Tag: Hagar

A Story of Thanksgiving and When the Holy Spirit Did a Happy Dance

November 19, 2022 /

A year ago, just before Easter, I had gathered a bunch of young moms from our church in California. I wanted to encourage them and asked them to share “Yay God” stories from the past year.

We talked about the blessing of technology during Covid to keep isolated moms with littles connected as they tried to persevere and follow Jesus during a difficult time.

One of the special stories that came up was about a mom named Brooke, married with 3 little kids, who had moved to Switzerland with her husband at the beginning of Covid. She hadn’t found fellowship and Zooming with our group in the states was her lifeline.

Since we lived and ministered in Switzerland for a short while, I asked the group where Brooke had moved.

“Oh, it’s a really tiny town in the Alps”, they responded.

I asked, “Which one? Would you recognize the name?”

I held my breath. “Is it Wengen?”

“YES!” they exclaimed in chorus. “How did you know??!”

I can’t be sure, this is what happened, but I pictured God just laughing with delight as His Holy Spirit danced around my patio where we were gathered.

Because I have a close friend, Jane, who just “happens” to live in Wengen with her husband, and they not only are Jesus followers, they also have the gift of hospitality out the wazoo.

We keep in touch through WhatsApp and I quickly texted her Brooke’s name and information. A few days later my heart soared when Jane sent pictures of Brooke’s family in Jane’s chalet half way around the world, decorating Easter eggs.

This week I got another text from Jane who has invited Brooke and her family to Thanksgiving dinner. I’m looking forward to getting a picture!

Has this solved all of Brook’s family needs for a faith community? No! But I pray that this mama I’ve never met feels seen and I’m grateful for my friend Jane, who welcomes holy interruptions like this.

May Brooke be able to say like Hagar:

“You’re the God who sees me!
“Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”

Genesis 16:13 msg

When you feel isolated or discouraged, remember you serve a God who sees you and cares about everything that concerns you.

And if you sense a little nudge from the Holy Spirit, act on it! You may be part of God’s loving reach around the world.

Choosing Both Death and Life

September 17, 2022 /

I pulled into the small parking lot by Staring Lake and turned into the same space I parked every morning during a couple of the most tear-filled years of my life. It had been awhile since I visited this “thin place” where heaven met earth and God entered my pain.

On the paved lake path, through leafy trees that, over the years, morphed from yellow to green to red to bare black limbs that looked like witches arms, I walked daily, pouring out my confused heart to God. Begging, questioning, accusing.

It doesn’t really matter the specifics of my circumstances. Probably you too have, or had, or will have a dark season when you realize there’s nothing you can do to “fix” things and make them the way you want or the way you are sure, in a just world, they’d be.

As I walked the path today, with the perspective of almost 20 years, what struck me was life side by side with death. Saplings next to mature oaks, beside rotted logs. Life, death, rebirth, renewal.

Years ago on this path I clung to dreams that were meant to die until I gradually loosened my grip.

I didn’t recognize what the new shoots of growth would become. I had to choose life in whatever small form it appeared.

This holy, ordinary place has made me think of other wilderness spots where people in the Bible ran from God and were met by Him. Hagar in the desert (Genesis 16:13), Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:16), Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3), Elijah under the broom tree (1 Kings 19), Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).

In each of these there had to be a death – death of a wrong view of God, or death of a perception of control, or death of a dream of how life would look.

But there was also new life. It looked different and may not have been immediately recognizable, but there was life, and growth, and it was better. Maybe not more comfortable or predictable or “safe” in a worldly sense, but richer, more meaningful, eternally secure.

Reflect on this continuous process of life and death and life again.

  • What plans are you clutching that you need to let go of?
  • Where is there death that you need to grieve?
  • Where is there evidence (even tiny and even if you’re not sure what it will turn out looking like) of new life that God wants to nurture?
  • Is there a physical place where God has met you in the past that you may want to visit to remember His faithfulness?

Hiding in the Balcony

February 15, 2016 /

The expanse of the balcony looked totally empty as it should be until a movement far away caught my eye. A young woman with long blond hair had been sitting alone, her hair hiding her face. She got up and hurried out.

We have a Saturday night worship service at our church and because it is small, we close off the balcony. At the end of worship a few weeks ago I had to go up to talk to our tech people. This is when I spotted the balcony girl.

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Clearly she wanted to see but not be seen. She wore both hope and grief like strong perfume that almost hovered around her in visible clouds. Continue reading

Not Taylor Swift

November 6, 2014 /

This morning you will wake up to tweets about “postpartum Taylor Swift disorder” and news about how Kim Kardashian is the hottest mom on the planet.

I want to tell you about someone you won’t see in your Facebook newsfeed, or on the Today Show.

This is one of my new friends who lives in a slum in Lusaka, Zambia.  Her name is Faith and she wears it well.

Faith-1

Her husband is a pastor. She helps him with the ministry, and cares for six children.  And so that they can make ends meet, she raises chickens in her house.

200 chickens inside her house.  Because she can’t afford to build an outdoor coop. Continue reading

What Hagar Taught me About Peace

February 12, 2014 /

Some things are just tough.

Like figuring out why people are fascinated with Snooki, or how to fold fitted sheets, or what makes some people able to eat a kabillion Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt and not gain a pound.

Or, you know…how to achieve peace between all the people in all the places.

When it comes to the Middle East I keep wanting to say, “Lord I’m a bear of Very Little Brain” like Winnie the Pooh.

I have a long way to go, but God is patient and often a theme gradually emerges.

The truest thing I’m learning about peace is that keeping people at a distance makes it easy to demonize them.

But coming close topples the walls of misunderstanding.

This morning God reinforced this as I re-read the story of when God comes close to Hagar.

Sarah, wife of Abraham, has mistreated Hagar, the surrogate “wife” who runs away into the desert, heading back to Egypt (does that sound like areality TV show, or what?)

Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar each have a story.  Each are seen and loved by God. But they have trouble seeing and loving each other.

Here’s what spoke to me.  In the desert and in her pain, God meets Hagar and models something I’m thinking I can learn from (even with my little bear brain).

Even though Abraham and Sarah only call Hagar “servant”, God calls her by name.

He sees her!  (16:13)

And He asks her two questions:

Where have you come from? and Where are you going?

Here in the Middle East everyone has a story of injustices that have happened in the past and everyone is trying to hold on to their hopes for a future.

As we try to draw close and understand those who are different from us, whether it’s Israeli’s and Palestinians or Republicans and Democrats, gay and straight, I wonder if learning someone’s name, looking them in the eye and asking them questions like these is a place to start…

Who might you ask today:

Where have you come from?

Where do you want to go?

 

When You Feel Like You’re Losing Yourself

April 10, 2013 /

“We are all so ruined, so loved, and in charge of so little.” Anne Lamott

Our daughter Maggie is getting married in 46 days.

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When she got engaged in November many people asked with concern in their voices “How are you doing?”

“Great!” I responded.  “Austin (her fiancé) is terrific and I’m excited for them!”

And then, last week, driving down highway 100 at 4:00 in the afternoon, thinking of the possibility that Maggie and Austin may move to California (you know, like, at the opposite end of the world, and a continent away from daughter Katy), I found myself sobbing and thinking “I’m NOT ok!  I’m losing my baby!  I’m losing my family!  I’m losing my identity! I hate change!”

I. Am. Out. Of. Control.

Yes, I was a tad over-dramatic, but give me my moment.

Everything feels like it’s slipping, slipping, slipping out of my hands, out of my control, like the gooey “gak” I used to make with the kids when they were little.

Change.  Loss.  New beginnings.

I’m not the only one.  I have young friends who are graduating, some going back to school, and others who are moving, some taking big new risks.  My sister-in-law after much prayer, just resigned from a job she’s loved for years.

Continue reading

The Truest Thing I’m Learning about Peace, part 2

November 4, 2012 /

Some things are just tough.

Like figuring out why people are fascinated with Snooki, or how to fold fitted sheets, or what makes some people able to eat 316 Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt and not gain a pound.

Or, you know…how to achieve peace between everyone everywhere.

When it comes to the Middle East I keep wanting to say, “Lord I’m a bear of Very Little Brain” like Winnie the Pooh.

I have a long way to go, but God is patient and often a theme gradually emerges.  Yesterday I wrote

The truest thing I’m learning about peace is that keeping people at a distance makes it easy to demonize them.

But coming close topples the walls of misunderstanding.

This morning God reinforced this as I re-read the story of when God comes close to Hagar.

Continue reading

THE Question, Part 2 and 4 Benefits

July 11, 2012 /

Probably once a week I get THE question, “What do you do?”

I don’t have a business card or a title or a clear-cut job description so I stutter a lot when answering.  Some of you can relate.  Others are reading this and feeling huge relief that they can’t relate.

Monday I wrote about how sometimes we can feel reduced to “names” and “numbers”, and other times we cling to our names and numbers like a life jacket that’s the only thing keeping us safe.

As much as we try to major on living out of our identity in Christ, that can be about as easy as feeling comfortable on a blind date.  So I’ve been thinking about others who may have struggled with this issue.

Continue reading

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