Henriet's Blog

Genuine Christ-followers—Normal? No we're not!

A while back Susan, a friend in one of the women's leadership discipleship missional communities I co-lead, wrote an email commenting to the group that we're not like her other friends…we're not normal.

Thank God we're not normal!

After a lively exchange she sent the following reply:

No...WE are not normal.

nor·mal [nawr-muhl]

adjective

1.conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; regular

That is what I meant, when I said my other friends are 'normal', and that our missional community of women leaders are not.

We don't conform to the standard, regular way of living. We are trying to live our lives the way God has designed us to.

We live Designer Lives, rather than Fred Meyer Lives :)

Obeying the Apostle Peter's instructions

"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. … But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10, ESV

We are supposed to stand out as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood loving God, loving each other, and loving everyone around us. As his people we should not look normal!

Kathy, another woman in our missional community, wrote back, "Praise God that we are not normal and don't conform to this world. We are supposed to stand out, right? That's what we are being taught in this community."

How about you? Are you normal?

HT: Susan VN and Kathy D

Fall Colors: God's creativity and desire for unity

But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.    1 Corinthians 12:18-20, NIV

Fall colors display God's creativity

While walking the dogs the other day I enjoyed the full sense of Fall. I saw the glorious colors displaying God's color palette. Saying he is so creative is an understatement! The warmth of the sun increased the enjoyment of the colors—especially since I live in Redmond, WA. The autumn glow of the sunglight highlighed the variety. The deep reds, the vibrant oranges, the lively yellows, the array of greens, and the earthy browns formed a collage of colors showing God's bountiful variety. Together they demonstrated the beauty of fall.

I was really enjoying the sunshine, the exercise in the crisp air, the feast of colors and time to think and pray.

Fall colors show we're one body!

As I enjoyed God's amazing display, a reframe of 1 Corinthians 12 popped into my head.

What if the red said to the yellow, "I don't need you"...what if the yellow said to the brown, "There is no place for you"...what if the brown said to the green, "You're not necessary"?

That started me thinking. God made colors for a reason! God's palette of colors makes the change in seasons spectacular. The colors together make autumn beautiful. This picture could be applied to people too. Am I as excited about the variety of personalities and preferences of the people around me—as excited as I am about God's variety in nature? In fact, often when dealing with people I get impatient and think, "why can't the just be normal (like me!). It would make life so much easier." The differences cause friction and often leave me annoyed.

Yet the colors of fall needing each other to create God's showy display is just like the body of Christ. God made us different for a reason! Together we show off God's creativity. The unity of our talents, gifts, personalities, and, yes...even colors, displays God's glory. We need each other with all our variety. What if we looked at the differences in our personalities like we look the fall colors? Wouldn't we just appreciate God and each other more?

As a StrengthsFinder and MBTI coach I work with lots of people. God made each of us different! No duplicates at all. We each are a unique part of his overall masterpiece. Our differences aren't the problem...they're part of his amazing creativity. Together we're as beautiful as the colors of fall.

Let's enjoy the wide variety of God's creation—both in nature and in people!

Stones and burial spices—we worry, God provides

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.

Mark 16: 1-4, ESV

My family travels a complicated journey filled with obstacles and challenges—probably just like you right? Some of these situations are so big, they seem immovable yet in the midst of it all I catch myself trying to manage, control and preserve "normal" life. Very funny, really. God keeps sending me to Mark 16. I think he's talking to me about stones and spices.

Spending time preparing to preserve

I love Jesus and trust him. I really do. I want to live my life for him! Yet, when things get complicated I look down at my circumstances and start preparing "the spices"—doing what I can to take care of things. The smart thing to do would be to look to Jesus and trust him, really trust him, to work thing out for my good and his glory.

My desire is to honor Jesus so why do I try so hard to keep things going and staying normal? My life is not normal. As a family, we are dealing with issues of drug addiction. The pull on us is to get (or stay) on the crazy bus with the addict. Often I'm rushing around trying to keep things normal. Can I just say, "It's not NORMAL around here!"

Jesus just asks me to do what I can, that what HE leads me to do. No more.

Worrying about immovable objects

The women had done what they could, they prepared the spices to honor Jesus and prepare his body. Then they worried, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” We worry about the stones in our lives. I worry about the big stones. Today, God showed me that I've been asking the question, "Who will roll away the stone of addiction from the entrance of the tomb in my family's life?" There is a person trapped in the darkness of the tomb held by the large stone! And, I keep trying to make the stone go away...sometimes by praying, sometimes by worrying, sometimes by trying to tug on that big ugly thing. It won't budge!

He will roll the stone away

Today, Jesus helped me to see HE is the one who rolls the stone away. The problem isn't his power to roll it away! He's proven that. Do I trust that he'll remove it? Do I really believe he will?

I need to stop worrying then trust and believe Jesus will roll away the stone. God provides the power through his Holy Spirit. His power is available to us. His power is enough to roll away this, and every, stone.

I choose to say, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) 

What's your stone? How are you dealing with things?