When You Wax & Wane

May 19, 2016 By: Angela Parlin

From her bedroom window, the full moon glows.

Rays bounce to the north, south, east, and west, painting a cross of light over a pitch dark sky. Supermoon circles large in the center of a bright, shining, old, rugged cross.

I sit on the corner of her bed, watch my sleeping beauty breathe, and I stare at the moon.

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” –Martin Luther

Tonight, God wrote the gospel on the moon, and I needed it more than I knew.

Many days, I gulp down living water early.

But then I run through days, where the gospel feels lost on me.

Some days start on a high note, but tangle up in chaos before we reach the middle. Some days, I have to convince myself to try get on top of it all. Instead, I feel irritated. I can’t stop moving, but I’m only running in circles.

When I finally sit down for a few minutes without little people asking for more pieces of me, I ask God really mature and selfless questions.

Why won’t they ever leave me alone?

It’s not what I really want, other than the opportunity to pause and re-center.

The night of the supermoon, it hit me.

The way of the moon is to wax and wane, and the light can all but disappear sometimes.

My light can all but disappear, in the jumble of kids and school and endless meals and the house with its dirt and projects and always so many things to do.

My light disappears in the way I react to their childishness and stubbornness and rips and smudges and everywhere messes.

I want to remain in Jesus, to be a light that shines His love day in and day out, even when it’s only for my little crew.

I also want to be left alone sometimes.

I want to stay on schedule.

I want my house all put together.

I want to complete things when I start them.

And since none of these are entirely possible, some days my light goes out. Or at least grows dim.

How is it so hard to remain in Him, when I do take the time to begin in Him?

The night I saw Him cross the moon, my heart welled up with this visible shot of gospel, in the middle of my own frustrations and failures.

His cross was brighter.

His love was stronger.

His work outlasted my own.

Once my eyes were fixed on Jesus again, I could see it all more clearly.

There is so much beauty in and around and through the chaos of our days.

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone. This doesn’t diminish the importance of the Bible. Nothing compares to opening the pages of His Word and hearing from the Lord.

But God surrounded us with all this beauty, His own glory. It fixes our minds on Him again, and maybe there’s always more to see.

So when you look up at the sky today or the stars tonight, or when the wind blows through your backyard trees, I hope you will remember.

I hope you will look and see Jesus above the roar of your life’s chaos, and you will continue in Him. And you will remain in Him.

Read this post also at PurposefulFaith.com.

Beauty in the Chaos of a Writer’s Life~ #Ladder2Rooftop Academy

April 29, 2016 By: Angela Parlin

This one’s for my Writing Friends, or anyone who wants to learn more about the writing life. This post begins a series on Writing, where I hope to encourage other bloggers and newbie (or wannabe) writers. So glad you’re here!

I have always been a writer.

As a young girl, I copied words of story books, just for fun. I wrote stories and poems throughout stacks of notebooks, some of which still reside in a pink plastic box in the attic.

I wrote copy for yearbooks and a number of newsletters, and I wrote for a weekly teen section of the local newspaper. I wrote for college organizations and church groups, and later took my first real job as a writer at IBM.

Then a different dream came true, and I became a Mom.

As a 30-something, third-time Mommy, I heard the whisper to write again. I didn’t know what it meant exactly. My hands were full. I was afraid and feeling inadequate. I wanted to know what it meant–Exactly. But I only had some ideas.

So I rocked my tiny pink bundle and chased two toddler boys, and in between all the work of early motherhood and the playdates and parties and near-daily Target runs, I dreamed little writing dreams.

I bought some books from the Writing & Publishing rack at Barnes & Noble, and hated everything I learned. You must promote yourself. You must sell your work. You must build a platform, the wise professionals told me.

Then I wanted my writing dream to die.

It wouldn’t.

I have always been a writer, because I write. It’s a gift God has given me, and it brings me so much joy.

But becoming a (published) author hasn’t turned out anything like I first imagined. Do you relate?

What did your dream look like, when it first came to you?

The writer’s life is both beauty and chaos, and the journey often turns out to be different than we’d hoped.

Maybe you haven’t arrived where you think you should be by now. You’re disappointed, and like me, you fall into discontentment sometimes.

One season, I was ready to give up completely. Alone, on my screened porch, I heard another whisper.

“Don’t quit.”

“Come with me.”

“On this journey, I have many things for you to do—write and nurture and host and love and lead and teach and more.”

I said Yes.

Here’s my dream, Lord. It looks like published books to me, but I trust it to You instead. You decide what it becomes.

I grieved for what might never be. It may never turn out the way I hope. Of course, I could kick down doors, and probably make some things happen.

But I’m doing the work I know is mine to do in this season. I’m listening and learning to trust.

Writing is my dream, but it’s not my only dream.

I also dream of loving and leading well where the Lord opens doors for me. I dream of seizing the days of this season, while my kids live at home. I dream of living with no regrets.

What are your other dreams for this life? What are your other callings?

Today, I blog here and on a couple other blogs, and I write for various organizations. I’m working on writing a book, whether it gets published or not. And I love it all.

With my business-owner husband and our four busy kids and homeschooling, my life is full and chaotic and beautiful. It’s a journey I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Even in the chaos, there’s always so much beauty. We find it whenever we choose to see.

Has your dream taken a new shape?

Has it expanded or headed a different direction?

I pray you will see the beauty of your right-now place. If you desire more of this type of encouragement, would you Subscribe at the pink box, top right?

Click here to find out more about the #Ladder2Rooftop Academy, where I contribute to Beauty in the Chaos of the Writer’s Life.

What Are You Running After? {RaRaLinkup}

April 26, 2016 By: Angela Parlin

I call myself a runner, but I always feel the need to qualify the statement.

I’m not built like a runner. I’m not a fast runner. My mileage wouldn’t impress you.

But I get out there, onto the trail several times a week. And other than the last few months of four pregnancies plus a couple injuries which sidelined me for a time, I’ve been a runner as long as I can remember.

When I run, I’m usually smiling. It’s a strange habit, but I smile in part because running is my alone time. I walk out the front door, ready to move, and it’s like a big, deep breath. Plus a lot of panting, but still.

I smile because the finish line is always on the horizon, and I’m a hoper and a dreamer. I smile, because I need the opportunity to think my own thoughts for a bit. Thoughts about something other than school and the next meal and a million little tasks to do around the house.

Give me some fresh, quiet air under a big blue sky and the opportunity to think my own thoughts–and it feels like being home. Not so much like being in my home, but at home with myself. 🙂

Last week, out on the trail, one of my thoughts morphed into a pressing question:

What are you running after anyway?

I sensed it wasn’t meant physically, and it wasn’t actually coming from my own thoughts.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24

I’d read this verse recently. Run in such a way that you may obtain the prize. To be honest, this is a little uncomfortable for me. I’m not one to go after the prize. It seems like everyone I know is competitive, and I’m certain it reveals something broken inside me, but it’s still the truth.

Yet this instruction tells us to run for it. GO AFTER IT. Run like you’re trying to win the prize.

Paul isn’t talking about running though. He’s speaking about our lives. We’re all in the race. We’re all runners, and we don’t need to apologize for whatever level we haven’t arrived at yet.

The course we run is the Christian life. But we’re not running to win the prize of salvation, since salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by our own works. What, then, is the prize we’re running to win?

What are we running after anyway?

Jesus.

We’re running after Jesus, friends.

And I know it’s easy to say He’s the One we’re running after, but sometimes we’re pursuing so many other things.

Sometimes we’re running after everything else, hoping something will fill our souls and fix our lives and make us feel better. Those things do make us feel better at times, but it’s temporary. It’s all just a Band-Aid, and it wears off.

In the middle of raising kids to know Jesus and writing words I hope will point people to Him, I sometimes find myself in a distant place, disconnected even. And since I find myself there, I wonder if you do too.

So what are YOU running after today, my friend?

Is Jesus the prize you’re seeking?

Are you pursuing His nearness?

Do you desire to simply know Him more? Is this enough for you?

He really is the Life we so desperately long for. Let’s run to win more of Jesus!

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

*******

Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. John 17:3

I would love to have you Subscribe to follow this blog ~ Subscribe box is top right. Thank you!

Welcome to the #RaRaLinkup once again, friends! I’m so glad you’re here. Linkup your encouraging post below, and remember to leave a comment for at least the person before you. Spread the love! xoxo

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When You Need to Move Forward

April 21, 2016 By: Angela Parlin

Maturity is a hot topic around our house these days.

These kids are determined to grow bigger, taller, and smarter each week, and along with that, they’re determined to grow in freedom. Sometimes I wish I knew how to slow it all down.

We often explain to our oldest two, that in this area or that, we need to see a little more maturity before we can allow greater freedom.

Strangely, there are days when it appears maturity is decreasing rather than increasing. Anybody else?

It probably has something to do with approaching the teen years. But let’s just say we’ve lived a number of wide-eyed, dumbfounded, What did he just do? moments around here. Since we’re only beginning this new stage, I have a feeling we need to be ready for more of that to come.

{Parents of teens & grown children are shaking their heads yes.} 🙂

But all this talk of maturity doesn’t only apply to our growing children.

The writer of Hebrews spoke to a group of seasoned believers who seemed to have slipped backward in their faith, maybe all the way back to where they began. They were seasoned, yet spiritually lazy.

He was teaching them about the significance of Jesus as their High Priest, when he said–

“It is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.” (5:11)

One–I think I may have a lot of use for that line.

But two? Ouch.

Could this reprimand be meant in any way, for you and me?

I think of how I’ve run from complex spiritual topics at times. When it overwhelms me or I can’t figure it out, I move on to something else. But maybe what I need is to work out my faith in those areas.

Maybe I don’t need to try to figure it all out, but to persist in understanding.

I think of the spiritual disciplines I have declared “too hard” for me. The ones I’ve rationalized with, I’m just not there yet.

Or the times I committed to read through the Bible in a year. But when I got “stuck” at Leviticus, I skipped a number of books or abandoned my plan altogether.

Yes, sometimes, even as grown-ups, we run away when things are hard.

So what does it look like to move forward to maturity?

Persevere.

Progress.

Keep at it.

Persist.

Move forward.

Take one little step after another.

It looks like growing our relationship with the Lord through solitude, the Word, and obedience.

Years ago, I finally persisted through Leviticus all the way to Revelation, without looking back. I kept moving forward through the Word, developing a greater thirst and a more complete understanding. All that forward movement caused more of the same.

You know what I think held me back before? I didn’t desire to grow. I wanted to have read through the Bible, but I didn’t want to do the hard work of thoughtfully considering ALL the words, even those in Leviticus and Numbers and the Chronicles.

But this is our calling–the calling He’s given all of us.

I’m not talking about reading through the Bible, though that could be part of it.

God calls us each to move forward, to move toward Him, to grow up in Christ.

Are you willing to follow His call, even when it’s hard work? Do you want what’s on the other side, to know Him more?

What step will you take today, to move forward, toward spiritual maturity?

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity. Hebrews 6:1a

Need 10 Ways to Beat Decision Fatigue?

April 1, 2016 By: Angela Parlin

I don’t actually have 10 ways to offer you, but I do have 4. It is April Fools Day.

But I wonder, do you share my decision-making disorder? Decision Fatigue. Don’t you appreciate that they’ve named it? Makes it sound Real. Diagnosed. Understandable.

Decision Fatigue “refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual, after a long session of decision making.” (Wikipedia)

Decision Fatigue leads to making poor choices. Or not making any. But then that’s called Decision Avoidance. Maybe that’s what I have, most often.

Too many choices! I JUST CAN’T!

Truth is, I was born with it. Partly because I was born in America, but more than that, my Myers-Briggs explanation mentions it. And then there’s the DISC profile.

We took a version of the DISC which measures how decisive, interactive, steady, and cautious a person tends to be. I scored next to nil for Decisive. Ninety-something percent on the other end–Cautious.

My husband is the opposite, of course. 99% Decisive, hardly any caution. As a business owner, even Mr. Decisive experiences Decision Fatigue sometimes. It doesn’t help for me to remind him he was made for it, that even his DISC profile says so. He’s American too.

Yesterday morning, let’s see…I made the decision to sleep a little longer. To swallow a tiny pill. To let my children track old fashioned rolled oats across the kitchen. To walk downstairs and add milk and blueberries to their bowls myself. I made the decision to make my bed pretty again, to let my hair go a day without washing, to fold towels and hold my boys accountable for “forgetting” to switch the laundry. I’m only getting started.

I made the decision to shut the door, to sit in my black and white corner chair, to open the Word and open a book and enter into the secret place with Jesus.

I made the decision to review my highlights from the beginning of the book I’m working through, and that’s where I made the decision to read this line:

“This present world system is strategically designed to squeeze out your time and energy for the secret place.” ~Bob Sorge, Secrets of the Secret Place

“Hell will do everything in its power,” it says.

Later, I was just innocently going about my day, making hundreds of tiny decisions and a few big ones, when I ran into this verse:

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

The Word is full of things to decide, and decide daily.

But mostly, it’s full of encouragement to choose life, to live.

To look one way, and look the other, and don’t make the poor choice. Don’t make poor choices that will lead you back around the wrong way.

And that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life.

(Deuteronomy 30)

Hell will do everything in its power to keep you from drawing near to God. But you hold the power to decide to go to Him anyway. And that’s not even to mention the power that is ours (as believers) through Christ.

Love the Lord your God.

Listen to His voice.

Hold fast to Him.

Choose life.

That may be as far as you get, but that may also be all that’s truly needed.

Love. Listen. Hold. Choose.

Decide.

*This has been another Five Minute Friday post, with the prompt: DECIDE. Find out more about Five Minute Fridays here!

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From her bedroom window, the full moon glows.

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” –Martin Luther

But then I run through days, where the gospel feels lost on me.

The way of the moon is to wax and wane, and the light can all but disappear sometimes.

How is it so hard to remain in Him, when I do take the time to begin in Him?

There is so much beauty in and around and through the chaos of our days.

Share this:

Like this:

I have always been a writer.

Then a different dream came true, and I became a Mom.

Then I wanted my writing dream to die.

The writer’s life is both beauty and chaos, and the journey often turns out to be different than we’d hoped.

But I’m doing the work I know is mine to do in this season. I’m listening and learning to trust.

Writing is my dream, but it’s not my only dream.

Even in the chaos, there’s always so much beauty. We find it whenever we choose to see.

Share this:

Like this:

I call myself a runner, but I always feel the need to qualify the statement.

What are you running after anyway?

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24

We’re running after Jesus, friends.

Is Jesus the prize you’re seeking?

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. John 17:3

I would love to have you Subscribe to follow this blog ~ Subscribe box is top right. Thank you!

Share this:

Like this:

Maturity is a hot topic around our house these days.

But all this talk of maturity doesn’t only apply to our growing children.

“It is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.” (5:11)

Maybe I don’t need to try to figure it all out, but to persist in understanding.

Share this:

Like this:

I don’t actually have 10 ways to offer you, but I do have 4. It is April Fools Day.

“This present world system is strategically designed to squeeze out your time and energy for the secret place.” ~Bob Sorge, Secrets of the Secret Place

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

And that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life.

Would you subscribe to my blog to receive updates? See the box at the top right. Thank you!

Share this:

Like this:

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