Ann here! My friends, I am currently in England, visiting my Mum. Here's a picture of us, taken today … I feel today that I want to honor my lovely mum for her strength of faith. She became a Christian when she was about 19 or 20, having grown up in a ...
My friends, I am currently in England, visiting my Mum. Here’s a picture of us, taken today …
I feel today that I want to honor my lovely mum for her strength of faith.
She became a Christian when she was about 19 or 20, having grown up in a home that was churchgoing but not overtly Christian. I was born to her just after that time. And in all the years since, I have never seen her waver in her faith.
My memory of her as a child is of her waking up before the crack of dawn every morning and sitting in her robe with God in the living room, her Bible and notepad in her hands.
… Year in, year out.
Now, when I visit her in England our favorite thing to do together is go to her church. I’ve come to know her church friends, and I love sitting side by side with her with our Bibles open, and later talking about the sermon as we drive home.
She and I are a super-strong pair in our family. We are the two women of the family, and we are a praying pair who care for our close ones.
So yes, I just thought I’d share that nice part of my life with you today.
Did you have a praying mum? Or are you the first praying mum in your family?
Yesterday I turned another year older. And yesterday SUM turned 20!
Each year now feels like a milestone as significant and amazing things occur year upon year. I somehow believed as I grew older, life slows and becomes easier. And in some ways it has. Yet, the ministry continues to support thousands who land on the site to discover there is hope in Jesus.
And in my personal life the last few years have been difficult/incredible.
I reflected yesterday much more than usual. And I thought about what to share with you as the blog and myself turn another year in the Book of Life.
I have one question to ask all of you who have walked through life with me. Some for years. Some for months.
Did you find Jesus here? Did you see Him honored among the writers on the blog? Could you see Him reflected in my imperfect life?
Did you find hope in His truth?
I pray you are greatly encouraged here at SUM. I truly, honestly, love you. I’m not a celebrity. I’m an ordinary, flawed but completely sold-out Jesus freak. I hope you become what I am.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUMITES! You are all amazing warriors of God. I will always pray for you.
Lord Jesus, reveal yourself in greater measures. Walk us through the trials and bring us into a place where we see your miracles every day. In Jesus name, we ask. AMEN
When you’re building connections with one another, you’re building bridges of trust that can bear the weight of truth. Some of the personality characteristics we have studied thus far, prohibit authentic connection.
Our greatest need is relationships where we are safe to be our authentic self. Below is a quick video where vulnerability researcher Brene Brown shares about the beauty and positive life we can live if we are brave and live with our vulnerabilities.
I know I would have never written a book, if I hadn’t chosen to be brave and put my REAL life out there into the public for judgement and review. It was truly scary. I feel this nagging fear every time I release a new book. Every…. Single…. Time.
But I chose to be brave because Jesus told me there is one single person out there that needs what I have lived. They need to know that Jesus helps people in difficult marriages. They need to know that Jesus helped me and he will help them. So, I write. I choose to be brave even when I feel vulnerable. Because Jesus will be there to help me (and you) walk through the critics.
When considering difficult relationships, most personality issues are born from a place where we (and others) needed to “self-protect.” I understand this. There are people in our lives that ARE NOT SAFE to share our truest selves with. There are people in our lives that are so very wounded and they have walled themselves off behind self-protection.
But this is where our relationship with our Lord enables us open up to live in freedom, creativity, joy, hope and more, no matter what everyone else chooses. God wants our vulnerable self. He knows our quirks, our failures, our shame… all the “ick” we don’t want to experience. All the shame we can’t share with anyone.
When I truly stepped into my God-given identity, there was something like a shield that dropped around me (Ephesians 6). A shield from words of judgement, condemnation, failure and shame. The shield is the TRUTH that I am fully loved, accepted and I am enough even with my quirks, pain, and off-kilter personality traits.
I began to live from God’s view of my life, and it changed how I processed myself and others. Proper boundaries are necessary as there are many in our lives that haven’t had this epiphany. But don’t wait another day. Step into the fullness of love and acceptance that is in the heart of our Father through Jesus Christ.
May I pray for you today?
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
Amen. Ephesians 3:13-21 NLT
So what are your thoughts? Meet me in the comments. Pray for one another. Pray for me as I will be writing my next, very vulnerable, book in June and July.
Ann here! My friends, I want to say something to you today:
God holds secrets about your life that are majestic to your heart.
Take a look at the photo here of a bend that goes around the corner. God holds secrets about your future that only he knows….
…. What is round that bend? A new friend to meet? A new house? A new church? A new place?
Whatever happens in your life, even if it’s difficult, God has a mapped-out fruitfulness for you, his faithful one.
What does the secret language of time reveal in your life? God is not slow. Everything he does is perfect. It is spot on.
I, for one, cannot wait to see what is around the next bend that God has written for me. I don’t care if it is ‘good’ by earthly terms, or ‘bad’. Do you know what I mean? Crappy stuff is almost a given in our life. Jesus said, in this world you’ll have troubles. BUT, I look forward to whatever it is that God does next, spiritually.
Where are you going to place me next, Lord?
What are you going to say to me next?
Who is going to walk with me in the next season you have for me?
Sigh! I can get very excited.
SUMites, I bless you today with a spirit of sheer excitement for those God secrets that he holds for your life.
