Finding Faith in the Mess
Like most moms, I am in my car driving a lot. What is it about motherhood resembling an Uber driver? What I’ve noticed more frequently in my carpool adventures are an abundance of Teslas and Maseratis. I don’t know what’s changed to make those two …
You ARE valued. You ARE valuable. You ARE worthy. You ARE highly favored. You ARE loved. We need YOU. My youngest was taking a bath in my bath tub while I was getting ready for bed. We were chit-chatting about things when he noticed a …
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Psalm 37:4-7
A year ago this month I made a decision. I wanted to take the easy route. But, my husband got in the way. He challenged me to speak out loud what had been on my heart: my dream. I didn’t want to chase it down because it made me feel vulnerable and open to serious rejection that could slay my soul like a sharp knife. I told him I would try one thing and if I wasn’t “feeling it” then that would be my sign to not continue down this (scary) path.
After our conversation, I signed up for a writer’s conference that is put on here in Dallas once a year. I thought if I attended I would know whether writing was something to chase or something to discard. I had no idea what I was signing myself up for.
The first day was amazing. I felt on top of my game. I went to a pre-conference workshop and left feeling accomplished and positive. That night, the opening was energizing. I went to bed feeling ready. The next day was different.
I woke up feeling inspired ready to hear all the things to propel my down my writing journey. I had no idea that I would walk away from this day feeling fully fed emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I felt all the feels that day. I laughed, I cried, I was challenged, and I was pushed past my limits. I went back to my hotel room fully energized and fully exhausted.
I am not going to lie, I went to bed that night also feeling a little defeated. The women in that room were so well-prepared. They had one-sheets with their tag line for their book proposal and head shot ready. They had adorable business cards at the ready. They seemed confident and like they absolutely knew how to do this. I, well, I had a Word Doc and a smile. I got and bed and started contemplating canceling my appointments with the literary agent and editor. I felt unprepared and didn’t want to waste my time.
I was suddenly awakened around 4am with one thought racing through my mind: Do it for the one. This statement would not leave me. All I kept seeing was my pitiful Word doc and clammy hands. That moment, I knew, wasn’t random. It was God.
The next day, I went to the conference worn out but ready. I kept my appointments even though I felt completely inadequate. I learned so much in those moments I spent with those two women. The Messy Mingling was birthed out of those meetings.
Why do I tell you all this? Well, for a few reasons. First, if it wasn’t for the Declare Conference, I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today. The Messy Mingling probably wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for that conference. Those three days were the best spent days for my career and for my soul. You see, Declare is so much more than a conference for Christian communicators. There is something different with this one. The moment you walk into the room, you feel the presence of God. He is so vastly present in every aspect of this conference it will make you shudder (in a good way). Declare is not just for the writer, speaker, blogger, or podcaster. Declare is for the Christian woman. Because, let’s face it, if you are a Christian, you are a Christian communicator.
Declare will fill your soul like nothing you have ever experienced before. You will meet the most loving, kind, and supportive people on the planet. Remember how I told you how inadequate I felt? The women at Declare wrapped their arms around me and carried me when I felt defeated. One sat with me on the couch before one of my meetings encouraging me and speaking life into me without being prompted. These are women trying to do the exact same thing I want to do; trying to get into a cut-throat industry. They didn’t vie for position. The stood alongside each other spurring one another up. Declare is worth it: worth it for your soul.
I also want you to see God. He absolutely helped orchestrate my steps. He didn’t control me. He guided me. A stirring began in me last summer. The boys were getting older and their needs of me were changing. I knew there was something else I needed to do. I had some desires but they weren’t solidified. Delighting myself in Him, spending time with Him fervently those three days at Declare, enabled me to be molded so the desires of my heart matched His. I always had the passion to write, I just didn’t have all the details on how to do it. He gave me those details at Declare.
Ladies, you need to do something for you. We export far more than we import into our souls and we are left depleted. We feel guilty or like we can’t leave our households because it will all come crumbling down. We put ourselves last thinking that’s the right and humble thing to do when, in reality, it’s what strips us of His glory inside of us. He never asked us to give up ourselves for this life. He asks us to give ourselves over to Him so He may fill us.
Invest in you. Invest in your dreams and your desires. Spend uninterrupted time with Him so that your desires, those ideas running through your head, can be refined and magnified to match His. There is something brewing inside you, something you’ve put by the wayside because you’ve convinced yourself it isn’t time or you aren’t deserving. You, my friend, are so deserving.
I would love for you to join me at Declare this year. The conference is the weekend of October 4th-6th. Come be filled and led into the desires of your heart. Watch your dreams come to life with a support system already in place for you. I would love to sit with you and have the honor of watching you uncover your purpose and blow the dust of your dreams becoming a warrior in all that you do.
You can find more information here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/declare-2018-warrior-tickets-38151834163
Love & Blessings,
Meg
I saw a post that contained some awful news. It was one of those things where you want to shake your fist at God so angry at how unfair the news is. It didn’t make sense and it didn’t seem right. Inexplicable. When I read …
“Darkness does not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr.
I love you. Some of us say this statement flippantly. Some don’t say it at all. This sentiment can bring on pain, hurt, and fear. These three words can also heal, comfort, and console. We all want to hear someone tell us they love us. We have a longing way down deep to be loved. We also hold our love captive from those that need to pay for their wrongs before we can speak love towards them.
Love.
We want it.
We need it.
We are created for it.
Our American “I love you” is vastly different than God’s love. Our love comes with lists of past hurts and stipulations. We measure our love through actions of others. Love is not unconditional or freely given. We prefer most people to earn our love.
God’s love, well, His love is free. There is nothing we can do to earn His love. When we mess up, He’s there arms wide open loving us through it. It’s just there; ready for the taking full of grace and mercy with no prerequisites.
What we fail to realize in all our humanness is that loving others does not remove consequences. Loving others does not justify wrongs. Loving throws open the doors to healing, reconciliation, and hope. Justice does not require hate. Justice is not the absence of love. Justice is acknowledging the problem and opening the floodgates of love. Justice holds the accused accountable while giving them an opportunity to be redeemed.
‘Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.’ Luke 23:34
When I think of love and justice, I think of Jesus. He was hanging from the cross when he showed love. Nails pierced his body when he loved. He loved those who put Him to death and those who fought for Him. He loved the faithful and the one who would betray. He just loved.
We are impacting each other far greater than we realize. We are not a one-side-against-the-other America. We are one and we matter. We affect each other every day. What is your impact? Love? Even loving those you loathe?
We don’t have to dehumanize others to hold them accountable. We don’t have to fear loving those who’ve wronged us.
We need to love others in such a way that we are propelling them towards redemption instead of disposing them in the “other” pile. Redemption does not remove conviction. It brings healing after the fall.
Love today.
No strings attached.
Just plain simple love.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith …
“When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.” Genesis 8:11 You don’t need to be a Bible scholar or even a Christian to …
I pinned plans and pictures of farmhouse tables to my Pinterest board. It was time for us to get a new table and I had the perfect one pictured in my head. The table we had was getting a little small and a little worn out. Scott and I purchased our first table in 2004 when we bought our first house together.
This little table is filled with so many memories. If the table could talk, it would tell of the first Thanksgiving we hosted, how it was set so pretty to help sell our home so we could move to Texas, how it’s been painted and repainted; sanded and stained countless times. The table has nicks and scratches and little pieces of play-dough stuck in the crevices. If our table could talk, it would tell of the many stories that were shared around it: those precious moments we shared all squished together.
I wish our little table could talk. I wish it could tell of the stories that occurred around the four sides. It was time for our table to move on to a new family and for us to get a larger one. I have visions of our little family expanding as the boys grow: friends, girlfriends, wives, grandchildren. I needed to make more room around the table. So, Scott got me a new table for my birthday. I still need more chairs for the table. We need more seats to fill. I want them all mismatched. I feel like that’s a testament to life having mismatched chairs around the table.
I love life around the table. I have a large cozy couch that can accommodate many. We never end up there though. We always end up around the table. The table brings life and nourishment; safety and comfort. Stories are told, lived, felt, and breathed around the table. Debates are had and resolved. Courage if forged. Tears are shed and wiped away all around the table. Hate is not our story. Conversations around our tables extinguish hate and rewrite our stories with hope. Our stories can’t change until everyone is welcome at our tables; until fear and hate are not allowed.
Last night, our family had a conversation around the table that I didn’t expect to have this soon. My boys are young but their world is waiting and ready to swallow them whole. It doesn’t care about their age. We talked about people, our differences, and who deserves love. We went around and decided who is welcome in the church. They got it. Probably better than most of us grown-ups. As much as I want to shield my boys, those conversations around the table are pivotal to the success of our future; especially the future of the Church.
We need to get back to life around the table. Our kids need to be a part of hard conversations around the table. Stories need to be told, shared, heard, and loved. Life needs to be worked out around the table. People need to be welcomed around our table. Not just people that look like you, act like you, and live like you. Being the hands and feet of the Church means you open your table up to everyone. Your kids need to see this. You need to practice this. This is the Church.
We know this. We know and desire this deep within our souls. We are created for fellowship breaking bread around the table.
Who is allowed around your table? Who fills those chairs? This is a question we must conquer; especially today. Is there a chair available for anyone or do you have standards for who can join the table?
When I think about life around the table, I think about Jesus. He hung out around the table a lot. His church was around tables and in open fields not some fancy church building. He went where the people were. He spent time and shared meals at the table with many who were rejected. He ate and broke bread with the sinner, the lost, those abandoned, the shamed, the disaster, the thief, liar, and the snitch. Jesus sat at the table with the least of these. He had those conversations that we shy away from. He was politically incorrect with his words and actions but never a sinner.
Jesus loved around that table. He listened intently. He listened. He shared. He breathed life into the people sitting around the table. Those who joined him at the table felt love for the very first time. They finally felt accepted in a world where they were the outcast. Everyone is welcome at His table. EVERYONE.
Jesus spent his last days around the table. He shared a meal and life around the table with his friends: those who proclaimed their allegiance to him but would betray and deny their beloved in the coming days. Jesus knew their fate but still sat at the table. He knew they would betray him but he still loved. Jesus spoke one of the most quoted and profound Scriptures around that table. John 13:34-35 says, ” So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Who sits at your table? Who is allowed to partake breaking bread and sharing stories? What is fair game for conversation around your table. I believe that it starts at the table in our homes. This is what church looks like. Life is built around the table. If we ignore the table and let it get dusty, our lives suffer. If we exclude people from our tables, life gets ugly. If we open our tables and allow vulnerability and love to thrive, grow, and be challenged around our tables, life becomes a breeding ground of goodness.
We want to know where it starts; how we change the course we are on. We know the trajectory of our path is destructive as of late. We are all falling apart and torn in two at the horrors of our world. We are lost and hurt and broken. We don’t know where to turn. The church, to many, seems disengaged, broken, and not a place of comfort. Our answer, our freedom from all this unrest is sitting in our kitchens, our dining rooms, on our patios, and in our restaurants: the table. It’s there. Shake the dust off and pull up an extra chair because ALL are welcome at the table.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35
I was sitting at Starbucks typing away and doing some research when a party of four sat down next to me. It was crowded and the tables were close. The two couples chatted about general life stuff for the first ten minutes or so. Yes, …
