Author Archives: Lydia Floren

Newlyweds

Pray Plan Pray

by Lydia Floren

On my recent trip to India, one of the leaders of IBL had these three words at the top of his whiteboard: “Pray Plan Pray.”

I love this! Pray first, then plan, and then pray through your plans.

You know, the New Year is just getting underway. This is an excellent time to look back and forward, and “pray plan pray.”

Here is one way you can do this:

Praying GRACE for the New Year

Give thanks for…

Right now.
Your life: The past year. The coming one.
God’s presence and His goodness.
All God has been doing, and all He continues to do.

Release…

The past. Disappointments. Pain. Resentment. Regret. Sin. Shame. Guilt.
Expectations you have of others. And that others might have of you.
The future. Fear. Worry. Uncertainty.

Accept…

Where you are right now.
Yourself as you are: imperfect and in process.
God’s love and forgiveness.
God’s wisdom/direction for the coming year.
Responsibilities God has already given you.
Ownership of your life and your decisions.

Continue…

Praying about your priorities and goals.
Listening for God’s direction.
Outlining plans for the year.
Deciding which one or two habits to cultivate in the coming year.

Enjoy…

Each day, recognizing it for the gift that it is.
The process of prayerful planning.
God’s constant presence with you, within you – loving you, leading you, touching others through you.

Praying GRACE is a wonderful way to start the year. But however you choose to dive in to 2016, don’t forget to Pray Plan Pray.

What plans have you made for the coming year?

Someone

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Making a Difference

We all want to make a difference.

To have meaning and purpose in our lives. Does this really happen? Is it possible to have some grand purpose, to know on our deathbeds that our lives had meaning?

It depends.

You may be like me, sometimes thinking that “making a difference” means leading “feeding-the-five-thousand” type events: God working grandly through me, for all the world to see. Important people will see that I am important. I am significant. Sure, I will give God the glory, but I take secret delight in my obvious impact on the world. Good Morning America (or Women of Faith) here I come!

But God rarely works this way.

Don’t get me wrong. He does miracles every day. Jesus said, “My Father is always at His work in this world, and I too am working.” But much of what God does goes unseen, and unappreciated.

Jesus’ own life was the prime example of this. Jesus didn’t have the respect of the Important People. In fact, Important People were threatened by Jesus, because the Truth He shared often made them look bad. He spent his days walking from place to place, talking to ordinary folks about extraordinary truth, and, on occasion – mostly in out of the way places – working miracles.

God hasn’t changed. He still walks this earth and works through those willing to follow Him, touching people with His love and truth in very ordinary ways. A warm meal. A kind word. A listening ear. A cup of cold water.

And sometimes – mostly in out of the way places – He still works miracles.

God has prepared good works, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

When have you seen God work through your “ordinary day”? Share with us!

Want to read more? Read The Extraordinary Ordinary

The Extraordinary Ordinary

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by Lydia Floren

We spend most of our lives doing ordinary tasks. We may be stirring a pot, or bandaging a scrape, or commuting to work. We may be taking a class, or hammering a nail, or tending a sick patient.

God is in these moments.

The secret of contentment is to celebrate God’s presence in our ordinary lives. When we welcome Him in to our every-day, He blesses even the most mundane activities with a transcendence that is akin to worship.

Our ordinary is extraordinary.

How have you experienced the extraordinary ordinary?

The Miracle

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“Whenever I have seen God’s wondrous work, …the thing that has always impressed me the most was the absolute quietness in which it was done.” -A.B. Simpson

When God drew His first breath as a human being, it wasn’t to great fanfare or a noisy celebration. His entrance into this world was a relatively quiet affair. It was eventful, yes, in the “Oh my gracious the baby is coming” sort of way. Painful. Messy. Joyful. It was an ordinary – albeit always extraordinary – birth.

And yet it was also miraculous. Jesus’ birth marked the first time that God lived within a person. As a Person.

Thirty-three or so years later, this extraordinary God-man named Jesus was murdered.

Jesus died, but He was not defeated. Jesus overcame the grave, and the power of evil in this world, and returned home. And then He sent back a gift to every person willing to accept it: the gift of Himself.

And so the miracle continues. Immanuel. God with us. God living within us, transforming our ordinary lives with His extraordinary presence.

Don’t miss a moment of it, obsessing about something you think you want, and then trying to figure out how to get it.

The truth is, all you or I ever truly want or need is right here with us, within us.
Loving us.
Healing us.
Guiding us.
Giving us the deep soul-satisfying life that can only come from Him.

A miracle. THE Miracle. Immanuel—God with us.

What I Want

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by Lydia Floren

Sometimes I avoid God. I’m not even sure why. Maybe I am afraid. Or I don’t want to feel guilty. Or maybe I don’t want to change. Or I don’t want to face myself. I don’t. I don’t. I don’t.

What do I want?

I DO want to press past my guilt to forgiveness.
I DO want to be free of my compulsions.
And I DO long to—need to—hear God say:

All is well, Child. All is well. I love you right now, just as you are. Always have. Always will. There is nothing you can do that will change that.

I am here. I am not going anywhere. There is no need to be afraid. You are safe. You are not on this journey alone.

Now come to Me, Dear One.
Step into My love
Receive My embrace.
Tell Me what’s on your heart.
Listen to My wisdom.
First Come.
Then follow.

What I want – what I need – is to be loved. Only then can I love as He calls me to love. No need to avoid God. He is the best thing that ever happened to me!
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matt. 11:28 NIV

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

This holiday season, Be loved. And then Love. Soak in God’s love and shine!

Celebrating Immanuel – God With Us

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by Lydia Floren

I made a new friend at a conference last summer, a writer named Letitia Suk. In her wonderful book Rhythms of Renewal, Tish mentioned her practice of recording a few things everyday in a thanksgiving journal. I was inspired. I started a thanksgiving journal of my own. (I’m still a bit spotty, but the habit is taking hold.)

As I mentioned last week, it is easy for me to forget to actually give thanks TO God. In the same way, I can also neglect to give thanks FOR God. Like the prodigal and his brother, in focusing on the Father’s gifts, I can overlook His greatest gift: Himself.

So I have an idea for advent: each time I write in my thanksgiving journal, I will try to include at least one attribute of God that I am particularly thankful for. For example:

Thank you Father, for 

Your kindness
Your wisdom
Your sense of humor
Your beauty
Your grace
Your strength
Your consistency
Your faithfulness
Thank you for the ways I have seen You and known You more this year

Thanking God for Himself. What a wonderful way to celebrate Immanuel – God with us!

What a wonderful way of welcoming in advent!

Share with us: What qualities of God are you particularly thankful for?

Giving Thanks At Thanksgiving

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Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17
I just got back from an amazing trip literally to the other side of the world. I was invited to come and speak at a women’s conference, the first one specifically for women that the hosts had ever organized. I was humbled, and frankly a bit afraid; I was speaking 7 times in 2 days, and to folks from a completely different culture. I prayed. And prepared. And prayed. And others prayed with me. And God showed up. Every day. And in ways I didn’t anticipate.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to share a bit more of what I saw and learned, but today I thought it would be appropriate just to write on one topic from the conference: “Be Thankful.” I know, I know. To those of you that follow my blog, you know how much I have written about giving thanks. Nothing new there. But the reason I keep circling back to thanks-giving is because this habit has had such an impact in my life. The more I focus on giving thanks to God, the more I find my life transformed. And so, there is often something new I am learning about thanks-giving.

Here’s what I mean. On Thanksgiving Day, of course we Americans are reminded to give thanks. Amid feasting and family and football, we often stop and think—and even verbalize—some things we are thankful for. In our family, this happens during The Big Meal. (Might I add, the only meal I truly cook the whole weekend!). Sometime between turkey and pumpkin pie, we all lean back in our chairs and take turns mentioning things in the past year we are particularly grateful for.

It’s a good thing to do.
But it is easy to emphasize blessings, more than The Giver of those blessings. When it is my turn at the table, I will say what I am thankful for. But, I can often forget to mention Who I am thankful to. I often neglect to actually say the words, “Thank you God.” Like the eleven lepers, I am thrilled with the gifts, but I’m not expressing gratitude to The Giver.

Thanks-giving has a point. A person on the other end. A person that we are thanking.

To truly give thanks, there must be a recipient: someone we giving thanks TO.

So, this year as you rejoice in your blessings, remember WHO you are thankful TO: the Giver of every good and perfect gift. And then take a little time to actually say the words to Him.

Say, “Thank You God.”

It’s a good thing to do.

This season, what are you especially thankful to God for?