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 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.
by Donya Dunlap | Sep 22, 2012 | How Great is Our God, The Spiritual Life
It was a beautiful, fall day. There were only a few puffy, white clouds breaking up the expanse of bright blue in the sky. Energy among the student body was high until the chapel service was brought to a close by an announcement that shocked us all. A plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers in New York City. Before the reality of what was being said could begin to sink in, another announcement was made. A second plane. A terrorist attack. They think the Pentagon and the White House could be next.
September 11th of any year will never again be just another day. It will be a day that we as Americans reflect on loss, evil, heroism, patriotism, justice and freedom. And rightfully so. But as deeply as the memories of the horror touch me today, there is something else that strikes me even more powerfully. Grace.
Unimaginable, unfathomable, unalterable, unending grace.
It’s so easy for me to stand and sing “Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin.” I’ve been singing that song since I was a little girl without so much of a second thought. But the truth of that statement should stop us all mid-note. Grace that is greater than ALL our sin.
Grace doesn’t often seem like that big of a deal to us because we tend to have a light view of sin. “My sin isn’t as bad as that person’s sin.” “I’m a good person.” “Yeah, I might do this or that, but I’m not a murderer for goodness sake.” We look at something so purely evil as hijacking a plane and flying it into a building, killing thousands of innocent lives and we can’t imagine grace big enough to cover something so horrible. In comparison, getting angry and saying something we shouldn’t doesn’t seem to even measure on the same scale. What we fail to realize is that both of those acts are sin. While humanly speaking, those two things could never compare, from God’s point of view, both of them sent His Son to the cross. I am just as worthy of hell as a murdering terrorist apart from God’s grace.
The incomprehensible grace of God.
At some point in Sarah’s journey with God, she chose to take matters into her own hands. She chose to doubt the truth of God’s Word, and she chose to believe the lies of the liar. She convinced herself that she was just doing what was necessary to bring about God’s plan, but she failed to ask God what He thought about her idea.
The results of Sarah’s decision can still be felt around the world today. The hatred between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael has brought forth all manner of wickedness and death. Acts of violence are committed every day in the name of God, just as Sarah’s sin was committed in the name of God thousands of years ago. It may seem that the atrocities committed on September 11, 2001, or those that continue to be committed in the Middle East today cannot possibly compare to the sinful schemes of your innermost thoughts, but please realize that both are manifestations of the lust of a sinful heart. ‘Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.’ (James 1:15) The sin of the terrorist and the sin of the teenager both sent Christ to the cross. – Forgetting the Fairy Tale
by donyadunlap | Aug 25, 2012 | The Spiritual Life
Striving.
A single word that continues to float to the top of my consciousness over and over again these past few months.
Photo Credit: Janusz Gawron
Dictionary.com defines the word “strive” as
1) to exert oneself vigorously; try hard,
2) to make strenuous efforts toward any goal,
3) to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict,
4) to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance,
5) to rival.
Striving can be a very good thing. The Olympics are a wonderful example of striving for excellence. We rejoice with those who stand on the podium as the champion sings along with their country’s anthem. It is a well deserved time of recognition and praise for their years of effort and determination. We see in those athletes something that we all desire for ourselves. Greatness. The courage to rise above mediocrity—to stand above the crowd.
Striving can be a good thing, but striving can also be a bad thing.
There are times when we need to strive, to work through the pain, to oppose the difficulty, to fight for what is right. But there are also times when God calls us to rest. For example, God desires for us to enjoy a time of sabbath–a break from the hectic pace of life to rest and reflect on His goodness to us and His ability to run the world without us. We can get so attached to our schedules that we feel it is impossible for us to take a break or the whole thing will fall apart. The truth is that a failure to come apart to rest and reflect is nothing more than a manifestation of our pride. We think that the world revolves around us and our ability to keep it in motion. To continue in that mindset guarantees that not only will our schedules fall apart, but eventually we will too.
God intends for us to rest in Him physically by taking an actual space of time to rest, but He also desires us to rest in Him spiritually. Taking time to rest physically is something that I am better at than taking time to rest spiritually. I often feel that it is up to me to make God’s plans come to pass. It is true that He expects us to work hard and do our best, but there are times that He wants us to step back and let Him do the work. Sometimes things will be going smoothly and falling into place when all of a sudden all of my plans and efforts seem to be thwarted at every turn. Answers to prayers cease and circumstances turn dark. My natural response to these times is usually to work harder and to worry. To strive. This is when striving goes from good to bad to ugly.
I think God brings these seasons of quiet into our lives to remind us that it isn’t about us. God invites us into His plan, but He doesn’t need us. His plan isn’t going to go south because of anything we do or fail to do. He’s bigger than that.
There is a song called “Holy Spirit” written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. It is a prayer to the Holy Spirit seeking His reviving work, His presence and His power. The end of verse two says, “Turn my striving into works of grace; Breath of God, show Christ in all I do.” Those words speak right to the core of my soul. We can do nothing for Christ apart from His grace. Even when I stand to sing a song of praise to Him, I need His power and grace and strength to form the words, to support the breath, to vocalize the notes, and to do it all without seeking the praise of man and stealing His glory for myself. We can truly do NOTHING without the Holy Spirit. If we try–if we strive when God desires us to rest in Him–all that will be shown in our works is ourselves. But that isn’t what our goal should be. As the song says, it should be our prayer that Christ be glorified in all we do.
And so I close, begging the Holy Spirit to please “turn my strivings into works of grace.” Spirit, help me to surrender my will to yours in every thought and deed and attitude, so that He may increase and I may decrease. “Breath of God, show Christ in all I do.”
Listen to Kristyn Getty beautifully sing “Holy Spirit” by clicking here. If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
by donyadunlap | Aug 18, 2012 | The Spiritual Life
I can’t really say that I have an angel and a demon that sit on my shoulder and argue over my life choices, but I can most assuredly testify to the presence of a “what if” gnome. I haven’t actually caught sight of the little fiend, but I’m pretty sure he looks something like this…
Photo Credit: JSSKate, Canada
Every once in a while this little creature plants himself squarely on my shoulder, grabs my ear with both hands and will not shut up.
What if this happens? What if that happens? If that happens, then this could happen and what would you do then?
Mr. Twenty Questions tried his mind game tactics on me today and I was reminded of some great advice I received a while back. I can’t be certain of where I heard it exactly, but I believe Mrs. Beth Moore can be credited for it. I was told that instead of trying to ignore the what if’s that it is best to play them all the way to the bitter end by asking the what if, what then? For example. What if God doesn’t provide the money for the large bill you forgot was coming? It’s due in two weeks. What happens if you don’t have the money? What then says, the bill doesn’t get paid. What then? You will most likely incur a late fee. What then? Say this bill is a mortgage payment. What if you lose your house and ruin your credit? What then? Well, then you either find a place to rent, live with a friend, sell all your belongings and live out of your car, move in with your parents, etc. What then? What then? What then?
Do you know what happens at the end of all the questions?
I find God there.
If the very worst things that I can imagine actually come true. God is still with me. I can never lose Him. I can never out run Him. No matter what people think of me, He will always love me. Even if the worst thing is that I die, God is still there, ushering me into heaven. There is no where that I can go in my imagination or in real life that is apart from God. What does this do for me? It makes me realize that my current situation feels hopeless because I haven’t invited God into it. Even though He is there, worrying keeps Him at arms length. But when you acknowledge that no matter what, God is always going to be there for you, it is easier to bring Him into your current problem.
I probably shouldn’t admit this since I wrote a book on the subject, but I’m going to anyway. One of my weaknesses is that while I am very good at believing that God can do anything and everything for other people, and that He wants to heap blessings upon blessings on their lives, I hesitate to believe that for myself. Why is that? I’m not sure. I think it is because for years I’ve listened to the little gnome on my shoulder telling me that I’m not good enough for God to bless me. That I need to do better, be better, work harder before God will look kindly on me. The trouble with this kind of performance based love is that it simply isn’t true.
God loves me the same no matter what I do or what kind of circumstances I am in. His love for me never grows or diminishes based on me because His love for me isn’t about me, it’s about Jesus. When Jesus covered my sin with His blood, my status before God was sealed. Regardless of all the “what ifs” He will always love me, He will always be with me, and He will always provide His best for me. His best might not look like what I think it should look like, but it is given for my good and His glory regardless.
When I think of God’s blessings versus my best, the story of Joseph usually comes to mind. I’m sure Joseph didn’t think that being sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape, and tossed into prison was a good thing. But the Lord used it to elevate Joseph to a position of great power and to save the lives of thousands of people. When all the “what if”s played out, Joseph explained it to his brothers:
Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. – Genesis 50:20
You might be in a situation right now that seems impossible. You see a light at the end of the tunnel, but you aren’t sure if it is relief or a train. Just when you think you have the budget all figured out, you get in an accident or open another bill. In these times it is tempting to believe that God isn’t with you, that He doesn’t care, or that He isn’t going to come through for you. As hard as it might seem at the time, choose to turn your “what if”s into “what then”s. I’m sure at the end of your struggle, you’ll find God there. Invite Him into your situation now and surrender your worries to His very capable hands. Things may not turn out the way you hope, but His way is always better.
Do you have a “what if” gnome too? Take his picture and tweet it to me! @donyadunlap Maybe the camera flash will scare him away.
by donyadunlap | Aug 16, 2012 | The Spiritual Life
“I’m overwhelmed.” “I have so much to do.” “I don’t have enough money.” “How is this ever going to work?”
Sound familiar?
There are times in my life (like today) when these questions and a dozen more crowd my mind and make it hard to breathe. If I allow myself to play these thoughts in my mind, by the end of the day I am completely overwhelmed, frustrated, discouraged and have accomplished nothing. Why? Because all of my energy was wasted on worry.
David understood this very thing. In Psalm 61 he prays to God and confesses that he is completely overwhelmed. He requests help to remember that he had a higher power, a shelter, a strength that was greater than himself and his problems. We need to do the same.
Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. – Psalm 61:1-2
We have a Rock to run to for protection from the storms and for safe haven from the rushing waters that threaten to overcome us. We can choose to stay where we are and drown in our emotions, or we can cry out for help. We can’t climb the cliff ourselves, but when we call on the Lord to rescue us, He is quick to reach out and lift us to safety.
Your circumstances may not change. You may still have a to-do list a mile long and a list of bills to equal it. What will change is your heart. You will have peace that no matter what happens, Christ has a hold on you. You aren’t going to fall to your death. You will be able to take one step at a time with a mind free of worry because you have given your fears over to the only one that can really do anything about them.
Sometimes I think we women tend to worry and fret and plan and manipulate as a way to control the situation. We feel that handing our fears to God is giving up. We think that if we let Him work out the details that things won’t happen the way we want them to. But what we fail to realize is that we aren’t in control no matter how much we try to be. The only thing we are doing when we hold on to our worries is adding sin to our already difficult situation. This pulls us away from God instead of drawing us to Him.
So the next time you are tempted to push play on the recording labeled “What am I going to do?” push pause instead. Take a moment, or several if necessary, and take your concerns to God. Let Him know what the problem is and ask for Him to intervene. Ask Him for the peace needed to think clearly, the grace to leave the problem in His hands and the wisdom to know what to do when the time is right to act.
Do you have a special verse that you turn to when you feel overwhelmed? I would love for you to share it with us in the comments section. It may be just the thing that someone needs to hear today to take courage in the trial they are facing.
