Recently, I've spent a lot of time in the gospels. I find that the more I read the Bible, the more questions I have.

I came across Matthew 8 and Jesus’ encounter with the leper. After the year we’ve had collectively as a society, they year my family and I have had, I saw this passage through new eyes.

"When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Matthew 8:1-4.

Jesus touching the leper is incredible. Touching the leper makes Jesus unclean, in the eyes of the law. Jesus, as a rabbi, couldn’t enter the synagogue if he was unclean. 

There are so many repercussions for this simple act of reaching out and touching him.

Not to mention the reactions the Pharisees would undoubtedly have. It’s only four chapters later when the plots to kill Jesus begin. (See Matthew 12)

But these realizations aren't what stood out to me. It's what happens next for the leper is what caught me off guard, and this part isn’t even in the scriptures.

You see, this leper was an outcast and outsider. This perceived skin disease dictated his social standing or lack thereof.

Until recently, everything I knew about lepers came from the book of Leviticus, chapter 13 specifically. It lays out all the rules, laws, treatments, etc. Verse 45-46 give us a summary:

“Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp."

Back in Matthew, this leper comes, bows low and asks to be made clean.

He should have covered his mustache and called out "Unclean Unclean!"

This prompted me to start reading about lepers. I wanted to learn more, and after talking to a friend, I stumbled across the book The Gift of Pain, written by Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancey.

Dr. Brand shares numerous and really fascinating stories of his life and his journey with patients and their pain locally and abroad. He shares about his work with leprosy patients and what he discovered.
First, leprosy is a nerve disease, not a skin disease. These damaged nerves stop working and lepers literally stop feeling pain.

Many times their injuries are a result of not getting the signal in the brain from the nerve that the body is injured.

Imagine falling and spraining your ankle, you know it hurts, you need ice and rest. Someone with leprosy doesn’t know the ankle has been sprained. Rather than rest, they keep putting the same weight and pressure on it. The sprain doesn’t heal and permanent damage results.

Or if you fall and hit your head, it hurts, instinctively you reach back, feel the bump, and see your bleeding, and you treat the wound. A leper wouldn’t sense the pain, know to reach back, notice the blood and the wound. The wound goes untreated, gets infected and leaves potentially long term damage.

Dr. Brand shares a really shocking and graphic story. 

He was working at a rehabilitation facility, in and around the 1950’s in India. They were treating leprosy patients and growing weary because the young men they worked with came to the facility, would be healed, and then go home and almost immediately reinjure themselves.

However, here's what they noticed was happening to the men during their stay at the facility: 

"Almost always, the afflicted person noticed the missing digit in the morning. Something ominous was taking place during the night. A patient solved the mystery by sitting up all night in an observation post from which he watched a scene straight out of a horror movie. In the middle of the night a rat climbed onto the bed of a fellow patient, sniffed around tentatively, nuzzled a finger, and meeting no resistance, began to gnaw on it. The lookout yelled, waking the whole room and scaring away the rat. At last, we had the answer: the boy's fingers and toes had not dropped off, they were being eaten! (Brand, The Gift of Pain, pages 127-128)

They quickly worked to trap the rats, and found that cats were an effective solution. After that, all leprosy patients would have a new feline companion when they left the rehabilitation facility. 

Because lepers could feel no pain, they were losing their fingers while they slept.

Lepers are consistently dealing with missing body parts, for reasons like this, or due to injury that require amputation, flesh that dies. It’s debilitating.

Let’s jump back to the leper in Matthew 8. When Jesus touched him, “his leprosy was cleansed.” That doesn’t mean that the just his skin was restored.

Jesus literally gave the leper the gift of pain.

Healing him meant that he could feel, that his nerves were restored. I like to envision his body restored, missing fingers reappeared, bald patches of skin now had hair.

For most of us, we don’t experience this type of injury. For most of us our nerves work properly. But we do experience pain. Other forms of physical pain, often times, emotional pain.

And so many times in our lives when we encounter pain we pray for it to go away. We take medicine to make it end quicker. We do whatever it takes. Just like the leper… he approached Jesus and asked to be healed, it's a quick fix. 

Did he know that when he asked this that he would be asking to feeling pain? Every cut, every sprain, every burn?

It makes me wonder… how many times in my life have I asked God for a quick fix? Take this from me? Heal this, help me feel better, etc.

How many times has God moved in my life, without me realizing it because it wasn’t what I asked for and expected?

And even deeper, how many times has God allowed me to experience pain, either emotional or physical pain, because, in His all-knowing and perfect love, He knew this pain was actually a gift.

I don’t have any answers for this. It’s something I’m working through. I’m trying to wrap my head around this. But I am starting to see in a deeper way how God loves and cares for us, even when it’s not the way I hoped or prayed for.
 

More Is Caught Than Taught

When my son was two, my mother-in-law was visiting us from out of state. She was carrying a grocery sack into my kitchen when the bag broke and canned food spilled out all over the floor, hitting her foot, and crashing with a bang. In her shock and surprise she wailed… “oh shi….” Now, I’m assuming seeing my slow motion… face and voice saying…. “NO…….” she added 9, 10 to it. It came out, “oh shi... 8, 9 10." 

My mother in law was pretty pleased with herself. A sign of relief came over me, until my son, a few minutes later rammed his dump truck into the wall and hollered "oh…. shi, 9 10."

That was my first experience as a mom realizing the truth that more is caught than taught.

More recent in my life, my daughter stands in front of her closet, for minutes and minutes, way longer than it should take to pick out cloths to wear for the day. It’s not uncommon to have her come down in one outfit, sit and have breakfast, then go back to her room and change, and come down in something else. It's only when I'm in the car waiting to take her to school, when she finally comes out she’s in her third outfit so far that morning.

My husband looked at me recently and said, “You know she gets that from you.” Ouch.

More is caught than taught.

But here’s the good news. Knowing this, we can model good things for our children. We can be the number one influencer in their life for healthy lifestyles, practices, disciplines. 

We don’t have to sit them down and teach them everything there is to know. We could never! That would be a never-ended mission, with no moments to spare. 

Rather, we can simply live it, and they will catch on. 

Followers of Jesus typically learn and pursue twelve disciplines of spiritual living. 

The word discipline can be an off-putting word. Sometimes we think it involves punishment or correction. But actually, the word is Latin and it’s in true form means: giving an instruction to a disciple.

When we study and practice spiritual disciplines, we are becoming more like disciples, and we are allowing God to move in our lives, to make us more like Him, and to give Him the freedom to accomplish His works through us.

Here's the disciplines: Meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, celebration.

Because more is caught than taught, we have a responsibilities as moms (also known as generation shapers) to model these to our kids.

Learning, studying and practicing these disciplines is a lifelong practice and there is always more to learn. 

Here's a few practical ways you can begin practicing these disciplines. 

Download the Infinitum App. This app follows Jesus' model and calls us to live a life of passion, purpose, depth and discipline. Begin practicing the daily prayers each day. 

Institute quiet time. There's no right or wrong way to do this.

One thing I found, when my children were little is that I needed to have a plan in place for my quiet time if the kids woke up. Typically they did because they woke up SO EARLY! A cup of cheerios and some juice would distract them for a few minutes in the morning.

Having a children’s storybook bible at the table. Sometimes I’d have my tea and a blanket, and my bible in my hand. And my kids would want to have the same things. So I’d serve a little juice in a tea cup, and have them get their blanket. Honestly, sometimes I never opened my bible. It wasn’t gonna happen, but, when it comes to more is caught than taught, my kids saw me, with a regular rhythm having quiet time.

Practice solitude. This is one many people today struggle with. Our world is so loud, and different voices are vying for competition in our brains. The world it seems is addicted to noise. Solitude is silencing all the noise and voices, emptying our brains of it all and filling it up with God.

Practicing this can be tricky, but you can do it. Try it when you are in your car, waiting in the school pick up line, or even in bed in the morning before you get up. My husband tries this for 5-10 minutes each day when we gets home from work. He actually changes into gym shorts, and heads outside and lays on our trampoline or just walks around. Just long enough to decompress his mind and get a little sun.

Try sitting still and emptying your mind for a few minutes each day. If it's hard, just start with 30 seconds, and work your way up to 5 minutes. I find that having a notebook near by to jot down all those to-do's that pop up in my mind. I write it down, and then force it out of my mind. 

The Inner Room App is a great prayer resource. It was created by 24/7 Prayer, which is a movement of 24/7 prayer rooms all over the world. If you’ve been to one of these before it’s pretty incredible! PS: there is a book called Red Moon Rising about the origins of the 24/7 prayer movement that I highly recommend!

This app allows you to enter the people, groups or topics you want to pray over. You can upload a picture of the person or groups, and then you write the prayer requests down. The app will send you reminders to pray. It tracks your prayer times. It also reads your prayer requests to you, and then play music underneath, so you can do this while you drive. It’s amazing.

Let’s talk about study. studying the word of God isn’t rocket science. There are very simple practices you can use to journal and study God’s word. My favorite is WIMAY’s. It’s reading a chapter or a section of scripture and then journaling your response to this question: What Intrigues Me About You (Jesus)?

John 15 and John 17 are two passages I recommend starting with.

Celebration. A posture of celebration is seeing and acknowledging the ways God’s love shows up in our lives and the lives of others each and every day.

One way my family celebrates this is at the dinner table each night. (Think about this... Your child will have approximately 19,000 meals, mostly with you before they hit 18 and leave home.) We value this time together and are committed to making the most of it.

We start the meal with a prayer. We hold hands, and then at the end, we cheer, “We are family” which is a tribute to my grandma’s late husband Frank. He started that with us when he joined our family, and now that he’s gone, we still do this to honor him and each other.

Then, while we eat, we Toastmaster each other.

Each of us gets a turn to stand up and talk about something for one minute. Sometimes it’s something they want to share about, or other times we ask a question and they have to answer it. Either way, they have to speak for 1 min, no longer, no less, and they have to stay away from phrases like ahh and and and uh. This time is usually quiet eventful.

Then, we ask "where did God show up today?" We all come to the table with stories of God showing up. Sometimes the kids are excited about this and ready to share, other times they have to sit there and do some deep thinking. Some days, they admit they didn’t see him at all. But more often than not, this is our chance to celebrate God each and every day.

I pray that these ideas help you as you begin working on living out spiritual disciplines. 

And as you work to impact other's in your life, remember, more is caught than taught. 

Let’s be diligent to make sure those around us are catching a lifestyle focused on Jesus, prioritizing time with Him, a life filled with worship and celebration.

 

Reflections: Holy Discontent

I didn't know how to define this feeling... 

It was like a hole. A gap. A disconnect. I felt it in my heart and in my spirit. 

I did what many do when they feel this angst. I got on Google. But it didn't help.

You see, I knew that there was this emptiness in me that I shouldn't have. I am a follower of Jesus, and in the moment I began to follow him, my life changed. I would never feel empty or incomplete again. He's always with me. 

So years later, there I was... what changed? Why was I feeling this way? Was I far from God? Do I need to prayer more? Or just have more faith? What is going on?

After much prayer and chatting with friends, I discovered something that changed everything.

"Holy Discontent." 

I wasn't far from God, or not "faithful" enough. No, I discovered that God placed in my spirit a "holy discontent" as a way to spur me on to what His plan was for me. 

I had a good life, actually, a great life. Great family, incredible friends, my personal ministry was growing and impacting lives. Life was good. But I knew there was more, I just couldn't put my finger on it. This term, "holy discontent" brought immediate relief! Yes. This was exactly what I was experiencing. 

So now what? I headed back to Google to research the things I knew were on my heart, but nothing seemed to fit the bill. 

I researched things from Fair Trade shopping, to international student exchanges, even fostering dogs. But nothing made a dent in this hole I felt in my spirit. While all of those are wonderful things we should care about, nothing got my heart pumping. 

Until I saw a local announcement for a Foster Care Orientation. 

"Let's just go learn about it" I said to Mac. True to Mac-style, he said "sure." And we were signed up. 

I went to that orientation, anxious. If we did this, it would change everything. Nevertheless, I was ready for whatever this night brought. 

Here's where I get real honest...

I sat in that room, and felt icky. I had the sickest feeling in my stomach, I was creeped out. 

Can I get even more honest? I listened to stories of people in the room who explained why they were signing up for foster care, and I was on the verge of vomiting. 

Actual responses and questions from these people ranged from: "Well, I'm already raising my grandkids, I might as well get paid for it" to "how much more do I get if I foster an infant?" The spirit of these questions wasn't focused on the children who desperately need help and a loving home. These questions came from a selfish, me-centered mentality, and I couldn't handle it.

I was disgusted. This wasn't for us. 

I left and felt relief. You see, when you have a "holy discontent", and you're pursuing what it is, when you check one box off your list, it's encouraging. That's one less thing I need to be focusing on. God wasn't calling us into foster care, He had something else in mind. 

I went back to Google, I kept praying, and kept searching... What could it be? 

Fast-forward three years...

I woke up one morning and knew. We were supposed to foster. I knew it. I couldn't explain it, but it had been a long season of navigating this "holy discontent". It was tiring. When you follow Jesus, you know that His Spirit is leading and guiding you. There's faith in the journey, but some days are long and confusing. 

Suddenly, on this morning, I knew. And the angst and emptiness, the confusion and wondering? It was gone. We were going to foster. (Keep in mind... this just meant a different type of angst and confusion was knocking on our doorstep! But that's another blog post for another day.)

We signed up for another orientation, and it was perfect. There were incredible people in the room, loving parents, grandparents, people struggling to have kids of their own, and other's who grew up in "the system" and wanted to give these kids the best lives possible. It was full of people who believed in reunification and that helping a family become stable and safe is a win all around.  

Ten weeks of pretty intense training, homework, home visits and assessments happened. Mac traveled extensively for work during this time, but he was committed and made this happen. On his weekends home, we'd paint and get furniture for the bedroom, we screwed on cabinet latches and locked up all the chemicals. We were ready.

On March 13th we were approved by the state to become a foster family. On March 16th, we welcomed our first placement into our home. 

And our lives were forever changed.

This isn't a hero story. This isn't a story of a family coming in and saving the day for one kiddo. This isn't an easy story. In fact, there is not a day that goes by where I don't wish I would have tried harder, fought more, stood up more clearly and aggressively to fight a system that is broken. There is not a day that goes by where I don't think about him, and how I miss him, and what would have happened if he was still with us. 

This is a story about a calling. It's a story of pursuing. We are no longer foster parents. And we've taken on new "holy discontents". But we did what God called us to do and we will continue to pursue Him as we live out our lives.

What I want you to know is that God has a plan for you. No matter what age, or stage or situation in life you find yourself in. He's in the middle of it. And if you let him, He'll call you, shape you, direct you into and toward the life and calling He has on your life. He needs you to fulfill His work on this earth. 

He needs you to say yes when it's scary.

He needs you to go into the danger zone. 

He needs you to fight for those without a voice. To feed the hungry, to house the homeless, to love the immigrant, the refugee, the lost and the lonely. He. Needs. You.

So if you feel a stirring in your soul, an angst or emptiness that you just can't figure out... keep on my friend. Pursue Him, pursue the call, embrace the journey. You might just find it's the journey of a lifetime. 

Mary and Elizabeth

*Cover Artist: Corby Eisbacher

I realized recently that no matter what I learn and study, I typically look at it through the lens of a woman sold out to women’s ministry. The women’s ministry at my local church literally changed my life. It has redefined the path my family is taking, it’s reshaped the lives of my children. Women’s ministry is literally changing generations, and I am a benefactor of that. 

So when I read my Bible, I see how God uses women for His purpose and glory. I see how Jesus gives dignity to women, He models how women should be treated, and His behavior challenges generations previous treatment of women. 

God’s word tells us the story of Hagar. Where in quite possibly the worst moments of her life, He shows up. And she infamously names God, El Roi, meaning, “the God who sees me”. See Genesis 16.

Jesus shows up to a well, in Samaria of all places, speaks truth to a woman visiting the well at midday (that’s a whole other blog post for another day!), and she becomes the first missionary! She goes on to proclaim the Messiah, and her entire village becomes followers of Jesus. See John 4.

Jesus reveals himself first to Mary Magdalene upon His resurrection. See John 20.

I could go on. 

As female followers of Jesus (more than half of the Church is female, by the way), seeing how women in the Bible respond and treat others, is paramount in teaching us how we should live today. 

In particular, I’ve been diving into the relationship of Mary and Elizabeth. One gave birth to and raised the Savior, and the other gave birth to the forerunner of Jesus… John, in his adult years came to be known as John the Baptist.

Mary. Most scholars agree she was a teenager, (maybe as young as 12-13) at the time an angel appeared to her, and gave her life-changing, generation shaping news… 

“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob, forever, his kingdom will never end.  – Luke 1:29-33

In response to this incredible, crazy, hard to believe, announcement, Mary has only one, simple question…. “How will this be since I am a virgin?”

What? It’s hard to fathom that she only has this one simple question in response. Most people, myself included, would have MANY questions about this!

The angel Gabriel kindly answered, saying: 

“The power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the holy one to be born to you will be called the Son of  God. Even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God.”

And what was her response: 

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Talk about unwavering faith and obedience! 

Gabriel leaves, and then the next verse says this: “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.” 

Now, Mary, didn’t hesitate when she left. She hustled… And here’s what I believe Mary knew. She needed community. She needed someone to walk through this with her. Someone who also had experienced a pregnancy announcement story. (See Luke 1) 

Without delay, she left, 70 miles, on a long and dangerous trip. 

Elizabeth is Mary’s cousin, decades older than Mary. It’s believed she was in her 60’s when she gave birth to John.  Elizabeth was married to Zechariah, and was barren. In this culture, it was a disgrace and a dishonor to not bear children, namely a son to your husband. Because of this, your husband could literally and legally find another wife who could bear him a child. Elizabeth’s inability to conceive is a very big deal. 

But God has a plan. 

The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah first and told him about his wife’s impending pregnancy. (Did you read Luke 1 yet?) But suffice it to say, given her age, she had pretty much given up the hope of ever having children. And what’s more? Zechariah was still with her, never left her, never sought another wife.

And now she’s pregnant. 

It was finally her moment. After watching friend after friend, relative after relative all become pregnant. After smiling on the outside for her friend’s happiness but dying on the inside because of her inability to conceive. She was with child. 

Then here comes Mary. 

It’s finally Elizabeth’s time, it’s her moment, and Mary arrives, carrying the Savior of the world. 

There are some “Elizabeth’s” out there who could, say, “Umm no. This is my turn, my moment. You are not stealing my thunder.” 

But Elizabeth doesn’t. She welcomes Mary, in fact when Mary entered, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, leapt and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 

And Elizabeth humbly says: 

“But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.”

Mary, young, not yet married, a pregnant virgin,, facing the hushed whispers and side eyes of those around her now knew she wasn’t alone. Elizabeth understood. 

C.S. Lewis said: “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What? Me too. I thought I was the only one.’”

God chose to work through two women. Two quiet, gentle, looked over women. They didn’t come from royalty. They weren’t prestigious, or wealthy. And I believe that God still wants to use women in the same way today. He wants us to have relationships like Mary and Elizabeth, and like any number of women in the Bible. 

We may feel like we don’t have it all together, or we don’t have anything to offer. But I’m here to tell you that you are wrong. (Sorry to be so frank! I do love you!) You have a very specific role in the Kingdom, and I believe God has given us the narratives in the Bible as tools for how we should live our lives. 

Study the Word, find community, step into your role God has called you to for His Kingdom and His Glory. 

Be Salty

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” - Jesus (Matthew 5:13)

Salt isn’t one of those things I spend a lot of time thinking about. In my home, salt is used in the cooking process either at the beginning, added to some butter and garlic before tossing in the meat of choice. (Yum!) Or at the serving of the meal when the food has been served, and we sit down to enjoy. In the typical household today, salt is used to enhance flavor.

But that’s it. There’s not a ton more that goes into it.

That’s why I’m intrigued by Jesus talking so much about salt. 

Last night, I was in my kitchen, and chatting with a friend whose family we had over for dinner. I was filling her in on all this salt stuff. Why I was intrigued by it, and what I’m learning. 

And isn’t it like God to have a purpose in everything? While I had salt on the brain, I was also preparing to speak at a Kitchen Collective. This collective met a couple times throughout a Bible study season to take a break from their study to worship and learn together. 

I was sharing with her about the Kitchen Collective and how excited I am for them. This opportunity for women, and honor it was that I got to play a small part in it. 

And it hit me… last night… right there, while I washed dishes and she sat at the kitchen island, I realized… we were doing was exactly what the Collective is about. Being in the kitchen, creating memories, nourishing souls, feeding bodies. This is it. 

I was telling her about salt, and all the different types of salt out there. I literally opened my cupboard and started pulling out salt. Call me a salt-hoarder. 

There was iodized table salt, fine sea salt, coarse sea salt, kosher salt, pink Himalayan salt, garlic salt, garlic salt with pepper, garlic salt with parsley, onion salt, seasoned salt and don’t even get me started on the herb infused salts. 

And here’s what I discovered. This is us. Salt. Yes, I just called us salt. 

Each one of us is different, but we are called to be salt. I enhance flavors differently than you. You enhance flavors differently than me and others. But this is our role, to influence and impact our world. Flavoring our world with the unique perspective, talents and gifts God has given us. 

We are different, but we each have a purpose to be the salt of the earth.

How and why do we have this arsenal of salt? If there are all these flavors and infused salts, does this give me permission to not be plain table salt all the time? How can I enhance things differently, just as if I am cooking? If I cook for my husband, I’m definitely not using onion salt! If I’m making air-popped popcorn, with melted butter, I’m definitely using the seasoned salt.  

My grandpa, he’s a table salt kind of man. I have a friend that ONLY uses Kosher salt. She actually gave me kosher salt one time because she couldn’t believe I had never heard of it before! For my mom, definitely Pink Himalayan salt. For my Life Group friends… garlic salt. 

I can enhance the flavor of life and of my friends and families lives with different types of salt. I can use (or be) the type of salt they need, at that moment, for that meal. 

Back in the Bible, when Jesus talks about salt:

Jesus isn’t saying, if you feel like it… be the salt of the earth.

He doesn’t say, if you think you are equipped… be the salt of the earth. 

He doesn’t say whenever you are ready… be the salt of the earth. 

He is saying, You are the salt of the earth.

That’s who we are and this is our purpose. 

I’ve learned a few ways to be salt to those around me. 

Know people, and know their story. How can I be the kind of salt they need if I don’t know who they are, what they love, what struggles they may be going through. The good news is, this one is fairly easy… most people like to talk about themselves. I am a human, I can vouch for this.

After knowing their story, the next step is finding the commonalities. Focusing on what we have in common, rather than our differences, makes both of our lives richer. 

I used to have a lot of LDS friends. We had different faith beliefs, but for me to be the salt of the earth to them, for me to add flavor to their life, I had to stay focused on what we have in common. My friends were praying women. I am a praying woman. 

My friends focused strongly on family values and raising their children with good values. I did the same. When they were ready, they came to me to ask me questions that were on their heart. I was just the right amount of salt for them in their life so when they were ready, I was there for them. 

With my Muslim friend, we don’t talk about anything that we disagree on. We focus on what we believe that is the same. She loves God, and she loves Jesus. Her walk with Jesus is definitely different than mine, but she follows his teaching, so we stay focused on that. 

Mark 9:50 says "have salt in your lives and live at peace with one another." 

Finding the commonalities and focusing on those, rather than differences is a way to live at peace with one another. 

One last thing to think on…

Salt makes people thirsty. Have you ever noticed that? 

Let’s be human salt shakers. Let’s sprinkle out the perfect amount of salt, each time, which leaves people thirsty and coming back for more. 

Living Small to Live Big

“Comparison robs us of the joy of obedience. When you feel small, know that the inconspicuous tasks are building big things that we can’t see yet.” -Jennie Allen

God’s call on my life to live small to live big is pretty new in the making. 

But, I don’t think I would have realized what God wanted to do in my life, if I hadn’t spent time over the last few years in life-on-life community with others. This community is dedicated to falling more in love with Jesus, practicing spiritual disciplines and to urge one another on in our journey to be more like Jesus. Another practice we’ve gained over the months is immediate obedience. Scary huh? 

Don’t worry, it’s not like a phone call inviting us to move to Africa for the summer. That’s an entirely different blog post. 

Immediate obedience can only be achieved if you’re spending time with God regularly. The more time you spend with him, the more in tune we are to his plan for us, and what he needs us to do.

Over the last year, he's been calling our family to go small. He’s made it clear to us. He wants us to go small, to live big. 

We’re not entirely sure where this will end up, but as we have begun walking in obedience, this call is clear. He’s directing our steps, and we follow. 

This is only God. I know this because some of the things we are doing, we would never do otherwise.

Most recently, he’s calling us to move. Still nearby, but a different, smaller house, new neighbors, schools, etc. 

It’s scary. 

I’m walking away from a huge garden I love. And I’m okay with that. 

I’m saying goodbye to neighbors who I care deeply for. And somehow I am peaceful about it.

I’ve let go of furniture, antiques and more that I love! And I haven’t even flinched. 

My kids are excited and ready. They actually want to move and are ready for new friends, and neighbors. It shouldn’t be this easy, with a teen and a preteen… shouldn’t there be a fight in this?

God is the only explanation I have for this. 

Our family is clinging to these verses, 1 Timothy 6:17-19.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

So we are moving. We're packing up. We're selling more than half of our stuff, and we're crazy anxious for what's next.

We believe less walls and yard work will result in more time and adventures together. The exciting part? We know this is only the beginning. Who knows what God will lead us to next. 

This living small thing might just be the best thing that's ever happened to us.

Or So I Thought...

It was 2016 and I was standing on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Soldiers standing were guard in solid cement structures, a slit in the concrete just wide enough to make out the young soldier’s eyes.

“Over there,” our tour guide pointed, “is where Hamas dug a tunnel big enough for a truck to drive through.” They (Palestinians from Gaza), tunneled through the 1.8 miles of “no man’s land.” Land separating Israel and Gaza.

Growing up in the American Southwest, I learned in school and the news that Gaza was full of terrorists. All people who sought the destruction of Israel and the United States.

Here I stood, at the edge of “no man’s land” and for the first time, I heard a different narrative. A different story. And the narrator? An Israeli grandma.

Her neighborhood sat on the border and bomb shelters littered the quiet streets.

Most strikingly, on a street corner, near a playground, was a modest concrete structure.

“What’s that?” someone in our group asked her.

“Oh, that’s a bus stop for the school bus. The concrete is a bomb shelter for the kids. Alarms sound indicating there are incoming rockets and everyone has 15 seconds to seek shelter.”

I sat back in my seat. Shocked. That structure could only hold a couple children. Where would the rest of the children hide?

Now I was convinced… My upbringing, my education, and now what our guide just told us: Hamas, Gaza, Palestinians… they must be terrorists… inhumane.

Or so I thought…

Our tour guide invited us into her home. Dinner was prepared, and we ate mounds of food, typical fare and extravagance poured out to visitors when you visit the Middle East. We were grateful and anxious for more stories.

“Let’s call my friend. She’s a young woman who lives in Gaza.”

What? Bomb shelters, stories of rockets, no man’s land, and now she is calling a friend from over there? How can this be?

We sat nervously as the phone rang, and a young woman answered. She told us her story, her desire to live, to dream, to survive, she told us about her education and her family.

Her dreams were the same as mine. She was just like me. She’s not a terrorist, she’s not evil or inhumane. Didn’t she deserve to live and dream? Not to just survive, but to thrive?

As I listened that evening, I heard stories of teams of people sneaking Palestinians out of Gaza and into Israeli hospitals for care. Stories of Israeli doctors committed to the care, the health and the survival of their enemy.

My neat box I had built around my life, my understanding and my comfort zone was shattered. I didn’t have a box to put all these stories in.

The night went on… stories of Israeli’s and Palestinians who are friends, who love each other. Stories of Muslims and Christians, living side by side, working together, relying on each other. They were committed to a world where dignity and love ruled, not division and hate.

My entire worldview was shaken to the core. And this was why I chose to come.

This trip was facilitated by Amplify Peace, a movement of peacemakers around the world, and these particular trips are immersion trips where you have life-changing encounters with different stories you’ve never heard before.

And then I came home.

I sat at the Thanksgiving table, surrounded by family and friends.

People asked about my recent trip, but their interest fell flat. They did not actually want to know the different perspective now on the table. Could I blame them? What I had seen challenged much of what I believed to be true. Were they ready for this?

I felt completely isolated in my journey to process these perspectives. I cannot un-see what I have seen. I cannot un-hear the stories I heard. I cannot argue with someone’s lived truth and say it is wrong, just because it was contrary to my upbringing.

I turned to Amplify Peace, to learn the principles of peacemaking. I buried my head in books, listened to webinars and podcasts, anything to discover how to really listen to stories I had never heard before, and learn how to be a peacemaker in the midst of it and live differently because of it.

When the holiday season arrives, for many of us, the hot topics of our day are bound to arise during our holiday meals: the pandemic, politics, the lack of unity in our communities, tensions around race, opinions on protesting and more.

Chances are you’ll be sitting at tables this season with people who have different opinions than you. How will navigate these conversations? Here are some tips from Amplify Peace known as the “Principles of Peacemaking:”

1.     Seek to understand rather than be understood.

Listening to understand honors the teller. Sometimes it’s hard, and we must listen longer than feels comfortable.

2.     Humbly listen and learn, do not sit in judgement.

  Understand that every human is on a journey, and we’re all at different pit stops along the way. Some are just starting out, others are at the same pit stop as you, and others are beyond you. This is okay.

3.     Enter into open dialogue, not debates.

A conversation should go both ways. It’s like playing catch. It’s no fun to toss a ball to someone and they never toss it back. Allow the back and forth, ask questions, lean in. It is not a win to convince someone to agree with you. It’s a win when those trying to express their feelings or experience have the opportunity to do so.

4.     Frame questions respectfully.

Consider responses that go deeper. Use phrases like, “tell me more…” and “how did that make you feel?” Then listen without framing your response.  

5.     Respect one another’s unique journey and perspective.

God created humans different, with different lives, experiences, circumstances, and opinions. He did this on purpose. Our differences make us better, they make our society creative and innovative. Embrace this!

6.     Honor relationships over the need to be right.

Commit to doing everything you can to preserve relationships this season. It might not be easy, but imagine the appreciation and gratitude others will have when they see you care more about them as a person than their opinion, or politics. And remember, their opinions are based on a different life experience than your own. Their experience isn’t wrong, it’s different, and that’s okay.

7.     Believe you are engaging in a story bigger than your own.

This is way bigger than one relationship or one holiday meal. This is a new way of living. One that honors the person, their experience, and allows them the grace to be on the journey.

Will we make it through this season unscathed? Maybe not. But we can do our part. We can do our very best and own our role.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

If you want to learn more about Amplify Peace visit amplifypeace.com.