Lessons from A to Z ~ A Lesson From Hagar

Every weekday morning, I drive the kids to school. We have 4 minutes in the car together. And I use that time to pray out loud for each of them. I pray over anything specific they have for the day—a test, a project, friend issues. I pray that they will be a blessing to their teachers and peers. I thank God that He loves them so much, that He wants to use them in their school, and that He is with them through the day. And then I open the car door and send them off to their own little worlds of elementary and preschool. Worlds I am not a major part of. I don’t follow them. I can’t see or hear them. But God does.

“You are the God who sees…” ~ Genesis 16:13

I was reminded of this verse last month as I spoke on Hagar at our annual Women’s Breakfast. Her story is a powerful one and can be found in Genesis 16 and 21. In both chapters, Hagar encounters God in the middle of the desert when she is most desperate and alone. She is reminded that: God SEES you, God HEARS you, and God has a PLAN for you.

I love that. I pray this over my children so they will remember this as they enter school: that even where I can’t follow, God is with them and has a plan for them. This has been such a comfort as we work with them through heartbreaking friend drama, frustrating subjects and disciplines that seem oh so hard to master. He sees them in class, He hears them on the playground, and He has a plan for each of them. 

Like Hagar, I pray our family can all say “I have seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13) Have you seen Him in your life?

Lessons from A to Z ~ I Have Not Come for the Well

Last month we geared up for another fancy Easter at our house. I got out our best china and laid out the kids’ fancy Easter clothes. All to celebrate what Christ came for…NOT the fancy. Not the people that “have it all together”. But for the sick, the lost, the people that have it all falling apart.  This has caused me to seriously re-think my approach.

So this Easter had special meaning when we got the opportunity to spread love and the Easter Message to the kids at Syringa—the low-income trailer park that Resonate has adopted. Here's how it happened this Easter:

I was out of town, speaking to women (about this very topic), when I received an email from one of our Syringa team members: “We had the wrong dates for the Easter Party at Syringa. It is TOMORROW and they need 30 baskets and an egg hunt!” It was too short of notice to do much, and I couldn’t start making calls in the middle of a conference. I said a quick prayer for helpers to rise up, and left it in God’s hands.

The next day, Chad texted me the following pictures. (No, I hadn't called him about this.)

 

Xavier & Zander help deliver baskets.

He had seen my email and took action! That morning he called people to sponsor baskets. Then he, the kids & the team met at Walmart and bought everything for 30 baskets. Then they went to Syringa, filled the baskets, had a party and played with our little friends there. I was so proud of my family! (And of Chad for knowing my heart for this! 1000 extra bonus husband points for Chad!)

30 baskets filled and ready for kids!

A close-up of each basket, filled with goodies and Easter info.

Egg Hunt on the lawn of newly re-opened community center.

We are learning as we go, folks. But this became the highlight of our Easter week by far! Easter is too good of news to keep it as a fancy church affair. It is news worth sharing, worth taking a basket to a child, a ham to a neighbor, or an egg hunt to a slum. It is worth taking the message of Christ to his prime audience: those who are not well yet.

Some of the team, our kids and Syringa kids.

And Jesus answered them, 

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 

I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance.”

~ Luke 5:31-32 ~

Lessons from A to Z ~ Putting on the Full Armor

Chad has recently introduced Xaiver and Zander to his favorite childhood superhero cartoons. Specifically, “Spiderman and His Amazing Friends”, after he discovered the original episodes were on Netflix. Ah the memories! The boys love it (and Chad still does too)!

What I love most though, is that the boys can’t watch a full episode without running in to their room and “suiting up” into full superhero gear. They put on a Spiderman or Superman costume, or put together their own “armor” with capes, masks and bright red rain boots. Only then are they ready to watch Spidey “save the day” as they call it. 

One episode and a costume is usually plenty of fuel for their imaginations. Then the TV goes off and they boys boldly fly around the house, armed with foam swords or light sabers, fighting enemies and saving an unsuspecting sister, cat or stuffed animal from the invisible perils that we were previously unaware of.

The boys are a wonderful reminder to me of the armor God has asked me to put on. I sometimes forget about the invisible perils all around me. But we have a real spiritual enemy that comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).  And he often attacks when we are being most effective in taking “enemy ground”.

With all the victories going on in our family and our ministry at Resonate Church, Chad and I have felt a spiritual battle raging. (Thankfully we are on the winning side!) We want to stand strong against the devil's schemes, put on the full armor of God and be victorious in Christ. We invite you to read and pray through the following verse with us:
  

Ephesians 6:10-19 ~

^"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel..."