by Donya Dunlap | Oct 11, 2012 | The Spiritual Life
Photo Credit: Jefferson Noguera
Let me guess, you’re not a “worrier” necessarily, but you’re a “planner.” Am I right?
How did I know? Because that’s what I say too. “Worrying” is wrong and there are a number of “fret not” verses in Scripture to remind us of this, but there’s nothing in there about “planning” is there? Or if it is, it’s a good thing, right? Jesus has gone to heaven to “prepare” a place for us, and that has to take some planning. Are you with me?
So you whip out your calendar, your day-planner, your iCal, your Evernote lists and you “plan” for the worst and hope for the best. You think of every possible scenario and what you would do about it if it happens. How are you going to pay for it? How are you going to pack for it? What are you going to do if this-and-such happens?
I’m a planner and I have to say that being organized and thinking ahead are good things. They really are. The trouble comes in when we substitute our preparedness for worry.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:34 to,
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
This doesn’t mean that we are supposed to live life flying by the seat of our pants. (Which is a really odd expression by the way. How does one fly by the seat of his pants exactly? Anyway…) What Jesus is saying is that we aren’t supposed to worry about things in the future, but trust Him to take care of them. The verse before this one gives us a very important caveat.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
If we are “planning” our schedules, our budgets, and our futures without any concern for what God would have us do, what would best benefit His kingdom, what will bring Him the most glory, and what will help to advance His gospel, then we are in a heap of trouble.
We can’t just cross our fingers and hope for the best and pay God no attention. We must seek first His kingdom and His righteousness AND THEN all these things shall be added unto us. (All these things referring to verse 31 in which it lists worrying about what we will eat, drink and wear, NOT “all these things” meaning the fabulous new pair of stilettos you just found at T.J. Maxx.)
Psalm 147:11 tells us that,
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
He takes pleasure in those that choose not to worry about what might happen. He takes pleasure in those that look to Him to be with them no matter what comes because they know that He is a good and merciful God that has our best in mind. Just like the picture above, sometimes we only see part of the whole. But God sees the end from the beginning and everything in between. Even the things that don’t look good to us now, He has promised will work out in the end. Trust Him to take care of both the every day and the “ever after” and you can enjoy a life of peace, even in times of uncertainty.
Do you sometimes have a hard time believing in your heart of hearts that God has good planned for you? What character of God or verse of Scripture helps you to remember that God is worthy of our trust? Please click comment to share your thoughts.
Are you on Pinterest? Follow me and the Forgetting the Fairy Tale board to pin the quote above and other quotes from the book for your encouragement.
by Donya Dunlap | Sep 30, 2012 | Guest Posts
Do you struggle with being afraid?
I am guest posting today at JosephIregbu.com. I hope that you will drop by his site to read the post “Do It Afraid” but also stay awhile to be encouraged by Joseph’s writings and his story of hope. (Which is pretty incredible, I might add.) Sign up to receive his posts via e-mail and you will also get his free e-book, Lines of Impact. You might also want to check out his 90-day devotional called Selah: A 90-Day Journey of Grace and Peace. It’s a great encouragement and available on Amazon. Joseph has been a personal encouragement to me and his writings have blessed my heart. I plan to have him guest post here soon, but for now, please get to know him on his home turf.
Click Here to Read “Do It Afraid”
Photo Credit: Vorakorn on freedigitalphotos.net
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by Donya Dunlap | Sep 29, 2012 | The Spiritual Life
I said goodbye to a friend today. She is on her way to New York City with the hope of someday becoming a successful actress on Broadway. Some may scoff at such a dream. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people do the very same thing each year and fail. Why would she be any different? She may not be. That’s the key. There is no guarantee that she will meet the right people or get her headshot into the hands of the right directors. And yet, she feels strongly that God has given her talent and a passion for acting and she believes she can be a light for Him in a very dark place. So as I type, she drives north toward her future. I couldn’t be more excited for her or more proud of her.
Photo Credit: dcubillas
Some would call her actions a “leap of faith.”
But God doesn’t talk about leaps of faith in Scripture. He does, however, talk a lot about steps. Peter had to step out onto the waves. The priests in the Old Testament had to step into the rushing river. Proverbs tells us that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The thing about faith that is so scary is that we don’t know where those steps are going to take us.
God doesn’t give us a manual for life that we can follow point by point. He gives us just enough for the next step and asks us to trust Him for the one after that and the one after that. This sounds simple enough. We know that God is a good God and He desires the best for us. So why then is it so hard to trust Him? I think it is because He doesn’t have our whole hearts.
As you are getting to know a new person, you are continually evaluating whether or not you can trust them. You share a personal detail here and there and see if they keep it to themselves. You have a secret dream and you share a little to see how they handle that precious information. We do the same thing with God. Instead of believing that He is trustworthy and interpreting our circumstances through the lens of that truth, we have it backwards. We pray for something and see if He comes through like we want Him to. We ask Him to fulfill our dreams without considering what He might have for us and then get disappointed when it doesn’t happen.
While it is important to ensure that sinful people are careful with our trust, we don’t need to worry about how God is going to handle our hearts. He has promised that if we give everything to Him, He will give to us His desires, fulfill those desires, and grant us peace and contentment that we can’t even imagine.
The key is in the letting go.
As Bilbo Baggins says,
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” (J.R.R Tolkien Quotes)
There’s no telling where my friend might end up someday or where you and I will be a year from now. Just as Frodo didn’t realize the danger and struggle he faced as he stepped out on his grand adventure. But we have an advantage that Frodo didn’t have. We have the God that has orchestrated all things from before the beginning of time lighting our paths. Won’t you trust Him?
Do you have a grand adventure you feel God is calling you to, but you’ve been too afraid to take the next step? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
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by Donya Dunlap | Sep 28, 2012 | Guest Posts, Making a Difference
I have the privilege of sharing with you today a brief, but invaluable five question interview with author, blogger and speaker Jeff Goins. If you have been following my posts recently, you know that Jeff has written a book called Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life. The book was an Amazon bestseller for two weeks and went into a second printing the day after it was released in August. If you have yet to get a copy, I hope that this glimpse into Jeff’s heart and the core of Wrecked will encourage you to get it soon.
Jeff, thank you for taking the time to share with us today!
Jeff Goins, Writer
Wrecked talks a lot about finding your passion. What is your passion in a nutshell?
My passion is words. To communicate messages worth spreading. I’ve done that my whole life — with music, theater, art, and now writing — and I love helping others do the same.
For the longest time, I minimized this passion, because it felt too small. I had friends who were traveling the world, and here I was, writing about it. But recently, I’ve had a change of mind: I’ve come to grips with the power of words.
Words can bring life or death, and my hope is to live a life in which my words bring hope and wholeness to people. Some say talk is cheap; I no longer believe it.
When did God first start stirring your heart in this area?
About two years ago, a friend asked me what my dream was. When I hesitantly told him it was to be a writer, he looked at me funny. Then he said, “Jeff, you don’t have to WANT to be a writer… You ARE a writer; you just need to write.” So I did. And that changed everything.
Was there a catalyst to this stirring? (ie: personal prayer, fasting, sermon, song, event, trip, etc.)
I had been working with a ministry, helping other people find their passions and pursue their dreams, and I was wondering, “Do I have a dream?” It had been so long since I’d asked that question, I was afraid of the answer.
After attending several conferences, I had to come to grips with the scary realization that I did, in fact, have a dream.
Was this always a dream for you or did you have a different desire at one point that God redirected?
I think it always was, but I didn’t know it. My experience with dreams is we get them often before we need them. So we have to go through a season in which the dream dies, which is exactly what happened for me. For five years, I served somebody else’s dream. So when the dream came back, it felt selfish and like betrayal. But at that point, my motives were more pure and I was ready.
The dream was now bigger than me.
Did you respond immediately to God’s tug on your heart? If so, how? If not, why?
You know, it took me a long time to see the spiritual implications of dreams and passions. It all just felt kind of selfish to me. When I was in college, I had some pretty dramatic experiences that led me to believe my life was going to be about more than me. I was called to serve others.
And so when I had the chance to write a book and pursue a platform that attracted an audience, it felt a little weird. I was scared of that much influence. So I avoided it for awhile, but eventually I came to see it as an opportunity to serve others (as I had been called) with the gifts God had given me. I’m continually surprised by how much impact a few simple words can have on people. So I guess I’m still getting used to it.
As I share in the book, our callings often come to us as surprises, and that’s exactly what happened for me. Discomfort is what causes us to grow; this is a lesson I keep learning throughout life.
When I was 23, the most uncomfortable thing I could do was go downtown and hang out with homeless people, so I did. When I was 28, the most uncomfortable thing for me to do was sit down and write. So I did — albeit, begrudgingly.
The abundant life, it seems, is about making choices we’d rather not make, but understanding that there’s more at stake than our own comforts.
*affiliate links above
by Donya Dunlap | Sep 25, 2012 | How Great is Our God, The Single Life, The Spiritual Life
There are times when words fall short. We have a longing, an ache of heart and soul that cannot be expressed with common language. And yet the poet William Butler Yeats seems able to structure simple words and phrases to mimic an unspoken cry better than most.
The Carina Nebula – Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team – hubblesite.org
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
– William Butler Yeats, “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” courtesy of allpoetry.com
Z. Randall Stroope set this wonderful text to music and I have the wonderful privilege of singing it along with several dozen other talented musicians in an upcoming concert. (Listen to a recording of the piece here) We’ve been rehearsing it now for several weeks. The text, the melody, the harmonies and the emotion of the piece struck me deeply the first time I heard it. Since then it has been simmering in my heart waiting for me to gather the courage to try to put my thoughts on paper.
The poem is titled “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.” Yeats used the man Aedh as a character is several writings. While there are varied explanations of what was behind the words of the young man as he poured out his soul at the feet of the woman he loved, I couldn’t help but immediately think of Ruth chapter 3:7-9.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.
One of my great burdens is that we modern Christians miss so much truth buried in the ancient and foreign cultures written of in the Bible. We are so busy and scattered that we read without understanding or imagination. The love story of Ruth and Boaz is one so wrought with emotion and meaning, but we so often rush through the reading of the four short chapters, mark it off of our to-do lists and completely miss the point of the text. I’m not going to delve into the meaning of the entire book at this time, but I want you to pause for a moment with me. Will you do that? Will you take a deep breath and put yourself into this narrative?
Ruth is a widow. She has loved deeply and lost much, including her family and homeland which she exchanged in order to remain with and care for her aging mother-in-law. She is in a strange town surrounded by strange people. If that was you, how would you feel?
Frightened? Vulnerable? Exposed? Lonely?
I’m sure there were times when Ruth felt all of these things. I imagine she cried herself to sleep on more than one occasion.
Several months pass and while times are difficult and finances are tight, Ruth and Naomi are able to live off of the grain gathered in Boaz’ fields. There is an obvious attraction between Ruth and Boaz, and yet neither acts in a way to bring their relationship to a personal level.
One night Naomi determines that something must be done. She instructs Ruth to bathe and dress herself then secretly go to the place where Boaz is working over the grain from the harvest. Ruth complies with the request of her guardian and spreads her garments over the uncovered feet of the one who had power to protect her or crush her should he so choose.
After a time he is startled awake by the realization that there is a woman at his feet. Ruth explains her presence and essentially asks Boaz to marry her. Please, let the scene work in your heart and mind for just a brief time. This young woman, so damaged by her past, so fragile, so desperate, lays all of her hopes and dreams for security, a future and a family at the feet of one she barely knew and asks him to please, tread softly.
The story of Ruth and Boaz is a picture of our story with Christ. We are poor and needy and have nothing to offer Him, and yet, when we ask Him, He takes our fragile, broken hearts so gently in His hands and He heals them. He gives to us His love, His protection and all the treasures of Heaven. And yet, so often we turn away from His love and trample over His gifts. But to the glory of His name, every single time that we return to His feet seeking forgiveness, He reaches down and lifts us to His heart again.
The very One who owns the heavens’ embroidered cloths of gold and silver light is madly in love with you tonight. Tread softly. He dreams of an intimate union with you as you journey through life and into eternity. Tread softly. Draw near to Him.
Tread softly.
