The Baffling Call of God

August 6, 2008 | faith, ministry life, purpose

Excerpted from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

The Baffling Call Of God

“And all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished … And they understood none of these things.” Luke 18:31, 34

God called Jesus Christ to what seemed unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death; He led every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. Jesus Christ’s life was an absolute failure from every standpoint but God’s. But what seemed failure from man’s standpoint was a tremendous triumph from God’s, because God’s purpose is never man’s purpose.

There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is after. 

From Suzie: Isn’t it funny how we strive after purpose, instead of God? I’m not really talking to you; I’m looking straight at my own image in the mirror. If I look at my to-do list today it is full. Every one of them is wrapped around “ministry”. And yet purpose is not what I do, but who I walk with today who is a friend, is God, is peace, is life, is joy.  I love ministry. I love writing. I am passionate about these things.

But the simplicity of faith is that my “calling” is to simply walk with God through the good, the bad, the sticky, the challenging, the amazing, the ordinary days and moments of my day.

If you want to read the rest of this Oswald Chambers devo, click here.

I want more

July 24, 2008 | faith

Lately I’ve missed God. I do that from time. I know that it’s possible to go through life religious, or be active in a church, or even speak and write about God and that be considered a faith walk.

But I want more than that.

I can’t settle for that.

I want to talk to Him, to feel Him, to draw upon His strength, and experience my relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Some call that emotionalism.

I disagree. I want that in every relationship that I care about - not a distant faraway I-feel-nothing-but-we-are-still-together kind of love.

So today I am honest with you, God. I miss you. I know you haven’t gone anywhere, but I turn and actively seek you for you are never far away. I thank you that I am yours, and that you are mine. I will pick up your Word. I will shut down the hype that pulls at my life–even if it seems like it’s all about you–and I will listen. For You. To You. With You.

A teen’s faith walk

July 18, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller, faith, family

One vehicle for my passion is ministry to teens and parents of teens. This is a recent post that I shared with Hearts at Home readers (an Intl. ministry to moms).

Your Teen’s Faith Walk

I love how little children view God.

Shelby, age 7, says, “God gets sad if you tell a lie, or if you hurt someone, or if you sneeze on someone on purpose.”

Sara, age 6, says “God is in love with your heart. He made people with hearts and he also made trees. But people are harder to make than trees.”

It’s a simple view of faith, and I wish it remained that way. But having worked with teens, I see many youth arrive at the teen years with mixed messages, confused precepts, and often a hunger to know God in more than a hanging-out-in-a-pew kind of way.

What are teens saying about God?

Amanda, age 18, says, “I am constantly being stretched to love God more passionately, to pursue Him more wholeheartedly, and to minister to those around me.”

Gemma, age 13, says, “My parents could impact my faith if they would believe it themselves.”

Janelle, age 15 says, “I need to figure out some things on my own, including where I stand with God and making God my own instead of my parents’ God.” (more…)

The Road Less Traveled: Forgiveness

July 5, 2008 | faith

I was talking with two friends about forgiveness. All three of us have dealt with this issue. One friend’s dad was an alcoholic. The other was sexually molested as a girl.

These close friends, and I, have moved on from the past, leaving those memories behind to pursue life and all that God has for each of us. We are writers and speakers. We teach on healing and wholeness. We have solid marriages. Families that are close and loving. Faith that transcends the events of the past.

But as we talked, I realized that forgiveness was still an issue, just in a different way.

“It’s the small stuff that gets me,” one friend said. “I’ve forgiven my past. I can forgive the big things. But someone can do something little and it makes me angry, and I don’t want to let it go.” (more…)

Shameless Audacity

July 1, 2008 | faith

I’m on a word kick this week. Words that rock my world. Words that show me Jesus.

My friend, Kris Hammonds, is a twentysomething man and is an amazing teacher. (Hey, Kris!)

He ministered to some other twentysomethings nearly three years ago and the words he spoke stuck in my heart. They are still there today. The title of his sermon was Shameless Audacity. (more…)

Nevertheless

June 30, 2008 | faith

Nevertheless.

She was in jail, addicted to meth; nevertheless, today she is a godly woman, she has recaptured the love of her children, and ministers as a chaplain in the jail in which she was once imprisoned.

She had an affair and wanted to die; nevertheless, she found hope in Jesus, and now leads a flourishing ministry for women who walk in the shoes she once wore.

She was high, destitute, pregnant; nevertheless today she worships in the front row, her hands lifted high, her beautiful little girl receiving a different life than the one momma once had.

He was lost, couldn’t get past the hurt of losing someone he loved, unable to reach out for hope; nevertheless God reached for him and he opened his arms wide and today he knows the love of a Heavenly Father.

I love this word: nevertheless. Perhaps it is the word that most resembles salvation to me. Not rules. Not people’s expectations. But rather God’s abounding love that runs deeper than any river. God’s mercy that is wider than the Grand Canyon.

God’s transformation that happens in spite of our best–or worst–efforts.

Nevertheless.

The people I described are real. How many more are there that can point to the nevertheless experiences in their life. I know I can. Not just the encounter with God when I didn’t know Him, but today, every day.

I am angry; nevertheless I will trust you and ask you to soothe my heart and help me to respond wisely.

I am hurt; nevertheless you are my shelter.

I need direction; nevertheless I will trust you and seek your guidance.

I am happy and joyfilled, why? Because of you.

Because of nevertheless.

That thing that HE does

June 25, 2008 | calendar, faith, ministries

What a wonderful weekend!

I love it when God does His thing. I spoke twice at She Speaks (a conference for women who want to write and/or speak). I shared the message of making your faith your own with a group of beautiful teen girls, and then I was scheduled to speak at an after-dinner coffeehouse writers’ event.

This is the deal. It was the worst hour of the day. The women had just eaten dinner. They got up that morning at 7. They went to bed the night before after midnight. It wasn’t a fascinating topic, though it is one that I’m passionate about - The Things I Wish I Had Known When I First Started Writing.

So the odds were stacked against that presentation. And yet something very cool happened.

God showed up.

Don’t you love it when that happens? Somehow, out of a writing topic, He gently ministered to a woman who is a breast cancer survivor, to a mom of teens, to a woman estranged from her loved one, and to many more. After the presentation, many women lined up to share their story.

Have I mentioned how much I love hearing your stories?

This is the one thing I really have learned. It’s not about the woman with the mike, or even the carefully prepared and prayed-over presentation. Somehow, some way, God can take ordinary words and place them in the hearts of His girls — the women sitting in the audience with their private joys, their private pain, their secrets, and their dreams.

Because He knows them and loves them.

I walked away this weekend in love with Jesus all over again.

An Uncommon Woman: Susie Larson

June 10, 2008 | faith, interviews

Suzie interviews Susie Larson, author of The Uncommon Woman: Making an Ordinary Life Extraordinary

Suzie: Hi Susie. I just finished the preview copy of The Uncommon Woman and it’s a great book. Thanks for joining us. Let’s jump in! What is your definition of an uncommon woman?

Susie Larson: First of all, Suzie, I want to thank you for taking the time to read the book and for interviewing me. I’m passionate about this topic because I believe churches, families, and communities will be strengthened when we as women rise up to the high call on our lives.

~ An Uncommon Woman is Not Defined by What She Does, but Whose She Is ~

An uncommon woman has determined to believe the beautiful truth about herself; that she is called to something so much greater than the pettiness, drama, and gossip common to women. The uncommon woman embraces a holy confidence and humble dependence that declares, “I’m nothing without Christ, but everything to Him.”

She is willing to reach for the stars and do things way over her head (without pride). And she is willing to do things that seem beneath her (without self-awareness). She’s not defined by what she does, but by the fact that Jesus has made her whole and He has equipped her to do mighty things.

Suzie: You say that an uncommon woman “gets back up again”. How is that possible? (more…)

I’m hungry

May 15, 2008 | faith

Sometimes I feel a million miles away from God.

(more…)

Amanda’s Story

May 8, 2008 | faith, stories

My Story
by Amanda Grogan
Newlywed, Believer, Chi Alpha Ministries: NSU University 

Today has been one of those days where I have done a lot of talking to my father in heaven in addition to those around me.

I am a firm believer that absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. So why is that every time something happens, the human part of me stops to think why is this happening?

Eventually, I realize that things occur because nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. So where am I going with this? Well, I believe that many years ago, my heavenly father began to write a story on the tablet of my heart. Throughout the course of my life, I have faced many obstacles. Some worse than others, some self-imposed, and some well…who knows but regardless, these obstacles have become a huge part of the woman I have become today.

Maybe it started when was a child and lived in a really disfunctional family that finally resulted in my parent’s divorce, losing loved ones in my life to death and/or distance, or maybe just the trials of everyday life, but I believe that the never-ending theme throughout my story is the idea of overcoming.

(more…)