Being Free!

I feel like I have spent much of my life living up to expectations! Fortunately, I have survived. I wish we would all just see that God's grace makes us free!!! We need to rest in this!!

The following is a Blog post from Tullian Tchividjian:  The Pitfall Of Perfectionism

I recently read this from Steve Brown and had to share it with you:

She was only twenty-six years old. She was a Christian working in a church. After college she had served for a year on the mission field. I didn’t know her well, but I liked her a lot. She was a strong witness for Christ and she was an articulate spokesperson for evangelical Christianity. This morning I got the message that she had taken her life. I was absolutely devastated. I didn’t understand.

As if that were not enough, shortly after hearing about her suicide I got a call from a man who listens to my radio broadcast. “Steve,” he said, “I haven’t told anybody in the world what I’m going to tell you. I have decided to leave my wife and I told God that if I get through to you, I would do whatever you told me to do.”
I asked him what prompted him to decide to leave her.
He told me, “I became a Christian at fourteen and all my life I’ve been seeking to live up to the expectations of others. I work full-time in a ministry, I teach the Bible, and everyone thinks I’m the model Christian. I’m just tired of it. I’ve decided to do something for myself for a change.”

Let me share a letter with you that I received a couple weeks ago. There was no return address and the person gave me no name.
Dear Stephen,
Please pray for me as I am on the edge–a total failure as a Christian. I have failed as a husband and as a father. God has probably given up on me. I feel so very alone and abandoned. It’s a horrible feeling that words alone cannot describe. Please don’t judge me. Pray for me.

At first these three incidents didn’t seem related. They were just about individuals for whom I prayed. But in the silence of my prayer it dawned on me that they all had the same problem: They all had created a false standard of perfection (or accepted someone else’s standard) and concluded they couldn’t live up to it.
What advice would you give them? If you had talked to the young lady before her suicide, or the man thinking about leaving his wife, or the anonymous correspondent–what would you have said?
Most Christians would say that they should try harder. The problem is that all three already had–and they were at the end of themselves.
Others would try to help them trace their despair back to some unconfessed sin in their lives–drawing a straight line between their spiritual depression and their spiritual failure.
And still others would tell them to have faith. And yet, they discovered that the faith they needed couldn’t be turned on and off like a faucet.
But what would Jesus have told them? We don’t have to guess: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Perfectionism (or performancism) is a horrible disease. It comes from the pit of hell, smelling like rotting flesh. Someone convinced these folks that they were called to measure up to an unattainable standard. They couldn’t do it and each in his or her own way simply quit trying.

Nobody told them that Jesus was perfect for them, and because of that they didn’t have to be perfect for themselves. They didn’t understand that if Jesus makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Christian, please remember that Jesus plus nothing equals everything. That,
Because Jesus was strong for you, you’re free to be weak;

Because Jesus won for you, you’re free to lose;


Because Jesus was Someone, you’re free to be no one;


Because Jesus was extraordinary, you’re free to be ordinary;



Because Jesus succeeded for you, you’re free to fail.



Preaching the gospel is the only thing that helps us take our eyes off ourselves and how we’re doing and fix our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus fulfilled all of God’s perfect conditions so that our relationship to God could be perfectly unconditional.



You’re free!



Check out Steve Brown at http://www.keylife.org/ 

I listen daily and it ministers to my soul. He also has a great talk show which is hilarious as it interviews all sorts of people that make up the crazy world of Christianity http://stevebrownetc.com/

Check out Tullian's blog at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/
and his sermons http://www.crpc.org/resources/sermons/preacher/u/2/tullian-tchividjian
 

Grasping Grace,

Dawn

Children

Hey,
It is the week after Mother's day. It is hard to not be a mother in my 40's, so I try to focus on being a daughter.

I have always wanted to adopt. I'm not sure it is in my current plans but it is always in my current plans. There is a whole blog world out there about adoption and many fundraising ideas. This post is about one of them.

Some friends of mine the Thompson's are adopting from Africa, Ethiopia to be exact. They have a great passion for Africa. I have participated in the past in a garage sale and a car wash to help with their adoption. Last year when her sister adopted, they were chosen to be a fundraising family for Go Seek Love. The profits from the T-shirts every month go to a family who is adopting. May is the month for the Thompsons.

Please participate.

Grasping grace,
Dawn

Love Written in Stone

I was a little skeptical about this book. I did not really understand what Dr. Philip Carlson was trying to do. On the back cover, it is introduced as "a unique perspective to the connection between following God's guidelines and wellness in our lives" because Dr. Carlson is both a pastor and a medical doctor. It goes on to say"that he demystifies God's expectations  regarding family relationships, nutrition, sexuality, the environment and more and they are backed up by medical research.

Instead I found myself loving this book. The Gospel is central in this book and it is illustrated in all the relationships of our life. The gospel is good for us and living according to God's ways is best.

The subtitle of the book best explains it: Finding God''s Grace in the boundaries he sets. The first part of the book is Guidance for our relationship with God. Dr. Carlson thoroughly explains that sin is our problem and that we can hide from it but in doing so we destroy ourselves and those around us. Then the next section talks about forgiveness by God and how we are to forgive others. That forgiveness is good for our health and research shows it. The next section on Gratitude and Joy is amazing. The book contains within it and in an appendix many scripture on happiness and joy to reflect on. This attitude which God commands us is actually known to sustain us during depression, suicidal tendencies and other medical issues. 

The second part of the book is "Instructions for our relationships and others" . Their is an honest look at the importance of sex in the context of marriage only and on the importance of love and commitment on our families and on our society.

The third section of the book, talks about "Directions for a Healthier Self". Dr Carlson explores the importance of sleep, sabbath, and seasons of rest to the well being of our spirit and physical body. I left this part thinking that a loving God provides good things for me not to hinder me but because he loves me.

The final section talks about "Insight for our Relationship with Creation". God is redeeming not only us through his gospel but also the created world. We have a responsibility to take care of the world that God gave us dominion over.

I would recommend this book for a seeker,a new believer or just someone wants to know how God's grace impacts us, the people in our lives and the world we live in.

I received this book form Bethany House in exchange for this review. I did not have to write positive things. I received no other compensation.

Larkspur Cove by Lisa Wingate

Let me say first that I enjoyed this read. It is a very engaging novel. There are some things that I do not like about it because of it being considered inspirational fiction.

The main female character,Andrea Henderson leaves her life in Houston, to return to her parents' lake house in Larkspur Cove, an exclusive resort at Moses Lake. Since she is now a resident of Moses Lake, she and her son get to know the residents of Moses Lake and not just the vacationers. I have had this experience when I worked at local businesses at the beach two different summers in college. You begin to see the vacation paradise in a new light and that there are problems among the pretty facade.

Andrea begins working for a counselor who does long term meeting with the clients of the county child welfare program. Through this she begins to leave her country club facade behind and deal with the real issues of the society. There is great poverty on the lake. The mystery of this novel involves the town recluse who now seems to have a little girl with him wherever he goes.

Andrea and her son are damaged from the public disgrace of her ex-husband who was a church leader. Andrea arrives in Moses Lake scared and angry and afraid that she and her son can ever heal. She is bitter and she abandons the church and the most part God. I think this is a very timely subject because the facade of the perfect church is fading. I like that it shows that Christians aren't perfect, they need to be the people God is calling them to be. In this new environment they thrive as people want to be with them because of who they are and not their church position

Andrea through her work meets the local game warden, Mart McClendon. He has returned to his boyhood home to escape himself and his family. He also needs forgiveness. Primarily from his own inability to forgive himself.

So this is my dilemma, these two people find forgiveness and healing and they find the ability to be real and genuine people. I just don't like that this healing  seems to come more from their relationship with each other then from God. I like that Andrea begins to see herself as free. This freedom seems to always express it self by running into the night for clandestine meetings with Mart. Although their relationship does not involve sexual relations, making out in the dark in the moonlight just doesn't seem like appropriate behavior for the mother of someone who is reeling from his father's adultery.

I think a new man is a very worldly solution to healing and forgiveness. I wish this novel had shown the healing more from God or even a community of faith. I think inspirational fiction should point to Jesus as the healer not just a man.

I received no compensation for this review. I did receive the book free of charge from Bethany House.


Keep Reading,
Dawn

The girl in the gatehouse

I love to read Jane Austen. I think that I am a bit of a fan but yet I really don't explore her past. I have never joined a Jane Austen society (such things do exist). I know very little about the Regency period. Until reading this book, I am not sure I knew what that period of time when Jane Austen lived is called (A regent ruled in place of the actual sovereign). I also do not really read books that are written in the style of Jane Austen. There are books that retell Pride and Prejudice, add monsters, tell what happened next. I had seen books at the bookstore that were Christian versions.
As reported in a previous post, I have been given the opportunity to review books for Baker publishing. I chose this selection because of my love of Jane Austen.  The girl in the gatehouse by Julie Klassen is written in the time of Jane Austen. Most of Jane Austen's stories tell of the struggle of woman to get along in their society. Usually this involves obtaining a husband in order to secure a happy future. With the exception of Emma, the heroine does not have a prominent enough place in society to assure that is going to happen. Fanny of Mansfield Park is a poor relative. Eleanor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility are the daughters of a happy second marriage but are left with little prospects after the death of their father and when the brother the heir takes over their home. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and her sisters' lack of prospects are because there are five of them and the estate belongs to a relative who is the heir because they have no brother.  Sometimes, in Jane Austen novels, some of the characters take matters in their own hands and do something that we would not be shocked by today but would be the ruin of the girl and her family in that time. These girls lose their virginity. Usually their punishment is that they are sent away. Jane Austen never tells what happens to these girls. The "good" girls end up happy ever after but what of the "bad" girls.
In The girl in the gatehouse, this is where Julie Klassen begins her story. Mariah Aubrey is sent away because she has brought shame on her family. Mariah is sent to live in the gatehouse of the estate of her "Aunt Fran" (the wife of her late uncle who is remarried and rewidowed). She is banished from her family and the neighborhood where she lived. Mariah is accompanied by her Dixon, her former tutor turned companion. These two women must start a new life with very little assistance.
What I enjoyed most about this story is that they build their own community. They take their difficult situation and start afresh. They learn to cook and clean. Mariah begins earning a living by writing which as Jane Austen herself knew was not proper for young women. Mariah like Jane Austen writes without her own name on her books.They make friends with the staff of the estate and they begin to get involved in the lives of the residents, young and old, of the poorhouse adjoining the estate. There is a man who haunts the roof of the poorhouse. Why is he there? Why is the poorhouse so close to the estate? Why is the gate locked?Dixon finds love for the first time. Mariah is not caught up in her own guilt and own misery but begins to move on and reach out to others.  These people are not the of the society that she has been banned from. Martin, who they inherit from Aunt Fran when she dies, is a man of many secret talents and he begins to change their gatehouse into a home. Aunt Fran also leaves Mariah her treasure, but what is it?
 Mariah meets the estate's new tenant, a naval captain who now has wealth but wants so much to enter the life of a gentleman. Mariah and he form a friendship that helps them both find a path to forgiveness and acceptance. In trying to find the mystery behind the locked gate, they find the path through the gate that leads to Christ. I won't reveal the mysteries of the estate and if they find love with each other. You'll have to read it to see.
I would recommend this book as a fun story of redemtion through the means of a community who accept you as you are. In doing so, they help each other find true acceptance in Christ.

I received this book free in exchange for this review, but received no other compensation.

A Poet??

So I have been tutoring high schoolers. One group of students is interested in poetry. I encouraged them to write some poetry. I also pledged to write my own. So here it is!

Renewal

He calls me, I hear his voice.
“Wake up, wake up my sleeping one, for your presence I long.
Escape the darkness, the light is coming.
I desire the sound of your melody; bring me your new song.”

I rise and escape into the night,
Walking into the darkness, I carry only a single light.
The call of the ocean roar draws me to Him.
“Come lay down your burdens, give up the fight.”

Upon reaching the shore, I see the light.
It pushes through the clouds breaks through the night.
The night ends, a new day is dawning,
The crashing waves push forward, pulling the sun burning bright.

The beauty calls forth my song. My voice I raise.
The sun’s parade of colors washes over me.
I exchange my melodious tone for the peace.
Renewed, restored, a new day, a new life I see.

Untamed!

Wild! Crazy! Me Never. I have prided myself for so long on being in control, calm, respectable.

Oh what a lie that is!! It seems that everything I have been learning lately has been about being bold, being wild, being untamed--all to be more like Christ!

Why do I always want to do the respect thing and not the right thing? Why do I want safety rather than following the calling of God? Why be a "good girl" and not goodness, kindness and all those other fruit of the spirit?

Why do I value self-protection over a good adventure?

I'm ready God ! Make me who you want me to be. take me where you want me to go! Make me Untamed!
I'm ready for battle! I'm ready to be all that you want be to be.

I'm Untamed!