Category: Inspiration (Page 2 of 7)

I’ve walked off a cliff and am free falling – arms flailing.

I feel like Lot’s wife.  Remember her?  She’s the one who died.

Lucky me.

This walk began last year.  Back when I first got the inkling that God was asking me to step away from a job I’ve loved.  Step away to focus on counseling and life coaching, with some speaking and teaching on the side. He whispered to my heart that this combination would allow me to serve the world utilizing the skillset He designed for me — with the added benefit of greater flexibility to give more time and energy to my family…

a critical combination as we seek to foster-adopt.

Months – many months – passed.  I prayed and talked it out with Jason and a few trusted friends.

In my perfect world I wouldn’t have stepped away from the current until the new was solidified.  BUT, a week came when I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was time.  Time to walk it out.

So I did.

Right off the edge of that pesky cliff.

Falling, all I can see is the fog below. My stomach flies into my throat and I’m tempted to panic.  Tempted to reach for the side of the mountain.  To somehow pull myself back to where I was before.  Somehow reverse time.

Did I make a mistake? Do I have what it takes to be self-employed?

I have compassion for the desert-wandering Israelites who thanked God for his mighty deliverance one day and longed for their former life (i.e. bondage) the next.  It reminds me of clients who are tempted to stay in an awful situation because it’s less scary than the unknown of something new.

So human.

So relatable.

Here’s the problem:  even IF I could somehow grip the side of the mountain and pull myself up, the landscape at the top has changed.  I’d be going back to something that no longer exists.

So here I am – falling – stuck between the fearful new and the absent old.

Then it hits me.  FLIP AROUND.

Did you ever do a trust fall when you were a kid?  Or maybe as an adult during some overeager leader’s teambuilding exercise?

The answer isn’t the fog or the cliff.  No.  I need to turn my gaze upward.

Flip my body around and focus on the One I can trust.  HIS character.  HIS promises.

As my eyes come into focus, the whole experience begins to change.  Slowly – but – surely.

My stomach is returning to its rightful place. A calm is washing over the fear. The first hint of excitement is peaking through the fog of the unknown.

“FOCUS  UP” the whisper says.  “Keep your eyes on me.”

I’m not sure when my feet will hit the ground.  Or, what the new landscape will look like.  The only thing I’m sure about is that I can trust the one who told me to walk.  And, with that in mind, I’ll take this free fall for the thrilling ride that it is.

I am the Lord your God, I go before you now. And though you feel I’m far away, I am closer than your breath. I am with you. More than you know.

– Come to Me by Bethel Music

Laura

I’ve been amazed lately at the magic that can happen around a table. When you invite someone to join you for a meal – the sacred happens-eyes turn from screens to eye to eye contact,  conversations tend to go deeper, stories are told, family recipes are shared, and time stands still for a bit. This year our family has tried to be more intentional about extending invites and having “community dinners” around OUR worn table.  It’s my favorite to see people of all different ages, ethnicity, circles, and backgrounds sitting together and sharing a common meal.

Imagine what it must have been like to be around the table with Jesus that Last Passover Supper?

Over Christmas we were visiting family in Tennessee. We went to their small, new church one Sunday. It was a  morning I was feeling down for some reason and fighting my demons of insecurity.   I got nervous when I heard they were having “communion” that morning.   I had noticed upon entering the multi-purpose room that in a side wing there was a long rugged wooden table set up with bread and large silver goblets of grape juice. We we were instructed that when we were ready, we were to go sit at the table and take the elements.

In a  new environment with people I didn’t know – I kind of wanted to just hide a little.  I didn’t feel like I belonged around that table with the rest of these folks who shared life together.

But then I heard the pastor say “Around the table – ” all are welcome.”

And just after that comment, my middle boy grabbed my hand and said, “let’s go mom.” He led me over to the table and we pulled up a knobby wooden chair.  And there beside me was an elderly older man, and next to me, my 8 year old son, and at the end a teenage girl rolled up in her wheelchair. And tears filled my eyes and I smiled… “All are welcome at the table.” We’re family here.

I closed my eyes and imagined it was Peter sitting there, and John across the table, and then Jesus there in the center. What a motley crew Jesus had gathered around him! He chose the unpopular tax collectors, smelly fishermen, and even a man he knew would be disloyal to him later. I’m guessing they probably shared many meals together and somehow this ragamuffin bunch had become friends.

 And all of a sudden it donned on me….I had been invited to that table too.  There was room for me.

“And Jesus took the bread“, that familiar staple at every Passover meal (like Gramma’s homemade rolls at Christmas). “And he gave thanks and he broke it. This is my body broken for you.”

His friends had never thought of the bread like this before.  It symbolized Jesus, who would be broken and killed for all of us.

“And he took the cup, and said, ‘this is my blood poured out for you.’ “That dark, crimson red. No longer just wine, but a symbol of what he went through to make us clean, to overlook our impurities, to invite us to the table to be with Him.

So this Easter, as you pull up a chair and gather around a table, remember that YOU were chosen to sit with Jesus. He pictured YOU there beside Him. It’s the message of communion and Easter – to be WITH Him.

He’s made a place for you.

You’ve been invited.

He gives you a sense of belonging.

“But YOU are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.

That you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”

I Peter 2;9

–Alyssa