Catch Up
Oh dear readers how I have missed writing to you. I've thought about you often since my last post- there have been so many things that I've wanted to share with you, but the time to sit and "blog" has eluded me.
So, let's just start with the obvious. It's officially Fall, and I haven't met a soul yet who isn't happy about it. It is just beautiful here in Arkansas. Our yard is filled with leaves that I'm sure David and I will get to by the end of October. I drove up to the city of Mountain Home over the weekend for an MK appointment, and I wished I'd had a camera strapped to my forehead that could take pictures by voice command as I was driving. The Ozark Mountains are really, really beautiful. I've seen the Rockies, the Andes, the mountains of Guatemala (I don't know what they're officially called), and I lived not too far away from the BlueRidge Mountains growing up, but the Ozark's beauty strikes me differently. I hope David and I can carve out a long weekend during these cooler months to take Sperry up there and retreat from all this busyness - even though the busyness is good, it would still be nice to get away from for a little bit and receive all of the good stuff the mountains do for your spirit.
Back on the home front, whoever told us the 3rd year of law school was the easiest year of law school was either naive or mean, because it's not. At least, it hasn't been so far. My amazing husband is doing incredibly well with it though. I'm so impressed and proud. I could not do what he does, and I am so grateful the Lord's calling on my life thus far as relates to law is to be the wife of a lawyer and not a lawyer. We are so grateful for the prayers of our friends and family. We feel them daily. We are overwhelmed with the Lord's favor and provision. We know we have circle makers praying circles around our journey and our marriage. Thank you faithful friends.
Other things I wanted to tell you about include the three hummingbirds in our backyard, the Beth Moore Simulcast, and my Mary Kay business/(ministry). But, each is a post in itself, so I'll save it for another day. : )
But, this, this is why I tore myself away from all of the things I needed to do and sat down to write you. I couldn't wait another day or week or month because I know October will fly by faster than September has, and I feel like this is important.
1 Chronicles 21.
This passage has never stuck out to me before. It's possible I've never read it. But, on Tuesday I did, and to sum it up, 1 Chronicles 21 recounts when King David took a census of Israel. This wasn't a common thing to do in the Jewish nation. Other nations took censuses, but not Israel. We're not exactly sure what David's motivation was to take a census, but the important thing is he did, and it "displeased" God. (1 Chronicles 21:7) My little footnote in my NKJV says "it was evil in the eyes of God." After he did it, David realized he'd made a huge mistake, and God punished David for it by sending a plague upon Israel which killed 70,000 men. (1 Chronicles 21:14).
Ok, so I read this, and all day long I'm like, this is heavy. 70,000 men died because David made a "foolish" decision. (1 Chronicles 21:8)
Later that day, I go to small group. We're reading "One Cry" by Bill Elliff and Byron Paulus. Every week we watch a video together about the chapter we'd just read. And in this week's video, a man involved in legislation in TX shares that he has "seen what happens when bad laws are passed." He goes on to mention the millions of babies murdered through abortion as a result of such laws, and I remember 1 Chronicles 21.
We might just see our bad decisions as foolish choices like King David did. But just because we see something as "foolish," doesn't mean that's how God sees it too. Oh no, He just might see it as "evil."
My heart began to break in a way that it has yet to for our Nation. I began to wonder, has the Lord sent "plagues" upon America as punishment for foolish choices we've made as a Nation? I'm sure of it. Look at the diseases that "plague" the U.S. that other countries don't even have to deal with. How many times have we looked upon the darkness of our country and just chalked it up to, "Well, we live in a fallen world," or "Maybe the end times are near."
Yesterday, I shared my heart with my dear friend, Lauren. She's a nurse at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, and she told me about a patient of her's, who was also a nurse, who one day at work was caring for an IV drug using patient with Hepatitis C. The nurse was stuck with a dirty needle and contracted Hep C as well. She eventually went into liver failure, received a transplant, which her body rejected, and died. Lauren said, "She died because of someone else's decision to use IV drugs."
I stuck myself with a dirty needle at work one day, and I've known other nurses and doctors who have as well. It happens A LOT more frequently that any of us wish it did. And it wouldn't be as scary of a deal if we didn't have so many diseases to constantly have to protect ourselves from. Diseases contracted initially due to someone's foolish decision.
Our Nation is in a scary spot. And I'm not talking about terrorists, I'm talking about what we're doing to ourselves through our foolishness and naivety.
When will we wake up and realize we're living oppressed by plagues which we just casually accept as facts of life.
It doesn't have to be this way.
"How so, Lindsay?" you ask.
Do you know what happens to Nations when they come to know Jesus?
Because my husband works for the public defender's office, I'll just answer that question in regards to crime....
It DRAMATICALLY decreases.
During the Welsh Revolution, 100,000 people came to Christ in 9 months in 1904-1905. "The mighty unseen breath of the Spirit was doing in a month more than centuries of legislation could accomplish."* Y'all, the jails ended up becoming empty.
Our jails are full in Little Rock. I think about what a decrease in crime ALONE would do to this city. Let's just look at the family unit. What would families look like? They'd be more complete because parents wouldn't be in jail. They'd be more complete because loved ones wouldn't have been murdered on street corners. They'd be more complete because their teenage children hadn't disappeared (either physically or emotionally) into the world of human trafficking...
I can hardly comprehend how much my heart is breaking for this city. The Lord has placed insane dreams on my heart for it, like so big it's crazy. And you know what's even crazier- I shared one of them with David. It's so huge, like so many zeros are necessary behind a "$1" for this dream to ever come true, that usually it involves multiple billionaires for this to happen. But, I shared it with David, and he got it. Usually when I share a "crazy" idea with David, like, "Let's drive to Dallas for lunch!" or maybe take a vacation that isn't exactly realistic based on our bank account balances, David raises his eye brows and gives me the "You're crazy" look. But, this dream, this so many zeros dream, and the impact its realization could have on our city, he caught almost instantly.
And not because it's fun but because it has the potential to change this city. Our city needs to be changed. Your city needs to be changed. Our country needs to be changed, and lots of zeros behind a "$1" aren't going to do it.
Only Jesus is.
Can you hear it in my voice? How desperately I wanted to share this with you? How much my heart desires awakening for my neighbors and yours? We don't have to live like this. So why do we receive it like we don't have a choice? We do have a choice - a choice to be foolish or a choice to turn back to Jesus and show others the Way.
Are you looking for a book to read? Consider "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson or "One Cry" by Bill Elliff and Byron Paulus.
*"One Cry" by Bill Elliff and Byron Paulus - Dr. J. Edwin Orr, "The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening"
So, let's just start with the obvious. It's officially Fall, and I haven't met a soul yet who isn't happy about it. It is just beautiful here in Arkansas. Our yard is filled with leaves that I'm sure David and I will get to by the end of October. I drove up to the city of Mountain Home over the weekend for an MK appointment, and I wished I'd had a camera strapped to my forehead that could take pictures by voice command as I was driving. The Ozark Mountains are really, really beautiful. I've seen the Rockies, the Andes, the mountains of Guatemala (I don't know what they're officially called), and I lived not too far away from the BlueRidge Mountains growing up, but the Ozark's beauty strikes me differently. I hope David and I can carve out a long weekend during these cooler months to take Sperry up there and retreat from all this busyness - even though the busyness is good, it would still be nice to get away from for a little bit and receive all of the good stuff the mountains do for your spirit.
Back on the home front, whoever told us the 3rd year of law school was the easiest year of law school was either naive or mean, because it's not. At least, it hasn't been so far. My amazing husband is doing incredibly well with it though. I'm so impressed and proud. I could not do what he does, and I am so grateful the Lord's calling on my life thus far as relates to law is to be the wife of a lawyer and not a lawyer. We are so grateful for the prayers of our friends and family. We feel them daily. We are overwhelmed with the Lord's favor and provision. We know we have circle makers praying circles around our journey and our marriage. Thank you faithful friends.
Other things I wanted to tell you about include the three hummingbirds in our backyard, the Beth Moore Simulcast, and my Mary Kay business/(ministry). But, each is a post in itself, so I'll save it for another day. : )
But, this, this is why I tore myself away from all of the things I needed to do and sat down to write you. I couldn't wait another day or week or month because I know October will fly by faster than September has, and I feel like this is important.
1 Chronicles 21.
This passage has never stuck out to me before. It's possible I've never read it. But, on Tuesday I did, and to sum it up, 1 Chronicles 21 recounts when King David took a census of Israel. This wasn't a common thing to do in the Jewish nation. Other nations took censuses, but not Israel. We're not exactly sure what David's motivation was to take a census, but the important thing is he did, and it "displeased" God. (1 Chronicles 21:7) My little footnote in my NKJV says "it was evil in the eyes of God." After he did it, David realized he'd made a huge mistake, and God punished David for it by sending a plague upon Israel which killed 70,000 men. (1 Chronicles 21:14).
Ok, so I read this, and all day long I'm like, this is heavy. 70,000 men died because David made a "foolish" decision. (1 Chronicles 21:8)
Later that day, I go to small group. We're reading "One Cry" by Bill Elliff and Byron Paulus. Every week we watch a video together about the chapter we'd just read. And in this week's video, a man involved in legislation in TX shares that he has "seen what happens when bad laws are passed." He goes on to mention the millions of babies murdered through abortion as a result of such laws, and I remember 1 Chronicles 21.
We might just see our bad decisions as foolish choices like King David did. But just because we see something as "foolish," doesn't mean that's how God sees it too. Oh no, He just might see it as "evil."
My heart began to break in a way that it has yet to for our Nation. I began to wonder, has the Lord sent "plagues" upon America as punishment for foolish choices we've made as a Nation? I'm sure of it. Look at the diseases that "plague" the U.S. that other countries don't even have to deal with. How many times have we looked upon the darkness of our country and just chalked it up to, "Well, we live in a fallen world," or "Maybe the end times are near."
Yesterday, I shared my heart with my dear friend, Lauren. She's a nurse at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, and she told me about a patient of her's, who was also a nurse, who one day at work was caring for an IV drug using patient with Hepatitis C. The nurse was stuck with a dirty needle and contracted Hep C as well. She eventually went into liver failure, received a transplant, which her body rejected, and died. Lauren said, "She died because of someone else's decision to use IV drugs."
I stuck myself with a dirty needle at work one day, and I've known other nurses and doctors who have as well. It happens A LOT more frequently that any of us wish it did. And it wouldn't be as scary of a deal if we didn't have so many diseases to constantly have to protect ourselves from. Diseases contracted initially due to someone's foolish decision.
Our Nation is in a scary spot. And I'm not talking about terrorists, I'm talking about what we're doing to ourselves through our foolishness and naivety.
When will we wake up and realize we're living oppressed by plagues which we just casually accept as facts of life.
It doesn't have to be this way.
"How so, Lindsay?" you ask.
Do you know what happens to Nations when they come to know Jesus?
Because my husband works for the public defender's office, I'll just answer that question in regards to crime....
It DRAMATICALLY decreases.
During the Welsh Revolution, 100,000 people came to Christ in 9 months in 1904-1905. "The mighty unseen breath of the Spirit was doing in a month more than centuries of legislation could accomplish."* Y'all, the jails ended up becoming empty.
Our jails are full in Little Rock. I think about what a decrease in crime ALONE would do to this city. Let's just look at the family unit. What would families look like? They'd be more complete because parents wouldn't be in jail. They'd be more complete because loved ones wouldn't have been murdered on street corners. They'd be more complete because their teenage children hadn't disappeared (either physically or emotionally) into the world of human trafficking...
I can hardly comprehend how much my heart is breaking for this city. The Lord has placed insane dreams on my heart for it, like so big it's crazy. And you know what's even crazier- I shared one of them with David. It's so huge, like so many zeros are necessary behind a "$1" for this dream to ever come true, that usually it involves multiple billionaires for this to happen. But, I shared it with David, and he got it. Usually when I share a "crazy" idea with David, like, "Let's drive to Dallas for lunch!" or maybe take a vacation that isn't exactly realistic based on our bank account balances, David raises his eye brows and gives me the "You're crazy" look. But, this dream, this so many zeros dream, and the impact its realization could have on our city, he caught almost instantly.
And not because it's fun but because it has the potential to change this city. Our city needs to be changed. Your city needs to be changed. Our country needs to be changed, and lots of zeros behind a "$1" aren't going to do it.
Only Jesus is.
Can you hear it in my voice? How desperately I wanted to share this with you? How much my heart desires awakening for my neighbors and yours? We don't have to live like this. So why do we receive it like we don't have a choice? We do have a choice - a choice to be foolish or a choice to turn back to Jesus and show others the Way.
Are you looking for a book to read? Consider "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson or "One Cry" by Bill Elliff and Byron Paulus.
*"One Cry" by Bill Elliff and Byron Paulus - Dr. J. Edwin Orr, "The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening"
Comments
Post a Comment