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Building Spiritual Muscles…and Grace and Truth Link Up

June 12, 2020 by Lauren 22 Comments

Note:  I blogged last week about the heartbreak of racism in our country.  You can read that post here.    I wanted to continue the conversation today, but since I invited two black sisters in Christ to participate with me, it’s taking longer than I would have liked to put together.  So we will hopefully get back to this devastatingly important topic next week.  But for now, I hope this is meaningful to you.  

 

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  1 Timothy 4:8 NIV

 

The world is slowly beginning to open up.  At least here in Texas.  I have a high-risk child, so my family and I will not line up for restaurants and nonessential stores yet.  I am, however, starting to think about what life looks like going forward.  The future remains unknown as we watch this virus and wait with the rest of the world.  And though the pandemic brought hardships and inconveniences, I hope  some things will NOT go back to “normal”.

 

A sermon my pastor preached on 1 Timothy 4:6-10 caused me to ruminate on what physical discipline could teach me about spiritual discipline.  Take the science of muscle building.  Bear with me if you know this info already, but in my 20 years of teaching fitness I constantly come across people who don’t know how it works.  When we lift heavy weights or do exercises that challenge us, we cause microscopic tears in the associated muscles.  That sounds bad, but does a body good – even though it makes us feel sore.

 

In an effort at protection, our muscles repair themselves stronger and bigger than before the tears occurred.  We need to rest before stressing the same muscles groups again, as this rebuilding takes a couple of days.  Without time to recover, we might tear the already damaged muscle too much – creating an injury that takes much longer to heal.  This process is the ONLY way to build muscle.  You must tear it down in order to gain strength.

 

During this time of self-isolation, my spiritual disciplines have been torn down.  My Bible study and prayer time needed an overhaul, and this extra time at home helps me dig deeper and linger longer.  I thank God that He listens to our prayers – no matter how lengthy or how organized.  And He’s kind enough not to keep a ledger of our time spent in His word.  So, when the kids go back to school and I punch the time clock again, there may be days when shooting up arrow prayers and reading a devo off my phone in the school pick-up line is all I can manage to squeeze in.  But my goal is to make that the exception.  Not the rule.

 

Psalms 46:10 details the hard work and discipline of the Christian life.  “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth’”  NIV.  Stillness strains some of us more than lifting the 1,105 lbs to break the world deadlift record!  Eugene Stock said, “There is no such thing as drifting into godliness, ‘the stream of tendency’ is against us.”  MY tendency is to get busy, and fit God around the rest of my life.  But that’s no way to godliness.  We must discipline ourselves in prayer, in study and in witnessing to others of His goodness.

 

Did you catch the last part of Psalms 46:10?  God commands us to exalt Him among the nations.  We don’t see that part on coffee mugs and t-shirts.  But stillness equips us to pass on what we gain.  We are not meant to enjoy His peace and rest selfishly.

 

When we take a break from lifting weights, we get sore all over again after picking them back up.  I pray that no matter how slow or how busy my life, I will continue the discipline of quiet and stillness before Him.

 

And now for this week’s featured post!

 

Carlie Lake of From Dust Towards the Heavens hit the nail on the head with her post How to Listen Even When it Hurts.  I feel that poor listening, or the unwillingness to listen, sits at the root of many of our society’s problems.  I know simply listening to people of color won’t change the world, but it’s a good place to start.  Read this post and challenge yourself in this area in the coming week.

 

Now for this week’s link-up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.

 

Grace & Truth : A Weekly Christian Link Up

 

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

 

 

Heather Hart & Valerie Riese

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
 

Maree Dee

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
 

Lauren Sparks

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Lisa Burgess

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1.)  Following your hosts via their blog and social media channels is not mandatory, but appreciated!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. We will delete these links. We also reserve the right to remove articles that don’t align with the theme or are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community among us, so please don’t link and run!

4.) We sort all links randomly – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

Featured Post Requirements

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. It is not mandatory, but it is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to emphasize and promote via their social media channels next week.

Grab a Badge and Link Back to this Post

 

And now, let’s link up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


 

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Back to School, Bad Movies and Martin Luther

August 15, 2019 by Lauren 26 Comments

Photo by Kelli Tungay on Unsplash

It’s that time of year.  I keep finding myself singing, “Gotta go back [guitar riff], back, back to school again.”  from Grease 2.  Please don’t close your browser over my bad taste in movies.  Over-the-top musical numbers aside, I do have a point.  Despite the miasma that is Texas in August (really, we are melting down here), it’s book hitting and bus riding time.

Watch the school zones, pack the lunch boxes and hold onto your graphing calculators.

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As we gather supplies and get our schedules in order I’ve been thinking a lot about my girls and all those they will encounter this school year.  I’m particularly cognizant of my little one.  At 5’9″ she’s not so little anymore.  High school and friends and new challenges beckon; much louder than I will in these next several years.  I know I haven’t always spoken kindly of my strong, stubborn girl.  Since my oldest is developmentally delayed, I’m in virginal territory parenting a typical teen girl.  And although some days it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do (at the start of summer I wasn’t sure we would both survive to this date), I now find I’m a little sad to think about being home without her in the middle of the day.  Well, with two part-time jobs I’m not home a lot in the middle of the day, but it was nice to catch up with her or sneak in an episode of 90210 together when I was.  I miss her already.

 

But it’s once again time for both my girls to shine their lights in bigger spaces.  And as preparation, God drew me back to a passage I prayed often over my bonus son during his formative years.  Philippians 1:9-11 NASB   “9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may [d]approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless [e]until the day of Christ;11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”  It’s always a little scary to send them out, but I have a promise from God that what He started in my girls, He will complete.  His purpose for them will be accomplished.  Look back at the same scripture passage linked above.  It’s all there.  

 

As we turn our thoughts toward academics and extracurriculars, I pray that I will keep first things first.  As important as classes and clubs and activities are, the most important growth and knowledge is spiritual in nature.  What my kids believe about God and their place in His plan supercedes all else.

 

I’m praying and planning all the things.  Praying for positive friend experiences, praying for opportunities to share the gospel, planning to be the biggest fan and cheerleader, and praying above all to extend love and grace to my girls in the same way God lavishes me.  Praying for the Holy Spirit to remind me that God is patient with me so withholding patience from my girls is not an option.  This is another year for maturation, not perfection.  Martin Luther described this better than I ever could:

This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise.  We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road.  All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.  

 

Whether you are a student, have a student or love a student, I pray you THRIVE in Him.

 

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And look up these great writers I link up with every week:

InstaEncouragements, Literacy Musing Mondays, Hello…Monday,

Dream Team link up, The Good. The Random. The Fun.

BloggerClubUK, Tea and Word Tuesday, Purposeful Faith,

GraceFull Tuesday Link-Up, Different Dream,

Let’s Have Coffee, Welcome Wednesday, Recharge Wednesday,

Worth Beyond Rubies, #TellHisStory Link Up, Porch Stories,

Encouraging Word Wednesday, Tune In Thursday,

Stories of Hope, Moments of Hope, IHeart Verse Link Party,

A Blogging Good Time, Fresh Market Friday, Feature Friday Time,

Friendship Friday Blog Hop, Faith on Fire, Traffic Jam Weekend,

Faith ‘n Friends, Dancing with Jesus, Grace & Truth, Booknificent

 

 

Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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