Shelly A. Faust

Archives for November 2015

Hope of Another Kind

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Hope is based on the promises of God 1

It was the month of my 32nd birthday, and I was six months pregnant. Fall had drifted in with the crisp, cool air and my heart was in its happy place. Life was good.

I don’t know if you know this (I’m pretty sure you might), but life has its unfair share of ups and downs and just as quickly as your heart spills over with gladness, it can tumble over with surprising sadness. That’s what happened to me on this September day in my doctor’s office. Cancer isn’t supposed to happen with babies growing in your belly. But it did.

And just like that despair barged in and pushed hope out. Because hope that’s anchored to the good and the happy gets squeezed out when the imperfect presses hard. It drowns in the wake of bad news and flees in the face of adversity.

The news of my medical diagnosis shed light on the condition of my faith. Hope helps build our faith so when our hope is placed in anything other than God, the foundation of our faith crumbles easily. In the midst of life and busyness and ministry, I had unknowingly placed my hope and trust in my own abilities and strengths and all that was humanly controllable. This isn’t the kind of hope that remains. This isn’t the kind of faith that stands. This isn’t the kind of faith we’re called to. . . (To finish reading, please follow me to We Are His Daughters, where I’m excited to be a guest contributor today.)

More Power to the Pep Squad

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This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me (I know, a woman emotional? Totally out of character).

Maybe I’m the only one but goodness, Monday was HARD. And not for any particular reason either. The enemy is sneaky (and quick) like that. And then Tuesday was going to be better and then it wasn’t and then it was again. (See? Roller coaster.)

But all these emotions got me to thinking. I wonder if anyone else is sitting home on Mondays (or any other day) feeling like they aren’t needed (which, for a mother, how could this even be, because HELLO – mothering), or lonely or unexplainably sad or like they just don’t measure up or wondering how they got to be 43 (FYI – just threw that number out there, ahem) and still don’t always know where they’re going, or worn slap out or a million other feelings or crazy thoughts that trespass on our otherwise delightful day at the drop of a hat (thanks to my 5th grader’s homework for that overused idiom).

So I posted a photo to my Instagram and Facebook and Twitter (insert shameless plug – check) and turns out, some of you – like me – needed some encouragement.

And guess what? My heart soared in the midst of encouraging you. Totally scriptural, by the way.

He who refreshes others

So I wanted to reach out to my readers here and throw some confetti because you are worth celebrating. Whatever you’re going through, whatever you’re feeling, you’re going to make it. I believe in you. And more than that, GOD believes in you AND empowers you to do all the hard things and enables you to overcome all the emotions and all the feelings (because we have a lot of those, huh?).

Chin up, mama!

I want to cheer you on. Except don’t mistake me for a cheerleader. No, in junior high school when all that started I was not popular enough, coordinated enough, or confident enough (I was in all the GT classes though – fist bump from my nerd buddies). And we didn’t have enough money for uniforms and camp (if we did, I’m sure it would’ve gone towards completing that unfinished sheetrock hiding in my closet). And I was SO AWKWARD. Y’all. I’m not even kidding. (Note to self: Naturally curly hair does not look better all brushed out and cannot have wings. Like ever. Pre-flat iron era, of course).

But apparently none of that mattered for the Pep Squad. Because I totally did that for one season. (Still, all the love to my best friends who were ALL, except maybe one, the most awesome cheerleaders.)

Doesn’t Pep SQUAD sound like something we could all do? I mean, you’re my people, but to think of us as a squad, throwing confetti and giving pep talks and cheering for each other? That makes my heart sing. Yes, I can do pep squad.

More power to the Pep Squad!

So, this is the prayer I prayed for all my mama friends this morning (because nothing requires more of us than this mothering, I think):

Holy Spirit, empower us with wisdom to mother well and courage to trust that You, God, can handle anything (even those years of transition from teenager to adult, oh my). Be our strength when we feel weak, our joy when when we feel sad, our peace when we feel chaos, our hope when we feel hopeless, and our stability when we feel unstable. You are enough for us. You are enough for our children. Remind us to rest in You. Thank You for loving us beyond what we could ever deserve. Let us also love well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

And, mamas, may we lift each other up, cheer loudly for one another, celebrate one another, high five one another, grieve together, laugh together, pray together, and occasionally have lunch together. ‪#‎togetherisbetter‬ ‪#‎mamasunite‬ ‪#‎youaremypeople‬ #powertothepepsquad

me and logan - power to the pep squad

I love y’all!!

 

 

 

 

The Power in Seeing Beyond the Enemy That Surrounds You

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If we dare to look for Him in all places

Hi friends.

September and October brought the loss of two precious family members for us: my Granny (who – at 97 almost lived forever but still not nearly long enough) and my Aunt Charlotte (who received her healing of lung cancer in heaven). We miss them DEEPLY. My mom lost her mother and her eldest sister within a span of six weeks. Our hearts ache with raw emotion and tears still come without invitation.

The other day we were discussing my September series, A New Season, and my mom mentioned something she had read recently. It suggested that every change of season happens at the loss or gain of relationship. That every time someone enters or exits our lives – by death, divorce, broken fellowship – we are forced into a new place. That life as we knew it – at least in part – ceases to exist. The loss of these two beautiful women has definitely initiated and forced change in our family. We begin a new season without them until at last we too walk into our final season when we’ll most definitely be reunited. Oh what a glorious day that will be.

I’m once again reminded of the brevity of this earthly life, the importance of every single now moment, the even greater importance of investing in eternity, the need to steer clear of ridiculous and trivial controversy and public debate, the responsibility to keep my heart free from offense and the burden to love generously.

During September and October I also traveled outside of the U.S. twice. Once to Canada, which we talked about HERE and HERE, and then to the Bahamas on the Duck Dynasty Cruise where I reunited and served with my beautiful Premier Hospitality Team. I’ll post some fun pictures soon.

So my plan to write a new series for October (which I announced here) just never happened. Sorry about that!

I’ve decided to take the rest of this year slowly here on the blog, seek God for direction on some personal things, listen closely, pause in ordinary moments, scoop up my family and hold them even closer in this holiday season, and love extra-extravagantly in my real life relationships.

Because no matter how many times we stop and start again, evaluate and re-evaluate, focus and refocus, it seems we can always stand to do it one more time (or ten thousand).

In my last post, we talked about seeing God in all places. We discussed how God doesn’t wait to meet us in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings, but He builds a temple within us and meets us wherever we are.

I’m so thankful He continues to meet me right here where I am today. In the middle of loss, unfinished blog posts, questions, and some desperate seeking.

I know wherever you are today, He’s there with you, too.

And we said that if we dare to look for Him in all places, our eyes will open in wonder at His ever-present holiness.

But how do we do this?

How do we look for and find Him in all places?

How do we recognize His presence and discern His voice?

Because that can sound like a big, unreachable, super-spiritual goal, huh?

We have a knack for complicating most everything.

The truth is it doesn’t have to be hard or complicated or unreachable.

Just like we have physical senses that help us discover and relate to the physical world around us, we also have spiritual senses that help us discover and respond to a spiritual God.

I love the story of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6. A great enemy army surrounds the city in the middle of the night in search of Elisha . When Elisha’s servant wakes up early the next morning, he is terrified at the sight of this multitude of horses and chariots that has been sent against them, and he asks Elisha what they’re going to do.

Elisha responds, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (verse 16).

He’s obviously seeing something his servant isn’t seeing.

Then Elisha prays, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see” (verse 17).

Elisha didn’t pray for God to give his servant eyes, He asked for God to open his eyes. He already had the tools he needed to see God’s provision and protection, but because he was focused in on the enemy he could only see what fear magnified.

Totally sounds like something I do sometimes.

Why could Elisha see into the unseen spiritual realm but his servant could not? Why did Elisha have hope when facing such great opposition while his servant was on the verge of an anxiety attack?

Could Elisha’s seeing the provision of God have originated from a place of abiding with God?

My own personal experience screams a resounding yes.

There is a spiritual reality often contrary to what we see in the natural. Our feelings don’t always line up to what we know as truth nor do our circumstances always look like victory. Just like Elisha’s servant, we can be blind to God’s protection and provision and find ourselves in a panic when we put our faith in anything other than Him.

But when we live our lives up close and personal to and hidden in this God who isn’t limited by what we feel or what can be seen in the natural, we can walk boldly in the understanding that those who are FOR us really are greater than those who are against us.

And we can respond accordingly.

Learning to recognize and abide in His presence creates space to rest, even when faced with opportunities to worry. It causes our spiritual eyes to see and understand Kingdom truths no matter the enemy surrounding us.

There is power in seeing. Super-natural power.

Super power? You mamas know we need some super power.

If we want the power, we must pursue the Presence.

Open our spiritual eyes, God. Help us to SEE You and Your great army when we are tempted to focus on the enemy surrounding us. Increase our faith. Stir our desire. Awaken our passion for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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