March/April2014

daughters promise OF

MARCH&APRIL2014

Purposeful

Waiting, p. 8

real friendship p. 68

BRAVEHEART OVERCOMING FEAR p. 34

Redemption p. 42

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in this issue MARCH&APRIL2014

OPEN 5 7

Staff Introductions A word from Rae

RELATIONSHIP EXCHANGE 8 16 26

Purposeful Waiting Love is Not a List, Part I An Invitation to the Open Fields

DAUGHTERS OF GOD 34 42 59

Braveheart: Overcoming Fear Redemption Pearl of Promise 2

in every issue

30

our readers share

56

featured blogger

53

life through Carmony’s lens

72

the team recommends

LIFE & STYLE Resurrection Quotes DIY Anthro Scarf SQUARE: Creative Strategies for Daily Living Companion Plants

32 48 52 54

LEGACY & IMPACT Identification in the Missionary Task

60

WHITE SPACES Cultivating Real Friendship in an Online World, Part I

68

CLOSE Contact Us

74

3

open o¡pen [oh-puh n]

vb.– to move from a shut or closed position so as to admit passage.

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Allow me to introduce you to the ladies who made this issue possible‌ Editor-in-Chief Rachel Schrock

Staff Writers Marlene Stoltzfus Brittany Shult Tina Newson

Guest Writers Becky Peters Samantha Trenkamp Janelle and Michelle Snader

Staff Photography Carmie Shult

Guest Photography Heidi Stutzman {Heidi Mast Photography}

Creative Design/Layout Rachel Schrock

To view more of Heidi’s beautiful work, or to schedule a session, visit her website:

www.heidimastphotography.com To formally meet each member of the DOP team, please visit our website: www.daughters-of-promise.org

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Spring…

IN PRINT! Celebrate the glorious changing of seasons with a subscription to the DOP magazine. Previously only available in an electronic version, Daughters of Promise is now coming in printed form, beginning with the May/June issue {aka—the NEXT ISSUE!!} Sign up today to begin receiving this wonderful publication by mail!

$35

1-year subscription {6 issues}

$60

2-year subscription {12 issues}

www.daughters-of-promise.org/subscribe.htm6

My lover said to me,“Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one! Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!”

A WORD from rae

Winter is still in full swing

in southern Virginia, although it seems to be having an identity crisis.

Last week temperatures were in the 60’s—we traded in our boots for flip-flops and swapped coats for short-sleeved T’s. The next day, it snowed. As I type now, a frozen mix is beating against the windows and a blanket of icy white drapes the landscape. It’s very pretty, but I look forward to winter’s passing. What a joyful time of year when the earth shakes off the cold, somber tones of winter for the vivacious garments of spring! I love to watch the transition happen. It reminds me of the changing seasons of life— the challenges of wintry trials and the joy of spring renewal. The faithfully turning seasons give us a beautiful picture of the spiritual faithfulness of God—winter won’t last forever;

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spring is coming! I love the Lover’s exuberant invitation to His beloved, poetically spoken in Song of Solomon—“Come away with me, my fair one! Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone!”

Today, Jesus invites us to come away with Him, into the Springtime abundance of His love. He has pursued us into the wintry corridors of life and quietly, faithfully prepared our heart for the abundance of springtime. Now the season of rejoicing has come! I invite you to come away with Him, and to taste of the goodness He has prepared. It is my prayer that this issue of DOP will provide an avenue through which you can “come away” with your Beloved!

I am so excited at how Daughters of Promise is growing. The support and interest of you, reader, humbles me – thank you! We are so excited to announce that, beginning with the May/June issue, the magazine will be available in print. Wow! This is really a dream come true.

Details can be found on page 6, as well as on the website. We eagerly anticipate your support!

Praying you experience Christ richly today,

Rae

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//By Becky Peters// //Photography by Heidi Mast Photography//

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Purposeful

waiting Entrusting our deepest dreams to God.

{Journal Entry – October 16, 2008} I came to God today with a Box of Dreams.

It was something that I wanted to do for a long time, but you know how it goes; I just hadn’t really thought it all through, until today. I didn’t realize that I had been holding onto my Box with a magnificently tough fist. It was God who showed me.

I had Dreams that appeared in the box that I concocted. Most of them were

things I wanted to do with my life. I had Dreams there that other people had wished on me. And mixed in that mess, most of them towards the bottom of the box were the ones that God had put there before I was even conceived.

Before today I looked at it like I held the box in my hands, carried it with me wherever I went, sometimes even yanked a Dream or two out, and at convenient times, flashed it around for someone to see. I used my Dreams.

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Did He know how dangerous it was to keep putting dreams into this Box with so

many yet unfulfilled?

If I saw someone who was Dreamless, I tried to speak vision and life into that person, to get him excited about carrying a Box of his own around. I loved the idea of having Dreams.

When I saw things that reminded me of unfulfilled Dreams I had, I cried out to God and said, God, you know I want that someday, I wonder how you’re going to fulfill that one! When years went by with no apparent progress on some of my top dreams, I grew sad and unbelieving. It was then that I hated my Dreams.

Sometimes in a moment of being so alive I felt a rush of emotion, and I knew that God was speaking a Dream into my Box. If only I could understand why God would put a Dream like that in a Box like mine. Did He know how dangerous it was to keep putting Dreams into this Box with so many yet unfulfilled? I didn’t trust God with my Dreams.

Today when God spoke to me, I realized that I had been holding my Box with two white-knuckled hands. So I took one quick look inside the Box this morning, and then with the lid still open, I handed it up to God. God, could you please manage my Box of Dreams for me?

Can you please sort through that Box and pull out the Dreams that don’t really belong there? (You know, Lord, the ones that I put there, the ones that other people put there.) So Lord, really what will be left when you’re finished with that Box is a Box of your Dreams. So could you just let me know what’s there when you’re finished? I’d rather live your 10

Dreams than mine or anyone else’s. And I’d rather live with you holding the Box… because I don’t do too well with Boxes, or Dreams.

{February 2014} God gave me this picture of how I held my dreams over 5 years ago when I was 27 years old and single, in the middle of a time of intense ministry to women in the red light district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. I felt called to this ministry, but after this surrender I wondered if even that was from God. It woke me up to the way I was holding onto the desires of my life. And then the emptiness came. If I had just given back all of my dreams to him, could I trust Him to give any of them back to me?

He did. As they came they came clearly and with precision, so I couldn’t miss them.

This was from me, and this one too, He told me. And He gave my heart permission to dream again.

Sometimes we just need to hear from God. Are my desires His desires for my life? Oh Jesus, wake up my heart to long for your desires for me! To long with abandon, and without shame. To keep my heart alive without numbing!

If I have a chance to look back on my life at the end of it, there’s a possibility that I will see a pattern of God’s rich wisdom threaded into the days of my life. But there is also the possibility of not seeing or understanding why He gave me this and this, but not that. He is God. He is

Could I trust Him to give any of them back to me? He did, and gave my heart permission to

dream again.

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It’s with trust that we dare to look ahead…

sovereign. His ways are not calculated equations. If they were, we would try to copy the equations, wouldn’t we? We’d get confident about the methods, the A+B=C, feeling sure if B is always added to A, it must always equal C.

If purposeful waiting was only for women waiting for marriage, then you really should move along right now. But the process of waiting and asking our Abba Father for something, not yet receiving, and asking again is still a huge part of my life.

I feel somehow that I could write a cute little essay here about waiting purposefully, but when you find out that I am now happily married to a crazy-awesome man named Ben, you might bail and turn the page on to the next article. I ask God, why would I even have a voice among women who are still waiting?

Parts of my life have fallen neatly into pleasant places. Over the thirty-two years of my life, I’ve seen an abundant amount of goodness and beauty. Through it all, there are threads that I would not have woven in, because who wants pain to be part of their story?

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…not naively; not without knowing what could come.

It’s so much easier to just numb the deepest longings in my heart than to tell you about the longings I have that have no visible fulfillment on the horizon.

In the last six months, the beauty of trust came to me in a deeper way than ever before, through the loss of our little baby, (named Tiny) just twelve weeks into pregnancy. We live in a cruel world, where

loss and pain are leaving footprints in every single one of our lives. It’s with trust that we 13

dare to look ahead. Not naively. Not without knowing what could come. Trust believes a promise He breathes into my heart. It is saying Yes and Amen to whatever He has for me. Trust believes that even though my life may not hold exactly what I long for, His name is glorified by a heart that is alive, longing, and desiring.

Don’t worry about tomorrow. Today has enough trouble of its own, Jesus told us. For today, I’m choosing to hold the dreams of my heart-box out in my hands, and tell God that I’ll take whatever he gives to me.

When my heart finally comes to this place, a sweet peace comes with it. Thank you, Jesus. |

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Becky is passionate about sharing the beauty of redemption that God has brought through hard times in her life. She loves being with women whose hearts are longing for redemption to the pain of their own lives! She wants to make a difference in the world by being real, by engaging people around her, and by sharing the Gospel. Becky loves life with her husband Ben. She loves music, traveling, graphic design, and good times with friends.

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Trust believes a promise He breathes into my heart. It is saying

Yes Amen to whatever He has for me.

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IS NOT

A LIST

Part I

Love is Not a List:

By Rae Schrock Photos by Carmony Photography 16

ACCEPTING THE GIFT OF GOD’S AFFECTION

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I got out of bed this morning and did what I usually do: made a to-do list. Sometimes it’s mentally composed; sometimes I scrawl it down. Either way, compiling the assortment of tasks I need to accomplish has become an imperative part of my day. There is so much to get done! And honestly, sometimes things get so crazy that my list is the only thing keeping me on track. Maybe you can identify? In the rush of living, there are endless deadlines, responsibilities, and needs to be met. I don’t know if there is ever a time when we are not working to meet a goal—whether it’s scrubbing toilets, filling out lesson plans, planning dinner, or holding down the office chair at work.

There is nothing wrong with lists. Some days, I live by them. However, there are days when, in my hurry to eliminate the towering index of daily duties, something dangerous sneaks onto the to-do list: love.

You see sometimes, as I’m scurrying around meeting deadlines and knocking out the cleaning, I remember that I’m

Do we reach out to others because our hearts are spilling over with love for them, or because we want to cross another

project off the list?

supposed to be caring for people, too. I’m sorry to say that at times the realization sounds like this in my head, “Sigh. I have to fit THAT in today too?!” It’s all too easy to add “loving people” to the daily quota of duties. And though I don’t literally write, “love someone today” on the list, things like this have been known to appear: -take a hot meal to the neighbor who just lost her son in an accident -write a note of encouragement to my friend struggling with depression -volunteer at the homeless shelter -take my little brother out for lunch -do something boyfriends’ day

to

brighten

my

“What’s wrong with those things?” You may ask. The answer is, nothing. However, in and of themselves, they are incomplete.

Do we reach out to others because our hearts are spilling over with love for them— or because we want to cross another project off the list? I’ve come to realize that unless my love for others wells from an involuntary response to Jesus’ love for me, the nice things I do will just be…well, nice.

My actions, even if sincere, will fall short.

Ask yourself: What sets my love apart?

Thousands and thousands of nonbelievers are caring and kind. Anybody can take a hot meal to the neighbor to express concern. What makes my acts of kindness, as a Christian, different from those of a non-believer?

Ladies, as the redeemed children of God, we should be setting the highest standard 18

Love is risk. It is vulnerability and emotional nakedness. We would much rather extend nice deeds than our hearts. of love that the world has ever seen. Our kindness should jolt people’s hearts awake to the sense of belonging and intimacy that their souls were shaped for. The love we extend should introduce them to Jesus.

It should never look like a to-do list, but rather the outpouring of Love Himself.

Everything in us wants to be that kind of woman. But we struggle, don’t we?

Several years ago I read the testimony of a Christian lady that helped me understand why.

This woman wrote that she loved her husband very much and went to extravagant lengths to show him. She would cook fabulous meals and always try to look just right when he came home from work or when they woke up in the morning.

She would exhaust herself creating the perfect atmosphere for romance and feel stressed when something was out of place.

It was all an effort to let him know how important he was to her—which is very beautiful in a way. But one night, the wife had an awakening: she had prepared a 19

romantic evening with incense and candles and a nice dinner, but as her husband drew her close to tell her how beautiful she was, she pulled away—her preparations weren’t finished. As she rushed around the room, lighting candles and dimming lights, he said softly, “Honey, I don’t want candles. I want you.”

As I read, I thought, “Wow! What woman doesn’t want to hear that?!” But I also secretly identified with her response of discomfort. She wrote that the idea of giving herself to her husband without all

We must be careful that what we do for God does not become more important than our

relationship with Him. the extras made her uncomfortable.

Allowing him to love her, just as she was, was scary. After all, what if she gave him her heart and he rejected it? It was much safer to offer things like candles and perfect makeup and fabulous meals.

Because let’s be honest: it doesn’t hurt to have the candles or dinner rejected like it does to

have your heart discarded.

I share in this woman’s struggle. Love is risk.

It is vulnerability and emotional nakedness.

And like the wife, I’d much rather extend nice deeds than my heart. It feels safer.

Think about it: giving my hurting friend a book about trust is easier than inviting her to share her heart and dealing with the personal inadequacies such a conversation might raise. Sending a card of encouragement to a grieving friend is safer than sitting face to face and experiencing heart-wrenching loss with her.

So, love gets a little regimented; another thing to check off the to-do list. And ultimately, a great deal of impact is lost.

In the next issue, we will open a conversation about how to practically engage our hearts, not just our limbs, in loving others. For now, I want to address the spiritual aspect behind this issue.

Turns out, we face the temptation to bring lists to our romance with Jesus, too. We find it easiest to identify our love for God by what we accomplish for Him. Again, I have never written, “love God today” on my todo list. But I have been known to strategize things like this in my heart: -spend a year in Voluntary Service with a Mennonite mission -spend an hour reading the Bible every morning -volunteer at the church’s kids’ ministry every week -sacrifice financially to support an overseas missionary -lead the ladies’ Bible study 20

Surely, these things are a blessing to the heart of God! There is nothing wrong with any of them. However, they are empty unless inspired by an outpouring of adoration for Christ. We must be careful that what we do for God does not become more important than our relationship with Him. See, God created the Universe. He fabricated the Pacific Rim and etched the ridges of Everest. He created you from the miraculous embedding of seed in seed. As the Almighty Creator, God really doesn’t need you to do anything for Him. What He does desire is your heart. Loving God is not a formula we follow—it is a relationship we pursue. The book of James, so prominent in its emphasis on the works of faith, never wavers from the truth that works are produced by love—not the other way around. All our good deeds are as filthy rags outside of the redeeming blood of Christ, meaningless beyond the context of response to Him. Like the tender husband in the story, God delights in the things we do to show our commitment— but most of all He yearns for us. For our hearts!

To love God with our whole heart, we must let Him love us first. His love is unlike any you’ve ever known—being all at once faithful, passionate, purging, and whimsical. Our hearts long for it as much as we tremble at the vulnerability it requires.

Like the wife in the story, we fear being deeply known—what if the result is rejection? What if He sees something I have tried all my life to hide? What if I lose control? It feels safer to hold God at arms’ length than to become still and spiritually

To refuse to accept the gift of His love without attempting to earn it on my own is to replant the poison seed of Eden; to echo Eve in the face of my Maker: “What you

have provided is not enough.” naked before Him. I struggled for a long time with the concept of intimacy with God—mostly due to a belief that He was cold and distant. Those robust Sunday School renditions of “Jesus Loves Me” left no doubt in my intellect, but as the innocence of childhood waned, “the Bible tells me so” no longer cut it as an explanation for how I knew He loved me.

The vision of a Holy Savior moving resolutely from town to town preaching in somber tones just didn’t connect with my simple desire to be known and loved. I feared divine rejection and believed deep down that the only reason Jesus would accept me was if I could do enough to earn His favor.

It took the gentle intervention of the Holy Spirit along with the loving input of wise mentors to open my eyes to the truth. I saw my own pride measured against the steep price Jesus paid. I realized that to try to earn His love was like saying, “Sorry God… 21

It was love, not a checklist, that took Jesus to the cross. He was not merely a man who did good things for us, but one that became God with us. …what you did on Calvary wasn’t enough.” To refuse to accept the gift of His love without attempting to earn in on my own is to re-plant the poison seed of Eden; to echo Eve in the face of my Maker: “What you have provided is not enough.”

Until I accept the merciful, complete, healing gift of Love Himself, I will suffer in endless striving. My response to Christ will be regimented, resistant, proud. Another item on the to-do list. The way I love others will be crippled and leaky, as if a hole has been punctured, draining out the joy.

As I grasp the love that drove Christ to the cross, my own heart is wrecked. I fall to my knees, throbbing with the suffering He endured to mend the intimacy shattered by my own sin. It wasn’t duty that compelled Him, but a passionate desire to be one with the heart of His created once again. My sin demanded divine justice.

Christ took my place. The image of Him on the cross of Calvary, flesh hanging in ribbons across a beaten back, brow pierced and dripping with sweat and 22

blood, lungs snatching for every drop of air, is poignant, terrible, and heartshattering. That He would go to such lengths….for me? I am overwhelmed again and again by such love.

good work in the Kingdom—and invites us linger in His presence. Like a tender husband He is whispering, “Sweetheart, I don’t want a perfectly executed program.

I just want you.”

Jesus could have loved us from the glorious safety of Heaven by putting an end to earthquakes, premature birth, guns that accidentally misfire, and tsunamis. Our lives would have been easier—yes. But our hearts would still be broken. Christ’s death and resurrection was the only way to heal the lethal soul-hole torn out when we bit into the fruit. It was love—not a checklist— that took Jesus to the cross. His is a love that does not just assist, but participates.

Can we do anything but fall on our faces in humble gratitude for this Gift?

As we respond to this love, our hearts overflow into obedience. Service for the kingdom becomes a way of life. Life itself becomes a response to His love; a burning desire to adore Him in return. Talk about romance!

Know this truth in the pit of your soul: God longs for your heart, not your efforts. He loved you enough to leave heaven’s glory and walk this messy, banged up world alongside you. He adored you so much that He paid the price so your heart could be re-united with His—free of shame, free of guilt, free of sin. How then can we reduce our love for Him to the mere motions and accomplishments of our physical bodies? A woman named Martha busied herself anxiously in the kitchen, striving to get everything just right for her Lord. Meanwhile, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His teaching—a socially bold move, and yet one Jesus praised.

Martha, by contrast, received a rebuke.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” [Luke 10:41, 41 ESV] Christ calls us away from the distractions—even of our

I invite you to get alone with Jesus today.

You might feel awkward and the stillness might make you yearn for something to do.

But don’t. Sit still, and let Him love you. I promise your heart is safe.

As you enter the vulnerable territory of spiritual and emotional nakedness before the Lord, you will discover a Savior who invites your adoration and wrecks you with overwhelming, unconditional, sweet, deep love. Would you let Him do this today? I invite you to meditate on the verses transcribed on the pages following this article, and to wrap your heart around God’s declarations of love over you. Christ made Himself vulnerable and loved us with everything He had. He offers you His heart.

Will you hold out yours in return? |

NEXT ISSUE Love is Not a List, Part II: Reaching others with a love that engages.

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Love

notes

I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

“I want you to show

love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”

[Hos. 6:6, NLT]

[Hos. 11:4, NLT]

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life

when he raised Christ from the dead. God saved you by his

grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” [Eph. 2:4, 8-10, NLT] 24

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or

hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

[Rom. 8:35-39, NLT]

“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley

of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes,” says the LORD, “you will call me ‘my

husband’ instead of ‘my master.’”

[Hos. 2:14-16, NLT]

An intimate message from God to you “Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are

honored, and I love you.” [Is. 43:4, NLT] 25

An Invitation

To the Open Fields

By Samantha Trenkamp Photos by Rae Schrock

Vulnerable.

That word crawls all over us. Our minds carry the image of a cute, little fluffy-tailed rabbit, exposed in an open field with nowhere to hide, becoming prey to a speeding, talon-bared falcon. Isn’t that exactly how we feel? But, that is not a true picture of what Jesus asks of us. The breath and beating heart of Christ was not wrung from Him, but given of His own will. It is not a life that is taken, but a life laid down and offered; and this is the great difficulty.

Satan has us believing lies that we don’t have to be, or shouldn’t be, honest about

ourselves with others. We tell ourselves that no one really cares to hear, or our pride says we should just keep our mouth shut. So we cloak ourselves and burrow deep to escape the piercing light. Satan doesn’t want us to be freed from ourselves. On the contrary, he wants us to be so wrapped up in ourselves that we see and feel nothing else! Our sinful natures fear the kind of transparency that God asks of us. We have too much we want to keep hidden. And none of it is anywhere remotely beautiful.

Gary Thomas puts it this way, “I don’t naturally gravitate toward the honesty and openness that leads to change. My natural sin-bent is to hide and erect a glittering 26

image.” He goes on to quote from Intimate Allies, “Man was meant to be a bold creative artist who plunges into the unformed mystery of life and shapes it to a greater vision of beauty. At the Fall he became a cowardly, violent protector of nothing more than himself. Intimacy and openness were replaced by hiding and hatred.”

It’s like the crystal waters of the Caribbean.

Pure, unearthly blue, and visible straight to the bottom about as far as the eye can see. The clarity displays the mass of darting colors in the reefs, the grainy white sands.

Yet, we wade in the murkiness of our fear and need to control. It is frightening to be so exposed to the light. But if we want the beautiful things to grow, they must have that Light piercing straight through to the bottom.

A monk from the book “The Long Fall” by Penelope Wilcox told his beloved Abbot, “Do you know, it hurts, loving you. You turn me inside out.” Most of us have had a friend, or some person, who always seems to want to dig deeper into us than we ourselves want to go. They look right into our souls and ask the hard questions, they seem to have the knack of finding the one small crack in our wall and they keep chiseling at it until they can see and hear all of the things we strive to keep hidden.

We try to fill the hole back in and push them back out, but they love us too much to give up on us. They know that freedom is more important than comfort. And it feels as though they are turning us inside out.

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are

naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” -Hebrews 4:13 Love itself demands vulnerability; the constant giving of self. But we resist the affection, we are uncomfortable with intimacy. We are afraid to give because we are afraid of getting hurt; we struggle to totally trust. Openness breeds intimacy, which strengthens relationships. In allowing yourself to become as vulnerable as Christ was, you stop being the victim and start being the victor.

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities [weakness], that the power of Christ may rest upon me…for when I am weak, then am I strong.” -2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Taking that wild risk to lay our souls raw to those who are just as frail as we; stepping out of the comfortable place we’ve made of our sorrows and letting others see the fight we face every day for that elusive thing of joy. To enter the place of naked truth were soul touches soul; accepting the possibility of pain, rejection, or criticism.

And it is a choice. We can choose to let the tears streak hot. Choose to let it bleed right out. All of the deep, dark secrets; all of the pain and anger and confusion, the disappointments and scattered dreams; because we have been washed in the Blood of the Risen Christ who was stripped bare and beaten, mocked and abandoned. Who sweat a holy red as He faced these very things. “For He was

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crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God.” -2 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV).

Exposed and vulnerable. It’s letting your guard down and keeping it that way. It’s tearing down the walls and not rebuilding (they only served to divide anyway). It’s forgiveness, and beginning to trust. It’s letting that friend, who’s been trying to get in, actually to be able to strike the chord of that tender spot of our heart. It is taking hold of the stretched forth hand of love. It is being open and gloriously free of pretenses. Abundant life!

“With each passage of human growth we must shed a protective structure (like a hardy crustacean). We are left exposed and vulnerable- but also yeasty and embryotic again, capable of stretching in ways we hadn’t known before.” –Gail Sheehy So will you meet the challenge? Will I? Will we pay that price of spiritual liberation?

Vulnerable. Yes, it hurts. The ground must be broken for the seed to grow. Otherwise it just gets packed harder and harder until roots cannot spread and life is void.

Will we take the step to surrender? And those who dig may not like what they find.

But are you willing to risk it? Will we allow ourselves to be stretched, cracked right open, so that the growth of new life can begin?

Will we come into the glory of the open fields?

About the author Samantha blogs at www.comeintothefields. wordpress.com

Photo credit: Ryan Trenkamp, Skysail Photography

and spends her time writing, learning, teaching, and pursing Christ.

broken

The ground must be for the seed to

grow.

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Tears of a Godly Woman the words of an anonymous warrior for his lady

The tearful prayer of a Godly woman keeps trusting…

When all fail to see the hurt, When all fail to feel the pain, When all fail to see the distress, When all take advantage of your care and love, When all place too much on your shoulders, When all feel like they can’t listen, When all watch in awkward silence, When all won’t hear you, When all miss the pure plea of your heart…

When the tears of you, my angel, fall softly; Remember, the sun rises as a new day brings its light!

You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all

my

tears in your bottle. You have recorded each

one in your

book.

-Psalm 56:8, NLT

Feel, the stillness all around.

Listen, to God’s voice in the air.

Grasp, the peace like a dove descending into your heart.

Reach out, to the strength of God that He has promised to you.

Savor, the blessing of relationship with Christ.

Rest, in the care of those closest to you…

Who have been with you through it all, And who will walk with you still.

The tears of a Godly woman are far from merely tears.

They are a window to her heart, The definition of her grace, The display of deep care, The passion of her love, The reflection of the beauty within her soul.

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OUR

readers

SHARE “ THIS ISSUE, WE ASKED A RANDOM GROUP OF WOMEN TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, “WHAT PERSON HAS HAD THE MOST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE AND WHAT LESSONS DID THEY TEACH YOU?”

“

I would have to say my Dad. He taught me to dare to dream. I grew up in a family of girls so there were lots of dreams!:) Whether it was in my Christian walk, volunteering in Haiti, or moving to the big city...Dad was always there to support and encourage. I want to do the same for others.

“

-Jessica Burdge, D.C.

The person who has had the greatest influence on my life is my mom! As long as I can remember, she modeled a life of faith in God. Her trust in His faithfulness didn't waver, even through some of the darkest days! She has a joyful spirit and can often be heard singing while she works. Her unconditional love for her children gave me a glimpse of the Father's heart for me! I am so grateful for her godly example and pray that I too can emulate Christ in such a way that my children will see Jesus in me!

-Ruby Showalter, VA

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“

There have been many people who have influenced me.

Someone who has had a big influence on my life was my Bible teacher in high school. He always helped me see where I could grow in my spiritual walk. One thing I really appreciated was how he cared about what was going on in my life and always had words of encouragement for me.

“

-Tiffany Sensenig, PA

God has blessed me with MANY people who have spoken into my life and taught me lessons that changed my life. I could do the standard parents, because they have taught me SO MUCH that has shaped my beliefs and personal standards.

But, I think I'll go with my friend Charlene.

Charlene and her husband were friends of my parents when I was young. Her husband died, after battling cancer for some time, when their only daughter was 18 months old. Charlene has been a dear friend to me. She lives a very selfless life.

She is always willing to listen, loves to give gifts, and respects other's time by always being punctual. I have always been challenged by her devotion to God. One look at her Bible demonstrates this... it is filled with notes and highlights, and the pages are well-worn. She'll always be one of the first ones to commit to praying for someone... and she will pray consistently!

She is a woman of God, and I count it a privilege to call her my friend!

-Angie Berkshire, SC

My mom and dad have been the biggest influence in my life. They teach me so much about God, life, and love.

One of the biggest things they have taught me, by their example, is to give my life to Jesus in complete surrender and service to Him. They have challenged me to be who God created me to be {be myself}, to be submissive {surrender my will to Him}, and to love unconditionally {hold in mind what really matters in life}. I treasure my close relationship with them and will forever be grateful for their influence on my life.

-Regina Penner, Ontario

“

The first person I thought of was my 6th grade school teacher. He would have been the first person in my life to love me the way God loves me. As a child, I couldn’t understand all that, I just knew he was my hero and I adored him. But the biggest influence in my life is my husband. He has taught me so much. To trust people, to realize I am beautiful, to laugh and have fun, are a few things he has taught me.

-Anonymous

“

WE ARE

blessed TO BE A blessing!

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Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf in springtime.

-Martin Luther

EMBRACING

Resurrection Take with you the joy of Easter to the home, and make that home bright with more unselfish love, more hearty service; take it into your work, and do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; take it to your heart, and let that heart rise anew on Easter wings to a higher, a gladder, a fuller life; take it to the dear grave-side and say there the two words "Jesus lives!" and find in them the secret of calm expectation, the hope of eternal reunion.

-John Ellerton

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As out of Jesus' affliction came a new sense of God's love and a new basis for love between men, so out of our affliction we may grasp the splendor of God's love and how

to love one

another. Thus the consummation of the two commandments was on Golgotha; and the Cross is, at once, their image and their fulfillment.

-Malcolm Muggeridge

Today is the day of salvation for the world... Christ is risen from the dead: arise with him. Christ returns to himself: you also must return to him. Christ has come forth from the tomb: free yourselves from the fetters of evil.

The gates of hell are open and the power of death is destroyed.

The old Adam is superseded, the new perfected. In Christ a new creation is coming to birth: renew yourselves.

-Gregory Nazianzen 33

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Braveheart

By Rae Schrock // Photography by Heidi Mast Photography

OVERCOMING FEAR

Fear is a natural, God-designed emotion which kindles in response to danger. A healthy sense of fear causes appropriate wariness to harmful situations and helps us to protect ourselves with common sense. The Bible talks about cultivating a fear of God—a sense of reverence and awe. Healthy reverence for God and for real physical danger keeps us functioning in spiritually, physically, and emotionally healthy ways. But what about when fear is something more—an emotion that clutches in our chest at even ordinary activities of life?

Thousands of women battle debilitating fear on a daily basis. In 2012, the National Institute of Mental Health released a survey revealing that a staggering 6.3 million individuals have a diagnosed phobia. Our society is consumed by fear—of health issues, lightning, spiders, social situations, darkness, physical touch, closed spaces and even open spaces. One of my friends recently declared that she never answers the door to strangers without a gun in hand, and that she walks to her car with keys

slipped between her fingers so she is poised to defend herself should the need arise. You and I confront fears too. Granted, we probably don’t bring a loaded gun to the door or experience anxiety at the thought of physical touch, but we worry about other things: that someone under our care will make bad choices; that so-and-so won’t understand our point of view; that we will blow the job interview; that we won’t be strong enough to withstand temptation; that we’ll miss God’s will.

Consuming fears are tormenting and crippling.

They are not of God but prevent us from connecting with Him and others. Do you long to be free? Maybe you have been caught in the clutches of anxiety for so long that it is hard to imagine living without it. But I am here to testify that God heals and that it is possible to live freely, cupped in the hands of God rather than cuffed in the shackles of fear. Here is a bit of my own story.

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physically, and wished to die. Nighttime was the worst as a feeling of darkness pressed down physically and spiritually, stealing sleep and tormenting my heart. The Enemy bombarded my mind with fears—often so intense that I could not see around them. My mother was such a warrior during those long, dark nights. She would come to my room when I couldn’t sleep, and pray over me and encourage me with truth. The Psalms became precious as I made a slow walk toward emotional recovery. Today, I recognize this period as a culmination of years of anxiety, as well as major turning point in the struggle.

God’s power became real and intimate and was so demonstrative through physical and spiritual healing.

The battle was not over, however. Adulthood brought new challenges and new fears. They didn’t follow as closely as before, but lurked like a shadow in the background. I experienced my first panic attack during a church camping trip, an event precipitated by the impending loss of a cherished romantic relationship. Some level of anxiety was always present. As the relationship painfully closed, God again met me and I was able to face the fears I had so long struggled against. Trust became deeper.

CONFESSIONS OF A FEARFUL WOMAN All my life I have battled fear. Early childhood memories include stark terror at being left alone. I remember a family trip in which I was petrified that my dad was going to be kidnapped while pumping gas. I hid under the van seat and cried. The first dream I can recall was a night terror in which figures in black hoods chased me. At about age 10, an awareness of life’s instability and an accompanying fear of loss pressed into my heart as my father’s battle with a major health condition became severe. His coming home from work each evening ceased to be a guarantee, and though my parents demonstrated unwavering faith in God during this time, I was riddled with anxiety.

At age 16, intense fears and insecurities led me into depression. I lost weight, was very ill

2013 was a year of intense change and I found myself facing my darkest spiritual battles yet.

The summer and fall were marked by deep loneliness, stress, and loss, and carried with them heavy questions about life. During this time, the Anabaptist community was rocked by back-to-back tragedies and I was one of many whose heart was shaken by the jarring collision of evil with innocence. A fear of loss overwhelmed me. I remember lying in bed one night and realizing with floodlight clarity that every single person I love is going to die. How was I supposed to deal with that?! Questions bombarded my mind: “How does a good God let these tragedies happen?” “What is the point of hoping when in the end, I will still get hurt?” “Why love when the ones I love might be taken away?” For weeks I slept very little and dealt with vivid nightmares that shared a central theme of death. I would jolt out of them, breathless and frozen in fear. During the day, I battled anxiety about everything. I 36

feared being alone; having my house broken into at night; rejection by loved ones; driving long distances; that my boyfriend would accidentally get shot during hunting season.

You get the point. Characteristic of fear, many of mine were totally irrational, though they seemed intensely real. My faith felt so weak. I sought God and advice from friends, but the terrible nightmares persisted, night after night.

These were fears unlike any I had faced before, and I became increasingly aware that there was a cosmic battle raging for my soul. I felt alone in my agony, longing to overcome, but profoundly insufficient.

THE FACE OF FEAR Perhaps you can relate to my story, finding yourself caught in the angst of gripping fear.

The symptoms are obvious and often severe: a feeling of tightness in the chest; panic attacks; nightmares; sleeplessness; suspicion; nervousness; lack of intimacy; stomach pain; loss of appetite; ulcers; weight loss; constant negativity. Fear is a cruel master that executes joy and clouds judgment. It destroys our ability to experience intimate friendship, and opens a terrifying chasm between our heart and God’s.

Enemy to attack the courage, vision, and faith of Christ’s ambassadors on earth.

Fear destroys and isolates; it distracts and divides.

What better way for the Devil to rend the kingdom of God than by tearing us apart with fear? To overcome, we must begin by recognizing fear as a real, spiritual entity.

At the heart of every fear is a cleverly hidden lie. Think about your fears—are they based in truth? I know mine aren’t. “I will never be good enough”, “Nobody loves me”, “God can’t forgive this”, “I have nothing to offer”. In order to believe these lies, we have to look away from God. You see, fear is really idolatry—it gets us looking at our situations or ourselves instead of at God. When we believe the lies, we are essentially saying, “God, you are not enough.” We disconnect from His goodness and faithfulness, and surrender ground in our heart to the Enemy.

If you find yourself battling fear of this capacity, then be encouraged—God has prepared a way out.

FEAR IS A SPIRIT Many people try to deal with fear by avoiding the situations or relationships that cause anxiety. However, this is not a satisfying solution since ultimately, situations and relationships are not the root cause of our struggles. Ephesians 6:12 describes what is: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Fear is not just the product of hormones mixing and releasing. Fear is a spirit, confirmed in the Scriptures as something evil and anti-God, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” [2 Tim. 1:7] The spirit of fear is released by the 37

LOVE

POWER

SOUND MIND STOCKING THE ARMORY

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Overcoming fear is not as simple as “thinking happy thoughts”, or “not dwelling on the negative.” Remember, we are engaged in a cosmic war for our souls. This means we need to fight against the spirit of fear, not just the feelings of fear.

Praise God, we are spiritually equipped for combat. Our Armory is stocked with weapons that have been tested and proven by generations of faithful Kingdom soldiers—it’s up to you and me to use them. Though there are many weapons we may wield against fear, there are several which I believe to be paramount.

LOVE Love truly is one of the most effective weapons against fear. What is there to fear when I grasp, in my deepest heart, that I am cherished by the mighty God who created, not only this vast universe, but me? In my life, communing intimately with God has been tantamount to conquering fear. Experiencing God’s love through Scripture and prayer reassures me that I am accepted, valuable, desirable, and that I have a purpose. The more I love Him, the more I trust that He is good, and He has got me. The fear of rejection and failure diminishes, as my ultimate allegiance returns only to Him. Pastor Robert Price shares these beautiful thoughts on love and fear: “You know that any kind of love is a risk.

Romantic love, which may easily blow cold as soon as hot. Friendship, which a sudden move or change of interest can cut off. Christian love of the brothers and sisters, which may put one at a disadvantage, for now one is forced to go the second mile [for] someone you could otherwise just avoid! But these risks and a thousand others simply must be taken, unless we want to return to the dark tutelage of fear.

And then we will no longer have to fear love's candle snuffing out in a sudden gust -- we won't have to worry about it, because we will be sitting alone in the chilly dark. But if we are grounded in the deep love of God, none of the disappointments of love will be so devastating. The love of God, which underlies all other loves, cannot disappoint you. It is that love which is stronger than death.”

POWER Fear brings a sense of powerlessness: “You will never be great. You are too weak. Your past is too riddled with addiction. Your faith is too weak to be useful.” Ladies, we are bought by the precious blood of Jesus! Our lives have been made new; our spirits washed clean. Like lost, bleeding orphans, we have been found by the Father, tenderly rescued and cared for; adopted into the royal lineage of the King who heals broken hearts, delivers captives, and restores joy. As we live through the power of Christ in us, the fear of what may happen to us, holds no power over us. When worry comes knocking, answer back with truth in the authority of Jesus’ name.

I love these thoughts by Pastor Price: “You see, faith is learning to focus on a power not your own, the deep-dwelling power of God that is stored away in the subconscious, where deep calleth unto deep. Faith is glad to admit its own inadequacy, its own insufficiency, its own likelihood to fail. Because it looks for success to a greater power. Confidence is henceforth based not on an estimate of my own abilities, but rather on the sufficiency of another, God, the Risen Christ, the Spirit of Power.”

SOUND MIND 1 Timothy 1:7 explains that God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear but of a “sound mind”. What does this mean? The Greek word translated “sound mind” may be more appropriately interpreted as “discipline”. Paul was instructing Timothy to discipline his thoughts. Think about that for a moment. Discipline is emphasized primarily in the physical sense: getting up at 6:30AM to exercise; eating healthy; being on time for work; cleaning the house every Saturday. Yet, too often, the potent territory of the mind goes undisciplined. Thoughts will define behavior. Therefore, if we consistently entertain anxious thoughts, our actions will reflect fear, withdrawal, self-protection, and conflict. In contrast, dwelling on what is pure, lovely, and godly will lead to a well-balanced response, rather than reactions of fear, when life gets tough.

Ladies, develop a disciplined mind by dwelling only on the good stuff. Meditate on the truth 39

and listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit—He is your advisor about the implications of the thoughts and actions you engage. Refuse to give in to fears, but evict them as they come, one by one. A mind filled with truth offers no fertile soil in which fear can implant.

SHIELD OF FAITH Ephesians 6:16 describes the attack of the Devil as “fiery darts”. In the original Greek, these words literally mean, “ignited missiles”— or lies, hurled repeatedly into our thoughts by the Enemy. Flaming lies burn through the unprotected mind and infect it with the poison of fear. To defend against them, God equips us with the shield of faith. Against it, the flaming darts of the evil one literally vaporize.

The shield of the ancient warrior served to protect any part of his body over which he flung it. Sturdy, unyielding, and heavy, the shield could deflect arrows, block the blows of a sword, and shatter a javelin. The Romans 40

WE HOLD UP THE SHELD OF FAITH AND CONFESS, “I BELIEVE THAT GOD IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS AND THAT HIS WORD IS TRUE.” THE ENEMY’S LIES DISSOLVE IN THE PURIFYING FIRE OF TRUTH. marched in rank, shields raised overhead in an impervious umbrella of protection against the attacks of the enemy. Wielding the sword of faith yields the same impenetrable protection over the heart and mind of the believer. We hold it up and confess, in faith, “I believe that God is who He says He is, and that His word is true. The Enemy’s lies dissolve in the purifying fire of the truth.

THE REST OF

THE STORY

My crisis of fear ended one night when I suffered one final, terrifying dream. In it, I stood by an open door while a group of blackhooded men walked by, each trying to persuade me to come with them through the door. I could not see their faces. An awareness of evil smothered me and I could not speak or move. Fighting for air, I labored to speak, to ward off the evil crushing my mind and lungs.

Choked and hoarse, the only word I could utter finally dragged out, “Jesus!” The dream faded and as I moved into consciousness, I heard myself speaking His name over and over, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….” I could not move.

My arms felt pinned to the bed as I cried out for help, “Jesus, save me!” It was the final battle in a long series over many weeks, but victory came that night through the intervention of the Almighty God who is still in the business of rescuing His children from the waves. That night I prayed and wept and renounced the Devil and the spirit of fear. I repented of the ground I had given up to the Enemy over the past few months by surrendering to fear, and invited Jesus to

reclaim that territory for Himself. The terror lifted from my heart; the darkness of the room no longer crawled with the noxious odor of evil, and my body relaxed. At last I fell asleep. My rest was dreamless and sweet—a rest I had not experienced in months.

That was the last nightmare I experienced.

Some days I am tempted to give into life’s harsh realities and surrender to a spirit of Fear.

But instead I choose to renounce it in Jesus’ name and fill my mind with the truth. I choose to yield to the Holy Spirit and exercise His power in my life. The internal joy and rest I have experienced has been so rich and beautiful—I pray you experience it too. Christ truly sets the captives free.

Ladies, we are warriors, fashioned with a special sensitivity to the spiritual, as well as a longing to bring rest and sanctuary to the world around us. In order to flourish in this calling, we must intentionally go to war against the evil that threatens our hearts. Fear is tearing too many away from the Father. Will you join me in purposefully battling against it?

WILL YOU PROTECT THIS HOUSE? At a football game I attended last fall, the massive stadium screens repeatedly played an UnderArmor commercial containing a tagline familiar to most sports fans. As scenes of intense football contact between rival teams flashed across the screens, a resonant, commanding voice yelled, “Will you protect this house?!” To which 50,000 screaming hometeam fans in the Raven’s stadium thundered, “I WILL!” Ladies, we are fighting for turf in something so much greater than a football stadium. Our rival isn’t a sports team, but the Enemy of our souls. Will you protect this house?

Jesus looks for women who will raise the standard of soul-purity, purging out the fears that invade our hearts and destroy territory already purchased by Christ. Will you, with me, commit to keeping your heart pure and free before Him? Let’s raise our weapons against the opponent and cry, “I will!” |

I WILL! 41

Redemption

By Michelle & Janelle Snader Photos by Ad Lib Photography

Imagine a beautiful young woman, living on the streets and caught up in the bondage of addiction and prostitution. She grew up knowing brokenness and abuse, and, out of pain, turned to anything that seemed to offer her a sense of security. Every day was a battle to find hope amidst all the sin and pain she was living in. She felt dirty, shameful and worthless.

She had believed so many lies that she didn’t even know what the truth about herself really looked like. The walls she had built around her heart to keep the pain out defined who she was; she couldn’t imagine a world outside of them.

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One day a man stopped her on the street.

She was quick to assume he was her next customer but was surprised when he rejected any offer she gave him. Unknown to her, he had something more to offer her.

He saw in her a beauty and worth that surpassed the human eye. He offered to take her off the streets and replace her old lifestyle with an opportunity to start fresh.

She was left with a choice. She could continue to hide behind the walls of her pain that felt safe and familiar, or she could courageously grab hold of the hope he offered, and in it, find healing, freedom and purpose.

You may wonder how there’s any relation between you and the young woman in this story. Maybe you grew up in a good home and didn’t experience a lot of pain or trauma. Maybe you never fell into the traps of addiction that seemed to offer a sense of security. But we all have built walls that feel safe, and in one way or another, we have sought to fill those empty places inside us with things outside of Christ.

Perhaps with other people’s approval or the feelings that come from buying the latest fashion or newest electronic device.

Our old thought patterns and ways of life offer us comfort and a sense of control. In reality, they only hold us back from walking in our real purpose in life and finding all that Christ has set apart for us. Each of us is faced with a choice similar to this young woman's. We can become complacent in the false security of the walls we’ve built around us, or we can choose to lay down our pain, our past and our former identity and grab hold of the hope and purpose offered to us through Christ and the truth He has spoken about us.

Our story is similar to the one you just read.

Because of pain and brokenness in our own past, we grew up believing that we too were worth much less than what God had planned. We built up walls to protect ourselves and created an identity outside of what He had intended for us to be. We tried to fix the pain by coping in many different ways, but nothing seemed to take away the hopeless feelings of emptiness and shame we felt. We even had a motto we believed reflected our lives: ‘Worthless things were meant to be destroyed.’ It got to the point where we found no purpose in life, and even tried to escape the pain by attempting to commit suicide. But God in His great mercy spared our lives, and what the enemy meant for evil, God used for good. He offered to give us new life and replace our old lifestyle with healing and hope. He offered to replace our broken, pain-filled story with His own story; one that He had written for us long before we even came to be.

He graciously took us on a journey of replacing the lies and thought patterns we had built over the years with truth about who He is and who we are in Him. He

Our motto changed from “Worthless things were meant to be destroyed”, to

“Wounded hearts were meant to be restored.”43

grace brought people into our lives to speak truth to us and show us what living outside those walls looked like. To be honest, it wasn’t easy. It never is. The choice to leave our old life behind and start fresh seemed like a good thing, but it doesn’t happen without a fight. The road is steep, tiresome and sometimes very painful. After thinking a certain way for a long time, it takes time to change those harmful thought patterns into walking in truth. We ran into a lot of walls and had to fight off the lies that wanted to tie us down. Many days and nights have been spent in prayers and tears, letting go of the things we had held onto for so long. But even though the journey itself has been difficult, the freedom and healing He has given us in place of the pain and shame is well worth the fight. We are thankful to say that He has changed our motto from: 'Worthless things were meant to be destroyed' into 'Wounded hearts were meant to be

restored.' That is a belief we want to live out every day.

So, what does it look like to walk daily with the realization that you and I have been redeemed? We believe it starts with our identity. In the day to day realities that seem to pass us by so quickly, it's easy to become focused on physical things. The more we look at ourselves, the more we see our flaws, insecurities, failures and shortcomings. But Paul says in Colossians that all those things belong to our old self.

We have been crucified, and it's not we who live, but Christ in us. Because of the price Jesus paid by going to the cross, He set the platform to exchange our brokenness and pain into a new identity of life and joy. That is the beauty of living out the Gospel every day. When we change our focus from who we think we are not and the feelings of insufficiency that go with that and instead, set our gaze on who 44

He is and what He's done, we start to see truth, security and who we are called to be.

To be honest, it's not always easy to find that focus when relationships become strained or when life just feels like it's pulling you from every direction. But when we choose to put our trust in our Abba Father, aside from what our feelings or circumstances say in the moment, we will find a deep peace and security that is beyond our understanding. No matter how big or small the difficult situation in your life may seem, whether it includes your family, friends or your faith, God wants to take what has been broken and make something beautiful out of it. Just like a mosaic is created out of many different broken pieces, yet when displayed as one piece, is found to be beautiful, .so are the broken pieces that make up your story.

truth

God wants to take them and shape them into something full of life and beauty.

There's a purpose for the pain in your life; it's called redemption, and we are living proof of just that.

We don’t know where you stand today or what battles you are walking through, but we do know that you have never been more loved by Him, and we know His purpose for you is good. There is not a moment that He has left your side, and you can rest assured that He will be faithful to complete the work He has started. You will soon realize that He is solidifying a faith in your heart that you never knew was there before. We love the quote that says, 'She knew that when her affections were set on things above, nothing could steal her joy.’ His heart is for us to walk in the fullness of that joy, and we hope you can experience it today. |

About the Authors Janelle & Michelle Snader currently live near Lancaster, PA. They recently moved back after spending several years living on a ranch in the beautiful state of Colorado.

They love long road trips, running outdoors, drinking their espresso strong, and finding color and extraordinaries in the people and places they encounter daily. Their heart is to live passionately in pursuit of God and share with others the Life He has given them.

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She knew that when her affections were set on things above, nothing could steal her

joy.

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DO-IT-YOURSELF

anthropology SCARF For some of us, the advent of spring ushers in not only happy thoughts of warm weather plans, but also the urge for a fresh wardrobe. The winter clothes get packed away and out comes the spring-wear. As we change out our wardrobe, we may also seize the opportunity to get rid of old items that are no longer needed.

However, before you get too excited about throwing away that old white t-shirt, glance over it first. You may be able to upcycle it into something fresh and new.

For this infinity scarf project, you will need several basic household items. And of course some old t-shirts. The shirts don’t have to be in perfect condition. In fact, this is a great way to re-vamp a shirt you stopped wearing because of a few light stains.

Compiled by Brittany Shult | Photos by Heidi Mast Photography

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Supplies Two plain white t-shirts A bottle of rubbing alcohol A dropper Various colored sharpies Scissors Old towel

Step 1 Decide how wide you would like your scarf, then cut a strip out of each t-shirts accordingly. Allow room for extra trimming if need be.

Step 2 Once you have cut two loops from the shirts, cut each one in half along a seam. You will end up with two long strips of cloth. Be sure that each one is trimmed to the same width. Take the ends of each piece and pin together. Then sew the ends to make one infinity loop.

Make sure the seams from the t-shirt are on the inside of the scarf.

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Step 3 Lay the scarf over a piece of cardboard and go to town coloring it with the sharpies. If you decide to do designs (i.e. stripes or lines) keep everything close together so that the colors will spread more. When you have finished coloring the entire scarf, lay it over an old towel. Take the dropper and drip rubbing alcohol over the entire scarf.

The colors will spread and bleed together, mimicking a tie-dye effect.

Step 4 After step 3 is complete, toss the scarf into the dryer to set the colors. (DISCLAIMER: When this project was tested, colored streaks were left on the inside of the dryer due to the permanent marker. However, they won’t end up coloring your other clothes. If this still concerns you, try rinsing the scarf in hot water before tossing into the dryer. Just be aware that the colors will not be as vibrant and may dry to different shades.) It is recommended that the scarf be washed separately the first several times to ensure that the colors do not bleed onto other clothing.

All that’s left to do….is wear it!

Happy DIYing!

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51

THISISSUE :

[

REJUVENATING

CREATIVITY

] 52

1 Don’t tell yourself

[ 2

you aren’t creative.

Creativity is like a muscle; it needs exercise.

Find something creative to do once a day, even if it’s as simple as adding a new ingredient to your favorite recipe.

Experience new things.

Listen to a different type of music or read a new genre of literature.

Visit art museums, attend plays and concerts, taste different ethnic cuisines. Allow yourself to see culture with various perspectives.

[

5

Don’t be afraid to brainstorm.

Jot ideas down on paper. They don’t have to be in a precise category or order, but they’ll give you a starting point.

3

Spend time with children.

4

Read, read, read!

Set a goal to read a certain number of books or pages of literature that you’ve never read before.

You might find a new favorite you hadn’t discovered before.

Little ones are amazing in their creativity. Learn from their imaginary stories and take inspiration from their colorful, free-spirited doodles.

By Brittany Shult

] ] 53

Companion

Beans aid celery and are aided by cabbage. Bush beans and cucumbers are mutually beneficial. Green beats repel potato beetles.

Beets, like bush beans, onions, and kohlrabi. They dislike pole beans and mustard.

The Cabbage family (includes cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and kohlrabi) and potatoes are mutually beneficial.

They like beets, dislike strawberries. Tomatoes and celery repel the white cabbage butterfly.

Carrots aid peas and are aided by lettuce and radishes. Onions repel carrot flies.

Whether a novice or veteran gardener, it is helpful to understand the relationship between plants before choosing the layout of your garden. Some plants repel one another or stunt production; others are favorable for growth when planted closely together. Here are some of the relationships between common garden plants. I hope you find it helpful this gardening season!

Cucumbers like sunflowers, cabbage, and corn’s shade, but they increase potato blight. Cucumbers and beans are mutually beneficial. Cucumber beetles are repelled by radishes.

Dill greatly reduces carrot and tomato crops.

Eggplant may attract potato beetles. Plant with green beans to repel them.

Garlic inhibits the growth of peas and beans.

Kohlrabi grows well with beets and onions.

Compiled by Rae Schrock

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Grows poorly near pole beans and has a harmful effect on tomatoes.

Lettuce likes strawberries, carrots, radishes, cabbage, and beets.

Marigolds aid tomatoes, combat potato nematodes, and repel the Mexican bean beetle.

Nasturtiums repel aphids from broccoli and aid radishes and potatoes. They also repel squash bugs.

Sunflowers and potatoes stunt each other.

Also, sunflowers increase potato blight.

Cucumbers grow well near sunflowers which (like corn) provide shade and a windbreaker for it and other vine crops.

Sweet corn likes potatoes, beans, peas, and cucumbers. Melon, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers like corn’s shade.

Tomatoes are aided by parsley, stunted by kohlrabi, and black walnut trees. They aid cabbage but increase potato blight.

Onions like beets, but inhibit peas and beans. Alternating with rows of carrots is mutually beneficial.

Parsley aids the growth of tomatoes, sweet corn, beans and turnips. Dislike onions and garlic.

Peas like radishes, cucumbers.

Pumpkins potatoes.

like

corn

carrots, and

and dislike

Radishes like peas. Nasturtiums give radishes perfects flavor. Leaf lettuce makes radishes tender. A few radishes planted beside hills of cucumbers and other vine crops will keep away cucumber beetles.

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featured

blogger Dorcas Smucker

“ a blog of wit, charm, and stories of a woman who loves Jesus, her family, and hot tea.

Dorcas Smucker is married to Paul--a Mennonite minister, school principal, and grass-seed business owner--and the mother of six, aged 14 to 27. She and her family live in Oregon's Willamette Valley in a 100-year-old farmhouse.

Dorcas writes a monthly column for the Eugene RegisterGuard newspaper and has written four books. She keeps busy with cooking huge pots of food, giving advice, doing housework, helping at church and school, and listening to people. For fun, she likes to sew, write for her blog (Life in the Shoe), and observe people. She is crazy about her family, orphans, tea, history, and words. She wants to be like Jesus and she loves to discover the story God is writing in her life, and she believes everyone has a story to tell. Life in the Shoe is where Dorcas processes everything going on in her life, so you never know what you'll find there. Maybe funny stories about her wild and clever children or the latest cat. Some days it’s a rant-about poorly written Amish novels or expectations on ministers' wives or selfish people. At times she'll write a tutorial or a recipe. Often, she ends with a Quote of the Day, which many say is their favorite part of her posts. Always, she hopes her tales remind you of stories of your own.

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featuredpost

The Light Fight //10.16.12// According

to people like James Dobson, normal couples clash over where to set the thermostat. He's always hot; she's always cold. Or vise versa.

We have the occasional difference, especially when camping, where it's a matter of covers rather than setting the thermostat.

Paul slides into a sleeping bag wearing minimal garments and slumbers happily all night long.

I wear a hooded sweatshirt, sweatpants, socks, layers, and garments. And I pick the thickest sleeping bag, with a mat underneath, and I shiver and turn all night long.

But he always feels sorry for me in the morning, and gets the fire going to make tea, so it's not like we really clash over this.

Here's where we really differ: over light.

Maybe it's my genes from my Amish grandma, who waited to light the gas lamps until the sun had set and the lingering dusk had turned to darkness and we almost had to stab around with the fork to find the last bite of pie on our plates.

Light is good, but there's no need to overdo it. That's my philosophy.

Especially in the morning. In the morning, in a perfect world, I would slowly, slowly adjust my eyes to the dawn, shades drawn, and not switch on a light until I have that first cup of tea in hand some 15 minutes after I get up, and then only a pretty little 25-watt lamp back in the corner of the counter.

Not so my husband.

It's leap out of bed, march into the bathroom, and click click click everything is lit up like the OR at Sacred Heart about to host an open-heart surgery, Autzen Stadium hosting a night game, the old East German border back when a hapless escapee triggered the wrong wire and turned on the floodlights. Brilliant light blazing everywhere is how he likes it, and he happily bangs and slams and flushes, then gets dressed and leaves the bathroom lights on and cheerfully marches on to the kitchen, where a single click lights the scene like a Broadway stage on opening night.

We note here that when we remodeled both the kitchen and the bathroom, he made sure we had light fixtures featuring numerous light bulb sockets--two hanging arrangements of multiple bulbs each in the kitchen; a row of bulbs all around the big bathroom mirror, plus a viciously bright heat lamp in the bathroom.

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He just likes lots of light.

Meanwhile, I am still in bed, the covers over my head. But I know I have to get up.

I squinch my eyes shut and force myself to stumble into the bathroom, missing the edge of the door if I'm lucky, and the blast of light assaults me like a physical force.

With one arm over my eyes I grope with the other--swatting desperately until I hit that switch and the floodlights switch off.

Blessed relief.

I slowly take care of the morning ablutions in semi-darkness, which is all anyone needs if you ask me, and then it's off to the kitchen to face the second assault of wattage coming at me like the Rough Riders charging up San Juan Hill.

We would both love to own the moral high ground on this but have to admit it's not exactly a moral issue. But I have to admit that he has more Scripture on his side than I do, what with, "Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil," and all the verses about the perpetual light shining in Heaven.

But I am counting on God to give me a more light-tolerant set of eyes when I get there.

I don't want to go around Heaven with one arm over my eyes, walking into doors. |

I surrender.

We have never found common ground in this little battle of preferences.

Paul, wanting to do me a favor because of my winter depression, installed bright daylight-spectrum light bulbs in the office and sewing room. The problem is, you don't need an overhead light when you're working on the computer. The computer lights up, you know.

So I'll be working on the computer and he comes in and switches on the light, sighing, "I don't see why you sit there in darkness if you struggle with SAD all winter."

The truth is, it doesn't cross my mind to turn on the light. The light from the computer is perfectly adequate for any computer work, obviously, and there's enough window light to do paperwork.

Thankfully, Paul has at least learned not to turn on the overhead light while I'm trying to sleep. I've learned to switch on the bright lights for him when I'm brushing my teeth and he’s trying to shave.

Want to read more? Stop by Dorcas’ blog by clicking the tab below.

LIFE IN THE SHOE 58

Pearl of Promise

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will

cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 Cor. 13:8-10, 12 59

{Excerpts from}

Identification in the

Missionary Task

E

By William D. Reyburn Photos by Rae Schrock

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I was traveling the India markets of the Ecuadorean Andes in order to know what really lay hidden in the hearts of the Quechua Indians and Spanish-speaking cholos. What was the real longings of their hearts that could be touched? I wanted to know what it was that drunkenness seemed to satisfy. Was the Quechua Indian really the sullen withdrawn personality that he appeared to be before his patron? Was he so adjustable to life conditions that his attitude could incorporate most any conflict without upsetting him seriously?

Was he really a good Catholic, a pagan, or what kind of a combination? Why underneath was he so opposed to outward change? What was he talking about and worrying over when he settled down at night in the security of his own little group? I was after the roots they lay behind the outward symbols which could respond to the claims of Christ. The answer to questions like these would form the basis for a missionary theology, a relevant communication to these people’s lives. I could see no purpose in putting the Christian proposition before a man unless it was made in such a way that it forced him to struggle with it in terms of surrender to the ultimate and most basic demand that could be placed upon him. In order to know what had to be addressed to the depths of his being I had to wade down to it through what I was convinced were only outward displays of a deeper need in his heart.

A major aspect of the missionary task is the search for what in German is called der Anknupfungspunkt, connection or point of contact. The proclamation of the gospel aside from such a contact point is a proclamation which skirts missionary responsibility. This is simply the process in which the one who proclaims the good news must make every effort to get in touch with his listener. Man’s heart is not a

clean slate that the gospel comes and writes upon for the first time. It is a complex tablet which has been scrawled upon and deeply engraved from birth to death. The making of a believer always begins with an unbeliever. Clearly this is the job of the Holy Spirit. However this does not remove man from his position of responsibility. It is man in his rational hearing and understanding that is awakened to belief. It is the conquering of man’s basic deceit that allows the Holy Spirit to lay claim to him and to make of him a new creature. A man must be aware that he stands in defiance of God’s call before he can be apprehended by God’s love. Before an enemy can be taken captive he must stand in the position of an enemy.

THE FORMS OF IDENTIFICATION Missionary identification may take on many different forms. It may be romantic or it may be dull. It may be convincing or it may appear as a sham. The central point is that identification is not an end in itself. It is the road to the task of gospel proclamation. Likewise the heart of the controversial matter of missionary identification is not how far one can go but rather what one does with the fruits of

A MAN MUST BE AWARE THAT HE STANDS IN DEFIANCE OF GOD’S CALL BEFORE HE CAN BE APPREHENDED BY GOD’S LOVE. 61

identification. Going native is no special virtue. Many missionaries in the humdrum of their daily routine about a school or hospital have awakened men’s heats to the claim of the gospel.

Some so-called identification is misoriented and tends to create the impression that living in a native village or learning the native tongue is automatically the “open sesame” of the native’s heart. It is not the sheer quantity of identification that counts; it is rather the purposeful quality that comprehends man as a responsible being seeking to be in touch with his reality. The limitations for knowing what is this contacted reality are great. The practical obstacles for missionary identification are many. In the pages that follow we shall attempt to outline some of these as we have lived in them and to evaluate the effects of the lack of missionary identification and participation.

SYMBOLIC VALUE OF FOOD [One of the] problems in village participation is the matter of food and water. I had gone into the village of Lolo to carry out some studies relative to the translation of the book of Acts and had taken no European food, determined to find what the effects of an all-Kaka diet would be. I found that the simple mixture of cassava flour and hot water to form a mush was an excellent sustaining diet.

Once I had been talking most of the afternoon with a group of Kaka men and boys about foods people eat the world over. One of the young men got his Bulu Bible and read from the 10th chapter of Acts the vision of Peter who was instructed to kill and eat “all manner of four-footed 62

beasts of the earth, and wild beasts and creeping things, and fowls of the air.” This young Kaka who had been a short while at a mission school said, “The Hausa people don’t believe this because they won’t eat pigs. Missionaries, we think don’t believe this because they don’t eat some of our foods either.” I quite confidently assured him that a missionary would eat anything he does.

That evening I was called to the young man’s father’s doorway, where the old man sat on the ground in the dirt. In front of him were two clean white enamel pans covered by lids. He looked up at me and motioned for me to sit. His wife brought a gourd of water which she poured as we washed our hands. Then flicking wet fingers in the air to dry them a bit, the old man lifted the lid from the one pan. Steam arose from a neatly rounded mass of cassava mush. Then he lifted the lid from the other pan. I caught a glimpse of its contents. Then my eyes lifted and met the unsmiling stare of the young man who had read about the vision of Peter earlier in the afternoon. The pan was filled with singed caterpillars. I swallowed hard, thinking that now I either swallowed these caterpillars or I swallowed my words and thereby proved again that Europeans have merely

AN EMPTIED PAN OF CATERPILLARS IS MORE CONVINCING THAN ALL THE EMPTY METAPHORS OF LOVE WHICH MISSIONARIES ARE PRONE TO EXPEND ON THE HEATHEN.

adapted Christianity to fit their own selfish way of life. I waited as my host scooped his shovel-like fingers deep into the mush, then with the ball of the stuff he pressed it gently into the caterpillar pan. As he lifted it to his open mouth I saw the burned and fuzzy creatures, some smashed into the mush and others dangling loose, enter between his teeth.

My host had proven the safety of his food by taking the first portion. This was the guarantee that he was not feeding me poison. I plunged my fingers into the mush but my eyes were fixed on the caterpillars. I wondered what the sensation in the mouth was going to be. I quickly scooped up some of the creeping things and plopped the mass into my mouth. As I bit down the soft insides burst open and to my surprise I tasted a salty meat-like flavor which seemed to give the insipid cassava mush the ingredient that was missing.

We sat silently eating. There is no time for conversation at the Kaka “table” for as soon as the owner has had his first bite male hands appear from every direction and the contents are gone. As we sat eating quickly the old man’s three wives with their daughters came and stood watching us from their kitchen doorways.

They held their hands up and whispered busily back and forth, ‘White man Kaka is eating caterpillars. He really has a black heart.” The pans were emptied. Each one took a mouthful of water, rinsed his mouth and spat the water to one side, belched loudly, said, ‘Thank you, Ndjambi” (God), arose and departed into the rays of the brilliant setting sun. My notes on that night contain this one line: “An emptied pan of caterpillars is more convincing than all the empty metaphors of love which missionaries are prone to expend on the heathen.”

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IDEOLOGICAL INSULATION There are other obstacles to missionary participation in native life which arise from background as well as local Christian tradition. It does not take a folk or primitive people long to size up the distance which separates themselves from the missionary.

In some cases this distance is negligible but in others it is the separation between different worlds. Missionaries with pietistic backgrounds are prepared to suspect that everything the local people do is bad and that therefore, in order to save them, they must pull them out and set up another kind of life opposed to the original one. This process seldom if ever works, and when it does the result is the creation of a society which consists of converted souls, but no converted life. The missionary under these circumstances takes the path of least resistance, keeps himself untouched by the

world and of course does not get in touch with the world in order to save it.

FREEDOM TO WITNESS The Christian church sealed off from the world becomes unintelligible to the world it attempts to reach. It is like the father who can never remember how to be a child and therefore is looked upon as a foreigner by his children. Missionary participation and identification are not produced by a study of anthropology but by being freed through the Spirit of the Lord to witness to the truth of the gospel in the world.

My caterpillar experience illustrates the importance of identification.

But identification is not an end in itself. It is the road to gospel proclamation.

Christianity calls men into a brotherhood in

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THE MISSIONARY TASK IS THAT OF SACRIFICE. NOT THE SACRIFICE OF LEAVING FRIENDS AND COMFORTABLE SITUATIONS AT HOME, BUT OF REEXAMINING ONE’S OWN CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS. Christ, but at the same time Christians often negate that call by separating mechanisms which run the gamut from food taboos to racial fear. The Christian gospel is foreign enough to the selfcenteredness of man’s view of the universe.

However, before this misconception of the self can be corrected, there is a barrier that must be penetrated. In Christian terminology it is the cross which leads man from his walled-up self out into the freedom for which he was intended. There is yet another foreignness which must be overcome through sacrifice of one’s own way of thinking and doing things. Christianity cannot be committed to one expression of civilization or culture. The missionary task is that of sacrifice. Not the sacrifice of leaving friends and comfortable situations at home, but the sacrifice of reexamining one’s own cultural assumptions and becoming intelligible to a world where one must not assume that intelligibility is given.

A missionary theology asks this question: “At what points in this man’s heart does the Holy Spirit challenge him to surrender?”

The missionary task is to ferret out this point

of contact through identification with him.

The basis of missionary identification is not to make the “native” feel more at home around a foreigner nor to ease the materialistic conscience of the missionary but to create a communication and a communion where together they seek out what Saint Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 calls the “arguments and obstacles”—“We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” This is the basis for a missionary science, the Biblical foundation of a missionary theology and the raison d’etre of the missionary calling in which one seeks, even in the face of profound limitations, to identify oneself fin the creation of new creatures in a regenerate communion. | 65

blessed

Life through Carmony’s Lens

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“AND IF YOU FAITHFULLY OBEY THE VOICE OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will SET YOU HIGH above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. BLESSED shall you be in the city, and BLESSED shall you be in the field. BLESSED shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. BLESSED shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. BLESSED shall you be when you COME IN, and BLESSED SHALL you be when you GO OUT.” {Deut. 28:1-5, ESV}

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IN AN ONLINE WORLD PART I

By Marlene Stoltzfus

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A Critique of Social Media Usage I had a hard time writing this article, not from lack of material but because the stuff I read stepped on my toes. I tend to view social media with ambivalence, but was startled to realize through my research how it has altered my mental and relational habits. What I’ve pulled together sounds quite negative, but hang on for the more positive outlook in the next issue.

Social media

is loaded with popularity, controversy, newness, ambivalence, disapproval.

Its usage highlights generational gaps as the older generation wonders and shakes their heads at the way the world has changed and the younger generation grows up increasingly knowing no other way of life.

I’ve only heard social media discussions among Christians and have long been interested in the concerns secular social watchers have. So I decided to check out some studies and articles.

I used no Christian sources because I wanted to think about the social media controversy in a new way, something of more widely-held concern than pastors and parents.

Let’s look at the concerns and conclusions drawn by various studies and articles.

First off, social media usage illustrates the human tendency toward passivity. The article “How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy” references a study in which users who actively participated in Facebook content (creating their own

and/or engaging others’ content) experienced a decrease in feelings of loneliness, lack of connection, comparison, and envy (some of the things that is speculated to promote social media use).

However, on average, users spent far more time passively skimming newsfeeds rather than actively engaging.1 Our society is increasingly bored and distracted. We have more at our fingertips than ever before, but it has made us feel the opposite of what we expected. You see, the more things we engage, the less attention can be given to each individual contender. So we are tending to spread ourselves out more and more thinly, engaging with less depth and focus in any one activity at a time. The less deeply we participate in an activity, the more likely we are to feel discontented and unhappy, both in the activity and as a whole.

“Demands on our attention lead us to use Facebook more passively than actively, and passive experiences, no matter the medium, translate to feelings of disconnection and boredom.”2 It’s a cycle.

Because of passive, distracted participation, we are bored. Afflicted by 1

Konnikova, Maria. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elem ents/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makesus-unhappy.html. 10 September 2013. 5 February 2014.

2

Ibid.

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Our society is increasingly bored and distracted. We have more at our fingertips than ever before, but IT HAS MADE US FEEL THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE EXPECTED. boredom, we pull from the plethora of passive options before us. “”One would think we could spend the time mentally entertaining ourselves,” [psychologist Tim Wilson] said. “But we can’t. We’ve forgotten how.” Whenever we have downtime, the Internet is an enticing, quick solution that immediately fills the gap. We get bored, look at Facebook or Twitter, and become more bored. Getting rid of Facebook wouldn’t change the fact that our attention is, more and more frequently, forgetting the path to proper, fulfilling engagement.”3 Are we losing the strength and creativity of our own minds to such an extent that we must continually be rescued from ourselves?

Another study found that people were more likely to use Facebook when they felt lonely, but were not necessarily alone. "Would engaging in any solitary activity similarly predict declines in well-being? We suspect that they would

not because people often derive pleasure from engaging in some solitary activities (e.g., exercising, reading)…[A] number of recent studies indicate that people's perceptions of social isolation (i.e. how lonely they feel) are a more powerful determinant of well-being than objective social isolation.”4 Awareness of social belonging (and isolation) is heightened simply by constant feedback.

There are numerous opportunities every hour to help me gauge where I fit and how others are doing with me, far more awareness than existed in the world of my parents and grandparents.

This hyper-awareness (especially of others’ perception of me) has two parts: who the “others” are and what I present.

Social media is critiqued for flattening all levels of relationships into one. There’s lessened correlation between one’s network and the closeness of one’s network and a gap between perceived social support and actual social relationships. Both blur the lines between public and private communication.5 What is appropriate to share, and with whom?

People are stumbling at this question.

What is so personal that it belongs to close friends, not splattered into all acquaintances’ feed? On the other hand, are there only acquaintances anymore?

Are we aware of each other in deeper ways than whether we all had awesome coffee today?

4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23709009. 15 August 2013. 5 February 2014.

5

Truby, Olivia. https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/otruby/676%20w ebsite/676%20website/Facebook/scientificresea rch.html. n.d. 5 February 2014.

3

Konnikova, Maria. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elem ents/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makesus-unhappy.html. 10 September 2013. 5 February 2014.

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As we lose the ability to communicate, we reduce ourselves to competition for relationships, based on checklist presentations. ARE WE LOSING WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE AND TO BE HUMAN? Then there’s the other side of the coin: what social media does to individual awareness. I can’t say it more succinctly than these paragraphs by R. Kay Green in “Social Media Effect”: “As research suggests, your "real self" is what you are - your attributes, your characteristics, and your personality. Your "ideal self" is what you feel you should be; much of it due to societal and environmental influences. From a societal standpoint, many of us are driven by competition, achievement, and status; hence, the creation and portrayal of our ideal selves.

Consider the fact that on social media sites, we consider our profiles to be presentations of who we are. Therefore, through interaction with the social medium, the real and ideal selves intersect; and the ideal self is at least partially actualized. In essence, our online selves represent our ideals and eliminate many of our other real components.

For many social media users, it is an esteem booster, which explains why so many people spend so much time on social media. It provides many individuals with a false sense of self and an inflated sense of who they really are.”6

6

Green, R. Kay. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-kaygreen/the-social-media-effecta_b_3721029.html. 7 August 2013. 5 February 2014.

Together, these factors deeply define and redefine what it means to have relationships. What makes a friend? What does it mean to “share” with someone?

Are the nuts-and-bolts, every day ways of living necessary for relationships to grow?

Is face-to-face time necessary?

What does online face-to-face time change?

Even more deeply, what does it mean to know and be known? What does it mean to be human and valued? A writer from Teen Ink suggests that as we lose the ability to communicate (verbally and nonverbally), we reduce ourselves to competition for relationships, based on checklist presentations. This is degrading to both our humanity and society.7 Are we losing what it means to live and to be human?

I suggest that there are two basic questions we must answer to find a positive place for social media: What is the good life? Who are you?

In the next issue, I’ll examine these questions more closely as well as explore creative alternatives to on-line relational time. |

7

http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/ 485925/The-Effects-of-Social-Networking-uponSociety/. 5 February 2014.

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the team recommends

DISCOURAGEMENT Often

Carmie Discouragement

comes to all of us in different ways and different circumstances. I have found that being completely honest with Jesus helps me feel better. I tell Him exactly how I feel and verses such as this: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee..."

(Psalm 55:22) reminds me that the Lord cares about us and the way we feel. He wants us to come to Him with our burdens and to give them to Him. Jesus can set us free and bring peace, joy, and contentment back to our lives if we only let Him. Singing songs of praise to Jesus has also helped to lift my discouragement. It doesn't matter what song it is, breaking out into oldfashioned hymns helps me feel better and lifts my spirits. It takes the focus off of me and my problems and puts my eyes on the Comforter and Restorer of my problems.

when I am feeling discouraged, I turn to Psalm 18:1-3. "I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies."

According to Strong's, the word buckler gives the idea of a shield or protection. The phrase high tower would be a cliff or place of refuge. It gives the idea of being safe and inaccessible. I love the thought of our God caring about us so much that He is our shield and that with Him, we can be safe in our high tower where the enemy cannot approach us.

When discouragement darkens my day, these are the verses that give me encouragement to keep going. I know that though I'm feeling vulnerable and alone, God is protecting me even if I don't always feel like He is. I am safe on the cliff because He is there with me.

Brittany 72

Life

Marlene Discouragement is a tricky thing to face. Sometimes we find hope and energy by pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and meeting life as it comes, an endeavor of “mind over matter.” Other times, there are deeper underlying questions and emotions which can’t be articulated and don’t go away by trying harder.

I have become increasingly okay with faith meaning something different than unflinching, strongly held answers. I’ve told Jesus in tearful desperation, “I just want to be faithful in this; help me be faithful to You.” Faithfulness is most potent in the midst of questions, difficulty, and the inability to see what’s ahead.

Look for Jesus. Make extra time to sit with Him and to bring Him your crumbling inner world. He is the one who fills the deep ache that lies at the root of so many (apparently disconnected) questions and struggles.

Find ways to invite people in and let them care for you.

Isolation is one of discouragement’s strongest weapons.

Finally, know the difference between discouragement and depression/ breakdown.

Seek more intensive help and more thorough lifestyle changes if you are hanging in the balance. It is wiser to proactively take care of yourself than to push past the edge of human limitations, physical and emotional.

brings deep hardship and unanswered questions. Discouragement is a hard thing to face, as it can become deeply embedded in the soul, painting the mind and heart in broad strokes of gray. When I feel beaten down, the instinct is to either ‘Pollyanna’ away the feelings of negativity or to brow-beat myself into a more positive outlook. I think Jesus faced discouragement, and I don’t believe He approached it with either of those methods.

Instead of painting on a cheery smile and pretending that everything was fine in the world below, Christ accepted real hardship and didn’t force answers. He practiced gratitude and aligned His heart with the Father on a day-byday basis. I long to do the same as I face discouragement. Blessing the Father with a grateful heart helps me keep oriented to the eternal kingdom. Coming to Him with honest questions helps me to be okay with the fact that the world is broken and there aren’t pie-in-thesky answers. Sometimes I just need to trust that my Father is working out a greater glory, through the tough times.

Meditating on the promises of Scripture has also been a meaningful part of dealing with discouragement. The Psalms bless me over and over as they remind me of God’s faithfulness and that He gives me enough for this moment right now.

Worship music also lifts the heart above despair. Music soothes the soul and godly lyrics point the mind continually back to the truth of God’s love, protection, and mercy on my life.

Rae

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close [klohz]

vb. - to bring the parts or edges together.

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