Tag: life

Bekah's Heart

A Good Samaritan – Jesus Interruptions

Rebekah Freed

This is kind of back-tracking a bit, but blogging about this week’s “Jesus Interruption” story made me think back to last week’s: The Good Samaritan. Each time I hear that story I am challenged to think of the ways I can be that person who allows the interruption in my schedule to help someone in need. But this week as I think of it, my mind goes a slightly different direction–I am suddenly reminded and overwhelmed at the countless times I’VE been the (wo)man on the side of the road and someone took the time in their day to pause and help me out.

I’m reminded of a camp counselor years ago, who took time with one of her middle school campers to encourage a soul that was hurting and confused and to call out in that girl who God had made her to be.

I’m reminded of friends who not only celebrate the great things in life but walk near in the times when life leaves me battered and bleeding on the side of the road. They’ve been there to clean me up and get me back in the race.

I’m reminded of professors and mentors in college who took time to help me figure out who I even was and think of DCEs who have and continue to encourage and walk with me in the ups and downs of ministry.

I’m reminded of all the little things that people have done as Good Samaritans in my life that may not seem upon the same level as “saving a life” but trust me, oh they are! … Inviting me to share a meal with their family on a day when I feel alone… helping me shovel snow or checking in to make sure I got home safe when out in bad weather… Showing up with flowers for no specific reason at all… teammates helping me set up for an event… And the list could go on.

So yes, I hope and truly pray that God would keep my eyes open for the ways I can be one who stops and really sees people and helps meet their needs. However, I also want to make sure to stop and praise Him for those who do that for ME.

Thank you! Really, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you! And thank You God for people who love me so much.

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The 3: What I'm Learning...

The 3: February Edition – Be Bold

Rebekah Freed

There is great value in occasionally stopping and reflecting on all I’m learning. Whether in my professional life, in my relationship with Jesus, in how I interact with people around me, and more. Here’s February’s Edition of “The 3” … three things I’ve been learning lately.

1. Pray Boldly
Whether I’m praying for my students, or asking God to work in my own life… whether lifting up family and friends from afar or seeking God with a friend on my couch in the living room… whether the prayers are ones I’m asking just for today or if I likely won’t see answer for years… I’ve been learning to pray boldly. As I see God’s answers to very specific and sometimes large prayers, it encourages me even more to seek Him constantly. I have chances in every moment to converse with and seek the help of the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe… He’s got the power, why not tap into it?

2. Love Boldly
I’ve also been learning about what it means to take risks in loving the people around me as well as those I don’t know that well. To be bold in seeking to grow new relationships and be fully present in the midst of them. To set aside fears and situations from the past that perhaps would have kept me from caring about the people God’s placed in front of me and trust HIM to provide protection, wisdom, and courage. He’s let my heart be broken over hurting people in the world, and the next step after brokenness, is action… it’s to love boldly.

3. Live Boldly
I guess this kind of could be the umbrella over the first two, but it is unique and different from them. This is the place where I’ve been re-learning what it means to live in such a way that brings great joy to myself, to others, and most of all to God. That when God asks me to do something, and I trust him, and just do it, the joy is so great I can’t even describe it. It’s choosing joy even when circumstances wouldn’t normally seem to lead to that reaction. It’s setting aside what others may think or desire of me in order to please the only One whose opinion matters.

So what are you learning this month? My three all seem pretty “serious” or “deep this month, but it can be anything… have you learned a new skill? Learned something new about yourself? Learned a cool fact? What are three things you’ve learned in the last month or so?

Blessing

In the Little things…

Rebekah Freed

Last night at the Short Course Bible Class on Psalm 34 we talked about noticing (tasting) God all around us, even in the little things.  Here are just a few little (and big) places I’ve tasted and seen God the last few days (in no particular order):

  • A fixed closet door
  • New fun colored pens to write letters to my friends
  • Singing and learning about God with the preschoolers in Chapel
  • Observing 22 youth go without so other could have
  • Beautiful women to share life with
  • Answered prayers
  • Communion Sunday… the body broken. the blood shed. for forgiveness. for all.  for each.
  • Sunday Wanderings through the blogosphere
  • Sharing and receiving “words that make souls stronger” (Eph. 4:29)
  • Cinnamon Graham Crackers with Peanut Butter
  • Cleaning my apartment one room at a time, knowing that God is doing the same in his house, my heart
  • A candlelight dinner in my PJs with Jesus
  • Bubble Wrap
  • Opportunities to practice giving myself grace
  • Brownies and a fun card from dad
  • An extra 15 minutes of sleep due to no school for the preschool this week (though I did miss praying with all the teachers this morning)
  • Laughter with staffmates
  • Connecting with other interns
  • Coming home to a clean house
  • Homemade chicken fingers and fries

So what about you?  Where have you tasted and seen that God truly is good recently?

Blessing

BLESSED!!!

Rebekah Freed

No words of my own right now, but a few from others I’d like to share.

 

 

First, this paraphrase of Matthew 5:3-5:

You’re blessed when you are out of options, and all you can do is lean on God.  Because when you realize your need for God, it is only then that you tap into His immeasurable greatness and goodness.  You’re blessed when you’ve been stripped of that which is most precious to you.  Because only then can you be tenderly embraced by the One most precious to you.

 

Also, this passage from a devotional book quoted in a blog post I read this morning. 

“Be willing to follow wherever I lead. Follow Me wholeheartedly, with glad anticipation quickening your pace. Though you don’t know what lies ahead, I know; and that is enough! Some of My richest blessings are just around the bend: out of sight, but nonetheless very real. To receive these gifts, you must walk by faith–not by sight. This doesn’t mean closing your eyes to what is all around you. It means subordinating the visible world to the invisible Shepherd of your soul.”

 

And lastly, this beautiful prayer that was used in the traditional worship service at First Trinity last night and this morning:

"O most loving Father, You want us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing except losing You, to follow You faithfully, and to lay all our cares on You.  Protect us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and give us confidence in Your merciful love given to us in our Savior Jesus, in whose Name we pray. Amen.”

Life Lessons Learned in the Kitchen

A Need to Be Kneaded

Rebekah Freed

After my post about making bread last night, I decided to investigate WHY bread needs to be kneaded.  As I did a google search and read what www.wisegeek.com had to say about it, I was amazed at how God was STILL speaking to me through the simple act of baking bread.

 

Check out one of the reason behind kneading:

“One of the most important things that takes place during the kneading process is the development of gluten. As the flour that makes up the dough is moistened and stirred, the gluten begins to form and also gains in strength as the dough is subjecting to the kneading process. Gluten can be thought of as the binding agent within the dough, allowing the loaf to take on a cohesive texture that will allow the substance to not fall apart during baking.”

Do you see it?  Do you see the connections?!?

 

Yesterday in my post I was talking about God kneading truth into my life.  As this happens… I get stronger. 

 

As I submit to the kneading process… something that would probably be labeled as “weak” in this world… I actually gain strength. 

 

That truth works with the other ingredients that make up everyday life and becomes the binding agent that holds my life together and allows me to not fall apart when the tough times occur.

 

Bread of Life, knead Your truth into my life every moment of everyday!  Remind me to submit to this process, that I may gain strength to face whatever comes my way.

Bekah's Heart

Content to Linger

Rebekah Freed

As I opened my Facebook page this afternoon, the first day of 2011, my eyes fell upon these words in the status of a friend:

We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you’ve done are all we’ll ever want. – Isaiah 26

I was struck by these words and began to wonder how many of us could actually say this is true about our lives… that we’re not in a hurry?… that God is all we’ll ever want?  Yet… this is the beautiful life God desires for us.

 

I assumed this was from the Message paraphrase of the Bible and searched quick on the internet to find out for sure.  When I did, I stumbled upon a blog post by a man named David Norman in which he said the following about this verse:

 

Isaiah spoke of a time when the people of God would find complete rest and peace and hope in God. He longed for the day when God would be enough for them. …  I wonder, sometimes, if I am obedient to the extent that I am "content to linger" where God places me. I often find myself pushing and stretching in order to accomplish these big dreams God has placed within me. Very rarely do I ever find myself in an area of rest where I am not moving toward something.

 

I’m guessing many of us (and definitely myself) can associate with David Norman in the fact that we’re always focused on the next thing.  Lately I’ve been learning a lot about the beauty of just letting something be.  Instead of just trying to plan and fix and change everything around me… I’m beginning to see what God means when he says that he want to change ME.

 

So, as I start a new year, I resolve to not have a list of resolutions to try to keep, goals to attempt to meet, or plans to fix what I might perceive as broken in my life.  Instead, God, this is what I want to be…

 

content to linger.

okay with standing still… with standing in pain… with standing in joy… with standing where you take me.

comfortable with simply being and refraining from trying and striving and pushing forward.

at ease with the path before me.

satisfied with letting You be more than enough for me.

resting in who You are and have made me to be. 

 

And in the process, this coming year will be blessed in greater ways than I could ever imagine with my own resolutions, goals, and plans.  This year… this day… this moment, Lord, teach me a way of life in which I’m truly able to say:

“I’m in no hurry, God.  I’m content to linger in the path You have for me.  Who You are and what You’ve done is all I ever want.”

Bekah's Heart, Devotional

Questions

Rebekah Freed

Questions.  They surround us everyday. Some arise over trivial things that really don’t matter much.  Others pound at the door of our hearts begging for answers. 

 

Questions like “What now?” when one loses his job. 

Questions like “How long?” when a loved one hears that dreaded “C” word, “Cancer”. 

Questions like “WHY?!?” when a loved one is taken from this earth “too soon.”

 

Though, as much as we desperately want answers, maybe we’re not supposed to get them…at least not now.  In a conversation today, Sue she shared with me this quote by Rainer Maria Rilke:

‎"Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer"

 

I think maybe Jesus was trying to tell us something similar when he spoke these words:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  … So do not worry… but seek first His kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.”

 

Each day will have it’s trouble.

Each day will have its questions.

Maybe instead of pounding at heaven’s door

demanding answers,

we can simply

come,

rest in our Savior’s embrace,

and let him quiet us with His love.

 

 

My dear child, I know you have questions… questions that your heart longs to have answered.  In my time and in my way, I will reveal those things.  But for now, just live.  Don’t beat yourself to death trying to find all the answers … just live in me.  Live in my love.  Live in my GRACE.  And I will keep giving you more grace…. and more grace… and more grace. …  and one day, you will have lived yourself into the answers and will forever live in a place with no more questions.  I love you, My child.  Come.  Let Me quiet you with My love.