His broken Grandmas

These four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba have something in common. They are grandmothers in Jesus’ family tree! Grandmothers! Some had affairs, some were prostitutes. Some lied and were not the starry eyes perfect princesses. But still God chose them...these four broken women. That’s why they have crowns. A symbol of grace and love from our Creator and Redeemer. 

The family tree of Christ startlingly notes not one woman but four - four broken women who felt like outsiders, like has-beens, like never-beens. Women who were weary of being taken advantage of, of being unnoticed, uncherished and unappreciated. Women who didn’t fit in, didn’t know how to keep going or what to believe, where to go. Women who thought about giving up. And yet Jesus claims exactly these women. Wandering, wondering, wounded, worn out...and His. 

He grafts you into His line, His story and His heart. He gives you His name, His lineage, and His righteousness. ❤️

Written by Ann Voskamp

the abyss

there was a moment
when the sacred fire of life engulfed me
and I dropped into a vast stillness
a pulsating silence
shattered
suspended
all while drowning
until finding a place of rest
discoveing I could breathe under water

I must learn how to live
in this new sacred emptiness

no where to hide
with the fabric of my life unravelled by radical sorrow
I could rage .... part of me really wanted to
or
I could turn, kneel and say yes
finding the breath of surrender
yielding to the pain of the suffering

grief has stripped me
naked, I am united with Love

this great loss has released a cry of  anguish
only Love can now fill the shattered container of my heart
and replenish this awful emptiness

come ......

just as I am Lord
in this season
in this moment
filled with a salty ocean of unshed years
filled with the weight of unasked questions
filled with broken pieces
and
filled with the wonder of You
of Your goodness
of Your strength
of Your mercy
of Your love
in the midst of the storm, the wind and the waves
I hear Your whisper
come
come
and I come
as I am
in the fullness, the reality of how I am 
I come
simply to be with You 
to sit with You
to draw near
and lay my head upon Your feet
to say 
thank You for choosing to love me

Lord, may Your whispered come fill us all
mayYour whispered come calm every storm
dry every tear
fill every empty place
mayYour whispered come birth hope
birth life
cause springs of fresh water to flow in arid places

Lord
I come

Lord
we come

words

while at a gathering with a few last evening
we sang so freely words of fire, purification, surrendering all
and yet
we run, resist, fear and
worst of all
complain
when it comes
when we are disturbed
stripped,
inconvenienced......

I could not open my mouth
the weight of all these words was so heavy

worship is a drawing close
close enough to kiss

and I think of Judas' kiss
on the cheek of the One I love the most

and I think of my kiss

and I am undone
and remain silent ....

low tide

at low tide, when the ocean's covering recedes, 
the underbelly of the beach is exposed ...  
rocks, seaweed, broken shells with their sharp edges, 
dead things ......
when we enter the invitation of the Spirit to be known, 
the tide of our soul must recede enough for the hidden parts to show, to be seen ....
we empty ourselves before God and then He fills us with Himself.

which door?

we have been having our front entrance redone ... the stone steps were crumbling and dangerous ...
and so all the old was removed and replaced with new ....
but this meant our front entrance was not usable for a few days and invited visitors had to enter through the garage ..... not a pretty sight ....

this all made me think of my home .... which is my story ......
and how I have chosen never to allow my home become a prison
by inviting others into my story ....
and how sometimes it is necessary to invite others in through a messy door ....

not always a neat and tidy door ..... but a door nonetheless ....
and I pray it will always be open ....
that I will never fear inviting someone into my not so pretty areas .....

winter exposure

while drivking to a meeting yesterday, I turned a corner and noted a heavily treed area on my right that in the spring, summer and fall is simply solid greens and browns and glorious yellows ....well, here we are, early January ... all the leaves have long fallen exposing the things that have been tossed into the midst of the trees .... the trees are still there, simply standing quietly naked alongside this accumulated garbage ... things once deemed important but now simply ugly  .....
and is this all not like our lives .... in our spring, summer and fall all dressed in the finery of our years ... hidden in the glitter of the image we wish to portray ..... and then along comes our winter ... the things of our glittering image fall to the ground. ..... we still stand, perhaps now slightly stooped, but still standing .... but now all the stuff we tried to hide, the things we simply dropped and hid ... all this stuff is now highly visible, to us and everyone around us ......there is no way to hide our garbage, our unwanted, our tossed aways  .....so before winter comes there is an urgency to deal with things ... don't try to hide it, stuffing it where you think no one else can see it .... deal with it .... bring it all before the Healer of our souls and be made whole .....clean out the garbage ......