Staying True...

Greetings, Dear Friends!

Susie Larson here...

And to those visiting, I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

A special thank you to Jo Franz for guest blogging for me last week.

Today I announce the winner of February's gift card giveaway. And the winner is...Carrie Kuiken! What a faithful blogger you are! It's always a pleasure to read your posts. Congratulations, Carrie.

I'll be doing another giveaway in March.

If you take the time to post on my blog in March, you may win a $10.00 gift card to either Caribou or Target (your choice). So drop me a note and say hi!

Now on to my topic.

This morning I read the fascinating story of Catherine Booth, who with her husband, co founded the Salvation Army.

I was incredibly inspired by her grit and perseverance.

In the face of incredible persecution, this once painfully shy woman of God, rose up to be a mighty warrior for Christ and a mighty advocate for the poor and the needy.

Catherine and her husband William were vehemently opposed by the British government because it was believed the Booth's had a political agenda, when in fact, they were simply living out the Gospel.

The name, "Salvation Army" was intended to ridicule the Booths and their work, but they liked the name. In the face of incredible odds and persecution, this once shy and fearful Christ follower proclaimed, "Members of the Salvation Army will fight on, waging war on poverty and injustice wherever we find it."

What's amazing is that the work of Salvation Army, along with Catherine's fiery speeches, led women to give money to the same organizations their husbands were trying to outlaw. (From Stories Behind Women of Extraordinary Faith by Ace Collins; p. 29).

In due time though, the government that scorned them finally embraced them and recognized the impact of their ministry.

Because Catherine stayed true to the Word of God and the call on her life (even while her husband was imprisoned for his faith), she became a history maker and a hero in her time.

Let's read what the Word of God says...

First Corinthians 1:18 says,

I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God

We cannot underestimate the times in which we live.

The current of sin and oppression remains strong.

People lumber through their days as ones with no hope.

But then there's YOU.

You know Jesus.

You have the Power of the Living God in you, on you, and all around you.

He goes before you, He has your back, and He places His hand of blessing upon your head (Psalm 135:9).

You are appointed to help people.

You are appointed to stand in the gap for someone who has less than you.

You are appointed to make someone's day!

Look around.

Ask God to show you His heart for the people who cross your path.

Refuse the harried, busy life to which most have become accustomed.

You are too important for that.

Though integrity falters all around you - you stay true.

Though selfishness is on the rise - you be kind and generous.

Though disputes and useless arguments are status quo - you be the one to forgive an offense.

As the days grow evil - you grow more holy.

As the desperation grows - you provide the answer.

It's no mistake that you are living in these latter days!

You were born for such a time as this.

Be bold, strong, and courageous.

God's Word is true.

Stay true to Him and be the person God intended you to be.

I'll close with this marvelous quote from Catherine Booth, "We are made for larger ends than Earth can encompass. Oh, let us be true to our exalted destiny."

Until next week...

In Your Corner...

Greetings, Dear Friends!

And to those visiting I say welcome!

I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

If you take the time to post on my blog in February, you may win a $10.00 gift card to either Caribou or Target (your choice). So drop me a note and say hi!

If you've ever attended one of my speaking events, you've no doubt heard me joke about my once strong willed child.

My middle son, Luke, spent more time in the corner than not; so much so, that if I wanted to be with him, I'd have to go visit him in the corner! I remember several times going to the corner, sitting down next to him, and striking up a conversation.

I always wanted him to understand, that though there were consequences for his behavior, I would always be in his corner, loving him, cheering for him, holding him accountable, and challenging him to grow into the man I knew he could be.

Well I'm thankful to report that Luke recently turned 20 years old and he is an honorable, godly, young man, with no traces of that feisty, strong-willed toddler I used parent.

God gave me a rich piece of wisdom when I was raising my boys and I would like to share it with you.

Early on in my parenting journey, the Lord spoke this to my heart, "Susie, remember the 25/75 rule: 25 percent of your communication will be correction and discipline; and 75 percent should be love, affirmation, enjoying life, dreaming together, and teaching them about Me. There'll be stages in your kids' lives when it seems all you are doing is correcting them, but it's especially during such times they need to know you're in their corner. If their particular season requires increased discipline, then increase your loving communication as well. You must never reduce your relationship to correction after correction; especially during the teen years; otherwise you'll lose them."

My topic this morning is twofold:

How we parent by the 25/75 rule...

And how we allow God to do the same for us.

Luke and I laugh now about how things were way back when he was young.

Shortly after he graduated from high school, he said the most amazing thing to me. He said, "Mom, I know I was a handful for you when I was little. And yet I never for a minute thought I would get away with anything. I knew you were right on top of me, never allowing me to make excuses for my behavior. But the amazing thing is that you never made me feel like I was a trouble-maker. Quite the opposite. You always made me feel like my dreams were too small and that anything was possible if I chose to walk closely with God. Because of you, I feel like there are no limits to what God can do through me."

Well, you can imagine what those words meant to me.

And though I so wish I would have made my boys eat more vegetables and I wish I would have done a better job at keeping their elbows off the table, I do know that by applying God's profound wisdom throughout my different stages of parenting, I now have sons who know that their dad and I are in their corner, and even more importantly, God is in their corner, and nothing is possible for those who walk closely with Him.

So how do you apply the 25/75 idea when you're parenting through the various stages of life?

Take advantage of the times when you're not correcting your child and fill those moments with laughter or insight. Talk about something funny you recently heard or recall a funny memory you have with your child.

Use those in-between times to affirm your child. Tell her what you appreciate about her. Point out your son's strengths. Dream with your kids and encourage their faith.

Ask God to make you sensitive to those teachable moments when you have a divine open door into your child's soul. God's truths are written everywhere! Use nature, hardships, sickness, or money as analogies and train your kids in the way they should go.

Tell them what you like about them. Tell them what's unique about them. Don't be afraid to encourage them in their growth (or weaker) areas.

Look for every opportunity you can find to speak faith, hope, and love into your child's life.

Life can be a rough journey, but if our sons and daughters know we are in their corner, and that God is too even more so, then they will will possess the Holy Confidence to be everything God intended them to be.

And now a word about your own soul...

If you feel that your relationship with God has been reduced to one correction after another, then you're not listening to everything He's saying!

The Bible says that daily the heavens pour forth speech. There isn't a language where God's voice isn't heard. The skies are filled with His mercies and compassion and His love is extravagant.

He is in your corner and on your side.

Yes, He will have to correct and redirect you on occasion, but always, with a voice of love and concern.

When you believe that He is with you and for you, you will also possess that Holy Confidence to be everything God intended you to be.

Remind yourself daily that YOU are the object of His affection. He loves you, He has dreams for you, and He wants you to know that NOTHING is impossible for those who take Him at His Word.

Until next week~

Simple Trust...

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!

Susie Larson here...

Before I get into my topic, I want to mention that I will be giving away a $10.00 Caribou gift card to one of you in January. Like coffee, smoothies, green tea? Post a time or two this month and share what God is doing in your life! Your name might be drawn for a sweet treat!

Ever had one of these days?

Your email inbox is bursting at the seams and yet your computer keeps bumping you off the internet. You have laundry spilling over the basket and piles of paper work to sort through. Instead of feeling on top of your circumstances, you feel buried beneath them.

Am I the only one who gets this way?

On Sunday I returned from speaking at a women's retreat and we had a fabulous time together. On Monday I woke up to my bursting-at-the seams inbox, my billowing pile of laundry, and a sink full of dishes. I also had a very important conference call. In fact I had back-to-back conference calls.

Determining to take one part of my day at a time, I tried to put a dent in each of my piles of work. When it came time for my conference calls, I pulled my appropriate files and brought my laptop and phone up to my bedroom. I had my files spread out on my bed, my phone in hand (and a back up in case the battery died).

I even cut out of the my first conference call meeting a few minutes early so I could get to my next call - the one I'd been anticipating and anxious for.

I missed the conference call by an hour.

Apparently I had my time zones confused.

Ugh.

I woke up that morning exhausted but determined to make the most of my very busy day and yet I still fell miserably short.

Does that ever happen to you?

Well, I have some good news.

Psalm 103:17-19 says,

"But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children's children - with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. The Lord has established His throne in Heaven and His Kingdom rules over all."

and again from Psalms, this time chapter 102, verses 27-28,

"But You remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you."

What beautiful promises we have here!

Though I waver...

He is steady and strong.

Though I forget...

He is mindful of all things.

Though I fall short...

He goes the distance for me.

That He is so infinitely powerful and yet so tender and loving, is something I will never fully understand, but will always treasure.

At the end of the day, it is good to look over our shoulder, acknowledge our missteps, and then look up.

With simple trust and a believing heart, we can enjoy peace in spite of ourselves.

I mentioned this before but one of my favorite quotes comes from Graham Cooke. He once wrote, "God is not disillusioned with you. He never had any illusions about you in the first place."

He knows our frame.

He knows our capacity for weakness, failure, and even for greatness.

He is intimately acquainted with our needs and He even redeems our mistakes.

We have every reason for faith. We have every reason to trust Him.

Like I mentioned last week, fear is the weakness. Doubt is the weakness. Worry is the weakness.

But those who trust Him will not be put to shame.

"Those who know Your Name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You" (Psalm 9:10).

When my kids were growing up, I repeatedly said to them, "Do your best, and leave the rest." The knew that "leaving the rest" meant leaving what they could not carry, in God's hands.

Of course if we are lazy, irresponsible, or consistently unprepared, that's a problem. It's not like we can kick back and "trust" that God will encourage such behavior by covering for us.

But, when we sincerely love Him, and thus, take serious our call to be faithful to the things to which He has called us, we must also know that He's made room for our humanity.

When we carry our day-share, we can know and trust that He carries us.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Have joy and trust Him today.

Great to be Back!

Hi Everyone!

Susie Larson here...

I've missed connecting with you all.

A big THANKS to my wonderful author friends who posted in my place. Bless you, big time!

And to those visiting, I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

Before I get into my topic, I want to mention that I will be giving away a $10.00 Caribou gift card to one of you in January. Like coffee, smoothies, green tea? Post a time or two this month and share what God is doing in your life! Your name might be drawn for a sweet treat!

When my boys were young and adventurous, they wanted to try every adrenaline sport available. From skateboarding to snowboarding, from bike jumping to cliff jumping; I prayed for their safety and worked to keep healthy boundaries in place while allowing them to take a few risks once in a while.

During one of their outings, I looked around at the kids who were "regulars" to a particular sport. I watched how they talked with their friends, how they responded when someone got hurt, and how they treated the newbies.

It didn't take long for me to decided that this was not going to be a mainstay for my kids. They loved this particular sport, but they loved a lot of other experiences too.

So with prayerful wisdom, and unbeknownst to them, I gently steered them away from one activity and provided a way for them to actively pursue a different one that I knew they were equipped to handle.

I think God does the same thing for us.

He knows how transient we are. He understands the areas of our lives that are weak and still in need of maturity, and He guides us in the best path for us.

So when I'm tempted to worry about my own weaknesses or areas of vulnerabilities, I must remember that just as I, with understanding love, guided my boys to places where I knew they were equipped to stand, God does the same for us, and so much more besides.

I don't know if you ever do this, but I often fret over my own character flaws. More than anything I don't want others to stumble over my weaknesses. I don't want to dishonor the Lord because of my own foibles.

One particular day during prayer, God whispered to my heart, "Fear is the weakness; worry is the weakness; much more than the yet-to-be-developed areas in your character, the choice to worry about such things is the very thing that leaves you vulnerable to the wiles of the enemy..."

As the Lord calls us higher to new places of promise, the enemy will taunt us to look down, and to see just how far we have to fall.

In fact it's that very thing that keeps most people from daring to scale the heights God intended for them.

The tricky thing is that in order for us to climb high, jump high, and go places beyond our comfort zones, God has to show us our weakness so we will remember how much we need Him.

When we know we need Him, we'll stay close to Him. When we stay close to Him, we hear what He says, we do what He tells us to, and we remember that He is the one who qualifies us for the climb.

But the knowledge of our weaknesses shouldn't cause us despair or angst. On the contrary, the knowledge of our need should cause us great relief because we have a place to go with our need! God is intent on our victory and abundance. No one wants us to succeed like God does!

And He guides us with a strong hand and a heart bursting with love. He corrects us when we are wrong and yet He never condemns us. He forgives us when we sin and then He cleanses us. He wisely guides us away from battles we cannot win, and lovingly leads us to places that strengthen us for our next place of promise.

Graham Cooke once wrote, "God is not disillusioned with you. He never had any illusions about you in the first place!"

It's good to remember that fear is the weakness.

Jesus loves us and He is well aware of our vulnerabilities that still need to be protected. And if we walk closely enough with Him, we'll hear His voice in our ear saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

He protects us where we are vulnerable. He strengthens us where we are weak. We are in process and He knows that.

It's when we embrace fear or worry or doubt that we open the door for the enemy and give him access to leverage our vulnerabilities to his advantage.

Jesus is the One who is able to keep us from falling; to present us before God's glorious presence, without fault and with great joy (see the book of Joel).

What a concept!

It's not your yet-to-be-developed character that puts you at risk nearly as much as it is your choice to fear, or doubt, or worry.

Perfect love casts out fear.

Fear is the weakness.

Love covers a multitude of sins.

Worry is the weakness.

Faith fills every gap.

Doubt is the weakness.

Anything is possible for the Believer.

Walk in this truth today.

Drop me a note and tell me what God is doing in your life!

Sign up for my Ezine! (the next issue comes out January 15th)

A Kingdom Holiday Season...

Hello Everyone!

Susie Larson here...

And to those visiting, I say welcome!

I post every Wednesday, and my purpose is to nourish and encourage your soul along the way.

Since I've got a number of Christmas speaking events on my schedule, and since I've been prepping on and off for the past couple of weeks, my holiday season is in full swing.

I've had a significant amount of time to pause...and to think about my holidays this year. Do I want to run, racing from one event to another? Do I want to squeeze as many fun activities in as I can? Or do I want peace and solitude to mark my holidays this time around? We are all different, and we all need different things.

Looking back over the years I can clearly see that some of our most desperate struggles overlapped with the holiday season. I had in my mind how I wanted the season to look, but that 30 second commercial was an always elusive dream.

Thankfully I am much wiser and more mature (hmmm...) and I am not so interested in how things look. I am interested in how things are.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says something very profound (well, actually he said many profound things in this message, but I want to focus on a couple of key points).

Jesus, in His tender, loving way, reminds us once again that we are valuable.

So much so, that He tells us not to worry about what we will eat, or drink, or wear.

He knows our needs and our deepest desires and He holds them close to His heart.

Some of us strive and strain about what we will wear and what we will eat, especially during the holiday season.

Jesus says in verse 29: "...do not set your heart on what you will eat and what you will drink; do not worry about it."

Now Jesus is talking on a much bigger scale than our materialistic tendencies during the holidays. He is talking about the affections and the ambitions that are manifested in us all year long.

But still, there's something here for us.

If, during the holidays, we find ourselves in a season of abundance, it's easy to sit on our possessions and trust them more than God. Without thinking too much about it, we make our festive plans and the simplicity of the Gospel gets pushed by the wayside.

When money is scarce during the holidays, it's easy to lose all perspective and cling to worry more than the promises of God. We don't feel much like celebrating because God isn't giving us what we want.

I remember one holiday season when my husband and I came home from a Christmas party. The hosts decorated to the hilt. Their home sat on a hill and was gorgeous in every way. Each room was rich in color and texture and provided a feast for the eyes. The husband and father of the house only had to work a few hours a day to provide for their abundant lifestyle.

My husband and I held hands and both gulped as we went from room to room and took in our lavish surroundings.

When it was time to head home, back to our rental house, we were thoroughly depressed.

We still had medical debt to pay off and so the dream of owning a house again was months if not years away for us. The walls of our rental home were all the same color: a drab looking tan. We had very little money for gifts and we were tired of feeling like we were always under our circumstances and not above them.

Once we tucked in our little ones into bed and kissed their foreheads, we went out to the living room, sat down and sighed.

I don't remember which one of us said this but one of us said, "We really are blessed, you know. Let's pray."

We bowed our heads and prayed, "Though our accounts are empty and our cupboards are scarce with food, yet, we will praise You, O Lord. For You have been good to us and You will be faithful to us again. Forgive us for the sin of comparison. We know that in due time, our time will come. Amen."

That was a painful, yet powerful time.

Seasons did change and our time did come and the Name of the Lord is greatly to be praised.

God redeemed every area of our lives and set us high above our circumstances. I think about it every day; and every day I thank Him.

You may be a social bug and love the idea of filling up your holiday schedule with one engagement after another. Or, you may be like me and enjoy having a couple of events on the calendar, but many more nights where you plan not to have plans.

You may be in a time of plenty or a season of small offerings.

We are all different; walking through different seasons.

Either way, we need to scoot up close to our Nativity scene, peek in, and remember this Jesus - who didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but instead came to us in the most vulnerable way possible - He wrapped Himself in the skin of a tiny baby.

Make your plans, but remember the simplicity with which He came.

And no matter which season you're in, be sure to back up and get the big picture as well. When Jesus was born, God's Kingdom came to earth. His Kingdom Promises, Power, and Provision were made available to man; to you and me.

Live differently this year.

In light of what's been made available through Jesus, trust not in your riches, nor in your trials, trust in Him, and live differently this holiday season.

Let the world know that you belong to Him, and because of this precious fact, you celebrate Him.

Until next week...