27T10:05:00.001-06:00

SCRIPTURE: “Acquire your soul with patience” 2 Peter 1:5 (RV)

OSWALD: (May 26th)
There are certain things we must not pray about – moods, for instance. Moods never go by praying, moods go by kicking. A mood nearly always has its seat in the physical condition, not in the moral. It is a continual effort not to listen to the moods which arise from a physical condition; never submit to them for a second. We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves, and we will find that we can do what we said we could not. The curse with most of us is that we won’t. The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck.

MY THOUGHT:
The timing of Oswald’s entries in my life always amazes me. It has been a not-so-groovy, somewhat-moody week. I still have dizziness left over from a week-old cold plus an overwhelming amount of work at home and at church. My lower back has been hurting and I just want to curl up and sleep for a year or two. I’m crabby when I wake up in the morning and, unfortunately, my mood doesn’t improve much through the day.

It’s easy to rationalize that everyone has a blue day now or then…after all, life is difficult. It seems only right to throw a full-fledged pity party when things don’t go our way. But, as Christians, we are called to maturity and part of maturity is to put away childish things…like temper tantrums and tizzy fits. To take ourselves, like Oswald says, by “the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves” and give ourselves a little talking to like the psalmist did.

“Why are you downcast, O my soul?” Psalm 42:11 says. “…Put your hope in God.” When you consider the entire chapter, the writer appears to have a lot of reasons to be sad. God seems far away, he is in physical pain and tormented by enemies. And yet in the middle of legitimate excuses to feel moody, the writer pours out his pain but refuses to give in to despair.

As I’ve watched the news coverage of killer tornadoes ripping through the south this past week, I’ve wept at the destruction of homes and lives. What in the world do I have to complain about? Why do I so easily allow puny annoyances to destroy my focus and steal my joy? When it comes right down to it, I know little of true difficulty. Only occasional inconvenience.

After praying for those thousands of people who have lost so much, I repented of my petty moodiness. Then I blew my nose, wiped my eyes and got up to do what I said I could not.

You see, what Oswald Chambers says is true…I’ve tried praying away my blues, but instead of dispersing them, my moods only seem to increase with the increased attention. It is when I stand up and say, “No more, in Jesus name!” that I have experienced victory. For I’ve learned that if I don’t master my emotions, moodiness proves to be a slippery slope that can lead to full-fledged depression.

So, out you go, moody blues! As for me and my shifting emotions… we’re putting our hope in God.

A Year With Oswald - week 4

2011-05-20T15:21:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite parts of My Utmost for His Highest is how the devotionals often center round a theme. This week Oswald focuses on building habits and new patterns for our lives, but he puts a twist on each of his suggested “habits” that should make us all stop and think. I hope you are challenged by the following thoughts like I was.

   May 13th – Make a Habit of Having No Habits
There are times when we are conscious of becoming virtuous and patient and godly, but it is only a stage; if we stop there we shall get the strut of the spiritual prig. The right thing to do with habits is to lose them in the life of the Lord, until every habit is so practiced that there is no conscious habit at all.

   May 14th – The Habit of a Good Conscience
God always educates us down to the scruple. Is my ear so keen to hear the tiniest whisper of the Spirit that I know what I should do? “Grieve not the Holy Spirit.”
He does not come with a voice like thunder; His voice is so gentle that it is easy to ignore it.

   May 15th - The Habit of Enjoying the Disagreeable
…it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of myself apart from Him? … No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say – “Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter,” and instantly the Son of God will press to the front…

   May 16th - The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
Peter says – “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you.” Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Himself in your mortal flesh…Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit…When we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine to feed and nourish others…

   May 17th - The Habit of Wealth
We think it a sign of real modesty to say…”Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle.” And [yet] the Almighty God …will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will obey Him…No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne.

Each of these days deserves a week of contemplation, in my opinion. I hope you’ll go back and read the entire devotionals if you haven’t already, then hit the comment button and let me know what spoke most to you.

I really, REALLY want to hear from you! Let’s “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

A Year with Oswald - Week 3

2011-05-20T15:14:00.001-06:00

SCRIPTURE: “Add to your faith virtue…” (“Furnish your faith with resolution” Moffatt) 2 Peter 1:5

OSWALD: “Add” means there is something we have to do. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save ourselves nor sanctify ourselves, God does that; but God will not give us good habits, He will not give us character, He will not make us walk aright. We have to do all that ourselves, we have to work out the salvation God has worked in.

MY THOUGHT: How I wished You used a magic wand rather than my choices and the anvil of life to shape me to Your likeness, Lord. It would be a lot easier on me, not to mention more efficient for You! How frustrating it must be to have to wait for me to decide to obey. To respond to the nudging of Your Spirit and finally get off the couch of my complacency and partner with You in my transformation.

2 Peter 1:3 tells us that Your divine power “has given us everything we need for life and godliness” - which includes the power to live a holy life as well as the desire to do it. You have not left us helpless, Lord, but as Oswald points out, You “will not do what we can do.” We must work out what You have so graciously worked in.

I love the practicality of today’s entry:
Beware of the tendency of asking the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative, stop hesitating… Be resolute when God speaks, act in faith immediately on what He says…take the initiative, take the step with your will now, make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you – “I will write that letter”; “I will pay that debt.” Make the thing inevitable.

I tend to want to make this entry about the large things of life – the dreams and visions I feel You have given me…the directives for ministry I feel You’ve dropped in my heart. But if I am not obeying Your promptings in the little things – like disciplining my cravings, cleaning my house, paying my bills, choosing to give a soft answer rather than one that’s harsh – what use is it to attempt to obey in the big things? Even God-sized dreams will eventually be undermined by an ignored, thus determined lack of character.

So what “thing” must I make “inevitable” today, Lord? At what point of delayed obedience do I need to go back to and obey? What virtue or character quality would You suggest I “add” to my faith today?

Thank You, sweet Father, that as I actively respond to Your leading, You will provide the grace to do what You ask. Both the big things as well as the small. Minus the magic wand, of course, but with the strength provided by Your wonderful Holy Spirit.

A Year With Oswald, week 2

2011-05-09T07:06:00.008-06:00

SCRIPTURE: “I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (Moffatt Trans)

OSWALD: None of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden haloes and the flush of inspiration… A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God. We are here as men and women, not as half-fledged angels, to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power to stand the turmoil because we have been born from above.

MY THOUGHT: O Lord, it is so true. This daughter of Yours wants the constant mountain top. The glow of Your presence always around me, Your voice forever in my ear. I want Your anointing to be so visible upon me that, like Moses, my life requires a veil. I want my spiritual walk to be marked with the extraordinary and the miraculous so that the world stands up and takes notice that I belong to You.

And yet, I’ve found what one pastor said to be true in my life as well…” I’m firmly convinced that I was never of any use to God until I made peace with being ordinary.”

Ordinary. How that word cuts against our human desire to be significant and the “selfish ambition and vain conceit” Philippians 2:3 speaks of – the drivenness to be more than we are (and more importantly, to be more than what other people are!)

Can I serve you as faithfully in the shadows as I serve you on the stage? Can I give my life away when no one’s looking and no one sees? Am I willing to make washing dishes an act of worship and scrubbing toilets my sacrifice of praise?

Can I live by faith in the midst of the ordinariness of my life? On those days when You don’t speak – during those long, dry periods when I have no mountain tops to point to and no great moments on which to lean. Can I live my life without seeing You? Or necessarily “feeling” You? Can I live my life without needing to be significant in order to prove my value to You or to those around me?

Oh, how I want to. Because then, Lord, I believe I will finally have begun to learn what it means to live by faith.

Click on Comments and join the discussion.

A Year With Oswald, I must confess...

2011-05-06T15:35:00.000-06:00

As we start this year with Oswald, I think it’s important to admit a few things up front. First of all, Oswald Chambers is deep and there a lot of times where I simply don’t get what he’s saying. Just what is the “retired sphere of the leasts” anyway?

I find myself having to read and re-read entries at times. Really focusing on the words and the meaning behind the words in order to grasp the message Chambers wants to convey. I’ve always thought that was due to the British-turn-of-the-century tone the book is written in. After all, the devotions found in this book were first spoken messages preached back in 1911-1915 at the Bible Training College in Clapham, England and then from 1915-1917 at the Y.M.C.A. outpost in Zeitoun, Egypt. But the large, challenging words and concepts Chamber’s uses may have more purpose behind them than simply being a manner of speech.

In the introduction to The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers, we’re told that Oswald encouraged his students to read and study with a dictionary at hand. “Never intend to look up a word,” he said. “Do it now.” The publisher writes, “in the spirit of Chambers and his philosophy of education, we have not robbed the reader of the opportunity to learn by personal effort.”

Well, to be honest, such personal effort can be exhausting in this instant-I-want-it-now world in which we live. It is often easier to give up and move to “lighter” reading, which I’ve done myself. But God seems to keep bringing me back to Oswald and other Christian writers like him because He wants to expand my spiritual vocabulary – to challenge me in my thinking so that I can better articulate my faith. For as I learn to think biblically, I will begin to live biblically – daily walking out my faith in a way that more accurately reflects my Savior rather than the pale imitation we Christians so often settle for.

Please know, however, that doesn’t mean that your devotions should be a daily struggle. Instead of trying to understand every word and every nuance, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you as He wishes. Most days (for me) it isn’t an entire devotion that speaks to me but simply a phrase. A sentence or a paragraph that lifts off the page and imprints itself on my soul. Or a new twist on an old truth that challenges me to stop and think about something in a way I’ve never considered before.

Bottom line, I’ve learned not to worry about what I don’t understand (or what doesn’t particularly “speak” to me) and focus on what does. As I prayerfully take that portion to the Lord, He’s used Oswald’s devotions to take me to a deeper level in Him. And that’s what it’s really about.

Which brings me to the second thing I want to emphasize – Oswald Chambers, as wise and spiritually influential as he was, is only a man. He never intended that we focus on his words but on the message of Christ he proclaimed. So as you read the daily entries, tune your heart to the voice of the Spirit. For as you do, the Lord will speak the truth you need to hear, in words you can understand.

Even if it requires a little work on your part and mine.

A Year with Oswald, week 1

2011-05-02T07:12:00.001-06:00

SCRIPTURE: "For Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom." 1 Kings 2:28

OSWALD: “ …You have remained true to God under great and intense trials, now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be morbidly introspective, looking forward with dread, but keep alert; keep your memory bright before God. Unguarded strength is double weakness because that is where the "retired sphere of the leasts" saps. The Bible characters fell on their strong points, never on their weak ones. ‘Kept by the power of God’ - that is the only safety.”

MY THOUGHT: Oh Lord, I want to be faithful to You always. I don’t want to live my entire life only to have my faith shipwrecked in the end. And yet, I feel the undercurrent, the pull to lesser things…pleasure, food, outward adornment, the accruement of stuff. So much stuff. All bait that leads to complacency; the slow death of a once passionate heart.

I loved my time in Singapore. It is an incredibly beautiful country filled with amazing people from such diverse cultures But I’ve never seen so many malls, so many glittery treasures and trinkets to distract and delight. Shopping is literally the national pastime – a woman’s Shangri-la. So much incredible bounty, so much amazing food! One store offered a t-shirt for sale that said, “All I want is more of what I want.” An American motto if there ever was one.

Lord, I want to want You more than I want the things of this world, as lovely as they are. I don't want to be lured into the "retired sphere of the leasts." When asked what he feared most, Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black, said something to this effect…“My deepest fear is that after treading great heights with God, I would somehow drown in shallow water.”

Drowning in shallow water. Those words and that image has stayed in my heart for weeks. Lord, may I not be lulled to sleep by comfort or complacency, consumerism or compromise.

May I launch out into deep water in You, Lord – the only safe place to live. For then my feet will find nothing of this earth on which to stand. Nothing of this world on which to rely.

Only Your arms around me and the solid rock of who You are underneath my feet.

A Year With Oswald...

2011-05-01T17:19:00.001-06:00

So I have a wild and crazy idea that was birthed somewhere over the Pacific Ocean last month as I winged my way home from Singapore. I wonder if you’d like to join me?

Through the years, God has used Oswald Chamber’s devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, to help shape my spiritual life. I’ve thought about inviting people to join me online to converse about this transformative book, but I think watching the inflight movie, Julie & Julia, (a true story about a woman who blogged her way through Julia Child’s famous French cookbook) finally crystallized the format. While I have no desire to learn how to debone a duck, I certainly want to learn how to be more like Jesus.

I’ve been feeling a little stuck in my walk with the Lord, a little complacent about the things that tend to distract and absorb me, compromise and anesthetize me. I want to be different, I long to be less like me and more like Him. But since we all tend to go where we are looking, we must choose where we fix our eyes – even the best athlete goes off course when his eyes are focused on his surroundings rather than on the goal ahead.

Oswald Chambers’ words have always had the incredible ability to pull me back to center. To challenge me in my walk with God, even frustrate me at times as his words cut across my own self-centeredness and force me to think deeper about what it means to follow Christ to the utmost.

Though I tremble at the audacity of promising to regularly blog for a year (especially when I know my tendency toward good intentions and lousy follow through), I’d like to invite you to join me for A Year with Oswald.

I'll post the first entry tomorrow. If you’d like to become part of the ongoing conversation, you can sign up to follow the blog (right hand sidebar). I plan to post once a week, writing about the thought that spoke most to me during those seven days. But I’d love to hear from you as well.

I suggest finding a copy of My Utmost for His Highest to make your own, something you can underline and highlight. My book is tattered and torn with jotted responses to the Lord and dates next to things that impacted me. If you struggle with Chamber’s 1930 English, there is an updated language version available at bookstores and online as well. If you’d like to get started right away¸ go to www.myutmost.org and enter today’s date. Read the entry and then journal what you hear God saying.

I don’t want to remain the same and unchanged, I want to be more like Jesus. I know you do too. So let’s dedicate this year to…

Becoming His,

Joanna

P.S. If you'd like to add this button to your blog so others could "join us", just copy and paste the code!

Happy Birthday to me....

2011-04-19T01:17:00.000-06:00

April 18, 2011

It’s the eve of my birthday. The dreaded big 4-9. I realize that it is supposed to be the terrible “big 5-0” that I am to dread, but I’m a firm proponent of pre-grieving. So I’ve started a year early. Perhaps by this time next year, I will be able to embrace the passage of time with not only peaceful acquiescence but actual gratitude. But don’t hold your breath on that.

To say that I don’t handle growing old gracefully is an understatement. My husband, John, has proudly sported his slightly silver-streaked hair for the last decade while I’ve spent the large part of twenty-plus years holed up in my bathroom with a bottle of the best hair color ten bucks can buy. After plucking my first gray hair while pregnant with my firstborn, it was my only recourse. (I’ve got that white strand taped in John Michael’s baby book to prove my premature aging started with him!)

My husband, John, on the other hand, sails through his December birthdays as though they barely register. He doesn’t mind receiving AARP propaganda in the mail and he’s downright eager to order legally off the senior’s menu. He tells me things like, “we’re not getting older, honey, we’re getting better.” All of which makes me want to slap him. Because I am not old and how dare he enjoy the very thing I’m working so hard to avoid.

Which brings us to today and my sudden realization that I can no longer sidestep, deny or ignore the fact that tomorrow – April 19th, 2011 – will mark two score and nine years off the timeline of my life. All I have left is what I have left. It’s the beginning of the end – though I suppose it has been just that since the moment I took my first breath.

Part of me wants to cry, “Someone help me find it! I’ve misplaced my youth.” But then I realize, I haven’t. I haven’t misplaced my youth. I know exactly where it is. Or where it was when I first lost it.

I was sixteen years of age when I firmly placed my life in the hands of God and surrendered myself to do whatever He would have me do. Though God chose not to completely follow the script I thoughtfully provided at the time, I can tell you with full assurance, my youth – and my trust – was not misplaced. God has been more than faithful to me.

So, here at forty-eight years, three-hundred-sixty-four days, eleven hours and twelve minutes closer to age forty-nine, I’m going to have to leave what was (the "20/30/40-something" years) where they belong – in His hands. And I’m going to have to surrender the all-too-often frustration of what is and the sometime fear of what will be along with it. Because I don’t want to miss the beauty of this moment, this time and this place.

Most of all, I don’t want to miss the gift wrapped in middle age because I was too busy trying to avoid it.

Something fun!

2011-04-12T12:50:00.000-06:00

I'm celebrating the release of Lazarus Awakening with the Heart of God KINDLE Giveaway!

In Lazarus Awakening Joanna I write about getting God’s love from our heads to our hearts. We all know Jesus loved Mary – look how she worshiped. And we can understand why He loved Martha – after all, look how she served. But what about those of us who don’t know where we fit in the heart of God? Lazarus Awakening explores the tale of the third follower – Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus. We never hear him speak, we never see him serve. The only thing of any significance that Lazarus did was to die. And yet, the Bible is clear. Jesus loved Lazarus. And He loves you and me as well. Lazarus Awakening looks at different aspects of the story we find in John 11. We learn what it means to be a friend of God and begin recognizing the tombs we spend far too much time in. Find out more here.

Read what people are saying about Lazarus Awakening here!

One grand prize winner will receive:

    * A Brand New KINDLE with Wi-Fi
    * Having A Mary Heart in a Martha World
    * Having A Mary Spirit
    * Lazarus Awakening

I will also select two additional contest entrants to receive copies of the trilogy. Enter soon by clicking the icons below and then tell your friends. Hurry the contest ends April 16th. The winner will be announced on Joanna's blog on April 18th.

Author Spotlight with Suzanne Woods Fisher

2011-02-25T08:04:00.001-07:00

I'm over at author Suzanne Woods Fisher's blog today for her author spotlight feature. She's also giving away a copy of Lazarus Awakening - hop on over there for the fun interview and enter for a chance to win the new book. Just click on the icon below!

Bible Study Leader Contest and Lazarus Awakening winners

2011-02-18T09:02:00.002-07:00

I know I was a bit vague in my latest newsletter when I asked Bible study leaders to contact me. But I did promise it could be worth your while!

For those who took time to write me, their names were entered in a drawing for 12 copies of Lazarus Awakening for use in their ladies Bible study.

While I wish everyone could have won, Laurie Doering of Battle Ground, Washington came out the winner! Congratulations, Laurie. You'll be receiving your books soon!

For those study leaders who haven't yet contacted me, please email your name and address to joannaweaver@hotmail.com so I can add you to my database. I really appreciate you and all you do for the kingdom of God!

AND

Congrats - Sheryl Cowan, Amy and Sheri were selected at random to receive a copy of Lazarus Awakening from last week's giveaway! Please email Amy (amy@joannaweaverbooks.com) your mailing address and we'll get those right out to you.

Made To Crave DVD series by Lysa TerKeurst

2011-02-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Amy here! Joanna thought you might like to know more about this great Bible study resource from Proverbs 31 founder Lysa TerKeurst. I love the premise of the book - that God created us to crave - HIM, not food. A woman's battle with food is a subject that is near and dear to Lysa's heart. Just because a woman finally fits into her skinny jeans doesn't mean she's won her battle with food. Too often, women overlook the spiritual component to their physical struggle with healthy eating. Made To Crave taps into the desires God gave you to consume food without letting food consume you! Read the book reviews here!

More about the Book: Made to Crave is the missing link between a woman's desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen. The reality is we were made to crave. Craving isn't a bad thing. But we must realize God created us to crave more of him. Many of us have misplaced that craving by overindulging in physical pleasures instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction. If you are struggling with unhealthy eating habits, you can break the 'I'll start again Monday' cycle, and start feeling good about yourself today. Learn to stop beating yourself up over the numbers on the scale. Discover that your weight loss struggle isn't a curse but rather a blessing in the making, and replace justifications that lead to diet failure with empowering go-to scripts that lead to victory. You can reach your healthy weight goal -- and grow closer to God in the process. This is not a how-to book. This is not the latest and greatest dieting plan. This book is the necessary companion for you to use alongside whatever healthy lifestyle plan you choose. This is a book and Bible study to help you find the 'want to' in making healthy lifestyle choices.

More about the DVD series: If you want to maximize your experience and bring these teachings to life in a way you’ll never forget, you’ll want to order the full set of resources. Adding the DVD teaching series and the workbook will motivate you to get healthy without feeling deprived, lose the weight in a permanent way, and find the peace your body, mind and soul desires. This DVD study can be done in a group or by yourself.

More about Lysa: Lysa TerKeurst is an author and speaker who helps everyday women live an adventure of faith through following Jesus Christ. As president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa has led thousands to make their walk with God an invigorating journey.

Lysa wrote the book Made To Crave from the perspective of a woman who has never craved a carrot stick in her whole life. Having struggled with her weight her whole adult life, Lysa knows what it feels like to be in the vicious cycle of gaining and losing, but never feeling at peace in her struggle. Everything changed when Lysa decided to have her deepest desire met by God not food. Now, armed with the spiritual motivation she gained in her own journey, she is inspiring others to find lasting victory.

As a nationally known speaker, Lysa has been passionately teaching women God’s truths for years. Lysa’s personal adventures of following God led to appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The 700 Club, USA Today newspaper, Woman’s Day magazine, and Focus on the Family radio.

Today, Lysa and her ministry team at Proverbs 31 Ministries encourage more than 375,000 women through their daily online devotional. In addition, she co-hosts a 1-minute inspirational radio program aired on more than 1,200 stations around the world. Plus, she touches hearts through their monthly magazine, P31 Woman. Lysa’s blog averages over 70,000 avid readers per month. She is the award-winning author of 14 books, including her newest releases, Made to Crave and Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl. Other noteworthy books include What Happens When Woman Say Yes to God, What Happens When Women Walk in Faith, Capture His Heart, and Capture Her Heart. Visit Lysa's website for more info and to visit her blog! http://lysaterkeurst.com

Living Inspired with Tricia Goyer

2011-02-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

Amy (Joanna's assistant) here! Just a quick note to let you all know that Joanna will be tomorrow's Living Inspired with Tricia Goyer!

You can listen on-line by following this link and then clicking on the player in the upper right hand corner that says Click Here To Listen!

You'll also be able to call in during the show by dialing this number: 1-877-864-4869

Joanna and Tricia are dear friends who have encouraged each other in their writing journey (more about that here!) I'm sure there will be plenty of giggles as they discuss Joanna's new "baby", Lazarus Awakening!

Don't miss the fun ... oh and Joanna will be giving away a copy of Lazarus Awakening during the show - leave a comment {HERE} for a chance to win!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T06:27:00.001-07:00

THE DAY LOVE WAS BORN
The angels saw it all. Creator spoke, and suddenly the dark, swirling choas of the cosmos disappeared, leaving an ordered universe in its place.

Night. Day. Land. Water. Word by word, day by day, the plan of Creator unfolded before the heavenly host, each creation more wonderful than the last. The Father spoke. The Spirit moved. And the angels applauded.

“Marvelous!” cried one angel. “Incredible!” said another.

The brilliant blue and green planet beckoned with beauty, nestled against the black night sprinkled with stars. Layered with lush forests and soaring mountains, it was a palace fit for a King. As though God himself would dwell there.

“Unthinkable!” cried one. “Ludicrous!’ said another.

And yet it was so. Each evening Creator left his throne and walked in the garden he’d created, visiting the man he’d formed from the dust of this new world. The man created to fellowship with almighty God.

Why? the angels wondered. Never had such an honor been given. And yet somehow they understood. The heart of Creator was so large it ached to love. The adoration of angels and their unrestrained praise filled his ears but failed to touch his heart. He longed for love. Not worship. Not fearful reverence. But love.

Laughter echoed across the garden and into heaven. The fellowship was sweet. Creator smiled as Created named each animal, exulting in every one. Together they explored the secrets of Eden and the wonder of this new friendship. But as the days passed, a growing conviction gripped the heart of Creator. A bittersweet realization that there was still more to give.

Each creature had a mate. Another of its kind. But the man was alone.

“It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helpmate.” And in that moment love was born. Not in the creation of the woman, but in the Creator’s willingness to share the man. In the Creator’s willingness to give.

For God so loved…he gave. Though it meant sacrificing the single-minded devotion of the man, God gave. Though it meant sharing the communion meant only for him, God gave. Though it meant the willful disobedience of man and woman would someday cost Creator the life of his dear Son, God gave.

We, too, must give if we endeavor to love. Love holds no room for selfishness. It is only in laying down our life that we find it. It is only in losing that we win.

We can learn a lot from the day love was born.

From With This Ring: Promises to Keep - Joanna Weaver

Attention Bible Study Leaders!

2011-02-10T08:31:00.005-07:00

If you are a Bible study leader, I really want to hear from you! Just email me at joannaweaver@hotmail.com and put "study leader" in the subject line.

This is what I'd like to know...

If you've done one of my books as a study, I'd love to hear how the study went and if it worked well for your group.

I'll make it worth your while. :) Please send your mailing address in the email too!

Facebook, Dallas & more ...

2011-02-09T10:44:00.001-07:00

Wow, so I've finally succumbed to the gravitational pull of the Facebook universe. I have to admit, its pretty wonderful hearing from old friends as well as new - not to mention seeing your pretty faces in those minuscule 1/2 inch photos that pop up by your name. (At least I think that's you!) I've resisted being on Facebook because, as I've put it, "I don't need another arena in which to fail!" But my assistant Amy insists that you will understand and won't take it personally if I don't answer every post. You'd think that being a writer would mean I'd be good at correspondence, but I really stink at it. (Which you probably know if you've ever emailed me.) So consider yourself warned - it's Amy's fault!! For now, I'll just be hanging out at my Facebook Author Page http://facebook.com/becominghis. So LIKE me there!

DALLAS UPDATE - Had an awesome time in Dallas at Highland Park Presbyterian Women's Conference even though six inches of snow fell the day before! Everyone was stir-crazy from being stuck in the house for four days so we had twenty-five more women show up then pre-registered. What amazing ladies! I seriously want to be southern girl, ya'll.

LAZARUS AWAKENING is officially in stores as of yesterday! And if you happen to be in Montana the next two weekends, I'll be signing Lazarus Awakening at the following wonderful stores:

BITTERROOT CHRISTIAN BOOK STORE in Hamilton, MT on Friday, Feb 11th - 3-6 pm and GARDEN OF READN in Missoula, MT on Saturday, Feb 19th - 1-3 pm

Love to see you there!

Lazarus Awakening is here!

2011-02-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrived! Lazarus Awakening is out!!!!

Celebrate with me! Leave a comment on this post and ext week I'll choose 3 winners at random to receive a signed copy of the book! Woo-hoo!

And the winners are!

2011-02-02T13:45:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to all of you who left a comment for a chance to win an advanced copy of Lazarus Awakening! Wow.

The winners are Nancy (you have been notified via email)!

And the other three are:

Linda (What a gorgeous cover! Represents the raising up of Lazarus to me. Please include me.)

Tracy (WOW, I am so excited about the new book. I would love to win a copy of the book. I have been looking forward to this book coming out. Also it is so good to hear from you.)

Teri. (I'm intrigued by even the title and would enjoy seeing what God may want to say to my heart. Please include me in the drawing.)

Please email my assistant Amy (amy@joannaweaverbooks.com) with your mailing address and she'll get those out to you!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-28T17:07:00.002-07:00

I love the sound of that. Three wonderful words filled with so much promise. 365 (well 337 now) blank-page days just waiting to be filled. How will you fill yours?

I’ve been asking the Lord about that very thing these first few weeks of 2011. “What do you want my life to look like this year, Lord?”

I’m going to be blogging about that topic over the next few months, and I’d love to hear what God has been speaking to you in regard to the new year stretching out before us. What does He want your life to look like? Please leave a comment and let me know.

EXCITING NEWS!
Part of my New Year includes some very exciting news – two and a half years in the making!

My new book, Lazarus Awakening: Finding Your Place in the Heart of God will be on bookstore shelves Tuesday, February 8th. Woohoo!!!

I was surprised to find a box of the new books on my doorstep the other day. It was pretty amazing to open the carton and see my little bookie-snookie looking back at me! I was busy, so I didn’t have time to really appreciate the moment. But just before bed, my silly husband wrapped one of the copies in a blue towel and set it on my pillow so mother and child could have a chance to cuddle and bond! What a sweet daddy!

Would you like a sneak peek at Lazarus as well? Leave a comment on this post for a chance at receiving a copy before anyone else. Hey, I’ll even include a blankie and baby binkie so you can cuddle if you want to!

For those who aren’t chosen for that prize, we’ll put your name in a drawing for several advanced copies we still have on hand, the kind that were sent to reviewers months ago. It’s kind of fun to see the behind-the-scenes process a book goes through.

Click here to read a sample chapter and don’t forget to check out the Lazarus Awakening video Waterbrook filmed for the book. You’ll hear my heart for the book and get a sense of what it is all about.

(contest closed)

Sneak Peek! Lazarus Awakening!

2011-01-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Available February 8th!

Share Your Blessings (and WIN a book!)

2010-11-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

123rf.com

Guest Blog by Margaret McSweeney

Each Thanksgiving, my father would leave five kernels of corn by our plates. The backdrop for this family gathering was always a formal, Southern celebration held in the dining room with the Royal Copenhagen china and silver. The week before the festivities, I would sit in the kitchen and help my parents polish each silver fork, knife and spoon until they sparkled. My dad would whistle as he prepared the homemade cornbread in my grandmother’s cast iron griddle for the dressing while my mother baked the pecan pie and basted the turkey.

After each Thanksgiving dinner, my dad would tell us the story of the Pilgrims and how they faced starvation during that first winter. Each Pilgrim was allotted only five kernels of corn for a daily sustenance. As a very young girl, I confess that I enjoyed flicking these kernels of corn towards my brothers’ plates. But as I got older, I better understood the solemnity of this tradition. Each of us would take turns lifting the kernels by our plate and counting aloud five blessings – somehow these five kernels became three kernels as the years passed. Perhaps with two sons and a squirming daughter, my parents decided to shorten this tradition to keep our attention. However, this tangible act of giving thanks and counting our blessings was a lesson from childhood that I still remember.

Even today, this is special family tradition that I keep in an effort to remind my daughters to count their blessings, too. For simplicity sake, I use three “unpopped” popcorn kernels or frozen corn. I don’t always get around to polishing the silver, but I do try to make Thanksgiving dinner a time of remembrance and gratitude to God for all that He has done. Perhaps you can add this special touch of thanks at your table, too. Let me know how it goes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Win a coy of the Pearl Girls book - leave a comment and share your 'kernal' blessing here.

We'll give away three copies of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace.

Contest ends 11/28.

A Child is Born!

2010-08-12T12:21:00.000-06:00

Well, it has finally happened. Sunday, August 8th at 5:00pm, a 432-lb book was born to Joanna Weaver. Mother and child are resting comfortably. The mother, so much so, she spaced out sending you an announcement.

The baby is currently being washed up by the copyedit department and will be back in the mother's arms for a brief "last go-through" following Labor Day before being sent abroad to be published and launched upon the world February 8, 2011.

Mother and child would like thank you again for your continued support and prayers. They mean so much...

Me still pregnant trying to enjoy the summer and still work...

With our deepest love,
Joanna and her little "bookie snookie"

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World ... is dirt cheap!

2010-07-19T14:13:00.003-06:00

Hi friends - just coming up from the final edits for Lazarus Awakening to let you know that you can purchase the Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World ebook for just $1.99!

Wow - that is dirt cheap. ;)

All the details here!

Hello and Welcome to Two Thousand Ten!

2010-02-04T09:43:00.005-07:00

Hi friends! Oh, where has the time gone. It's been an embarrassing length of time since I last wrote on this poor forlorn blog. Well, here's to a new year and an opportunity to get it right. :)

Don't you love this photo? We discovered it while doing a little blog hopping. The photo was taken by this lovely woman, Tarena. And I thought I'd use it to start a little conversation. I get several requests a year on how and where to lead Bible study groups. What do I recommend? What do I suggest? Is there a right way or a wrong way?

So let's ask the experts - you! If you've led (or attended) a Bible study group (large or small) what did you find worked best for your group meetings? Church, someone's house, a coffee shop? I'd love to hear your experience and advice for a list of recommendations I'm compiling for my website.

Just leave a comment on this blog post by clicking on "Comments".

While Joanna is away...

2009-05-11T14:03:00.006-06:00

Amy here, Joanna's assistant. I thought I would pop in and say HI on Joanna's behalf and give you some summer reading ideas for the lazy days (I hope there are at least a few) ahead!

Joanna has long neglected her blog, but I have good news. Her website is near completion and she hopes to unveil it this summer. (happy dance!)

Currently, Joanna is busy at work on her new book (look for it winter of 2010) The Lazarus Factor and traveling around the country speaking at various events and conferences. To find out if Joanna will be near you later this year, go here!

Okay...now for the books!

Amy Wallace's Enduring Justice, book 3 in the Defenders of Hope series (which she's giving away - so hurry over and leave Amy a comment before the 13th!)

Enduring Justice Secrets Can’t Last Forever

A PAINFUL PAST
Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her memories.

A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED KILLER
As a Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. Difficult cases and broken relationships have plagued his entire year. But when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.

A LIFE-ALTERING CHOICE
A racist's well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. The dividing line is the choice to heal. But when the attack turns personal, is justice enough?

Want to read more? Read the first two chapters of Enduring Justice here!

Mary Byer's Making Work at Home Work: Raising a successful business and a family under one roof
Mary's also has a great contest going on AND she has started a blog ring for all Work at Home Moms - get free articles and helpful information about Working at Home and managing your family (what a blessing!)

Making Work at Home Work shows moms how to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set without sacrificing their families. It covers important topics such as developing a successful business philosophy, balancing time between work and family, setting realistic goals, and handling the challenges of being both "Mommy" and "CEO" while running a profitable home-based business. In addition to including her own experiences, author Mary Byers profiles real moms with home-based businesses who offer their hard-won advice.

Susan May Warren's Nothing But Trouble! Oh wow...look at the fun Sugar Bomb she's got going on! Click the button below and find out all about it!

It's not fair to say that trouble happens every time PJ Sugar is around, but it feels that way when she returns to her hometown, looking for a fresh start. Within a week, her former teacher is murdered and her best friend's husband is arrested as the number-one suspect. Although the police detective investigating the murder--who also happens to be PJ's former flame--is convinced it's an open-and-shut case, PJ's not so sure. She begins digging for clues in an effort to clear her friend's husband and ends up reigniting old passions, uncovering an international conspiracy, and solving a murder along the way. She also discovers that maybe God can use a woman who never seems to get it right.

And, Joanna's dear friend Tricia Goyer's latest release, Blue Like Play Dough will release in just a few short weeks! Be sure to follow Tricia's blog for more information on the blog tour and Facebook Launch party she'll be holding!

In the squash and squeeze of a mommy's day, could God be shaping something beautiful? In this spiritual memoir, Goyer invites women to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary! Learn to see God's hand lovingly at work in every aspect of your life---from laundry-folding to the umpteenth reading of Goodnight Moon. Read an excerpt!

What about you...what summer reads are on your list. Do share! Leave a comment with your suggestions and I'll choose a winner at random to win a copy of Having a Mary Spirit AND a copy of The Lazarus Factor when it releases!

And the winner is...

2009-03-09T09:53:00.002-06:00

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

25
Timestamp: 2009-03-09 15:56:59 UTC

Robin, who said...
God used "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby in my life in a powerful way -- I really came to know who my Faithful God is. Another is Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" -- the depth and breadth of what God invites us to realize in relationship with Him is worship-inspiring.Francine Rivers' 5 novella study books on the women in Jesus' geneology -- breathed life into these women and what God has to teach us today through their walk with Him.Thanks, Joanna, for collecting these "top three" lists for the rest of us to benefit from.
February 15, 2009 12:25 PM

Congratulations! Send your mailing address to us (amy@litfusegroup.com) and we'll get your books out ASAP!

Thanks so much for all your imput -- wonderful suggestions!

Bible Study Weigh-In

2009-02-06T15:46:00.004-07:00

Hello friends!

I need your help...and I'm willing to give you a prize for it! :)

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I'm hard at work on the book and life. I've got exciting news! Looks like the website will be up and running by mid-March. I'm just thrilled at how it's turning out! I can't wait to share it with you.

Here's where you come in. I often get emails asking me what Bible studies I recommend. I have a few I love, but I want to get your recommendations too. I only want the best. I'll be posting your suggestions along with my favs on the website. So leave me a comment and share your favorite Bible studies! Please list your top three (in 1, 2, 3 order). Oh, and don't list Mary Heart and Mary Spirit!

On March 1st I'll draw a name from the submissions for a chance to win 5 copies of one of my books!

Thanks for your help!

2009 Speaking Schedule!

2009-01-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, I’ve left much of spring 09 open for writing, but here are the dates for the upcoming year. If the Lord brings me to mind, I’d sure appreciate your prayers. I’m convinced nothing of any eternal importance happens that is not birthed in prayer. It is a blessing to have many of you praying for these events.

April 17-18 First Baptist – Athens, Alabama

September 25-26 United Methodist Church – Shrevesport, LA

October 23-24 Soul Sanctuary – Winnipeg, MB – Canada

November 5-7 New England Assemblies of God – Bartlett, NH

November 12-14 New England Assemblies of God – Bartlett, NH

Speaking News

2009-01-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

A special shout out to all the incredible women I had the chance to meet last year at conferences and retreats all around the country and even the world!!

February found me in Lethridge, Canada and then in Los Cabos, Mexico with my college roommate and her wonderful church. Then two weeks later, my sister Linda, daughter Jessica and I flew to Hong Kong for a conference at an international school there. What an amazing time! A week later, we were in Shanghai for another conference and more wonderful ex-patriates (English speaking women living abroad).

Quite the whirlwind tour for my first foray into international speaking! Three countries in the space of five weeks!

But the rest of the year was just as special. Thank you so much to the following churches for the privilege of speaking to their ladies. I am humbled and blessed.

- Bigfork Chapel – Bigfork, MT
- Lethbridge Evangelical Free – Lethbridge, Canada
- Rocky Mountain District Assemblies of God Ministry Women
- Maranatha Summer Breakaway – Muskegon, MI
- Mount Hermon Women’s Conference – Mount Hermon, CA
- North Dakota Assemblies of God Women’s Conference – Mandan, ND
- Roswell United Methodist – Roswell, GA
- Chapelwood United Methodist – Houston, TX
- Wisconsin Wesleyan Women – Rothschild, WI

I'll be posting my 2009 Speaking Schedule next week.

Writing and website news...

2009-01-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

My spring calendar is wide open this year as I work on my new book. Speaking of which,I’d really appreciate your continued prayers. I need a breakthrough on the writing front. My deadline came and went without a lot of progress on the book because of all the changes in our lives. It was a hard day.

I’m not like the famous author who once commented, “I love the sound deadlines make as they go whooshing by.” Missing the promised date bummed me out pretty good. But my publisher has been very gracious, so we forge on!

My assistant Amy and I have been working with a design firm on my website and hope to launch sometime in the spring. We’ll give you a heads up so you can check it out when it arrives at http://www.joannaweaverbooks.com/ . Meantime, I’d love to have you come by and visit my blog at http://www.joannnaweaver.blogspot.com/ . My assistant, Amy, does her best to keep it active despite her spacey client, namely me! Thank you, Amy!

BLESSINGS ON YOUR NEW YEAR

2009-01-02T06:41:00.001-07:00

I love the blank slate a new year brings. A new start, a new chance to become all that God wants us to be. I pray that you have a blessed Christmas, but even more that your New Year be filled with the joy that only comes from the sweet presence of Christ.

May everything we do be dedicated to one thing…

Becoming His.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T01:25:00.005-07:00

Greetings from the Weavers!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…finally! After an incredibly mild November and December here in southwest Montana, winter has finally descended. Its bitter cold outside, but inside its toasty warm and I’m loving that. Especially on those windy days this area is famous for!

We’re celebrating a simpler Christmas this year, light on the decorations and heavy on the memories. Last weekend Josh and I enjoyed a trip back in time. About a hundred and fifty years to be exact! Just down the road lie two towns rich in Montana history. Virginia City used to be Montana’s capitol after gold was discovered there in 1863. Over 10,000 people lived on the banks of Alder Gulch, but the boom didn’t last and people moved on. The town still remains, however, a “living ghost town” filled with rich history and lore.

Our favorite stop was at the Virginia City Artisans. The store is incredibly quaint and their handiwork beautiful, but it was the cookies and hot cocoa outside around a campfire that captured Joshie’s heart! The really cute puppy didn’t hurt either. After touring a few of the open gift stores, we drove a mile down the road to where Nevada City has been restored with rescued buildings from around Montana. That is where our Christmas adventure began!

Volunteers in costume populated the town, complete with a sheriff and postmistress. The General Store offered a chance to bake sugar cookies in a wood stove and we made ornaments at the jail. But our favorite part was the hayride and caroling as the horses trotted around town.

The trail boss – okay, so that is so not his title, but I have no idea what to call him…the hay ride driver??? – told us about the history of the valley and we had fun asking about their lives as the characters they portrayed. We sipped apple cider and tried bannock bread (a pan-fried type of cornbread) and Josh gave his letter to Santa to the postmistress.

We aren’t into Santa at our house, but last Saturday, he was the highlight of our outing. Coming into town on the “stage” just before dusk, the Nevada City version was a gentle, slimmer Old Nick. A quick hug and a candy cane was all we needed and we were off…back over the mountains to our little town and a cozy night at home stringing cranberries and popcorn for our tree.

Simplicity.

I’m really liking it. Not stringing cranberries and popcorn necessarily – that was a lot of work! But the joy that comes with being in a moment rather than spending so much time planning for it or working for hours trying to create it.

Sometimes the best stuff just comes to you.

I’m praying for eyes this Christmas. Eyes to see the gift. The gift of family. The gift of being together. But most of all, I’m praying that we might all have spiritual eyes to see the wondrous miracle that Jesus is.

Emmanuel. God with us. Almighty God coming down in the flesh to share a moment with us so we can spend eternity with Him.

May you have Spirit-eyes this Christmas as well. And if it’s a simpler, pared-down, less gift-filled Christmas than Christmases past because of the economy, you may be surprised to find it’s the best Christmas of all. If you’ll only embrace it.

Christmas Blessings!

Let's chat!

2008-11-19T10:35:00.004-07:00

I'm so excited to tell you that I'll be having an author chat next Wednesday at Abunga.com! Go here for all the details and instructions! I'd love to answer all your burning questions!

So while you're waiting for your pies to cool...let's get to know one another!

Joanna Weaver is the author of the popular, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life,” a book that shows women how to maintain intimacy with Christ while balancing a busy schedule. Weaver compares the life of a woman today to that of Mary and Martha in the New Testament, who struggled with things such as daily demands, resentment and feeling inadequate. Weaver shows how all modern-day Mary’s and Martha’s can draw closer to God, serve Him better and experience a greater joy. Weaver has also written the companion book, “Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out,” in which she gives additional insight into how readers can find the hope, healing, wholeness and joy their heart longs for. Weaver directs reader past their own shortcomings to the God who stands ready, willing and able to make a new woman out of them. Weaver will join the Abunga chat on Nov. 26. Visit http://abunga.com/featuredauthorweaver for more information.

Abunga.com is an online bookstore founded to provide families a protected shopping environment. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Abunga.com offers safety with more than 2 million family-friendly titles; savings through distributor-direct prices and support to nonprofit organizations by donating 5 percent of each transaction to a consumer-selected charity. For more information, visit www.Abunga.com.

Hands of Hope, giving a gift - saving a life.

2008-11-13T01:37:00.003-07:00

Hello dear friends!

I want to introduce you to Hands of Hope. Hands of Hope helps mobilize communities to respond to the needs of women and children around the world. They work to raise community awareness regarding poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa and its relevance globally. Some of their ongoing work includes: agricultural resource development, funding schools & vocational training for children and AIDS orphans, providing wells and irrigation systems for families, refugee support (Southern Sudan), micro finance loans to women to expand businesses and provide sustainable income, fistula medical clinic, emergency assistance, and providing goats and chickens to an expanding network of over 2000 rural poor families.

A great way to support Hands of Hope is by purchasing their Holiday Gift Cards. These cards provide food, income and water for impoverished women and children in Zambia, Uganda, and Southern Sudan. Purchasing these cards will provide goats, chickens or wells to help change lives. What could be a more meaningful gift for holiday giving for family, friends, and customer appreciation? The cards can be purchased on the Hands of Hope website www.handsofhopeonline.org for $15.00, $30.00 and $50.00.

“This was the most profound gift I have received from a student in all my 38 years of teaching.”
Roger Prazaider, 5th Grade Teacher, Geneva, IL

A Well Card will go toward funding a well in the Western Province of Zambia. Statistics show that nearly half of all people in developing countries suffer from health related problems caused by unsafe water. In addition, African women and children spend several hours every day collecting water which is often miles away and may or may not be contaminated. This well will provide clean and safe drinking water and will go a long way to ease a heavy burden for hundreds of village people who struggle daily with basic physical needs. $50 each.

A Chicken Card will purchase a gift of twelve chicks and be given to an impoverished family in Africa. As the flock multiplies, a struggling family will be given the hope to survive. Your gift will help those in need for generations to come. $15.00 each.

A Goat Card represents an actual goat being purchased for a needy family. Beyond providing much needed milk, a few goats can quickly become a herd, providing sustenance and additional income that can make the difference between whether a child goes to school or not. $30.00 each.

For more information go here: http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/goat.asp

To order by mail - Please download an order form

Or to purchase by credit card call 847 381 7367

Help support the work of Hands of Hope, find out more on their website: http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/

A holy moment on holy ground...

2008-11-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

As I followed the trail upward, it became clear that I wouldn’t make it to the summit. I’d started late in the day and the sun was slowly lowering itself in the west. But my heart was so filled with joy. As praise music from my Ipod filled my ear, I realized that the beauty and the majesty that spread out below me made my goal of climbing a mountain completely secondary. It was enough that I had tried.

The trail I’d followed up the mountain snaked below a ski lift called Chair Two, and I could see that the top of that lift was just a little ways above me. Not the goal I’d hoped for, but a goal none the less. I would summit a peak, though it was only a peak set below yet a higher peak. I stopped on the trail and took out my camera phone and began to take pictures as I turned in a 360* loop praising the Lord for the beauty surrounding me and for helping me fulfill yet another desire of my heart.

I saw a flash of white as I circled, but it wasn’t until I put down the camera that I realized what it was. There on a nob just above me, the summit as it were, stood a statue of Jesus with arms lifted high looking out over the valley. I’d skied by the unusual landmark during the winter, but I had completely forgotten that it stood at the top of Chair Two. My heart began to swell at the thought of Christ, right there, just as present in the natural as He’d been in spirit during the climb.

But when my mind finally registered the words playing in my ear, I began to weep. “I’ve come expecting Jesus to meet me in this place…I’ve come expecting to receive His mercy and His grace…”

I’d had a goal in mind, but God had given so much more. For He wanted to give me more than a destination. He wanted to give me a revelation of Himself. A holy moment on holy ground meant just for me. A pilgrimage that started with a simple journey. A crazy, not-at-all-like-me desire to climb a mountain.

I never dreamed that when I did, I’d end up walking straight into the arms of Jesus.

It was just as I’d feared

2008-10-30T06:59:00.000-06:00

After forcing myself to keep on climbing and not give up, I finally found the trail. The established trail, the one created to help you successfully climb the mountain rather than die of exposure from prolonged wheezing.

However, I must admit, it was just as I’d feared. Rather than getting me to the top quickly, the path tended to meander. Snaking across the open ski slopes before disappearing into shady groves of trees, the well-worn trail didn’t gain altitude quite as fast as the one I’d blazed. But then, I suppose, if a person added the amount of time it took to swallow your lungs and still your heart, well then, the trails were probably comparable in actual speed.

But unlike the path I’d try to create on my own, to my great surprise, I actually enjoyed this new one. The views were magnificent, and while the slope was challenging now and then, whoever had designed the trail had obviously considered the variety of people who would use it. The young and the old. The fit and not-so-fit and everyone in between. It took longer. But suddenly the destination wasn’t my goal. I was free to enjoy the journey.
Aren’t you glad we serve a Gentle Shepherd? A Shepherd who not only knows each one of us by name, He also knows our frame. He knows we’re but dust. Old dust and young dust, fit and not-so-fit dust. And rather than forcing us to climb at an incline beyond our ability, He goes before us making a level path for our feet. A trail, which, while challenging at times, never sets us up to fail. But only to succeed.

I love the Japanese version of Psalm 23 I include in Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World:

The Lord is my pace setter…. I shall not rush

He makes me stop for quiet intervals

He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity

He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace

Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here

His timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance

He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility

My cup of joyous energy overflows

Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours for I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever.

At one point in my climb, I was faced with a decision: to continue on the path I’d found or take a wider road that the trail had just crossed. The road seemed faster, but then I’d learned my lesson about shortcuts…I’d stick to the path that had been made for me.

Are you fighting the path God has set before you today? Do you keep longing for a faster route to your goal or a short cut through your pain? Take it from me, there’s a way that seems right to a man…I’ve tried it. But it only leads to death (or in my case, near cardiac arrest.)

Perhaps you’ve forgotten, you have a Shepherd you can trust. A Trail Blazer that’s already gone before you, a wise and knowing Guide that has carefully created a trail for your life. It might not be the fast track, but I can guarantee you it’s the right track. And it will get you where you need to go.

And though the destination might not be the one you had in mind in the beginning, believe me, it will satisfy your soul for it will more than meet your goal.

I did it! I finally did it.

2008-10-28T10:58:00.005-06:00

I climbed a mountain and accomplished my summer goal. Well, sort of.

Technically I did not summit a peak, not this year. But you know what? It’s okay. At least I attempted the climb. And wow, the amazing things I learned in the process.

I’d hoped to climb St. Mary’s Peak down in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley with a friend, but our schedules never meshed and so I comforted myself with the thought that I’d climb Big Mountain here in Whitefish. But you know how fast summer goes and suddenly it was September and then October, and I feared I wouldn’t accomplish that strangely insistent goal I’d set last spring. Especially when God had us pack up and leave the valley the first of October.

But oh, the kindness of the Lord who not only delights in fulfilling our desires, but also delights in birthing them in our hearts in the first place…
And a strange desire it was. I’ve never been the outdoorsy type. I’m a Montana girl, born and raised. But for the most part, I’m a Montana girl who is very grateful God created malls. The fact that I even wanted to climb a mountain surprised us all. Especially my husband.

“Don’t you think you should start training if you want to climb a mountain?” my husband suggested carefully. Sure, I suppose that would be wise, I agreed. But somehow I never quite got around to it.

So today, when I finally decided to brave the climb, I can’t say I was well prepared. But the day was glorious. The sun shone bright above as the aspen and tamarack blazed golden across the slope above me. I had my bottle of water, a banana and my Ipod. What more could a woman need?

Oxygen, evidently. In a swashbuckling attempt to find the trail on my own rather than wasting time trying to find the trailhead, I headed up hill boldly, on a zigzag with what I thought was a reasonable incline. After all, I’m aware of my limits.

But the trail I expected to cross didn’t make its appearance as soon as I’d hoped. Gasping for air, I forced myself up, walking side hill across the matted grass, trying to avoid the jumbled rocks that littered the slope. Every once in a while I’d stop to catch my breath as I desperately scanned the slope above me. Where was that trail?

Perhaps this was high enough, I reasoned as I looked back down across the valley, chest heaving, my body trying to negotiate a peace treaty with my resolve. After all, it was a start and a start after all was a start and shouldn’t that be good enough for me?

But God had some lessons to teach me this glorious autumn day, and I wouldn’t learn them by giving up. So, uncharacteristically, I put one foot in front of the other and pressed on. Oh, I am so glad I did!

I'll tell you more about it in the next post. But let me ask you a question…What are you facing in your life right now that leaves you breathless and your flesh shouting for you to abandon the upward climb? Rather than giving in and giving up, I suggest you stop a moment and catch your breath. Go ahead and look at where you need to go. I know the task feels daunting and there are a thousand reasons why it would be easier to give up. Even abandon your faith. But before you give in to despair, I want you to look back at how far you’ve come and at the steps that brought you to where you stand today.

Whether they were large strides or itsy bitsy ones, they required effort on your part. But you did it and the Lord was right there to help you. And He’ll help you with the step that looms before you…and the one after that … and the one after that.

Hi. Remember me?

2008-10-06T15:04:00.002-06:00

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I updated my blog. We’ve had quite a couple of weeks!! After quickly packing up the essentials, we’ve moved to a little town in southern Montana to serve as interim pastors to a wonderful church that’s gone through some difficult times.

To be honest, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’m smack-dab in the middle of a writing deadline and we are still waiting on the Lord as to where He would have us go more permanently, but God began stirring our hearts after our district leadership asked us to consider this short-term position.

My husband, John, has some pretty special ties to this area. The church was actually birthed out of a home Bible study his father started over 30 years ago. As a teenager, John helped build the old log facility, and each year he and his dad make the trip southward to hunt in the mountains just outside this community.

One of the things I asked from the Lord was a fully-furnished house to rent. I knew I couldn’t move my entire house and still write. But God knew all that better than I and provided a beautiful home just blocks from the church. What a wonderful Father we serve!

Sunday was our first service at the church. The presence of the Lord was so sweet, and the people so kind as they opened their arms to us. We feel very blessed to be entrusted with this new chapter in their lives and our own.

Would you pray for me if the Lord brings me to mind? I really need to focus and get back to work on my new book. God has graciously provided me an office in our new home, but I struggle with distractions. When I’m writing, I feel like I need to be taking care of the house. When I’m taking care of the house, I feel like I should be writing.

As one friend tells me, “you need to stop ‘shoulding’ yourself.” What about you? Do you beat yourself up for all you are or aren’t, for what you do or don’t do?

I’m so glad our heavenly Father doesn’t weigh us down with expectations like the ones we pile on ourselves. Instead, He offers His own power to help us do what we need to do and the strong arm of His Holy Spirit to come alongside and under and around us. Lifting us and carrying us through our day as we surrender our lives to Him.

May you feel that strong arm today and the loving encouragement of your Father saying, “You can! You are enough! For my Son pronounced His work’ finished,’ and that work was entirely about you!”

All my love on this beautiful Montana autumn morning…

With This Ring Contest Winner!

2008-09-13T08:55:00.001-06:00

is ReadingRobin !

Yee-ha! Send your mailing address to Amy (amy@litfusegroup.com) and we'll pop that gift basket into the mail!

Thanks to all of you for your participation.

Have a wonderful week!

Speaking Schedule...

2008-08-25T02:26:00.000-06:00

I'd appreciate your prayers as well for my speaking schedule. You'll notice I've left the spring free for final work on my book. Some of the events below are open to attend if you happen to be in the area. Just click on the website link or call for more information.

2008
JULY 30-31
Maranatha "Women's Summer Breakaway" Muskegon, MICall 1-231-798-2161 for tickets and information

SEPT 12-14
Mount Hermon's Women's Conference
Mount Hermon, CA

SEPT 26-27
North Dakota Assembly of God Women's Conference
Mandan, ND

OCT 14
Chapelwood United Methodist "Celebration!"
Houston, TX

OCT 18
Roswell United Methodist Women's Conference
Roswell, GA
click link to register or call Julie at 1-770-261-1732

NOV 7-8
Wisconsin District Wesleyan Women's Retreat

2009
APRIL 17-18
Women's Conference at First Baptist
Athens, AlabamaCall Jackie at 1-256-232-7829

SEPT 25-26
United Methodist Women's Conference
Shrevesport, LA

OCT 23-24
Soul Sanctuary Women's Conference
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

NOV 5-7 and Nov 12-14
New England Assembly of God Women
Bartlett, NH

[Check my website in the fall for upcoming event contact information as it becomes available.]

New Book: The Lazarus Factor!

2008-08-18T02:25:00.000-06:00

I finally signed a contract for my new book! If the Lord brings me to mind, I would so appreciate your prayers as I work towards a November 20th deadline (with an October 2009 scheduled release). Two years ago this week, God literally rang a bell in my spirit and told me my next book would be about Lazarus. The Lazarus Factor to be exact.

For while we know Jesus loved Mary - look how she worshiped - and we can even understand why He loved Martha - after all, look how she served - what about those of us who really don't know where we fit in the heart of God?

Lazarus throws our formulaic Christianity and false beliefs into a whirl when we realize that the only thing of any significance that the man did was die. And yet, before we even become aware of his existence, we are told that Jesus loved Lazarus (John 11:5).

I am praying that The Lazarus Factor will bring a divine shift in how we view our relationship to the Lord. For the enemy of our soul wants us to believe, that while God loves everyone else, He couldn't possibly love us. Most of us have head knowledge that we are accepted in the Beloved, but for many of us, that incredible Good News hasn't quite reached our hearts. And that, in a nutshell, is the mission of this new book.

A huge task like this could only be a work of the Spirit. There is nothing I could ever say of myself that could bring such a transforming life-change. Oh, how I need the Lord's help! And that means I need your prayers. If the Holy Spirit brings me to mind, please pray that I will:

1. Be sensitive to the Lord's heart and leading
2. Have the discipline to sit down and write
3. Experience a supernatural clarity as to what to write

Thank you for partnering with me in this amazing and sometimes terrifying (at least to me!) process.

New Website!

2008-08-11T02:22:00.000-06:00

Ah, at last!! It's been a long time in coming, but we've finally begun work on a website scheduled to launch in the fall at www.joannaweaverbooks.com .

You'll receive an announcement when it's ready, but I'd love any suggestions you might have as to content you'd like to see on the site. There will be information about books as well as downloadable workbooks and tools to help lead related Bible studies.

I'll also list my speaking schedule and provide a link to my blog among other things, but if there are any other features you think might come in handy, please let my assistant, Amy, know at amy@litfusegroup.com. We may not be able to include everything at this time, but we want this new site to serve you as a reader and a friend.

Look who won!

2008-08-04T14:17:00.002-06:00

Thank you to all who signed up for my newsletter (over to the right)!

I'll be sending a copy of Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out to:

dbt10188@__.com (sorry, but you didn't leave your first name!)

wrightj@__.com (sorry, but you didn't leave your first name!)

Becky becky@___.net

please email my assistant (amy@litfusegroup.com) your name and mailing address and we'll send your books out to you!

Contest for With This Ring!

2008-07-31T11:27:00.002-06:00

When With This Ring first came out in 1999, it was a lovely full-color coffee-table-gift-book. Unfortunately, the photos became quickly dated and the font was hard to read, so it was a thrill when WaterBrook Press offered to redesign it. While this new edition is still beautiful, it focuses more on the text than art and explores what we mean when we say "I do."

Phrase by phrase, we discover the history behind the wedding ceremony and quotes, poetry and essays flesh out the words that literally millions of couples have echoed through the centuries. For better for worse. For richer for poorer. It was a joy to go back and look at what God helped me write so long ago. Tears came to my eyes as I read stories of real-life love and pithy quotes which aim to cut through the love-deadening monotony of life and help us come back to the raw, yet beautiful promises of "til death do us part."

Sprinkled throughout this new package are interactive pages where couples can respond to questions like: "What qualities first drew you to your mate?" With space in the back for a wedding photo and a place to record their vows, this new edition will make a beautiful keepsake for years to come. I hope you'll consider giving this little book to couples about to be married as well as those celebrating anniversaries. But you may want to pick up a copy for yourself as well. For we all need reminding of the incredible gift of marriage and the promises we made before God and man.

And...to celebrate I'm having a wedding themed gift basket give-away!

The basket will be loaded with both editions of With This Ring, a wedding planner, and more!

All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog, between now and September 1st, saying ENTER ME! Fun!

Summer Greetings!

2008-07-24T08:08:00.003-06:00

What a gorgeous July day here in northwest Montana! After a very long winter - snow storms clear into May and twelve inches of the stuff one day in June! - I'm literally drinking in the beauty and enjoying the slower pace of summer.

Although I'm hard at work on my new book (more about that later), John and I have decided to be very intentional about enjoying this season. Because as you probably know, it's just a blink and a skip and it's fall once again and school and schedules and time to put away the slippy slide and push-up popsicles.

So what are you planning for your summer? It kind of sounds strange to schedule fun, but that's what we've decided to do. Because this may be our last summer in Montana, we've started a "10 Things to Do Before We Leave" list. It's been fun to jot down little and big things we've always wanted to do in our area but never got around to.

Here are a few of my things:

- Climb a mountain! Now if you know me, you know I am not the athletic type, but after losing 35 pounds I'm ready to do something I've never attempted before.

- Go fly fishing. John taught me how last summer and I really enjoy the gentle rhythm of the line whip-floating across the water. Catching a fish would be okay, too.

- Go camping in Glacier National Park, complete with s'mores!

Okay, this makes me sound like a real outdoorsy kind of girl. Believe me nothing could be further from the truth. I'd rather hunt for a deal in the mall than cook over an open fire, but because we live in such a beautiful area, I want to take advantage of all the mountains and fresh air I can get!

Perhaps I awakened my inner granola girl last summer by climbing Mount Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. 8100 vertical feet and I made it all the way to the top. Okay, so the first 7300 feet were by tram, but I made it!! I made it! This time I want to do it without the tram. (I think.)

So what do you dream of doing this summer? You might not have a move imminent in your life, but what are some things in your area that you haven't had time (or made time!) for in the past. With gas prices as high as they are, you don't have to plan a road trip to make the most of your summer. Look around you. Picnic in a park you haven't visited or tour a local museum or a walk beside a stream. Or perhaps, like me, you need to push yourself beyond what you've ever done before.

The Psalmist says, "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12 NKJV). I'm fairly certain the writer of this passage had more spiritual pursuits in mind than roasting marshmallows, but I'm also certain that God delights when His children simply have fun. When they kick back and relax or get up and enjoy all the beauty He's created. Whatever you do this summer, receive it as a gift from the Father's hand. A white space, a seasonal margin intended to rejuvenate and restore our souls. So lay back in His love and enjoy all His gifts. Nature. Family. Fun and fellowship. Time with Him.

Oh, and be sure to check out the post below to see if you've won a book!

And the winners are...

2008-07-07T15:21:00.006-06:00

Thank you all so much for your touching comments. Wow. I'm overwhelmed. Truly...what a blessing.

The winners* of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World are:

Bev (froggieb)

LMparks

momof4girls

Vickie (The Lloyd Family)

Sarah (who left a comment on 6/22)

amyandlance

EEEEMommy

and two bonus winners...

Michelle (who left a comment on 6/26)

Nancy (who left a comment on 6/28)

And the winners* of With This Ring are:

Kristen Hamilton

Mary (who left a comment on 6/16)

Tabitha (who left a coment on 6/19)

Tina (a cup of joy)

Denise (sentimentsbydenise)

Laura (who left a comment on 6/27)

Joanna Choate

Congratulations ladies! Please email my assistant with your mailing address! amy@litfusegroup.com!

And...sign-up for my newsletter (over to the right)! I'll be sending a copy of Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out to three people who sign up! Contest ends August 1st.

**all winners were chosen randomly.

Having A Mary Heart, Gift Edition!

2008-06-23T03:36:00.006-06:00

Welcome to the blog tour for the gift edition of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World!

The tour will run June 16th through the 27th!

A new outfit can make a girl smile -- especially if it's extra beautiful! After publishing Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life for seven years in paperback, Waterbrook Press is celebrating their tenth anniversary by giving my book a facelift. And I must say, those two sisters from Bethany are looking mighty fine!

The new gift edition is in hard cover and has a lovely two-color interior design. While the text remains the same, I think you'll enjoy the gentle art that welcomes you in with soft colors and soothing spaces, as well as the pages in the back for journaling what God is teaching you.

Thank you for allowing me into your life through the pages of a book. It is a wonderful privilege, and one I don't take lightly. Until we meet at Jesus' feet, dear sister of mine, keep choosing the "Better Part!"

To celebrate the release, we'll be giving away 7 copies of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World...all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog.

And if you've read the book already -- leave me a comment telling me which chapter was your favorite...and why! I'll choose 7 winners (randomly) to receive a copy of my latest re-release of With This Ring! You can read more about that book here!

Contest goes to June 30th and we'll announce the winners on July 7th!

6/16
Mellissa at Wonder Mommy
http://wondermommy.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/having-a-mary-heart-in-a-martha-world-blog-tour/
This is a must read for all women that live in today’s world. We are striving to find our relationship with the Lord without feeling inadequate. It is hard for us to find a way to serve the Lord in this hectic life. Miss Weaver helps us find the way in this book; we can serve like Mary in this Martha World. I highly recommend this book to all.

Mary at Home Steeped Hope
http://homesteepedhope.com/2008/06/16/blog-tour-having-a-mary-heart-in-a-martha-world/
I was raised by a Mary-heart! And I’m such a Martha. This non-fiction gift edition spoke to my heart, whispered to me of “living room intimacy with God”, “fruitful living”, the wisdom and desirability of keeping God at the center of my busy life, how to work through the “Lazarus Moments” of life…I highly highly recommend it to you all, may it re-awaken your soul as it has mine.

Camy at Camy’s Loft
http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-giveaway-having-mary-heart-in.html
With her fresh approach to the familiar Bible story, Joanna Weaver shows how all of us–Marys and Marthas alike–can draw closer to our Lord: deepening our devotion, strengthening our service, and doing both with less stress and greater joy.

Cara at Cara’s Musings
http://carasmusings.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
Then Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World arrived in the mail. I didn' t have an excuse to wonder about the book. Now I could pick it up and read through it -- see what it had to offer. I haven't finished it yet, but I am savoring it. The book is balanced on the Mary/Martha question , and the author actually shows how Martha did gain a Mary side without losing what made her Martha.

Jennifer at So Many Books, So Little Time
http://somanybooksblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html

Katrina at Callapidder Days
http://www.callapidderdays.com/2008/06/blog-tour-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World is easy to read, yet packed with truth that can be life-changing. As I read through it, I found myself encouraged and challenged anew to accept Jesus' invitation to choose "the better part" -- pursuing deeper intimacy with him.

6/17
Amy at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31
http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2008/06/mary-heart-in-martha-world-review.html
I couldn't put the book down. The message is biblical, the concepts are practical, and the way it is written is very personable and you can very easily relate to her.

Angie at God Uses Broken Vessels
http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html

Deborah at A Cup of Joy
http://acupofjoy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/having-a-mary-heart-in-a-martha-world-by-joanna-weaver-shes-giving-away-7-copies/
I found it so encouraging, like a tall, cool, refreshing drink to a thirsty soul. Looking for a book that will minister to your heart and build your faith? Look no further.

6/18
Amy at Amy’s Random Thoughts
http://amychristopher.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-tour-and-review-having-marys-heart.html
I did not read the back or the inside, I just read and let me tell you, it rocked! It helps light a fire and helps increase your desire on being the person God created you to be, not necessarily who you want to be and who doesn't want that. Most of you know my personality. There is not one person I would not recommend this too.

Gina at Writer, Interrupted
http://ginaconroy.com/ginablog/wordpress/2008/06/18/having-a-mary-heart-in-martha-world-by-joanna-weaver/
What I like about this book is that it starts with the traditional story of Mary and Martha, but sheds new light on the two sisters. Whenever I read the story, I pictured Mary as a slacker and Martha having to pick up all the slack. But through Joanna Weavers words and my own study of Biblical times, I’ve come to realize that it’s more realistic for Mary to have started out helping in the kitchen, as was the woman’s custom. Though eventually she ended up at Jesus’ feet. Somewhere along the way from getting ready for company she made her way to Jesus’ side.

Heather at Mumblings of A Mommy Monk
http://mommymonk.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html

Mindy at Ponderings of the Heart
http://philippians4verse8.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-giveaway.html
When I was offered the chance to blog about this book, I jumped at the chance. I had never read it before but had heard wonderful things about it.

I was not disappointed! On the contrary, I feel like I have grown so much already and I still have a few more chapter's to go. The way that Joanna writes makes me feel like I am sitting at a table having a conversation with her. It is very easy to read and is full of great advice on how we Martha's can learn to choose the "better part" as Mary did and sit at Jesus' feet.

Melody at Kids, Cakes, Dishes, Laundry…in that order
http://www.kidscakesdisheslaundry.blogspot.com/
I needed this book like we need rain here deep in the heart 'o Texas. I'm not going to tell you that this book changed my life ('cause I actually have to, you know, make the changes my own self), but I will tell you that this book has opened my eyes to things I'd not seen before, and helped me understand some things that I had seen, but struggled to fully understand. I was truly amazed as I read this book how much I needed to read it...

6/19
Pam at Without Fear
http://withoutfear08.blogspot.com/2008/06/day-late-review-of-having-mary-heart-in.html
I was not disappointed. Conviction came, but so did applicable and practical knowledge. I didn't find condemnation. I found what God so liberally wants to pour out on all of us, not just "Martha's" . . . I found grace. There is hope for even me.

To be real honest, I haven't finished the book yet. It is not one to be read in an afternoon, but to be savored and chewed on (not literally), but one to take time to underline and process a bit at a time. I am enjoying that process thoroughly, and God has met me each and every time I have taken a moment to pick it up and delve in to what He is choosing to teach me through the words He gave Joanna. So I can wholeheartedly recommend Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World to anyone who wants to be changed. Just open the book. I am sure glad I did.

Laura at Texas Okie
http://texasokie.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
In this book, Joanna Weaver invites us to join Christ even in our busy lives. She shows us how the Mary's and the Martha's are alike and how we can be a little bit of both. We can have a closer relationship with Jesus by deepening our devotion, strengthening our service and doing both with less stress and more joy.

Margaret at The Cappuccino Life
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cappuccinosmom/548227/
Joanna Weaver is an excellent writer and this book gets to the “heart” of the matter…keeping our heart attitude right in the midst of a frantic and care-laden world. I knew before I opened the book that I tend to be a Martha-I get all caught up in the activities of faith and life, and find it difficult to sit in quiet at the feet of my Lord. It’s not that I don’t try. But whenever I get settled, I find a reason to pop up-the kettle boils, the baby needs me, we’re having company in a few hours and I forgot to scrub the toilet…I am one who wants to do….all the time.

Jamie at Surviving the Chaos
http://survivingthechaos.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world-by.html
Personally I "enjoyed" "Lord, Don't You Care?" If you can call it enjoyment to look at the pages and know someone has been spying on your black heart. "What about me?" My envious little mind whines when everyone wants ice cream and I haven't sat down for my dinner yet. But I'm learning. Learning the three D's and I'm catching on. If I can just nip distraction in the bud (okay, so I'm not sure I can do that) I can avoid discouragement (let's say I nip this one in the bud instead) and keep the doubt out of my life. Ya think?

6/20
Tabitha at Making It Up As I Go Along
http://123pizza.org/blog/2008/06/20/having-a-mary-heart-in-a-martha-world-by-joanna-weaver/
There were things to be done and Mary wasn’t helping.
That was my view until I read this book. This was the first time it clicked for me. Martha didn’t have to be doing all that she was doing. Martha could have been sitting at Jesus’ feet also but chose to go over and beyond the call of duty.
Honestly, my favorite chapter is Chapter 1. That’s when I had my “A-ha!” moment. It started to make sense and the rest of the book escalated from that pivotal moment.

Gretchen at Inspire Me
http://dreamwriter07.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world-by.htmlThis book has been a part of my recent desire for spiritual growth to not just read my Bible, study it and pray, but to stop and listen to God - daily.

Leticia at My Daily Trek
http://leticiasworld.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
This book really taught me so much about myself, my relationship with Jesus and how to have a better more meaningful relationship with Him.

Kelly at Love Well
http://lovewell.blogspot.com/2008/06/odds-and-ends-and-then-more-odds.html
I think that's because it resonates with every woman, no matter her circumstances, temperament or personality. We all struggle to balance our driven-by-achievement Martha with our longing-to-worship Mary. Joanna does a beautiful job of exploring the nuances of these sweet sisters and -- more importantly -- teaching us to incorporate their best qualities into our own lives.

LaShaunda at See Ya on the Net
http://lashaunda.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world-gift.html

6/21
Melodee at Actual Unretouched Photo
http://www.unretouchedphoto.com/2008/06/24/blog-tour-having-a-mary-heart-in-a-martha-world/
This book is lovely to look at, easy to read and chock full of encouragement and empathy. It includes a 12-week Bible study guide, making it ideal for individual and group study.

Laura at Lighthouse Academy
http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
In this book, Joanna Weaver shows us that we can draw nearer to our Lord. With personal stories, short easy to read chapters, and a study guide, she teaches us how we can balance work with worship, a shows us a simple plan for a half-day of prayer.

I enjoyed reading HAVING A MARY HEART IN A MARTHA WORLD and really learned a lot from reading it. Like Martha I long to bask at Jesus’ feet, but life keeps me busy, so my relationship with Jesus sometimes took a back seat.

Elise at A Path Made Straight
http://mamahooper.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
But as I dove into this restful book, my heart became calmer and more accepting about this busy life. So many chapters spoke again and again of the need for releasing worry, lowering expectations while still desiring excellence, and (best of all), living so that Jesus "sticks out all over"! (Sweet story on page 108)

Diane at Diane’s Place
http://lenadianejennings.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-review-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html
All in all a lovely book and well written. I plan to give my copy away soon, but not just yet. I'm still reading and soaking in some of the truths it lays out so eloquently. Look for the giveaway in a week or so.

6/23
Billie at Hearing the Music Amongst the Noise
http://lifelaughterchaos.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
I once heard a respected author share that a good book should have something underlineable on each page. Rarely have I ever read such a book, but without a doubt this book has something to underline on every page.

Cee Cee at Book Splurge
http://booksplurge.blogspot.com/2008/06/blog-tour-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html
once I started reading I found this is a book I need to spend devotional time exploring. The author uses humor and stories from her own life to offer tips on how to find intimacy with God. I haven't finished reading Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World; but over the next couple of weeks, I hope to use it to make changes in my too busy, often weary life.

Joy at The Five J’s
http://fivejs.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/having-a-mary-heart-in-a-martha-world-book-giveaway/
I’ve mentioned before that I’m an absolute book nut. But not every book that comes into my house stays. If it’s not good enough to make the cut, it gets traded at the bookstore; a book has to have a “special something” to secure a permanent home on my bookshelves.
But Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World is definitely staying at home with me.

6/24
Paula at Reviews By Two
http://reviewsbytwobooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world-by.html
Joanna's book is one of the very few I've seen on the market that addresses our innermostthoughts, desires, and struggles between the Martha side of us and the Mary. She addresses the hazards of chronic worry - that nail-biting thought that usually starts out small and ends with a box of tissue and deep agitation. As Joanna so effectively puts it, "If my God isn't bigger than life, then my life is bigger than God and that's when anxiety takes over."

Deena at A Peek At My Bookshelf
http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/on-tour-with-having-mary-heart-in.html
For a Bible teacher, Joanna's books are a dream! Each book is filled with side bar list and quotes, as well as those boxes of 'thoughts boiled down to simplicity' that you can meditate on for days.

Her style of writing is engaging and her presentation is practical. This is teaching that you can immediately put into practice. Joanna's knowledge of Scripture makes her instruction something you can bank on as well. Her book is filled with references to other passages of the Bible that support each point she makes.

Sarah at Real Life
http://reallifereview.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-review-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html
As I was preparing for this review, looking back through the book, I realized that I really want to read it again. And that is not like me. Once is usually enough, thank you. I feel this is a book that one could read many times, and glean different "nuggets" each time, depending on what God's doing in your heart at the time. This time, I'm going to use the study guide in the back, and maybe suggest it to the ladies in my church small group.

So from my more-Mary-like heart, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know Jesus, and the rest for your soul that He promised.

Karla at Looking Towards Heaven
http://karlascrazylife.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
Joanna Weaver's wonderful book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World has been republished as a gift edition. It is a book that helped reshape my relationship with the Lord - one in which I strive to just sit as His feet and listen.

6/25
Barb at A Chelsea Morning
http://anewchelseamorning.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-hearta-giveaway.html
This amazing book is a how-to guide to slowing down and remembering that you can run around in circles, being the perfect answer to everyone's simplest need, but if you don't know how to stop and listen to the sweet, gentle voice of your Saviour, you really are just running around in circles, and circles lead to nowhere.

Amy at My Friend Amy
http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/2008/06/blog-tour-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html
I always hear women talk about how they are a Martha who wishes they could be a Mary. This is the kind of book where you read the first few pages, and you think, wow someone gets me! It's a fantastically easy book to read that will also meet you exactly where you're at. Recommended for all women in our crazy busy society!

Melody at Slurping Life
http://slurpinglife.typepad.com/whatithink/2008/06/a-mary-heart-bl.html
I have been a Christian since childhood, but my relationship with God has gone the way of many of today's marriages...letting routine busyness take the place of intimacy. Joanna's book has broken my heart, and it has sparked a passion for regaining my intimacy with Christ. Joanna speaks about the process of writing Having A Mary Heart in a Martha World much as I felt about the process of reading it...

Audra at Penning Prose
http://www.audrasilva.com/blog/?p=77
Joanna’s ability to weave storytelling with scriptural truth creates a powerful message that zeroes in on the heart of a woman and takes root. Her gentle conversational tone makes you feel like your sitting in the kitchen of a dear and wise friend listening to her speak truth into your life.

6/26
Christy at At Split Ends
http://christylashea.blogspot.com/

Revka at The Porch Light
http://ourfamilyporch.blogspot.com/

Susan at His Reading List
http://hisreadinglist.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
Joanna could have written this book just for me!

Lauren at Baseballs and Bows
http://baseballsandbows.blogspot.com/2008/06/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.html
In Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, Joanna Weaver delves into this story to help us apply it to our lives today.

Chris at Come To the Table
http://www.cometothetable.blogspot.com/

6/27
Brittanie at A Book Lover
http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/

Kristy at I Need To Read
http://ineedtoread.blogspot.com/2008/06/giveaway-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html

Patty at Girlfriends in God
http://patty-girlfriendsingod.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-tour-having-mary-heart-in-martha.html
Joanna's book has given us gentle reminders of the importance of finding initmate moments with God in our very busy lives. If you haven't read this book, please do yourself a favor and do so!!!

Dee at Dee’s Christian Fiction
http://christianfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/contest-great-book-for-mothers-summer.html

July 6th
Trish at Books for Mom
http://booksformoms.blogspot.com/2008/07/having-mary-heart-in-martha-world.htm l

China Travelogue 5

2008-06-15T06:30:00.003-06:00

Our last day in Beijing dawned bright and clear. Wouldn’t you know it! After already doing the most important sightseeing, the one day we had nothing special planned showed up looking pretty special. Ah well, that’s how the fortune cookie crumbles.

Actually, it was a bit of relief to realize that there are non-polluted days in Beijing and it gave me hope for the Olympic athletes that will soon be descending on this massive city of 14 million people. With a little wind and the drastic measures the government will be taking – scaling down all construction and factory output two months leading up to the event as well as taking half of all automobiles off the road before and during the event – I’m praying that the Olympics will enjoy clear skies like we did our final day.

Jessica decided to stay at the hotel to work on homework that final morning. Linda and I opted for a rickshaw tour of the old city. It was a blast!

I had read a few novels set in China, so it was fascinating to get a look inside hutongs, the neighborhoods made up of walled family compounds. The size and opulence of the home depended on the individual’s wealth and position. We toured a middle class compound as well as the hutong of a Red Prince. Each home was built around a courtyard, and each room had a designated purpose.

Our rickshaw rider took us through the winding alleyways and around hutongs being demolished and/or renovated. While most hutong neighborhoods have been destroyed to make way for high rises, this particular neighborhood is being restored. It was neat to get a peak into how Beijingers lived centuries ago.

After a final meal of Mongolian hotpot, we boarded our shuttle for the trip back to Hong Kong and then home to the U.S.A.

There really aren’t enough words to describe how special this trip was. From the amazing people we met, both Chinese and expatriates living in China, to the food, the sights, and the little God moments the Lord graced us with – I will never forget the privilege of sharing Christ on the other side of the world. And I will forever be grateful to those who made it possible to bring Jessica and Linda with me. Our hearts are knit together with memories we will never forget and moments that we will share forever.

Thank You, most of all, Lord Jesus. You have embarrassed me with Your kindness and overwhelmed me with Your grace. I love you.

Soli deo Gloria. For You and to You alone. May Your name be proclaimed in all the earth.

China Travelogue 4

2008-06-13T06:23:00.004-06:00

On our third day we went to Beijing’s Summer Palace, an amazing display of wealth and opulence built by China’s famed Empress Dowager Cixi (also known as Dragon Lady – though Michael, our earlier guide, pointed out that the title wasn’t necessarily defamatory as the dragon is revered as a symbol of power and strength.) We enjoyed the compound, but again the sky was smoggy and the landscape not nearly as beautiful as it must be on a clear day.

By this time, Jessica was fairly tired of history and the familiar Chinese architecture, not to mention Linda and I snapping pictures every chance we had.

After walking through the living quarters, we hiked up to the temple at the top of a small mountain before getting lost in the winding paths that were supposed to lead us down to the northern gate. With help from a passerby, we made our way out the exit and to a taxi cab that took us to the area of the city where most of the Olympic events will be held.

The Bird Nest stadium and the aquatic center were not yet open for visitors, but you could see people hard at work everywhere in preparation for Beijing’s “finest hour.”

Everyone, from waitresses to hotel clerks, seemed very eager to make us feel welcome. Our taxi driver went out of his way, though he spoke no English, to take us to spots where we could get the best pictures of the stadiums.

Later that night, Linda and I strolled a few blocks from our hotel to the famed Wanfujing Shopping street. While that was fun, it was a side street we discovered that really captured our attention. Called “Snack Street”, this block was filled with vendors selling every kind of food imaginable – from the delicious to the atrocious! But the main aim of this venue was to offer the most exotic foods possible. From really disgusting animal parts to silk worm larva, squid and beetles, everything was served up fried. Fried scorpions, fried octopus, even fried starfish!

There was a group of high school students from the UK sampling the delicacies, so we were able to enjoy them vicariously. But more importantly, we were able to gross out completely on behalf of mothers everywhere. Lots of fun!!

China Travelogue 3

2008-06-11T06:19:00.002-06:00

On day two, we headed out to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. A Shanghai friend had recommended a tour guide named Lucy, so she and her driver picked us up in a van and we began the 30-mile journey to the second most-visited part of the wall.

It was fun to see all the preparations being made for the Olympics as we drove through the city and out into the countryside. In an effort to diminish air pollution, Beijing has planted thousands and thousands of trees, but though we’d hoped the air would be clearer out in the countryside, when we reached the Wall the landscape was still painted with a wash of gray. But the magnificence of this amazing structure was very evident as we rode the tram up the mountainside to the wall.

Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Wall once stretched over 4000 miles across China’s northern territory. Building began in 7th century B.C. and was meant to protect China from Mongolian invaders. The Great Wall was built in sections by different dynasties, requiring millions of laborers working off and on over a span of 1400 years. Most of the wall has fallen into disrepair, but several sections have been renovated and draw tourists from all over the world.

Popular legend says that the Great Wall is the only manmade structure that can be seen from space. While that isn’t true, it was an awe-inspiring experience to stand on the structure I’ve heard about since I was a little girl. Jessica and I shared a special mommy-and-me moment – a silly ritual we’ve done since she could toddle. I couldn’t help but smile as I twirled her along the sloping bricks. What an incredible privilege to be together on this amazing trip!

With This Ring!

2008-06-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

I am so thrilled with the re-release of my very first published book, With This Ring!

Originally published in 1999 with traditional photography, the book has been updated and contemporized! (Is that a word?). Waterbrook has done a wonderful job and I'm quite pleased with the result.

A beautiful celebration of the promises that bind two hearts forever.

Centered on the traditional wedding vows, this exquisite keepsake book celebrates the beauty, delight, and mystery of married love.

Soul-stirring quotes and inspiring stories illuminate the history and deeper meaning behind each aspect of the wedding ceremony, from the betrothal pledge of “Will you be mine?” to the declaration of two hearts eternally united as one. The elegant design includes space to record treasured memories, shared dreams, and meaningful reflections.

With unforgettable insights on sacred love, With This Ring creates a personal treasury of romance and devotion, perfect for anyone preparing to exchange vows, celebrating a marital milestone, or simply wanting to recapture the beauty of the promises they share as husband and wife.

See what others are saying here and here and here!

And check out this podcast here!

Buy the book here!

Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win a copy of your very own.

China Travelogue 2

2008-06-09T06:10:00.001-06:00

It’s amazing how quickly time flies when you’re having fun. (Or as one frog said to another, “time sure is fun when you’re having flies.”) Our two week adventure was drawing to a close. But as far as sightseeing, Beijing was the just the beginning. When we landed on Monday morning, we dropped our luggage at our hotel and went to explore the Forbidden City.

Construction of this architectural wonder began in 1406 by Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. The Forbidden City is the world’s largest palace covering 720,000 square meters with 9999 buildings and required an estimated 1 million laborers and 100,000 craftsmen over 15 years to build it. Created for the Emperor and his wives and thousands of concubines, the Forbidden City was the center of Chinese government for hundreds of years. We only had a couple of hours before the site closed, so we hired a tour guide named Michael. He gave us a brief, but fascinating taste of China’s history and what went on behind these scarlet walls.

After the tour, we crossed a busy street to Tiananmen Square to watch the lowering of the flag ceremony. We were surrounded by hundreds of Chinese tourists who had traveled from outlying areas to see this most hallowed place – the heart of China, Michael called it. We had planned to meet a friend of Jessica’s boyfriend, an Iraqi foreign-exchange student named Wassam. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize the square would be packed for the ceremony at 6:00 pm.

Though we had his phone number, we didn’t have a cell phone. So, I attempted to borrow one. Easier said then done, however, for no one in the square seemed to speak English. Finally I found a young woman and between sign language and pointing to her phone and the number Jessica had written in a little notebook, she agreed to call the number. But the unfamiliar English was difficult for the young woman to read.

By then a crowd of about 30-40 people had gathered around to see what the beautiful blonde girl and her aging mother were attempting to do. All day, Jessica had had people trying to have their picture taken with her. My sister Linda got quite a kick out of watching people stand behind Jessica as she talked on the phone, pointing at her hair as their friend took a picture.

Ten minutes later, we were finally united with Wassam. And after twenty minutes looking for a cab, we finally caught one to his favorite restaurant. It was a crazy wonderful day and a great Beijing beginning.

China Travelogue

2008-06-06T11:05:00.004-06:00

My apologies for taking so long in getting back to my travelogue. My heart has hurt for the people of China as I’ve watched the news coverage of the earthquake in Wenchuan. We really need to pray – especially that the weakened dams in the area will hold. If they were to burst, literally millions of people would be in danger.

I want to thank my assistant Amy for keeping the blog going with book reviews and photo albums. You’re the best!

This month has been a whirlwind of work and celebration – the most important celebration being John Michael’s college graduation! Way to go, my sweet son!! We’re so proud of you.

But now, back to China…Jessica, Linda and I left Hong Kong with a suitcase full of wonderful memories and an excitement for what lay ahead. When we landed in Shanghai, we discovered a beautiful, modern city built on land as flat as Hong Kong is mountainous. Our hostess, Marianne and the conference team (mostly American expatriates) made us feel right at home with their sweet hospitality.

The day before the conference, Marianne and a friend took us to Hu Gardens and to the famous Nanxiang Dumpling Restaurant.

It was my favorite meal of the trip, but it was the shopping that captured Jessica and Linda’s imagination. They spent most of their time in Shanghai navigating the subway system and exploring the underground copy market, though I was able to join them for a day of shoooooopping (as my husband puts it) as well.

We enjoyed our time with the ladies at the conference on Saturday, and the next afternoon we had the privilege of attending a Sunday service at one of the international churches in Shanghai. The worship was beautiful and we enjoyed meeting the group of people who call that church home.

Our four days in Shanghai flew by quickly – too quickly. It was hard to say goodbye, but after a very exhilarating taxi ride to the airport (and I mean EXHILERATING!) the last segment of our trip, Beijing, was just a few hours away.

Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck

2008-05-28T11:57:00.006-06:00

Summer is in full swing here in Montana! We've had our first, yet fleeting taste of the hot weather to come! And with the warm weather my mind turns to summer reads! I was sent a copy of Rachel Hauck's latest release, Sweet Caroline...and I loved it! If you're looking for a novel to fill a little "me" time this summer, choose this one. As its title suggests, it is a "sweet" story. A lighthearted tale that isn't so light on the spiritual goods!

About the book: When a Southern waitress inherits the Lowcountry cafe where she works, she suddenly has to balance more than just her next food order...

Caroline Sweeney has always done the right thing--the responsible, dependable thing--unlike her mother who abandoned her family. But when her best friend challenges her to accept an exciting job adventure in Barcelona, Spain, Caroline says "yes" to destiny.Then, without warning, ownership of the run-down cafe where she's been waitressing falls right into Caroline's lap. While she's trying to determine the cafe's future, handsome Deputy Sherriff J.D. Rand captures Caroline's heart.But when her first love, Mitch O'Neal, comes back to town, fresh from the heat of his newly-found fame as a country music singer in Nashville, Caroline must make some hard choices about love and the pursuit of the sweet life.

About Rachel: I graduated from Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!) with a degree in Journalism. As a member of Phi Mu sorority, I partied my way though the last few years of college.

But, the truth is, and always will be, I belong to Jesus. At the age of six, I knelt at the altar of a Tulsa Methodist church and gave my life to the One who loves me.

After graduation, hired on at Harris Publishing as a software trainer, determined to see the world. And I did it without a laptop, a cell phone, an IPod or portable DVD player. Those were hard times.

But, I traveled to Ireland, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the U.S. from California to Maine. But, life on the road is difficult. Working twelve to fourteen hour days, one doesn't get to see many of the sites. In Ireland, our company's distributor drove me around at night so I could see something of Dublin.

I met Tony, my husband, in '87, at church, of all places. We got married in '92. Tony has been a pastor for twenty years. I've worked with him in eighteen of those twenty. Our heart is to see teens and adults passionate, radical and whole hearted for Jesus.

Tony and I don't have any children of our own, lots of kids-in-the-Lord and we love them all. However, we do have a very spoiled dog, and an even more spoiled cat.

I've always wanted to be a writer. My dad used to tell me, "You're a writer." I have letters he wrote me post college, exhorting me to write. In this, I believe he had the heart of God.In '93, I started an epic WW2 novel with two plots. It was well rejected. After that ordeal, I took a break and put efforts into my job as a software project manager. But, I missed writing and in late ' 99, I took up the craft again.

With a little help from my friends, my first book was published in ' 04, Lambert's Pride, a romance novel. I love writing chick lit and romance. I love writing. What an honor.

Rachel has several other books that have been received with great praise, including Diva Nash Vegas and Lost In Nash Vegas

Buy the book here

Oh! And be sure to go here and sign up for Rachel's newsletter...she's going to be drawing a winner from those newsletter sign-ups to receive this scrumptious baking basket! How fun...heading over there now!

What Women Want...do we know?

2008-05-09T13:14:00.005-06:00

Oh, wow. This is my first blog tour...and what a wonderful book to have Christen my blog!

Lisa Bergren and Rebecca Price have written a lovely Bible study that helps us ladies (and you know who you are) focus less on what WE want and more on what God wants for us, what He wants to do for us, and what He wants to do THROUGH us.

I'm impressed with the way Lisa and Rebecca just get down and dirty with the transparency...and not just themselves, but other women (like Robin Jones Gunn, Shaunti Feldhahn, and more) who they interview throughout the book.

I have studied many Women's Bible studies (they're kind of my thing...wink, wink) and I thoroughly enjoyed the study at the back of the book. Don't just take my word on it...check out the other stops along the tour here. Boy, what a bunch of gifted bloggers Lisa and Rebecca have rounded up.

OH, and what a fun contest they're having. Send an email to amy@litfusegroup.com telling Lisa and Rebecca WHO your best friend is and WHY she's your "Sister of the Heart".

They'll post your story on their blog and choose one winner and her best friend to receive a copy of What Women Want and one of their musical accompaniments Lisa and Rebecca have created for their Bible study. (Ambient or Mellow Vocals)! Fun.

And if you scoot on over to their blog tour post and leave a comment you could win a $15 Starbucks card. But, don't bother on this one...I know I'll win. God knows how I need my coffee. ")

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About the book: From a deeper relationship with God to harmony in the home, from stronger marriages to more satisfying work: Women Want More.

In What Women Want, bestselling author Lisa T. Bergren and Rebecca Price invite readers to thoughtfully consider their soul-deep longings—and pursue God’s best in every area of life. Using in-depth interviews from a national survey and hundreds of personal interviews, biblical narratives, their own personal stories and inspiring quotes, the authors point fellow seekers toward the kind of wholeness God desires, providing lots of fun and inspiration along the way. They explore friendship, how and where to find happiness, health, and more with an eye on physical, emotional, and spiritual matters.

A Bible study, designed for personal or group use and tested with dozens of women’s ministries around the country before publication, is included at the end of each chapter.

Young or old, married or single, with children or without, striving in the workplace or working in the home, readers will resonate with Lisa and Rebecca’s descriptions of the life women crave, and learn how God fulfills the very desires He stirs.

What women want is no secret. But discovering the God who satisfies might just be the adventure of a lifetime.

About the authors: A Letter from the Authors

LISA T. BERGREN is the author of twenty-eight books that have sold many more than she ever believed. She writes a lot from the heart and in whatever category that currently interests her–from gift and children’s books to medieval fiction and Bible studies. She is a wife to Tim, an artist, and mother to three phenomenal children–Olivia, Emma and Jack. The Bergrens live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and worship at Trinity Lutheran Church in Monument. For more specifics on Lisa, see her Web site at http://www.lisatawnbergren.com/.

REBECCA PRICE credits her long career (”Twenty-five years–yikes!) in the Christian publishing industry as providing opportunities to meet and learn from many gifted teachers and authors. She has worked in marketing and executive positions at NavPress, Word, Multnomah and WaterBrook Press. After moving around the country (and to London and back), she returned to her home state, embarked on a business venture with Lisa, and is now VP of publishing for FamilyLife. Rebecca lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is actively involved at Fellowship Bible Church.

Buy the book here! It would make a wonderful gift for your mom on Mother's Day or for your friends. This would be a great study to do with a group of your girlfriends.

Hong Kong Women's Conference

2008-04-17T14:07:00.008-06:00

Hong Kong hosts the most skyscrapers in the world – 7681 – compared to second place, New York, with 5627. With only 25% of the island developed, and with most of the remaining land protected, the only way is up! Way, way up!

So when I woke up the next morning in my host’s apartment, it was quite a shock to look out the window and find myself suspended against the mountain side looking down at the ocean inlet below. Beautiful! But definitely vertigo-inducing!

The women’s conference was lovely and literally a cross-cultural experience with the majority of the women there attending from scores of countries around the world. New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Australia – it was amazing to meet sisters from every part of the globe. Not to mention, quite a few from Texas! Love those southern gals!

It was wonderful sharing God’s Word with hungry hearts. The team that hosted the event did a beautiful job, making it a perfect day in every way. Two other events allowed us to meet some other incredible women, and in between we enjoyed a lot of sightseeing with some incredible tour guides.

And while the traffic was wild, and I will never forget the double decker bus ride over the Aberdeen pass, I fell in love with the women of Hong Kong and can’t wait to go back someday!

“Now watch for cars…”

2008-04-07T08:08:00.003-06:00

John and the kids left Cabos a few days before the women’s conference and it was a sad goodbye. We had enjoyed an incredible week together. But now, the older two had to get back to college and John and Josh needed to get back home.

It was hard to let them go. Especially when I realized it would be several weeks before I saw Josh – for the third installment in my international travels would involve going half way around the world to China.

I’d never been apart from my little buddy that long, so I was pretty weepy. “It’s okay, Mommy.” Josh wiped at my tears as I held him in my arms the morning they left. “Just call to Jesus.”

And then, just before he got into the shuttle to the airport, he put his arms around me and reassured me, “Remember, the angels are watching out for you, Mommy.” But before that, he added something a little odd. “Now watch for cars…”

I don’t know if my son’s admonition was prophetic or not, but it certainly was applicable. For when I arrived in Hong Kong and later in China, I discovered the true meaning behind the phrase: “the quick or the dead.”

I landed in Hong Kong late in the evening and was met by my host, Ha Gavlik. She’d arranged a driver to take us to the event site where I would be speaking. But as we drove through the city, I could hardly take it all in. I’m not sure what I was expecting and I obviously hadn’t done my geography homework, for I didn’t realize that Hong Kong itself is a city of seven million built on a rocky, yet lush, mountainous island. I can't wait to share a bit more with you about the conference.