influence - Narrow Paths to Higher Places

Jesus is not a Republican and Other Stuff I Believe

We are the world changers. The visionaries. We are the strongest political movement ever known. We have no borders or bounds.

We seek to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility through grace filled lives, serving hands, and faithful hearts.

We are the diplomats of grace. The people with hands made to serve and hearts made to heal and branch out.

We are the vine gatherers, grasping with grace at those who are lost.

We are the warrior raising women, moms of boys who will proclaim truth in the loving of their wives and the raising of their families and the way in which they walk, upright with heavy steps that bear much weight.

We are the bearers of beauty, daughters who will grow to know their place in God’s heart. Women with gentle spirits, contending in battle for wisdom, humility and purity. Wise as serpents but innocent as doves. The daughters of God who will bear a new generation of Kingdom changers.

We are the guardians of hearts and minds, pouring our grace words into spirit children and planting them deep in His fold.

We are the lovers of justice, providing nourishment to the poor, advocates for the defenseless, defenders of the weak.

We are the mighty archers, aiming arrows sharpened and ready at an enemy that is neither democrat or republican, pro-choice or liberal, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We fight on our knees with hands raised to the heavens.

We fight with our hearts burdened by love for those who are lost.

We may cast our vote, we may carry our sign, stay informed, rally for the candidate we want to support, or speak our mind, but still we know where the ultimate ruler reigns. Because we have never really belonged here. We are expats for a season, in a world that is not our own.

We see with sharpened eyes, all’s grace. All is grace.

We know the cost. We have seen our passport stamped and paid for in blood. Citizens of grace.

We are the ambassadors of a new Kingdom.

While I was at Blissdom, I had the chance to meet with CafeMom correspondent Lindsay Ferrier to do an interview on where I stand as a Christian, homeschooling mom, and small business owner in the realm of politics, public opinion, and education.

It was lovely to meet with her and represent what I believe a lot of Christians feel. While many of us are involved deeply in politics and government, we should never forget that we are Christians first and foremost. Our witness to the world says more than the sign in our front yard.

Jesus is not a Republican. This world’s politics are too limiting for a Holy and infinite God. .I may ruffle some feathers, but there, I said it.

That being said, I am a writer, and talking on camera was a big leap out of my comfort zone and only slightly more traumatic than that dream where I showed up at a homeschool co-op in my underpants.

Besides accidentally going to the wrong lobby and missing the car to take me to the interview, having to run across the Gaylord Opryland Hotel which is ginormous, grabbing a taxi, and being late, I managed to babble a few coherent sentences on what I believe. Lyndsay was gracious and professional, and I couldn’t have asked for a better interviewer for this camera shy introvert. You can view it here.

What is your stance on politics as a Christian? What do you think our responsibility is to the world in regards to our government? Do you feel like secular culture views all Christians and angry, narrow-minded bigots? Or do you think society has a different view of Christians? What is your experience?

Comments: 6 Comments Category: Blogging, Faith, Family, Home School, Kids, Parenting Tags: community, culture, God, homeschool, influence, kids, moms, politics

Why I’m Called to Community and You Are Too

There are so many things standing in the way of developing a community. Here are some excuses in no particular order.

1. I am an introvert, people are draining to me after long periods.

2. I homeschool so my days are filled with lesson plans, constant questions, diaper changes, snack times, and exhaustion. Basically the definition of long periods.

3. My house is messy because there are three children here with books and papers and poopy diapers and crumbs, so many crumbs. I don’t want people to see the stack of dishes, the trail of graham cracker crumbs on the carpet or the layer of dust resting comfortably on every available surface. I love a clean house, and I don’t mind cleaning, but it never stays clean for long. And it’s in this state that the house usually exists, semi-messy, non-company ready. If you don’t see my house you may think I have it all together. I don’t but it’s a nice fantasy.

4. I am tired. I am busy. I have a blog. I run a business. I stay up way too late. My to-do list never gets shorter. I don’t have time.

5. I am content to be alone for long periods of time. Of course this is all in theory, since I usually have trouble getting a minute alone just to pee.

6. I don’t enjoy superficial talks or chit-chat but I love to sit and hear your story or share my heart. But usually you have to chit-chat a bit first and I am shy and that part makes me feel like I’m in middle school. I know, I have issues.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy people because I truly do, I just don’t need that much interaction to feel fulfilled.

I am fiercely loyal to those who have endured and pursued me long enough to have our stories intertwine.

And yet, I haven’t been able to shake this conviction that I am called to pursue relationships and community to a greater degree than ever before.

I wrote in January of my commitment to pursuing relationships and made several personal goals in that regard. And as the months have gone by and very few of those goals have been met, some because of illness in our family or scheduling conflicts, I’ve reasoned that the only one missing out on the blessings of community was me. And I honestly didn’t feel a great need. I just felt God telling me that I needed to do it.

Me as a child, just sitting, thinking.

And then it hit me. I’ve had it all wrong. I have been so self-focused thinking that community and relationships were something I was supposed to pursue to fill a need in me. All I could see was how God was going to use community to heal my hurts and surround me with people who would encourage and challenge me. And sure, I’d encourage them too , but really I was thinking about how new relationships would affect my life and happiness. And since I was already content with my current relationships, the motivation had been lacking. Plus, I have at least 6 really good excuses. Or kind of good excuses, sorta.

But maybe this isn’t all about me. Maybe I feel called because I am supposed to be a friend to someone else. Maybe that conviction to form community isn’t even about me , it’s about someone who needs a place to come and breathe and share their story and be heard. Maybe it’s about meeting a need instead of ignoring it because it’s not an obvious need in me now. Maybe it’s about dying to my own selfishness and busy schedule and making room to allow God to use me, even if it’s just in the opening of my home. Maybe it’s offering my time and my heart to someone who needs it in hopes that a true community will be formed in the sharing of our stories, our lives, our hearts.

Maybe we all need each other whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not.

Maybe we are called to be light and what good is light if there were nothing nearby to illuminate?

Maybe I just didn’t get it until now.

So, I am stepping out of my normal comfort zone. I am hosting an inRL meetup . It’s a girl’s night of sorts and I can promise treats and a mostly clean home.

There are meetups happening in 443 locations around the world so look it up and register for one in your area.

It’s guaranteed that God is on the move in the hearts of women, and if you’re in my area, please sign up because we will have chocolate and I am going to vacuüm my floors, and possibly dust things, don’t leave me hanging.

(in)RL, stands for In Real Life. It’s a way to connect with women in your community right where you’re at.

Sign up for a local meet-up, and on April 27, you’ll watch a kickoff webcast from your own home. Then the next day, April 28, you’ll gather at a local (in)RL community. You’ll watch live online content by the women at (in)Courage, eat a ton of treats, get to know some new friends and begin to build an authentic community. Consider it an intimate conference that you can attend from a comfy couch with new and old friends.

It’s only $10, which covers the cost of a t-shirt and a pack of beautiful Dayspring greeting cards.

Watch this video below to learn more. I hope you connect, because even if you’re not sure, someone could use your friendship.

inRL meetup

Comments: 29 Comments Category: Blogging, Faith, Relationship Tags: community, encouragement, friends, God, heart, hurt, influence, self image, service

80 Candles: A Lesson in Living as Light

I can only imagine what they thought of me.

A sixteen year old girl, just recently surrendered to the cross even though there had been many years of truth, rebellion had prevailed. And on the journey back to God and his redeeming grace, there was always the refining. So much to refine. The hot fire burning away the sins that had entangled during those years of mutiny, raging against God, the immaturity of a child who thought she knew so much.

I had my sights set on their oldest grandson. I can imagine that they might have worried about what kind of influence a girl like me would be on their grandson, who was also trying to follow God. But I can also imagine that they saw through the façade to a girl who just needed grace. And grace they knew well, practiced so hard, extended so abundantly.

Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Harry

And even years later, after I had married their oldest grandson, He still used their lives to speak volumes about what true love and grace looks like. During our first month of marriage, when we were still children in so many ways, we stayed in their small guest room on the far side of their home to work and save money to move to Oregon. The steady routine of seeking God, thanking God, and walking with God was always present in their days.

They were veterans in this journey of faith.

They had raised their four children to love God.

They had ministered with their whole lives, not just from the pulpit where he preached for so many years, or in the community where they worked, or with the many people that were drawn to them by their obvious heart for God, but in the prayers said for each of us every day as they sought the Lord on our behalf.

I thank God for those prayers.

Their marriage was a testament to the power of God’s design at work. As Grandma Dorothy served her potato cheese soup and we gathered at the table to pray and give thanks, this family that had eaten this very meal a thousand times over the years, celebrated the majestic in the mundane task of breaking bread together. Their affection, and comfort with each other after all the years together spoke eloquently of a partnership God had brought together to impact future generations.

And they did. Impact future generations. The grace and gentleness they extended to me as a lost young thing at their table the summer I was sixteen and had come to visit Josh, struck me deep. I didn’t have grandparents of my own. I hadn’t known Christians who were mentors instead of peers. I was an apprentice of their wisdom. Of these generations ahead of me soaked deep in the word of God and rooted in humility and kindness.

I was adopted in so many ways.

5 months pregnant with Kaia and her great grandparents

When Grandpa Harry passed away, I broke down and sobbed because I had lost my grandfather. The only grandfather I had ever known. A gentle man who loved to make the grandchildren laugh, who lived a life of integrity, who lived the gospel. I clutched Josh and we grieved raw at the loss of a man who showed me Jesus every time I was in his presence. I can’t wait to see him again when we enter eternity.

Grandpa Harry with Kaia

But for those of us here, remaining each year and aging, we are reminded by each passing birthday of the life we have lived so far. Each candle on the cake represents years in which lives were birthed, friends were met, places on the map were seen, memories were made, marriages were formed, and loved ones passed.

Today, Grandma Dorothy turns 80 years old.

Eighty years of a life devoted to God, to her husband, and her children, to her church, and her friends, to her neighbors, and her community. And to me, a girl who was so very confused and lost but was welcomed at the table anyway. Who was loved, and prayed for and who desires with all of her heart to impact future generations with the grace she has received.