Tag: truth

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Pressing on Toward Hope

A winding mountain road shrouded in clouds.
Exodus 5:7 (ESV)—“The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

The arrow on the GPS screen bounced like a Ping-Pong ball. It faced north, then south, then east and west. It located my husband and I on at least three different Chicago streets. We needed only the one direction, the way to the interstate. We drove onward until the arrow meandered along the blue line for blocks at a time.

Moses and Aaron, too, pressed onward to travel to the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God. Like our route, their route to exodus from Egypt included a few trials. Pharaoh’s sorcerers and magicians repeated God’s signs—a staff into a snake, the plague of blood, the plague of frogs—to Moses and Aaron. Even once Pharaoh’s people couldn’t repeat the signs, Pharaoh reverted his promise to release Moses and Aaron along with the Israelites into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God.

However, God had a plan for these signs and wonders: irrefutable proof of his sovereign reign.

In the trials of everyday life, the route we travel is not perfectly mapped out. Road blocks force a change of direction. Fog makes it hard to see where we’re going. Severe weather stops our trip altogether. Yet God is always leading us toward his truth during these uncertainties, toward hope.

To walk toward hope, we cannot harden our hearts as did Pharaoh. Instead, we can open our hearts to God’s divine direction and seek irrefutable proof of his sovereign reign.

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Gathering in Christ’s Name

A gathering of prairie dogs in Prairie Dog Town at Devils Tower National Monument
A prairie dog peeking out of its burrow
A prairie dog standing on its hind legs
Acts 10:33 (ESV)—"So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

They stand on mounds of dirt, stick their heads out of burrows, and generally scamper about the grassy field known as Prairie Dog Town. I lift my camera and aim the lens at the prairie dog peeking out of its burrow. Another sits yards away, chewing on the grass. Still another sits upright, head moving side to side as if in search of danger.

Without this keystone creature, the ecosystem at Devils Tower National Monument and nearby Badlands National Park could collapse. The black-footed ferret could starve without its meal of prairie dog, burrowing owls couldn’t claim abandoned prairie dog burrows for homes, and the grass would grow tall and prevent other plants from sprouting.

Likewise, without the keystone of community, the wheels of Christianity could stop turning. Without gatherings, there is no listening, no sharing. Without the exchange of information, truth remains hidden in the shadows.

For Simon Peter, an invitation to share the gospel turned into a learning experience when the truth came out of the shadows. He recognized salvation was not only for Jews but also for Gentiles—for everyone!

For sure, gathering in Christ’s name causes the wheels of Christianity to move. Community creates a space of listening and learning, of sharing and hearing—a place where God reveals truth.

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Sharing Our Hurts

Hurt, such a small word for such a big emotion. Hurt comes in many shapes and forms, from a harsh but true critique of our writing from a trusted friend, to feeling like a failure when we receive yet another rejection.

Hurt, however, drives our spirit toward God. When we share our cry to the Lord in our writing and, more important, God’s healing result, other people receive a truth about God. Indeed, our proclamation of God’s truth makes others aware of God’s power to heal hurt, driving them toward the Healer.

So let’s share our truth, our cry to God, remembering he can bring our words to life for others.

1 Kings 17:21 (ESV)—Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life[a] come into him again.”

1 Kings 17:24 (ESV)—And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
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Writing in Service of God

I work with fellow writers in God's service

Last weekend, I attended She Speaks 2024 online. One big lesson I learned came not only from the many wonderful speakers but also from the attendees.

Success scares us.

My thoughts tread along a steep, rocky path of fear: If I become published, do I have to live in the spotlight of social media rather than in my cozy wallflower home? What if I botch the message I want to share? What if God calls me to reveal something deeply personal?

For these questions, I found encouragement in 1 Corinthians 3 about our work as God’s servants. First and foremost…

  1. we are all servants of God (v. 5). We belong to a community of like-minded believers, writers wanting to nurture our readers with God’s truth, a truth we can plant alone but not nurture alone. As part of God’s ministry team…
  2. we have built-in writing support (v. 6). This team supports us in our writing and we support their writing as well (through critique groups, through book launch teams, on social media, through prayer, etc.). By tending to our own stories as well as contributing to others’ writing journeys…
  3. we work together in God’s service (v. 9). Our writing offers fields of nourishment, for example, a soldier might write a book of their experiences with PTSD that provides spiritual nourishment for other soldiers. Our writing offers a shelter of understanding, for example, a blogger whom God has healed from alcoholism might build a shelter for an alcoholic seeking refuge from temptation. Our writing ministry combined with others’ expands our Kingdom reach.

When we write in fear of success, our work may stay merely a seed in the ground. And seeds that stay in the ground end up rotting. Instead, let’s call upon our fellow workers to help us build stories on the foundation of Christ. Let’s come together in his name to grow bountiful fields and to build useful buildings. Let’s turn the spotlight from us to God, whose love helps us grow through our community and uses our writing as part of his ministry.

1 Corinthians 3:9 (ESV)—For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
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Canceling on God

Job 42:2 (ESV)—“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Cue a sad face. Our household had been struck. With the virus. The excitement of our weekend getaway dissolved like salt in hot water, the salty brine a damper on our weekend, no more so than when I hit the Cancel Reservation button for the very first time. Sigh.

Have you ever tried to hit the Cancel button on God? Cue an inward cringe, because who hasn’t been there? Hitting this button obscures the truth that God is sovereign. The message confirming the cancellation says we’re free to question, complain, and challenge God, because why else does debt rule our lives, why did our friend abandon our relationship, why did our child die in a car accident?

The answer to these questions (and more): God is sovereign. He has the power to give and take abundance. Just ask Job.

Thankfully, God also rejects our cancellation request. He fixes our broken spirit, giving us eyes of faith and lips that confess and repent. He restores our souls.

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Tossing Fears Aside

Seaweed floating in the ocean
Hebrews 2:1 (ESV)—Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

The soft brush of stringy tentacles wrapped around my leg; it was as if I’d run into a spider web, only I was knee deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Cue a shudder.

Deep down I knew the source of the underwater creature, but still my mind said, “Please not a shark!”

At another bump against my leg, I plunged my hand in, grabbed the offending entity, and flung the seaweed away from me. Toward the other seaweed floating in the waves, not to mention the seaweed along the shoreline.

The unknown creatures of the (knee) deep can cause us to lose our grip on reality. The little bumps in our journey may make us feel lonely. Maybe we question God’s purpose for our struggles because our worst fear came true. Or maybe the little fears have us dreaming up the worst-case scenario (nothing like seaweed to make your brain scream, “Jellyfish!”)

Our deep-down truth, though, is God has paid for our salvation. This message moors us to God. Loneliness is a human emotion, but in these moments we can talk with God as did Job and Jeremiah. Struggles happen, but God uses them to refine us and achieve his plan. And fears, love banishes them, so if we have God’s love, we do not have to fear.

The evidence of God’s love and plans surround us. The truth reminds us to not worry about the creatures living deep down in the unknown. We can toss away our fears like a handful of seaweed and trust in the knowledge that he has saved us.

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Words of Affirmation: Spiritual Truths

I am blessed to interpret spiritual truths

With God’s call to write and edit comes the powerful tool of words. Words that touch lives. Words that spark interest in God. Words that build up. For sure, we are blessed that the Spirit fills our words with the “hidden wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7). Our call, then, becomes interpreting spiritual truths for others.

I pray you embrace this calling with all your heart!

1 Corinthians 2:13 (ESV)—And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.