Inspecting the Fruit

Contemplating why yesterday afternoon was painful for me.

I felt stressed. Defeated. Frustrated. Ashamed. Fearful. Ugly. Useless.

I had a good sob-fest in my room like any rational adult woman would ;-) And I woke this morning with very puffy eyes...and the voice of the Holy Spirit whispering gently, "wanna talk about it?"

I opened my Bible to Luke chapter 14, which is an interesting series of messages that go something like:

1. Hate all else and follow me
2. Pick up your cross and follow me
3. Count the cost
4. Give up all to be my disciple

Bottom line...surrender ALL to Him.

The Holy Spirit was so tender when He said, "The reason those two areas are so painful for you is because you're insisting on carrying them and they're simply too heavy for you. It'll always hurt you to carry them. And I'll allow them to hurt you because I want you to learn to put them in my hands and to leave them there. Have you had enough yet?"

My whole mind, body, and soul screamed "YES, I've had enough!"

But agreeing isn't the final step.

Actually gathering up all the heavy stuff and RELEASING it to Him is the final step.

Oh Lord, cast that junk FAR away from me so I can't pick it back up even if I foolishly think I want to!

Today is a day to inspect the fruit in different areas of my life.

I'll rejoice and be thankful when I recognize the fruits of a surrendered life...peace and joy and contentment.

And if/when I see evidence of fear, shame, condemnation, or defeat...I'll simply recognize those areas of my life as "big ugly heavy" things that require surrender.

He's a good Father.

He doesn't require our surrender as a way to make us poor.

He asks for our surrender because He knows it's healthy for us, and He wants His beloved to be healthy.

I want what He so compassionately and lovingly offers to lavish on us... all the good stuff.

I want total freedom from all the works of the evil one.

It's what Jesus came to do.

It's why he suffered for the JOY set before Him.

Thank you Lord, and please have the fullness of what You purchased in me and my loved ones.

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Job Description: Don't Work

 

God whispered to me while I ironed today


Have --->  Do --->  Be

vs

Be --->  Do --->  Have

As one of my favorite teachers shared recently, the world would have us operate out of a place of what we HAVE in an effort to eventually work our way to who we ARE/ want to BE = Striving. Earning. Grinding.

The Lord teaches differently. He starts with who we ARE…our identity. And everything flows from there = Peace. Contentment. Confidence.

As I ironed, I heard that still small voice say “this is a perfect example”

I used to HATE ironing. I mean absolutely loathe it.

But today I found myself enjoying it because I adore my husband. I love being his wife. I relish little things I can do to help him and care for him.

I ironed carefully and lovingly out of who I AM. I am the well-loved, adored, and precious wife of Luke Fouch 

The reason I used to hate ironing for him was because I was operating from a place of “should”. It felt like an obligation and a chore. I thought that to be a “good wife”, ironing was something I needed to do. (To be clear, he never once asked me to iron for him. He’s quite capable and willing to do his own ironing.)

I was trying to DO in order to become someone I aspired to be.

Now, I know who I AM, and I do things out of that place of wholeness and strength.

Do you see the difference? It seems subtle, but it’s a massive 180° turn.

The irony is that when I operated out of obligation and “should”, I never actually achieved my goal. All my work was for nothing. I was left always feeling like I could have done better…and that I was never quite good enough.

Now, I START “good enough”. More than good enough, actually. Everything that flows out of that identity is just icing on the cake.

It’s the same with our relationship with God.

The world and the spirit of religion demand our obedience and hard work to achieve the title “good Christian” or “good child of God”.

But God asks us to operate differently. He tells us right off the bat, “YOU ARE MY CHILD AND I LOVE YOU”.

And He expects us to operate FROM His love and acceptance…not FOR His love and acceptance.

The heart of it is this: can I trust Him? Can I rely entirely on His Word EVEN if it’s contrary to what I see with my own eyes sometimes??

Will I be a “sensual” Christian, believing my senses and experiences?

Or will I totally surrender and believe the Word NO MATTER WHAT?

It’s ironic really…the hardest work God calls us to is the difficult job of STOPPING all the hard work!

Surrender
Rest
Enjoying Him
Peace
Wholeness
Contentment

It’s a great job to have…and the benefits package is amazing ;-)

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On Fear...

 

I used to be tormented...TORMENTED...by fear.

In the first few years of our marriage, Luke travelled for work more than he was home. You'd think I would have just grown accustomed to it. Instead, I sat in a stew of fear and dread and imaginary funerals. It was a horrible existence for me every time he packed a suitcase.

The birds of worry and fear not only circled overhead...they had a permanent nest there. The noise, smell, and mess under a nasty bird's nest is no place to live.

This morning, I woke to those familiar voices of fear whispering in my ear.

As I went to Luke, snuggled up in his arms, I was about to say "I'm afraid, will you pray for me?"...when I heard the Holy Spirit say "DON'T SAY IT. DON'T AGREE WITH THEM."

Instead, I simply hugged him and told him I loved him.

I will not speak the words "I'm afraid" because I recognize the voice that is suggesting that I live in fear today. It is the voice of the liar, and I will simply not agree. I will not use my voice to speak lies.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear..."

Lord, please apply your perfect love to the parts of me that are being tempted by the voice of fear right now. You ARE perfect love - thank you for casting out fear!

Fear, I reject you. I do not agree with your lies. You must go.

I will set my eyes on Jesus.

I will worship.

I will rejoice and be glad in this new day.

I will testify of His goodness.

I will agree with the Spirit within me and His peace, joy, patience, love, and goodness.

My flesh has been crucified with Christ, along with it's tendency to fear. I now live and walk by the Spirit of God Almighty.

I am free...I am free indeed!

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You CAN hear His Voice

I hear it all the time: “WHAT IF I’M HEARING WRONG?!”, in a panicked and fearful voice from a precious brother or sister in the faith. 

 

“What if He actually wants me to do this instead of that?”

“What if it’s just my own voice or intuition?”

“What if I MISS what God has for me because I’m hearing wrong?”

Despite how people “feel” about it, we CAN KNOW the voice of God speaking to us.  I’m prompted to write about this today because I believe God wants to reassure His kids.  He wants us walking in confidence and peace, and in full assurance that we know His voice.

 

The Lord brings three things to my mind every time I hear someone say these types of things:

1.     “Did God REALLY say?...”

2.     “There is no shifting shadow in Him”

3.     “Check the fruit”

 

Let’s start with #1.  Remember the very first lie that the serpent ever spoke to humanity?  The Word says in Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said,…” 

 

He’s “crafty”…sneaky, manipulative, and tricky.  He didn’t come right out and speak a bald-faced lie.  Instead, he sort of came at it sideways and out of the corner of his mouth.  I can almost see his slithering body and shifty eyes as he hissed “did God really say…?”  In his craftiness, he knew that he could merely suggest a lie, and it would lead humanity’s thoughts down a rabbit trail of lies and half-truths…down the deadly slippery slope of doubting their hearing of God’s Word.

 

So, friend…keep that in mind when you begin to think, “what if I’m hearing wrong?”  That very question slithering into your thinking is likely from the enemy who’s working to steal from you.

 

On to #2.  James 1:17 is such a beautiful description of our Father:  “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

 

There is no “shifting shadow”, no “variation” in our Heavenly Father.  He is 100% light and truth and wholeness.  He doesn’t change His mind.  He doesn’t lead you down one path and then cruelly yank you in another direction.  His daily living Word speaking to you will NEVER shift or vary from the solid black and white truths in His written Word.  He is a FIRM foundation.  THE Rock – the most precious Cornerstone of all we believe in.  HE NEVER MOVES.

 

So, if what you’re hearing in your ear makes it feel like the earth is shifting unpredictably and dangerously under your feet, it’s not the Lord.

 

Don’t misunderstand – God will certainly lead us in new directions that surprise us…maybe even in some directions that we don’t always want.  But know that He’ll lead us with His peace and joy, and in connection to His Word. 

 

I remember a particularly challenging time when the Lord asked us to downsize dramatically.  We sold our “dream home”, we sold/donated over half our belongings, and we moved to a house less than half the size we’d been in.  And boy, not everyone was on board.  Some of our kids were downright angry about it!  And there was grief as the pieces of my identity that had been wrapped up in that big fancy house got yanked out by the roots (the longer we resist sanctification the more difficult it’ll be to get started).

 

But my husband knew that he knew that he KNEW that God was inviting us to make that move.

 

One blessed day I had a crazy experience as I stood in our tiny new kitchen with 1970’s brown appliances and wood paneling….an inexplicable joy became a physical sensation.  It was like a giant bubble began in my belly and just tickled it way up and out of me.  I couldn’t help but smile and giggle while standing in that kitchen that every ounce of my flesh did NOT want haha!  That inexplainable joy comforted me like nothing else.  A peace that surpassed understanding blanketed me as a mother tenderly tucks her baby in with a soft quilt.  The SITUATION wasn’t what I wanted, but His Word stood true.

 

And the punchline?  I’m beyond grateful for my husband’s ear that was tuned to the Lord, and for his insistence that we obey the leading of the Lord.  Within just a few months of moving and cutting our expenses in half, the bottom dropped out of one of our businesses.  If we’d dug our heals in and insisted on staying in a place despite God’s leading us out…we’d have had serious…SERIOUS trouble. He’s a really good Father.

 

Finally, #3: Check the Fruit   John 10:10 tells us that our enemy steals and kills and destroys, but Jesus gives us life abundant. And Matthew 7:16 says “you’ll know them by their fruit”. 

 

Matthew was talking about recognizing true followers of Jesus by the way they live their life, but I’d like to suggest that a similar test can be applied to our thoughts.

 

The idea is to pay deliberate attention to our thought life, and to run those thoughts through the filter of God’s Truth.  A thought, word, or action will reflect the nature of the speaker.

 

A “word” from the enemy will be in accordance with his lying, manipulating, stealing, killing, destroying nature. The fruit will be feelings of confusion, shame, condemnation, “shoulda-coulda-woulda”, regret, heaviness, and defeat. 

 

A “word” from your own brain will likely be slightly shifty.  I can really only speak for myself when I say that thoughts from my own flesh are highly dependent on how well I slept last night, when I last ate, and what the hormone balance happens to be in my body… “truth” is HIGHLY relative and changes by the moment! Not exactly the kind of thing I want to build my life on ;-)

 

A Word from the Lord is entirely different.  Since it reflects His perfect nature, it will bear the fruit of His beautiful Spirit.  It will carry a love, joy, peace, goodness, and patience.  There will NOT be a sense of rushing because God’s not in a hurry.  It will feel like the God of all is smiling on you because He IS.  It will be packed with power and truth, but will arrive with an unspeakable tenderness and gentleness.  Even when He’s disciplining or correcting, it will come with a heavy dose of love and gentleness.  He corrects us because He loves us not because He wants to prove He’s right.  He doesn’t have anything to prove.

 

And if a thought/word brings ANY fear, it’s not of Him. 

 

Fear of missing out?  Not God – He works all things to the good of his kids.

 

Fear of failure? Not God – All things are possible for and with Him.

 

Fear of loss? Not God – even in physical death, we are united with Him.

 

Fear of rejection? Not God – all who come to the Father through the doorway Jesus opened is accepted with open arms and rejoicing.

 

Fear of abandonment? Not God – He never leaves or forsakes his children.

 

Fear of not “doing enough”? Not God – He calls us to partner with Him – to take up His yoke and be linked to Him.  The burden we’re asked to carry is easy and light because HE carries the bulk of it.

 

So be free of the captivity of your own thoughts, friends.  Get yourself immersed in the written Word, and each time you open that book begin with a prayer of “Show me the true YOU, God”.  His character will shine from the page as you read.  Your heart will be lifted.  Your ear will be tuned to what He says and, more importantly, to WHO HE IS.

 

As you get to know Him more and more, you will absolutely “Know His voice”.  There’s no greater blessing!

 

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Shalom Shalom - Thank You, Lord!

 

My beloved Pastor said something profound in a recent sermon when he said with absolute certainty and conviction, "GOD'S NOT MAD!"

The revelation that God isn't mad, disappointed, disgusted, or frustrated with me has been a new way of thinking for me in the last 6 years or so.  God's been scrubbing out the "religion" in me that taught me otherwise, and it's been wonderful, so when my pastor said "God's not mad!", I almost leapt out of my seat at shouted "Yeah!!!" haha!

The story of how the Lord taught me how He actually feels about me is... a lot.  It's long and emotional and stunningly beautiful.  I'll write the details of the experiences I had with Him someday...when/if He asks me to.

Let me ask you this, friend...what if it's true?  What if it's true that God's not mad at you?  God's not disgusted or disappointed with you?  God's not frustrated or irritated with you?  Jesus is not hanging on that cross looking at you mournfully.  

What would it mean to your heart - your LIFE - if God actually adores you?  Delights in you? Rejoices over you?

Pray with me now... "Lord, give me a fresh revelation of your love for me.  Open my understanding to really KNOW your love and delight when you see me."

Ok, now consider Psalm 35:27 (this is just one of MANY that speak of God's heart for you)

Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; And let them say continually, “The LORD be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.”

Did you catch that?  The Lord DELIGHTS in your prosperity!

(please stick with me and be pleasantly surprised if you're dreading another "prosperity" teaching) ;-) 

There are two words that I want to really draw your attention to: "delights" and "prosperity"

"Delights" isn't surprising.  It basically means what we commonly think it means.  The word used here is the Hebrew word "chaphets" (my keyboard doesn't offer the proper Hebrew punctuation).  It means delights in, desires, favors, is pleased, has pleasure.  He DELIGHTS.  He doesn't offer something good to us begrudgingly or with bitterness...he DELIGHTS.  He has PLEASURE in blessing His people.  

But let's look at "Prosperity" - this is one that many turn their noses up at because it's too often incorrectly interpreted as "financial wealth".  It's much bigger than that!

The Hebrew word used here is so beautiful:  "SHALOM SHALOM" (all caps mine because I love this word!)

Shalom Shalom means: well, happy, welfare, health, prosperity, peace, favor, good health, perfect peace, rest, safety, wholly

The way I think of it is a peace and wholeness that surpasses all understanding...that is beyond any earthy circumstance... a wholeness of mind, body, and spirit.  

As I dig into the root word of shalom shalom, it becomes even more rich. 

It comes from the root word "shalam" which means to be safe in mind, body, or estate, to be completed, to make amends, to make and end, finish, full, make good, repay, to make/be at peace and perfection, to make prosperous, restore, to make restitution.  

Could there possibly be a better word that describes what Jesus purchased for us?  I don't think so!

There is NO part of your life that God doesn't care about.  Your spiritual life, your relationships, your finances, your health, your family, your eternal salvation...of course.  But shalam is NOT withheld until we enter those pearly gates!  It is for NOW. 

Let me cut the nay-sayer off at the pass right now.  People who resist this Bible truth love to remind us to refer to the book of Job and the unimaginable suffering the poor man of God endured.  It is TRUE that we will endure trials and hardships in this lifetime.  I'm not suggesting otherwise because to do so would be to contradict Jesus Himself.  

And we will all face death.  There is a season to be born and a season to die, after all.

But friend...read all the way to the end of the book of Job.  See where God restored him.  See how God healed his body and restored his family.  See how his wealth doubled.  If you'd like me to refer to Job and his suffering, ok.  I see it.  I accept it as God's truth.  And I see a picture of REDEMPTION.  I see a story of faithfulness.  I see a story of a God who delights in the shalom shalom of His servant.

Well...I've gone far enough down that rabbit trail ;-)

What's my point?  My point is to encourage you to seek the true face of the God who adores you.  Wants good for you.  Went to the cross for the JOY of your shalom shalom.  The face of the God who's not mad at you.  The face of the God who delights in you.  The face of the God who came to save, heal, and deliver you.

It's true, friend, that we come to the foot of that awful cross and acknowledge the suffering that Jesus endured for us.  We thank Him.  We adore Him.  We are set free.

But what are we set free FOR?  To grovel at the foot of the cross for the rest of our lives?  To beat ourselves up for being sinners who needed salvation?  To imagine the grief of Jesus and to consider how horrible we are that we are there reason Jesus suffered and to live in guilt?

No.  God forbid!  Jesus suffered in our place - don't you dare let His sacrifice be wasted by taking that suffering back on yourself!

We are set free for the sake of FREEDOM.  To live as adopted (and adored!) children of the King.  To live in wholeness.  To do our part to create "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven"

So be healed by His love for you today, friend.  Be guilt-free in your joy and peace.

And know that He delights in your shalom shalom ♥️

God be magnified!

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The Stars, the Moon, and a Greasy Smelling Guy Named Joe

I learned an invaluable life lesson when I was in engineering school (wow....does that put you on the edge of your seat with anticipation or what haha #RecoveringEngineer).

Here it is....the life lesson that changes EVERYTHING:

You must START somewhere clear and specific. It's critical to choose a fixed point in space in time, from which everything else is defined.

An example of this is in the work I did as a tool designer (again with the breathtaking high drama).  

My job as a summer intern was to design custom tools that the folks on our manufacturing line would use as they built the product. The end product we made was a surgical medical device....so specs were TIGHT and quality could literally be the difference between life and death for a patient.

This job demanded that I be observant, meticulous, and utterly focused on details. Everything I created needed to be tested, tested, and tested again. Thankfully, I worked with an amazing partner named Joe.

Joe was simply known as "the man" in the machine shop. It was his job to take my design and bring it to life. He'd take my files with all the specs, and he'd use them to actually cut a piece of metal to MAKE the thing I designed.  

You'd never know by looking at him that he was so brilliant. He was about 6'4" tall, with a chest like a barrel. His hands were massive and his fingers like sausages. He wore filthy work coveralls, and he always smelled of machine grease and aftershave. He typically wore a look of concentration and confidence. You want it? Joe could make it.

He summoned me to the shop one afternoon, and the moment I walked in the door it was clear that I was about to get chewed out.  

Joe was not happy.

"What the hell, lady?", he scowled at me in his deep rattly voice.

I was wide eyed, and a bit stunned by how grumpy he was. Before I could reply, he launched into a colorful explanation as to why he was so ticked off...

I'll spare you the details....but the gist of his rant went something like, "I couldn't find my own butt with these drawings!"

haha! I really loved working with that guy....he was a dependable hard worker, an absolute artist, and you NEVER had to guess where you stood with him!

He tossed the pages of my tool design across the work bench in my direction. I scooped them up, sorted them into order, and I realized my error almost immediately.

It was the cardinal sin.

I'd forgotten the datum!

(ba ba baaaamm....cue dramatic music)

Stick with me here...I promise this is more than a boring engineering story!

In tool design, the datum is the starting point. It is literally a line on a piece of paper.  

From THAT unmovable line, everything else is created.  

Everything else is measured.  

Everything else is tested.

Now, I had a 3D image of of my design on the front page. Being the genius that he is, Joe could very well have looked at the image and made an educated guess about my measurements. He could have made some pretty good assumptions.

But it was an important rule...always define the datum. Remember...we were in the life or death business of surgical devices. There could be ZERO guessing and assuming. We needed solid and specific numbers.

Think about it....what if I came to you and I said "Hey, do you see that chair over there? What's the measurement of that chair from a spot? How far away is it from the spot? I need to know exactly because it's a matter of life and death."

Life and death?! Once you realized the importance of the measurements, you'd probably pay close attention and ask for more details, right?  

You'd probably say something like, "What spot?! Tell me EXACTLY the spot you're referring to and I'll measure very carefully."

Make sense? If you're going to measure something, you have to know where to START. It's especially important to be infinitely clear about where to start when the thing you're measuring is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT.

Why do I share this utterly fascinating story? ;-)

Well, friend, I believe we are spinning out of control in our society right now because we've lost sight of our Starting Point.

No one is measuring from the same place....we're all making assumptions and educated guesses.

We're having life and death conversations while assuming that we're all measuring from the same starting point...but we're simply NOT.

A.W. Tozer is one of my favorite authors, and he says it so well in his book "The Pursuit of God":

"It is true that order in nature depends upon right relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each other thing....The cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God and to each other"

Right relationship.

Proper position.

An upset in our relation to God and to each other.

It's all about the datum!

Tozer goes on to say,

"As the sailor locates his position on the sea by 'shooting' the sun, so we may get our moral bearings by looking at God.  We must begin with God.  We are right when, and only when, we stand in a right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far as we stand in any other position.  Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly.  We insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image."

At the moment, there's very emotional conversation and decision making happening on personal topics like abortion, homosexuality, and religious rights.

As we approach topics like these (and any other topic for that matter) based on our "personal truth" or our "personal experience", we will be as lost as a sailor who is socked in by impenetrable clouds.

No sun by day, no stars by night.
Nothing to guide our sight.
In the pitch of a starless night, it's even hard to know which end is up....never mind which direction is forward.

You measure by your location.
I'll measure by mine.

There will be as many datums as there are people.

We'll remain lost and fighting against each other, and the surer we become of our "rightness", the more lost we become.

Here's the thing....I'm not the one who's right and it doesn't matter what I say.

Also...you are not the one who's right and it doesn't matter what you say.

The homosexual....is not right and it doesn't matter what he/she says.

The woman who's had an abortion....is not right and it doesn't matter what she says.

The man/woman who wants to outlaw abortion....is not right and it doesn't matter what he/she says.

The man/woman who wants abortion to remain legal....is not right and it doesn't matter what he/she says.

We are...every single human... like numbers written on a tool drawing.  And guess what...without an unchanging datum, we are, as Joe put it, "unable to find our own butts with this drawing"!

We're lost.

We are completely RELATIVE to ONE unchanging point in time and space, and until we know exactly where that point is, nothing else matters.

When it comes to LGBTQ rights...
Only God is right, and only what He says matters.

When it comes to abortion...
Only God is right, and only what He says matters.

When it comes to religious rights...
Only God is right, and only what He says matters.

When it comes to passing judgment on how "well" our government officials are doing...
Only God is right, and only what He says matters.

My prayer right now is NOT that I'm proven "right".

It's not even for a particular legal outcome for our current debates.

My prayer is that God makes Himself known to us in a fresh and overwhelming way.

My prayer is that our country humbles itself before Him.

My prayer is that our laws and our conversations and the way we treat one another reflects His goodness.

My prayer is that every person who reads these words turns to God and says "You are God and I am not. Help me to know the real you.  Teach me who I really am in you."

And most of all, my prayer is that my own heart is laid bare before him and brought into proper relationship with Who He IS.  Even if it's painful, there is nothing about me or in me or around me that is more important than seeing His purposes fulfilled...than God being who He is.

I know this for sure (not by my own word, but by His).  When we truly SEEK Him, we WILL find Him.  He desires us to truly seek Him...to truly invite Him in to have His way with us. He loves us like crazy and wants to do life with us.  He has a good plan for each of us if we will just let Him in.

Please join me, friends.  Join me in a heartfelt hunt for God's true heart and nature.  Join me in seeking His plans, his purposes, his desires.

After all, there can't possibly be a better guide through these dark troubled waters that the One who set the sun and stars in the sky.

"God Almighty, I seek your face.  Let all my preconceived or selfish ideas of you be wiped away and replaced with your Truth.  Please give me your words of love to discuss some of the hard stuff our country is facing right now.  Thank you for all the ways you've blessed the United States - please seek us and find many with our eyes upturned to you, seeking you, longing to please you and love you. Let our laws reflect your justice.  Let our culture reflect your love and righteousness.  Wherever we've stepped in the wrong direction, please guide our feet to get back on the right path where you want us.  Through your grace and mercy and love, please bless our country with your presence and blessing. Amen."

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