Becoming Wholly His
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
My Emptying Nest: Will She Fly?
We move our oldest daughter to college today. longer will
she be under our roof and subject to our rules. No longer will we be in her
physical presence to watch over her, guide and direct her. No longer will she
have to do what is expected because she’s right under our noses.
She is free.
Free to choose life either on God’s terms or her own. Free
to serve Him with all her heart, mind, strength and soul, or free to go her own
way.
Doubts and concerns pepper my thoughts. What if she doesn’t
like her university or major? What if the stress of adjusting to life on her
own and a more challenging academic load is more than she expected? What if she
and her roommate don’t get along?
My doubts aren’t about her ability to handle it, but mine. Really,
underneath the outward circumstances of my concerns is a far deeper cry of a
mother’s heart: Have we raised her in church or in Christ?
What will happen when she questions? When she doubts? When
the Lord uses disappointment and hardship to make her more dependent on Him? To
show Himself all He wants to be to her? Will she find comfort and assurance in
Him when she returns to her room and is alone? Will she find in her heavenly
Father so much more than her earthly father ever could be even though he’s
daddy in the flesh? Will she “pick up the phone” and call on the name of the
Lord in prayer?
My emotions are all over the place. I can only imagine hers
are too.
Tears threaten even as I write. Not only tears of sadness,
as I will miss daily having her here. I will miss her beautiful smile, tender
heart, wit, and crazy questions. The way she calls me “Mother” when she’s exasperated with me. The drama in the stories
she tells and the altercations with her sisters. Her sweet hugs. And yes, the
tremendous help she is to me.
My tears are also tears of joy for this next season in her
life when she will experience the
challenge and thrill of what it means to walk by faith, totally dependent on
the Lord because He is the only one there when she needs His answers. Joy for
her knowing how exciting it is to follow Him and discover His faithfulness and
His plans for her. Joy for the friends she’ll make, the experiences she’ll
have, and how He’ll work everything together for good for her because she loves
Him and is called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Joy for the thoughts
He thinks toward her, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give her a future
and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). Joy that when she seeks the Lord, she will find
Him.
I am not excited for her to be gone, but I am excited to see
what the Lord has in store. Excited to see her moor herself to Christ because
He makes Himself real to her outside of His realness to us. Excited for her to
experience what it means to live directly under His authority because He has
drawn her there, not because it’s what we’ve told her to do all her life.
It’s time to witness the result of the counsel I give any new
homeschooling parent wrestling with making sure they make the right curriculum choices.
My answer is spiritual.
Scholastics are important, and we adhere to a rigorous academic
schedule, but to me, the most important measure of my children’s time under my
instruction, whether they are schooled at home or in school, is what happens
when they leave. Not in respect to SAT or ACT scores, class ranking, the
college to which they are accepted, their GPA, degree or job. No, success to me
is a child who leaves the authority of our home and transitions seemlessly to
the authority of Christ.
One who leaves the nest but doesn’t leave their faith.
I can’t say I remember much about the day I moved away for
college. I’m pretty sure my ruling emotion was pure elation at finally being free.
Sadly, the freedom I desired only resulted in bondage to sin.
I can only pray the
freedom she pursues will be true freedom: freedom in Christ Jesus.
Having never done this before, I don’t know much besides the
logistics of getting her settled, being on the other end of the line when she
calls, regularly refilling her check book balance, seeing her as much as we
can, and loving her like crazy from a distance.
And I know to:
1. Trust in the Lord, for it is He who saves. It is His grace that will continually turn her heart toward Him.
2. Pray. Often and hard.
3. Listen. Answer her calls, her questions, her cries for direction and help.
4. Answer. Be there, not to give the answers, but to point her to Christ, who holds every answer.
I know she will do well. The question is, did we? No matter what, I thank God for His grace. It is sufficient.
Lord, as we learn each day to be more wholly Yours, overcome our shortcomings with the grace You extend our children, and make them
wholly Yours, too.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
Thursday, August 15, 2013
The Cure for Cultural Cancer
Today ends my rant on parenting against cultural cancers
that threaten our children’s spiritual health. Are you relieved? Have I beaten
a dead horse? Please indulge me this last post, because what I have to say
really doesn’t matter.
God’s word does, though, so let’s look at what He has to
say: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the
Father but is of the world” (I John 2:15-16).
Our biblical duty is not to have kids that fit in; it is to
train them up in the ways of the Lord, to talk to them about His word and His
ways when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and
when we rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7). When they are old they will not depart from
it (Proverbs 22:6).
We
want to teach them to "enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). We can’t
allow our kids to play on the wide road to destruction and expect them to enjoy
a narrow road life. Why even entertain pleas to enter the wide road?
Scripture tells us to abhor evil (Romans 12:9), separating
ourselves completely from all wickedness and anything that would create a life
full of hardship and labor. Have no fellowship with it whatsoever. Don’t even
let it be named among you (Ephesians 5:3).
That is the narrow road.
That should be our life.
One day they’ll have to choose to guard their hearts for
themselves, judging whether something is indeed lawful but not beneficial or
edifying (I Corinthians 10:23) and therefore not something they desire. Until
then, we are their spiritual sentries.
We have a responsibility to keep our kids’ hearts with all
diligence until they’re old enough to be diligent on their own. We’re the ones,
as my husband says, who are accountable to the Lord for the environment in
which they live. It’s our job to create a safe environment where they have the
greatest chance to grow spiritually.
What that looks like may be radically different from family
to family, and we are not sent to judge one another, “for judgment is without mercy to
the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs
over judgment”
(James 2:13). An unusually
mature teenager from one family may be ready to live on the other side of the
world for a summer of missions while a teenager from another family might not
have the maturity to walk down the street alone.
What applies to every family and every child, though, is
the truth as Jesus established in John 17:17:
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
We have to know our kids, but even more important, we must
know what the scripture establishes as non-negotiable truth, and then each one
of us must follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in making decisions for them.
Maybe we don’t have to expose our kids to evil in order to
teach them how to recognize it. Maybe we don’t have to compromise so they don’t
rebel against us and reject everything we stand for. Perhaps we just take them
to the word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them into all
truth.
Perhaps we just show them how to find out what the
scripture says about a particular belief or activity and let them measure it
against the word of God.
And then we stand firm in the boundaries God gives us for
their protection, teaching them to live Philippians 3:8-11:
I also count all things loss for the excellence of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him… For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose
god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on
earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly
wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body
that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by
which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Our lives are “a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). We endure for a moment here on earth in order to enjoy eternal
glory with Christ in heaven. Therefore,
let us keep ourselves and our children “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
Lord, keep us and our children
from the evil one and sanctify us all by Your truth, equipping us with
discernment, grace, and endurance as we become wholly Yours today.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
Thursday, August 8, 2013
A Caution Against Common Sense
As our daughters approach new
seasons of life – one adolescence, one the world of 16, and another moving away
for college – cut-and-dry, black-and-white answers about boundaries can be as
clear as mud! Don’t get me wrong, there are some easy absolutes, but when it
comes to protecting them from bad choices and bad influences, how little or how
much do we shelter them? To what extent until what age? When does a tight hold become
harmful to their spiritual growth or survival?
Arguments that appeal to common sense
simply make things murkier. How can we be relevant to the world if we can’t
knowledgably talk from experience about the same shows, experiences, books,
music, plays, etc.? Isn’t it better for our children to experience temptation
and even fall while they’re living under our roof and we can walk them through
it? Will their faith become their own if we don't place them in situations
where it's tested and they have to press hard into God to resist temptation or
survive a fall?
I’ve never read or heard a scripture
that tells us to expose our children to evil so they’ll be better equipped to
stand against it when they leave. Not only that, but scripture doesn’t give a
whole lot of weight to our common sense. In fact, it says the wisdom of the
world is foolishness to God. Conversely, the wisdom of God is foolishness to
the world. He says not to lean on our own understanding but in all our ways
acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths, not according to our thoughts and
ways, but according to His.
That’s what I want. Not to check my
brain at the door so I can bury my head in the sand, but to have God’s wisdom
as it applies to common sense.
The bottom line is this:
Raising our children God’s way
is going to be foolishness to the
world.
I recognize we can’t protect our
children from everything, especially with the relentless onslaught of lyrics
piped through speakers in retail stores, images and messages on billboards
everywhere, conversations overheard and sexual behavior casually displayed in
public settings, what once would have been considered R-rated television
commercials and movie previews slyly slipped in with family-friendly
programming and films, peer pressure to experiment and experience new things,
and the general awkwardness when everyone is doing something you’re not.
We are in the world.
At the same time, we can do whatever it takes to protect them
from intentionally participating in those things, even by proximity. We can
point their eyes to the One more worthy than anything dangled before them as
the moment’s must do or have.
We must
desire something better than what this world has to offer, or what it offers
will start to look pretty good. The heroes of faith in Hebrews chapter eleven endured
because they desired a heavenly country. “Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16).
Do we want this momentary home to
be the best our children ever experience? Which do we value more, their
temporary or their eternal? Which is harder, living with rejection in this
world or acceptance in hell? Do I want my kids to be comfortable for the vapor
they spend here or tortured for eternity?
“Oh, Shauna, don’t be so
dramatic!!!” you might exclaim. Am I, though? Isn’t this all about their souls?
Even if they are saved, the devil remains a formidable enemy against their
usefulness to the kingdom of God and their availability to be effective.
So we must be their advocate.
That’s the reality we face as
parents continually pointing our children to the cross. If we don’t, by default
or neglect, we’re leaving them as prey for the devil, and we all know where
he’s headed.
Am I going to let laziness or
distraction or discouragement become a foothold for Satan to get a grip on
their shoulders and pull them down with him? Or am I going to be strong in the
Lord and in the power of His might, “casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5)?
The boundaries I set for my
children are naturally going to expand as they grow older. As hard as it is, I
do know there’s a time when we have to start loosening our hold. We are there
in varying degrees with each of our children; have been for a while with the
oldest. There is a gradual letting go to independence that must happen, a time
when we do have to step back and let them live their lives directly accountable
to the Lord. Ultimately, they are going to have to choose biblical convictions
for themselves as the result of the work He is doing directly in their hearts.
The danger is the unrelenting
pressure to widen the boundaries too far and too fast when our kids are too
young to handle the independence successfully. When they’re too immature to
make decisions in circumstances that require maturity. In a lot of cases, our
“No” doesn’t have to be a “Not ever,” just a “Not now.”
Lord, challenge our common sense
with Your wisdom even as it is foolishness to the world as we become more
wholly Yours.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Separate Not Severed
Even as I ranted my Dixie cup
prayer last week, exasperated from endlessly bailing the swelling sea of
cultural contaminants from my family, I received my answer: “In it not of it.”
I’ve heard it preached and repeated
in Christian conversations a million times, simply accepting it as the way it
is, but this time, I wanted to know more. What does it look like on a daily
basis when the of it pulls on the in it with such force that the two
become indistinguishable? How do I teach this truth to my kids in such a way
that it gives them the strength they need to make unpopular choices? What does
it mean down deep and in context with what else God says about living here on
earth but being citizens of another realm. Strangers. Aliens.
The saying is based on Jesus’
prayer for believers in John 17:14-18:
I have given them Your word; and
the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I
am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world,
but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world
(emphasis added).
When we are saved by grace and put our
faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus says we are born again. A Pharisee named Nicodemus
once questioned how this could be, wondering how a man could re-enter the womb.
Jesus answers in John 3:6, explaining in it not of it:
That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
As grown men and women, we don’t
pass back through the birth canal; we are born new in the Spirit and no longer come
from or belong to the multitudes who live separated from God and opposite the
cause of Christ. As far as world affairs and all things earthly, we don’t
belong. We are not of it. We aren’t defined or driven by “the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches,
advantages, pleasures, etc., which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir
desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ” (www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2889&t=NKJV).
Rather, He sends us towards the world to be among those who are alienated from God. Just
as God sent Jesus into the world "to bear witness to the truth" (John
18:37), so He sends us, charging us with making disciples (Matthew 28:19) by
following His precepts and instruction and then teaching others to do the same.
Our mission becomes impossible if
we remove ourselves from the world or are too busy trying to fit in with it. Jesus
went where sinners were and talked with them. In love and without condemnation,
He told them what they needed to do to leave that environment or sin, but He
didn’t stay there and participate in their sin so He’d be able to talk to them
about it.
He was among them but not a part of
them. He is our model. In it with the people, not of its things and pleasures.
To be in the world is to maintain our connection through relationships
with people, loving them as Christ loved us in order that they will know we are
His followers.
To be of the world is to embrace or partake in its way of thinking and
living, enjoying what it offers as substitutes to salvation by grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone.
There is a delicate balance. Paul
explains in I Corinthians 9:22, “I have become all things to all men, that I
might by all means save some.” With Jews, he would follow the law of the Jews; with
Gentiles, he would not. He was a chameleon of sorts, relating to those around him
in order to win them to Christ. But verse twenty-one holds the key: whether
with Jew or Gentile, he didn’t do anything contrary to Christ, “not being
without law toward God, but under law toward Christ.”
We remain engaged with people; we
disengage from things that draw our hearts away from God, and we never do
anything contrary to what God tells us to do in order to fit in or relate.
It’s not going to be easy: “If the
world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).
That’s why we need each other. We are
our peeps, “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of
God” (Ephesians 2:19).
The people with whom we need to fit
in are the children of God, together conforming to God’s word, not the world. Uncompromised.
We love, but we don’t belong.
Lord, give us wisdom and
discernment, for us and our children, to live in this world without becoming
participants. Reveal areas of participation, and give us strength to separate
without severing as we become more wholly Yours today.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
Thursday, July 25, 2013
A Dixie Cup Prayer
Can I whine for a moment, Lord? Can
I tell you how weary I am of how hard it is to remain faithful in a faithless
world? How exhausted I am with the unrelenting cultural campaign to turn our
children’s hearts away from You? Can I just vent a little bit about feeling so
inadequate to recognize the subtle ways Satan diverts their eyes to evil while
they wear me down to the point where I can’t see straight?
Sometimes I feel like we’re in a
sinking ship bailing water with a Dixie cup. No matter how furiously we get rid
of what the world throws our way, another huge wave crashes onto the decks.
Why is it so hard to say “No” to
my kids when they just want to be doing what every other kid gets to do? Like
FaceBook and Instagram, “harmless” secular music, television shows and movies, boyfriends,
books that glorify witchcraft, wizardry, and vampires. The list goes on!
Why does all of this appeal to us
even as it repels Your Spirit within us? Why do we want what turns our hearts
from You?
How in the world can I keep an
eye on it all, screening every post, checking every friend, following who and
what they follow, watching what they want to watch, reading what they want to
read, listening to what they want to listen? Multiply that by more than one
child, and it’s literally impossible. I can’t do it, Lord!
You tell us the wide road that
leads to destruction is easy, and many will find it. Perhaps its lure is
popularity. Falling into the trap of wanting my children to feel like they
belong and to know the acceptance of others. Wanting that myself, including with
my own kids.
The thing that gets me is that
their desires for the things of this world aren’t only encouraged by friends
outside the church; they are asking because it’s what all their friends from
church are doing.
Lord, how is this happening? It
makes the job of raising kids who are in the world but not of it so much
harder!
You never promised easy, though,
did You? In fact, You said we would face trials, persecution, and difficulty. I
guess I’m just being a baby; I want it to be easier. You desired that too, didn’t
You, in the garden, when You prayed to the point of sweating blood that the cup
of the cross would pass by You?
Even as I whine, Lord, I know
what I truly want. When my rant is exhausted, I am left with the truth that
what I want more than anything is to walk the narrow road that leads to life
with my family, no matter how sparsely traveled it may be. No matter how
difficult it is to stay there. I want my children, when they no longer live
under our rules, to follow You directly onto the narrow road of life because they
love You and follow You there.
Don’t let me compromise Your best
for my children in order to pursue a counterfeit Satan presents as better! Help
me trust You exclusively to keep their hearts while doing exactly what You
require of me as a Christ-following mom.
Thank you for James. He sees
things so clearly. Where I want to waffle, he has no problem saying “No,” even
if it makes him unpopular with our kids. Things that get so convoluted by
popular thought in my mind are obvious to him. Thank you for his unwavering
commitment to create a safe environment for our kids, even if it’s not the “fun”
environment the world dangles before them.
Help us reject the temptation to
check out for the night and instead invest that time in a safe and fun family
culture. Help us muster our last ounce of energy to read a good book together
or play a game. To take a walk or visit one of the many museums or historical
attractions within an hour’s drive of our home. To have a family devotional
after dinner. To swim together, serve together, give together. To have others
into our home for games and dessert.
How can we tell our kids there
are better things to do than watch television and zone out to electronics while
we excuse ourselves to our bedroom for the evening to watch TV?!?!
Help me, Lord. Help us!
This fight is too great for me,
Lord, but it’s not too great for You, and Christ within us, the hope of glory. We
can do all things through Christ who gives us strength and through the power of
the Holy Spirit! We may be in the battle of our lives, but it is You who will
win the war! Help me focus on how big You are, not how strong the pressures of
the world feel against our family’s back.
I turn now to Your word to search
out Your truth for myself and my family. Thank You that scripture holds every
answer we need to live a life fully pleasing You. Lead and guide me, Holy
Spirit, into all truth. Help us, Lord, to be unpopular and make unpopular
decisions in order to be wholly Yours as parents and as a family.
In the mighty name of the only
Savior, Jesus, I love You.
Shauna
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Consolation Obedience Is No Obedience
My family will be the first to
tell you that I am a lame nurse maid. When someone is sick, I’ll stick it out
for a little while, soothing, doting, and responding compassionately to moans
of misery and requests for all sorts of assistance, but once they are as
comfortable as I can make them and only a touch from God and time will heal, I’ve
got things to do! If they are well enough to do something to relieve their own
suffering, I expect them to do it rather than indulging their misery and
expecting pitied assistance with what they can and need to do for themselves.
If the saying was scriptural, it
would be my mantra: God helps those who help themselves. (The Bible actually
establishes the opposite, describing God as a defense for the helpless in
Isaiah 25:4, NASB; calling it foolish to trust in our own hearts in Proverbs
28:26, and declaring a man cursed for trusting in his own flesh for strength in
Jeremiah 17:5.)
Likewise, if someone is going
through a hard time, I care, and I’ll listen, but at some point, if there’s no
relief, we all have a decision to make: we can either trust God and obey His
word, even if it’s hard, or we can wallow in our circumstances, focusing on why
life is so hard and so unfair. I don’t want to see anyone in that place, and I
genuinely desire for my friends and family to be free of suffering, but at some
point, it’s time to move forward.
Clearly I’m
not tipping any scales in the mercy department.
I’m actually
embarrassed and uncomfortable admitting this about myself because it seems so
hard-hearted. Honestly, I’m not! To a certain degree, it’s the weak side of the
strengths God has given me.
According to Romans 12:6, we each
have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. Mercy with cheerfulness is actually a Spirit-given
gift to promptly and eagerly extend kindness and help to the miserable and afflicted. This is
the long-haul person who stays by someone’s side for the duration of whatever
they’re going through.
In describing how God grants
spiritual gifts, Paul compares followers of Christ to a physical body made up
of different parts that all need to function in their given purpose in order
for the body to operate effectively. If we were made up of all big toes, we’d
be in trouble! The same goes for spiritual gifts. If all believers were strong
in exactly the same spiritual gifts, the body could not do its job. Therefore,
by God’s perfect design, some of us are stronger in certain gifts than others.
While this
passage explains why we are legitimately the way we are, God is showing me I
cannot use my weaknesses as an excuse to ignore scriptures that require a gift
I don’t have.
Like mercy.
I think God may be rewiring
something in me, http://clicktotweet.com/kG28S though, as scriptures about justice and mercy begin to
register with my heart and not just my head. I know I’ve read them before, but now,
the eyes of my understanding seem to be cracking open. Conviction urges me to
do something different. Something scriptural. Something obedient.
I’m seeing that mercy is more
than just meeting a physical need. It’s showing kindness. It’s hurting when
others hurt; grieving when they grieve. It’s coming alongside them and staying
by their side until they have healing or breakthrough. It’s time. It’s
investing emotions. It’s allowing my heart to be broken for another’s
suffering. It’s being moved to a place where I’m willing to be inconvenienced
and uncomfortable for the benefit of someone else.
God is piercing me with His word,
speaking directly to my heart:
Be a doer of the word, Shauna, not a hearer only, deceiving
yourself.”
(James 1:22,
emphasis added)
If I am hearing and not doing, it’s because I’m deceiving
myself. If I’m hearing what God has to say about showing kindness through
sacrifice to those who are miserable and in need, and I’m not doing it because
I’m too busy doing everything else I’m better gifted to do, I’m deceiving
myself.
There’s more to generosity than money and things. Money
meets a need, but it takes a person to show God’s love. To be Jesus to another.
Sometimes I’m so busy checking off all we’re doing right
that I turn a blind eye to what we’re not doing at all. Or I justify what we’re
not doing by focusing on what we are.
Either way, “to him who knows to do good and does not do
it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). As a friend I dearly love always says,
“Slow obedience is no obedience.” I would add, “Consolation obedience is no
obedience.”
There’s no substitute for giving God exactly what He asks
in His word.
Shine Your light into our hearts, Lord. Elevate what’s
important to You to a place of priority in us, that regardless of our strengths
and gifts, we would all make a way to feed the hungry, give drinks to the
thirsty, take in strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned (Matthew
25:35-40), and look after orphans and widows (James 1:27) as we become more
wholly Yours, using the time and resources You give us to Your glory.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
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