Life is an adventure!

I have read a new book called Holy Sweat by Tim Hansel! I came back from Texas feeling refreshed in the Spirit and this book just added to my excitement for the Lord. I have a spiral notebook that I write in when I read books so I can write down quotes that I need to read and pray over  and I wrote down 10 pages worth.....I promise I won't write it all out here:)

As you know last year I had some struggles and was in sort of a rut.  You know what really makes me feel good and inspired? Doing things for other people....and I wasn't doing that. I didn't feel like I was living life in an incarnational way.  At least not like the life of Jesus mentioned in John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth."  Yes, I was when we were doing ministry but that was not enough for me. Being incarnational is being the hands, feet, arms and legs of Christ. I was often uncomfortable and after much prayer I figured out why!  Life in Christ is not only meant to be spiritual but also as an adventure!

I went through phases of "What am I doing here?" and "God, why are you using me, I am no one".  Well, God has always chosen the least qualified to do His work....WHO you are is irrelevant to Him.  Major Ian Thomas says, "All you need is what you have and what you have is what He is!  He does not give you strength-He IS your strength! He does know give you joy-He IS your joy!  Christ is in YOU-nothing less than that.  You cannot have more-and you need not have less" Now...THAT is an adventure!

You see, since I have become a Christian I have heard this phrase more than I care to hear it, "I am not worthy". Well, of course we are not worthy of His grace BUT what if began living as if we were!  What if we began to believe that with His Almighty strength we could begin to reach the millions of lost people in this world.  What if we thought of our spiritual journey as an adventure?  For example, for people who have been a Christian since they were a small child...how many bible stories have we heard?
*"He created man in His image, no less....out of dirt"
*"He chose a barren, grumpy old couple named Abraham and Sarah to give birth to a nation that would change human history for all time.  Can't you see Sarah laughing in her 90-year old gown?"
*"He chose a teenager who didn't even have his high school diploma yet to nail a 9-foot enemy right between the eyes with a rock.  The boy grows up to be a "man after God's own heart"
*"He took a kid's leftover lunch and fed enough people to fill the Hollywood Bowl and still had enough leftover for each disciple to take home"
*"He chose the #1 persecutor of His followers to be His top evangelist!"
*"He gave the keys to the Kingdom to the disciple who failed Him so badly...he denied Him three times in one night!"

Do these stories still amaze you or are they just "stories" in the Bible?  The author says, "So if He is by nature astonishing, then He wants us to LIVE a life of wonderment in return He says....Astonish Me!  Don't just exist....don't just meet His bottom line...Don't just get by.  Don't just go through the motions, acting holy, sleepwalking through life.  And yet, He's also given us the choice to do...just...that.  We can choose not to be astonished anymore.  We have the right to be bored, to miss the adventure. It is our choice."

Those words stung a little. Not only do I, myself, not want to miss the adventure but I desire for my children to share in this adventure and for our adventure to be so contagious that everyone around us will want to come with us! Have you ever been around really hungry Christians? I mean....they are starving for so much more in the bible that you are taken aback by their hunger.  We were in China when we were there to adopt Lottie. Greg spoke at a Christian church and after the service about 10 young people ran up to him, "Pastor...Pastor...do you have time for a "short" 2 or 3 hour bible study, we want to hear more!"  I find this with Lottie and Emma when we are doing our bible study each day.  Want to see excitement and hunger? Try it! Their hunger and expressions of "WOW!" will make you want to be a part of the adventure and show them how they can be a part of the story...that never ends.

I shared with Lottie (because honestly, she is the most emotionally mature to digest this way of thinking right now) what I discovered in this book.  "You have to let go of the way you think about yourself" (i.e. "I'm too shy to meet new people" and "I can't get rid of my bad temper") The Christian life is not what it seems. It is not supposed to be tidy, neat and pre-packaged. The truth is that life is unpredictable, untidy, messy and often quite hard.  For years I have been keeping her life simple, scheduled and in order to make her feel peaceful. From the moment we adopted her she was an anxious, nervous mess....trusting no one AND she has every right to feel that way.  So in many ways, I feel like I have caused her to miss out on the adventures of life in Jesus! "None of us can grow without taking some risks.  Struggle is OKAY....so is doubt.  If you stop struggling, you stop life.  Jump in anyway!"

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet" (Frederick Buechner) "Parents are to help their children 1) Discover their unique gifts God has given to them 2) Find their place in the world where they can use those special gifts and abilities."

So, we have made goals for ourselves. It began when Lottie was feeling very frustrated with everything in her life and...ahem...me too:)  I had to find a way to help her organize her thoughts but in a positive way.  Now she can see them on paper each day and we also remind her that only God can give her the strength she needs.  With Him...All things are possible.  Goals should be packed with emotion!  Some are personal-others are spiritual.  I never suggested "what" goals she should write, she thought of them on her own.  We wrote them out (both of us) and we are going to keep each other accountable. Have you ever asked your child their thoughts on things you could improve on in a personal way? Ouch...now that is some toe crunching honesty! She nailed every one of mine:) She already has some crossed off her list because she has met those personal goals.  She has stopped wearing pull ups at night and she has ceased in biting her fingernails. To some...those are not really "goals" but for her succeeding in these things has given her a surge of confidence!

In homeschool, we are studying all kind of literature. For the first month we are learning about biographies. So we are using missionary stories of real life heroes.  The other day, she asked me what happens to people that do not believe in God and I told her.  She was very quiet and said she needed to add a spiritual goal to her list.  Under the goal she made for herself of "Meeting new people with a happy heart" she added "To meet children on our street and have them over to play, eat snacks and hear stories about Jesus". What a powerful way to meet a very hard personal goal for yourself......to think of others and just throw yourself out there! Adventurous!!

The biggest goal I want them to achieve is to accept themselves.  God loves them from the tops of their precious heads to the tips of their pretty pink painted toenails.  He doesn't just love us when we are "good" but instead He loves us because we are special and unique....just like He made us:)