Best Yes

Dear Sisters,

Does the saying “overwhelmed schedule, underwhelmed soul” resonate with any of you?  Well, it sure does with me.  That is the title of one of the chapters in the book The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst.   In the busyness of life it is so easy to put off my 20 minutes a day.  My focus falls on my list and making myself available to anyone or anything that comes my way.  And, sometimes when working in ministry, I feel obligated to say yes all the time and question if no is acceptable.  As a result, I live at the mercy of the requests of others that come my way each day.  But what I am realizing is other people’s requests dictate the decisions I am making.  So I often live my life reactive instead of proactive.  Lysa hit it home for me when she says, “We must not confuse the command to love with the disease to please.”  This advice helped me tremendously.

 Lysa talks about yes and no being the two most powerful words you can communicate.  In God’s plan I have a part to play.  The basic meaning of a “best yes” is me playing my part. I should live my life making decisions with the “best yes” as my best filter.  So, for me as I run from one demand to the other, I begin to see my time with the Lord hitting the back burner.  Maybe I miss a day or two, or I still have my time with the Lord, but I’m so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open.  This shows me my yes’s are overwhelming my “best yes” and depleting my soul.  An underwhelmed soul is one who knows there is more God made her/me to do.  Unless I am in constant communication with the Lord and spending time to listen to Him, I end up with an underwhelmed soul.  Then what is the point?  My desire to serve the Lord and be a blessing to others fades.  How can I bless others if I am not in relationship with the Lord.

One of the best pieces of advice from Lysa is, “Seek instruction before direction.”  The only way I am going to truly know God’s direction for me is to seek His instruction from His Word, prayer, and listening to Him.  Having unbroken companionship with Him helps me hear His instruction.  Then I can see His direction, which of course, leads me to the “best yes.”  So, it is becoming clear, I am going to need to say no to some things in order to say yes to the best things.  At the top of my yes list is time with God, digging in His Word and being still before Him to hear from Him.  How are you doing with yes and no?  Is your busyness interfering with putting God first?  Will you join me in re-prioritizing and keep our time with the Lord our “best yes?”

Listening to Him,

Kathy

Sunday Take Aways

This past Sunday, the sermon Take Aways were as follows:

1.  Live now for what's to come.
2.  Jesus is renewing us to renew the world.
3.  Would you join us?

Any thoughts?  We'd love to hear what God is teaching you!

Knowing God

Hello Sister,  

My family and I moved to Washington at the end of May.  My husband is a physician in training in pediatrics at JBLM.  There were a few weeks that we were getting out of boxes and I just was in that transition of missing the old, getting settled into the new, wanting normalcy; yet, all the while, feeling unsettled. I was driving home from the gym one day and my son had fallen asleep in the car.  I had a minute when things were quiet. I remember asking God questions, “Who am I right now?” “What do you have for me here in this new place?” Have you ever been there, too? So I asked, and then I was quiet (which is something that I should be more often after I ask God a question).  And God said quietly, “I want you to know me.” This was the first layer of his answer.

 During Pastor Phillip’s sermon series in John, Pastor Phillip suggested reading through the whole book of John and said we’d be blessed. Well, God gave me the next layer to his answer. He gave me John 17:3-4 Jesus himself said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ” So now, the answer to my question was getting to be even less about me.  A beautiful layer was added, “I want you to know me and my son, Jesus Christ. And because of the love we have for you, you can know us.” He also packaged it, “This is not only your answer for right now, this is your answer forever. For eternity, I want you to keep knowing me.” I was getting the depth of this lesson that he was teaching me. This is the gospel! This is the most familiar thing to me; but I was seeing it with new eyes.

Shortly after this, the sign-ups for Women’s Tuesday Life Groups was released, and I read through the list. The Lord led me to sign up for Knowing God by Name. He answered my question with an opportunity that had the very words he’d spoken to me a couple of months before and now, it was even more personal. Know me intimately, know me by name! So, that’s layer three if you’re still counting.  

I’m also participating in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) this year. The study is looking at the life of Moses and God gave me another layer through His Word. God has just told Moses that He was sending him to be the deliverer of His people that were enslaved in Egypt. Moses says in Exodus 3:11 “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt?” In the following verses he gives several excuses to the Lord as to why he doesn’t think he can do the task he was given. In giving these excuses to the Lord we see that he is wrestling with his identity and the purpose God has for him. He’s pleads with the LORD, “I might not be who you think I am. Even if I did go, who would I say sent me? And what am I supposed to say?” His unsettledness and excuses are similar to my question to God, “Who am I, Lord?” How does the Lord answer him? He answered in the same way he did with me. He didn’t answer in terms that defined Moses. He answered in terms that defined Himself. He says “I will be with you.” And with grace he turns the words in Moses’ question (“Who am I?”), and says “I Am Who I Am.”  

He has faithfully answered my question. And, this is where the rubber meets the road.  To know Him I have to spend TIME with Him and He’s teaching me it has to be on a daily basis. God has been so faithful as I’ve asked for help with consistency.  

First of all, He’s shown me that time with Him is always time well spent. A (nearly) daily quiet time with Him puts me in an upward spiral! I put a little time in, He teaches me big things, and I want to spend even more time with Him. Secondly, He’s provided a specific strategy to help me. My challenge is getting started; so I’ve been laying my Bible and studies out on the kitchen table at night so that they are open and ready the next morning. It also gives me a peek at what he is going to teach me the next day. This preview gives me the energy to start! Lastly, He’s shown me his grace. As his child he has shown me that even if I miss a day of listening to Him (reading his word and spending time in prayer) there is no punishment. He’s shown me that the shame I feel is not from Him. Though there is no shame, I will miss the blessing of knowing Him more.  He is always faithful in teaching and changing me! 

Ponder His goodness, bless the Lord for His answers, and thank Him for offering Himself and His grace when we didn’t know that’s what we needed.

In Him,

Grace Strube

Twenty Minutes A Day

Dear sisters,

 

Fall is my favorite time of year – I love the changing leaves and getting back into our routine.  Even after the best of summers, my children are ready to go back to school and I am ready for a little peace and quiet.  I also look forward to going to Life Group and getting back into the Word.    

But now comes a confession.  I’ve come to realize that I’ve been a seasonal student of the Bible and that is not a good thing.   

Can you imagine if Jesus took off the summer?   

Well, that is exactly what I’ve been doing and I recently challenged myself to do something about it. 

I committed to study the Word for 20 minutes a day for 20 consecutive days in August.   I used a book called 20 Minutes A Day For The Rest Of Your Life as a guide since I knew I couldn’t do it by myself.  I also had an accountability partner – my old fashioned egg timer which I wound up and set right next to me so that I wouldn’t be tempted to fudge on my time. 

Although 20 minutes a day doesn’t sound like much, it was daunting to me.  The amazing thing is that after two months, I find myself spending more and more time in the Word, in prayer, and even looking forward to that quiet time with God.   

Do I still have days where 20 minutes is a struggle?  Of course I do.  Do I ever miss a day?  Yes, but I get right back into it the next day and it is so much easier than letting it go for days at a time.  And I still use my egg timer when I’m feeling especially distracted. 

God has been showing me through this experience that He is always faithful to me and I need to be faithful to Him – all the time – not just when it is convenient or I need something.  I am a steward of the time God has given me and I need to use it wisely by making time for Him…every day.

 

In Christ,

Susan Hill