Tell Us Your Secrets

I was asked to be a "prayer person" at a concert/praise and worship program my church put on this past weekend.  At a specific part of the program people were encouraged to come forward and be prayed over by a few of us who had the honor to play that role.  Sometimes my church is a little...hesitant to ask for prayer.  I'm not sure why, whenever someone asks to pray for me I'm all in; my life has been profoundly impacted by prayers for me. (unless they are one of those self-righteous churchianity people who just want to "pray" and tell me what I should be doing differently.)  Molly Page, a fellow blogger at http://www.aforeignland.org gets credit for the term churchianity.  It says it so well, yes?

At any rate, I had been praying all week that people would come forward, that they would be blessed in their vulnerability and that they would leave knowing that God had spoken to them.  People did come for prayer.  (Yes!!)  I held hands, hugged, cried, and laughed while praying.  When we ran out of time and turned our attention back to singing I noticed that I felt incredible joy and peace.  Completely....transcendent.

As I sat there after the prayer time, I asked God how I could do it more often.  It builds my faith and serves people in such a profound way.  An idea came and I can just picture an angel whispering it in my ear.

Kathy and Gale and I have talked and prayed about what to add to the blog.  We want it to be a community.  A place where you can bring questions and well, your heart.  So here is the idea.  We are going to start posting more than once a week.  We are going to ask that if you have prayers requests, you send them to us (after you've signed up for our mailing list of course!) and we will post your prayer request along with our written prayer for you.  You can sign your name or leave it anonymously but you will get some prayers and we would love it if you leave comments to let us know how God is answering.  Posting it will allow those who follow the blog to be involved in the praying too.

A FAIR WARNING:  I'm not talking about fluffy safe prayers.  We welcome and challenge you to bring the real stuff.  The wrestle with it in the night stuff.  I feel a little ill at stale prayers...not because I'm judging, but because I know somehow people have learned that it isn't safe to pray the real stuff.  They'll be judged.  Or they have this idea that they have to be "nice" when talking to God.  Read a little about David in the Psalms. He got downright snotty with God and I figure if he was called a man after God's own heart that God can handle us when we are snotty, scared, petulant, greedy, arrogant, whiny, angry, pathetic...you get the idea.  I will also warn you that I do not edit or censor my prayers and so at times I may say things to God that make you uncomfortable.  There is no disrespect.  There is only heart.  OK?  I believe that part of the reason people are leaving Christianity is because they are literally sick of fake.  Of words without passion and prayers without power.  I fervently pray that this will never be the case here.  We believe that people will come to this blog because there is power in God's presence even in the blogosphere!  So who would like to start us off?  Any needs for prayer this week?  We can't wait to talk to God on your behalf.

JUST TO BE CLEAR:
We are asking that you post your prayers in the comment section of this post for now.  We will figure out later how to make it an ongoing section of the blog.  If it is something sensitive, please post anonymously because we will be blogging on it and millions of people the world over will have access to it. (Not that millions will see right now, but they will have access!)  As a therapist I'm a little zealous about confidentiality and all that good stuff.  These won't be confidential so please be aware of that!

Comments Returned!!

As promised I have begun to be more consistent about responding to comments!  As of now, anyone who has ever left a comment on our blog has got a response waiting so please feel free to go back through posts.  Also, if you sign up as a subscriber, the site will automatically notify you if comments are posted.  Yeah for community!!  Looking forward to future discussions!!

We Were Made for More

Is there a whisper in your heart that tells you you were made for more than what you're doing right now?

I have one and it is so incessant I struggle to relax at times.  It pushes and prods me, at times, to distraction. It has a Spiritual connection because my particular voice whispers about a calling God gave me years ago that I haven't yet felt like I was fulfilling.  It is an ache, an irritation, a drive, an inspiration, a push.  And it doesn't stop.

A few weeks ago I asked God to quickly get rid of anything that was getting in the way of my calling.  I told Him that if I freaked out because of too many changes too fast that I would trust Him to walk me through it.  I don't know what I expected, but what I got was getting roped into a class I didn't intend to keep teaching, asked to give up cable television (one of my all time favorite things to do), put on a budget, and impressed to drastically change my diet. Predictably, I got mad.  I felt trapped and irritated to find myself living a life that on the outside looks more restricted than the legalist religious crap that I embraced growing up.

I have wrestled with this until the moments I remember I asked for this.  I am tired of living with the ache of knowing I'm not all I'm meant to be.  That there are things that God has designed for me that I am missing because I have to watch the next episode of Castle...but seriously are Beckett and Castle not adorable?  I digress...

I was praying this morning about all these things God has me doing...living on a budget, letting go of fear around money, eating right, exercising, letting there be enough quiet in the house that I can hear His voice.  I noticed that the benefits have been outweighing the struggles and that there is something inside me that is doing things differently, it is not me.  When I struggle I have been looking up and saying, "This is your problem."  I didn't grow up really understanding that I can't do anything on my own, but I can do anything with Him.  This morning I felt Him tell me that this is what will prepare me for the more He has for me.  That as I learn to be faithful to these things, my faith is being prepared for more.

So bloggers, what is getting in the way of your "more?"

Note: As a relatively new blogger I am learning things each week and what I recently realized is that when people leave comments, they like to hear a response.  Imagine that!  According to my stats page there have been 15 comments and I have not responded to any of them.  I will be rectifying that and not letting it happen in the future.  We want a very interactive community!  This will help us meet your needs and if nothing else it is way more fun!  So leave those comments!  We look forward to getting to know you better.

Things to Come

Since I didn't post last week, I wanted to double up this week and let you know that Kathy, Gale, and I have been cooking some things up recently.  Be on the lookout for the String of Pearls team to be bringing added value and extra posts in the near future.  I am very excited that you will be hearing from Gale and Kathy soon too!!

The Woman Behind "Four Praise Songs!"

My most popular post thus far is called "Four Praise Songs" and in it I talk about how I finally got an idea for working out that is actually working for me.  The friend I got this from is Mary Thompson.  This week's blog will highlight a business Mary has developed (one of many) and for any of you who need some help with designing your home, this might also be a good opportunity.  But first I just want to tell you about my friend.

Mary is a single mother of four amazing, although challenging young adults. (I should know, I used to babysit them.)  In the picture she looks calm and professional but the Mary I know dances to praise music in her kitchen (she used to be a professional dancer), she usually has paint splattered somewhere on her person, her house is usually a wreck (but so full of life and love), and she is one of the few women I have ever met who is able to flirt like a crazy person and have it remain completely harmless and boundaried.

Mary and I met about 13 years ago when I visited a 12-step meeting.  Mary was leading that night and telling her story.  I remember being amazed by her and captivated by the atmosphere in the room as she shared about her life.  There was a passion and strength about Mary that stayed with me.  But I didn't go back to the meeting.  I was struggling in a painful marriage at the time and I wasn't sure this meeting was what I needed.  Flash forward a year and I was in enough pain that I came back.  I didn't care if it was where "I fit", I needed a place to talk, to have it remain confidential, and where I wouldn't be judged.  (It would be nice if all our churches were this way, huh?  But I digress...) I felt like I cried in that meeting every week for about a year.  Mary was in that meeting regularly and her shares were a sort of lifeline for me.  She had been through similar circumstances and was alive and vibrant.

Eventually I worked up my nerve to ask her to sponsor me and thus began our more structured relationship.  Because she was my sponsor she got to know me REALLY well.  Over the years Mary has walked with me through everything...my divorce, moves, and getting accepted to grad school at Vanderbilt. (We screamed like 7th grade cheerleaders when I got my acceptance letter).  We did Bible study together, prayed together, sometimes yelled at each other, and eventually I was able to walk with her through a time of horrific pain in her own life.  Our bond is now that of sisters.

You may have picked up that I think a lot of this amazing woman.  I actually think this is the hardest blog I've written so far because I so much want to do justice to who she is and what our relationship has meant to me.  I remember coming to visit her in Nashville after I moved away.  I had not had any sleep the night before and I remember feeling completely lost because I so wanted to talk and spend time together and I could hardly see straight.  I was afraid that she would be angry because I was too tired to really spend time together.  She didn't get angry, she just put me to bed...in her bed.  She has been absolutely and unconditionally loving to me.  Calling me on it when I was being an idiot but never ever faltering in her love for me.  I have absolutely no idea how I got so blessed because when we met I was an absolute mess.  She taught me God's grace and up until the time I finally got it, she was quite fond of telling me I had no idea what it looked like.

Mary had been a stay at home mom most of her married life and at times bartered her design skills for things her family needed.  After her divorce she had a family member tell her she was going to have to get a job at Walmart.  She didn't feel this was God's calling for her and over the last few years I have seen her continually grow as an entrepreneur.  She has many businesses, but for the purposes of this blog we'll focus on her design business.  Mary calls herself a design coach because rather than foisting her own design signature on people she finds out what works for them and helps them put it together.  Please check out her blog at www.mydesigncoach.com.  Mary has agreed to offer an internet special for anyone who contacts her as a result of this blog.

Mary knows that one of the main reasons people struggle with decorating is because they don't always know what they like.  This is the area Mary shines!  For the purposes of this blog, Mary has put together a deal that will allow you to define your style.  This offer is for a phone consult with 3 follow up emails for $89.00.  Please contact her through her website or at mydesigncoach@gmail.com.  If you live in the Nashville area and have a design project she is available for consult as well.

Define Your Style!

Phone Consult

3 Follow Up Emails

$89.00

mydesigncoach@gmail.com

www.mydesigncoach.com