Java with Jennifer Journal

July 2009 Taste This!

What I Am In To Lately

 

July arrived on the crescendo of a girls' trip with my friends Katharyn and Lori, who are both from Georgia.  We went to the St. Louis Women of Faith conference together.  Like true blue friends, they sought to make me laugh and relax by dressing up to meet my Women of Faith pals.  When we arrived at the hotel, they insisted on changing clothes so they could "make a good impression" when they walked me to see Lisa Welchel.  "Unnecessary," I thought, "but thoughtful."  So, I waited as they hurriedly opened their bags and changed clothes.  They kept giggling and I wondered what they were up to.  Finally I asked, and they couldn't contain their secret.  "For the girls' trip this year, we shopped at Goodwill for our outfits. We wanted to make an, uh, impression!"  I began to inspect, and laughed so hard I cried.  Lori had on homely, worn-out oversized overalls with a tight silk shirt and gaudy dangling earrings.  Katharyn had on tawdry tight overalls complete with silk shirt, go-go belt and high heels.  They put on their bright red lipstick and walked me to Lisa's room.  One looked like a pitiful hillbilly just off the funny farm, and the other like a mentally unstable fashion model has-been!  On the way, we ran into Marilyn Meberg, who, after my inability to keep a straight face, said, "Well, I thought they were dressed quite interestingly!"

We got to Lisa's room and in her attempt to be gracious, she seemingly ignored the appearance of my tacky pair of friends until again, I laughed.  Her response, "What good friends who would dress that awful just to make you laugh!"  So, that's how it began, and then the whole weekend was full of reunions with Women of Faith friends and laughter, tears and chocolate--who could ask for more?
 
As soon as Women of Faith ended, I left with my family to go to Cocoa Beach for a week on the Florida shore.  My brothers and their families were there, too, and the best surprise was when my parents showed up!  My dad's treatments had been suspended for two weeks and he was feeling well enough to be with us.  That was the best part of the trip.  I will always treasure sitting under the beach umbrella with him as he shared an outline for a sermon he was writing about Noah.  It reminded me of the speaking and teaching training I've received from him my whole life, and how blessed I am to have him as a dad and mentor.

The other unforgettable event was my mom, who is 67, doing the splits. Yes, you read that right; she did the splits on the shoreline! She's amazing!  Oh, I hope I'm like her in spirit (and body) when I'm her age!
 
On the beach, I sipped peach iced tea everyday that I brewed in an enamel tea kettle.   I enjoyed it so much, I've done it everyday since we've been home.  It reminds me of a lovely time and it tastes excellent with Askinosie Chocolate.  I received a bar of 70 percent Ecuadorian dark chocolate as a gift at my surprise birthday party.   I was born on December 19th, but 2 years ago I told my family and friends I wanted to no longer celebrate in December--the busiest, most stressful time of the year!  You can see my birthday change announcement here.  The funny thing is we called it my "half birthday," but being quite math deficient, I didn't realize June would have really been 6 months early!  Oh well, I still got chocolate. 
 

The chocolate is from a chocolatier here in Springfield, whose story I love.  The chocolate is one of the finest I've tasted and you must read how it came to be.  Check out "Our Story" at their website.
 
No new books this month to tell you about!  Sir Francis Bacon once wrote, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."   And so, I'm slowly digesting The Narnian, savoring for a second time Persuasion, and just beginning to taste How to Read a Book by M. Adler. 
 
My friend...peach tea, good books and fun traveling are all even better with friends and family.  So, enjoy all this summer!
 
Give these things a taste test:
1.  Women of Faith Conference near you
2.  Peach tea
3.  Cocoa Beach
4.  Askinosie Chocolate
5.  Read a great book this summer!  It can become like a friend or family if you fall in love with it.

July 2009 Fresh Grounded Thoughts

What God Has Been Teaching Me Lately 

 

Tilted Toward God
 
"Mom!" Clayton called, "You've got to check this out. You will think it's cool."   He then directed me to the neat line of containers on our deck.
 
Months earlier, he'd planted a row of vegetables and herbs in oblong planters and placed them along the railing.  He had been babying these little sprouts for weeks, and they were finally responding!  I placed my hand gently upon some rosemary as he explained what I would think was so cool. "They're all growing toward the sun," he said.  "The plants are tilting!"
 
It was true.  I felt each sprout, stalk, and cluster.  Every part of the plant was tilting as if to reach the sun, and then sat resting in the sun's warm embrace.  Horticulturalists know better than I that plants gravitate toward the sun for nourishment, and this ultimately directs their growth.  We are much the same.  The shape and curve of our lives is dictated by what holds our focus and whom we choose to worship.  What we stretch toward influences how we grow.
 
It may appear a slanted plant is unstable at best, but it is designed to draw itself sunward, and in its tilted and dependent state, it is completely filled with the sun.  There, it is most stable.
 
We were designed to stretch toward God.  We were meant to need Him so that our very life depends on Him.  The ancient church father, Augustine of Hippo, put it this way in his confessions: "You made us tilted toward you, and our heart is unstable until stabilized in you."
 
I think my times of emotional shakiness, my tinges of insecurity, and my episodes of painful self-awareness are the unstabilizing effects of focusing inward, rather than stretching my very soul toward the Son.
 
I grow emotionally precarious and spiritually anemic when I turn my gaze inward and sink my roots deeper into my own soil.  A soul cannot thrive when willingly isolating itself from the Son who can nourish it deeply.
 
God's light is so compelling that when we look outside ourselves to glimpse it, we are drawn to stretch toward Him.  The writer of Song of Solomon penned this plea: "Draw me and I will run after you." (1:4).  When God draws us, He draws with the life-giving, life-sustaining light of His love and truth.  We then respond according to our created intent--we run after Him, stretch toward Him, and begin to tilt in His direction.
 
Our tilt toward God establishes and strengthens a foundation that can spiritually sustain and emotionally stabilize us.  In that "tilt," we are closest to Him, and it is there we are most stable.

Footnote:
Saint Augustine, Confessions, trans. Garry Wills, (New York: Penguin, 2006)

Well, that's what's been percolating in me lately!

July 2009 Spill the Beans

You Ask It, I'll Answer It

Dear Jennifer,
I am facilitating a small group of 4 other women through the MM&L study.  It is FANTASTIC!  Thank you for the work you did to put it together. We are all benefiting so much from all there is to learn.
 
We all were confused by your statement that "feelings are supposed to serve and strengthen us."  What do you mean by that?  We get how the good emotions can strengthen us, but we really didn't understand how our feelings are supposed to serve us.
 
Thanks again!
 
Sincerely,
 
Jenn
Cumming, GA
 
 
Answer:
Great question girls!  Even what we might consider negative emotions, like anger or rejection, can serve us by exposing error and leading us to truth.  We are taught to "hold every thought captive" in 2 Corinthians, and that principle applies to holding emotions captive too.  We feel them, hold them long enough to consider them, and then allow them to lead us to truth. 
 
Beware that just because an emotion is positive (like glee or relief), doesn't mean it's always based on truth.  What if the gleeful feeling is a response to selfishness?  Positive emotions in and of themselves don't "serve" you unless they also become an intuitive detective that leads you to truth.
 
The statement in the Bible study made you think, and I love that!  My goal in addressing feelings is not for us to become a female "Spock", but rather to assess our feelings and let them always point us to truth.  We feel our feelings, but we don't think with them. Thanks for thinking about my statement--way to go!


And now the beans are officially spilled! (And I think I feel okay about it!  Ha!)

July 2009 Prayer Requests

I need your prayers - if you have time, will you please consider praying for me? Here is my prayer list for this month:
 
1.  My Dad's surgeries were canceled due to complications and instead, he had 17 more radiation treatments.  We are so grateful those were completed at the end of this month.  Thanks so much for praying.  He had no pain this last cycle and we are confident he will be back to his wonderful self in no time!
 
2.  Thanks for praying for wisdom for us in determining the timing of my next Bible Study and Trade Book.  Gratefully, God has confirmed the subject matter and I am passionate and eager to follow His Lead in writing.  I just need clarity on the timing of each.
 
3. It has been way too long since my last CD project and I've forgotten all the details that need attention to release!  I sure want this CD to bring peace and minister to listeners-pray that we pull all the parts together in a timely way so it can be released in the fall. 
 
4. We have lots of Fresh Grounded Faith Events in the fall.   Pray for our whole team-we need it! Please pray that we are good stewards of the hearts God gives us to minister to and that I steward well the messages He wants me to share.

 
Thanks friends for your generosity in praying with and for us.  I appreciate you so much.