single!Young Christian Woman

7 Devotional Revamps

A HeAltHieR Hot CHoColAte

Special "Broken" Issue!

A P U B L I C AT I O N O F O N M Y O W N N O W M I N I S T R I E S JAN/FeB 2014

w w w. o n m y o w n n o w. c o m

z

Center RingBeauty in a Broken Heartby Chiquita Adams

.6

Moving Out...Settling InBroken Peopleby Jason Moore

Spare ChangeRemnants of Christmas by Kateyln Larson

.12

.14

in this issue...

Down-home Healthy Cookin' for OneA Healthier Hot Chocolateby Reba Ray

.8

Just What You Need7 Devotional Revamps

Single! Young Christian WomanJAN/FEB 2014, Vol. 6

On My Own Now Ministries, Inc., Publisher

Donna Lee Schillinger, Editor

Kimberly M. SchlutermanEditorial Support

ContributorsChiquita Adams, Katlyn Larson, Jason Moore

Except where noted, content is copy-right 2014 On My Own Now Ministries. Articles may be reprinted with credit to author, Single! and www.OnMyOwn-Now.com.

On My Own Now Ministries, Inc. is a nonprofit organization with a 501 (c) (3) determination. Your donations aid in our mission to encourage faith, wise life choices and Christ-likeness in young adults during their transition to living on their own.

We welcome submissions of original or repurposed articles that are contributed without expectation of compensation. May God repay you.

Visit us at www.OnMyOwnNow.com.

.10

Straight Talk from the ProverbsTake My Heart (or what's left of it, anyway)by Donna Lee Schillinger

.4

For the person who will remain in close relationship with the Most High, there is rest and comfort in the protection of the Almighty.

What can I say about my God? He’s my escape, my safe place, my rest and I have full confidence in him.

God tucks you in snugly under his protective wing; your defense is found in his care.

That’s where there is no fear of your house being burglarized while you sleep or drive-by shootings during the day; nor the boogie man at night; nor the malaria-carrying mosquito during the day.

A thousand people may die, ten thousand people in close proximity, but you come out unscathed. You’re just an eye witnesses to the consequences of degenerate human nature.

If you will admit that your comfort and protection are solely in God and you remain in harmonious relationship with him, no harm will overtake you; no disaster will come near the place where you lay your head.

He will command his angels to take care of you wherever you go—even to the extent of giving you a little boost to keep you from stubbing your toe on a rock.

You can walk right by a lion or a cobra; for that matter, you could step on a lion or snake.

“Because she loves me,” God says, “That’s why I watch out for her. I will protect her because she gives me the credit I deserve. When she calls, I’ll answer. I’ll be right there with her when things get scary, and I’ll see her through it, and honor her with my protection. I’ll give her a long and satisfying life, and she will see how I preserve my own.”

Read More Scripture (how I would say it)

Can’t touCh thisPsalm 91 (how I would say It)

k

4

moving out

by Jason Moore

Tim Keller is a pastor in Manhattan, New York, who has the ability to say things in thought-provoking

ways. In a recent sermon, he made the statement that God is attracted to the unwanted, the unloved, the weak and the broken. However this overlooked or downtrodden group of people is described, Keller’s claim remains the same. Is it true? Is God really attracted to broken people? Keller tells us that one of the proofs backing this up is the way God interacts in the life of Jacob as recorded in the Old Testament. Jacob was the younger of twins. Even though he was born second after his brother Esau, actually hanging on to his brother’s foot, he was

still considered the younger of the two, and therefore, less privileged. In ancient culture, the firstborn son was given a double portion of his parents’ estate. The oldest was often favored just because of his birth order.But that wasn’t the only thing working against Jacob. Esau was his father’s favorite, not only because he was the eldest, but also because his dad was easily drawn to him. Esau was a skilled hunter—a real manly man. He consistently made his father proud by his brawny achievements.In contrast, Jacob was more of a businessman. While this didn’t necessarily make him unmanly, he certainly was not as

Broken People

k5

settling In

by Jason Moore

rugged as his brother. In fact, he favored his mother. Maybe this was, in part, because his mother favored him over his brother. In any case, he felt the cruel sting of being unwanted and undervalued by his dad. That kind of rejection is difficult for anyone to overcome. The resulting feelings of shame caused Jacob to become a man aching for approval, acceptance and affection lacking from his father.In time, Jacob did find what he so badly needed. Rather, it found him. During one desperate night, God came to Jacob and his life was changed for good.The seeds of deception which Jacob had been sowing in the lives of his father, brother and uncle were fully grown and ready to harvest. Having found his brother in a moment of weakness, Jacob seized the opportunity and scammed Esau out of his birth right. He also lied to his father to gain the blessing meant for his brother, and after years of a mutually dishonest relationship with his uncle, he was literally forced to run for his life. As he ran with his entire family and all his earthly possessions, he must have felt completely isolated from the world. Exhausted, he found himself alone that night in the middle of nowhere. He grabbed a rock for a pillow and fell asleep. Suddenly, he had a vision that heaven opened up and God was standing over him while angels ascended and descended from heaven. God promised to be with Jacob and to bless him like He had his father and his father’s father before him (Genesis 28:10-15).Is God attracted to broken people? Looking at the way God dealt with Jacob, it would seem so. In the Bible, God doesn’t seek out the best and the brightest. He is not in search of superstars. Jesus Christ wasn’t even

a superstar while on earth. He was a humble craftsman having no status or reputation. God doesn’t respect others the way we often do. Instead, “He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed” (Proverbs 3:34). God’s consistent that way. He’s drawn to the broken. He causes the broken to become whole and the weak to become strong. He loves the unlovely. He favors the unwanted. The apostle Paul once explained to a church in Corinth that,

“God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world

and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).If God is truly attracted to the broken, that is good news for us! None of us are too broken for God to love. God deeply loves the broken. He does not reject us or run from us because of our imperfections. In fact, He runs toward us. He embraces us. It is through messed up things that God’s glory shines the brightest. God is attracted to the unloved, the unwanted, the weak and the desperately broken. We need not hide from Him or allow our shame to keep us in the dark. God has given His approval, acceptance and affection to severely broken people. If we turn to Him in our brokenness, we will experience His love and peace in our lives.

Jason Moore is a church-planting pastor with the Presbyterian Church in America. More than that, he is a child of God saved by His amazing grace. It is his hope that, come what may, God will use his life to display the love of God and make His goodness known.

Is God attracted to broken peoiple?

I got married at the ripe old age of 37. Some may say I was wise to have waited as long

as I did. Though I never intended to be quite that old at the altar, throughout my 20s, I felt proud for not having married young and instead having completed my education and made a few strides in a career.

Whereas I’m pleased with the person I became and the man I ended up with, I wish I had gotten here via another path. I am sad to say, that I have found that the highly touted strategy of playing the field to prepare oneself for marital bliss is misleading and overrated. It’s true that it does enable a person to refine likes and

dislikes and personal criteria for a mate. And if we could just do that it would be okay. The collateral damage we don’t hear about is how all those experiences pollute our mind and heart for years and decades – I can attest to that much anyway – and maybe even our entire life. Do you know what one love that ends in a broken heart, another love that ends in a hardened heart, and still another that results in a forever-longing heart add up to? A person with a broken, hardened and forever-longing heart. Is that what you want to bring into a relationship?

There is a better way, the way God would have led me, had I followed Him and not

by Donna Lee Schillinger

k

6

straight talk

NMany claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find? Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?

Proverbs 20:6, 9

Take my HearT(or what’s left of it, anyway)

k7

from the proverbs

gone my own way. Although my dating experiences gave me valuable perspective, they also had some very undesirable consequences, one of which pertains to our proverb.

First of all, the white wedding dress wasn’t fooling anyone as I walked down the isle with a six-year-old daughter. On my wedding day, I hoped I could put my prodigal years in the past and start anew with my heart completely dedicated to my husband. The problem is that the old cliché about putting the past behind you is just a cute play on words. In a spiritual sense, we can effectively turn our back on the past through the victory we claim in Christ. In a practical, physical sense, we still have to live with the natural consequences of our past.

I am completely committed to my husband, but I confess I cannot delete my memory. Consequently, the most mundane things unintentionally cause me to recall experiences with old boyfriends. For instance, long piers, great white sharks and the Spanish word for “hill” all remind me of a certain Italian surfer I once loved. Bagels and lox, the Zionist movement and Rosh Hashanah on the calendar remind me of a Jewish soldier I once loved. I dated so diversely and for so long, that there is very little in life that doesn’t remind me of some past relationship, and often, they are fond memories. As soon as I become aware that I’m dwelling on the past, I shut the memories down and focus on the present again. However, at times, I can be consumed in those thoughts of the past for many minutes before I realize where my mind is. Does this sound conducive to a successful marriage?

My husband has consuming memories of his own, I’m sure. There’s nothing we can do to erase those memories. However, we have a mutually agreed upon philosophy that, in general, we should not rehash old relationship stories with each other. I’m afraid I often forget myself and out will pop a quirky anecdote that involved a former boyfriend. Fortunately, my husband always reacts with some of those wonderful qualities for which I married him: patience, tolerance and understanding.

If I could redesign my past, I would have lived in a family with happily married parents, hit adulthood with a healthy criterion for selecting a life partner and yes, I still would have dated some, but I never would have allowed myself to fall in love with someone I knew I didn’t have a future with. I would have kept my heart pure and given it only to one man. I would have kept my body pure and let my first sexual experience permanently bond me to my husband. This isn’t some idealist fantasy; it’s God’s will for us. I know people who had just this experience and are very happily married. I admire those people.

Hold this thought: I will save not only my body but also my heart

for my husband.

Take my HearT(or what’s left of it, anyway)

k

8

center ring

Beauty in a Broken Heart

Quoting C.S. Lewis: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it

to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” Previously, my idea of beauty was best exemplified in a mosaic style glass art, breathtaking sunset, a balletic waltz, and the newest coral color of Revlon jumbo lip balm. Never would I have imagined topping this list with “a broken heart,” but life has a way of shifting our focus and it just so happened that mine zoomed in on a place where beauty and brokenness seem to coexist. It’s a vague memory, but I still recall the pain as if it were yesterday. I had given my heart away to a relationship of four years; hoping it would lead to my happily ever after, but instead it ended in a

By Chiquita Adams

k9

feature article

nightmare, with unfaithfulness and shattered trust cloaked in betrayal. As all of the good memories capitulated to reality, I felt a sudden necessity to purge all memorabilia connected to this page in my past. Emotionally, I battled thoughts of inadequacy in my appearance and identity as a woman. I questioned my value in the eyes of men, and compared myself constantly to other women. I digested the lies of the enemy that I was unworthy of being loved and had been deserving of the actions that left me bitter and hopeless. With little explanation or closure, I was left all alone to sweep up the broken pieces of insecurities. I quickly began to unravel in the realization that the only thing worse than losing this relationship was losing a part of myself along with it. I became deeply depressed and resorted to isolation to further conceal my crushed spirit. I was even disgruntled with God and chose to abandon my prayer life because I didn’t understand how to accept what I had been given and find meaning in it all. Yet, in this state of despair I was met with the very essence of love which slowly began to work a makeover on my heart. In efforts to cope, I attended a few young adult retreats during which I began to re-examine the role my faith played in answering the hard questions of where God had been, where He presently was, and to where He was calling me. I felt safe within this faith-sharing environment and I learned that God’s great love and mercy remained available to me at this time I most needed them. I found great comfort in reading Christian self-help books and following online blogs specifically geared to provide encouragement for women dealing with issues of self-love and acceptance. These resources directed me to meditate on the lives of influential women in the Bible that suffered greatly in various ways, and how God was always able to restore them to a place of

victory and renewal. No longer was I hostage to the idea that this brokenness would redefine me, instead I was able to trust in God’s love to start another chapter, after what I had felt like was the end to my story. I found true freedom in letting go of the preconceived notions of what I expected love to look like. I began to redefine love by God’s standards, which helped me to establish realistic expectations for my relationships. Next came a realignment of my priorities. Before, God took a backseat to my love life. I was so busy with what I wanted that I didn’t care about what was in my best interest. By replacing my wants with His, I can choose wisely what I invest in emotionally, spiritually and physically. With eyes wide open, I know that love in any form involves taking an unavoidable risk that my heart will be broken again. When I first realized this, it seemed a morbid contradiction—a dark side to love. But when we choose to view life through the lenses of God’s grace, we are granted true insight into life’s most difficult circumstances. As for this broken heart, I’ve filed it as a test of faith. For God has promised in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good for those who love God; who are called according to His purpose. In God’s vast purpose, our every experience counts toward transforming our lives to reveal His beauty within.

Chiquita Adams is a Freelance Writer and native of Fort Walton Beach Florida currently serving in the United States Air Force as a Knowledge Operations Management Specialist. Off duty she enjoys traveling, blogging, salsa dancing, and late night frozen yogurt runs. You can visit her at simplybecome.org.

Beauty in a Broken Heart

Spare Change

by Katelyn Larson

Sitting in the comfort of my family home with a cozy sweatshirt and a cup of tea

over the holidays, I began bouncing ideas off of my Mom for topic for my “penny-pinching purchases” theme. As I expressed concern to my Mom about the typical financial dilemmas for women my age, especially during the holiday season, our conversation quickly turned from cute, cheap Christmas gifts to materialism in American culture.

I don’t know about you, but as a solid believer in Christ, I never like to think of myself as “materialistic,” and especially not at this time of year. However, as my eyes hopped around our living room from Christmas stockings to sparkly red ornaments to presents under

our tree, I began to wonder if it was not an appropriate title after all. I quickly realized that I was surrounded by reminders of the American version of the Christmas season. Pops of greens and reds, Santas all shapes and sizes, elves, snowmen, frosted garlands, etc. Everywhere.

Amidst the dancing Frosty the snowman and Santa travelling around on a plastic train that circles our thoroughly decorated tree, there lay a nativity scene. My gazed eventually fixed on a porcelain baby Jesus in a manger. And just like that, I realized what this article really needed to be about, or rather who the article needed to be about.

Remnants of Christmas

A Porcelain Baby Jesus and a Priceless Gift of Love

10

k

By the time you sit down to read this, you are more than likely in the middle of the tedious process of packing away ornaments and perhaps even covering some Christmas china in bubble wrap. However, I am sure that many of you are not quite ready to part with the catchy Christmas tunes and not particularly prepared to venture up on your roof or out on your balcony to take down the lights. In addition to clinging to the music and lights, I suggest that we also hold tight to another aspect of the Christmas season, in fact, to quote a cliché, the true reason for the season. In a culture that is submerged in materialism, and following a season that supports that mindset, now is the perfect time to remind ourselves of Christ’s unfathomable generosity and to prepare ourselves for a new year that reflects that gracious Son’s life. As 2014 rounds the corner and the weight of Christ’s sacrifice in coming to earth still rests in our minds, let us keep our eyes fixed on Him and remember to give of our time and money just as Christ gave for us.

With that being said, I spent a great deal of time, more than was probably necessary, debating as to whether or not this article would contain practical and specific ways for us to display Christ’s love and generosity. I even did plenty of research and wrote out a number of opportunities and recommendations for selfless service in a previous draft. However, I have decided against the idea, and my reason for excluding these specific recommendations is absolutely intentional.

My recommendation is not to give out of an obligation. This is certainly not meant to be a guilt trip. God never sent His Son because of an obligation, and neither should we. Instead, I urge you to give out of a love for what the baby Jesus that is more than likely

still sitting in a porcelain manger in your own home, surrounded by leftover Santas and tinsel and bubble lights, came to selflessly and graciously give us—the priceless gift of love. In 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul writes, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Spend some time deciding how you feel the Lord is leading you to love others this coming year. As you prepare for the New Year and contemplate what sort of year you would like it to be, ask yourself instead what kind of year God would like it to be. What has He laid on your heart? Who has He laid on your heart? A family? An organization? My hope and prayer is not that this article will convince you that, as a Christian, you should to give to those in need. Rather, my hope and prayer is that this article will convict you to think about the way you perhaps drift unintentionally through each year, and to instead, determine a way to make each day more pleasing to your heavenly Father.

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” 1 John 4:9-12.

Katelyn Larson is a freelance writer/editor with a bachelor’s in Business Management and English from Corban University. She has edited numerous devotionals for a small business in Portland, Ore., and is currently editing a book for the dean of Corban University’s business department.

9

k

k

14

A few years back I offered up a few recipes on something hot and sweet to put in your

mug on a winter day like today. I thought I’d recycle and reuse this, addin’ one more hot drink to the mix—a healthier hot chocolate. What makes it healthier? Well, it’s the molas-ses, a’course. Molasses doesn’t spike the blood sugar like regular sugar does and it has a whole heap of other health benefits, from being high in iron to (ironically, since iron can be a consti-pator) helping to soften the stool—and I ain’t talkin’ about yur chair!

My healthier hot chocolate tastes like it was made with bittersweet chocolate rather than milk chocolate, which personally appeals to me more. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc., for when company comes a callin’, and each of the others yields a coupla mugs full.

Healthier Hot Chocolate

6 oz favorite milk (almond, skim, soy, 2%...)

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 overflowin’ tablespoon of molasses

Heat the milk til hot to the touch. Add the in-gredients, stir, then heat some more so the chocolate will melt into the milk a bit. Stir well and serve. Marshmallows optional!

A Healthier

HOT CHOCOLATE

and More Hot Stuff

by Reba Ray

Reba Ray’s

View more Down-Home Healthy Recipes for One on a Budget!

k

Quick Wassail

3 cups apple juice

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

½ cup orange juice or one orange, well washed, quartered and seeds removed

Put all three of these together in a saucepan and heat to boilin’. Now simmer for about five minutes on low. As yur drinking one cup of this, let the other simmer on the stove to fill yur whole house with cinnamon-apple sweet-ness, but don’t let it go past 15 minutes or that orange will turn your drink bitter and the was-sail will evaporate and get too strong to be a comfort drink.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

3 cups skim milk

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Dash salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch chili powder

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Wisk ingredients together and heat over me-dium, stirring often, until it just starts to boil. Don’t let it boil! Cut that heat, mug it and add some mini marshmallows.

Hot Cherry Lemon/Limeade

Here’s a good one if your throat’s feelin’ a little raspy.

2 cups water

1 ½ tablespoons honey

Juice of one lemon

Juice of one lime

6 maraschino cherries

2 tablespoons of the syrup from the maraschi-no cherries

Boil water. In small bowl or extra large mixing cup, combine strained juices, honey, cherries and cherry syrup. Add boiling water, mix well and enjoy!

Candy Apple Cider

3 cups apple juice

2 tablespoons red hots candy

1 tablespoon sugar

Dash cinnamon

Combine and bring to boil stirring until the red hots dissolve. Yur done!

Peppermint White Hot Chocolate

5 small cream peppermint patties or 20 Junior Mints, mashed up a bit

3 cups skim milk

¼ c. low-fat French vanilla creamer

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and heat on medium low, stirring pret-near all the time, until the peppermint patties have dissolved. This is yummy frothed if you happen to have one of those drink frother gadgets. Peppermint flavor not strong enough for ya? Suck on a ju-nior mint or bite of peppermint patty while you sip this.

down-home healthy cookin’ for one on a budget

15

your arsenal when Satan comes a’ prowlin’. Even if you forget it two weeks later, it’s been inside of you and the Holy Spirit can bring it back into your consciousness when needed.

Hire a GuideUse a devotional book and roam the Scriptures based on the day’s reading. If you feel like you need more guidance to select what Scripture to read, there are a number of good daily devotion-al readings that reference scripture. Why not try Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, or sign up for an online daily reading program with YouVersion.com.

New, New, NewTry a new place, position or time. Are you fall-ing asleep in your reading chair? Or is the park bench where you read getting too much foot traffic? Try a new prayer posture, such as kneel-ing or face to the ground prayer (to physically express the humbling of yourself before the Almighty). Maybe you need to move your devo-tions to an actual closet (or other distraction-free space) so you can get some true intimacy between you and your Creator. Maybe you’ve been making a great effort to have a daily quiet time in the morning when you’re really a night owl. Or maybe you always promise yourself to spend time in prayer before bed, but that is the least stable time of your day. Make sure your devotional time is working in concert with your natural rhythms. We are not all morning people.

Finally, you might try carving up one long de-votional session into shorter times throughout the day. If you can’t reliably carve out a half hour every morning, what about ten minutes before breakfast, after lunch and before bed. Morning, noon and night is the schedule King David rec-ommended.

Whatever you do just remember that the point of all this devoting is to grow your relationship with God and become more like Christ. Keep the focus; keep the faith. Happy New Year.

Is Jesus CallIng or not?Sarah Young’s little book Jesus Calling:Enjoying Peace in His Presence is hot, hot, hot, both in sales and with critics. Thus, no “recommendation” of her book would be complete without a cautionary word.

Briefly, Young has created a short daily devotional, based on several verses a day and thoughts that she believes Jesus to have put into her heart and mind during her own personal quiet time. She makes no claims of higher divine inspiration, however, her work has been scrutinized because of the controver-sial first-person voice of her text—the voice of Je-sus—saying things that Jesus quite obviously didn’t say. Apparently this is too much literary license for many in the evangelical community and the outcry has been similar to what Eugene Peterson received upon publishing The Message. (And, I suspect the kind of flack I would take on my “How I Would Say It” Bible paraphrase on page 2!)

In fact, Robert Alan King is so concerned for im-pressionable Christian minds that he has published A Christian Rebuttal to Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, which is worth a read if you’re tempted to elevate Young’s writings to on par with, or as a substitute to reading Jesus’ real words.

Jesus Calling has the soothing words that many insecure, guilt-ridden, overly busy people need to hear—it’s a particular message that echoes Jesus own words, “Come all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus Calling is big on Jesus’ mercy side, but not so big (almost silent) on Jesus’ justice side. If you need a message of mercy, read on, but be sure you get to know all of Jesus as revealed to us in the Scriptures.

k

14

Just What You

It’s a new year and that could mean you’re looking for a way to add some verve to your

devotional life. Perhaps you have a resolution or two about growing spiritually but lack a concrete next step to take. If you don’t currently have a daily routine of quiet time alone in reading of the Bible and prayer, establishing one is imperative to spiritual growth. Even so, how you go about this can take many forms. With that basic parameter in mind, here are some suggestions for inviting a freshness into your devotional practice.

Scrap SchedulesScrap Bible reading schedules. Have you read the Bible in a year or made it a practice to read one chapter of Proverbs a day? While not to be missed at some point during your discipleship, repeating these schedules year after year can become monotonous. How about sitting down to read portions of scripture that make sense. Try a chronological version of the Bible, such as F. LaGard Smith’s The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order (NIV), which separates the text into portions with natural breaks.

Pack in Fewer ProverbsLikewise, Proverbs is so packed with wisdom that after a few verses you can be overloaded. Try instead reading one verse of Proverbs and medi-tating on it throughout the day by committing it to memory during the day.

Read, Write, RepeatProcess the word differently. Instead of reading a chapter or two of the Bible and then closing the book to be on your merry way, try working

with the words a bit. Pick a smaller portion of text – maybe five to ten verses (trying to find natural divisions in the text) and try one of the following practices: Write what you just read. It’s too simple, but as you write what you just read, it opens up differently.

So, What You’re Saying Is...Paraphrase what you just read. This gets a little harder because in order for you to paraphrase, you may have to do some research. For exam-ple, in paraphrasing a passage from Luke 3 this morning, I realized I really don’t know what a “winnowing fork” is and I had to look it up. The definition spurred a good deal of new thought about the text. To really make this work for you, determine to use in your paraphrase any words that a person wouldn’t know if they didn’t attend church.

Open Heart. Insert Word.Memorize what you just read. Maybe you want to just work on one passage of text a week be-cause memorizing is not so easy, but every verse your store in your heart and head is adding to

7 DevotIonal revamps

Need

your arsenal when Satan comes a’ prowlin’. Even if you forget it two weeks later, it’s been inside of you and the Holy Spirit can bring it back into your consciousness when needed.

Hire a GuideUse a devotional book and roam the Scriptures based on the day’s reading. If you feel like you need more guidance to select what Scripture to read, there are a number of good daily devotion-al readings that reference scripture. Why not try Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, or sign up for an online daily reading program with YouVersion.com.

New, New, NewTry a new place, position or time. Are you fall-ing asleep in your reading chair? Or is the park bench where you read getting too much foot traffic? Try a new prayer posture, such as kneel-ing or face to the ground prayer (to physically express the humbling of yourself before the Almighty). Maybe you need to move your devo-tions to an actual closet (or other distraction-free space) so you can get some true intimacy between you and your Creator. Maybe you’ve been making a great effort to have a daily quiet time in the morning when you’re really a night owl. Or maybe you always promise yourself to spend time in prayer before bed, but that is the least stable time of your day. Make sure your devotional time is working in concert with your natural rhythms. We are not all morning people.

Finally, you might try carving up one long de-votional session into shorter times throughout the day. If you can’t reliably carve out a half hour every morning, what about ten minutes before breakfast, after lunch and before bed. Morning, noon and night is the schedule King David rec-ommended.

Whatever you do just remember that the point of all this devoting is to grow your relationship with God and become more like Christ. Keep the focus; keep the faith. Happy New Year.

Is Jesus CallIng or not?Sarah Young’s little book Jesus Calling:Enjoying Peace in His Presence is hot, hot, hot, both in sales and with critics. Thus, no “recommendation” of her book would be complete without a cautionary word.

Briefly, Young has created a short daily devotional, based on several verses a day and thoughts that she believes Jesus to have put into her heart and mind during her own personal quiet time. She makes no claims of higher divine inspiration, however, her work has been scrutinized because of the controver-sial first-person voice of her text—the voice of Je-sus—saying things that Jesus quite obviously didn’t say. Apparently this is too much literary license for many in the evangelical community and the outcry has been similar to what Eugene Peterson received upon publishing The Message. (And, I suspect the kind of flack I would take on my “How I Would Say It” Bible paraphrase on page 2!)

In fact, Robert Alan King is so concerned for im-pressionable Christian minds that he has published A Christian Rebuttal to Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, which is worth a read if you’re tempted to elevate Young’s writings to on par with, or as a substitute to reading Jesus’ real words.

Jesus Calling has the soothing words that many insecure, guilt-ridden, overly busy people need to hear—it’s a particular message that echoes Jesus own words, “Come all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus Calling is big on Jesus’ mercy side, but not so big (almost silent) on Jesus’ justice side. If you need a message of mercy, read on, but be sure you get to know all of Jesus as revealed to us in the Scriptures.

15

k

Need