Category Archives: give aways

Walking my Peace…

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it, and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace…’” (Luke 19:41-42).

I had a bad dream last night. Not surprising considering the events that preceded my final surrender to slumber. I’d already had my good dose of going-to-sleep, Bible reading and was happily drifting away when I heard the slamming of car doors on my front lawn. I awakened Billy and asked him, “Did you hear that?” As if.

He hadn’t. I ran to the dining room window to discover two trucks on our front lawn. Because of some recent car break-ins in our neck of the woods, I was certain that the bandits were making their rounds to my beat-up van, chock full of remnants from a day’s work in the attic that were soon to find a new home at the Salvation Army. My husband commented it would be a blessing if the robbers would cart the stuff off thus, saving him a trip. After pulling on his britches, he headed outdoors to take a look around. Alas, no bandits, only EMT workers responding to a neighbor’s call across the street.

Once I was back in bed, my adrenaline was still pumping and my mind began to entreat all the possible scenarios of what “might have been.” It took a long time for me to resettle my thoughts and move back to the calm I had previously known, but eventually I drifted off to sleep.

To a bad dream.

I won’t go into the particulars, but safe-to-say, it involved a couple of missing children… my children. Seems ridiculous even typing that now; dreams always have a way of living bigger when they’re “in the moment” and happening upon the stage of the subconscious. At the time, the feelings I felt were very real and enough to arouse me from my slumber. Once fully awake, I went upstairs to check on my children and returned to my thinking… about how the earlier wanderings of my mind might have contributed to a bad dream. About how God tells me to bring all thoughts captive to him and to allow him to reframe them in accordance with his truth.

And when I did, when I began to hash this dream out with God, I remembered my previous going-to-sleep, Bible reading from Luke—Jesus’ words that said,

‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace…’

And then I remembered what would bring me peace.

Jesus.

And then I was incredibly thankful for this one truth that I, in fact, do know and do hold as my abiding truth in all my times and situations, both day and night.

Jesus Christ and the promise of his peace.

Jesus no longer weeps over my ignorance as he did on that day when he stood on the threshold of a painful surrender. He doesn’t look down from heaven today and shed a tear regarding my willful neglect of his truth. I imagine he still cries for others who’ve yet to make that leap of faith-filled understanding, but as for me and my faith, I’m securely anchored to Jesus and to the pilgrimage of Easter that we walk together this week. His story is my own. His life and death and resurrection belong to me, even as it belonged to those who stood by to watch it in living color 2000 years ago. The words he echoed through his tears back then are the words he echoes still… words he’s entrusted to me and to you for the telling.

We are God’s peace-ambassadors, his kingdom peace-keepers, peace-makers, peace-tellers. We are the living color, flesh-and-blood carriers of our Savior’s truth, and should we choose to remain silent, the rocks will rise up to take our place. God is just that good. His truth is just that pure. His life is just that real. His love is just that much. So good and pure and real and much that even the stones of creation cannot contain their voices regarding his authenticity.

I want to be found as faithful. I want to herald the truth of Easter, and I want the anchor of God’s peace sustaining me on all occasions, whether the moon or the sun is governing the light. Today, I know what brings me peace because long ago I “recognized the time of God’s coming to me”, and I received his story as my own. I live it again this week as I walk to Calvary to remember, to reflect, and to renew my heart as an Easter child with an Easter inheritance to share.

A very good dream. A very certain reality.

God’s Peace. God’s Son. God’s Gift. God’s Grace.

The Truth behind Easter.

Remember Christ well this week; live Christ all the more. I’ll meet you at the empty tomb. As always…

peace for the journey,
~elaine

PS: The winner of the pay-it-forward giveaway is Leah @ The Point. Congrats, Leah. Please send me your snail mail via my e-mail, and as soon as the book arrives in the mail to me, I’ll send it your way along with a few extras. Enjoy.

paying it forward…

paying it forward…


Not long ago, I won a pay-it-forward giveaway from my friend, http://thesecretlifeofanamericanwifeandmom.blogspot.com/ These are the goodies I received in the mail yesterday. I’ve never read Captivating but dearly love the work of John Eldredge, so I’m looking forward to diving into this “read” over spring break. In addition, I have a new travel mug for my morning brew and some Nips (another new for me) that, if I’m not careful, might cause me a trip to the dentist! Thank you, Christy, for your kindness. Your package arrived on a good day when I needed a friendly lift.

Now, as a winner of the giveaway, I’m to pick a few of my favorite things and pay-it-forward to one of you. Here is the book that will be included, Alicia Chole’s Anonymous: Jesus Hidden Years and Yours. You can read about it further by clicking here. Also, I will add in a few extras to sweeten the win.

If you’d like to participate in this contest, here are the pertinent details:

  • Leave a comment to this post, letting me know you’d like to be included in the contest (I have some readers who might want to comment but don’t want to be included, so please make sure you let me know).
  • If I draw out your name as the winner, be willing to write your own pay-it-forward post once receiving the package in the mail, posting a link back to peace for the journey.
  • Create your own pay-it-forward package to bless one of your readers and be willing to mail it in a timely manner.
  • Enjoy each page of Anonymous.

Make sense? I hope so. I’m not very good at this type of thing but feel so blessed to have won Christy’s giveaway. I’m all about paying-it-forward, friends, because the love of Christ compels me to do so.

Just this morning, I was reading in John 12:1-10 about Jesus’ anointing at Bethany. As a way of preparing my heart for this week-long pilgrimage to the cross, I’m re-reading The Final Week of Jesus by Max Lucado. It includes seven days worth of reading, all recaps of chapters from his book, And the Angels were Silent. Saturday’s readings focus on Simon the Leper’s dinner for Jesus, along with the lavish anointing of Jesus by Mary. Again, I am moved by Jesus’ response to the dinner guests who thought little of her extravagant worship…

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me” (John 12:7-8).

Extravagant love loves abundantly. I can’t help but recall a piece of godly wisdom I received from my mother several years ago regarding the wealth and worthiness of our words and actions toward others. It went something like this…

Elaine, we all do a really good job of sending people flowers once their dead. We send them to the funeral home and litter the graveside with blooms of extravagant remembrance. But rare are the people, Elaine, who send people flowers while they are still living. Be one of those people, daughter, send flowers now while you still have the recipients with you.

Mary gave a rich bouquet to Jesus that day. It came in the form of a costly anointing. She gave Christ her lavish worship because she understood, better than most, that his death was imminent. She didn’t concede her grief to an “after the fact” moment. She gave it to him while he was yet living, and it has been remembered to us these last 2000 years. It’s a story that teaches us about giving God our best now while today is yet today–about loving others as we love Christ, for what we’ve done in his name for others, we’ve done as unto him.

This week, I was given a bouquet by my friend, Christy. I’d like to do the same for you. In turn, I imagine that there is someone in your path today who needs the witness and kindness of heaven given to him/her via your heart and hands. Would you be willing to pass on God’s love to one of his created? It doesn’t have to cost you a year’s worth of wages, but it should cost you something… your time, your prayers, your deliberate attention, and yes, perhaps your wallet. We have been richly blessed by God with great abundance, so let’s get to the “flower shop” and start putting together a bouquet that will let your neighbors know that they matter to you and, therefore, matter to the kingdom.

Pay-it-forward, friends, and see if God is not faithful to plant a beautiful garden on your behalf and for his renown! As always…

peace for the journey,

PS: In your comments, please make sure you indicate whether or not you want to be included in the giveaway, which indicates your willingness to pay-it-forward. Winner will be drawn with my next post. Blessed Sabbath rest to you and yours this weekend. Shalom.

a letter to a friend…

“As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” {Isaiah 55:10-11}
Dear New Friend:

I thought about you tonight.

As my family made entrance into the local Blockbuster to peruse our evening’s entertainment, I remained in the warmth of my van, perusing the contents of my recent purchase.

Your new Bible.

You won’t be the first to crack its spine. I’ve already done that on your behalf. It naturally and without prompt fell open to Haggai, page 1247. My heart was moved to tears. It’s not by accident that my eyes landed there—a profound reminder for both of us about keeping “first things first” … God first. Haggai is one of the shortest reads in holy writ, admonishing its recipients to “give careful attention” to their paneled houses—to all the ways we’ve majored on selfish gain while giving little thought to spiritual gain. Our neglect in regards to the building of God’s “house” within us, leaves us as we are rather than as he intends for us to be.

A good word for you as you begin a deeper trek inward into the treasure trove of God’s Word. Thank you for asking for it… for being willing to brave the articulations of your heart and wanting to know just exactly what it means to “get into the Word.” Your genuine request touched me in the deepest way. I don’t often receive this one—a plea for understanding on how to “do” this adventure called “discipleship,” of going deeper with God but not sure what that means. What that looks like. Where that starts. How that is managed. I have an inclination that you already know how that feels, and if your hunger feels anything like mine did seven years ago, then you, my friend, are overwhelmed with desire. Wanting to know more, but not sure how to get there.

You get there one verse at a time. One tender moment at a time. One prayer, one thought, one question bravely given to our God and, then, allowing him time enough to answer you through the power of his holy Word. You don’t go in expecting to hold his “all” in one sitting. Instead, you pace yourself, content to know that any time spent with Jesus on the pages of Scripture will seed in you more knowledge, deeper peace, and a stronger understanding of who he is. Not just sometimes, but every time. God has gone before us to write his Word in accurate measure. Not one “t” remains uncrossed; not one “i” un-dotted.

God’s Word is perfect. Is life. Is effectual. Is flawless. Is the very breath of his holy heart. Is consecrated and set apart for our good gain. As you are faithful to come to its pages, to unfold it one story at a time, God is faithful to bring you into a spiritual fullness you’ve never known before. This is the sure witness of my heart. These “ain’t” just words, sister. This has been God’s very good gift to me—the transformational work of my heart that began in magnified measure seven years ago when I had a head-on collision with the Word’s incomparable strength.

God’s Word has changed me. It will change you as well. And for the record, if you never receive any further instruction—via the pulpit, another teacher, another Bible-study, another blog, another retreat, another song—you’ve been given everything you need to engage with the truth of Scripture and to live out its witness (1 John 2:27). If Jesus is your Savior, then you have his living Spirit within you (John 14, 16). He will counsel you as you go; he will administer understanding that exceeds human attempts at having it all make sense.

Do we need help from time to time, some mentoring from those who’ve been at this longer? You bet. That’s why we do Bible study; why we surround our lives with good resources that will poke and prod us along in our sacred transformation. But when it’s not there, when we are left to our quiet contemplation before Father God and with his Word, then don’t let the enemy fool you into thinking that nothing is happening. That it can’t work because you lack the knowledge or don’t have the spiritual “resume” to back up your hunger.

Things always happen with God and with his Word… even when you can’t see it, feel it, conceive it, understand it. Even when you’re having a hard time believing it. God’s Word accomplishes its purpose in us; this is his promise to us. This is his promise to you (Isaiah 55:11-12; Hebrews 4:12).

So I thought about you tonight in front of Blockbuster, and I cried. I remembered how far these “pages” have brought me in a short time and how fully they continue to carry me, sustain me, and enliven me to the spiritual pulse of all creation. And I am overwhelmed with the thought of what they might do for you. Thus, a few tears of baptism and a prayer of consecration over your new Bible on this cold night in a warm van. There’s a lifetime of wealth within its covers. From front to back and every consecrated word in between, there lives a history that has always been… that will always be. You are part of that history; so am I. We are there, intricately woven within a story that’s been flowing in and out of the mind and heart of God for all eternity.

What a privilege to walk that story with you … to be included in something so far beyond us, yet so gracefully bestowed upon us because of a Father’s infinite love and great grace. You have reminded me of why I am in the kingdom business, friend. Why I have cast me lot with the Lover of my soul and have committed my heart, my steps, my pen, my all in his direction. And should he grant me a few more days of witness upon this earth, then by the grace of God, may my all continue to point you and others to the everlasting truth of his living Word.

Thanks for being brave. Thanks for reaching out. Your Bible will soon be home with you. As always…

peace for the journey,

~elaine
PS: Thank you to so many of you for leaving words of encouragement and congrats on my two-year anniversary last post. I had a hard time deciding what to do for three of you, so rather than picking a prize, I’m allowing the three winners to pick their prize… a Christian book or CD of choice that I can easily find on CBD or Amazon! E-mail me your choices {$15 limit please}, and I’ll order these this week. Random winners are…
#6 Rebecca @ Life and Godliness
#33 Kathy S. @ Blessed Builder
#49 Deb @ He Gave Me a Dream

my half-lived day…

We all woke up this morning with a message written across our hearts, either penned by our hand or by God’s.

What was your message? Mine?

Well, I’m gonna live this day better than yesterday, Lord. Through your strength and by your grace, I’m gonna live this one better.

And I have lived it better. God’s presence has been genuine and his hands gentle to me. It’s only 2:30 in the afternoon. I’ve made my bed, done some laundry, wrote 1,400 words in my WIP, ran four miles, and had a bath. Oh, I almost forgot… I’ve also had numerous e-mail chats with my Kentucky friend, Shirley, who is graciously lending her creative eye and photographs to a project I’m working on. Have you ever stopped by to visit her to read her heart and to see our world through her photographic lens? You’re missing something if you haven’t. She’s as home grown and genuine as they come. I’m not sure how our paths first crossed; perhaps, through Exemplify. Regardless of the prompt, I’m glad it arrived. She is a gracious portion of God’s love on this earth. I am the better for having her life intertwined with mine.

I don’t know how the rest of this day is going to play out. My kids arrive home in swift order. There will be homework to manage. A meal to make… well, to imagine (oh Billy, sweet man of mine, what’s on the menu tonight?). Dishes to clean. Baths to administer. Books to read and perhaps a movie to watch with my older boys before their pilgrimages back to college. Yes, I’ve got an “idea” as to how this day is going to end. Getting there from this moment seems a short leap, but when I do… when I close my eyes on this day, if I don’t do a single thing more than what I’ve currently done up to this point, then today has already been a better day than yesterday.

Today, I woke up to a good message. Tomorrow, I pray to wake accordingly.

What was your message this morning? Cut honestly through to the truth of the matter, and wrestle with your answer. Did you wake up to pain? To heartache? To joy? To expectation? To your “here we go again, Lord” or “I can’t possibly face my life right now.” Your answer tells you a great deal about who is holding the pen.

If your morning message wasn’t what you wanted it to be, then re-write it. Yes, re-write it. Right now. If you could do your 6:30 AM wake-up call all over again, how would you want your message to write?

How thankful I am for a God who allows me re-writes, right smack dab in the middle of my day. I don’t have to wait until tomorrow to start again. Neither do you. God is the Author of our blessed “do it better’s” no matter the time of the day we feel his prompt along these lines. The key to doing it better resides with God’s pen, not ours. So do yourself a favor…

Hand him the pen. Allow God his moments with your heart in order to re-write the rest of your day. It matters not if you’re reading this at 10:00 PM or 10:00 AM or any other hour in between. What matters is the moment you call right now and the message you want attached to your right now.

I value your right now. So does our heavenly Father. May his lavish love and continuing presence be your portion as you march your way through the rest of this day, living the message he’s written onto your heart.

Now, let’s see…

I can add “writing a blog post” to a day that continues to live better than yesterday. I’m on a roll. There is more day left to live. I think I’ll get busy living it. As always…

peace for the journey,

post signature

PS: Leave me a comment about the “message” of your heart this day, and you’ll be entered to win one of Shirley’s latest photo/devotional books, Meditations of an Autumn Heart or Simply Light (your pick). You can preview them by clicking on these links. Also, take time to visit Shirley and her work at Sketches of a Common Life. She’s anything but common, friends. Shalom.

born again in me this morning…

 

***

“Yea, Lord we greet thee, born this happy morning…”

Those were the familiar words that greeted me as I headed out on my morning run. The air was crisp, the sun brilliant–a fitting backdrop for Chris Tomlin’s rendition of “O Come All Ye Faithful” from his newest release, Glory in the Highest. I spent the next hour cycling through the entire CD with a few repeats along the way (have I mentioned to you that I am the slowest runner in the free world?).

Over and over again, I kept hearing the words “born this happy morning…” and then another phrase–one that surfaced from the deepest well within me reserved for the Divine.

Born again in me this morning, born again in me this morning.

It was all I could do to stay upright rather than falling prostrate on the pavement in grateful thanks for the truth that Jesus Christ is born again in me this morning. He’s born again in you as well. If your eyes opened to the grace of a new day (and I imagine that to be the case if you’re reading this), then Jesus Christ should be as fresh and as new to you this day as he was in those first moments when you knew him as Lord, Savior, Messiah, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, King of your heart.

His mangered arrival isn’t an isolated event–set in stone some 2000 years ago as a specific date in time to mark his entrance into this world. His arrival is today, just as real and as potent as it was on a starry night in Bethlehem. The Christ-child that was held in his mother’s arms intends for us to hold him in ours. To pick him up in his humanness… his Godness and to cradle him close to our hearts. To feel the gentle whispers of his tender breath upon our cheeks and to embrace the penetrating grace radiating from his glance.

When we get that, when we realize that Bethlehem is as much a part of our story as Calvary is, then we are given the grand and glorious invitation to come and to adore him. If we are amongst the faithful, then we should come each day to the manger, to the cross, to the tomb, and then to our worship. It’s our story to live. It’s our mantle to wear. It’s our privilege to tell.

Everyday, born again and afresh in us each morning. May today be a day that begins with a Bethlehem pause and that finishes with the same. Our Savior is so worthy of our notice. As always…

peace for the journey.

~elaine

PS: I want to mention a couple of great things going on in blog land this week.

1. Exemplify is hosting a Christmas spectacular in the month of December. Click here to check out all the details and the current giveaway of Casting Crowns’ Christmas CD.

2. My new blogging friend, Jackie at Fresh Oil Today, is hosting a Christmas giveaway at her blog. Check it out and sign up to win.

3. Thanks to all of you who endured my Black Friday video and found the hidden clue within regarding the giveaway. Those of you who left a comment along those lines were qualified for a name drawing to win Chris Tomlin’s CD “Glory in the Highest” and Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling”. The winners are…

Chris Tomlin CD – Cheryl B. from Cheryl’s R&R

Jesus Calling – Donna from Donna’s Booknook.

Congratulations ladies; please e-mail me your addresses, and I’ll get these to you this week!

error: Content is protected !!