I'm Guest Posting Today!

My beautiful SFAM (read the post to find out what this means) Jo is running a series of 'Revision' posts and guest posts over the next month or more. And guess who is featured first...???  Yes, it's moi!  I am so blessed.

Please pop on over to Jo's blog - {Princess Warrior Lessons} - and read what I have to say!

Please, Be My Guest : {duck-egg blue and teacups too}

I have Em from {duck-egg blue and teacups too} on my blog today for my second "Please, Be My Guest" post!

I wish I was more like Em and had a cool blog name, but, alas, I don't.  What is also cool about Em is that aside from loving God she loves to crochet, and so do I!  In fact, she whet my appetite for crocheted coasters that I now can't stop making!  Aside from the brilliant post below from Em, you can also find her at her beautiful blue blog and also on Twitter.  You will love her as I do!

Hi, I’m Em! Lovely to ‘meet’ you all! I’m a wife, mama of a boisterous 5 year old boy, a sweet 3 year old girl and their bouncing baby sister. My husband and I live a modest life in a seaside suburb, and are the young adults’ pastors in our local church. I blog some bits and pieces over at {duck-egg blue and teacups too}.

I’ve never done a guest blog post before, and admittedly, I’ve been super nervous about sharing here for Paula. It’s a huge privilege isn’t it? Being invited in, given the microphone, so to speak! But Paula and I share somewhat of the same heart, as I’m sure you, her readers do. That heart where a Saviour resides! So I thought I would share what has been on mine, if you don’t mind :)

As a church, we have been reading ‘The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. If you haven’t read it, I thoroughly recommend it! I’ve been a Christian for many years, and each time I have read this book (this is the third, I think!) I have been floored by simple truths I have ‘known’ seemingly my whole life. But knowing, and really knowing are different, are they not? My head knows many a thing, but sometimes it takes a while for that same thing to make its place in my heart.

God’s love is one of those things.

Did you know that God made you so that He could love you, enjoy you, and adopt you into His family?

I cannot read that statement aloud without a lump developing in my throat!

He made you to love you. Not because you have something to give (and you do!), simply to love and enjoy you. A love you don’t have to strive for… I can almost physically feel a weight fall off my shoulders, can’t you?

I don’t know about you, but I often feel like I need to earn His love. Some days I feel more deserving of it than others… yet, at our absolute worst, He sent His Son; while we were steeped in sin.

My mind often can’t comprehend it. I don’t believe it often. So I meditate on those scriptures we all ‘know’ so well. We can quote them, yet do I honestly believe it?  Honestly? No, sometimes I don’t! I don’t understand how He could! And after I’d read a chapter in the ‘Purpose Driven Life’, and while my mind had one of those arguments with itself, over this crazy, God-love, I sat down to write, and out came a love letter.

I’d love to leave it here, with you:

To my beautiful daughter,
I see you.
You are my treasured possession. My child. I knit you together in your mother’s womb. I made you without reservation, on purpose. I gave up everything I loved, my only Son, so that you could know me. Nothing could ever separate you from my love now.
I made a place for you that you don’t have to strive for.
Don’t strive.
“Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” Rest in me. Take your place in my family, in my house. You are a pleasure to me. I delight in your life.
I watch you. I think about you more than you could understand. I smile. Not because of what you do for me. Just because you are you, and I love you. While you were steeped in sin, I chose you to be mine.
Before you had chosen me, I set you apart. I sent Jesus. I want to capture you with my love, lavish it upon you.
Let me. Believe.
And remember who you are in me.
My heir. My child. My friend.

Love, God.

Love Em xx

Don't forget to pop on over to Em's beautiful blue blog and say hi!

Please, Be My Guest : Grace Overflowing...

I'm delighted in welcoming Bek from Grace Overflowing to my blog today for the first of my "Please, Be My Guest" posts.

I met Bek via Jo Princess Warrior, and while Bek and I have never met IRL, she has become a dear Jesus-Sister. Bek is married and a homeschooling mum to three boys. She writes about her "spiritual walk, learning to live in God's overflowing grace, and striving to live an authentic life for Christ" and is "learning to live my life for God and not compromising along the journey of faith."

As Rachel from The Lazy Christian (who has inspired me with guest blogging) says - "Read her here. Read her there. Follow her here. Like here there. I just know you'll love her everywhere!"

I have dealt with a lot of rejection in my past and had to rely on the Lord to get me to a place where it doesn't dominate my interactions. Though I have come a long way, I still struggle with how I think people see me. Generally, I am wrong with these assumptions and it always makes me take a step back when I find the case to be otherwise. The reality of this has again come to the fore and I am again having to reassess my thoughts about myself.
 

Now I don't think I have a bad self esteem, I can be quite confident in the right environment. Yet, I have played the pretend game for many years. Behaving a certain way so that others would accept me and keeping a lot of my opinions to myself in case I might offend someone. I have always felt awkward in new situations, like I don't really fit in. I still feel this way sometimes but, with the Lord's teaching, I am learning more and more of who I am in him. My confidence is growing, knowing that he has chosen me and bought me for a price (Isaiah 43:1).

I think the biggest facade we all wear in everyday life is that of having no problems, of being okay. Too often we see someone and say 'Hi, how are you?' but never actually stay around to hear the answer. What is wrong with things not being okay and wanting to know how a person really is? We need to care about the people in our lives enough to await the answer. To care enough for our friends to see when they are putting on a front, and ask again a little gentler.

I have found it so hard to say what is in my heart. Sure there is a time and a place, we speak with people we trust and generally already have an established relationship with. So, how do we get to the stage that we are able to share? Is it the sharing that builds the relationship or the relationship that creates the environment for sharing?

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one."~ C. S. Lewis

A friend had this quote on her Facebook status and it got me thinking. Does this mean that giving a piece of your heart leads to the relationships we seek? That we spend the time hoping for the relationships to come so that we can stop all the pretending, yet it is through taking the leap of faith and sharing our hearts that the relationships are actually built?

I feel like I am talking in circles a bit but this is such an important area to think on. There are so many people these days suffering from depression or related illnesses. We have the joys of instant communication, status updates and tweeting our happenings, yet we are more isolated than ever. Is this feeding into the one sided conversation and being happy with the superficial communication this type of media breeds? Is it creating an environment where the facade we now wear is a computer screen and words in an Arial font?

We are relational beings, created in God's image, who sent Jesus to restore our relationship with him. God said that it was not good for man to be alone (Gen 2:18) and formed Eve to be in relationship with Adam. Sharing our struggles with each other, enables us to see the truth that we are not alone in our experiences, that the lies of the deceiver are not true. We need to get our worth from our heavenly Father and to share small pieces of our heart with each other.

Depression comes from the feelings of isolation. That you are walking alone in the pain and anguish that is been dealt out and you have nothing to offer, worthless in the eyes of the world. Is the rise in these feelings because we have stopped listening to the answers or it because we have stopped talking about our own hurts?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Bek xx

You can see Bek's original post here that also includes some inspiring comments. Pop over and leave your own!

Can You Say "Holiday"?!?!?

Photo Source

Oh yeah! I'm on holiday! And it's for 2 weeks! Alas, I won't be sitting on a pristine white beach sipping mocktails in my swimmers. What I will be doing is spending 2 wonderful weeks with my mother who is visiting from interstate and my daughter! A '3gen' holiday! And I am excited, as is my little girl.

I have some cool posts scheduled (well, I hope you will think they're cool!) over the next 2 weeks. Some posts will require your feedback, and some will introduce you to some new bloggers! I'm looking forward to checking back in to see how you're all doing!

Please, Be My Guest...

I love sharing and connecting.  I love learning about people, their views, ideas and more.  One way I'd like to do this is by inviting my peeps to guest post here on my blog (and on A Scarlet Rope of Hope), and also by offering to be a guest on their blog.

Is anyone up for a visitor?  Please let me know!

Being Friendly While Feeling Lazy...

How do you discover who you really are in Christ?

This is a question that keeps cropping up a lot of late. I mean, I know who I am as Paula; I even did a blog post on it a couple of months back titled Discovering My True Identity. But there is still this question left unanswered.

As far as how God feels about me—well, I know that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made” and “altogether beautiful." However, I’ve been getting the feeling lately that there is more to this life than just the body I walk around in. After all, it is only temporary and we are promised new bodies when we get to heaven.

Check out the rest of this post over at The Lazy Christian today for Friendly Friday (aka Saturday here in Australia)!