Salty Zebra

 This has been an interesting study! I've had a massive family situation this summer which sort of derailed my usual routine. You may have noticed that my posts were more sporadic and less varied than normal. I'm happy to say I completed the study though before the next one starts tomorrow! I'm looking forward to writing this recap on the plane home from Florida tonight. I'm hoping the 10,000 foot view will put this study into perspective 😉.  We started our the first week in chapter one of Ephesians. Paul addresses this letter to the "saints" in Ephesus,  and identifies himself as an apostle, which motivated me to learn about these words . I am so encouraged by Paul's statement that we were chosen in Christ before the beginning of the world ( Ephesians 1:4 ). This taught me that no matter what I'm facing or how impossible it seems, God already has it worked out  ! Continuing on, I explored the darkness of slavery to sin that I was trapped in before Je...

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6:19  I've shared on this blog about many of the diseases and conditions I face, like Elhers-Danlos Syndromes and a Pilocytic Astrocytoma brain tumor , but the one that hits the hardest, that I dread the worst, is foot in mouth disease. That is to say, I have always found myself saying the wrong thing! It's a little better here because I can think through and review what I say before it goes out to the world, but that review and editing process does not seem to function well in my brain in real time! This has been compounded as of late by my struggle with impulse control and my apparent loss of filter. I'm told this is common in women my age, so I try not to stress over the thought that the brain tumor is causing it, but I do wonder sometimes. When the importance of this is most on my heart is when I have opportunities to ...

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   Ephesians 6:13 As I mentioned in my last post , we have a very real enemy and we are engaged in an active battle. This is not a fight we can see with our eyes, but we sense it with our spirit. Accordingly, we must have both a good offense and a good defense in this battle.God did not drop us into the middle of a war with no weapons or armor. No! On the contrary, He has provided us with everything we need for life and godliness ( 2Peter 1:3 ) according to His riches in glory ( Philippians 4:19 ).  Many more capable than I have broken down the armor of God, but today what stands out to me is the ending of this verse – “and after you have done everything, to stand.” In my life, I often feel like I am looking for the next thing I should try, the next job to do. I go through my checklist, and add to it reg...

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12  All my life I've been a fan of fiction, and much of it has been in the fantasy genre. C.S. Lewis * has taught me more than a few lessons, and Frank Peretti *, Bryan Davis *, Gilbert Morris * and Ted Dekker * have added their voices to this narrative. I used to think that reading fiction was just for fun, but I've come to realize that we can learn so much more through stories than through direct teachings. I'm sure this is why Jesus taught the people in parables. We can read the account of Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross and be deeply impressed by the logistics of what went into the provision for our salvation in the Gospels, but experiencing Aslan's gift of himself to Narnia through Lucy's eyes and heart adds layer upon layer of depth to my ...

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people. Ephesians 6:7  You may have heard the quote, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” I'm not sure who said it originally, neither is the internet, but most all of us have come across it at one point or another. Depending on your perspective, this quote could be encouraging, convicting, or down right annoying!  These words fit in well with my approach to life. I've never been one to do things half way, I'm an all or nothing person. As I've gotten older, this has changed up a bit in that I now have to prioritize what I do since I have less and less energy to do it with. Still, though, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to give it my best effort. And that includes things that only God will ever see or notice. When I make the bed each day, I often notice that the sheets are coming untucked at the bottom. I could just straighten the blankets and call it good enough – my husband...

  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.   Ephesians 6:1  Our early families are our first introduction into the rhythms of obeying. First we obey our parents, then God, then our husbands. At least, that’s how it often works. If for some reason we were never taught to obey as children, then learning to obey as an adult is so much harder! As we grow, these relationships change. My kids no longer have to come to me for permission to go to the mall, and I’m not putting them in time out in the corner when they step out of line. Nonetheless, I am still their Mom, and I still have responsibilities towards them and they have an admonition to honor me.   When my kids were little and they would throw fits, I used to dream about how much easier parenting would be when they were all grown up. Oh, what illusions I had! At first, I thought that potty training would be my biggest parenting challenge, then teaching them to drive, but I had no idea what was ...

  This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:32   Don’t you love a good mystery? I’m thinking of the books or movies that start with a simple question that rolls into a deeper and deeper quandry, where the main character looks sure to utterly fail, where you can hardly remember the initial premise because it has changed so many times. I think we like mysteries because, at least in fiction, they typically get solved. It’s those movies that leave us on a cliff hanger, that never really answer the question, that get mixed reviews. I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of them but other members of my family love them. I like things wrapped up in a neat package with a perfect bow on it. When I grew up, I loved reading Nancy Drew mysteries. The problems seemed so big, so unsolvable for a young woman, but inevitably she would come up with the answer before the final page.   In real life, mystery is a much different beast. I’ve been reading a...

  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.   Ephesians 5:33  Marriage has been a hot topic in our family of late as we’ve seen the destruction of a marriage of a close family member. We’ve spent countless hours talking about it, praying about it, reading about it. One of the outcomes of this is that I feel like I have a better understanding of what a healthy marriage looks like. This passage is one I’ve learned from many, many times over the years, and each time with a growing understanding. Just a few months ago I wrote a post on this very concept, and already I feel as though I’ve learned more about it!   Recently at church, the speaker (I think it was the pastor's wife, but I've gotten my weeks mixed up in my mind) shared that without hierarchy we have anarchy. They didn’t use those exact words, but that’s the concept they were trying to get across. They equated the church to the military whe...

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:15-16  When you read these verses, how does the word, “you” stand out to you? Do you see it as a personal exhortation? That would be quite reasonable as we typically see our walk with God as a personal one. We see dos and don’ts as relating to our individual walk. But the reality is that Paul was not writing this letter to a person, but to a church – to all the churches really. When he says, “Be very careful, then, how you live,” he’s telling the church as a whole that they need to be careful together how they live. They say no man is an island, and that is especially true in context of the church and our walk with God. Never, at any point, did He call us to do this alone. So how, then, do we be careful how WE live?  The first thing Paul says here is that we need to live with wisdom. Where do you get wisdom? We’ve been given a ...

   For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light  Ephesians 5:8  This is a beautiful passage, and a fitting metaphor, that God gave us through Paul. Similar messages are shared in John 1:4 , 8:12 , 2 Corinthians 4:6 and lots of other places . God, goodness, righteousness are represented by light and evil and all it’s tricks and fallacies by darkness. This is helpful for us to understand and gives us insight into a deeper truth, but on its surface, I struggle with it at times.  You see, today I have a migraine, and with migraines, light is my enemy. It causes pain; torture really. When a migraine is really bad, I have to lay in a dark room. Even the little lights from the smoke detector or the outlet next to my bed that has a small blue bulb embedded in it are too much. So far, today, I can handle the outside light coming through the window, but the lights in the house are off and I even had to dim the screen of my...

  Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.   Ephesians 5:1-2  “Do as I say, not as I do!” That was a tongue-in-cheek semi-joking saying when I was a kid. Some of the adults in my life were not emulating Christ in the way they ought to, and this was their excuse. At the time, I thought it was perfectly reasonable, but in hindsight, I think they dropped the ball. We are given a great responsibility of representing Christ in this world. Are we going to do it perfectly? Of course not! Not one of us is God-made-flesh like He was. But, nonetheless, we are called to try.   Why is this so important? After all, we are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ). However this is not about our salvation, but the salvation of others. For many people, we are the only Jesus they may ever see. Especially where I li...

  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  This is the end of a passage that lays out some foundations for Christian living. In it, Paul writes that we should not sin in our anger, we should not steal, our words should be beneficial, not gossipy or mean, and that great big mysterious command – do not grieve the Holy Spirit. I still don’t fully comprehend what that means, and no one I’ve read seems to have a solid handle on it either. Hey Paul, you want to give a few more details on something so seemingly important?!? Finally, just before today’s focus verse, it says that we are to get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. That’s where I got stuck.   You see, I don’t struggle with a compulsion to steal, and I work really hard to make sure my words are beneficial, though I am certainly not perfect, but recently I have had a big struggle with anger. You can...

  and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24  Many years ago, my husband asked me to start cutting his hair, and we got a set of clippers. I had watched my mom buzz my brothers’ heads for NJROTC in high school so I was pretty comfortable with the concept. For a long time, he wanted it styled with short sides but more length on top. That was tricky, but now he is transitioning his hairstyle to a not-quite-but-almost-bald look. Now, I just pop the #1 guard on the clippers and do his whole head lickety split. He has baby-soft, fine hair, and when you cut it, it goes EVERYWHERE. I learned early on in this process that a haircut had to be followed by a shower. Those little hairs worked their way through the fabric of my shirt, into the waistband of my pants, into my bra! NOT COMFORTABLE!!   What does this seemingly incongruous reflection have to do with Ephesians? In today’s passage ( Ephesians 4:17-24 ), Paul is ...

  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 I look back on my early years walking with Jesus in a bit of amazement. I remember clearly, sitting in the church library, where we met for adult Sunday School, thinking, “I could never lose this passion and fire! I will never struggle with doubt!” I chuckle and shake my head at this innocence, this immaturity. I also remember being drawn by different teachings and confused. During one season I felt distinctly that I should always wear a hat when at church, and that other women who weren’t were clearly sinning ( 1 Corinthians 11:6 ). During another season, I believed that I had to do my Bible study first thing in the morning – like it was pivotal to my salvation. I couldn’t do it once my babies woke up, so I tried getting up before them, but they kept waking up earlier and earlier. Next think you know, I’m getting up at 3am trying...

  Sometimes life isn't ideal. Let's face it, most of the time it isn't! So, we do what we need to, to make things work. In my "Making It Work" posts, I share life hacks and ideas that have helped me so that, maybe, they can help someone else too. I hope you enjoy!  I have SO MUCH DATA about my health this year!!!! It got to be so ridiculous that I couldn't begin to make heads or tails of it, let alone use it to benefit my situation. So I asked my data scientist husband to see what he could do with it, and here's what he came up with:  Pretty impressive, eh? He made lots of other visuals as well that you can look at, and even manipulate, here . Why did I ask him to do this? I thought maybe if I looked at the data in a cohesive, visualized way, I would be able to see WHAT TO DO. I've been tracking my blood sugar , my pace points (spoons), and my symptoms for almost a year now. You'd think that if you look at the data just right , maybe if you squin...

  So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up   Ephesians 4:11-12  Imagine for a moment, an endless line of people in a factory making widgets. Yep, you have to use your imagination because a widget isn’t a real thing, but stick with me here. Everyone is making widgets, but there’s no one to box them up, or put them on a truck, or drive them to a store, or work in a store to sell them, or anyone to buy them for that matter, because everyone is just making widgets. Maybe a widget maker is the best, coolest job ever, but if everyone is a widget maker, their job is meaningless because no one is enjoying the widgets they make!   God has given us each gifts. They are personalized to who we are, because God made us so He knows exactly which gift will be used best by us. They are also personalized for what He has called us to do. He know...

  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.   Ephesians 4:2-3  Seeing this passage transports me back in time to February of 2019. At that time, I was a part of a beautiful ministry at our church that had brought hundreds of people that wouldn’t have darkened the door of a sanctuary into a space where they heard about God’s love. The thing is, we have an enemy that doesn’t like such ministries and so he sowed seeds of discord in our church over it. A small, but vocal, group decided that what we were doing in the ministry (Christian Yoga) wasn’t in line with what they thought the church should be doing, and they actively, vehemently, went about seeking to destroy it. I talked with them, shared my teaching and lesson plans, invited them to sit in on classes, and at every step they agreed that what I was sharing was completely Biblical, and yet they continued t...