Because I love you I’m going to say this to you.

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Hearing the truth isn’t easy. Sometimes the truth stings, burns, and hurts deeply. Sometimes before healing begins, truth must enter the wound first. The wound is already there. The truth doesn’t inflict the wound, but the wound is secretly infected. So the truth must enter and purge out the bacteria. The purifying burns.

What I’m about to say will sting.

Let’s start with what scripture says…

2 John 4-11

Truth and Deception

4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in the truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. 5 So now I urge you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.[c]

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.[d] This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves so you don’t lose what we[e] have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don’t say, “Welcome,” to him; 11 for the one who says, “Welcome,” to him shares in his evil works.

Jude 3-4

3 Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. 4 For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

Jude 16-18

These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.

17 But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 they told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers walking according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These people create divisions and are unbelievers,[h] not having the Spirit.

Truth and love must not be separated. Look at verse 6 again in 2 John before we go further: “ 6 And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.[c]”

Love is walking according to His commands. This must remain at the forefront during the conversation that will follow. What is walking according to His commands? It is following Truth.

We are also warned about deceivers. We are warned throughout God’s Word to be on the lookout for deceivers. Is this unloving or judgemental? No, it is not. We are guarding our hearts so our love doesn’t run cold.

In this age of constant information, it’s easy to find ourselves worn down from the beating of the same drum over  a story. Our attention spans are short online. We’ve heard it and read it from 10 different viewpoints and we are ready to move on. This also leads us to a numbing of our senses. I imagine you’ve read many thought-provoking, disturbing, and heart wrenching articles on the Jen Hatmaker situation.

The Lord keeps pushing me towards writing about this and here is why. Truth and love go to together. The Word of God is being twisted and distorted. And I fear many of you will be deceived. I love my readers. I love this community. And there is this mama bear burning inside me that is flaming mad about the deception going on.

I believe the end is very near. As in nearer than we can imagine. I believe it is exactly why many Christians are feeling so fatigued and worn down. It’s not that evil has necessarily increased (though I think it has), it’s that a veil is being removed and we are seeing what has always been.

Jen Hatmaker has a ginormous following. This in itself is dangerous. When you serve a platform her size, standing for Truth in this culture is a most difficult task. (In fact, I will lose subscribers after this post. It happens every time.) This culture isn’t truth-driven. This culture claims to be love-driven, but it’s not. If we were love-seekers, we’d be truth-seekers. You simply cannot separate love and truth. To lead with lies is to hate.

I believe Jen Hatmaker and her husband have been deceived and blinded by satan and this breaks my heart. We each must guard our hearts from deception. How? By knowing the Word of God. When we know truth, we don’t believe lies.

When Jesus spoke of the end of the age in Matthew 24: 10-14, he said, “Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered. This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony of all nations. And then the end will come.”

When I read Jen’s original interview, my heart literally sank. It was so full of theological error I felt my head spinning. How could she possibly be a follower of Christ and believe these lies? Not only believe but take a bold, public stance. She is a leader, a teacher, she is held to a high standard.

You simply cannot be a true believer, a true disciple of Christ and believe and teach what Hatmaker is teaching. (Refer back to 2 John 9).

All I could think about as I read her words were how many women follow her that don’t know their Bibles well enough to realize she is speaking against the Word of God. If Jen Hatmaker says it, they will take it as truth. This should never be. We should test everything against the Word of God. Don’t take my word for anything I’m writing. Take it to scripture. Test it there.

Satan has done this same trick from the beginning. He takes God’s Word and manipulates it. So it carries some truth in it so as not to be obvious, then he twists it in order to deceive us.

If you don’t know your Bible, you will read the Hatmaker’s words and think they made a decent case for their position. Reading our Bible is crucial in these days. The end is nearer every day. We have to know our Bibles!

When I read the words of Brandon Hatmaker, my mouth hit the floor. Here’s a sampling of these shattering words.

“To be clear…

Jen and I are 100% on the same page regarding her recent interview about our love and hope for the LGBTQ community. This is a journey we have been on together. We both believe a same-sex marriage, as a life-long monogamous commitment, can be holy before God.”

Holy? He called sin holy?

He goes on to talk about the pain and suffering in this world and their journey to “help”. Well, how about we start with the gospel? That’s always a great place to start. Love and truth. The gospel. Love poured out.

He continues, “We’ve seen so much pain among the LGBTQ community: Suicidal teenagers. Divided families. Split churches. So. Much. Pain.” Again, how about using truth in love? You know why there is so much pain, suicide, split families and churches in this community? It’s because they are living separated from Christ. Christ is the bridge the Hatmakers need to be preaching. They love to talk about healing by building bridges, did they forget about the bridge of the cross? It’s been built, but we have to choose to walk across that bridge. The consequences of sin is death. Yes, living a life of sin will bring pain, death, and heartache.  They are leaving out the cross and trying to find a new solution to a problem that arose in the garden. It’s called sin. God gave us the solution already. But the deceiver is spinning us around the issue so we can’t get to the root and ultimately the solution.

Sin brings death. But the gift of God brings eternal life. What the LGBT community needs is christians to pour love on them with the truth. We love them by treating them as created in the image of God. We love them by telling them they are living apart from Christ and the way to Him means we must deny ourselves. The best thing I read on the internet last week was this article. Please take the time to read it. Written from a former lesbian who gave her life to Christ and realized she had to walk away from that lifestyle in order to receive Christ.

The Bible tells us to deny ourselves and pick up our cross. To deny ourself is to lay down the sins we love so that we can pick up the cross. That cross represents true grace. Unmerited favor. When we accept Christ, we don’t continue in our life of sin. Yes, we will stumble. Yes, we will continue to sin. But we don’t remain in our known sin patterns. The beauty is that when we surrender to Christ, we are given a Helper, the Holy Spirit.

What was impossible now becomes possible. All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13) Without Christ, we can’t fight sin. With the Holy Spirit living inside us, He gives us strength to walk away from our sin. It’s beautiful. It’s love. And it’s truth.

The Bible is clear that when we come to Christ for salvation, we first repent. We can’t become a christian without a turning away from our sin. A confession, a surrender of the sins we love, and a commitment to let God give us the strength to walk in His light, which is away from sin.

It’s no different than a thief. Say they’ve lived a life of stealing. They see the light, they want Christ. They confess, ask forgiveness, and repent. They turn away from a life of stealing. They can’t be in Christ and continue to live a life of stealing.

An adulterer, same philosophy. A murderer. To come to Christ for the forgiveness of sins, we must turn away from those sins. It’s only in the homosexual conversation that we are now saying, “It’s ok, you don’t have to turn away from your sin. You can still be in Christ and continue in your life of sin.”

This is why what the Hatmaker’s have done is so devastating. There is no gray area in scripture about homosexuality. It is a sin. God calls it sin. What satan has done so brilliantly is to begin to tell us that it’s not sin. We are born that way or it’s “holy” as the Hatmaker’s believe.

I believe the reason God is pressing me to write on this topic is because of the strong allegiance I’ve seen to the Hatmakers. Her supporters are clinging to her for dear life. They are waving their support banners and believing every word she says. You know the most loving thing we can do for our christian brothers and sisters? It’s to reveal the lie, proclaim the truth, and pray for the deceivers and the deceived.

We should give no man, or woman, our unhindered devotion. That is idolatry. And that is what is happening here. People love Jen Hatmaker so much, they have set her up on their altar of worship. Instead, we should love her enough to pray for the deception she is under. To pray she sees the truth and turns back to the Word of God. And pray for those under her influence.

When we know Truth, we won’t be deceived. Guard your heart from deception. Unfollow those who you know are deceivers of Truth, don’t applaud them. Pray for them to see the truth. Pray for your brothers and sisters living in an age of deception. And look up. He is coming soon!

I know many of you are going to walk away from this post angry. You will believe I’m judgemental and harsh. And I’m sorry if that is how you leave this conversation. God did not give me this platform for myself. He gave it for His glory. And when I see this dividing our christian community, and I see the Word of God trampled in this obvious way, I can’t remain silent. Because I love you too much. And love holds hands with Truth. If I didn’t love you and only cared about my readership and platform, I’d keep my mouth closed so as not to offend or step on any toes. Like I tell my kids all the time, dealing with hard issues is only worth it in the eyes of love. If I don’t love you, I don’t care about entering into a mess. I’ll stay away because I don’t really care about you. But love insists I enter into this.

 

Why Our Family Doesn’t Celebrate Halloween

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Today’s post is not for everyone. I’m writing with a very particular reader in mind- the parent who feels unsettled about celebrating Halloween and is looking to hear from others on the topic. If you love Halloween and have no conviction and have decided there is nothing wrong with Halloween, today’s post is not for you. I am not writing to convince anyone that my thoughts are right and yours are wrong. I’m simply sharing the conviction I had over Halloween and the path our family has taken. I have to get that out there because I’ve written on this topic before and had a storm of opposition.

I didn’t want to write on this topic again but God had other ideas. I tried ignoring Him. He wouldn’t let up. So here goes.

I grew up loving Halloween. I trick or treated until I was much too old to go door to door. We didn’t celebrate evil. It was good clean fun. We’d set about our neighborhood with friends and family, spending hours combing the neighborhood. Sometimes a Halloween party. Games, costumes, laughter, friends. Nothing harmful. We weren’t casting spells and summoning the dead.

Fast forward to adult life. We began celebrating Halloween with our children giving no thought to evil. After all, we weren’t doing Halloween that way. We were dressing as lions and firefighters. We were having bonfires with friends. We were laughing and strolling the streets doing our wholesome thing.

Then.

God convicted me. Jacob was about 4 years old, I was driving and a sermon came on the radio about why christians should have no part of Halloween. Initially, I listened and scoffed. How ridiculous. Halloween is evil for some but not for my family. I turned the channel.

Another sermon on Halloween. This one a bit darker, more eye-opening. This one about the satanic worship that goes on that night. I listened then went about my business. That is for people who have dabbled in the occult. That isn’t for me and my family. We aren’t doing Halloween this way. But something kept gnawing at me.

I began asking myself some questions. I spend my time telling my kids not to take candy from strangers, now I tell them go to that stranger and take candy. I’m taking my kids out on a night that truly there are those offering human sacrifices and worshiping satan. It’s real whether we want to admit it or not. We live in a time that I don’t trust walking down the street with masked people. Really am I ok with surrounding myself with people in costume in this day and age? I have my kids gather candy only to throw it away when they aren’t looking. What is the point really? Those were side gnawings, the rolling over in my spirit though was the darkness I was placing my kids in. The mingling of dark and light by choice.

God wouldn’t stop. He began to bombard me with articles, testimonies of friends, and sermons. I shared with a friend that I felt convicted about Halloween and thought God was trying to get my attention. She laughed and said, “Oh it’s just that time of year. Of course you will see so much out there about the dangers. That’s not God getting your attention.”

I don’t know about you, but when God wants me to get a message, He is pretty persistent. It comes at me from every direction. It didn’t stop. Then I received the transcript of a sermon from someone that God used to open my eyes in such a way that we stopped Halloween and never turned back.

I wish I had that sermon to share with you. If I find it, I’ll update this post. He explained the history of Halloween and how christians began celebrating it. When you have knowledge about something, you can’t un-know it. When you know, you know. At that point, you are responsible for the knowledge. God brought me knowledge. Now that I knew, what would we do with that knowledge?

You can research Halloween and form a solid case on either side. I mean a firm, solid case. I did just that. I’ve also had the debates with friends in the early days. I’m not interested in debating this topic because it’s settled in my heart. I know God wanted our family out of Halloween.

I had friends argue about Christmas and say if we didn’t celebrate Halloween we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas. They both have pagan origins and demonic practices attached to it.

Spend about 5 minutes searching if Christians should celebrate Halloween and you will be convinced on both sides of the argument. Kirk Cameron is a huge proponent of Halloween. I couldn’t disagree with him more. I agree we should be reaching out to our neighbors with the gospel, but why does it have to be tied to Halloween? How about a non-Halloween block party any other time than Halloween. What happened to being ok with not being in the world?

Relevant Magazine has a very interesting article that uses a condescending, belittling tone to those who question the celebrating of Halloween. I’ve read John Piper responding to Halloween as if it’s no big deal. You can find whatever you want out there and make your case. From people you respect and admire and agree with mostly.

Churches have embraced the world’s holiday. They host trunk or treats.

I would urge you to lean only on God. He will make clear to you if you are in the place I was in.

The sermon that really changed how I viewed Halloween said if you remove something, you should replace it with something better. In other words, if you take away Halloween, replace it for the kids. That is what we did. We take the kids out to eat, we rent a family movie, make popcorn, eat candy, and spend the evening together. Doesn’t sound exciting but our kids love our tradition.

I have other friends who don’t celebrate Halloween and early on I asked if their kids rebelled against that. Not only did our kids never fight us on it, they embraced our convictions. We shared honestly what Halloween represents, the realities of what happens on Halloween around the world regardless of how one chooses to celebrate it. And we read from the Bible what God says about witchcraft, occult practices, etc. We talked about how we are instructed to love what is lovely and praiseworthy. We discussed that the Bible tells us we are like aliens. We will not always fit in and be popular, doing what the world does.

Our family isn’t new to making choices that are unpopular with the world. Satan would love for us to make decisions that help our kids fit in the world. But God is good and He honors our convictions. We don’t explain to our kids in a way that makes us feel we are missing out (because we aren’t, we are actually gaining something). Instead we share the why’s behind what we do. We share our hearts with them. When they understand the heart and passion, when they see that we live out our convictions, something happens in them that is pretty amazing. They begin to make decisions based on God’s Word, convictions of the Holy Spirit, and principles. They are growing up being ok with being set apart, which is what I hope for them anyway.

This isn’t legalism, which is what some argued. We’ve shared with our kids that God convicted our family, but we are not to judge others. God speaks different things at different times to people as they are ready to hear it. Sometimes people operate out of lack of knowledge or lack of conviction. We don’t judge their decisions. Some of my best friends adore Halloween and disagree with me completely. I still love them and don’t change my opinion of them or think them less of a christian. Not at all.

This is a good article – What is Halloween and Should a Christian Celebrate?

We found a book at the christian bookstore when our kids were little that we read every year. Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween?

We’ve been made fun of, called legalists, laughed at, but it’s ok really. I know without a doubt God asked our family to stop celebrating Halloween. I don’t try to convert people to join the non-Halloween camp. God can do that. When people ask if we celebrate Halloween, I share a simple, “No, we don’t.” If they want more, I offer more. Usually, they look at me strangely and quickly change the subject.

If you have felt a gnawing in your spirit over Halloween, don’t ignore it.

When we settled on our decision to step away from Halloween, we realized that choosing not to partake is something we would never regret. When I step into eternity, I’m not going to look back and say, “Man I wish I had dressed my kids up and gone trick or treating.”

Do we have freedom in Christ to participate in Halloween? Yes. Does it mean it’s good for us? Not necessarily. I have no regrets from our decision. At 13, 11, and 7 our boys don’t either. They don’t feel they’ve lost anything. They’ve had family, movie, treats, and memories. What more would they want?

God Never Asked Me To Be His Assistant Holy Spirit

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The words in my head are itching to make their way out through the pounding of my fingers on the keyboard. I find myself constantly saying, “I have no time to write anymore.” Actually, I have no time for anything it seems. I have no time to take a run or a long walk. No time to write. No time to answer emails. No time to think. The more I feel this way, the more the anxiety builds up. I begin to notice something going on around me when I get this way. I rest less in Him, I try harder in me.

I sat down to write a post this morning, and the Lord brought to mind one I’d already written on this topic. I thought it fitting to share it with you today.

You can ready the original post here – I am not the Holy Spirit.

Of course, I know I’m not the Holy Spirit to my family. But you wouldn’t know it by how I act far too often. The less effective I am to change their hearts, the harder I try. The harder I try, the greater the frustration and anxiety. Because I’m powerless to change a heart. Not only that, it’s not my job. I’m taking the role from God.

Last week, I read an article on Desiring God. One sentence reached into my heart and squeezed with all its strength. Paul David Tripp wrote, “God has tasked parents with many things, but nowhere in his word has he tasked you with the responsibility to create heart change.”

It was the light bulb moment where God likely says, “You know this. You’ve walked this. You wrote this very thing. But you’ve forgotten and I want you to know this because it’s for your freedom and your good.”

I’ll stop here because I’ve said all that needs to be said in my previous post I am not the Holy Spirit.

This is resting in God. Tucking under His wing. To let Him be God. To trust in His every way. To soak in Him in order to be wrung out on the ones He’s woven you with.

For your weekend, I pray you will allow His love to rush over you. To refresh and revive your heart. To fill you with so much of Him that it pours out on the ones who fill the seconds and minutes of your days. To remember that He never asked you to be the Holy Spirit. To grasp the freedom in that.

Happy Friday!

A Letter To My Middle Schooler- I hope you aren’t cool

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Dear Boys,

When I was in middle school, all I wanted was to be cool. In my day cool looked much different than it looks today. Cool comes with a cost. Know what you are buying when you make that exchange.

Most middle schoolers want to fit in in such a way so they will not stand out. They want to be cool in their own way. Cool for one may not be cool for another.

Begin by defining cool for yourself. Don’t let the world define cool for you. The world may say cool is what God calls rebellion. The world may say cool is to love things that aren’t lovely or pure. The world may say cool is to be someone God wants to protect you from being. The world may call cool what God calls idolatrous or foolish.

The world may say it’s cool to have a girlfriend when you know that having a girlfriend will lead you into areas of temptation you aren’t prepared to fight. All your friends may have girlfriends and say you are weird if you don’t. Don’t believe that lie. The ways of the world are foolish to God. 1 Cor 3:19 “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”;

The world may say it’s cool to wear designer clothes and name brand shoes. But God’s Word says in Col 3:2 “Set your mind on things above not on earthly things.”

The world may say it’s cool to watch certain shows and movies or read certain books that are the latest craze. Your friends will stand in lines at bookstores or go to midnight showings. They may religiously watch a weekly show that in your spirit you know something isn’t right. It’s because you know God’s Word tells you in Phil 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

The world may say it’s cool to use curse words. God’s Word says in Eph 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

The world may say it’s cool to talk bad about your friends or say unkind things about people who are different from you. But God’s Word says in Proverbs 16:28 “A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends.” and in Proverbs 21:23 “He who guards his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles.”

The world will offer you many definitions of cool, but you don’t need to accept any definition other than the one that aligns to a Biblical standard. You have known the words of the Lord. Walk in truth. Walk with Him. The world will do all it can to show you an alternate path. It will take truth and twist it ever so slightly creating a path that will lead you off the one God has paved for you to walk. It’s what satan did in the garden. He took truth and twisted it creating a lie. If you don’t know God’s Word, you won’t be able to discern between the truth and the twisted truth.

The world does not define you. Your friends do not define you. No one has a right to label you as cool, weird, nerdy, etc. They will try to define you, but you don’t allow anyone to define you. God already defined you. He created you and He is the only One who has the right to define who you are.

You are His. Here is who He says you are.

Eph 2:10 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Galatians 4:11 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

During your middle school years, you will look for where you fit in. You will seek to find your worth and value in friends, academics, sports, all kinds of areas. Your friends don’t complete you, your grades don’t make you, your talents don’t define you. These are simply gifts from God. Enjoy them, delight in them. Thank God for them. But don’t let them become who you are.

You are a child of God. As a child of God, you are free. Totally, completely free. Free to walk in the Spirit. Free to live released of the pressure to be a certain way or to walk a certain line. You are free to be the one He created you to be.

When you choose this road, the one of being a true follower a Christ, a true disciple, you will stand out. You won’t blend in. His desire is that you are set apart. You are set apart for His good purposes. When you are set apart, you will not be liked by everyone.

This is why it’s ok for everyone to not like you.

“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

My prayer for you is that you seek to be like Jesus who didn’t get in with the cool crowd. In fact, he was radical and forever changed the world.

Since birth I’ve prayed for you to be a man after God’s own heart. I’ve prayed for you to love God more than anything in this entire world. I’ve prayed that you would follow God so hard you would strike fear in the eyes of the enemy.

Stand strong. Be bold. Choose courage.

Anyone can be like the world. It’s takes courage and strength to become the man of God He wants you to be. Walk in your calling. Be who He created you to be not who the world says you are. You are a child of God. Only God can define you.

The Noise of Social Media and the Silence of God

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I have thick skin. I don’t fear what people think. Most of the time. I don’t worry about offending people when I’m speaking truth because truth is offensive to those who aren’t guided by Truth. I have strong convictions and have no problem sharing those convictions. I’m a knowledge seeker and when I’ve reached a light bulb moment, I’m compelled to share it with the world because I’m convinced there are others like me searching for the cord dangling in the dark.

About 9 or 10 years ago, I signed up to take part in a Susan G Komen Breast Cancer walk. I began fundraising, began training with a friend. Then another friend sent me a quick email to let me know the breakdown of where that money went. A portion funded Planned Parenthood. At that moment, I was out. In good conscience, I could not raise money to save life while knowing any money, even if only one cent, went to end life. To me it was insane for an organization saving life to support any taking of life.

I read everything there was. I talked to the Susan G Komen Foundation. I heard all the justifications about how it was for educational materials not actual abortion procedures. To me any money sent to Planned Parenthood is directly funding abortion. I was done. I hung up my walking shoes, emailed all those who had contributed money with an apology. Then I found another breast cancer fundraiser to support that funded no money to Planned Parenthood.

When I made that decision, it never dawned on me what people would think. I was compelled by the knowledge I now held. God brought light into the darkness. I now held information I didn’t previously hold. I had a choice with what to do.

I was quite surprised by many reactions. Some gave an awkward silence. Some sent me pages and pages of information to change my mind. I had one friend actually pull away from me. She didn’t “stop” being my friend, but her heart moved away from me after I stood on my convictions. She disagreed with me and allowed the issue to divide us.

That is what I see happening on Facebook right now. (Facebook will limit the reach of this article I’m sure, but I’ll write it anyway.) Friends being divided over issues rather than allowed to disagree while remaining united by love.

Social Media has become a place of airing out, debating, quarreling, and attacking. It’s noisy. It’s biased. The issues hold the platform. People hide behind their screens and blast their thoughts in an attack of the person over social and cultural issues oftentimes.

Where is our logical reasoning? Where is our heart? Where is our ability to enter into healthy discussions? It seems to have disappeared.

I love open-minded discussions. We had friends visit over the summer. We had a heated debate on our screen porch late into one evening. We disagreed strongly with each other, but we did it face to face using reasoning rather than attack methods. The next day we marveled at how only good friends can do that. We didn’t change our opinion of each other. We loved these friends the same the day after. But on social media people take on a new face. One of false bravery.

It doesn’t take courage to post your view on Facebook. Anyone can do that.

Social media has worn me down. Writing online can do that. You place your thoughts and convictions out there and it incites some people. We are a culture prowling for those who dare disagree with us. If you stand for truth, you are intolerant. You are judgemental. And the ultimate. If you stand on the grounds of absolute, you aren’t showing grace. I’ve never seen this more clearly than when I wrote about 50 Shades of Grey.

Grace. How easy this word is tossed around the waves of social media. How quick we are to use it as a word weapon against Christians who won’t budge on moral convictions.

When you write online, you invite chaos into your life. And noise.

For a little over a year, social media has been weighing me down. The deception is more than I can bear. I read articles and thoughts of Christians and want to weep over the deception I see. It’s as though the world has rubbed off on the Christians. “Here, share my blindfold with me. We can walk together.”

In an effort to “reach” people, Christians are laying down their convictions and trying to bring unity by joining hands with the world. Watering down the gospel many times. Jesus didn’t do this. He never wavered from truth. He never used whatever methods it took to bring people to Him. He was pure love, reaching the sinner with the heart of the gospel. Jesus reached people by being the Son of God. He didn’t put on one face for some and another for a different group. He was perfect love, perfect justice, perfect mercy. Perfect everything. But His words were hard to swallow.

When you speak truth, your words will go down like gravel for some. It will incite them. Inflame them. They will spew at you. They will despise you. They will say that you aren’t showing grace. They will use christian words against you.

But if you are speaking truth. Truly truth, then does it matter? I’m not talking about opinions. I’m talking about truth based on Biblical principles. Are we responsible for what people think? If you love Jesus, you will be hated by the world. The world hates Jesus. Therefore, the world will hate you too.

Last week, I posted an article by Todd Starnes about the UNC students who “quietly” protested the national anthem. This action by these students grieved me. I don’t care if it’s a quiet or loud protest. That wasn’t the point. The point was that men and women have died for their freedom to protest. But to protest the national anthem, the giving of their freedom. It’s like they are protesting freedom. This was simply my opinion. I’m not claiming this is a Biblical truth, so please don’t misunderstand this point.

I was grieved because there are oppressed people all over this world. Truly oppressed. But these students attend an amazing university, live in a free country, enjoy luxury that the rest of the world can’t wrap their head around. At the root of this protest I see entitlement, a lack of gratitude and thankfulness.

This is not to say that each of these students hasn’t truly suffered a personal injustice, heartbreaks, unfairness, or racial division. That may be the case. And for each of these individual souls, my heart grieves for what I don’t know about their personal lives. But to protest the national anthem is disgraceful.

This country doesn’t need more division. When I posted that article on Facebook, it immediately brought critics. Of course it would. I had to delete some of the comments. They were nasty. Some were fine, which I left alone.

That is just one tiny incident. It seems that in this political climate, in this culture of a complete turning away from true Christianity, this world is blending in so that Christians aren’t set apart anymore. Facebook news feeds are full of static.

The more I checked my feed, the more anxious I felt in my soul. The more articles I read, the more heartbroken I became. The more “connected” I was, the more disconnected I felt.

So I checked out. I posted a note on my page that I was taking a break for awhile. I deleted the Facebook app off my phone. I moved over to posting more on Instagram and allowing the newfound silence to soak into my soul.

It’s been one week and I feel like a new person. Truly a new person. My soul feels so at rest. I am spending more time in prayer. My mind is set on God in the cracks of my day rather than wondering what is going on in the world. I don’t have a clue what is going on with the election or the weather or world affairs. All I know right now is that I needed a break.

I’ve so enjoyed the silence and this newfound peace. But this nudging started. A little whisper from God to enjoy this break but to know it’s only a break.

Selfishly, I want to remove myself from social media for good. I’m a better mom when I’m off Facebook. I’m a better friend and wife. I am calmer, less reactive. I’m relaxed. All that focus on me and God is whispering that it’s not about me.

He’s given me a voice. And He is the giver of strength to step into any world He desires I step into. In my strength, I will wear down. In His strength, we can fight on.

This culture is an animal. I imagine the world has never seen anything like it. Christians with a voice, stand strong. Speak up in truth with love. The enemy wants you to remain silent. The world needs love for sure. The world is in desperate need for Jesus. America grieves my heart because it’s filled with people who identify as a christian that have no relationship with Christ. The deception is far and wide here.

If you are like me, and the weight of the world viewed through social media seems too much to bear, maybe it’s time for a retreat. A time to get away from it. To hit the reset button. A time to soak in much needed quiet, where you won’t hear the opinions of the friends of your friends, rather you will hear more clearly from the One who is speaking in a whisper.

Maybe He wants to use that time to help you reconnect to Him. To practice meditating on His Word. To practice being ok with silence and stillness. Maybe He wants to remind you that He is your strength. And maybe He will lead you back to connecting to the world online in a more powerful way because it will be through Him and not you.

His Love Pursues You. Will You Let Him Catch You Today?

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Psalm 27:8

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek.

“Mom, I’m setting up an incentive chart. If I fill up 100 boxes, can I earn a camp out alone with Dad?”

“I think that is an awesome idea.”

I walked by his room later that day and saw his handmade chart hanging on the wall. Throughout the day, when he felt proud of some accomplishment, he’d ask me if he could reward himself a sticker on his chart.

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I wasn’t around when Zachary told Steve about the reward he was working toward, but after the kids were in bed Steve mentioned to me their conversation. He concluded, “It’s done. Any one of my children who wants to spend time with me, they’ve got it. We will have a backyard camp out tomorrow night. He doesn’t need to earn time with me. If he wants me, he’s got me.”

“But it’s a work night. And a school night.”

“So,” he shrugged off my practicalities and chose intentionality instead.

When Zachary awoke the following morning, he found this note waiting for him from his daddy. An invitation to time alone. Just father and son. Campfire, tents, telling stories, sharing snacks, and watching the stars.

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The entire day I noticed a drastic difference in Zachary. An excitement, a lightness, a quiet confidence, a sweet joy. He knew his father longed to spend time with him as much as he longed for it. As soon as his father learned of his desire, he reached his daddy arms out to him and pulled him in. He’s always reaching towards his children, but most of the time they miss seeing it through the activity of life.  This time he noticed his daddy dropped everything to be with his son simply because his son wanted it.

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Our Father stands with arms stretched wide to us. Desiring we run into His waiting arms. We forget at times that our Father desires to spend time with us. Sharing stories with Him as we watch the stars He placed in the sky for us.

He desires our love. Our wholehearted devotion to Him. He delights in us.

Psalm 149:4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

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Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Our Father’s love is a pursuing a love. It never stops chasing and longing for us. He takes delight in us. He created us for His good pleasure that we may glorify Him. When we slow our souls, we become aware of His pursuit. We find He’s not running the pace we run. He stands with extended arms towards His children waiting for us to run to Him rather than running to anything else.

What our souls need most is to sit in His lap. To let Him quiet us with His love. To sing over us.

Instead we run to other things to fill us, to entertain us. We are enticed away from our first love and find ourselves depleted and empty. Our souls cry out for what we really need, but we keep running away. Like Zachary, we set ourselves up to earn His love, forgetting that it’s a gift that needs no earning. An undeserved gift that awaits us moment by moment.

When we stop running from Him, stop running to substitutes for His love, and we look around us, we will see He has placed love notes all around us inviting us to steal away with Him under the stars, tucked away from the chaos of life. To hide away in His love.

He’s waiting to fill your love tank right now. Will you allow Him to lavish you with His love today?

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God Told My Son To Follow Him, So I Went Too

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Yesterday I shared how God confirmed we weren’t to wait for my birthday to start celebrating. If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, start there. We dropped Andrew at one of his educational therapies, and the two older boys and I headed to the library. On the way we made a stop at Dunkin Donuts.

“Alright boys, let’s pray. Whoever God brings to the window I’m telling them about Jesus.” Ya’ll, this is how I see the power of God so vividly. You would’ve thought I had told the boys I was buying them each their own dozen donuts.

With racing hearts, we prayed as we drove, “God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for salvation. Thank you that we can share that gift with others. Thank you for the Holy Spirit who enables us with power. Jesus said that greater than having him with us is having the Holy Spirit in us. Thank you. We pray that you would bring to the window the person you have for us to share the gospel with. We pray that right now you soften their hearts and prepare them to hear your words. Give us the words. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

I ended praying and Jacob said, “Mom! You just missed the turn!! Now it’s going to take us forever to get back out.”

Immediately, I thought to how we just prayed for God to bring the right person to that window.

“Boys, do you not think me missing that turn is part of God’s plan to order the circumstances so that the right person comes to the window?”

We turned in just after another car got in before us.

“Mom, don’t say it through the microphone.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure we are face to face.”

I placed our order. Waited for our turn at the window. My heart began to pound. Louder than it pounded the first year I began speaking in front of groups of people. What in the world?

He came to the window, early twenties maybe. Doing 3 jobs at once. I saw the line piling up behind us. Felt the pressure of the rush hour time of the coffee shop.

The timing feels off. No. The timing is always perfect.

Hastily, he grabbed my credit card and disappeared back inside the window. He appeared moments later, thrust the card back at me, and disappeared again. The window opened again as he handed one coffee, then a hot chocolate. The window closed again.

“Ok, mom, this is it.”

We watched as another lady made the smoothie and it appeared she would come to the window.

Lord, is it her and not him?

She handed the smoothie to our guy, he opened the window, handed the smoothie over while saying, “Have a great day.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

He smiled, “Sure.”

“Do you know Jesus?”

Time froze. His expression, as Jacob would say, looked confuzelled.

“What did you say?” He leaned out of the window closer to my car.

“Do you know Jesus?”

He paused. His eyes held mine as he said, “Yes.”

“Awesome! Well, would you pass this along to someone today who you might think doesn’t know Jesus?”

He took the Bible tract from my hand and placed it on the counter next to the register. “Sure.”

As we pulled away from the window, the boys began immediately chattering. Do you think he really knew Jesus or just knows about Jesus? I wonder if he will read it? I wonder if he will give it away.

I began the process of self-criticism. Why did I say ‘Do you know Jesus’? We live in America. It’s easy to say yes to that and still be living a life separated from God. Why did I take the easy way out.

“Mom, that was awesome!”

“That felt completely clumsy, awkward, and totally unnatural. I wish I could’ve shared what Jesus has done in my life.”

Then I stopped. This is what the enemy wants me to do. Focus on me, myself, and my words. Forget it. We prayed for the power and the work of the Holy Spirit.

“You know what, boys. It doesn’t matter what we said. We prayed that we would be a vessel. God has the power to change how he perceived that exchange. We did what He asked and the rest is up to God. He might open that thing in a year. Or today. He might leave it there for the person who God wanted it to get to finds it. We don’t know. And we never will know. But that is not what it’s about.”

We got to the library and settled into our work. Jacob decided he would share the gospel with someone in the library. I looked at him in wonderment. “The next person that God brings to us, I’m going to share with.”

Moments later an older woman appeared steps from our table perusing the books at the end of an aisle. He raised his head, eyebrows raised at me. He darted his eyes back and forth from her to me asking without words, “Is she the one?”

I shrugged my shoulders, silently affirming that he would be guided by God not me.

He leaned over and whispered, “Does she work here?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll be right back.” He left the table and came back within a few minutes holding Bible tracts. He slid them under his Logic book and went back to his work keeping one eye on the woman at the end of the aisle.

She disappeared and he said, “If God brings her back I’ll share with her.”

Minutes went by and she didn’t come back. Jacob jumped up from his seat and darted away. Seconds later he rushed back, picked up his Logic book, grabbed the tracts in hiding, and raced away.

Several minutes passed before he made his way back. His face glowed. Literally glowed. His face told me everything. He had just obeyed God and felt the blessing of obedience.

“Mom, I did it.”

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes, I did!”

“What? When? How? I didn’t hear you!”

“I followed her to her car.” (Side note, we are now praying for wisdom and discernment and discussions of not going to cars.)

“And???”

“I asked her if she knew Jesus. She stopped and just looked at me at first. Then she said yes.”

Sounded exactly like our first exchange.

“I shouldn’t have said that to her. I should’ve asked her if she has a relationship with Jesus. Or something else.”

“It’s ok. God will use your offering however inadequate it seems. You obeyed Him, which is the most important thing. And you gave her the gospel to take home with her. Now our job is to keep praying for these two people. We don’t know if they will end up reading it, realizing they need a Savior, and give their life to Christ.”

The adrenaline was flowing through him. Now it was contagious. Zachary wanted to find someone. Andrew wanted to find someone. When we picked Andrew up from therapy and told him, he said, “You know, you don’t have to give them one of those things. Just tell them who Jesus is.” I love his simplicity.

Sharing the gospel itself isn’t uncomfortable or new to me. Sharing the gospel with total strangers- this is new. I can share the gospel all day long with someone I’ve built a relationship with, a friend or a family member. Someone I know something about their life and can see how God is drawing them. But a stranger I know nothing about. That is a different story.

I can muster up a dozen or more excuses why I shouldn’t tell the cashier about Jesus. What if she’s already a christian? What if I feel the pressure of the line behind me and stumble over my words? What if she is offended by my words?

These are terrible excuses. I had a knowledge of God my entire life. I never disbelieved in Him, but I never had a personal, saving relationship with him until after I got married. Same with my husband. What if all the people in my life held back sharing the greatest gift I’ve ever received because they didn’t want to offend me. Or what if they held back because they were more filled with themselves than they were with a love for seeing me enter into eternity with them?

A month of darkness God used to speak many things to me. One being that my self sins are great. If I’m honest, the thing that holds me back from telling every person I see that Jesus saves is my “self”. It is more of a concern of if I say the right thing, what I will look like, if I will be humiliated in the face of their rejection. And God is asking me to lay down myself. He is asking me to love Him more than I love anything else in this entire world.

A radical love for Christ leads to a radical love of people.

So here’s my confession to you. I don’t love people well. If I really look into my heart, I can’t deny it. If I loved people the way God desires I love people, you wouldn’t be able to stop me. His love would pour through me all over each person I encountered.

I pour out love in the easy ways. The comfortable ways. Meeting a need, helping a friend, sharing a word of encouragement. These are necessary and good. But they take little from me. I didn’t really lay aside much of myself. Because the much of myself in need of laying aside is my pride, my fear of rejection, my fear of offending. These do not come from God.

Years ago I sent a dear friend a Bible. The rejection scarred my heart. Jacob encouraged me to send this friend, an atheist, a Bible. He stood over my shoulder as her email landed in my inbox. We silently read her angry words lashing out at me. Telling me how dare I send her a Bible knowing she doesn’t believe there is a God. Her final words to me told me she was ending our friendship.

It hurt. I cried. And Jacob looked on in utter astonishment. I explained to him that the Bible tells us the gospel offends. It’s not my friend that is rejecting me, it’s the enemy at work rejecting the Word of Truth. The results are not up to us. We are responsible for sharing the gift we hold, but we are not responsible for the person choosing to accept or reject the gift.

Yesterday I shared how God has asked me to mark my 40th birthday. I want to be very clear with you. I’m not sharing for a pat on the back. I’m not sharing so you think I’m a super christian. I’m sharing for you to see two things. The power of God is unbelievable and moveable in ways we can’t understand. And I want you to hold me accountable. If I kept this secret, I fear I would begin to tell myself things like, “Maybe that isn’t what God told me to do.” Or “No one knows I’m supposed to be doing this anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” It matters. Jesus could return today. Or the next person I come in contact could die in the next hour.

I am also asking for your prayers for the next 40 days. I am asking you to pray bold prayers as our family seeks to walk the life of a missionary on its home turf. Our desire is to see lives transformed. To see the gospel advance. We lose sight of the need for salvation right here in our own neighborhoods. I’m surrounded by people living in darkness and I hold a light to share with them. I’m praying for courage and boldness. For a deep love for people. For wisdom and discernment. For mercy and compassion. For divine opportunities.

And I pray that walking in obedience with my children will teach them more about obedience to God than any devotion I can read them or any lecture I can give them.