Baseball?

I've taken a lot of (good-natured) teasing recently about my new interest in the Texas Rangers.  Admittedly, I'm a bandwagon fan.  I didn't begin paying attention until they began winning consistently and the season got exciting last summer/fall.

However, the idea that I hate baseball is one I frequently have to put down.  I do not (nor have I ever) hated baseball.  I've known very little about baseball.  I've understood very little about baseball.  I've had few reasons to be interested in baseball.  Hate is a strong word; apathetic would be a more appropriate term for my attitude toward baseball in the past.

Here's the deal, even now, as much as I'm enjoying the Rangers and keeping up with their season, it's got very little to do with a newfound love for baseball.  I'll tell you a secret about me, and if you can keep this one in mind, it'll unlock many mysteries concerning me.  I love people.  Period.

In this current season of my life, I am surrounded (constantly, it seems) by baseball loving fanatics.  They watch baseball, they go to baseball games, they talk about baseball, they even play fantasy baseball.  And, I love these people.  I think they're pretty fun and cool and interesting people, and I enjoy being around them.  So, I am learning about baseball.  And, surprisingly, it's been kind of interesting.  There's a lot more strategy and skill to the game than I ever imagined.  But, the joy in it for me is getting to participate in something for which the people I love have a passion.

Spark St Louis Trip Report

Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him, for He shelters [her] all day long. The one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders.  Deuteronomy 33:12

Spark St. Louis was my third Spark adventure, and I'm noticing a theme.  Each trip is the "best ever."  They just keep getting better.

Let me begin by saying that the prayer support we felt throughout this weekend was remarkable.  As a team, we felt held together by God Himself.  We sensed His beautiful presence in so many of our moments together with the girls at Mercy Ministries.  24 of us traveled to St. Louis physically, but hundreds went with us spiritually.

Several things made this trip different than others.  First, the fact that Mercy has such a young population.  Working with women who are 18-28 and have their whole lives ahead of them was so cool.  Working with such young women who've been wounded in such profound ways was also heartbreaking.  Second, being at Mercy is a choice for these women.  Each of them has willfully chosen to be there, and is working hard at recovery and healing every single day.  That desire to be free deeply impacts they way they listen to and respond to the messages we share about their identity in Christ and all that He has for them.  Third, the staff at Mercy are amazing, and their support of us and all that we were doing with the girls was such a boost!

Reasons I love Spark Ministry and am so grateful I got to be in St. Louis this weekend:

1.  Baby Sparks!  We had no fewer than 9 first timers on this trip, and I had the privilege of being the "BabySpark Herder" much of the time -- riding in the van with most of them and encouraging them throughout the weekend.  Four of them were young women in their early twenties, two of them Mercy graduates themselves.  And, they did serve beautifully.  I was in awe of how they stepped up and worked hard and shared their own lives and testimonies so courageously.  

2.  Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion. -- Steel Magnolias.  Spark trips are filled with emotion.  Spark women are some of the most alive women I've ever had the privilege of knowing.  They laugh freely, never taking themselves seriously, but always taking any opportunity to have fun very seriously.  They are truly Proverbs 31:25 kind of women, "She is clothed with strength and dignity. She laughs without fear of the future."  Our work is weighty, but we never lose sight of the fact that God is on His throne and He makes all things beautiful.  

3.  Transparency.  Spark is made up of some of the most real women I've ever known.  Every single one of them is remarkable in her own right, and none of them bears any pretense when serving.  This weekend alone, the testimonies we heard from Spark team members were of sexual abuse, eating disorders, unplanned pregnancy, loss of a spouse, loss of a parent, unforgiveness, anger with God, and the illness of a child.  The way that God seemed to demolish emotional and spiritual barriers through the words of these brave testimonies was a powerful thing to watch.  For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes, II Peter 1:16

4.  Adopt-a-Sister.  What a gift to be able to tell those women that they were being prayed for by name throughout our time together.  The way that reality would sink in then light up their faces was priceless!  Being able to hug them and whisper the name of the person praying for them was so very sweet.   Later this week or next, they will receive  notes of encouragement from the friends who adopted them in prayer, a pick-me-up reminder that they are thought of and prayed for by people they've never even met!

5.  Transformation.  My favorite small group session is the last one on Sunday.  That's when I get to ask the girls a simple question, "A year from now when you've forgotten our names, what are you going to remember about this weekend?"  To hear them talk about encountering the extravagant love of God, realizing that God is a fun God who does permit laughter and dancing, to hear them talk about truly experiencing the freedom of being able to forgive someone who had wronged them deeply, or to hear that even though they don't yet feel lovable the weekend made them want to keep fighting for that peace makes it all so very worthwhile. 

All the Posts I'm Not Writing

This morning, I've got a number of thoughts rattling around in my head that I'd love to have time to write about, but truthfully, I just don't have it in me to develop any of them more fully at the moment.

1.  My devotional reading this morning was about faith and works, and it included Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' but do not do what I say?"  What a heart breaking question from Jesus to his disciples, to me.  Faith demands obedience.  I speak volumes about my faith and the object of my faith when I refuse to obey.

2. The scripture memory verse I'm working on right now is Psalm 119:7 from the NLT, "As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should!"  Again, true faith and obedience cannot be separated.

3.  Jeremy Powell is having brain surgery this morning to remove an infectious mass.  As I pray for him, my temptation is to simply pray that he be healed, but I keep remembering the night we gathered to pray before I left on a mission trip to China several years back.  Jeremy stubbornly refused to pray for my safety, but boldly prayed that God be glorified in whatever way He saw best, and that I be granted the faith and grace and courage to stand up under any trial or opportunity to declare God's glory.  So, today, I do pray for a successful surgery, for the doctors' steady hands, and for Jeremy and his family to have opportunity to exalt the Lord before a watching medical community.

4.  Last night I listened as a woman who was widowed unexpectedly while she still had three kids at home then watched her teenage son battle cancer just a few years later talked about how she feels blessed to have opportunity serve and minister to women who haven't had lives as "easy" as ours (indicating all the women in the room, including me).  I was truly in awe.

5.  The quote on my calendar for April 11 says, "What God gives in answer to our prayers will always be the thing we most urgently need, and it will always be sufficient."  Elisabeth Elliot  A response to that quote could take up several posts if I had the time.

That is all.  For now.

Faithful Wounds

Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 27:6

If you and I have been friends for any amount of time, this verse has probably come into play at least once, probably more.  I have a habit of being a very straight-talker.  I learned a long time ago that it was better, more productive to speak honestly in friendship, even when it hurts.  I want to love you enough to let you be mad at me.  I'd rather say something and be wrong about a situation than to not say anything in loving caution and be right, letting you walk blindly into a painful experience.  

I often ask myself what it looks like to love another well.  What does faithfulness look like?  I wish it meant just agreeing with every decision they make and encouraging any path they choose.  It doesn't.  More often, loving someone well means speaking hard truths, asking difficult or uncomfortable questions, gently but consistently insisting on their best over their comfort.  

Why am I bringing this up now?  Gratitude.

One of the keys to making this kind of friendship work is making it a two-way street.  I've got to be willing to receive as good as I give.  I've purposefully surrounded myself with people who value this principle as much as I do, and recently, I've had several potentially painful conversations with people who loved me enough to risk upsetting me.  Faithful friends.  In each case I come away feeling absolutely rich, blessed beyond measure to have friends so deeply committed to God's best in and for my life.  

Faith and Prayer

I haven't had much blogginess in me lately.  The things the Lord is working out in me have often left me speechless lately.  Literally.  However, one of my joys in this season is leading a group of women on Monday nights through a study called "Becoming a Woman of Faith."  This study has challenged all of us in profound ways at different points.  Today, as I prepare to meet with them again, I came across the following quotes, and just couldn't not share.  Hope you're blessed and challenged by them as I have been.

But I will tell you where that faith will be born, and grow big and lusty - in the heart of every one who goes off quietly every day into the quiet place with the Book, and bent knee and the bent will.  Into that heart there will come the quiet assurance that what you are asking He is doing. - S.D. Gordon

To venture to pray requires our trust in the goodness of God. ... It is not the amount of my faith that matters, but where my faith is placed - in a God who makes no mistakes, who is always working for the highest and best for His children.  ... Sometimes our faith can move mountains; sometimes it can only reach out and touch the hem of His garment; sometimes it simply cries out for mercy - but in all prayers of faith, in some measure, the true healing is that our eyes are opened and we see the Lord. - C. Heald

Questions We Will Be Discussing Tonight:

How is our faith impacted by the time we spend with God?
What needs, situations, or circumstances bring us repeatedly to God?
What does it mean to ask "in Jesus name" or "according to His will"?
Do our prayers for others reflect the heart of God for His people? (Ephesians 3:14-19; Colossians 1:9-12; Ephesians 6:18-20)
How might God's glory be displayed in our weaknesses, trials, or struggles?