I so love to read Bo, and this one especially spoke to me this week…

Have a great weekend!

-JB

Kimberly Buckner is one of my amazing critique partners.  She blogs over at Snippets and Snapshots, and you are seriously missing out if you don’t surf over there and read her thoughts on finding gratitude in everyday life.  This was her post yesterday and, because she spoke to what God’s been doing in my life too, I asked if she’d let me share it here.  Her thoughts are awesome!

I love my microwave as much as the next girl. And text messages. Instant gratification is a shiny thing. I have, on this very blog, bemoaned the time between setting out to acquire and the actual obtaining of a specific goal/item/event. The patient among us call this The Journey, just like that in italics. The rest of us call it plain old lag time.

There are entire categories of my life that fall into this position. And, probably sick to death of my moaning about the lag, God has decided it’s high time I started seeing this as a journey… still can’t work myself into italics, yet.  You see, I have a propensity to fixate on a specific mile-marker. Get a book published. Run two miles. And always, when I get to a specific point, I see more road ahead. I will have to publish another book, maybe win an award. I’ll have to run three miles…or at least two and a half. Hmm, oddly journeyish. The end point is never the end point. This used to be daunting.  But now? It’s kinda cool. It means that all this time between the goal and it’s achievement is for a purpose. Valuable. And just coming to terms with that makes the experience so much richer.

I’m not one of those folks who has a great “I gave my dating life to the Lord, and the very next day at sunset, Prince Charming’s white stallion galloped into view.” But I do have days and days spent ambling along a path, hand in hand with my Dearest Jesus and he points out fabulous things, like flowers, and friends, and truths too big for me to find on my own.  And I know that when we get where we’re headed, the scenery will be so much richer for having hiked there, one mile at a time.

I guess what I’m getting at is that I used to see between as a sort of purgatory to be survived. Or at the very least, a trial I had to withstand to prove how much I was willing to give up for this one thing. But the truth is, this time is not meant to be painful and needn’t be. It is only painful if I let my gaze wander too far ahead as I plod along and lose sight of the flowers.

Week 12 of Word Wednesday is upon us!

II Kings 13:21 (NIV)–Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

No one would argue that Elisha was an amazing prophet, a mighty man of God.  The Spirit of God rested on him so mightily that even after his death, God still worked through him.  See, there was nothing particularly special about Elisha’s bones.  He was just a man.  The power came from God and God alone. Do you know what I think God is saying here?  Even death can’t stop the work God does, and death doesn’t necessarily mean the end of God’s work through us.

My Aunt Shirley was in her mid-forties when she died of cancer.  I spent years angry with God because He chose not to save her.  To this day, I struggle with it, but that’s another story for another day.  See, God showed me something.  My aunt died with amazing grace (which was–no pun intended–her favorite song).  She hated to leave her husband and her son, but she knew exactly where she was going and who she was going to see when she got there.  She honestly looked forward to seeing Jesus.

Her death was not an end.  It’s been nearly fifteen years, and I still hear people speak of her relationship with Jesus, of the joy and strength and peace she carried until her final breath.  I hear people talk about how she inspired them to draw closer to him.  I know of at least one person who gave their life to Christ because of her example.  God used her in life, and He uses her still in death.  Her death was not an end of her life, but the beginning of a  legacy.  Folks, God doesn’t waste anything.  Think about it.

Care to share your favorite verse from II Kings?  Would love to hear from you in the comments below or in a link to your blog.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

-JB

Call it what you will, for it has many names, but this right here may be my favorite song in any hymnbook anywhere in the universe.

To me, this song speaks of the absolute joy of knowing Jesus Christ.  On a bad day, this song lifts me up.  Want to know why?  This verse right here:

I danced on a Friday
when the sky turned black;
it’s hard to dance
with the devil on your back.
They buried my body
and they thought I’d gone,
but I am the Dance,
and I still go on.

Isn’t that exactly, perfectly it?  He is “the dance,” the reason we live and breathe, our joy.  I won’t spoil this with a lot of my words, because I simply can’t make the emotion come out of me onto paper, but can’t you just hear it in that verse?  He still goes on.  That really is everything, isn’t it?

-JB

I saw where someone said this is what it’s like to write a novel…  There are days when I’d agree. 

Welcome to week ELEVEN of the Word Wednesday Challenge!  If you haven’t been “playing along” with us, feel free to jump in any time.  I love to hear how God speaks to everyone (and it’s kind of funny I said that, considering this week’s topic).

I Kings 19:12b (NIV)–And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

This is one of those verses where God sort of boggles my mind.  Have you ever stopped to think about how huge God is?  Our brains will ever grasp the concept of a God who uses the world as a footstool.  I’m sure even His whisper could shatter mountains.  He’s massive, powerful, commanding (I love when Chris Tomlin calls him “untameable”).  And yet He didn’t speak in the fire or the earthquake or the wind… but in a whisper.  Ever wonder why He did that?  I’d love to ask Him someday.

I complain a lot that God doesn’t speak to me.  There are long seasons where I will swear to you He has been totally silent.  But when I come out on the other side and look back, I see His voicemails all over my life.  Maybe it was a sermon at church.  A billboard.  A friend’s phone call.  An eighties pop song.  (Okay, seriously?  Not kidding there.  He has done that to me.  More than once.)  Not too long ago, I told a friend I hadn’t heard God speak in as long as I could remember. Not long after, I was scanning my blog to look for something and realized all of the times He’d spoken.  Hm.  My memory is short.

Sometimes, God shouts at us.  He has a preacher smack you in the head with a Bible verse (or a Bible…).  He keeps popping the same phrase into your life on the radio, on TV, in a conversation, on a billboard (that’s happened to me).  He has someone come to you and say, “I was praying for you and felt like God wanted me to tell you this.”

And other times it’s not so obvious. He paints a mountainside with fall colors.  He sends the perfect song onto the radio at the perfect moment.   He’s in a memory that resurfaces.  My cousin once told me he asked God to give him “a clear sign” about whether or not he should do something… then he hit every single red light on his way to work.  Both of us firmly believe that was nothing short of G-O-D… with a sense of humor to boot.

If you think God’s not talking, look around.  My guess is He’s simply whispering.

Your turn!  Share your favorite I Kings verse in the comments or blog about it and leave us a link.  Can’t wait to hear from you!  Then go see if God is whispering your name.

-JB

(I reread the verses behind my earlier post about this song this morning, and they struck me new all over again, so I thought I’d re-share…)

Got ya, didn’t I? This would be another one of those instances (see “I Won’t Back Down”) when a secular song totally gives me a word from God.

I love songs like that. It’s like a little bit of God in an unexpected place. A reminder that He really and truly is everywhere.

And, seriously… Take a listen to Ashlee Simpson’s “Pieces of Me” and tell me that pretty much every word (except for that part about the phone rinnging. I don’t believe I’ve ever received an actual phone called from the actual Almighty) could be sung to the God who loves me.

I couldn’t get the song out of my head after church yesterday, because we were discussing the feeding of the five thousand in John 6. (You’re wondering how my brain could possibly connect Jesus feeds 5,000 and Ashlee Simpson. I know. You can say it.) I learned something new. John makes note that the little boy brought barley loaves to Jesus. At the time, barley was the bread of the poor, so much so that it had a certain stigma about it: You must be dirt if you’re eating barley bread.

The bread is distributed and twelve baskets of leftovers are picked up. Ah, but here is where Jesus gets interesting. He says to the disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

Hmm… barley bread is poor, cheap, and generally despised. And Jesus wants none of it wasted.

What about the poor, cheap, and despised pieces of me? What about my sins? What about my pit-dwelling, slime-covered bottom-of-the-rain-barrel moments? What about the uglies I want to shove under the rug, nail the rug to the floor, and sit a vicious, rabid wolf on top of so nobody finds them? Could Jesus really want those pieces of me?

Yes, he does. He says, “Let nothing be wasted.” In my very own life, I’ve already watched him do that in a way that has brought me to tears no fewer than two dozen times. I have seen him take the slimiest, most disgusting moment of my life and use it for his glory. Hear me… It. Was. Not. Wasted. I should have been stoned for it. I deserve a thousand punishments. But Jesus didn’t waste the poor, pathetic pieces.

What a God! What a God who not only forgives us, but who takes the nasty pieces and actually uses them. No life is wasted. No experience is wasted. No one has ever done anything so bad that God cannot forgive it and use it for his glory.

Did you get that? NO ONE.

And so, yes, I do believe Ashlee Simpson said it quite well: “I hear you and the darkness is a clear view, ’cause you’ve come to rescue me.”

-JB

Looking for a good read?  Check these out!
1. A Simple Amish Christmas by Vannetta Chapman — A Romance from Abingdon. Will Annie find acceptance in the Amish community she left behind?

2. Brides of Arkansas by Janet Lee Barton — A Romance from Barbour. Thwarted by mystery and mayhem, three women in historic Arkansas are roused by love when and where they least expect it.

3. Embers of Love; Striking a Match Series by Tracie Peterson — A Romance from Bethany House. Deborah Vandermark desperately wants to fit into God’s plan and 1880′s Texas, but can the two coexist?

4. Emily’s Chance; The Callahans of Texas, Book 2 by Sharon Gillenwater — A Romance from Revell. Will cowboy and builder Chance Callahan be able to convince Emily Rose Denny that she can have love and a career?

5. First Love; Tombstone Treasures, Book 2 by Michelle Sutton — A Romance from Desert Breeze. Two former high school lovers play the roles of socialite and preacher as Tombstone actors and are reunited after four years of separation; but can they rebuild their love on a new foundation, this time around without falling into past behavior?

6. Legacy of Lies by Jill Elizabeth Nelson — A Suspense/Mystery/Thriller from Steeple Hill. When a cop’s widow discovers the bones of an infant buried in her grandparent’s back yard, she teams up with the local police chief to help clear her family name.

7. Love Finds You in Silver City, Idaho by Janelle Mowery — A Romance from Summerside Press. Whoever said trouble comes in threes has never been to Silver City, Idaho, where peace and acceptance face off against chaos and rejection, and the winner is not always clear.

8. Love is Grand; Walk in the Park, Book Three by Annalisa Daughety — A Romance from Barbour. National Park Ranger Ainsley Davis returns to her job at the Grand Canyon, a widowed mother who has become fearful of everything, including love.

9. Mirrored Image by Alice K. Arenz — A Suspense/Mystery/Thriller from Sheaf House. The uncanny resemblance of a murder victim to eccentric newspaper columnist Cassandra Chase gives Detective Jeff McMichaels the haunting suspicion there is a link between the two women . . . a link that may only exist in the murderer’s mind.

10. Mistletoe Prayers by Betsy St. Amant and Marta Perry — A Romance from Steeple Hill. Two heartwarming Christmas tales from your favorite authors.

11. Nipped in the Bud; Hometown Mysteries by Susan Sleeman — A Suspense/Mystery/Thriller from Barbour. After Paige Turner finds a dead body on her construction site and the police think she killed him, can she prove her innocence and stay out of jail?

12. Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar — A Historical from Moody Publishers. Rahab vowed never again to trust a man. God had other plans. Salmone was a man of faith, honor, and an enemy. An impossible marriage: an unforgettable journey of healing.

13. Prairie Courtship by Dorothy Clark — A Historical from Steeple Hill. Emma Allen never knew, until she joined Zachary Thatcher’s wagon train to Oregon country, what being a doctor really meant—or how much it could cost.

14. Seek Me With All Your Heart; Land of Canaan Series by Beth Wiseman — A Romance from Thomas Nelson. Emily and David each come to terms with a past that follows them, testing their faith and resolve.

15. Seeking His Love: Love Inspired Series 593 by Carrie Turansky — A Romance from Steeple Hill. Haunted by false accusations, a former teacher tries to build a new relationship without revealing her troubled past.

16. The Preacher’s Bride by Jody Hedlund — A Romance from Bethany House. A young Puritan maiden determined to save a motherless baby… and a grieving preacher who doesn’t want another woman in his life.

17. Whisper on the Wind; Great War Series, Independent Read by Maureen Lang — A Romance from Tyndale. Isa Lassone sneaks into occupied Belgium to rescue the man she loves; when he refuses to go, she joins his secretive work˜praying it won’t cost both of their lives.

18. Wrangler in Petticoats: Sophie’s Daughters Book 2 by Mary Connealy — A Romance from Barbour. When the two of them see an elk, she reaches for her rifle, he reaches for a sketchpad, the word DRAW means completely different things to them.