The Gratitude Challenge

Posted on 8th Oct 2011 by Alison

Over the past couple months or so, I realized I’d lost the sense of wonder and awe at the gift of life. I had let myself come under this grey “blah” feeling that permeated through many aspects of my life. I had a general lack of excitement for life and for the future. I started to think that the portion the Lord had given me was not good, and that I was missing out, or I was missing the mark and failing continually. It got me thinking a lot about “wonder and awe”… and what it’s like to live WITHOUT it…. It sucks to live without it, really. And it got me thinking about what it’s like to live WITH wonder and awe…

A child has a sense of wonder. A child has a sense of awe, at the simplest of things. But, as adults, we often take life for granted. Hello, Alison! Wake up! You’re ALIVE for God’s sake! ALIVE! It can happen so easily… by little actions and little attitudes embraced day after day… that we lose this childlike wonder and awe at LIFE, itself.

The key to restoring awe and wonder? GRATITUDE. As we begin to thank God for every little and big thing in our life, every single day, we begin to realize all the wonder-full and awe-some things that are right under our noses.

It was like God’s Spirit came in so suddenly and swiftly, impressing upon me that I had lost my sense of wonder and my sense of gratitude for all the GOOD and WONDERFUL things (big and small) that truly are in my life, and that have been given to me on a daily basis. I felt the Spirit prodding me to commit to the following: Continue reading →

WHO AM I? :: The starting point for all relationships

Posted on 4th Oct 2011 by Alison

I have been reading a great book by Kris Vallotton called Sexual Revolution, now renamed Moral Revolution which is described as “the naked truth about sexual purity”. He’s also set up a website devoted to helping people in their journey of sexual purity. The book has been so clear in drawing the connection between our relationships and our values and the virtues we uphold within those relationships. I highly recommend it. You can read the first chapter for free here.

Relationships are ALL about our identity and HOW WE SEE OURSELVES FIRST. Vallotton so wisely wrote:

‘Once we decide WHO we are, then we will naturally work out our actions, attitudes and behaviours to manifest our person. It is vitally important that we answer the question, “WHO AM I?” BEFORE getting into a romantic relationship with someone.’ (Kris Vallotton)

Upon reading this, I was reminded of a season a few years ago where I was faced with some relational possibilities and I was faced with a challenge to my values. There seemed to be quite the WIDE divide between what I thought I wanted and valued, and the reality of the kind of guy that I seemed to keep getting involved with. This gap between values and reality really concerned me and sent me into a season of soul-searching and much writing. I started to write to get to the root of WHY I kept getting involved with guys who didn’t share my values. I came to discover that at the heart of the matter was shame — I was ashamed to admit to others (even to CHRISTIAN guys) that I was a really wholesome, clean-cut girl and that I liked to keep the rules and not push boundaries. I LIKED being “a good girl”. I just didn’t like being a rebel, or a boundary-pusher, and yet I felt that I had to go along with the flow of what others (and other Christians) seemed to think was cool — it seemed that it was cool to live on the fringe of pushing boundaries within the Christian life. Yup, this was the problem. I was trying to be cool because I didn’t want to be accused of being a “prude” (even though, now, you could call me a prude and I’d be fine with it, ‘cos God will call me pure and undefiled and that’s all that matters) Continue reading →

The Call to Hiddenness

Posted on 20th Sep 2011 by Alison

Note: The following is not my writing. I have taken excerpts from Father Robert Wild’s book Journey to the Heart of Christ, a classic book on the call to the “Little Mandate” of Catherine Doherty, which I would describe as a clear call to the lifestyle of the Sermon on the Mount. This is a special book – in the Top 20 books in my library — that has brought me to my knees, to face the Father in humility. So deep, so full of meat, but so simple; you could blink and miss it. You must read it with the eyes of your spirit, not with the winking eyes of the world.

Happy hiding to you,
Alison

By Father Robert Wild

Isn’t it true that most of life grows in hiddenness? The Lord spoke of the seed growing in the hiddenness of the earth, and the farmer not knowing how it grows. The baby grows in the hiddenness and darkness of the womb. Dreams and desires grow in our hearts; thoughts in our minds. The artist, the composer, the philosopher, creating in their solitudes – are not the beginnings of life almost always hidden from view?

Hiddenness, in this sense, is an act of hope, an act of reliance on God’s power to bring forth life. The seed dying, the baby growing slowly, the artist creating in solitude, not knowing often what fruits his creation will have, hoping it will give life and beauty to the world.

An embracing of hiddenness is an act of reliance on God’s power to bring forth life: “Only God can make things grow,” says St. Paul. Hiddenness results from the desire that God shine forth and be glorified and not ourselves.

“For only by being hidden would I be a light to my neighbour’s feet in the slums; and that all my fears would be taken away.”

“Let us always wish to remain hidden in one way or another. For ours is the apostolate of the alleyways, of the lonely places of the world.” (Catherine Doherty)

We tend to equate effectiveness and having influence with “popularity” and “being known.” To have any influence in the world, it is thought, you must enter the public realm and start moving the world around. The modern world considers being unknown equivalent to being without influence.

Real effectiveness in the world is totally bound up with union with God. It is not a question of being known or unknown, but of doing the Father’s will. Whoever is doing the Father’s will is helping to heal the world. Enter this mystery of hiddenness by simply being before the Father’s face at all times. If we could just be in this sense, we would, by that very fact, be a light to the world. To be a light you don’t have to be a “big shot”: Continue reading →

The Wisdom of “I’m Sorry”

Posted on 14th Sep 2011 by Alison

We are fallen creatures. We are weak, frail, and broken. We fail one another, daily. This life gives us ample opportunities to learn about the wisdom of “I’m sorry.” This is a wisdom that does not come naturally to us. Our natural inclination is toward self-defense, self-preservation and self-protection because of our pride. Naturally, we do not like to apologize. No way. We’d much rather throw mud back at someone else and shift the blame off of ourselves. But, drawing on a quote that I read in a book when I was growing up, the truth of the matter is:

“When you throw dirt, you’re the one losing ground.”

So true. Blaming others and not owning our failures and wrongs, actually hurts us, in the end, and keeps us in emotional and spiritual immaturity. We can’t grow up if we can’t say “I’m sorry.”

It’s like a car without a reverse gear - it’s not safe to drive. Do you have a reverse gear in you that enables you to turn around and back up when you’ve gone down the wrong road? We don’t condemn the car that has a reverse gear and turns around when it’s gone the wrong way. No, we’d call it a car that’s working properly. We’d question the safety of a car that had no reverse gear and just kept trying to drive forward, when it was going in the wrong direction.

Are we a safe car, or are we dangerous, when driving down the relational roads of life?

Apologizing is like using the reverse gear in a car. It’s normal and expected. Continue reading →

Praying for Divine Order in Your Life

Posted on 7th Sep 2011 by Alison

A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post from Justin Rizzo, one of the main worship leaders at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City where he shared about how he has prayed a prayer for divine order in his life for 2 years now and how it has transformed his life.

I, personally, had felt out of order in my life for a few months now and, after reading that blog post, I thought that I should commit to praying this prayer and tweak it for my own life. So a few weeks ago, I began praying this prayer (below) and asking God to bring divine order in my life, no matter what the cost. Better that my life gets shaken and ruffled up a bit, than for me to live a disordered life and remain unchanged. Read the prayer and then continue on to hear of how God has radically shifted my life below!

Here’s the prayer I’m praying (and am committed to praying daily for the next year or, ideally, the rest of my life!) Download the PDF Prayer here or read it below: Continue reading →