EAST WILLOW PLACE – Page 3 – Wear Your Crown, Carry Your Sword

Hungry? A Hidden Surprise Feast for Your Heart

One of my favorite short animated films is “Piper”, from Pixar Films. It tells the story of a sandpiper chick urged by its mother to leave its safe warm sandy nest and begin digging for clams with the rest of the flock down by the shore.

At first, the reluctant chick assumes its mother will still feed it. When the mother instead shows the chick to search for clams in the wet sand, the chick looks askance, but hesitatingly tries – without success.

Completely oblivious to its surroundings, the chick suddenly realizes that the rest of the flock have retreated… and by itself, is knocked over by a wave of cold seawater.

Shivering, sodden, scared, the chick huddles back in its nest, when the mother gently encourages it to come out and try again. Its growling belly shows the growing need to find food.

This time, almost incapacitated by fear and dread, the chick cowers higher on the shore – when it meets a little hermit crab stolidly making its way down to the water.

Following, curious but still cautious, the chick watches as the crab spies a wave coming. Instead of running, it simply burrows down to create a safe nook to hide from the sweep of the water. Unable to escape in time from the wave, the chick quickly copies the crab’s methods, digging itself down into the wet sand just as the wave rushes over the pair, engulfing them both.

The chick hunkers underwater, eyes closed tight, trying to survive till the water recedes. Unexpectedly, the crab taps on the sandpiper’s beak. The chick opens its eyes and to the piper’s astonished gaze, the sandy floor under the water is rich with many clams, each having risen to the surface. As the wave washes back out, the clams begin to retreat below the surface again, digging down deeper, hidden once more.

This little underwater glimpse is electrifying to the sandpiper chick – and the change is extraordinary!

Gone is the little cowering, shivering, fearful chick who hides in the safety and warmth of its nest and is fed by someone else. Suddenly, the chick is energized, knowing where to find the largest clams! Running and piping with delight, it even brings an enormous clam to its mother, so large that several other sandpipers join the feast.

The little piper is still soaking wet. It is still being hit by incessant, cold waves. But now the piper is joyful, revitalized, and is no longer hungry. Instead of avoiding the waves, it realizes that they are rich opportunities for nourishment.

I can relate so well to that little sandpiper. I too often long to stay in the safety and comfort of a warm, sunny nest. I am perfectly content to avoid the cold of suffering and challenges – even while I grow hungry.

Yet when God, like a loving mama sandpiper, nudges me out of my comfort zone and I somewhat uncertainly (and often reluctantly) follow Him down to the shore, I still often expect to be completely coddled, expecting warmth, ease, and safety…

Then when frustrations, disappointments, and difficulties smack me down like chilling salt waves, I too want to give up and run far, far away, back to the shelter of the dry nest and comfortably starve.

Yet, God keeps encouraging me to start living as I was meant to be, growing in maturity and wisdom, learning how to find and consume what is most nourishing to my soul – and it’s down by the water’s edge, not up in the barren nest.

Then, in a time of apparent hardship or difficulty, completely certain that I am unable to breathe or survive in the suffocating cold flooding my senses, He also gently helps me to open my eyes in the middle of it… and reveals a feast of strength and plenty that wouldn’t otherwise be accessible to me unless I was there under the water.

In the time of hard there is nourishment. In the experiences of difficulty there is fulfillment, and in the times of loss God provides for your heart. He knows what is best for us, and He knows what we need. In His care, “even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” (Psalm 65:11, NLT)

In our experiences that knock us over and threaten to overwhelm, if we open our eyes to Him in trust instead of fear, we will discover an entirely new strength – and even though we might still be outwardly wet, cold, bedraggled, and look a little crazy, we will have deep joy and full hearts, with plenty to share for others.

A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.
Proverbs 27:7, NLT

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How to Best Hold Your Broken Heart

Today my heart feels broken.

A friend I love is facing an agony of loss. In joining her in her grief, my own heart is heavy and sorrowful. There have been many prayers and many, many more tears.

And as I think of this friend in her particular pain, more loved ones come to mind who are grappling with their own unique weight of sorrow, loss, or grief.

Each precious person carries such a heavy load – unable to be measured adequately or fully comprehended except by the bearer. I feel so helpless and unable to lighten their weight, even as I take some of their sorrow to carry in my heart alongside them.

So what do we do to find hope in the dark? How do we find strength when the pain and anguish seem like the only real things and the world spins on, heedless and indifferent? What perspective should we hold to enable us to move forward?

Years ago, I read a strange and beautiful short story which I have never forgotten, and which I share an adapted excerpt from here, in the hope that it will help answer the above question.

As a brief introduction, a young wife has just delivered her first baby, who is unexpectedly stillborn. This is a great loss to both herself and her husband, who had both been eagerly anticipating the birth of their son.

In this scene, the wife has been lying in bed, grieving and weeping over her baby, and thinking a great deal. She then unexpectedly prays the following prayer to God:

“O God, if you will not let me be a mother, I have one refuge: I will go back and be a child: I will be your child more than ever. My mother-heart will find relief in childhood towards its Father.

“For is it not the same nature that makes the true mother and the true child? Is it not the same thought blossoming upward and blossoming downward? So there is God the Father and God the Son.

“You will keep my little son for me. He has gone home to be nurtured for me. And when I grow well, I will be more simple, and truthful, and joyful in your sight.

“And now you are taking away my child, my delight from me. But I think how pleased I should be, if I had a daughter, and she loved me so well that she only smiled when I took her plaything from her.

“Oh! I will not disappoint you – you shall have your joy. Here I am, do with me what you will; I will only smile.”*

This woman’s prayer is no bitter spurt of cynicism or anger.

She is not being weak in her acceptance of her loss, nor does she minimize the pain or depth of it. With courage she chooses an unusual perspective, but one in which she senses the thrum of a Truth far greater than herself:

She knows herself to be a dearly loved little girl who is under the care of a wise and trustworthy Parent, One in Whom she can trust even when she doesn’t understand why she is experiencing loss or pain.

This kind of trust is terrible and terrifying to us who have become adults and enjoy the [seeming] security of independence and self-reliance. But implicitly loving, joyful trust is natural to a young child, especially one who has utter confidence in the kindness and ultimately good purpose of their parent.

When they experience pain or sadness, a little child finds comfort in the shelter of their parent’s arms – even if the pain is not ended or the sadness is not stopped. It is enough to rest there, knowing they are held and loved.

In our grief, in our feelings of lonely sorrow, we can find solace knowing that our Father not only understands, He is able to relate well: “He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.” (Isaiah 53:3, NLT)

Our part then, is to humble ourselves as little children. Choosing to place ourselves, our lives, and even our loved ones under His care, we are called to the courageous place of behaving as a little son or daughter should to their loving Mommy or Daddy. (Matthew 18:1-4)

Without negating any of the anguish we feel, and truthfully acknowledging our loss and sorrow, we can look up at Him through our tears and, with open hands, offer up what was a gift from Him in the first place.

And each step, each breath, each moment afterward, we can walk in our journey through our grief knowing that He is right there holding us up, walking with us, tenderly caring about us and the hurts we carry in our broken hearts.

“ God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NLT

Are you carrying a grief in this season? I would be honored if you share it with me by replying below. I read every response, and I will pray for you.

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*Adapted exerpt from Birth, Dreaming, Death – The Schoolmaster’s Story from The Gray Wolf and Other Stories, by George MacDonald. Emphases mine.

Toenails & Why Your Life Counts: Finding Ultimate Worth

We are all called to great things. The real question is whether or not we understand what greatness means.

Because sometimes it might mean spending time cutting children’s nails.

Amy was a young woman who loved God and felt his call on her life to serve Him by traveling as a missionary to other countries. She believed strongly that she was to share the truth of the Bible, and her focus was mainly on reaching women (who were often ignored or socially restricted from interacting with male missionaries).

Her travels led her to India, where after traveling around in an ox-cart, evangelizing to women in villages with a small, devoted team, she eventually became aware of the prevalent practice of child prostitution in the temples (both young girls and boys). When a little girl escaped from a temple and fled for refuge to Amy’s home, the issue became personal.

Amy began working to free children from this terrible form of sexual slavery, and her efforts led to hundreds of children being freed, fed, clothed, housed, and educated at the orphanage and mission she founded.

No longer able to travel about evangelizing, she instead became “Amma” (Tamil for “mother”), and her newfound duties as a mother of many included that of “cutting the toe nails of a thousand children” (as her biography quotes*).

Amy Carmichael died today, January 18, in 1951, at the age of 83. She had worked in India as a missionary for 55 years without furlough. A law was passed outlawing temple prostitution for children about three years before her death.

The mission she founded still operates today.

She had traveled to India planning to work as a evangelist and focusing on teaching adults about the Gospel… and ended up cutting toenails and mothering a huge number of little children instead.

Would you say her life was wasted? Do you think she missed the mark of making an impact? Toenails seem like an insignificant task compared to preaching the gospel… but apparently not to God.

God had so clearly orchestrated the timing and work He brought her to be about that she cheerfully and joyfully submitted to His plan, His definition of great things.

Her faithfulness and deep humility give me such encouragement, especially in my current season of diapers, pots and pans, laundry, constant teaching, and yes, often cutting toenails.

What I am called to do right now as a homemaker, a wife, a mama, may not seem like high value in the eyes of the world, but I have no doubt it is exactly where I am supposed to be, and therefore I can trust that my God in His wisdom has decreed it to be worthwhile and significant.

And in that trust I can wake up each morning and know that my longing to live a life of worth and purpose is carried out by my faithfulness in serving and loving those around me to the best of my abilities, with the strength and joy He gives.

I fiercely believe this is true for you, too.

What have you been given to do in this season? Do you also fight the thoughts that sometimes come to tell you your efforts are meaningless and trivial, insignificant, worthless?

Here’s what the Bible says: Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
(Colossians 3:23-24)

I find joy in remembering Amy and her work as “Amma” because it gives me renewed strength in my own often seemingly mundane and unimportant work . You can take heart knowing it applies to your work, too.

God sees you, sees your faithfulness, your efforts given in love and service. And He finds that to be of great value – regardless of your opinion or perspective, or anyone else’s. Keep on in your faithful work, my friend. Keep on walking each day in what you have been given to do!

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
(Galatians 6:9, NLT)

Even if doing what is good is clipping the toenails of little children.

Maria

* Amy Carmichael: Beauty For Ashes, A Biography; Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA (2015)

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Unlock a Life of Purpose: An Extraordinary Assignment

Around 10:30 a.m. on the morning of August 7, 1998, trucks heavily loaded with explosives parked outside the United States embassy in both cities of Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The trucks almost simultaneously detonated. In what was discovered to be a terrorist attack from a then little-known group called Al-Queda, over 200 people died, with over 4,500 injured people – mostly civilians of Kenya and Tanzania.

This tragedy took lives, property, and a sense of security from thousands. Billions of dollars of damage and years of rebuilding were required in the aftermath. Lives were changed forever.

Yet.

These attacks, while ostensibly creating the panic, chaos, pain, and loss they sought, did not result in the toppling the United States. Not the government, not the people, and not even the work of the embassies. This is because an embassy of any country, while being a physical property, is actually more of a symbol for the government of the nation it represents.

The actual embassy is the group of people entrusted with a mission to a sovereign or government, especially in reference to an ambassador and his/her staff.

Because of this, any place in which an ambassador dwells and works from can in fact be an embassy. So long as there is a ruling sovereign or government to represent, an ambassador and any other diplomatic officials appointed can still carry out their work.

In the same way, we who follow Christ have been given a mission: We too are called to represent Him and His Kingdom to the people and places we find ourselves stationed. We too are tasked with the diplomatic job of declaring the glories and policies of our King, creating connections and relationships that cause others to become familiar with our “Homeland,” our Ruler, and His important message.

Because we are the ambassadors, an embassy of the Kingdom of God is anywhere we live and work.

Each day we must be actively communicating with and listening to our King’s communiqués, training ourselves in the ways of our Sovereign, and seeking to most accurately and winsomely reflect and represent Him to others.

Each of us have been given a unique place to operate in and represent the Kingdom of God. We have also been gifted with certain abilities and strengths that were deliberately chosen for the mission we have been given.

Each of us will need insight, discernment, and an incredible amount of wisdom in correct protocol and interactions with others. Each of us are representing something and Someone much greater than ourselves – and we are strangely odd choices for the honor of these positions, with our brokenness, faults, and failings.

Yet in our dustiness and flaws, in our weakness, we have been given this incredible gift: we get to represent the most magnificent, powerful, and supreme Ruler in this and any universe. We get the astounding privilege of declaring the glorious, joyful assurance that our King has not only created a way for anyone who wishes to become a full citizen of His beautiful Kingdom, but that He wants to make every person who joins an heir-apparent, with the full rights and privileges of His own sons and daughters.

We have been chosen for this work, so that we might display our Sovereign’s beauty and love in a jaw-dropping way to the rest of the world (Ephesians 3:10-11).

And even when enemies come, even if my embassy is shaken or broken by attacks, pain, fear, and loss, even if I should lose my own life – I know my King and His Kingdom still stand, unshaken and perfect, for eternity.

This is our confidence. Our hope unshakeable.

My work, then, and yours – is to stay as closely connected to Him as possible, that we might represent Him the most accurately during the course of our sojourn here. And then – the mission’s end will be sweet, when we finally get to return to our real home, the one for which we have been homesick all our lives.

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
(2 Corinthians 5:18-20, NLT)

Your Excellency, your assignment awaits.

– Maria

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Your Ultimate Life with God: An Invitation-Only Dance Party

In the middle of another family dance session. We bust out some pretty intense moves around here.

The other morning after breakfast, I turned on some upbeat music while I cleaned up the kitchen. The eight kids, initially scattered around the house, heard the tunes and almost like magic, all showed up in the living room and started a dance party.

Our living area is not large, so basically our family “dancing” together entails skipping, twirling, or stomping in a large chain around the sofa and coffee table in an unceasing loop. (Frequent interjections from a parent to slow down, stop running, no pushing past siblings, etc. are also usually a part of these dancing outbreaks – because sometimes competition is a factor.)

This is a pretty common occurrence in our home, and everyone usually has a good time… with a few minor caveats like the kid who inevitably bumps into the hearth or bookshelf, or the child who, in a contrary moment, decides to go the opposite way from everyone else – incurring the frustration and angry protests of the others. Or the youngest who trip on their long dress-up gowns and wail mournfully because the others just keep dancing over and around them. But in general, everyone enjoys themselves and the happy music helps uplift the general atmosphere in our home.

My husband happened to be home this particular morning and was still at the table finishing his coffee. One of our youngest daughters broke from the circle of happily dancing kids and skipped over to him.

Smiling joyously, dimples all showing, she looked up into his face with big excited eyes and cried, “Come dance with us, Daddy!” and reached out to grab his hand.

No one could have resisted such a sweet invitation, least of all her daddy.

And the next thing I knew, I was laughing helplessly over the kitchen sink while my husband spun and twirled in the living room surrounded by a swarm of utterly delighted children. He then unexpectedly jumped up on the middle of the coffee table for an intense air guitar session! The kids cheered wildly while still dancing all around.

Every little face was wreathed in a huge smile, each was laughing, each was moving exuberantly but also more thoughtfully of each other, and everyone’s pleasure in joyfully dancing together was greatly increased… because their daddy was there, too.

Tears came to my eyes, even through my laughter, as I watched this beautiful, happy family moment.

What if we deliberately invited our Father to dance with us each day, too?

We know He’s there, present, in control and able to take care of us, but what if we behaved like a little child and ran over to Him, smiled up at Him and asked Him to join in our small moments, the things we do, the everyday pieces of our life?

What would happen if we were so excited with the idea of having God be in the middle of everything with us that we behaved like it by asking Him to be present in each moment each day, because we truly believed He would make it better?

I think He would be thrilled to be invited into our days and hearts in this way.

The exuberance and hilarious joy my husband showed in this quick interlude of our family’s day was so precious to me because it illustrated something I firmly believe to be true about our Father – His presence will only add more joy, greater pleasure, deeper consideration for others, and increase our delight in Him and each other.

This is because this is the kind of Father He is.

In this year, I want to always remember to take a moment to break free from whatever it is I am caught up in, run over to my Father, grab His hand, look up into His face, and smilingly, trustingly, invite Him to come be with me in whatever comes.

He’s always in control, He’s always there, but I want to know the joy of dancing together with Him – today, and in every day, no matter what it brings.

Because where He is, my joy – and yours – is fullest.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11, NLT

It’s as simple as a heart-whisper to Him, “Please come into this moment,” or “You are welcome here, now.”

The difference will be astonishing. Let’s not miss out on extending this invitation.

He’ll always say “Yes!”

– Maria

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Unlocking a Hard Heart: How to Create Safe Reconnection

Confessions from a Mama of 8

This may come as a shock to you, but I’m not a perfect mother.

I’m not even terribly patient – which seems counterintuitive for a homemaker with a slew of eight littles.

Wait for it: My children are also imperfect, as incredible as that may seem.

And sometimes after a “situation” erupts, the child who has done wrong and is clearly at fault often becomes hard.

It’s like a grim, defiant varnish falls over their face, mind, and heart, and they stand there, refusing to apologize or make things right. They are clearly miserable, but unwilling and apparently unable to make the move to the safer, higher ground of repentance and reconciliation.

Often the initial problem is actually overshadowed by their belligerent attitude while being corrected – to the point where they experience the interesting phenomenon of a receiving a consequence for their ongoing attitude rather than the initial wrongdoing.

It’s difficult for me to fight a natural justice-driven instinct: I want to remain hard and cold to the one at fault, as if I think any softness on my part will seem like an encouragement or a reward for the bad behavior or choices.

The worrier in me anxiously frets that the child will have some kind of permanently flawed character if I don’t react with appropriate, cool sternness. I fear that if I don’t address their error in an appropriately punitive way, they will become a shallow, entitled, willful adult who mocks at upright living. And I will be seen as a weak, capitulating parent unworthy of respect or attention, world without end, amen.

Yet most of the time, any hardness, harshness or strict reproach from me, even if totally justified, usually tends to bring out only more hardness in my child.

In fact, it often escalates the situation, igniting more conflict rather than bringing any sort of resolution, much less the kind of heart-change I hope for.

One time I found myself again confronting a defiant, unrepentant and stone-faced child – but this time, by God’s grace, the usual Molotov cocktail of anger, bewilderment and fear in my own heart wasn’t there. Instead I felt an unexpected peacefulness, and a loving tenderness toward my child which startled me.

Looking down into the little stony face, I reached out and enveloped my child in a warm hug, gently rocking back and forth, stroking their hair. And the stiff little body suddenly melted into softness with relief. Arms were thrown around my neck and a little voice choked out very sincere apology while tears streamed down.

My undeserved gentleness and kindness brought on a sudden softening – a genuine repentance that I could never have forced or manipulated.

Can you relate to the child described above? I sure can.

When I’m angry, hurt, embarrassed, sorry but too ashamed and proud to admit it, sometimes I am my own worst enemy in being able to find the peace and comfort I long for and the reconciliation that brings it about. But an unexpected kindness brings swift softness and acknowledgement of my wrong.

What we really need in those moments after we screw up (and realize it) is grace: Someone to extend undeserved kindness and mercy and provide a place of safety in our brokenness, because we yearn for acceptance and reconnection in our repentance, and mourn because… We know we don’t deserve it.

In our hardness, defiance, rebellion, anger, pride, and shame, our God reaches out to us with loving arms, showing us stunning mercy and kindness. Especially when we have done nothing to deserve it.

Being responded to like that melts the hardness, coldness, and shameful fear away. And we find the courage and safety to know we will be held and loved and forgiven without harshness or shaming (even though we might still face the consequences of our actions).

The Apostle Paul says it this way: “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”
Romans 2:4, NLT

The times I have experienced the most kindness and grace when I have done wrong often are the times I react with the greatest contrition and true repentance.

I have seen the same happen in my kids again and again.

Let’s ask God for the courage and ability to gift His loving kindness to our children and those around us, to show His glorious grace and stunning tenderness even when it seems undeserved and counter-intuitive.

And we’ll know that it’s a way to most closely resemble God Himself, and to represent His love to a broken world desperately in need of reconciliation with Him.

We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:20-21, NLT

– Maria

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How to Skyrocket Your Joy: The Gift of Anticipation

_{(Published as an Instagram Post on 12-17-2020)}

And the anticipation builds…

This is the first year my oldest kids voiced their understanding that waiting for Christmas was what made the day so special when it finally came.

Anticipation is a powerful joy-multiplier.
And in many ways, the time of looking forward to this holiday is a gift of time given to look inward, back, and forward –

INWARD at our hearts and lives, making careful evaluation, taking stock of whether we truly understand and cherish the gift of a Christ given to us, preparing room in our hearts just as He made room in His for us, welcoming His reign and inviting Him as rightful King of our lives.

BACK at the astonishing mercy on a broken human race who needed a Savior, expected a Conqueror, and got both – but not as they expected. The Utmost King humbled Himself to become a fragile baby born in scornful scandal and rejected even before His birth – “no room for them at the inn.”

Outcasts and celestial beings both worshipped at His birth:
All are welcome, and worship is the only appropriate response.

FORWARD to the time to come when He will return to dwell among His people once more, this time not as sacrificial Lamb but reigning Lion, when the celebration will be unprecedented and truly, deeply glorious and the joy will be perfect.

Our anticipation of Christmas is a picture of the anticipation we should hold in our hearts every day – He has come and He will come again.

We anticipate Christmas with a mere shadow of the true and weighty joy that is to come.

Even so, come.

How to Make Water Into Wine: 3 Steps to Joy

Look at these babies! (And I would do it again in a heartbeat.)

On this day, years ago, I once heard a sermon on the Wedding at Cana (John 2) which I have never forgotten. The pastor, a sweet-faced, white-haired gentleman, spoke sincerely and earnestly.

He was my grandfather, and I have always remembered this sermon because it was at my own wedding, nineteen years ago.

The story of the wedding at Cana is significant because it was the setting of Jesus’ first miracle. While attending a wedding feast with his disciples, Jesus becomes aware that the couple have underprepared and are about to run out of wine for their guests – an embarrassing and disgraceful predicament, for which there is no quick or cheap solution.

Jesus quietly tells the servants to fill six large stone jars nearby full of water – each able to hold twenty to thirty gallons – and then when they dip some out and take it to the MC to taste, it has become excellent wine. Only the servants know where the wine came from, and the celebration joyfully continues without interruption.

Like the couple married in Cana who ran out of wine for their wedding celebration, even the most prepared person will eventually run out of something in the relationships in their life.

We are imperfect, selfish and broken people, unable to maintain levels of altruistic, unconditional love and kindness for any significant length without needing to be refilled or renewed.

Pride, hurt, self-centeredness, distraction, laziness, or sometimes just exhaustion creep in and our first fiery, intense and purposeful strength begins to fade, slowly burn out, and trickle instead of pour.

Even if we try to refill the supply on our own, what we often find we have is just… water. Great for survival, perhaps, but not so much for celebration.

This is why we must invite Jesus into our lives, our marriages, and our relationships!

We need to seek His grace, trust His compassionate kindness, and ask for Him to step in and do something we cannot: transform our acts of duty, of faith, of slogging service into deeds done from love.

He comes and takes the water we have and transforms it into wine.

Something ordinary and draining like serving and caring for a husband, a wife, a sibling, a parent, a child, in the gritty, unfiltered, day-to-day scenarios of living life together becomes a beautiful, celebratory, joy-filling delight.

But this can happen only if:

1. We invite Him and welcome His presence. (Jesus didn’t party-crash. He was an invited guest.)

2. We admit our own lack and ask for His help in our need. (His mother noticed the problem and told Him about it, trusting that He could and would do something about it.)

3. We listen to His instructions and obey them quickly. (The servants didn’t balk at the strange request but chose to humbly obey, thereby earning the place of being witnesses of the Messiah’s first miracle.)

This is not some rose-colored, pie-in-the-sky pipe dream of wedded (or other relational) bliss worthy of any Hallmark movie.

This is the same miraculous, stunning alchemy that happened when water transformed to wine: Our daily lives filled with miscommunications, dirty diapers, burned pancakes and traffic lights can become times to celebrate and rejoice because Jesus is present.

God with us.

Immanuel.

It’s not just a word for a baby in a manger.

It’s for a loving Friend who comes into your home and touches your marriage with hope, joy, and fresh life when you are burning out and feeling empty.

It’s for a tender Father who holds your hurting bewildered heart when you don’t have the foggiest idea how to parent your child but He does.

It’s for a sweet freshness and renewed strength in carrying on with a work you’re bone-weary of walking in.

He can come. He wants to come! He knows our need. He can take our offered colorless normal and transform it into something intoxicating and delightful, rich and vibrant, worthy of a party.

Because if we are His followers, the life we live now should carry notes of the music in the Wedding Feast to come. We should be practicing the steps to dance now. We should be looking ahead with joyful anticipation of the celebration and the smiles of hope should be shining on our faces today.

He gives that joy – He IS that Joy. His Joy is our strength, and our water becomes wine in His presence.

Nineteen years ago I married my best friend. We invited Jesus to our wedding, and into our marriage. Despite our own brokenness and frequent failings, in His gracious kindness He meets us daily in our lack, and we celebrate our love because of His.

{To my faithful, courageous husband – I love you. Thank you for marrying me.}

Cheers!

The Ultimate Golden Ticket: You Are [Already] a Winner!

Recently, I saw a hilarious announcement: the owner of a company had a great plan! He was dressing up as Willy Wonka (complete with purple top hat and floppy golden bow tie), and had a handful of “Golden Tickets” which gave the recipient free goods and bonus just-released items. He was going to put the tickets randomly in various orders that were made that day.

It was a unique and creative way to encourage business!

Although you probably already know about Willy Wonka, the reference is from a children’s book by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is a fantastical, imaginative tale about a young boy from a very poor family who finds a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. The ticket grants the bearer a special tour of an amazing and mysterious candy factory run and owned by the eccentric millionaire Willy Wonka. There are only five tickets hidden in specific chocolate bar wrappers, and are greatly coveted and sought after by thousands of young hopefuls.

The five children who win the Golden Tickets and arrive for the tour later discover that they are the five candidates for Willy Wonka’s replacement – he wants to retire and the tour is in actuality a sort of interview to determine who the next owner of the factory will be.

Only one can emerge the new heir, and the series of events in the chocolate factory tour show that it will need to be a very uniquely qualified person indeed.

Who doesn’t love the idea of winning a “Golden Ticket”?

Especially if it was unexpected and entirely unmerited through your own effort or talent!

Going from a gritty and gray daily grind to suddenly having an entirely new opportunity that includes joy, creativity, pleasure, authority, and wealth – what an incredible prospect!

So guess what? For anyone who is a follower of Christ, you are already the winner of a Golden Ticket!

Granted sudden and immediate access to God through Jesus’ sacrifice, you’re invited into the Kingdom. And not only as a tourist or a day-visitor: You have been invited to become part of God’s Kingdom operations – given the work of growing and furthering it (Daniel 7:18).

And it wasn’t random chance that you received this ticket. Nope! You were hand-selected by God, chosen and called (Ephesians 1:4), because He sees you, knows you, and loves you. And He wanted you to be the one specifically in charge of the work He prepared for you before time began (Ephesians 2:10).

This Kingdom work is so multi-faceted and so greatly varied that there is plenty of space for everyone who is called to have their own particular area of operations. For me right now, this means taking a good hard look at the roles I have currently been given (mama and wife, homemaker, teacher/mentor, friend…) then, with passion, focus, and humility, getting up each day to fill those roles with all the strength and ability He helps me to have.

What roles and what work have been assigned to you in this time? Whatever it is, be encouraged to do it with all your strength (Ecclesiastes 9:10), knowing that you’ll be giving a project report on it at some point (Hebrews 4:13).

There is a brighter time coming, when we will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 8:17). For right now, it’s like the part where we are faithfully learning and training as apprentices or interns. So we must not lose heart, even when it seems like the gray and the grit of our current circumstances are more real than the fact of a gleaming Golden Ticket in our hand.

Each person who won a Golden Ticket didn’t automatically receive the right to ownership of the Chocolate Factory by staying where they were – they had to act on the promise it gave, and show up on the appointed day to be allowed inside!

We can hold onto the same hope – knowing that the gate will swing open for us and we will be welcomed in, for we have been given a hope that is certain:

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. (Hebrews 10:23, NLT)

We just need to keep faithfully showing up.

Can’t wait to be heirs of the “Chocolate Factory” with you, my friend!

– Maria

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Overnight Almond Breakfast Rolls – Make Your Mouth Happy!

(Bread machine version – see below for handmade instructions)

-Makes about 24 rolls, or more if you cut them thinner.

Delicious, fragrant, sweet, soft almond rolls are worth the little extra effort it takes! My family loves these overnight almond rolls so much, they have been requested for our Christmas morning breakfast for two years now. Maybe you might want to start your own Christmas Almond Roll tradition!

This batch makes a lot, so be prepared to give some away, or maybe halve the recipe if you’re cooking for a smaller crowd.

The sweet dough recipe is my go-to for everything from the traditional cinnamon rolls to raisin buns to Hot Cross Buns. I’ve adapted it from Peter Reinhart’s recipe in Artisan Breads Every Day. Try it – you’ll be a huge fan too!

Be sure to make your marzipan ahead of time so that it can be chilled before you use it.

– One recipe Sweet Roll Dough (see below)

– 1/3 cup butter, melted and divided into two equal portions

– 3/4 – 1 cup granulated sugar, divided into two equal portions

– 1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

– One recipe prepared and chilled Almond Marzipan (see below)

– Almond Glaze

– 1/4 cup (ish) sliced almonds, for sprinkling on top

Sweet Roll Dough:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup + 2 Tbsp lukewarm whole or lowfat milk (about 95 degrees F)

2 tsp salt

6 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter

6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

5 tsp instant yeast

DIRECTIONS:

– In your bread machine bucket (technical term), pour in the liquids: milk and oil, add the sugar and salt, stir gently with something non-metal. (I don’t want you to scratch the non-stick lining of your bread machine bucket.)

– Add the flour, then the yeast on the very top.

– Turn the bread machine to the dough setting and punch that button! Then go do something else for a bit (my dough setting is an hour and a half).

For Handmade/Mixer Sweet Dough Recipe, follow these instructions:

To make the dough, combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk the yeast into the milk until dissolved, and then pour the mixture into the dry ingredients, along with the oil. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute. If mixing by hand, use a large wooden spoon and stir about 1 minute. The dough should form a soft, coarse ball.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on med- low speed or by hand for 4 minutes, adding flour or milk as needed to create a smooth, soft, slightly sticky ball of dough.

Increase the speed to medium or stir by hand 2 minutes more, until the dough is soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky.

Transfer the ball of dough to a lightly floured surface and knead 1 minute, then form into a ball. Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl large enough to hold the dough when it doubles in size. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to four days.

On Baking Day
Remove the dough from the fridge about 3 hours before you plan to bake. Divide the dough in half and form each piece into a ball. Cover each ball with a bowl or plastic wrap and let rest 20 minutes. Proceed with recipe as directed.

And now, back to our usual program (the directions):

– When it’s ready, tip the dough out onto a lightly greased surface (I use my dining room table), divide in two with a sharp knife and roll out into a 12×15″ rectangle. If dough starts to resist or shrink back, let it rest for a minute, then continue rolling. Dough should be between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thick.

-Using about 1/4 cup of the melted butter, spread evenly on dough rectangle, leaving length of the bottom inch bare and butter-free (so that it will stick to the rest of the dough when it’s rolled up).

– Sprinkle about 1/2 cup or so of sugar lightly over melted butter, again avoiding bottom inch.

– Using the prepared and chilled marzipan, slice long wedges off the log, then roll them thinly using a rolling pin. This works most easily with cold marzipan, and it will become more sticky and difficult to roll the warmer it gets, so work quickly!

– Taking the thin marzipan strips, break or cut them into large pieces and place evenly over melted butter and sprinkled sugar.

– Sprinkle slivered or sliced almonds evenly over marzipan.

– Beginning from top, begin gently rolling dough down over filling in a tight roll, carefully keeping roll even and gently sealing ends by pinching. When you reach the bottom edge of dough, help roll keep shape by gently pinching the edge to the dough underneath.

– With serrated knife, carefully slice 1 1/4″ slices (or thicker, if you like) and place on greased baking sheet (I use sided 11×17″ baking sheets – but remember to use what will fit inside your fridge!). If they seem sticky, lightly spray rolls with oil and then gently cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.

– Repeat with second half of dough.

In the Morning:

– Take rolls out of fridge, uncover, and let sit on counter while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

– Bake rolls for about 13-15 mins, but not much longer (or they get dry), unless they were quite large. Rolls should be turning a light gold on top and a little on sides.

– Remove and let cool slightly before icing with Almond Glaze while warm. Sprinkle on a few more sliced almonds before icing sets.

Almond Marzipan:

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp finely ground almond flour

9 Tbsp powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp corn syrup

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp rose water – food grade (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

– In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients till dough is smooth and holds together, forming a ball. If it’s too dry, add a tiny bit more corn syrup. Only add just the littlest smidge till it forms a thick dough. If it is too sticky, add a little more almond flour.

– Tip out marzipan ball and knead on a clean surface for about 30 seconds. Shape into a log, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate till it firms up.

– Marzipan can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 weeks, or up to 3 months in the freezer (wrap and bag it well!).

Almond Glaze

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar (more if needed)

dash salt

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 Tbsp milk, more as needed to achieve desired drizzling consistency

– Mix all ingredients till smooth. Taste, adjust as needed (More salt? More almond extract? More powdered sugar? More milk?). Drizzle (or spread) over almond rolls.

ENJOY.

If you try these, let me know how they turn out for you!