..::Nehemiah Moms::..

Sometimes I just need to unload my mind.  It gets filled with so many things to ponder about our amazing God and His world.  Here are just a few topics that may never develop into articles, but have been bouncing around in my mind recently:

**Intentional Innocence—We must be willing to give up being “in the know” about certain things, even to give up certain culturally expected activities, in order to be more humble and holy-minded.

**Contemplative Disobedience—the passive rebellion of postponing obedience by always asking more questions or “needing” more information. 

**Eliminating Sarcasm—I call sarcasm “lying the truth”.  Think about it.  It’s a cocky way of communicating a truth by lying and adding the rolling eyes, voice inflection and body language to tell the listener not to believe what’s being said.  It’s really quite inappropriate for children of the King, and it seems to sour my spirit when I use it.  I’ve asked God to help me and our family eliminate sarcasm from our interactions.

**Our Favorite Topic—I’m convinced that Jesus is to be our favorite topic, especially with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  “What are you enjoying about Jesus lately?” is a question that can take our conversations deeper.  

**God’s eternality—God’s eternality is so much more than the two arrows on the end of a time line.  It includes such interesting thoughts as His depths of wisdom and His eternal attention. We can choose any given topic and pursue God’s understanding of it.  His knowledge and wisdom on that topic alone go on forever!   And His attention to the details of our lives is never-ending.  He can focus His unrushed attention on me and my concerns, without distraction, for eternity, while at the same time focusing His unrushed attention on you, without distraction, for eternity!    Wow.

**Eternity Planning—What we do on earth does affect our lives in heaven.  God tells us that while we're on earth, we are to “store up in heaven."  But we store up in order to be able to shine more brightly for Jesus in heaven, to glorify Him with more brilliance…not to have better mansions!

**Delighting to reason—God says, “Come, let us reason together,” not “Go learn how to think, then we can talk!”  Reasoning with the Lord, chewing on topics with Him, asking Him questions, trying to figure things out with Him, all are very satisfying ways to delight in the Lord.

**She asked God—Have you ever been asked what people should put on your gravestone?  I think this is what I would choose: She asked God.  I love asking Him questions, from where the lost shoe is to what He means by a confusing verse in scripture.   He often does not answer immediately, but His answers seem to bubble-up as life goes on. 

That’s enough for now!  My mind feels lighter, and a bit sleepy, actually.  Let me know if you think any of these topics warrant more consideration.

Abstaining from certain foods or activities has long been a tradition in many homes and churches as people prepare for Easter.  But many Christians have never known the delight of drawing closer to the Lord through fasting from all foods for a given amount of time.  Fasting is a worship response that we can use any time of the year.  

Fasting expresses to the Lord, and to ourselves, our passion for Him.  And it helps intensify that passion as well.  Fasting helps us express the seriousness of our prayers and requests of the Lord.  Often, when something in our prayer lives seems "stuck" or we feel that tug from the Lord to go deeper with Him, fasting is the proper response.

Here's how to do a simple 24-hour fast:

Start your fast after an early supper.  Don't eat anything that evening.  The next day, skip breakfast and lunch.  Have a later supper that second day.

Here are some additional pointers:

**Check with your health professional as needed.

**Drink water during your fast. (Juices kill the hunger pangs, but you want those).

**Let the hunger pangs remind you to pray.

**Have a prayer focus.  What do you want to bring before the Lord?

**Put in writing your fasting plan.  Include: when you will start and stop, your prayer focus, and what you will include or exclude in your fast.  (ex: I will begin fasting tonight at 5:30pm and end at 5:30pm tomorrow.  I plan to drink only water and to take my vitiamins.  My prayer focus will be the awkward situation with my cousin).  This plan can be different each time you fast.  

**If you can, use the time you would have been eating for extra prayer time.

**Watch for more clarity of thought and more obvious "God-sightings" during your day.

**Break your fast with foods that are more easily digested.

I'd like to write an article on Families Fasting for the Article Archives section of this site, but for now, this'll give you a good start if you've never tried it.  If it still seems too scary, tell God that even though you may not want to fast, you want to want to.  Take the fearful thoughts captive, ask Him for wisdom and give it a try!

    Over Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law shared a book with me called, One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven, by Mark Cahill.  I only had time to read a few pages, but gleaned a real gem.  The author is writing about sharing ones faith with unbelievers (the one thing you can't do in Heaven!), and how this is often an uncomfortable new skill for many Christians.  But practice pushes us out of our comfort zone and into His comfort zone!  Cool, hey?  I love the idea of moving into His comfort zone.  Not that He can't be comfortable anywhere, but I want to press in and move into where He wants me to be comfortable with Him.

    My comfort zone, when I think about it, isn't too comfortable, especially as the Holy Spirit begins pointing out areas He wants to work on!  So it's actually a relief to know that on the other side of this awkwardness, whether it's in mothering, sharing my faith or practicing a new worship skill, there is comfort...a new level of comfort, in His comfort zone.  Very cool.

Some of you have asked how one can recieve notice when I have posted a new blog or added an article.  So I spent some time this morning learning more about how this all works.  I must say I pray as I go, that I will not step into an area of computer danger.  And I certainly don't want to mess up anyone elses computer either.  So I'm treading lightly here....but here's what I've learned:

At the bottom of this blog page there are a couple buttons, RSS and ATOM.  These allow you to connect to a Feed.  In other words, anytime I write a new blog entry, it will automatically feed it to your computer.  You'll need to find out where it feeds the update on your computer so you can check it. 

Another way to receive updates is to sign the guestbook, leaving your email address.  It doesn't get shown on the guestbook, but you'll get an email asking if you'd like to join this site as a member.  Then I can send members a note when I've written something new.

Of course you can always just check the site whenever you feel like it, but I thought I'd share a couple new options. 

Enjoying learning and discerning,

Sharon

Have you ever noticed that learning new skills can sometimes leave us achey?  Our young students get sore hands when learning to write.  A new pianist will feel the ache of practice.  Even a new driver can get a sore ankle from holding down the accelerator.  So it is with learning new worship skills.  Tonight I have achey shoulders from practicing a worship skill.

I was thinking about the blog about learning to raise my hands in worship and I realized I still deal with a lot of pride or embarrassment.  It's rare that I keep my hands raised for more than the chorus of a song.  It's usually just for a phrase or two, and the reason I drop them is usually out of self-consciousness.  But do I stop singing so quickly?  No!   So why can't I "bless the Lord" any longer than 30 seconds?   Our church sings for half an hour or more and I'm singing every song.  What's the difference?  My pride.

This afternoon in my room, I was listening to a worship song and realized that perhaps this is another opportunity to apply the 3 to 5 minutes technique (see earlier blog) to expand my capacity to "bless the Lord".   Most songs are about 3-5 minutes long, so for one song, I knelt down, closed my eyes, and kept my arms up, enjoying blessing the Lord.   WOW were my shoulders sore!  I realized that this is a skill that will require some practice.  And it has given me a new perspective on the verse, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."  Mark 12:30 (NIV)

     Nearly every morning, our children and I have a worship time before breakfast.  (Tom has usually left earlier for work).  This is where they have gradually gained a huge repertoire of hymns and worship songs.  They've learned to pray outloud in a group, to read scripture for others, and to sit quietly.  Sometimes the little ones dance around to peppier songs.  Sometimes I'll ask them to close their eyes while we're singing, to help them eliminate distractions and so they can focus on the words and on the Lord.  This is where we not only worship, but we practice worship skills so they are easier to do in personal times with the Lord and in times of corporate worship.  I want our children to know that this is an important part of being an adult.  Even if we want our children to be able to worship more spontaneously, they must have the avenues for that expression.  And that takes practice.

     Some people used to ask us how our children could sit so well in church even when they were quite young.  The answer is that we practiced at home.  We practiced during our worship times and we practiced other times too.  For instance, sometimes I would take the toddler on my lap and say, "Be still."  He would sit still for a few moments and start to squirm.  I'd give him a little swat on the side of the leg, "No, sit still."  We'd work like this several times a week at various times, when I was reading to the others or during a family discussion or whenever.  It quite often required a harder swat with the rod, but each child eventually learned to sit still when told to and that "worship skill" transferred to the church setting. 

     Attention is a trained worship skill too.  We can train our children at home to be attentive at church.  The skill of sitting still is the first part.  Learning to listen is the second.  Children learn to listen by being required to listen and to respond to Mom and Dad at home.  Teaching little ones to obey the FIRST TIME they hear a parent tell them to do something trains their attention.  If a child knows he will get a swat if he doesn't respond the first time he hears Mom, he will learn to pay attention to her voice.  This skill transfers to other situations of importance.

     As the children get older they can begin to take notes during the sermon.  One friend has her son take notes and copy hers if needed.  That's excellent.  He is learning what she finds important.  He's learning an adult's discernment.  Note-taking can start as early as a child is comfortable writing.  We require it of our older students.  It helps us pay attention and gives us food for discussion later.  It's another valuable worship skill.

     We have also wanted our children to learn to play musical instruments, as music is another important part of worship.   The younger ones have not settled into a favorite instrument yet, but all can play various rhythm instruments.  Psalm 33: 3 says, "Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy."  Playing skillfully requires practice.  And practice requires time.  It's important that we design this time into our children's days.

     So even though we want our worship to be a spontaneous expression of love and enjoyment of Jesus, the skills of worship are things to be learned, to be practiced at home and at church.  That goes for us adults too. 

     My husband and I were both raised in a denomination where we typically sat for worship.  We would stand during hymns, and occasionally we would kneel at the communion rail, if we did communion that way.  So when we joined our current church, I was curious about why some people raise their hands during the singing.  I just figured they'd come from different church traditions, or were perhaps more emotional than others, or even that some were drawing attention to themselves.  But over the years I began to feel a heart-yearn to worship this way too.  For several years I just pushed the thought away.  I didn't like the idea of drawing attention, or of looking odd.  But at some point,  I remember asking God, "Is this hand-raising something you like?"  

     I didn't get an immediate answer, but over several months, as I read the Bible, I would notice certain verses, such as, Psalm 63:4 "Thus I will bless you while I live, I will lift up my hands in Your Name."  I had wondered for years how to actually "bless" the Lord.  We're commanded to bless the Lord all throughout the Psalms.  I know how to thank and to praise and to sing and to shout and to kneel.  But how actually does one bless?  This verse answered the question.  "Thus (or this is how) I will bless you: I will lift up my hands in Your name."   I thought, "Ok, I can do this...in my own bedroom!"  I started raising my hands in praise to God when I'd slip away for a few quiet moments with Him.  But then I found this verse too:  Psalm 134:2 "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord."   Wow!  So it was true.  Raising hands is a biblically appropriate form of worship.  Now I had to deal with my emotions.  My desire to raise my hands in worship grew stronger and stronger.  But it took me probably a year and a half of wrestling with the Lord, "Why am I so concerned about what others think?"  and taking thoughts captive, "Lord, take captive my embarrassment."  or "Lord, I confess that pride is keeping me from worshipping You like this."  I "practiced" at home and continued to pray about it and eventually one day I just swallowed hard and did it.  No one screamed.  In fact no one seemed to care a bit.  God is a patient Father and Teacher.  He graciously allowed me to add this precious and simple expression to my worship repertoire.  Now, the delight of it is amazing.  Not only am I convinced that it is something God likes, but God has given me a great joy in doing it, knowing I'm obeying His word.  I'm hoping my next step doesn't take so long.

     Our church's motto is "Helping people take the next step in their relationships with Jesus Christ."  So our worship ministry team has been discussing this topic in relation to worship.  And one of our conclusions is that we can pray.  We can apply the 3-5 minutes of thankfulness (see previous blog entries) and pray through our congregation, "Thank You, God,  for Ted and Sally Smith, thank You for Bill and Ann, Tammy, and Willy Cramer, etc.  And we are praying that the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin so we can confess and have clear consciences, ready to worship. 

     But what does that next step look like?  It will be different for each person or family.  For some folks, taking the next step may mean determining to make regular church attendance a priority, or to arrive on time for worship.  For others it may mean deciding to move forward in the sanctuary to make it easier to engage.  Sitting closer to the front can eliminate distractions and we've found it easier to have our children with us in the front than in the middle or back.

     For some, the next step might be singing for the first time, or raising hands in praise, or kneeling or closing eyes during a sweet praise song.  God delights in being worshipped in spirit and in truth.  These physical acts of praise engage our spirits and our bodies.  We can't say one form of worship is better than another, or that everyone should worship a certain way.  But we do want to remove anything that interferes with worship, even if it is our own pride or self-consciousness.  This is an excellent opportunity to practice "taking thoughts captive" according to 2 Cor. 10:4-5.   My next blog entry will be about the process God took me through in taking my next step.