Podcast: Play in new window | Download
During today’s meditation, we will focus on an excerpt of Jesus’ prayer from John 17:20-23.
Beautiful Feet
Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!”
Do your feet feel beautiful? Whether they are the bare feet on my yoga mat, the feet of John in the wilderness, the feet covered by fancy shoes in the pulpit, the sneakered feet in a fitness class or the feet of missionaries (I could go on forever), they are beautiful if they are bringing the message of peace and salvation that comes through Christ alone.
To all my fellow sojourners and ministers (such a scary word to me) of the gospel, thank you for pointing souls to Jesus. This is the call on our lives as Christians. Join me in prayer for boldness for all of us whose feet are on mission, those who are tip-toeing toward it, and those who will be affected by it.
What is Christian meditation?
Meditation is a spiritual discipline. It is a time of active surrende
r to stillness and the presence of God prompted by the Holy Spirit so that God may dwell in our innermost spaces. God’s dwelling in our innermost spaces slowly conforms us into the image of Jesus.
It is a pondering of and setting our attention on God’s Word and w
hat he is saying through it.
According to Richard Foster,
“Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey His Word. It is that simple.”
As a spiritual discipline, meditation requires continual practice to see change. The changes begin from the inside out. Over time, it helps us to remember our connection to God even in our most chaotic, frazzled spaces.
“Meditation resets our awareness of the WITH GOD life. It helps us rediscover the joy that God has chosen to settle in with us, to set up a home in us…” (-Jill Fisk)
Christian meditation is necessary so that we may learn to be ONE with HIM and grow up to look more like our HIM.
How do I Start?
- Show up! Simply meet God face to face.
- Get still & quiet.
- Ask the Lord to show himself to you through His word.
- Listen for what the Holy Spirit as you read.
- Listen to some of our Be One Meditations to help you.
Reverse Warrior for Christ
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” -Jesus (Luke 6:27-28)
While standing in reverse warrior this morning and focusing on Jesus’s words in Luke 6:27-28, I realized that Jesus is telling me to be a reverse warrior. When I think of a warrior, I think of someone strong, forceful, and skilled at combat. Jesus reverses the concept of being a warrior and tells us to win over our enemies by being loving, kind, and skillful in prayer. Fear tells me that if I approach my enemy this way, I will lose everything to them. However, Jesus tells me that if I put my faith in His way, my reward will be great. It is a sign that I am a child of the Most High. I choose faith over fear; I choose to love, to bless, and to pray for those who are against me (or Jesus). Here I stand as a reverse warrior for Christ.
The Greatest Designer
My wife and our girls grew the plants in this picture from seeds. I’m so grateful that my little ones will know tomatoes come from plants, not the produce section.
As I look at our garden grow each year from seeds to full grown plants that produce fruits and vegetables, I am in awe of the complexity, yet elegance of the process and how it was designed.
As an engineer, I know it is impossible to create even the simplest of machines like a lever without at least a basic design. When I look at everything involved in making a plant grow from planting the right seeds to having the right soil, sunlight, water, and temperature, it is impossible for me to look at all the evidence and conclude that plants were created by chance or billions of years of evolution.
When I buy something that requires assembly, I can’t just shake up the box and out it pops fully assembled–wouldn’t that be nice?
How can something so brilliantly created, not have a designer?
If this was not the process used to grow plants from their creation, how did the interaction between other systems like sunlight for photosynthesis evolve over billions of years? I can barely get my DVR remote and TV to interact together correctly all the time.
I say all this to say, I believe there is a designer of it all. Looking at the love and care He took in designing each plant, imagine how much He must have put into creating you and me. I give praise to the Greatest Designer of All Time for creating us, our plants, our marriages, our families and everything else.
Wives, How to S.H.O.W. Jesus In Your Marriage: Honor Your Current Season
Happy Truth Tuesdays! We’re rolling through our series now. So far we have talked about how important it is for Jesus girls to show Jesus in our marriages. Then we went on to talk about how that begins at home. This week, I want to talk about an issue that many women struggle with.
This is the third post in a series. Click here to read the introduction to the series, and here to read the first topic.
Our society is such an instant gratification society, but is that a Godly way to approach our marriages?
If we are to Show Jesus in our marriages, we MUST honor our current season. Did you realize that our lives go through seasons?
Too many times as women, especially, we do not have the perspective to understand that everything doesn’t last forever. When you are young, or especially when you are in the throes of a difficult season, like young motherhood, everything seems never-ending, am I right? The feeding is never-ending, the changing diapers is never-ending, the watching Frozen and Dora the Explorer is never-ending, the chauffeuring and playdating and teaching and taking care of everyone else is never-ending.
But guess what? It does end. And then something else begins. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
See, I believe that too many of us spend our time envious of others that are simply in a different season. We spend so much time trying to live in someone else’s season during someone else’s time that we miss the ability to be purposeful in our own seasons.
To SHOW Jesus, we must honor our current season by practicing contentment. We must realize that our current season is where God wants us to be and when he is ready for us to move, He will make it clear.
Spend your current season making a difference where you can be most useful for God. If you have young children, serve with your family, reach out to other young wives and mothers to form strong relationships. Be an encourager as you seek encouragement. Most of all, know that you are useful and that this season is an important one. You are laying the foundation for your marriage and your children.
Most importantly, SHOW Jesus by honoring your current season and making the choice to serve God where you are right now. Remember we are only promised today, so we must make the most of it for ourselves, our marriages and the kingdom of God.
I’m so guilty of not honoring my current season. I have wished time and again that the tantrums and the late night feedings would be over so that I could do ________ (fill in the blank). I realized though, that this particular season is just as important in our marriage as all of the others.
Understanding my Color Type and adjusting my attitude towards my current season can make all the difference.
What about you? Have you ever wished you were in a different season? What can you do today to honor your current season that would make a positive change in your marriage?
Wives, How To S.H.O.W. Jesus in Your Marriage: Start At Home
How do we begin to SHOW Jesus in our marriages?
Happy Truth Tuesday! This is the second post in a series. If you missed the first post (where I talk about how I learned this lesson from my toddler), you can read it here.
Last week I told you that as “Jesus girls,” we are called to show Jesus and His love everywhere we go. One of the places we tend to have trouble doing this is at home. Sisters, let me tell you that HOME is the most important place to begin. In order to S.H.O.W. Jesus in our marriages, we must first: Start at home.
Now notice that I didn’t say we have to stay at home. I said we have to START at home.
When you show Jesus,we recognize that the first church that you are responsible to and for is the church that lives in your home everyday. In using the word church this way, I’m talking about the people in our lives, not the buildings we meet in. Your family, the Christians and Christians in training in your home are the church that you meet with every.single.day. They are the people we have the greatest influence over and the greatest responsibility to in this life.
When we are really showing Jesus, we must first make sure we are ministering to the church in our own homes.
So many of us want to make big changes in the world. We want to go out and make a difference in the lives of our co-workers, our friends and the world at large. We want to matter. Those aspirations are all good, sisters. God calls us to that, too. However, when we are wives, our first responsibility, the first way we show Jesus is to start at home.
We start by showing the love of Christ to our husbands. We start at home by:
- building our husbands up
- encouraging them
- speaking to them in a Christ-like way
- not using the Word of God as a weapon against them, but as a tool that can be used to speak to their hearts.
- focusing on their strengths and not their weaknesses.
Titus 2:4-5 calls us to love our husbands—we love them by showing Jesus to them. We show Jesus in our homes when our lives reflect the Word of God, and our lives reflect the love of Christ each day.
When we fill the people in our homes up with this kind of love, it will then have no other choice but to spill over into other areas of our lives.
Our world needs more examples of Jesus’ love both inside and outside of marriage.
Don’t forget to come back next week for the “H” in how we can SHOW Jesus in our marriages.
What can you do to SHOW Jesus to your husband today?
The Mother’s Day Gift That Keeps On Giving
I’m a motherless mother, a parentless parent, actually, and I’m writing this post with tears in my eyes. My mother never saw me graduate from college. She never met my husband. She was not at my wedding, and has never met my children.
Mother’s Day is a day to honor moms for the immeasurable joy they bring to our lives, the lessons they teach and the sacrifices they make for us. For many, this day is filled with love, laughter, and happiness.
For me, it brings a bittersweet sadness that is difficult to escape.
A lot of people ask me why I’m so passionate about wellness. They are curious about why I became a wellness teacher, a fitness trainer, and why I write about whole living.
The answer is complex, yet simple at the same time: In short, I watched my mother die.
Growing up, I watched my mother’s health slowly deteriorate until she passed away shortly after I turned 20. Her poor health was due partially to illnesses and situations beyond her control. Many factors, though, came from her neglecting to take care of herself.
Early in my adult life, I was in the same cycle of self-neglect and poor self care as my mother. I ate lots of processed food, didn’t exercise, was always on the go, didn’t get enough sleep, and experienced a ton of unnecessary stress.
Then I became a MOM.
When I had my first daughter, I realized I could NEVER leave my sweet baby motherless because of careless choices. I decided that I would always do everything in my power to model the wellness lifestyle for her. I want her to know that living a whole life, one that is focused on being spiritually, physically and emotionally whole is really the best gift that she can give herself and the world.
Are there situations and factors beyond my control that could happen? Sure, but my health and wellness is one thing that I DO have some power over. I can choose to feed my body whole foods, to exercise regularly, and to make self-care a priority so that I am at my best to serve others.
Mother’s Day for me is often focused on reflection rather than celebration. This year, I find myself realizing that the reason I’m so passionate about health and wellness is because it is the way I honor my mom’s memory. In honoring her memory, I want her to know a few things:
- I want her to know that I’ve learned from both her successes and her mistakes.
- I want her to know that her grandchildren have a mother who is breaking the cycle of illness and self-neglect.
- I want her to know that her life was meaningful and that I love and miss her dearly.
Wellness is really the Mother’s Day gifts that keep on giving. Taking care of yourself and giving yourself that gift is a way to honor yourself as a mom. Passing that on to your children is a powerful legacy that can be passed on to your children.
What’s your favorite Mother’s Day gift?
P.S. If you know a motherless mom, show her a little extra care and attention on Mother’s Day. Don’t tell her to snap out of her funk and to just celebrate being a mom. Instead, help her honor her own mother in some small way. Talk to her about her mom, and really listen to her pain instead of trying to fix it.
How To S.H.O.W. Jesus in Your Marriage: Part 1
Our family mission is simple: We show Jesus. In all that we do as a family, we make sure that nothing takes away from that mission. As a part of this mission, it’s been my personal goal that as I advance my career as a wellness and fitness teacher that I don’t forget that the true call on my life is to show the love of Jesus wherever I go.
A few months ago, I was asked to speak at a Ladies’ Day, and of course I wanted to say no. God had different plans for me, and though the Spirit, I was able to craft a message that I pray will speak to your heart.
I have been timid for years with sharing God’s word, and after lots of prayers for boldness, here I go. The Bible passage I’m using is Titus 2:4-5.
Funny that this lesson starts with a lesson I learned from my toddler.
She is the person who helped me to understand this passage more clearly. How many of you have or have had a toddler? Right now I’m in full-blown toddler season, ya’ll–pray for me.
One Sunday morning a little while back we were getting ready for church. You know how it is on a Sunday morning when you have littles. You’re rushing around trying to get them ready and yourself ready and everybody out of the door. But it isn’t working because:
A toddler will do EVERYTHING in their power to derail your plans.
My toddler girl was “helping” me get ready for church. So while I was rushing around she asked me a question that stopped me right in my tracks.
She said to me “Mommy are you a ShJesus girl?”
Now to be honest, I was only half listening the first time, so I answered her with a “Huh?” She said it again, louder this time and seemingly annoyed that I didn’t understand her the first time. In her two-year old tongue she repeated rather loudly “You a ShJesus girl?”
I have to admit, sisters, I was floored.
I had no idea how to answer her. So many long-winded, over the top answers raced through my mind, and then, after a few moments, when I didn’t think I would ever have the words to answer her, the Holy Spirit gave me the words to say. I found myself simply saying:
Yes, yes I am baby. I’m a ShJesus girl. I.am.a.Jesus.girl. and so are you.
It was then that I realized that this is what this passage, Titus 2:4-5 is about. It is not a checklist like it’s made out to be. It’s not a set of rules, either. It’s simply a way for us Jesus girls to “show Jesus to our husbands, to our children, and to the world.
You see, so many of us look at this like a check list or a job description. As a matter of fact, when I first got married, I thought that if I did these things I would be a good wife. Soon though, I came to see that checking things off the list didn’t get me any closer to my husband, or to God. What God is after, what our husbands and our children are after is not our “to do list.” They want our hearts. So, I ask you, my sisters, to begin looking at this passage with me another way. Instead of a to do list to be accomplished or a set of rules to follow, let’s see it as another avenue that we have as wives or future wives to simply “Show Jesus.”
In the coming posts, I will begin breaking down the S.H.O.W. Jesus into each of its parts. The next post will focus on how we as wives can show Jesus by “Starting at Home.” Look for it next Tuesday!
This was a hard post for me to share because I’ve always been very timid with sharing God’s word publicly. I’m growing, though, and in this season, I’m choosing bravery!
What’s your family mission statement? I’d love to hear all about it.