Child-Like Faith

On September 18, 2017September 18, 2017 By happyreignIn Heather, Reflections & MusingsLeave a comment

As I was falling asleep last night my mind was writing this blog. ha! There are so many attributes of people I admire. Some of them fall into the below categories I wanted to highlight!

Emotional Vulnerability

When people grow up, for various reasons, they stuff emotions, don’t express them, close themselves off, quit communicating, or letting themselves feel. Kid’s wear their emotions on their sleeves. I’m not saying that is maturity but kids don’t shut down their emotional experience, or close off sharing it, unless they feel unsafe. The ability to feel emotions is heavenly and these emotions aren’t composed of stress, anxiety, judgment, worry, depression, and guilt, which sometimes adults experience. There is a heavenliness in not fearing to feel good and sad emotions with the events of life, and not being afraid of sharing them or expressing them different healthy ways.

2. Honesty

Kids may occasionally tell a lie to hide something but in general kids have no filter when it comes to truth-telling, sometimes to the embarrassment of their parents. This also is because they don’t have a preoccupation with creating/maintaining an image of themselves. They are just existing as they are and as the world comes to them. They say things as they see them, whether their perceptions are accurate or not, it is still their experience.

3. Curiosity

Children carry with them a sense of awe and wonder about the world. Things are new and no one has told them the way they have to see things yet. They see things from different perspectives and new angles and no one has told them what they can’t do or how they can’t use something. They ask questions and are teachable and listen to answers. They are okay with not knowing the answers and living in a world where they aren’t expected to have explanations for everything. They reflect on things and are open to new ideas.

4. Playfulness and Imagination

Kids are always ready to have fun. I so appreciate adults who laugh easily and recognize the power of joy. Seriousness is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit and the world doesn’t rest on any man’s shoulders but Jesus’. Someone’s ability to take themselves not so seriously is a sign of maturity in my eyes. Kids are ready to make any boring, regular task a play session and I think heaven involves much of this feeling. Fun loving flexibilty, adaptability, inclusion, and making life joyful in the simplest of perspectives and ways.

5. Authenticity

This was referred to in the honesty one above but more than that, kids aren’t preoccupied with what people think of them. It still hurts when they experience rejection but they don’t abandon or hide their true selves after these experiences. The only way they know how to be is themselves! They are unique and different from one another in all their original glory. Just because they are different doesn’t mean they are less in their own eyes. They are on their own special unique journey. There is an innocence, and strength in feeling valued solely based on our parent’s acceptance of us.

No Man’s Land. Life Beyond Church

On September 18, 2017September 29, 2017 By happyreignIn Heather, Reflections & Musings2 Comments

I wanted to write about this subject three weeks ago but am just getting around to it now. This subject is “unbiblical” to the conventional Christian. There is no life beyond church they would say. I have even heard people within the church call people who have left their church “bastards.” Yet here is where so many people find themselves. And so… I write.

I am not going to spend time here defending this topic, I am going to go right into writing about it. I remember asking God about his body, the church years ago which began a 15-year journey of seeing the ins and outs of church creation, growth, development, leadership, failure, hypocrisy, glory, strength, and blessing. If the church were a closet full of clothing, I have worn almost every outfit in different seasons where I felt God leading me through relationship with people.

And yet I find myself, and other people I both respect and would call people of great faith, outside of regular church participation at the moment. I will not group these people into people who are rebellious, hurt, bitter, or prideful. These are beautiful, servant-hearted, prayerful, joyful, faithful, creative children of God.

So why do we find ourselves here in this field of spirituality beyond where the paved road ends? Could there even be purpose in this? God of course lives within the walls of his church but I think he is also moving his body, his people beyond not only church walls, but Christian culture. There are so many people who carry the love of God and the ways of his kingdom into so many places; the home, business, arts, media, entertainment, education, etc.

Can I be a Christ follower without walking in American church culture and vocabulary? Of course I can. I hope we are sharing God’s culture, how he loves us and sees us, with people and nations. I’d like to make the argument that this can happen 100% outside of meetings and buildings set aside for this purpose. People can experience hearts and homes of heaven.

I don’t think there is necessarily a wrong reason that people have quit participating in a church regularly. I do think there is a fullness of God’s people operating as a kingdom of priests as he originally intended. His children have full union with the father.

Church family commitment is like marriage, you get involved because of what you have to give, what you have to offer, not what you have to get from it, or how they can serve you. Community is beautiful and I think this can be found outside of a church governing structure and weekly scheduled meetings. But…

What I’m seeing even more of is people who are very much on relative islands of preparation and intimacy right now. Little pockets of service and relationship more based solely out of energy spent on building/maintaining healthy family relationships. I do think it’s beautiful when the role of a mother and father are one and the same as the pastor and priest. That discipleship and family are one and the same with no definitive line between the love of God and the love of family.

Not being understood and being judged is a regular occurrence of life and I’m being reminded over and over again to not care what other people think. Especially people who care more about what my life looks like rather than wanting to hear my personal experience.

Being outside of a church structure doesn’t mean we quit learning about God as we live life with him.

I just wanted to write a bit of encouragement to those who find themselves in no man’s land. Or not operating in the fullness of their giftings at whatever church they find themselves in. You are not broken, you are not failing, and you have not been ‘taken out of ministry.’

God is so much bigger than our little religious mindsets of what freedom and spirituality look like. He grows things inside of us we don’t even know need growing and often times they have nothing to do with external appearances. Although God is in religious meetings every week, he is just as much at the dinner table, in the nursery of your house, at the grocery store, and in your office.

I love that the presence of the awareness of God is naturally felt at all hours in all places. Our existence is one with his. You are the church my friend, you couldn’t leave who you are. You are his temple and the only building he cares about. He’s never left the meeting of your life and God is not finished being in love with us wherever we are, whatever season we find ourselves in. Joy is in his house, in his bride, and in his family. Blessings to you, all the beautiful sons and daughters of God who find themselves in No Man’s Land.

My Story

On September 17, 2017September 18, 2017 By happyreignIn Heather, Reflections & MusingsLeave a comment

I feel like there is power in sharing our stories and sometimes the best place to start is the beginning. Recently, I was given an opportunity to share how my relationship with God began and I thought I would share it here as well.

I went to church with my family sometimes and even learned stories from the bible as a child, but I went to church for years and never really remember hearing about Jesus or what he did for us or what he thought of us. I remember trying really hard to figure out when to stand and when to sit and how to make my voice go up or down with the music notes I didn’t know how to read in the hymnal.

Fast forward through my parent’s divorce, our moving to a new location, and lots of high school parties. At one point I was grounded because of driving lots of drunk people at like three in the morning when I was sixteen. I hadn’t been drinking. While I was grounded, my mother gave me a book, as she is an avid reader.

This book was fiction and written by a Christian. In this book, the author clearly explained how a certain character in the book was impacted by Christ and the holy spirit working in her life. I remember just saying “Yes” to God in my basement and feeling his presence fill the room and a conversation between us began that hasn’t stopped to this day. (You can read more about this subject here.)

God continues to help me. How to respond in my marriage, how to view the mistakes of my past, what decisions I should make concerning how I live my life. He is the peace within me, and his love is my breath. He continues to remind me of my value and my worth. I have fallen in love and he continues to show me how to love myself and love others. The end–or actually–just the beginning. 🙂

Prayer

On July 18, 2017January 13, 2018 By happyreignIn Heather, Kingdom Concepts, Reflections & Musings1 Comment

I’m not going to be talking about prayer in groups or at meetings. Just you and invisible other party. Welcome to the land of our imaginations. This wonderful, mysterious, curious place within our minds that absolutely no one else can see. Sometimes words are the form of communication that is seen or heard in our minds. There are endless other ways we communicate internally, feelings, physical sensations, pictures, colors, actual scene sequences, actual memories, our skewed memories viewed through feelings, songs, sounds, melodies, listening, waiting, just being, imaginary future conversations or interactions, premonitions, out of body experiences, dreams, waking thoughts, and a plethora I’m sure I have no idea about or haven’t mentioned here.

All of the above listed experiences communicate something about ourselves and God, back and forth with one another, God experiencing everything our internal spirit experiences, with us. Immanuel, God with us, not just here on earth, but inside our very selves. Our spirit is one with God’s spirit. Everything encompassed in this communion I would consider as “prayer,” others use the terms like meditation or spirituality.

God’s kingdom is gloriously unseen. It’s not at a place that has GPS coordinates. This is wonderful, because instead, it is everywhere. No matter what dirty hole in the earth a person finds themselves in, there God is fully alive within them. No matter about the people around us or circumstances, there, in all his fullness, is God’s beautiful self abiding in our hearts. Sometimes we have a harder time remembering this or experiencing it when we get distracted with ourselves, our performance, our strivings, our failures, and we believe lies about ourselves or the God that lives inside of us. But this never the less, makes all of the above no less true. The fullness of God lives within you. How awesome is that!

The first step in prayer is getting past our own religious performance involved with our interaction with God. God’s kingdom I imagine is a lot more like a children’s outdoor jungle gym than a church service. Modesty and restraint are not necessarily going to help us here. I would say the beginning of prayer is basically being completely and 100% honest with this God that lives inside us and this also involves 100% honest with ourselves. This concept sounds easier than it seems. Our minds are filled with justifications and self-perceptions that sometimes aren’t true. But no mind, moving forward.

Honesty with ourselves and God is just the foundation of relationship. Prayer is simply relationship. This does not exclude asking things and communicating needs, but involves so much more. God watches movies with you, rides bikes with you, cooks dinner with you, rides in the car with you. God lives with us! I enjoy expressing my feelings and verbalizing my questions and frustrations with God. When I intentionally chose to share life with him is often when I also get to enjoy his participation in mine. God will communicate love to however you are open to receiving it. He will tell you he loves you and he is with you daily.

Maybe you are more a picture person, or a word person, or feeling person, but when you engage with God in your imagination it may be unseen but it is possibly more real than any relationship you have living in these tents of flesh called bodies. Engage with God and have fun with him. He wants to set you free of your fears but he also wants to make you laugh. He is a gentleman and will not force you to engage with him, but he is looking forward to every moment you do. Love is the great mystery of our inner world with God, his kingdom of beauty and strength inside of us. He loves to respond to all that you offer himself of you.