lent
There are days when hope seems to be in short supply.This creates a problem because I've realized that I need hope in every area of my life. I need hope when I imagine my future, or my children turning out all right, or my marriage making it to fifty-plus years. All these things require hope. Hope in something and someone greater than myself. Hope that things will turn out in spite of my screw-ups and do overs.
Yesterday we met as a missional community, a group of believers who gather together to share in our journey of the pursuit of God and what it means to live out our faith, and toward the end everyone shared a request that needed prayer. For parents and kids and work. And all I keep thinking is how do we get through this life, these concerns or problems, without hope?
Hope is is much more than good thoughts or conjured-up positive feelings. Hope is the anchor for our soul (Hebrews 6:19) and the buoy for our faith.
This week, let's pursue hope together.
This past week I came across some unpleasant words and deeds done by some of my son's friends. My initial anger and surprise at their actions made me spend the next several days conjuring up ways in my mind that they should be punished. My husband and I had some honest conversations with our sons over the inappropriateness of his friends actions and ways to safeguard himself from falling into the same thought patterns and behaviors.Afterward, I found that my anger towards these boys had not dissipated. I wanted to shake them and yell at them for the ignorance they had displayed. As I thought about this Lent and focusing on grace this week, I realized that was the last thing I wanted to extend towards these boys was grace. My outrage had turned to resentment and I didn't want to show them mercy or love.
But hanging onto resentment towards others is no way to live as a follower of Christ. All it took was for me to think back to my own teenage years and the errors I made during that time period to realize, that even though I do not approve of their behavior, they are still deserving of grace and kindness.
This week, let's focus on grace together.
We at The Ruth Experience have been observing Lent for the past few years. We’ve done this not because we feel beholden to tradition, as Kristin and I did not grow up observing Lent, but because we have found this tradition to be a beautiful way to prepare our hearts each year leading up to Easter. In the past we have focused on specific countries and causes, world issues and needs—and this time we plan to do something a little different. This year we want to be much more reflective and prayerful in the weeks leading up to Easter. This year we plan to pick one topic each week that we will reflect upon. We’ll also provide three days of Scripture reading and reflection that you can spend a few moments in study each week as we observe Lent together. Rather than “giving up something,” it’s making time to spend with God -- practicing the discipline of prayer and reading Bible.
We pray that you will join us as we all seek to deepen our connection to God during this time of introspection, scripture reading, and prayer.
This first week we will focus on the word: peace.
Welcome to our final week in the reLentless Love series and Make a Difference Monday link-up! If you missed the first six weeks of reLentless Love, we shared about Access to Medical Care, Orphan Care, Single Moms, Human Trafficking, Hunger and Clean Water. Today, we're highlighting the needs of kids in our communities and ways we can all help.We can hardly believe this is our last post in this year's Lent series. We have enjoyed once again being able to highlight needs around the world, spend time in prayer for others, and partner with some great organizations. For our last week we wanted to focus on the needs of kids in our communities and our very own Julie Fisk is highlighting a nationwide organization that is dear to her heart; that has been helping communities, families, and children around the country for many years. Here's her story:
Welcome to our reLentless Love series and Make a Difference Monday link-up! If you missed the first five weeks of reLentless Love, we shared about Access to Medical Care, Orphan Care, Single Moms, Human Trafficking, and Hunger. Today, we're highlighting the need for clean drinking water around the world and ways we can all help.
Ben and Amy Savage, along with their son Tariku, have had an amazing impact when it comes to raising awareness about the impact of cleaning water and their efforts to build water wells in Ethiopia via charity:water. When I asked Amy more about why they're so passionate about the issue of clean drinking water, I was humbled by how much we take for granted in the U.S. and what a privilege it is to be able to do something to change the lives of others around the globe through the efforts of organizations like charity:water and others.Why are you passionate about this issue? What sparked your interest?
When we went to Ethiopia to adopt our son, Tariku, we learned his story more fully. He had lived for four years or so with his birth father and stepmother. They collected their water from a small, dirty pond that was contaminated with God-knows-what. His family had no other choice. They needed water and that was the water they had to use. Tariku's little brother became very sick and had severe diarrhea from the water. At the age of one, he died. From dirty water.
Welcome to our reLentless Love series and Make a Difference Monday link-up! If you missed the first four weeks of reLentless Love, we shared about Access to Medical Care, Orphan Care, Single Moms and Human Rrafficking. Today, we're highlighting hunger around the world and ways we can all help.
Hunger is such a large issue, one that impacts people all over the world. The statistics on food instability, especially in developing countries, is staggering. The World Food Programme reports:
Hunger is such a large issue, one that impacts people all over the world. The statistics on food instability, especially in developing countries, is staggering. The World Food Programme reports:- Some 805 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth.
- Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five -- 3.1 million children each year.
- 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.
Although hunger is a very serious issue around the world, the United States is no exception. People in our local communities, neighborhoods and schools are going hungry every day.
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| Image by Alyssa Miller via Flickr |
Welcome to our reLentless Love series and Make a Difference Monday link-up! If you missed the first three weeks of reLentless Love, we shared about Access to Medical Care, Orphan Care and Single Moms! Today, we're highlighting trafficking and are looking at what is happening in our own backyard in Central Minnesota.
This week we interviewed CeCe Terlouw, Executive Director of Heartland Girls Ranch, about her passion to help girls caught in trafficking and what her amazing organization is doing.
TRE: Why are you passionate about the issue of trafficking?
My heart and passion for doing this work is really rooted in what God's heart is and what the
word says. This is illustrated in Isaiah 61:1-3:
The spirit of the Lord is on me because the Lord has
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me
To preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lords favor
And the day of vengeance of our God,
To comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-
To bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
Instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
A planting of the Lord
For the display of his splendor.
When girls come to us they are often broken and locked inside themselves unable to see their gifts and talents.
They remind me of an acorn with a hard shell on the outside and no roots to ground them.
My passion is in watching God begin to change and nurture them into the beautiful young women they were designed to be. With the love and support they receive at the Ranch, they begin to blossom, grow roots and become the "oak of righteousness and glory of his splendor". They discover the beauty that's inside them, their value in who they are and the impactthey can have on others.
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| Image via Jackie on Flickr |
The Easter Bunny and I have a love/hate relationship.
As a mother of young children, I’ve struggled with how much swimming I should be doing against the cultural tide of Easter as a pastel-colored, candy holiday.
I’ve wrestled with whether I"m potentially diminishing Christ and the work he did on the cross when I allow a few plastic eggs and some fake grass to cross my home’s threshold.
And while every family has to pray through this issue on their own, my husband and I have made peace with the concept of the Easter Bunny and provide a space in our Easter celebration to partake in the cheesy fun of an egg hunt, hidden baskets, and rainbow-hued, hard-boiled eggs.
In exchange for allowing eggs and chocolates to be a part of the celebration, my husband and I are very intentional about our approach to Easter.
The Easter books found on my children's bookshelves talk of Jesus, not of bunnies.
We have age-appropriate conversations about the cross - what it means, what it did, why it matters so very much to our lives today.
And, as unpopular as it might be, my children know that the Easter Bunny isn’t real and that daddy is the one who is figuratively hopping around the back yard, hiding eggs in tree branches. (Although we do what we can to make sure they do not share that information with their classmates, as that is a decision for other families to make).
Because if I do not show my children how to carefully discern those things in our culture that are merely fun from those things that hold sacred significance, then I leave them vulnerable to the whisperings of others.
There will come a time when others will tell my children that Jesus is a myth, a fable, a story just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, and I need them to understand the difference between a fun activity and authentic faith.
If you are looking for ways to incorporate more Jesus and less bunny into your own Easter celebrations, check out the following ideas:
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