by | Faith Lived Out
Note: This is a journal entry from my new book, Dear Dad. I’ll be sharing various journal entries throughout the year.
November 5, 2009
I learned tonight that I have resisted my fears and feelings for so long that it’s become a highway. I got some great advice tonight. Someone told me to take the road less traveled. It is time to make my own dirt road.
Show me, Father, how to take your hand. I know you are inviting me to release my fears, thoughts, and feelings. But how do I do that?
You know, I’ve gone so long telling myself that I didn’t have feelings—that I don’t know how to express them. Did you know how? What were you afraid of? Were you afraid to let people love you? I do have to say thank you that you were never afraid to tell me how much you loved me. I think you were always too afraid
to show me, but you were never afraid to tell me. That says something about our relationship doesn’t it?
To learn more about Dear Dad, click here..
by | Faith Lived Out
I wanted to share with you one of my favorite Bible verses.
I was introduced to these life changing words in 2010 and they are written on my heart for life. They mean so much to me, in fact, I had the address tattooed on my wrist just in case I needed a reminder.
If you’re struggling with shame, consider this God speaking directly to you today.
by | Faith Lived Out, Life Application
Father’s Day was Sunday. Why would I be talking about it now? Because those words still linger in the hearts of young boys and girls, as well as grown men and women. Today. In the moment.
Since publishing my new book, Dear Dad, last month, I’ve heard countless stories from those who grew up without a father and how it’s still affecting their lives today. It breaks my heart. It makes me angry.
I find myself wanting to grab every dad by the collar of his shirt, get in his face and ask, “Are you seeing this?”
However, the more people I talk to, the more I realize we are living in the middle of a spiritual attack. Satan loves the absence of a father. Why wouldn’t he?
Last week I met a man named Joseph. He assisted me in getting a phone upgrade, which turned into two days of an adventure, after bringing my parents back to the store and upgrading them to phones that weren’t prehistoric.
It turns out his father was killed when he was a boy. In the blink of an eye his life changed. He grew up without a dad. He turned to drugs. He tried to fill the void of his father’s absence with other things. Abandonment was all he felt, like so many of us who grew up without fathers.
It saddens my heart to see so many hurting, but it angers me even more. Now I’m angry enough to stand up and fight. To fight a battle that we can win. To fight with prayer.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. – Ephesians 6:12
Satan attacked my father with addictions and his absence caused terrible pain in my life. I tried everything to fill the void: drugs, alcohol, food, relationships.
But the victory is mine because I have overcome!
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4
We may be in a battle, but we are the victors! We must continue to fight to good fight. Pray for fathers. Pray for the fatherless. The devil can’t stand up to Scripture, which means he can’t stand up to us when God’s Word is rolling off our lips.
Don’t let the absence of your father steer your life today. Stand up and proclaim victory, for God is father of the fatherless.
Join me in prayer today for all fathers. May they let God guide the course of their lives. May they invest in their families. May they stand on the truth.
![Go. Set. Ready.]()
by | Faith Lived Out
Have you ever experienced that moment where you know God is calling you to something bigger than you think you’re ready for?
Ya, me too.
You may be used to these words displayed as Ready. Set. Go. That’s the way it’s always been, right? What if we changed that?
According to Mark Batterson in Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge,
I think it’s backward. You’ll never be ready. You’ll never be set. Sometimes you just need to go for it. The sequence of faith is this: Go. Set. Ready.
Well said, Mr. Batterson.
God is calling me to something BIG right now. Something bigger than I know I can do on my own. I find myself wanting to put together the perfect plan. But I hear my heart saying, Go. Set. Ready.
I find myself trying to calculate the costs out of fear. I find excuses not to put a plan in place.
In operating in fear, am I missing divine appointments?
Faith is not faith until it is acted on.
I’m trying. One day at at ime.
Go. Set. Ready.
What is God calling you to do? What fear is keeping you from stepping out in faith? Leave a comment below…
by | Faith Lived Out, Guest Posts
This is a guest post by Alene Snodgrass. Alene loves to tell the story, whether it is from behind a camera lens, writing at a computer screen, or speaking into the lives of others. With a heart for this generation, Alene serves in the inner city. Her new book, Graffiti: scribbles from different sides of the street is co-authored with a homeless man. Connect with Alene through twitter @alenesnodgrass, facebook, or her blog Positively Alene.
Recently, I piled into a car with a few friends to travel a few miles down the city strip to give sandwiches and cool water to the homeless congregated downtown under the shade trees. The streets were quiet. There wasn’t a soul stirring.
Finding a spot to park, we unloaded a cooler full of water and set up a little folding table to put the bagged lunches on. A few men walked by and we’d wave them over “Are you hungry?” An “Oh, yes,” seemed to be the usual response. We visited, prayed, and asked if they needed anything. There was a sweet aroma of love in the air.
I found myself feeling at home on this side of the street.
The heart stories amazed me continually. As I handed out lunch, I found myself in conversation with a dear woman, and as our conversation ended, she turned to leave. I was captivated by her heart and quickly called after her, “Ma’am – can I pray with you?”
With the most precious toothless grin, her blue eyes looked into mine and she said,
“Yes, but I want to pray. Is it alright, because I only know one prayer?”
I nodded. We bowed our heads and she began “Our Father . . . “
Tears flowed freely down my cheeks as my heart connected with hers. It was as if the graffiti of our souls was becoming blurred and smudged. All of a sudden, the bold outlines of the art of our lives didn’t matter. Even the street where we stood was common ground.
. . . “who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen.”
Maybe there is something to standing in the middle of the street.
It’s them that you realize that there’s more common ground there than on the sides of the street. This is the beautiful graffiti of the heart, of which life is made, if we can only open our eyes and see. To see not the bold outlines and colors that make us different, but to see the heart graffiti that makes us the same.
I’m so appreciate to my homeless friend, who lives down the street and under a mesquite tree, for his beautiful scribbles of graffiti! He taught me to be brave and step across the street, to see that although our streets are different our hearts are the same, and he taught me to be bold and write God’s graffiti out for all to see.
Writing Graffiti along side a homeless man had it’s challenges. But I tell you, I wouldn’t trade that journey for anything. I learned to step over fear and love a messy world.
As Graffiti released I got many comments and questions asking for “how to’s” and steps others could take to experience heart graffiti. So, beginning June 3rd we will begin Graffiti Summer: study and do.
You can find out more information here and you can hear more about and order Graffiti the Book here.
Will you step over fear and join us for Graffiti Summer?
by | Faith Lived Out, Guest Posts
You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ – Isaiah 47:10
I woke up this morning to this verse. I find myself wondering why I counted on myself and not God. I got scared and stopped trusting him.
After I cried out to you and still had the dreams, I didn’t know what to do.
I’m sorry that I left you. I don’t want to handle things on my own anymore. Too many times I have trusted in my own wickedness. Too many times I have gotten caught up in my own desires and my own sin that I thought I was the only one who could see me. Forgive me.
I’m excited to be guest posting over at Single Roots today. Click here to read the rest of the post.
