spiritual stuff

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

January 11, 2012 by Amy Leave a Comment

(image courtesy of http://www.stopthecandyshop.com/)

When I went to Catalyst in 2010, I was blown away by Christine Caine who heads up The A21 Campaign, a non-profit which aims to abolish human trafficking. As a follow-up, they also showed a promo for a short film/parable bringing awareness to child sex trafficking called The Candy Shop. I had the pleasure, or should I say discomfort, of finally watching it today for Trafficking Awareness Day.

Did you know Atlanta is the LARGEST city in America for trafficking and comes in at tenth in the whole world? That’s 375 little girls just a few years older than my Emma and Lexi that are taken advantage of every single month. Just last month, the FBI said a pediatrician was arrested for child pornography. The thought sickens me. But we simply cannot ignore the nausea. We feel helpless but there are organizations making a difference. The A21 Campaign works all over the world to restore victims, prevent new ones and bring perpetrators to justice. Street Grace is the organization that partnered with the film company to produce The Candy Shop film. Here are ways to partner with them and make an impact:

Check A21’s site for 21 things you can do, learn signs of sex trafficking and donate while you’re there. A21Campaign works all over the world to
Visit http://www.streetgrace.org/ or http://www.stopthecandyshop.com/ for ways to make an impact specifically in the Atlanta area.
Pray. I don’t say it flippantly. We need to pray for the men in our country that their hearts are turned toward God and not the evil of their flesh.
Get others involved. This is the kind of thing that should be going viral on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s so disheartening to think about these things but we can’t be like the people in the film that just say it’s none of our business or believe the lie we can’t make a difference. We CAN. Let’s do it.

Forbidden Love

January 5, 2012 by Amy Leave a Comment

Some days in the office are exhausting. By the time I get home almost 11 hours after I leave the house, I feel much like a ragdoll ready to be set on a shelf and left alone. Thank goodness I had spaghetti leftovers for us to eat tonight. One less thing to think about. I had promised the girls this morning I’d take them to the Dollar Store tonight. Emma had a dollar from her chore chart and Lexi had one for trying her baked beans the other night. What? Don’t pretend like you don’t bribe your kids. And of course they couldn’t save their money. It’s been a whole 10 days since hitting the motherload at Christmas. So I took them and they bought fairy wings and a play cash register, which I admit was quite fun. I don’t get to throw around $100 bills often.

On the way home, Emma asked what forbidden love was. Seeing that our conversation to The Dollar Store was sparked with the question, “Is there really a medicine you can take so you don’t have babies?”, this new question didn’t startle me in the least. Immediately, Romeo and Juliet popped in my mind. I explained they were from two families that were sworn enemies and they weren’t supposed to love each other. Lexi piped in that she had seen a movie where Juliet was a dog and Romeo was a cat and that was forbidden love because cats and dogs aren’t supposed to love each other. All I have to say about that is whoever cast that movie got it all wrong because we all know cats are girls and dogs are boys. The girls seem to catch on to the idea and finally Lexi said, “Who started this anyway?” Which is what they always say when we’ve found ourselves knee deep down rabbit holes.

All that to say the whole conversation got me thinking about God’s love for me and how it’s a forbidden love. He has no right to love me. Him, being perfectly perfect and patience and joyful and loving. And not just having those qualities but BEING those qualities. He has no right to love me in my pride and stubbornness and impatience and jealousy and all those things I wish I could rid myself of. It ought to be forbidden for Him to love me as much as He does.

When Romeo found Juliet sleeping, assuming she was dead, he drinks poison, killing himself so he could have eternity with his star-crossed lover. Much like Romeo, God found me in my death, before the earth had its foundation and because He loved me so much, He chose to come and die so I could join Him in eternity one day. The best part about our love is it’s not a tragedy. It’s a beautiful story that’s been written long before Romeo and Juliet and has an ending that all forbidden love’s only wish they had.

I put together a listing of all the ways He loves us for my eBook Entangled. Maybe you need a reminder of His forbidden love today. I know I did.

Know Why You Do What You Do

December 31, 2011 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’ve kept this post open in my browser for days. Daye posted the top ten things she’s learned about blogging this year. Something about her first point has stuck with me.

Know why you do what you do- It is okay to not have a well thought out vision for the next 20 years of your life. But it’s important to have a reason for what you do. For me this means that I write because when I do, I feel God’s pleasure (One of my favorite quotes is from Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame- "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.").

I didn’t blog for much of December. Time and inspiration were not lacking. But I didn’t feel like it would please Him. Not because of their content because many of them would have been tucked away in the spiritual category. I don’t know why it was but I didn’t feel freedom to blog. The day after Christmas I finally felt His permission to write but He needed to ask me that question: why do I do what I do?

I don’t know how the content will change in 2012, if at all, but my goal is to work on this thing called writing and to do that for as long as I feel His pleasure. I hope you’ll join me.

Happy New Year!

Captivity

December 29, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

I mentioned it in passing in a blog post but I’m in the midst of reading through the Bible again. I’ve done it 2 other times but this time, this section stuck out to me from 2 Chronicles 6. Solomon had just built the temple and was dedicating it:

“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; ³⁷ and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; ³⁸ and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; ³⁹ then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.”

A light bulb moment this time. That entire paragraph is the story of Entangled. No, I didn’t have soldiers in another land the God gave me over to but I was my own worst enemy. Satan was right with me when I sinned and God let me dwell in captivity in an emotional affair. My body was not held captive but my mind was. But when I had a change of heart and turned back to Him, He forgave me. I give Israel a hard time for continually turning to their wicked ways but I’m no different. Not at all.

Merry Christmas 2011 – Alleluia

December 25, 2011 by Amy Leave a Comment

Alleluia – used to express praise, joy or thanks.

Alleluia

Close your eyes, lift your hands and say thank you.

Alleluia

My soul quakes and my flesh feels the waves of thanksgiving. We celebrate him abiding in flesh as a babe but today He abides in me. In His church. In the body, not a body.

I hope that’s truth for you. That this Christmas when you stretch your hands out with alleluias, you feel Christ abiding.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

On Finding Joy

November 21, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

Today at lunch I took the time to make my manicotti for dinner. Someone please give me a high-five for thinking ahead! Cooking the jumbo shell noodles is one of the first steps. It took a few minutes but the water was a full rolling boil by the end of the required 15 minutes. I noticed though just as soon as I turned the heat off, the bubbles stopped. I figured there might be some lag time as heat dissipated but no, it was instant. I couldn’t help but think back to my confession of my emotional affair to Scott. Before the confession, I felt like that rolling boil inside. Truly, as if my stomach had been put in a pot of boiling water. I was a mess dealing with all my deceit and other emotions. But when I confessed, it was like someone had turned the heat off. Sure, I still had some inner turmoil going on but that sickening feeling disappeared immediately.

That boiling pot also reminds me of what we should be bubbling over with: joy. But deceit and joy can’t coexist. Proverbs says There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace. There could be many reasons you aren’t joyful right now but if you’re not, I challenge you to ask yourself if there is any deceit in your life.

What are you covering up?

Refusing to talk about?

Hoping no one finds out?

Doing when no one is looking?

Find someone to confess it to. Confess to the Lord. I know it’s scary. Really, I do. You feel like no one has been there. No one understands. No one will like you. No one can help you. No one will look at you the same. No one will forgive you. But we’ve all got stuff. And those are just lies from Satan to keep you in your deceitful behaviors. The longer we keep it in, the longer we don’t have our joy and that means the longer someone doesn’t see God’s glory displayed through you to its full potential. So let me help. How would you finish this sentence?

I haven’t told anyone this, but I [have been] _______________________.

Now go find someone to email or speak that sentence to privately. Really. Your joy is at stake.

I talk a lot more about deceit, confession and joy in my eBook Entangled. I’d love for you to check it out if you haven’t. And if you have, please hop over to Amazon and leave your review.

Entangled: The River

November 14, 2011 by Amy 4 Comments

God gave me something really cool this weekend regarding Entangled. Well, lot’s of things but I want to share this one. You’re going to have to read an excerpt of a chapter though to get the gist of it. The following is from the beginning of the Love chapter.

A flower, watered by the rain, grew on the side of the riverbank. When the rain stopped, it reached through its roots to the river. The flower bloomed like never before. In time, the river dried up and the flower wilted until the rain came back gently. However, the flower was the same as the others now, never blooming as it once had when fed by the river water.
That was the gist of a metaphorical short story I wrote the year after my affair ended. It defined how I felt about what had happened. Scott had been providing what I needed to survive. When his “love” felt like it ended, I started looking elsewhere to survive. This new person, the river, made me feel like I never had before. But that was temporary. Scott eventually began pouring his love out again and I could bloom once more. At the time I wrote the story, I just knew I would never feel complete.

I went on to talk about how our source of love should be from God and not man. I used the verse in John 15 where it talks about Jesus being the vine and us, the branches.

Now, before I sound like some disciplined saint, I have to be honest and say I have not been reading Scripture lately like I should be. Sure, I listen to sermons and music and read books but haven’t sat down with the Bible like I should be. All my extra time has been spent on launching this book. It’s no excuse, but true.

Last night my Bible opened to Jeremiah 17 and of course I recognized 17:9 so I decided to back up a bit and read what was leading up to that verse. And look!

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7, 8 NIV

I mean, are you for real? The same weekend I launch this thing he gives me a picture of the EXACT thing I had written years ago, for sinful purposes, at that. Another beautiful reminder of how our source of love is only in Christ. I love that it says in a year of drought, it never fails. Yes! When we have those times of drought when our marriages and relationships are suffering, if we are getting our love needs met through Him, we will not fail. In fact, the beginning of the passage says we’ll be blessed.

God is so cool.

If you want to read more from Entangled, please hop over to the site!

She’s Full of Grace

October 12, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

“Grace is giving someone a gift they don’t deserve and that’s what my middle name is,” Emma paused in her explanation. We’ve gone over her name meaning a few times.
“Yes, and Emma means ‘full of’ so your names mean you’re full of grace.” I closed the car door as I finished the explanation and grabbed the girls hands. We were walking into the Speak Up magazine launch last night in an area of town we’d never been. It was getting dark and it was rainy and it’s not in the newest part of town. I didn’t feel unsafe but I think the kids did a little. I was glad to hear I could take the girls though since Scott was working and I wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise and I was truly glad they could come and see firsthand. It seemed like it was going to be a great teachable moment.

One of the vendors (low-income/homeless person selling the magazine) was at the party selling copies of the magazine. At the advice of Lana’s email earlier yesterday I had stopped at the ATM on the way to get $20 so we could buy our own copies. After we chatted at the party for a few minutes I took the kids out to the vendor to buy the magazines. A very gifted artist who is featured in one of the articles of the magazine (pictured above) was happy to help us. “I have $20 so whatever that will buy me! 6 and you can give me $2 change or 5 if you only have a $5,” I said happily. Dag was happy to oblige and gave me 6 with $2 change he pulled out of a hat keeping his money. I carefully explained on the way home that the magazines would be sold by homeless or jobless people to help them earn money. The girls asked if Dag was homeless and I replied I really didn’t know. They seemed to move on to other topics on the way home like how one of the new buildings downtown was lit up in rainbow colors unlike the red we had seen last time.

Last night as I was putting the girls to sleep Emma asked again about Dag. She said, “You know, next time someone buys magazines from someone like him and they have $20, they should, you know, just let him keep the $2. I think that would help him.” Like a punch in the gut, my eyes were opened. I hadn’t even thought about letting Dag keep the change. I was so excited about giving him business that I made it too much about business. “Yes, Emma, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it but I’ll do that next time. That would show a lot of grace, just like your name.” She gave me a big hug and Lexi understanding dawning says, “Mommy, you’re mean!” “Lexi, I’m not mean, I just didn’t think of it.” “Yeah, Lexi, Mommy wasn’t mean, she didn’t do it on purpose.”

I tried to teach my kids about giving and while I might have, I think they taught me a lot more about grace.