You’ve probably heard it said, Your presence is my present. YES! I’m so thankful for your presence here. And I have a present for you too! …  make sure you read to the bottom, but for now back to my hows for small groups.

It’s the one year celebration of moving to its new platform and the seven year anniversary of its inception. So this week’s post is part three of a thread that started in 2010. Living INside the Box was the beginning. You might want to refresh your memory with those two posts.

One way I live inside my God-created box is by facilitating small groups. One year ago I shared some principles I follow when leading groups. As I continue to grow in this area I’m realizing that it’s not so much what I do as how I do it that contributes to the success of the group. So here are my three big hows …

1. Relate to your friends as God relates to them. Paul penned 13 letters to his friends that are shared in the New Testament. In nine of the thirteen in his opening words he calls his friends holy. If you know Jesus as your savior, that describes you as well. You are holy!

This challenges me. I am not the facilitator because I am more holy. I am the facilitator because of gifting. Others have gifts of research, hospitality, communication, technology and more. We are grouped together with purpose, for the whole body to be built up. We are all holy.
Bonnie Gray in her recent book, Whispers of Rest, says, “The more you are able to rest in who God made you to be (holy), the more others will experience God’s presence through you.” P. 338.

2. Lead with questions that lead to understanding. Yes, do get the facts out, but let those facts be the springboard for 2017 applications.

For example …
If you were busy serving dinner, how might you have responded to others who seemed totally unaware of your chores?
When you read this narrative, which piece stood out to you? Why?
If you had an unexpected encounter with Jesus, what emotions would surface?

3. Respond with affirmations to everyone’s contributions.

Wow, great insight. I’d not thought of that.

Your illustration is so helpful. Thank you for sharing that piece of your story. I’m amazed at how often “me too” surfaces when people share vulnerably.

Or when you’re not sure the text has been understood correctly you might say, Have you ever thought about it this way? This allows them to reconsider without saying, you didn’t get it.

I hope these are helpful. Now back to the anniversary celebration.

Yes, I have a present for ALL who post a comment on any of
the blogs during September.

You will receive it via snail mail in October.
Everyone (who comments) will receive a small gift with a special message.
A few will receive a book as well!
Each time you post (either on the blog, on Facebook, or in response to my personal note), your name will go in a drawing. The more you comment, the better your chances of having your name drawn for one of the books.

So, check in each week, let me know you were there, and your chances for one of the books increases.

Do you not know about my personal note??? Send me your email address and I’m glad to add you to my friends who receive it.

My next two posts will answer my FAQ about what it was like for me when Bill went through his severe depression.

http://holleygerth.com/free-words/

Echoes of Grace is taking it’s annual vacation for the month of August. Echoes (and Sue) will miss you.

But do come back Thursday, September 7. Echoes has a very special treat waiting for you.

Till then,
sue

Rest, resiliency, vacation, solitude, quiet … chocolate for my soul.

Being the chocoholic that I am, time at our Sanctuary is a gift to us each August. Bill snapped the above picture on a cool morning last August. It’s how I start my time with God, sitting, staring (usually at God’s creation … that morning the wood stove had me mesmerized), solitude, silence, and coffee (almost as good as chocolate).

“Most of the things we need in order to be most fully alive
never come from busyness. They grow out of rest.”
Mark Buchanan

During August, I’m practicing being fully alive, dwelling, resting, abiding, and listening for the voice of God. Echoes of Grace is enjoying its yearly vacation and will return on Thursday, September 7, 2017.

Looking forward to seeing you then and sharing with you a special surprise. Mark your calendar for September 7.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High”
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD,
“My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:1, 2

If you didn’t get a chance to read my first post about building my ark, click here. Today’s words  flow from last March.

Notice the scaffolding. As I continue to learn about rest and resiliency, scaffolding is in place. Below are four more lessons that are supporting me on my rest journey.

This was our cabin, our sanctuary, five years ago. The house wrap that prevents infiltration of air and water while letting the water vapors escape preventing rot and mold inside the walls is securely adhered to the wood behind it. The longevity and the beauty of our cabin depend on it.

Learning about rest and resiliency has been a journey of paying attention to my house wrap so to prevent rot and mold. Because how I am on the inside reflects on my outside.

“Rather train yourself for godliness;
for while bodily training is of some value,
godliness in of value in every way,”
I Timothy 4:7b-8a, italics mine.

Psalm 139 speaks of God’s creating me and only speaks of my inside. You formed my inward parts; you knitted my together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from you. Your eyes saw my unformed substance (embryo); verses 13 and 14.

Noah’s ark was an amazing piece of architecture. I am too.

The inside trumps the outside.

In the midst of a full ministry schedule this summer, Mom who lives across the United States is recovering from her broken hip. Two nieces, a nephew, and our pup were all in serious accidents. What does rest and resiliency look like now?

The familiar message of Psalm 46:10 led me. Be still and know that I am God! With those words, God whispered, Sue trust me with the process. Don’t hop on a plane. Keep your words silent. Trust. Oh, so, hard for extrovert me.

Rest does not equal control. Rest flows from trust.

Writer Shelly Miller says, “As I ponder the reasons why I might be waking up feeling clear headed, full of energy and hopefulness about the day ahead, I realize Sabbath-keeping is like a river with tributaries. Rest is the life-giving stream that flows into all areas of life.”

Early on I learned the spiritual discipline of a quiet time, a daily few moments set aside to read my Bible and pray. It was good.

Over the last several years quiet time has morphed into a time to build my friendship with Jesus, to communicate with a person. It is better! It is a “life-giving stream that flows into all areas of life.” I often start asking this question, What would it look like to trust you today? As I live out the answer, I experience Continue reading →

At least among those I’ve read this summer. Waking Up White by Debbie Irving was a June read.

I heard of this book through colleagues earlier in the spring and was intrigued. And when I saw it on the bookshelf in the condo we lived in for a week, I quickly picked it up … and hardly put it down until I finished.

Saying it was one of the most influential books I’ve read recently might be an understatement.

Author Debbie Irving and I both grew up in the northeast, she in Massachusetts, me in New Jersey. We were both baby boomers. And that is just the beginning of all we had in common.

As I read her words story after story came to mind. Like the one when my friend Shira (not her real name) and I sat in the coffee shop across from each other. As ministry moms and moms with pre-school children, there was oodles to talk about. Then this stray thought almost stopped our conversation. Sue, you and Shira are sitting here like friends and Shira is African American! I’m ashamed that this surprised me. But until that point I never had a friend who did not share my race. Ouch!

In Waking Up White, Debbie candidly shares her journey. The short chapters ending with a few think about questions ministered deeply to me as I identified with so much.

One chapter, Intent versus Impact, both encouraged and left me feeling insecure. Debbie wrote about an event she was planning that she specifically invited some of her African American friends to participate in. Her intent was pure. However, at the evaluation she learned how the event impacted her friends … in a very negative way. She was shocked. I would have been too.

A few days later I sat on a plane next to an African American lady. I was scared! Not of her, but of how my intent to be friendly might be perceived by her. It took till the end of the flight for  conversation to happen.

My heart is to love well everyone God brings across my path. Waking Up White is helping me understand how important and how hard that journey is.

Whispers of Rest by Bonnie Gray is a 40 day devotional book.

I don’t do 40 day things.
I rarely use devotional books.

God broke through both barriers and I’m so glad he did.

Each short chapter is loosely patterned after the practice of Lectio Divina. Lectio is a practice birthed in the 1500’s to foster listening to God. It was designed to help God’s voice come alive in very personal ways. Bonnie’s desire is to “create space for your soul to breathe and revitalize you soul with God’s love.” p.xviii.

Bonnie also writes very vulnerably. Unlike Waking Up White her story is very different from mine. Yet her reflections and the offering of 2 or 3 questions in each short chapter guarantees the content has been personalized.

The scripture Bonnie highlights on day 3 is Mark 6:31, “Come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” That particular week, Bill and I were living in a dorm with 150 college students for a week. It was not quiet! But I found a delightful pond just down the street and I enjoyed the swing while sitting and reflecting. After a while, I penned these words …

I’m here with you God.
I’m here for you God.
I’m here to experience you God.
I’m here to be loved in a new way by you God.
I’m here to know you in a new way God.
I’m here for others God.
I’m here to be here God.

They became my prayer for the week.

“Come away with me by yourselves
to a quiet place and rest awhile.”
Mark 6:31

I love the reflections.

(I started this book on June 2. Today on July 12, I was up to day 21. LOL)

You must visit the Peak when in Colorado Springs.

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Shirley this week. Shirley and Paul, Bill and I all attended college together. And we had a mini reunion last month at the end of their vacation. We talked, we remembered, we laughed, we cried. It was a great time.

Shirley owned her influence and my life was altered for eternity during our college days. Thank you, my friend.

Shirley and I met at Hope College as freshmen. Or did we meet because we attended the same local church? Perhaps our friendship bonded because of Hope AND Trinity Reformed. I don’t remember. Not important.

But the friendship glue dried that Sunday evening in early November at the college-aged youth group my sophomore year.

Church was part of our family culture. Dad taught Sunday school for a while. I was baptized and confirmed. We fit in with the culture of the times in the ’50’s and ’60’s. It was what we did on Sundays. And it was important to me.

During my junior and senior high years, Old Paramus Reformed Church was our church home.

I love this church. I see it every time I visit Mom in New Jersey. Bill and I were married there. It is a very special place to me. (A historical tidbit ~ George Washington quartered his horses there during the Revolutionary War.) It also is the reason I attended Hope. Hope College located in Holland, Michigan is a college of the Reformed Church. Even typing this memories flood back.

When Mom and Dad, my baby sister Penny, and I hopped in the car and headed for Hope, it was the first time I had ever been west of Philadelphia.

While attending Trinity Reformed every Sunday (probably sitting with Shirley), God was doing something in my heart. My religion was morphing into a relationship, a friendship with Jesus. The seeds that were planted by my family and at Old Paramus Reformed were being watered by my friends and at Trinity Reformed and new growth was happening.

Back to the college-aged youth group and the friendship glue that bonded Shirley and me. It was early November, 1966. The youth group was sponsoring a singing group that evening from a neighboring city. They sang and shared their stories of how Jesus became real to them. God was at work; I was intrigued.

During the refreshment time, I initiated a conversation with one of the singers. She invited me to pray and ask Jesus for that kind of relationship. I looked to Shirley to join us.

Owning your influence is about your maturity.
Your maturity is about your life focus;
a focus from being all about me to living for the benefit of others.
Bill Thrall, HTLC

Shirley owned her influence in my life that night. Not only did she pray with the other young lady and me, but when we returned to our dorm she introduced me to a Bible study she was participating in. That Bible study was published by The Navigators.

Then …
I recruited a group of friends and we started a new Navigator Bible study.
Because of the Bible study, I attended a Navigator conference the next spring.
At that conference I met Bill, my future husband.
Bill and I have served on Navigator staff since 1972.

I am so thankful that Shirley owned her influence that night.

“My influence is not about pursuing significance.
My influence is about stewardship.”
Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you,”
I Peter 5:6

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Welcome to week 5 of Echoes of Grace June Guest Posts. This week my long-time friend Carolyn shares a bit of her struggle with busyness and how God met her in those days. If you’ve ever used the word busy, you’ll want to read her words and share them with your friends.

Hectic, perhaps the best word describing 2017. It began right after the new year.  My son’s family’s move to a new home, trips to visit and help elderly family, my 36 year old son-in-law’s stroke with a subsequent trip to Germany to help my daughter, guests to host, our other daughter’s baby delivered by an emergency c-section followed by nine days in neonatal intensive care. Then our Germany family coming home for furlough, more guests, the passing of several dear friends, and the joy of weddings. HECTIC!

All of this in addition to the usual Bible class to teach and other normal family events. I found my self burned out with no time to stop.

My learning curve was high. I felt so overwhelmed. I begged to hear God’s voice in the midst of all of the chaos. So, how to keep going? Where does strength and peace come from in the middle of such a tumultuous time?

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid…”
Psalm 56:3,4

My journal tells the story of my struggle. In Jeremiah 6:16 The Lord tells his people to “Stand by the road and look, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls….” The following phrase gives the response of God’s people. “We will not walk in it.” They refused God’s rest for their souls! That didn’t make sense! Unlike the people listening to Jeremiah, I so wanted rest and I was determined to walk in it.

And so, early every morning I went to my sun room seeking him in the quiet. And two verses became my guide.

“Be still and know that I am God…”
Psalm 46:10a

In the Greek the word for be still is rapa meaning to sink or fall,  to cease striving and put your hands at your sides, to let go. For me that was quite an effort.
Some days I did better than others.

The other verse was Isaiah 30:15.  ‘For thus said the Lord God, The Holy One of Israel, “In returning and in rest you shall be saved. In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But again the verse says of the Lord’s people “But they were unwilling.”
Really? Please, Lord, keep me from being unwilling!

I made it! I’m now in a time when I am able to take a breath. I’m writing these words in Hawaii. I accompanied Gary on a work trip and we are also celebrating our anniversary.

I know, that I know, that I know, that the Lord was with me all the way as
he promised. Even on days I was having difficulty hearing his voice.

Where are you? Are you willing and seeking him in your tumult? He is with you. He will be your strength!

 “In the act of sinking into God, of looking up at him
from the  depths of our own inadequacy, we begin to know who he is.
In turn, we know who we are as well.”
A Million Little Ways p.79, by Emily P. Freeman

Carolyn Eden lives in Champaign, IL with her professor husband Gary. She loves traveling the world as well as living periodically in Haifa, Israel. She also enjoys teaching the Bible and hospitality, as well as keeping up with her family, including seven grandchildren. She can be found at mtcarmelmoments.blogspot.com.

Continue reading →

Welcome to week 3 of June Guest Blog Posts Month for Echoes of Grace. This week I’m excited to introduce you to another Colorado Springs friend.

Blythe and I first met in a Sunday School class. She was a young wife then; now she also mothers two pre-school cuties. I liked her from the first and it was a easy pick to ask Blythe if she would share a bit of her story with you, my Echoes of Grace friends. I  bet you’ll identify with her. Perhaps not in the circumstances of her life, but in her reactions to the circumstances. This blog is a little longer than is usual for Echoes, so why don’t you make yourself a cup of tea and sit down to savor her story.

FYI, I’d love to tell you more about the conference she references. I was there too.

Blythe’s words first appeared on Mundane Faithfulness. Click here for her story.

A freelance writer and editor, Blythe Hunt is also an orphan who once could not have fathomed the love and safety she would eventually find in community. In her mid-twenties, God rescued her from a den of depression, loneliness, and isolation by restoring her heart through the love of others. Her passion is building community, which includes hosting parties and asking awkwardly personal questions; she is currently writing a book on introverted hospitality. Blythe and her husband Aaron have two children, live in a bungalow in downtown Colorado Springs, and dream of being minimalists. She can be found all over social media at Mundane Faithfulness.