Five things...

Five things I'm pondering today:

1.) God's faithfulness. 

God is so faithful. Sometimes it takes me by surprise.

2.) Our faithfulness. 

Faithfulness is a fruit of Holy Spirit described in Galatians 5. Is it possible for people to be faithful to their partners, to their families, to an idea or a workout plan, without Holy Spirit inside of them?

Holy Spirit's presence is so strong in the world, I suppose that pervasiveness makes it possible for people who are not acquainted with Him to manifest His qualities therein. That said, why is it so hard for some people who have Holy Spirit inside them to manifest His characteristics and display His gifts?

3.) Poverty.

It needs to end. Little kids should have abundant safety, food, and access to music lessons. Period. So do big kids, and big, big kids, (also known as adults...).

4.) Balmain.

Olivier Rousteing, are you really famous because you are a prodigy, or because you are friends with Kim K. and an wonder at wielding the tool that is Instagram?

5.) The athleisure trend.

I'm shocked by the fact that I'm wearing gym shoes with jeans, and it's socially acceptable, and actually looks cool.

No More Boxes, Part 1

I am so angry at the injustice what is happening right now in America. I am outraged. I have waited to share my thoughts so that they would not be reactionary, but responsive. As I prayed and pondered this morning, these are some words that came from heart, to head and through hands...



.(..this is not a sermon; yet, with enough polishing, it could possibly become one.)


 In John 17, Jesus prayed a very famous prayer. It was the night He was betrayed. He knew what was coming, and He was praying for us. In His fervency for us, He sweat blood as He prayed that we [all the people He died for, which is everyone...] would be one, as He and the Father are one.

Note that He prayed we would be "one." Not "same." "One."

I am a woman. I am created in the image of God. A man is equal to me, as we are both created in the image of God. There are attributes that make us different from one another, which should all be celebrated, as there are differences between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which we give thanks for and celebrate. They co-exist as equal, but different, and as One.

So we, as the body of Christ, who are bought with His blood, are one. Different, with distinct facets of greatness that set us apart, one from another. Different in ways which reflect the image of God, and which, when we walk in unity, help each one of us become our highest selves.

We are all under the Blood,  so whether white, black, Latina, Asian, Native American, man, woman, or even child, be reminded today, that He so passionately desired us to live as one that He sweat blood.

He, like we, bleed red, so in that vein, may we live as one.

Women in Ministry, Part 1

This is the link to an article a friend of mine recently posted on Facebook.

(...yes, I'm still on Facebook, and yes, today I had too much time on my hands and was scrolling my news feed, which, again, yes, is something I'm making it a point to do less of...so I can spend more time on Snapchat... <3)

The article is linked here. Have a read.

The article addresses a woman's place in the church. What's interesting, is women in Islam are raising questions about their places within their religion.

Since I am not religious, my questions are not the same, but I am a firm follower of Jesus, and I believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, so for many years, I lived a very tormented and confused life.

 I thought it was God who was angry with me and out to get me. I thought it was God Who was disappointed with me for being female, and I was angry with Him for making me that way.

This could go in many directions. My story is quite involved, and the reason I'm still alive is Jesus, but for many years, I wrestled with God and completely mistrusted Him...and it was because of the church.

I am going to write about this subject more than once, and I'm going to simply share my story, because I know there is power in story, and it's less offensive than opinion. You have the right to your opinion. I have the right to mine, and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind...my goal in life is to change my own for the better every day, and to live and share from that place.

So right, then. I was depressed and very suicidal because the God who actually died to set me free from every curse, including the one that put husbands over wives in Genesis, was being modeled for me by pastors and authority figures as angry, vengeful, two-faced, oppressive, demanding, demeaning and tyrannical...just to name a few things...

But the Bible they claimed as inerrant says that God Himself says He is good, gives good gifts, is kind, merciful, patient, and LOVE, for Heaven's sake. (eg: Exodus 33:17-23, 34:5-9; James 1:17; 1John 4:7-5:4)

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with: "Our Father, Who art in Heaven..." (I'll write on that amazing gem another time...it's SO awesome!), and on down the line, He prayed: "...Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven..." (Matthew 6:9-13)

That posed a problem for me, or so I thought. If the church is modeling oppression of women by not allowing them to have places of leadership and equal say, and they are to be leading the charge for the world and are supposed to be advancing the rule and reign of God on the earth to make it look like God's kingdom, Heaven...then that's a problem, and I should probably not serve God.

And this posed another problem, because I'd had experiences of God that were not at all like what I read about in scripture through the lens of what I was being shown and taught in the church...

So if I committed suicide, did I really want to go to Heaven? And did I want to live? No.

The plot thickens and the story does get better, I promise...stay tuned...(because obviously I have chosen to live...and I'm in ministry school!!!)

Brave is...

To the single mom, who manages a baby in a stroller, a toddler, a seven-year-old with a backpack and a stomach ache on a city bus during morning rush hour...

You are brave.

To the girls who tried out for cheerleading, or the solo in choir, but didn’t make it…

You are brave.

To the one who didn’t make the cut, didn’t get the promotion, whose proposal wasn’t chosen, whose meeting with the boss went really poorly...but you chose to show up and try again today…

You are brave.

Brave is what you are when you’ve stepped over the chicken line, when you’ve put feet to your faith, when in the face of fear, you have taken action.

To all the everyday heroes…

You are brave.

If only they knew...

I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves." 
--Harriet Tubman

I first heard that quote when I was a child. It gave me chills, and I felt something powerful begin to stir inside me. I had been awakened. 

As young as I was, I knew there was injustice in the world. It made me furious. There was fire in my bones and I didn't know what to do with it. Now I'm old enough to do something about it. I'm now holding a firehose, and it's filled with fire, and I'm determined to live in the most freedom possible, and to make sure others do, as well.

I recently moved houses. My new place came semi-furnished, and the process of exploring the cabinets and closest throughout the house was an adventure. There were unexpected finds, such as a baby stroller, (won't be needing that anytime soon...), two coffee grinders (oh, happy day!), and a cabinet full of old, ratty towels. As I slid my hand along the shelf above my sight-line, and said towels, I hit a book. I pulled it out, and it was a biography...of Harriet Tubman.

Thank you to whomever left it. I was just thinking that I need a summer read. It is a sign of a new season. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how reading it inspires me, and how that inspiration takes form...

Freedom and Liberty

There is a difference between being free and living in liberty.

(Two incredible men taught me about this: Steven De Silva, and Shane Mandl. Google them...they're awesome!) 

Freedom is having chains removed, or the cage unlocked; liberty is choosing to live in freedom, to leave the cage and never go back.

Freedom from eternal separation from God, sickness, torment, poverty, and so much more, was purchased for everyone through the blood of Jesus on the cross. We were released into fullness of life through His resurrection from the dead.

So the cage is open for all of us, but choosing to acknowledge the fact that, without Jesus, we are dead, spiritually, and slaves to our past, our desires, our addictions, our failures and the consequences for our wrong choices and the wrong choices of people who have hurt, abused or used us, is not something everyone chooses to do.

When we admit our need, and acknowledge that Jesus holds the keys, He unlocks the cage; He removes our shackles. (Revelation 1:17-18; Isaiah 53:1-6)

The horrifying thing is that so many remain in the cage. They remain trapped, victims to their past and their mindsets from their previous lives. The truly hilarious thing is that they blame their stuck-ness on the devil. 

Don't get me wrong, the dark side is very real, as is the fact that the devil hates everyone. But it's no longer God versus the devil; God is far more powerful, the Bible is clear that Jesus defeated the devil at Calvary, and has been the Lamb who was slain from the beginning of the world, so He knew the end of the story before the beginning, including Adam and Eve's choice to abdicate their authority to rule and reign on the earth to...the devil. 

So since Jesus has now unlocked your cage, and has paid the price for you to live in liberty, and has given you authority over the world, the flesh and the devil, (John 16:33; Romans 6, 7, and 8; Galatians 5), it's your choice to live in the cage with the door open, or to spread your wings and fly...or be a lion...a free lion...or whatever! It's time to leave the zoo!

Thoughts on studying sacred texts and...loving God, people and yourself...

This is what I started pondering yesterday, as I was thinking about the references I was making to the Bible in yesterday's post:

Sacred texts are often taken out of context. It's my pet peeve, whether it's the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, or the Bhagavad Gita. I'm a HUGE advocate of reading your own sacred text and devoting yourself to studying it as much as you are able. The point of continual study is that the mind takes time to assimilate information, but it also takes time for the head knowledge to make it's way to one's heart, and into their daily practices and belief systems.

I think this principle was, and is, best demonstrated by Rabbis, who study the original language and then text, to the point of memorization, and take the command to meditate on these things day and night, (look it up...it's all over the Old and New Testament...until it reached their heart and into their daily interaction and practice.

Hebrew scholars and Rabbis do this to their credit. The only downfall is that some, (not all), think they can earn righteousness and salvation through study, meditation and religious practice. That is truth in tension: In so doing, one should ask oneself if one is loving God with all one's heart, mind and strength, and loving one's neighbor as oneself. Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. Devotion can become misguided if it is self-centered, or for the purpose of self-justification, rather than relying on Christ for justification, salvation, righteousness, and wholeness.

That said, many Christians...and believe me, I was raised in the Church from before I was born...memorize huge portions of scripture, especially as children, for some sort of prize, and then stop there. I was mildly horrified the other day, as I sat in a bookstore cafe, listening to the discourse between two local pastors "studying" the Greek new testament. One was older, and obviously trying to teach, or "mentor" the other, but whose pompous attitude and semi-abusive tone almost made me simultaneously want to vomit and whack him over the head with his own Bible! (...if you haven't already noticed, I have a HUGE justice "button.") This man was "studying" to look smarter than someone else, instead of taking the sacred words of our Savior, the Living Word, and ingesting them through study from head, meditation of the heart, and assimilation into his soul.

What made it all the more distasteful to me is that he was "trying" to act fatherly! In no way was he reflecting the heart of the wonderful, Everlasting Father (Is. 9:6) whom he was studying...and teaching! (...and very obviously not through example!)

So. Basically, if you're relying on your study to give you an identity, make you look better than someone else, save yourself, or make yourself righteous, then stop. Just stop. Studying sacred texts for such reasons is prideful, pitiful, and pointless. As always, love is the most important factor. Jesus said we need to LOVE the Lord our God, (...not serve, study, or prove ourselves worthy of...), and to love our neighbor...as ourselves...

(Lev. 19:18; Luke 12:30-31)

Oh. Can you see the future posts coming on this one?!?!

Yes. You must love people...but you must love yourself first...

I will be writing on this soon...I can feel it...and it's part of my personal journey, so yes...future posts forthcoming...