It Won't Last Forever.

No-one told me I would have to go through puberty twice.  Yes.  TWICE.  Because when you’re a mom, you feel the things your daughters go through so here I go again with the mood swings and the drama, the tears and the insecurity, the changes and the embarrassments.  But this time around I have something I didn’t have the first time.  Women friends I can talk to, cry with and get advice from.  Women who can speak truth to me like my friend Danna who reminded me that we don’t have to just accept the labels that hormones can post like sticky notes on our girls to make them feel bad about themselves.  We can claim something MORE for them right now.  We can pray out loud over them.  We can look them in the eyes and say YOU are worthy.  YOU are beautifully His.  YOU are created in His image and created for purpose.   And when we speak HIS WORDS with conviction over our children, they trust us, they believe us, they listen.  When truth is spoken in a home where hurt resides, there is nowhere for pain to go but out.  I’m not saying that one prayer over your child at bedtime is going to make everything instantly better but I’m telling you that that ONE prayer does plant a seed of courage and hope in your child.  And by praying every night out loud over our children, no matter their age, we are modeling who and where we get our strength from.  So girls AND moms.  Those hormones?  That puberty?  It might feel like you’re on a roller coaster right now, but it’s not going to last and it’s so not who you ARE.  Keep your eyes on Jesus and I promise He will guide your path and get you through it.         

When I say these words to my daughter “It won’t last forever” it’s as if I’ve opened a window that was once frozen shut, and a beautiful warm breeze blows into the room.  Because when life gets hard, all you want to know is that the pain you’re feeling won’t last and that something good will take it’s place.

My daughter with wide brown eyes stares at me when I speak these words. 

“It WON’T always be this way and you WILL be ok.”  

“But why is it so hard," she asks as her lip quivers.

 “Because, you feel things deeply. You hurt deep but you also love large and that’s so GOOD!  Your heart is as big as an ocean honey!  And you know what?  God can do amazing things with oceans.  Imagine if all he had to work with was a puddle? He might get a couple of worms in a puddle.  But with an ocean?  He can get at least a few thousand mermaids into an ocean.  How beautiful and powerful is that”  

“Mermaids aren’t real mom!”  

“Mermaids are totally real, I say without blinking or taking a breath.”

We giggle a little.  I wipe her tears.  And just like that the pain is a little less.  Because pain doesn’t last forever.  God promises that.  

What about your hurt?  This day?  His cancer?  Her pain?  My worry?  Puberty?  That boy who said all those untruths?  It will ALL wash away like an ocean wave, and the Lord will open a window to reveal something so new and beautiful, our knees will bend, our eyes will sparkle and our mouths will declare the Glory of the King of Kings!

  Whatever you’re going through or witnessing or feeling or grieving, know that The Lord wants to turn your pain into something beautiful.  If you don’t believe me, grab a neighbor and go for coffee.  Ask her if she’s ever experienced something painful.  Then ask how she got through it.  Start the discussion.  

I’m Karen Harrison and I’m surviving puberty for the second time.  (Raising my coffee mug to you moms out there) oh...and my girl?  She’s taking those sticky labels OFF and learning how to put The armor of God ON.  Oh yeah!  ;)  

Make THIS the year you put your dream into action.

Because she had a dream in her heart

Because someone believed in her

Because she was brave...

Her beauty spilled out and over.

Your light shines Bright Brandy!       

Friend her on Facebook: Brandy Taylor Barr.

Hug her at Church: Austin Christian Fellowship

Love her new blog: www.brandybarr.wordpress.com

ACF Ladies, love on this woman, because when you applaud a sister, you applaud The Lord’s plan for her life...and in the process it might make you feel brave too.  Hand in hand we are sisters becoming what He created us to be.  

Happy New Year.  Happy NEW endeavor.  

   

      

Merry Christmas From ACF WOMEN!

This Christmas as we string lights, bake cookies and open our gifts, let’s remember to stop in the midst of it all and take a picture.  No, not a selfie. Not a picture where the lens is focused on US but a picture that comes when we stop and are so present in the moment that gratitude floods our hearts, spilling over and we’re able to see the true meaning of Christmas.  Let’s take THAT picture and let it hang in the gallery of our hearts all year through.              

And now just for FUN: 12 days of Christmas gifts every woman should give herself!   

1. Stillness.  I CHALLENGE YOU!  

2. Hot herbal tea and a warm bath by the glow of a candle (add chocolate for maximum pleasure)

3. Serve the community - it will give you a better glow than the spa!

4. Get out of the house...GO!  NOW!  RUN!  Open your eyes and ears to nature

5. Permission to not overspend. Don’t over buy. - more stuff = the need for managing stuff = less time = stress!   

6. Time- coffee with a friend and good conversation.  Hear her heart and share yours.

7. Forgiveness- Time to let go of any grudges.  Unforgiveness is like tree sap.  It sticks to you until you tap into it and turn it into something sweet.  

8. A warm blanket.  Because every woman I know is always cold in winter. And because blankets say “hope”  They say I hope someone will snuggle with me and share the love!

9. A life verse:  Give yourself a verse from the bible that you memorize and claim any time anywhere for any reason.  It’s like having a gold visa card only no-one can steal it and the gift it buys you is priceless.

10. LOVE and laughter.  Believe that you are worthy of unconditional love and see the humor in the things that normally make you crazy. Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Life is beautiful and so are YOU!

11. An ACF Women's t-shirt!  Yes.  Not just any t-shirt.  A t-shirt to live and GROW IN GRACE in.  Seriously... a soft, comfy, flattering and awesome hug.  Get yours today!  ;)

12. A personal relationship with the coolest, most awesome loving, caring, unchanging guy in the whole universe.  Someone who will never break your heart.  Someone who will always listen to you, never leave you and who cares enough to know how many hairs are on your head.  That GUY is Jesus.  Get to know HIM and your life will never be the same again.         

Have a Merry Christmas Sisterhood!  Pass on the things that truly matter! 

You and Me Sister

To the woman who longs for a baby.  To the woman who comes to church alone.  To the woman who takes another pill just to feel ok.  To the woman who’s husband walked away forever.  To the women who can’t find the energy to do the laundry.  To the woman who’s child can't seem to make any friends.  To the woman who stands alone at the school, feeling unknown. To the woman who has cancer....again.  To the woman who has to wait longer than she can bare.  To the woman on facebook who’s hoping you see her.  To the woman who’s choosing to end her life.  To the woman who just lost her son.

"He’s got the whole world in his hands.  He’s got you and me sister...in HIS hands." 

This song?  The one we sang when we were little girls?   It’s the same song today.  And tomorrow.  And forever.   When things get hard and the demands of the world come at us all at once,  let's sit down for just a moment, because that’s how long it takes to breath in deep and breath out slow HE HAS YOU IN HIS HANDS.  YOU and ME.   In a whisper He says to the woman at the well who thirsts, "come to me" and the moment she reaches HER hand out to HIS... THE WHOLE WORLD becomes tiny and quiet... in His hands.

Beautifully His.

She shares with us in a soft voice that she has mental illness.  

The kind that can sometimes keep you from living life.  

She looks sad when she tells her story.  And I feel her loss.  Loss of the life she dreamed of having when she was a young girl.  Then the worship music starts and the words spill out into the room: “So I’ll wait here at your feet and I’ll pour out my life”.  Her arms stretch up to heaven, and she sways with the beat, putting on the words of the song, like a necklace you never want to take off.  And in that moment as I watch her, I think...THIS is what it looks like to truly worship.  She relies so much on Jesus for her JOY because sometimes her illness won’t allow the joy IN at all.  And we can all take a lesson in obedience from this sweet girl because when the illness comes down hard, she dances straight to HIM with all she has.  Arms up, swaying, trusting. Worshipping.  SHE is a song.  SHE is a dance.  SHE is beautifully HIS.    

Love ACF women.  Real.  Raw.  Radiant.   

(Thank you to the BRAVE woman who gave me permission to write & post this.  When you share, you make others feel brave too.)  

To My Dear House,

Friends, this was a personal note I wrote last winter.  More of a rambling than a letter.  A dear friend was encouraged by it and suggested I share.  Maybe it will resonate with you too.  I am so grateful for all I have.  I just don't want to be a slave to the things that in the end, won't really matter.  I struggle all the time, but I'm learning to let go.  How about you?  

You are a safe place.  A comfortable place.  A warm place.  A refuge from rain and heat, insects and amphibians!  You hold our food, toys, toiletries and clothes.  You are where we let go.  Where we strip off the makeup and the smiles.  Where we can rest, love, cry, and just work out all of our issues.  But here’s the thing.  As much as I love you and need you, I need boundaries. 

I can no longer be a slave to you.  

My soul craves freedom.  Freedom from shining you, dusting you, obsessing over you.  You steal my time, joy and energy.  I want to just once be able to walk through you and not have to stop and worry that you need arranging and fixing, fluffing and trips to target to make you sing.  The truth is, you are beautiful when we LIVE in you.  When I say LIVE....I mean when we are free to be creative, make messes with paint slipping onto paper, laundry piled up because we’re running free outside, flour all over the kitchen because we’ve made pizza, books left in the corners of rooms, opened and calling.  Rooms that invite us to get silly.  Baths that are rimmed with bubbles.  Candles that are burned to the wick. 

I don’t want to have to worry about whether or not I have enough matching dishes to entertain a few guests or if you are perfectly picked up and scrubbed clean before a friend comes over.  I won’t put my neighbor off again, just to satisfy your need to be worshipped.  SHE comes first.  Her words in my kitchen, her hands holding the coffee mug with the crack in it, pouring out her heart.  SHE is worthy of my time.  Not you.    

Don’t call to me anymore.  

Don’t tell me I SHOULD be cleaning the ceiling fans, washing the windows and scrubbing the floors.  What I should be doing is writing down the words that feed my soul.  What I should be doing is tickling my girls on the floor until they yell mercy.  What I should be doing is cooking and leaving the dishes to go on a nature walk before dark.  

What I want to be doing is NOT worrying about my house being good enough or pretty enough or clean enough or decorated enough.  Because enough is enough. 

 And you are enough for the here and now.  Because no matter how much time and energy I give to you, you will always just be a house.  The HOME I long for, the one I’ve strived to have here, but can never achieve...is truly a place that doesn’t exist here on EARTH.  

Letting go of perfection and embracing you as you are...

my messy LIVED IN house!

Light in the dark.

She is your neighbor.  The woman with the long black hair.  The one with all the children.  The messy house. She borrows eggs from you to make pancakes on Sundays and her dog is always wandering over to your yard.   She’s getting on a plane to go visit her mother who might pass away in the night.    

She is the one you see on Facebook.  She posts a lot.  Her business is doing well.  She seems happy.  Her hair is always perfect.  She’s too busy to make it to bible study, but you keep messaging her.  No-one knows about her anxiety disorder.        

She is the mother you read about in the newspaper holding her dead child in her arms wailing while the world discusses whose fault it is.   

She is the woman who serves you at the grocery store.  You notice her arms are covered in tattoos but it’s not polite to ask so you look away.  If you had asked, she might have invited you to church and told you her story.  She was baptized by her grandfather last week. She can‘t wait to share the gospel.      

She is you. Watching the news as it spews more bad news.  The virus.  The fighting.  Don’t swim in the water or go out into the sun.  Another baby was left alone in a car and the police are under investigation for beating a man to death.  YOU watch and wilt and wonder if the Jesus you learned about since you were four years old will come in your lifetime.  Maybe even today?

We wait and sometimes even whisper, “come Jesus, we need you.”  Because in the night, when it’s very dark, it’s hard to imagine the light. 

Have faith.  Hold tight to the word.  There is hope.  He will come.

And there IS beauty shimmering all around her...and her...and her....and her, and yes, you too.  The Holy Spirit, like a lighthouse, shining from the inside out in all of us who believe.