Had to share this great post by my friend Lorraine (Chrissie’s Mom).  If the word “adoption” has ever crossed your mind, you should read it.  If it hasn’t, you should read James 1:27, think long and hard about your faith, and then read the post anyway.

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Remember the telephone game?  You whisper a sentence in someone’s ear and they whisper what they think they heard to the person next to them and everyone laughs at just how much the sentence has changed by the time it gets all the way around the room.

Every single day in our house, we play the game.

Prime example:  My instructions to Chase (my 14yo son), “Unload the dishwasher.  Tell Kira (my 17yo daughter) to load it and tell Seth (my 11yo stimmer) to put away the leftovers.”  Simple commands, right?  How hard could it be to remember the ONE thing he has to do and pass along two simple instructions to his siblings.  Half an hour later I walk through the kitchen and find the leftovers on the stove and the sink is piled high with dirty dishes.  I ask Seth why he didn’t put them away and he replies, “Chase told me to tell Kira to put them away.”  I march to Kira’s room and ask her why she didn’t load the dishwasher.  She replies, “Seth told me to UNLOAD the dishwasher.  Somebody already did it and I needed to practice guitar.  Can you please close my door?”  Telephone game over…. let the blame-game commence.

Did you know that the “telephone game” is actually the Garden of Eden game?  God told Adam, “…You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 2:16-17  In chapter 3 the serpent and his sneaky self asks Eve about what God had said.  She replied, “God said, ‘You must not eat it or even TOUCH it; if you do, you will die.’”  You gotta hand it to Eve.  The bedazzler had yet to be invented and in her very first conversation with the outside world she still managed to add a little gemstone with that extra, “or even TOUCH it.” Feel free to insert your own jokes here on poor male communication and/or a woman’s gift to embellish the truth.

I have to confess.  I like a little embellishment.  Maybe it’s just the Eve in me, but I’m a sucker for a little fringe on a little throw pillow or a little mercury glass on a mantle.  Or better yet, dozens of translations of the Bible that when scoured give me just the meaning I’m searching for.  As I read through various translations of a certain passage and come across the one that says exactly what I was looking for, I am satisfied.  You know what, though?  That satisfaction has lost its sweetness.  The more time I spend reading the Bible and looking up Hebrew and Greek translations, the more clearly I see that the translations that bring me satisfaction are watered-down versions of what God actually intended. The many English translations of the Bible that we have available to us today are  part of a centuries long telephone game.

Anyone who knows me or has read my blog for any amount of time, knows that I am a HUGE fan of being planted in a church.  I believe that the picture of “the church” that Jesus lived out and that Paul painted for us in his various letters, is necessary for spiritual survival.  We all NEED to be living life with others who share our faith and who draw us closer to God.  That being said, I’m also a little skeptical of anyone who gets all of their “spiritual food” from their church.

My little scenario about the dishes is actually one that plays out in my house several times each week.  I know good and well that if I want Kira to load the dishwasher, the best way to make that happen is to go to her and ask her myself.  As a matter of fact, the only days that doing dishes doesn’t turn into a blame-game are the ones where my dear hubby or I communicate what we would like done directly to the person we would like to do it.

I do not have it all figured out and I am not fluent in Hebrew or Greek.  If you laid the Dead Sea Scrolls in front of me the only thing I could probably tell you about them is that they’re old.  However, I do know how to communicate with God.  I talk to Him and when I’m willing to listen He talks to me.  No matter how watered-down the translation may be, whenever I pray over an issue and ask Him for a biblical perspective, He always leads me to it.  When I ask for peace, He delivers it.  When I ask for clarity and closed doors, he slams them in my face and shows me loudly and clearly where to go and where not to go.  When I thank Him for the richness of my life, He somehow makes it just a little richer.

Here’s the deal.  He wants an intimate relationship with each and every one of us.  He has unconditional love for each and every one of us.  In my forty years of living, I’ve seen pastors fall and churches fall apart.  But you know something?  I’ve never seen God change.  His constant and unconditional mercy and love continually blow me away.

This morning, just as I finished thanking God for the fact that my relationship with him is not dependent on any other relationship, I read this:

Judges 18:24 “What do you mean, ‘What’s the matter?’” Micah replied. “You’ve taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!”

I keep hoping that some day I will walk through the kitchen and be able to smile with pleasure over the fact that my kids have known what they needed to do and simply gotten busy doing it.  I pray for a week with no Garden of Eden or blame-games in my house.  As my Father, I think God wants the same from me.  What about you?  If all of the “gods” you’ve made and your “priest” were taken away, would you still have a relationship with your maker?  Would you know what He wants you to do?  Is He smiling now in pleasure over the fact that you’re actually doing what you were created for?  Or would you be like Micah…..

Do you remember the first R-rated movie you ever saw?  For me it was Endless Love.  I was eleven and I remember being highly disappointed.  What I really wanted to see was Animal House.  I had a great-aunt who said it was the “dirtiest” movie she’d ever seen.  As evidence that we are all born with a sinful nature, my curiosity was piqued the minute I heard her description.  By the time I did get around to seeing it, my sinful nature had skewed my definition of dirty and the only thing that really stood out was the music.  shama lama ding-dong

When I met my husband in February of 1989 he called me the “Shama Lama Ding Dong.”  He had me at Shama ;).

This week the word shama took on a new spelling and whole new meaning for me.  One of God’s Hebrew names is Jevohah-Shammah.  It is the name used at the end of Ezekial and it is the last new name given to God in the Old Testament.  Ezekial said that the city of Jerusalem would be called “Jehovah-Shammah”.  Meaning ~ The Lord is Present.

Much like a Stuart Smalley mantra, I’ve walked around saying it both out-loud and to myself.  “Jehovah-Shammah.”  “The Lord is Here!”  It’s a pretty powerful declaration to make.  Try it.

Yesterday I awoke at 5:30am to a fourteen year old boy standing in my doorway in a towel announcing that his shower would not turn off.  I thought my husband got up and took care of it. He didn’t. At 8am I woke again to an eleven year old boy announcing that his shower had been on all morning. As I walked through the kitchen towards his bathroom I paused and took note of the fact that my six-year-old has finally decided to color. Her first canvas? My kitchen table. Her medium of choice? An extra-wide black Sharpie. Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

Somewhere around 1pm we were able to get the cover off of the water main and shut the water off, and soon after a plumber arrived and replaced whatever needed replacing.  In between I spent three hours at the hospital being poked and prodded and learned that the padding that has grown on my hips and thighs is perfectly justifiable because my thyroid levels are nowhere close to what they should be.  You know that weight where your ‘fat-jeans’ are your only comfortable pants? Yea. I passed that weight about ten pounds ago. While I was at the hospital my dear hubby learned that whitening toothpaste and Lysol wipes will remove the majority of black sharpie from furniture (Sorry, Sofija.  We’ll memorialize your new talents on a proper canvas. I promise.)

In the middle of yesterday’s chaos, I found myself walking around my house, quietly declaring, “Lord, you are here.”  And occasionally singing out loud, “You’re my Shammah lama ding-dong….”

Now I just need Him to be present when the water bill arrives.

A.W. Tozer: “Among the gifts of the Spirit scarcely one is of greater practical usefulness than the gift of discernment. This gift should be highly valued and frankly sought as being almost indispensable in these critical times. This gift will enable us to distinguish the chaff from the wheat and to divide the manifestations of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit.”

My husband and I had a discussion a few days ago about our goals for 2012.  While things like “achieving a shape other than round” and “reading more” were mentioned in that conversation, our goals for the new year revolve more around the things we want to avoid.  I have spent this last day of 2011 sitting at home and reflecting on all the things I DO NOT want to repeat or carry with me into 2012.  My reflections have resulted in countless tears.

I am looking out an open window and enjoying the beautiful spring air.  Wait a minute!  It’s winter.  Yet, even with an open window and clear view of the weather outside, it seems like spring.  The high today was 62 degrees fahrenheit.  The disguise this winter day is wearing has fooled even the birds who have dined at my window feeder since the early morning.

In Aesop’s Fables, a wolf slips into a sheep’s skin and is able to fool the shepherd into believing that he is a member of the flock so that he can devour the sheep.  In Little Red Riding Hood, a wolf dresses like a little old lady in his attempt to eat a little girl.  In the Bible, we are warned about false prophets who are just ravenous wolves disguised as sheep.

No matter the reference point it, the big bad wolf is always the same character ~ Someone hiding malicious intent by displaying kindness, gentleness or the need to be cared for.

2011 has been filled with wolves.  I could write an entire book (and I probably will) about the humanitarian Ponzi scheme that costs us a good chunk of our savings.  Or the wounded person I encouraged for the majority of the year whose wounds weren’t exactly real.  Or the people my husband has encouraged for the past few years that have now made false allegations against him.

Guess what?  I’m thankful for the wolves.  The wolves have forced us to grow and become truly aware of all that God is doing around us and in us.  The wolves have taught us that discernment is a not just a word to be thrown around, but a gift that we are responsible to act on and that is necessary for survival.

A.W. Tozer: “The healthy soul, like the healthy blood system, has its proper proportion of white and red blood cells. The red corpuscles are like faith: they carry the life-giving oxygen to every part of the body. The white cells are like discernment: they pounce upon dead and toxic matter and carry it out to the drain. In the healthy heart there must be provision for keeping dead and poisonous matter out of the life stream.”

This statement was like a slap across the face for me.  It doesn’t matter how strong your faith is.  Without discernment, your spiritual-life will be filled with disease and poison.

So… in the middle of all the deception we’ve encountered,  we’ve learned to trust our discernment.  For those of you not clear on the experience of discernment, it’s your God-given intuition.  That sick feeling in your gut when something just isn’t right about a situation or a person.  It’s the voice in your head telling you to question what you’re being told or to dig a little deeper.  It’s the conclusion you come to after testing what you’ve been told against the Word of God.  It is wisdom.

My #1 goal for 2012: Let the discernment God has given both myself and my husband guide us and protect us from becoming ensnared in the types of trials we’ve endured in 2011.  #2: Achieve a shape other than round 🙂

While I do wish you a happy 2012, my heart’s desire is that anyone who reads this have a new year filled with wide open windows providing a beautiful view.  I pray that you have a year filled with peace and faith that is pure and holy.  I pray that you recognize every big bad wolf that should cross your path.  I pray that you find joy in all that you do.  And… I pray that you never stop thanking God for everything. Even the wolves.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-21  My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn’t living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. Don’t be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.  Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.  Don’t turn away God’s Spirit or ignore prophecies. Put everything to the test. Accept what is good and don’t have anything to do with evil.

If you’ve prayed with me at any point during the years since I was diagnosed with cancer you’ve probably heard me ask God to “not let it hurt too bad.”  We’re guaranteed to face trials and painful situations throughout the Bible…

James 1:2-4  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Notice it doesn’t say “IF you face trials of many kinds”.  Because of this guarantee, I try to always ask God to let my faith be tested and my perseverance developed without too much misery.

Seth has warts on his feet.  One of them is very big and painful and in the middle of his arch.  We went to the doctor a couple of months ago only to be told that we should either soak his foot in hot water several times a day for ten days or cover it with duct tape and wait for his body to have a negative reaction to the tape adhesive and attack the wart in the process.  Gee thanks, Doc. Have you ever tried to keep a piece of duct tape on the foot of an eleven year old boy?  Let me save you the trouble.  It just gets really stinky and he rips it off when it stops him from running/climbing/jumping etc..  Have you ever tried to make a stimmer stick their foot in “not-quite-scalding hot water”?  Let me save you the trouble on that one too.  They scream and call you names and tell you that “you’re crazy if you think you’re going to make them do it four more times that day, or any day for that matter”.

Doing what any good mother would do, I went out and bought a freeze-off kit and attempted to remove it the traditional way.  We made our first attempt about a month ago.  It didn’t go so well.  He screamed.  He cried.  He told me I was abusing him and then he closed himself in his room and said that I could not make it better.

Mom of the year goes to…….not me.

A few layers of the wart have peeled away, but it clearly needed another treatment.  Two nights ago, my dear husband decided it was time for the second treatment.  The tears and screaming began immediately upon the site of the freeze-off kit.  This time around I wrapped my arms around my baby boy and with my mouth pressed to his ear prayed, “Father, we thank you for providing us with a way to remove this painful wart from Seth’s foot.  In John 14:14 you said that we could ask anything in your name and it will be done.  So Father, in your name, we claim the healing that you’ve already promised and we ask that you block the pain and not let this healing process hurt. Amen.”

By the time we were done praying, my dear husband was done freezing the wart.  Guess what?  Seth didn’t feel a thing. 🙂  About an hour later he came to my room and said, “Hey, Mom.  I think we should always ask God to block the pain when He’s healing us.”

“You know what, Seth?   I think you’re right.”

I have a fascination with Moses.  When I started this blog I referred to it as my “Moses basket”.  It was intended to be used as a vessel in bringing us our adopted daughter.

Moses’ Mother put him in a basket and set the basket in a river.  He was found and adopted by the pharaoh’s daughter.  Moses married the daughter of Jethro.  Jethro was a priest and a shepherd and for the forty years before God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, Moses busied himself with tending to Jethro’s flock.  There is a Jewish story (midrash) that seeks to explain why God chose Moses to lead the Israelites.  The midrash tells that Moses was chosen to lead the Children of Israel because of his kindness to animals. One day he was bringing the sheep to a river for water and one lamb did not come. Moses went and got the little lamb and carried it to the water so it could drink.  Aligned with the heart of God, Moses cared about each individual in the group, and not just about the group as a whole. His ability to recognize the value of each sheep in Jethro’s flock proved that he was worthy of leading God’s flock.  If you want to read all about this portion of Moses’ life it’s covered in Exodus 2 and 3.  In this part of the book of Exodus, God is simply known as “Jehovah”.  The Great I am.  The Hebrew name for God is actually unpronounceable.  His greatness is to not to be truly comprehended, but experienced.

In our journey to bring Sofija home and in the twenty months that she has been our daughter, my fascination with Moses has led to many moments of experiencing the greatness of God.  God likes to place orphans in families.  God LOVES adoption!  God loves to find those stray little lambs and carry them if necessary to make sure they belong to a flock.  As a special needs Mommy, we call that INCLUSION!  How cool is it that our maker loves inclusion?!?!!

With that little piece of the heart of God in mind, I came across a story in the Bible yesterday that I haven’t thought about in a while.

Mark 2:1-4 ¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.

Those four men who lowered the paralyzed man through the roof got it.  They understood and had a moment of experiencing Jehovah ~ The Great I Am.  Throughout our adoption journey we repeatedly experienced Jehovah-Jireh (God as our provider).  He gave us everything we needed to bring our daughter home and He has continued to provide everything we need to help her develop her God-given potential.  Yesterday I realized that God has allowed us to walk in the shoes of the four men who went to extreme measures to bring a disabled man into the presence of God.  I also realized that we are not done walking in those shoes.

The Great I Am has entrusted us with two very special gifts that require special accommodations in order to participate in our flock.  And… we have faith that Jehovah-Jireh has already provided all of the resources and manpower necessary to meet those accommodations.

Look out, Church!  We’re bringing our stimmers through the roof….

Have you ever walked through a difficult situation and known that sharing it with others would only justify and affirm wounds and bad attitudes? Yeah. Well, that’s where I am at this very moment.
Our family is walking through a difficult situation and we have some big decisions to make. There is no easy way through and we can’t see how we will exit the other side of this trial without witnessing a few people hurt and humbled.
And… that’s all I can really say. Prayers for wisdom please!

Go’el, Go’el, Go’el, Go’el
Born is the King of Israel!

Isaiah 60:16 “You will drink the milk of nations
   and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
   your REDEEMER, the Mighty One of Jacob.“

Jehovah-Go’el translates to “God is my redeemer”.  According to thinkexist.com, redeem means:

1. (v. t.) To pay the penalty of; to make amends for; to serve as an equivalent or offset for; to atone for; to compensate; as, to redeem an error.
2. (v. t.) To make good by performing fully; to fulfill; as, to redeem one’s promises.

Think coupons.  Every coupon has a redemption value.  The person using the coupon uses the coupon as the equivalent of cash and the grocery store redeems the coupon by receiving compensation from the manufacturer who created the coupon.

I have spent my entire married life (almost 18 years) attempting to be a couponer.  I have given up.  I am not saying that I don’t use a coupon that I happen to come across, but I will not spend another hour of another day organizing piles of coupons into boxes, file folders or binders in an attempt to save money on groceries.  I know that I have a few friends who will read this and have an instant impulse to pick up the phone and scold me or remind me of the few times that I’ve cut my grocery bill in half by cutting coupons.  Before you act on that urge, let me explain my concession in the couponing game….

First, my time is more valuable than the money I can save with coupons.  Second, I watched my Mom arrested in a grocery store at the age of five and I am choosing to no longer engage in an activity that makes me think of grocery shopping.  That’s my concession speech.

Here’s the real deal.  I don’t need to be a redeemer.  God sent His Son to pay the price for every single thing I have ever done or will ever do that needs redeeming.  I looked up the meaning of redeemer on dictionary.com.  Wanna know something really cool?  They gave two definitions for the noun redeemer.  1: someone who redeems.  2: Jesus Christ.

One week from today people all over the world will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  I could write a book on all that his birth and redemptive power mean to me, but probably the most important thing I can say is that…He Lives!

You don’t have to spend hours cutting and sorting coupons to cash in on the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.  You simply have to choose him.  Go ahead!  Do it!  Ask him to be your Go’el!

Job 19:25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.”

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Go’el, Go’el, Go’el, Go’el
Born is the King of Israel!