There are mansions in my house

In my Father’s house are many mansions….how can a tiny one hundred seventeen year old house contain many mansions?

When I sit on my flowered front porch, I revel in how my house no longer seems too small in the spring, summer and fall months. The rooms spillover into the neighborhood and the wide expanse of forever sky. My front porch is now a Queen Anne manor on which tea and biscuits are the preferred fare. Even during a storm, I feel sheltered as I view the wind waves power washing vinyl siding till it gleams golden with post thunder sun.

Dinner time comes and I step out into my other mansion, my cabin in the prairie better known as the back deck. We no longer eat indoors, but in the backyard each night, and cleanup is a breeze because the grill has done all the work.

Mansions in houses provide alternate dimensions, snow globe realities allowing for respite in otherwise cramped quarters. Size doesn’t matter when you allow for expansion. There are doors in each home which open into fantastic worlds, pictures of heaven on earth, places to practice His presence.

I am Alice in a Wonderland because my dark rabbit hole, ( or is it a hobbit hole?) has become bright and expanded; many mansions in one tiny home.

These are a few of mine…where are yours?

20130520-092707.jpg

20130520-092721.jpg

20130520-092731.jpg

20130520-092748.jpg

Soap and Shampoo, Elements of Communion

My office is an oasis. It is a place of refreshing for those who think they need money, but who really need a drink. Weary travelers call hoping that we can solve all of their problems. Instead, we are only allowed to provide a sip. Because to allow the parched to gulp only gives them more pain, and they are thirsty for so much more than provision.

We give them soap and shampoo, but then we give them a morsel of genesis life. It is a Eucharist of sorts; a bit of bread and a sip of wine; scripture and prayer.

The Word of God, Jesus, was broken as bread…and we live by this Bread of life. His Words are the sustenance our innermost being survives to hear. These Words spoken heal wounded hearts, souls and bodies….and the wine? His Spirit. Where two or more of you agree touching anything there He is…right there in their midst. There He is, right there in the Personal Care Pantry. Soap cleansing the body, God’s Word cleansing a soul and the intoxicating Presence to wash it all down.

The seed is natural, but the growth is supernatural. Soap grows into spiritual hunger when mixed with prayer and compassion.

Maybe if we can give a sip, the partakers will want more….we hope to whet appetites with soap and shampoo, with Word and prayer, and all in the Name of Christ.

20130513-093412.jpg

Kim Sullivan is the Executive Director of Love In The Name of Christ Tinley Park, Illinois. Love In the Name of Christ of Tinley Park is a group of Christian churches and church volunteers reaching across denominational lines to help people in need. People in need often end up on the doorstep of our community churches. But one church alone cannot deal with the complex issue of poverty. Love INC works by mobilizing churches and Christian volunteers to network with existing community resources and develop church ministries to fill the gaps where community services are not available.

If you are interested in donating to this cause or learning more visit our website at loveinctp.org

Sharing with Michelle.

And Emily who is releasing her brand new book, Mom in the Mirror today!

…and playing with Laura…

Picking up where I left off

#303 a robin named Baskin’ caring for her young…
#304 a call to warfare and the courage to answer
#305 a warm day…FINALLY
#306 work day epiphanies that keep me going
#307 a tenth leper phone call
#308 Divine provoked courage
#309 the conspiracy of the Divine

Are You Feeling Under-, Over- or Dis- Qualfied?

20130506-074739.jpg

unqualified:
1: not fit : not having requisite qualifications

Ever feel un or under qualified? Ever wonder, “How did I get here?”
I have. Lately I have often been reminded of my lack of qualification. The pressure of striving to make an “A” in every area of life leaves me feeling like Bilbo Baggins….

“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

But…

Moses stuttered. God asked him to speak.
David led sheep. God asked him to lead a nation.
Abraham was sterile. God asked him to be the father of many nations.

It seems that in order to qualify for God’s work, unqualification is the number one qualification!

There are times that the opposite is true. We feel overqualified. We feel that certain work is beneath us or that we have grown past a season in life. “I’ve put in my time serving at the church,” we might justify. “It’s time for someone else to step in.

over·qual·i·fied adjective \-ˈkwä-lə-ˌfīd\
: having more education, training, or experience than a job calls for

Jesus is the epitome of over-qualification. The son of God came to earth as a man….and He came to serve.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. (Philippians 2:5-8 MSG)

When it comes to serving mankind, there can nothing be beneath us.

Disqualify

: to make ineligible for a prize or for further competition because of violations of the rules

But the most difficult station of qualification to find oneself in is disqualification.

Did Joseph’s lack of discretion in telling his brothers his dreams disqualify him from a position which would require great discretion? No! In fact, the consequences of his indiscretion led to bringing him into the very place where he would become the wisest man alive!

Did the fact that Paul persecuted Christians disqualify him from becoming the man who discipled the gentile? History shouts a resounding, “No!”

When God shares with you His dreams for your life, or when you find yourself on a road and accosted by His presence, remember…God prefers the under-, over-and seemingly dis- qualified.

Maybe it’s because through our frailty He is made strong. Or perhaps it’s because when we are forced to depend on Him we are forced to acknowledge His workings in us…

He uses the foolish things to confound the wise. I am certain many have been confounded by my doings. I know I have! I should not be surprised by their accusations and defeating words, or by my own deafening doubts.

GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
God never changes his mind when he gives gifts or when he calls someone

Calling
1
: a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence

It has been often said,

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

It’s so easy to look at the people of faith in Scripture as qualified when we know the end of the story. But, how difficult it is to see that He has called us qualified in the midst of our own journey.

Sometimes He calls from a fiery bush, while other times He appears as a great light disrupting our plans, but most often He leads by a small, still voice saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” No matter which way calls, know that He who calls you also qualifies you.

Sharing at my friend Emily’s…

And Michelle’s

When Your Dream Is On Hold

jens camera 061
I am staring into an empty tomb but have refused to rejoice in its evidence of resurrection.

When recently asked what dream I had hidden inside me, I was surprised to hear myself say, “I’d like to be a published author who uses her platform to speak and encourage women.” I had never verbalized the second part of that dream. It was frightening to hear myself say it….in front of other people…people who have known me as a behind the scenes kind of gal rather than a public figure.

I have found myself busier than ever with less time for my dream than in times past, a good kind of busy in which I am confident that I go about my Fatqqqqqher’s business. But I come home exhausted and ready to help my husband, sons and daughter with their dreams….or perhaps just ready for a good book or movie. photo 2

Between the holy place of the altar of His will and the altar of my servant hood to others is the graveyard of my dreams. Each of these dreams has a tombstone; some with worn inscriptions barely readable and others newly etched in stone. Still others are unkempt markers with cobweb veils sweeping across their forlorn faces.

This weekend, my church hosted a women’s conference Superchick 2013. One of the speakers, Lynette Lewis, author of “Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos”, spoke about cultivating dreams. This week I will be sharing some of the things the Lord stirred in my heart from her messages.

When one dream is on hold…go live another.

Lynette Lewis

photo 1

My dream of becoming an authoress may be on hold, but I’d almost forgotten about a dream of my youth…a dream to be in the full time ministry. Here I stand in the middle of a God-fulfilled dream and I can’t see the beauty of its resurrection because of the looming shadow of a monument of a dream on pause.

This is why it is so important to have a field of dreams (one of my favorite movies by the way). Because you should….

Have several dreams at the same time. That way you are always working on one of them.

Lynette Lewis

photo 4
I am determined to change the image of my dreams from that of a graveyard to that of a field. Dreams should be seeds sown to produce fruit in due time, and just as there are seasons for seeds there are seasons for dreams. Instead, I have often lay my dreams to rest in peace, never to be awakened again.

What dreams lie dormant in your life, friend? Awaken them with your attention. Never fail to recognize the dreams you are living out today just because of the impatience to experience the dreams you wish to live out tomorrow!

 

Sharing with dear Emily…

And fantastic Michelle.

and joyful Jen.

Finding “Me”

20130421-220435.jpg

I stand in front of the mirror, and see someone I barely recognize. It’s me in a business suit, with short, well-groomed hair and nails done; a far cry from the long skirts, ballerina flats and hand knit sweaters I had become comfortable in.

The way that I have come to dress is only the tip of the iceberg. I am playing the main role, and all I ever expected of myself was to be the supporting actress. I have lunch appointments with prospective donors and regularly scheduled speaking engagements. Yet, at home I am Mom, wife, lover and maid. At church I am still Kimmie, ready to bake dozens of cookies in a moment’s notice. I stand out of balance, straddling betwixt two different roles, one familiar, the other causes me to turn and gawk in the mirror wondering, Who is that woman?

And I wonder….

Pastor says that we must never become on the outside what we have yet to become on the inside. Is this who I am on the inside? Am I kidding myself? Worse yet, am I kidding others?

Can I be this person from the inside out?

Then an even more basic question comes to mind. Who am I to decide who I am? Inside or out? Can I be trusted with such an important question? If left to myself, I would probably be sipping tea in a cottage, writing, not interacting with many. Who knows if I’d ever be published…If I’d ever influence any lives.

And isn’t that all that matters? Influencing the world around us? If writing is for writing’s sake, or just because it is what I see myself doing, but it changes nothing and no one, then what does it really matter if I ever write another word? My self portrait isn’t always accurate. Recently I saw this amazing ad by Dove, and I started thinking about how I see myself as opposed to how God sees me. I see myself as someone with little to offer. I would rather surround myself with beauty and comfort,too timid to relate to others in fear of saying the wrong thing. But what does God see in me?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

The purpose of life is not be happy. It’s to be useful, honorable, compassionate; to make a difference in other’s lives.

I once wrote about how a wise woman helped me discover my motive in writing. In finding my motive, I found that it wasn’t writing itself that i found joy, but in the desire to make a difference in the lives of others.

Jesus probably didn’t really see Himself dying on the cross until He gave Himself up to His Father’s will. He busied Himself with the 12, the 70, the city or perhaps even a people…but ALL people? He had to die to self and any personal dreams that He had in order to accomplish what God wanted for His life and for the lives of the whole world.

It isn’t comfortable, the things I am asked to do. I often feel that The Lord has chosen the wrong girl…but then I realize what good company I’m in and how many others wondered the very same thing. And I have to wonder, am I seeing myself through my eyes or His? I don’t have to be anything, because I died with Him. I just have to let Him be in and through me whatever He wills.

It matters less and less how I see myself and more and more how others see Him in me.

And here is the ultimate paradox, the more I lose myself the more I find who I was created to be.

So, dear friend, shall we venture out together to become the one He sees in the mirror? Are we ready for the view of ourselves to be beautiful, strong and empowered with His might becoming not all that we can be, but all that He can be through us?

Sharing with dear Emily…

And fantastic Michelle.

A Donkey's Journey Towards An Epiphany {A Repost}

Reblogged from Journey Towards Epiphany:

Click to visit the original post
  • Click to visit the original post
  • Click to visit the original post
  • Click to visit the original post

I remember the first time I gave a man a ride on my back. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, the day the stranger came and took me away. When my master's servant called out, "What are you doing with my master's donkey?" The man simply replied, "The Lord has need of him," and kept walking. For some reason, that was enough for the servant.

Read more… 1,912 more words

Have a blessed Holy Week....

The Fray and the Face of God

“I found God on the corner of First and Amistad…” I’m not sure what the writers of this song meant by this line, but I know what it has meant to me.

20130325-071715.jpg

I’ve always longed to see the face of God. I’ve looked in the faces of my family and have seen a glimpse of Him in their eyes, yet the glimpse slips through my fingers and is forgotten like warm summer sand is remembered no more in the midst of a long winter.

I’ve looked in the face of spiritual leaders and have found perfectly flawed men and women, striving to be seen in His image, relying on His grace….and a glimmer of His features are vague, unstable pixels from an other-earthly camera.

But I’ve never seen the face of Jesus as clearly as when I find myself in the middle of this scripture.

I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ (Matthew 25:36 NLT)

As Executive Director of Love INC of Tinley Park I am often given the precious opportunity to peer into Jesus’ eyes in what might seem some very unlikely places…through the eyes of the hungry, the homeless, and the heartbroken.

It is so easy to judge why a person has become who they are, but the most important question in the Love INC process is “How is it that you find yourself in this difficult situation?” …and then we listen. We listen to pain and promise. We hear so much more than the initial need which provoked the phone call. Loneliness, abandonment, betrayal and misdirection reveal themselves in the stories told. It is then that we can go to work. We can go to work because we have allowed the person to become more than a client with a current need. They are now a living, breathing, feeling person with a past, present and future. They aren’t an empty pantry or an unpaid light bill, instead they are a lonely seventy-five year old man who hasn’t seen his daughters for over fifty years; Or a woman who has had the courage to start over again after her abusive husband pushed her down the stairs; or the family who has just recovered from Mom having cancer treatment just to find out that their son has a brain tumor.

It is in their eyes that I see Jesus, because He told me that when I am serving them I am serving Him. It is where I found God…my corner of First and Amistad.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 992 other followers

%d bloggers like this: