A Fresh Start

"God, make a fresh start in me..." Psalm 51:10 The Msg

Soul-training Day 1

For Christmas, I asked Michael for The Message Bible, and I asked Caleb for a new journal (my IF journal just hit the last page). My men are good to me. I got both. :)

But my Abba is the best! This morning He took me through my new Bible, starting with Psalms 103, 66, and 51.  Then He told me to begin at the beginning--start in the Old Testament with Genesis and read through this new version afresh. Start in the New Testament with John for more new beginnings.

Wanna see what I saw?

"First this: GOD..." (Gen. 1:1)
Then He made man "reflecting God's nature..." (Gen. 1:27)

"The Word was first..." (John 1:1)
Man "He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves." (John 1:12)

The good and beautiful story!!!

Next it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer's turn, from his New Year's message in 1943:
"Only God can make a new beginning with people whenever God pleases, but not people with God. Therefore, people cannot make a new beginning at all; they can only pray for one."
God is in the Manger

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

And because of this video I happened to watch today, I now plan to memorize Colossians 3 this year and finally dig into The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. (the video is our author James Bryan Smith)

So you, my precious soul sisters, are my community to hold me accountable.  God has asked me to read through the Message Bible, memorize Colossians 3, and focus on one spiritual discipline a month (since there are twelve).  This month's focus will be simplicity.

Oh how I love my Abba.  My Abba is so very fond of me!

Ragamuffin Gospel

1 John 4:19 "We love because He first loved us."

My heart was full with the message that spoke through the "Ragamuffin" movie about the life of Rich Mullins Thursday night. I couldn't shake it. Still can't. God is a wild man, and He loves us with a passionate force we cannot comprehend. He's knocked out about us, as Rich said. All day Valentine's I couldn't get over the deep, deep love of my God for me, for you. The One who is Love.

This song, written and performed by Rich Mullins, is one that frequently rolls through my mind when I feel compelled to pray in song to God. But I had not heard all the words in a number of years, and I am struck by the depth of the beautiful message enveloped in these lyrics. This song is for you. Savor the message Rich shares before he sings. God gently draws you into His loving, eternal embrace.

"Step by Step" Rich Mullins

IF LifeBridge

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

............

Manna..."what is it?"  That's what the children of God called the strange flakes falling from the sky, bread to be collected and eaten. That's what we called IF..."what is it?"...because no one really new where God was taking this or what He would do with it and what exactly was going to happen at this women's event. But manna is exactly what it was, the bread of heaven given to us.

These words hit me with quite an impact over a month ago, but even more so after this weekend gathering.

"Yet He commanded the skies above 

and opened the doors of heaven,

and He rained down on them manna to eat

and gave them the grain of heaven.

Man ate of the bread of angels;

He sent them food in abundance." Psalm 78:23-25

Manna.  These verses and the message I heard from God led me to choose the web address for this blog a month ago. It was a step of obedience, because I didn't really want to put myself out there. Dwell was the one word I knew Jesus wanted me to focus on this year. Dwell in His Presence. Dwell in His will. Dwell in His loving protection. Dwell even when it is hard. 

But never in my wildest dreams was He going to so powerfully pull the words Manna and Dwell together in this conference. Shelly Giglio talked about building our nests to dwell by God's altar while we build for Him (Psalm 84:3), being door holders to His Presence (Ps. 84:10). Ann Voskamp spoke about the Eucharist of bread and wine, and Jesus giving thanks as He "desired with desire" to share this manna with them before His death on the cross. Tara Jenkins spoke of the manna...the "what is it"...that God was providing for us and is calling us to in faithful obedience. And I could go on and on. What a power-packed weekend of Esthers willing to say "yes" to what God had asked of them to equip and encourage our generation to take the baton and run our race for God's glory and the building of His kingdom.

So, are you ready for the "what is it?" Are you ready to be fed manna from heaven as you follow your Savior into His calling on your life? Are you willing to say "yes" to one step of obedience at a time, not knowing where God will lead, but being confident that He will lead?

We are surrounded, not only by a great cloud of witnesses that have gone on before us, but by one another. Most importantly, we dwell in the Presence of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. True manna. The Bread of Life. What a feast! Ladies, I desire with desire to say "yes" with you!

Kombucha is in the House!

Thanks to my good friend Kristin, we finally succeeded in making kombucha! The kids have been thrilled to drink it daily, and it is good! Fermented foods and drinks, you are our gut friends. :-)

Preparing to pour into jars to make "soda" brew

Sam, our happy SCOBY (finally no contamination)

Blueberry kombucha soda--YUM!!!

And thank you to Wellness Mama for giving the recipe and detailed instructions on your blog. You gave me courage to forge ahead. What a wealth of healthy home and body information!

Cheers!

Fun in the kitchen!

Ok, yesterday was just downright fun and productive. I love Michael's day off when we get to finally Sabbath together as a family. Today I made kale chips and brussel sprout chips in the dehydrator (yum), Michael and I made LARD (yes, you read that correctly) for the very first time, and he found a good deal on lamb at Sprouts, so...I got to have extra fun in the kitchen with some Nom Nom Paleo recipes!  I combined three different recipes to get the final dish above, in order to use what we had on hand. What an amazingly delicious dinner for our "at home date night!"

Lamb shawarma (I used full-fat coconut milk instead of Greek yogurt to keep it dairy-free; didn't have tahini for the sauce so I used toasted sesame seed oil instead...not good for cooking, but a great finisher!)

Roasted carrots and roasted brussel sprouts (I combined these two recipes for more variety, but withheld the bacon...which was amazing considering how often I cook with it these days!) ...and, I used our freshly made lard for the cooking fat!

Hallelujah Amen!

ServLife 2013 video

Seek to Dwell

"Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His presence continually!" Psalm 105:4

Dwell.

That's what He told me.  That's your word for the year, my child.  Dwell.

Learn not to be so busy.  Learn not to be performance-based.  Learn to lean like you never have before.
Learn that I love you no matter what.  Learn that My grace is not only sufficient; it is ALL-SUFFICIENT.

These are hard lessons.  I thought I had already learned them years ago.  But the mirror God has been holding up to my heart has revealed that there is still much to be learned.

So I seek to dwell.

Dwell in His presence.  Dwell when everything in me wants to leap forward to tasks and ideas.  Dwell when I am misunderstood. Dwell when my sinful flesh drowns out His Spirit and I need forgiveness once again.  Just dwell.

Because this is what He promised me in His Word:
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the LORD, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.'"  Psalm 91:1-2

I resisted starting this blog.  I'm still not sure I want to do it.  But God kept nudging me, saying, "You are not the only one out there.  My other children are suffering, and they need to know they are not alone.  They need to know I care and want their spiritual and physical healing."

As I have gone on a quest to determine the source of my body's pain and inflammation, seeking solutions to heal my body, I have found a LOT of information out there.  Sorting through it all can make a person crazy.  But as always, my God is SO faithful, and He directed my steps to one person, who led me to another person, who led me to another, who shared with me a book, a doctor, a website, a blog.  A number of people have been used in the last few months to help me zero in on what is going on in my body and how to heal it. God sent His Spirit to guide them to speak to me and to send me on this journey.

So I write this in hopes it will help someone else.  I write this because I truly believe in it.  I believe it is the way God designed our bodies to eat, sleep, be nourished mentally, spiritually, and physically.  But most of the experts writing about this stuff (I said "most," not "all.") are not coming from a Christian perspective but rather an evolutionary belief-system.  I do not at all intend to get into a discussion or debate between creationism and evolution.  I simply want to come at these healthy ways of eating and living from a Christian perspective.

Let me be incredibly frank.  The first "phase" of my healing came in the form of a Biblical counselor (not a Christian counselor, but a Biblical counselor--very different, and the only kind I would ever recommend).  My heavenly Father knew I needed to address my spiritual and emotional health long before attempting to do anything about my unhealthy body.  I had just come through the most difficult year of my entire life, and I was emotionally beat up.  I'm sure a good portion of my body flaring up with inflammation had to do with the effects of so many intense stress factors for more than a year.

I cannot recommend Biblical counseling enough.  The precious woman who worked with me took my hand gently, yet firmly, and used God's Word to comfort, encourage, challenge, and correct me. I will be forever grateful to her and to God for leading me to her.  If you live in the Houston area and you are seeking Biblical counseling, check out Bethel Biblical Counseling.

Praying that each of you are led by God's Spirit to find the treasures He has for you in mind, body, soul, and spirit.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom."  Psalm 90:12