Mountain Maker

There are a number of verses in the Bible which have always somewhat baffled me. They roll off the tongue, get quoted and made into everything from tapestries to songs, but confuse me more than they inspire. Maybe baffle is a bit too strong a word. It’s probably more that, with all of the other inspiring and inspirational verses in the Bible, I wonder why they picked that particular one. 

Psalm 121:1 is one of them. The first time I heard it – in the King James Version as its so frequently quoted – I really was confused. 

I lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help.

Um, what? My help comes from the hills? How, uh, helpful…

And then, I read a bit more, grew a few more years of maturity, did a few more Bible studies and found it in the New International Version where, it turns out, it’s actually a question rather than a statement. A question which is answered in the next verse.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.     

Makes more sense. But still, with all the other psalms around it, talking about God’s strength and power and incredible might, it still confused me what the mountains had to do with anything. Why are we looking up at the mountains again? [Okay, side note for all those currently shouting at me that I’ve missed the point, I do know this is one of the Psalms of Ascents, hence the mountain reference. It’s more that it didn’t seem relevant to me today.] 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love mountains. They’re awe-inspiring. They tower above the rest of the world, and remind us of strength, power and might. They’re beautiful, terrifying, constant, unforgiving. They give us a world of metaphors. Conquering a mountain, a mountaintop experience, the importance of the valleys between mountains, give me this mountain, climb every mountain (ford every stream, follow every rainbow…) Sorry, getting distracted… now I’ve got that song in your heads, I’ll get back to the point J

I love mountains, but this verse didn’t resonate with me at all. 

Until I read it a couple of weeks ago in The Message (which, by the way, I’ve had and been reading for over a decade. How did I miss this???). 

I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. 

Did you get that? My strength comes from the one who made the mountains. The greatest, most awe-inspiring landmarks in this world? God made them. With the same strength he gives me. When I look at mountains, marvelling at their beauty and strength and the way they never (fine, rarely) change, I remember the one who’s even greater than those mountains. The one who made those mountains. Because the maker of something is always greater than their creation. Greater, stronger, more powerful, more inspiring. The one who never changes. 

I don’t know about you but I’m pretty certain I’ll never look at mountains the same again. 

Where does my help and strength come from? Not the mountains, but the Mountain Maker. And, believe me, if he can make mountains, nothing in our lives is too hard for him. 

Top 9 Influential Non-Fiction Books

Last fortnight I shared some of my favourite fiction books so I figured it’s only fair that I share some non-fiction ones too. I’ve learnt my lesson though and instead of calling them favourites this time, I’ll just stick with ‘influential’. So, again in no particular order, here are nine non-fiction books which have really influenced my life. 

God Works the Night Shift – Ron Mehl

We often think that only bad things can happen in the dark. Not true. The simple premise of this book is that God is working, even while we’re asleep. He never stops working in our lives and the lives of those around us to see his purposes through. Even when it’s dark, even when no one else is there, God is. 

Spoken For – Robin Jones Gunn & Alyssa Joy Bethke

It’s hard to put into words how much I loved this book and the message it has. And the effect it could have on the lives of teen girls. Bombarded relentlessly with negative images and the need to be in a relationship, it’s easy to be convinced that our worth lies in what others think of us rather than who we are to God. 

With chapters like, 'You are Loved', 'You are Chosen', 'You are Covered' and 'You are Spoken For', related through stories from the authors' lives, it was such a reminder to me of who I really am in Christ alongside the encouragement – and freedom – to be just that. I wasn’t even halfway through it before I was making a list of all the people I wanted to read it. Not surprising that there are three copies (at least?) in my family. 

Knit Together – Debbie Macomber

In essence, this is the biography of Debbie Macomber, New York Times Bestselling author with more than 100 million copies of her books in print. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a chapter by chapter encouragement to not give up on your dreams. It’s based around Psalm 139 and the fact that God created every single one of us with a purpose. One he wants to see us fulfil.

Yes, it’s personal for me as like her, I’ve spent years working on getting my books published with still nothing to show for it, but it’s not just for writers. It’s an encouragement for everyone to hold on tightly to those dreams God places in our hearts, even – especially – the impossible ones. 

66 Ways God Loves You – Jennifer Rothschild

This one’s a devotional. It goes through each book of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and pulls out a truth of how that book shows God’s love. Even Leviticus J It’s so profound in its simplicity. 

Love and Respect – Emmerson Eggerichs

Based around Ephesians 5:33 this marriage book is so practical. I read this when I was newly married and it made such a difference in my thinking and how I thought about relationships. 

And the Angels were Silent/The Great House of God – Max Lucado

I could have made this whole list Max Lucado’s books. I love the way he writes, taking a verse, idea, even a single word and pulling out a whole chapter’s worth of wisdom. Really practical wisdom. These two are my favourites of his. 

And the Angels Were Silent is based around the week leading up to Easter. Probably the hardest week of Jesus’ life. I read it for the first time in my early teens and remember being so profoundly impacted by it. It was the first time I’d ever really comprehended (if one could even call my miniscule understanding that) what Jesus had really done for me. 

The Great House of God is based around the Lord’s Prayer, with Max relating each phrase of it to a different room in the house. Take a tour of God’s house as he takes a tour of your prayer life. 

Crash the Chatterbox – Steven Furtick

Anyone else have this voice in their head that just won’t shut up? You know, the one that keeps telling you you’ll never be good enough or that what you did was just plain stupid or that you’re crazy to believe you could ever be any more than you are today… Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera… This book is all about crashing that voice. Learning to listen to God’s voice instead. I’ll admit, I haven’t actually read all of it yet (working on it) but what I have is brilliant. Easy to read and so encouraging. 

The Emotionally Healthy Woman – Geri Scazzero

Honestly, I think every woman in any kind of ministry (including the home) needs to read this book. Written by a pastor’s wife who found herself totally burnt out to the point of quitting her own husband’s church, it’s about admitting that none of us can do it all. And neither does God ask us to. More than a self-help book, it’s an encouragement to women to quit the things that hold them back from truly serving God as he asks us to – quitting lying to ourselves, basing our worth on others’ expectations, living someone else’s life, etc. I found this book so freeing, to have someone say that it’s okay to let go of all those lies society – and yes, sometimes the church – place on us and just be.  

Taking Nothing for Granted – Alastair Lynch

When I was first diagnosed with arthritis, I thought my life was over. I was eighteen, just graduated from high school and on the cusp of my adult life only to have my plans crash around me. I spent a lot of time those first few months doing what most people do when given a diagnosis – researching the disease, what it meant and how other people dealt with it. Most of it was pretty depressing. After a while, whether it was because I’d read everything there was to read or just got sick of reading it, I started searching out stories of hope. People who’d been dealt tough hands and held on to their dreams. 

Alastair Lynch was one of my favourite players of AFL players at the time, someone I really respected. I watched him play for years having no idea he had chronic fatigue. It blew me away when I found out to think that a top sportsman like him could manage such a debilitating disease (with a lot of the same symptoms as mine) and still play at the level he did and as well as he did. It took time, balance and compromise, but it was possible. Reading this, his biography, really encouraged and inspired me. 

There are heaps of other books, of course. Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Judah Smith, Robin Jones Gunn, Katie Davis Majors, Christine Caine (just to list a few!) also have a bunch of books on my shelves. There are so many brilliant authors out there! What have you read that’s been encouraging or influential lately? Please share!

Here's links for all the books too if you're interested in finding out more about them :)

God Works the Night Shift

Spoken For

Knit Together

66 Ways God Loves You

Love and Respect

And the Angels were Silent

Great House of God

Crash the Chatterbox

The Emotionally Healthy Woman

Taking Nothing for Granted

Some Favourite Fiction Books

My brain is fried. Part lack of sleep, part too much editing, part still stuck in the fantasy world of the book I just finished, it’s just not working for me this week. So, instead of writing any sort of inspirational blog post (like the five I’ve started and put aside because they’re not making any sense), I thought I’d share with you some of my all-time favourite fiction books. Because, well, I have books on my mind. 

In no particular order, here are nine books/series I absolutely love:

1.    A Noble Masquerade – Kristi Ann Hunter

I laughed my whole way through this book, when I wasn’t being blown away by the spiritual truths written in it. I remember the first time I read it (okay, might have been the second too…), being so captivated by the prologue that it took me forever to get to the first chapter. This one is a historical romance about a very proper young woman who can’t quite manage to follow all the rules expected of her. She starts writing to her brother’s friend, a duke, as kind of a makeshift diary, never intending on him ever seeing the letters. Only he does one day – and not only finds them amusing but writes back. Tee hee. 

This one is my favourite by this author but all of hers are absolutely brilliant J

2.   Firebird – Kathy Tyers

Probably the first sci-fi book I ever read, I can’t even remember where I found this one but I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read it. It’s the story of a young woman (Firebird) who’s spent the first eighteen years of her life being told (and believing) that her only worth lies in dying well in battle. But instead of dying, she’s captured by her enemy, a race of people with an ancient faith who believe her life is worth living. It’s a book full of epic space battles and royalty and telepaths but what keeps drawing me back is Firebird’s journey to faith, love and worth. 

3.    Divergent – Veronica Roth

Like Firebird, this is one I pull out fairly frequently, either to read the whole thing or just my favourite parts. Another coming of age story where Tris, the main character, finds not only who she is but something worth fighting for. I’ll admit, the love story is pretty sweet too. 

4.    A Matter of Trust – Susan May Warren

This one is book three of the author’s Montana Rescue series, all of which I loved, but this one is by far my favourite. They’re all based around a close-knit team of rescue workers (think mountain/snow/harsh terrain rescue teams), each book telling a different team member’s story. This one is Gage’s story – a one-time world-champion snowboarder who made a decision which cost someone’s life, and has regretted his fame ever since. 

He’s now joined the rescue team and is using his boarding skills to find a couple of lost snowboarders on a mountain. I loved the descriptions – totally made me feel like I was caught up in the snow right along with them, the wind whizzing past my ears – but also the challenges he has to work through as he figures out what is the guilt speaking and what is God. 

5.    The Merchant’s Daughter – Melanie Dickerson

Set in a medieval land, this is a stunning retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The descriptions are amazing but it was the honour and integrity of the main characters and how they seemed to come alive off the pages as they discovered the Bible for themselves and what it meant to truly live it that had me captivated. 

The Healer’s Apprentice (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty) is another one of my favourites by this author. 

6.    The Red Door Inn/Where Two Hearts Meet/On Love’s Gentle Shore – Liz Johnson

Okay, so I can’t quite choose which of this series is my favourite so I’ll just cheat and put them all. Set on Prince Edward Island (of the Anne of Green Gables variety), these are the stories of three women who find hope, healing and love at a BnB called the Red Door Inn. Which I totally want to go visit. Even if it’s not real. Absolutely beautiful stories which had me captivated from first page to the last and went way deeper than I ever expected. 

7.    Like Never Before/Keep Holding On – Melissa Tagg

Okay, I’m cheating again naming two books but really, I love every single book Melissa has written. Easily one of my top five (if not top three) favourite authors. All her books are hilariously funny, poignantly sweet, challenge my faith and view of the world, take me deeper in my relationship with God, remind me how much I love family and are just really, really beautiful. And, like the Red Door Inn, I really want to go visit the (sadly fictional) town of Maple Valley. 

8.    The Chronicles of Narnia – C S Lewis

Don’t need to say too much about these since I’m pretty sure everyone knows them. Yep, they’re in my favourite books list. I remember my mum reading them to my siblings and I when I was little, so they’ll always be special because of that, but they’re also just brilliant. I read them for the first time as an adult – all seven in a row in a week or so – and few years ago and struggled for a couple of days after to find my way back to reality. The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe would probably be my favourite because of its allegorical nature, but I love them all. 

9.    Harry Potter (series) – J K Rowling  

I’ll admit, this one is probably a little controversial but really, they’re brilliantly written and a lot of fun. That said, I won’t be giving them to my kids any time soon, certainly not the last four or so as they get very dark, but I do really enjoy reading them. 

Colour Me Humbled

I’ve never been a fan of colouring in. I was that kid back in grade one who got told to use more than one pencil to colour a picture. Seriously. It happened. I have to smile when I watch Prep kids do it these days because, yep, that was me. I really had no interest in colouring. 

Nothing much has changed. I still don’t like it. I’ll do it, on occasion (once or twice a year, always while sitting chatting with kids) but it’s not something I find relaxing nor am I any good at it. Believe me, if you want something coloured beautifully, ask my sisters. Not me. They can shade and everything. 

So, when an author I follow on Facebook came up with the idea of getting her readers to colour a Scripture-based colouring page each week as an exercise in stillness and contemplation, I balked just shy of opting out altogether. 

I loved the idea – people across the world focusing on one particular verse each week while colouring a page and sharing at the end of the week what God had taught us through it (and the page, if we were game), but the actual colouring? Um, no. Especially when I saw the first week’s page – an incredibly detailed mandala. Not sure what would have given in first, my eyes or my arthritic hands. Nope. That went in the ‘nice idea but too hard’ basket. 

Enter my seven-year-old daughter, who saw the page sitting on the bench and asked if she could colour it.

And, four hours later, handed me the finished product. Yep, for four hours, she sat at our dining room table and coloured every single detail of that page. Using every single pen she had. Where I looked at the page and thought it too hard, she saw the potential and spent the time making that black and white shell of a design a rainbow of beautiful colour. 

I might not have coloured that page, but God did speak to me through it, and her patience. In those four hours, while she sat there colouring, I saw a picture of God’s heart for us. 

I look at my life sometimes and put it in the too-hard basket. Others’ lives too. We’re complicated people. I see the potential for beauty but getting to that point? Nope. Too hard. Too painful. Too long a journey. 

But God sees something different. He sees the beauty. Right from the start. And yes, though it’ll be a long, complicated journey – in which he’ll probably get hurt and have us mistake his intent in the process – he wades right in to our mess and starts making something of it. It’s not too long a process for him. It’s not too difficult. 

He doesn’t rush over the details either, like I’m prone to do (hmmm…how many things can I colour purple? Oh look, those can all be green, those too. More trees? Green, green, green…). He pulls out each one – every dot, every line, every swirl – and makes them beautiful. 

God is patient. Even more so than my daughter. He’s not rushing his work in our lives, wanting to move on to something more important or getting bored, he’s patient, wanting to bring out his best in us even when we can’t see it. 

We’re not too hard for him. Nor too complicated. Nor too broken. The things that overwhelm us? They don’t overwhelm him. He’s big enough, powerful enough, gentle enough and patient enough to deal with them. 

I don’t know about you but I find that really humbling. That God would care that much about me as to not find my messiness overwhelming. That he would want to delve into the complications of my life and not just look and walk away. That he would love me that much as to want to be part of my mess. That the God who commands planets and thunder and universes beyond my imagination would think me worth taking the time to make beautiful. 

Wow! Colour me humbled. 

Parting Waters

Instead of writing my own post tonight, I wanted to share with you a song that’s been a huge encouragement to me this past year. I love the imagery of it all and the reminder that God is working in ways we’ll never know to answer the prayers our hearts ache to see realised. He’s not a passive God, sitting there, listening to our desperate prayers, saying ‘oh, that’s nice.’ He’s working – for us, in us, through us, around us. He knows our prayers before we pray them and is already at work to see them through. 

God is faithful. So, so faithful. He hears your prayers, he sees your heart, he wipes away your tears. He’s on your side. He’s moving mountains. I hope this song encourages you today too. (Listen to it here, or the lyrics are below)

STILL – Hillary Scott

I believe that you are God alone

But sometimes I still try to take control

Cause I get scared when I can’t see the end

And all you want from me is to let go

You’re parting waters, making a way for me

You’re moving mountains that I don’t even see

You’ve answered my prayer before I even speak

All you need for me to be is still

I bring my praise before I bring my need

Cause there’s no fear you’ve not already seen

I rest my heart on all your promises

Cause I have seen and know your faithfulness

You’re parting waters, making a way for me

You’re moving mountains that I don’t even see

You’ve answered my prayer before I even speak

All you need for me to be is still

And know that you are God

Be still and know that you, trust that you are

Parting waters

Lord, you whispered my name

You answered my prayer

You’re moving mountains

You’re parting waters, making a way for me

You’re moving mountains that I don’t even see

You’ve answered my prayer before I even speak

All you need for me to be

Is still

Where is my Heart?

For my birthday last year, I thought it would be fun to have a high tea with my kids and mum. I enjoyed planning it and putting it together as much as the actual party - starting with trawling through op shops to find beautiful, mismatched tea cups. 

Miniature cheesecakes, fruit cups, tiny quiches, cucumber sandwiches, chocolate macarons, cupcakes topped with handmade fondant flowers, a table set with lace and glass serving displays. It looked and tasted as beautiful as I’d imagined. We dressed up, sipped (iced) tea in our delicate tea cups and shared a perfect afternoon tea. Bonus being two of my sisters had days off that day and could come too.

My kids loved it so much that they begged to have another one over the Christmas holidays. Remembering how special a time it was, I happily agreed. And then Christmas happened, and New Year and the craziness of getting ready for school and fitting in everything we’d planned on doing on the holidays, and somehow it got to the last few days and we still hadn’t had one. 

I was totally run down from being up what felt like half of every night with a teething toddler and not feeling all that great but couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing my kids. So, I threw a tea party together. In one afternoon. 

A few pastries and lamingtons on sale at Coles, some chocolate custard spooned into little glasses and topped with whipped cream, cucumber sandwiches, a tub of strawberries and a three-tiered cardboard display I found in the cupboard leftover from a party years ago. I didn’t even remember to pull out the teapot and cups until my daughter reminded me. 

No chocolate mousse cups, no special little cheesecakes, quiches or the tiny little ham and lettuce scrolls my older daughter loves which I'd planned on doing. I sat there, eating and laughing with my kids, taking silly photos, and feeling like a failure. I’d promised them a special tea party, and hadn’t even had the energy to make one thing myself. 

But as we were sitting there chatting, I asked (probably trying to make myself feel better by remembering my past success) which tea party they liked better, absolutely shocked when my daughter said – without even a thought – “this one!”

I couldn’t understand it. Sure, it was nice but it was nothing compared to my birthday one. I’d spent days preparing for that one. Put hours of effort into each bite. So, of course, I asked why. Her answer ripped through me. 

“Because we get you to ourselves at this one.”

She didn’t care whether I’d spent hours making fondant flower toppers or two seconds grabbing a box of pastries. It was the time spent with me which made this one special. I felt honoured and ridiculously challenged all at once. 

I love serving God. Really love it. I’ve been involved in lots of various ministries within the church over the years from youth leading to singing on a worship team to serving in a coffeeshop to helping abused women feel like they matter. It’s such a buzz and a privilege to be able to serve God with what he’s given me. 

But I wonder how many times I get so caught up in the buzz of serving that I forget why I’m doing it. I want everything to be perfect before I come to God, forgetting that it’s my presence he wants far more than my list of accomplishments. 

God wants our best, sure. He loves it when we give all we have to him. But he loves our presence the most. He’s not asking us to run ourselves ragged trying to put on a show for him. He simply wants our hearts. Our attention. 

It’s a real challenge for me to stop doing and just be. I feel like I have to prove to myself every minute of every day that what I’m doing is worth something. That I'm worth something. I want the things I care about to be perfect and therefore throw everything I have into what I do. And I don’t think there’s anything exactly wrong with that – until it distracts us from the point. Which is God. And people. 

My daughter didn’t need fancy food to make a tea party special, just my attention. That half hour (before my son decided chocolate custard was far more fun to paint with than eat) when I sat down with them and focused on nothing and no one else but them. No lists, no cleaning, no cooking, no running around trying to get everything done or accidentally ignoring them while I chatted to someone else – just being there. 

God loves your service but he loves your attention even more. In all your running about serving, don’t forget the reason you’re doing it. Because God loved you first. And he can’t wait to sit down – everything else aside – and spend time with you.

My Something

I watched a movie with my girls on the weekend called Ballerina. It’s about a girl who escapes from an orphanage with her best friend to go to Paris and make her dream of becoming a ballerina come true. Such a beautiful movie! Along the way, she has a mentor/teacher who asks her over and over why she wants to be a ballerina. She gets a little frustrated with both the mentor and the question, answering each time that it’s because she loves it. It isn’t till the end that she realizes the truth – that dancing isn’t just something she loves, it’s who she is. How she connects with the world. That it’s as much a part of her as breathing. 

I’ve been asking myself a lot lately why I write. The main character in the novel I’m currently working on is a lot more complex than I originally thought and is causing me no small amount of frustration. I wrote the first draft of the first book in this series – her friend’s story – in two months. This one has taken over eighteen months already and been a struggle the whole way along. I’ve cut tens of thousands of words from it and restarted the whole thing five times. I’ve wondered more times than I’d care to count why I’m bothering. Why am I putting myself through this stress? Why do I put aside other things I could be doing (sleep being pretty high on the list!) to write?

For a long time, I’ve answered pretty much like that ballerina – because I love it. Because there’s something about creating characters and getting lost in their stories which invigorates me. Of course, that answer doesn’t really cut it when I’m so angry with the story and its characters that I’m ready to throw it in the bin and happily walk away. And yet, I haven’t (yet :p). Because there’s more to it than that. 

I found the answer as I was reading my Bible a few weeks ago.

Acts 4:20. “As for us, there’s no question – we can’t keep quiet about what we’ve seen and heard.”

Peter and John, disciples of Jesus, knew what it was like to face opposition. I fight with characters in my imagination. They stood up to people with the power to kill them. In this chapter, they’d been hauled once again before the law of the time and threatened with prison or worse if they didn’t stop telling everyone about Jesus. And yet, they didn’t stop. Because they couldn’t. Because God had placed a message in them which they couldn’t keep silent about. 

I love writing, sure, but the reason I keep at it on those days when it hurts is because God’s put in me a message I have to tell. Sure, it comes out in different ways through various characters’ lives but the message is always the same – because of God, there is hope, and what we see now is not the end. 

I found another verse this morning which confirmed it again. It’s in 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul is talking about spiritual gifts. I love the way The Message puts verse seven: “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.”

Writing is my something. One of the ways I can show others who God is. His character. His love. His grace. The hope that comes through knowing him.

So, as I head back to battling this headstrong character of mine and trying to finally finish the first draft of her story, I’m asking you, what’s your something? Why do you do what you do? What gifts has God given you which show others who he is? 

Praying God gives you the courage this week to use them. Just like God needs me and my stories, he’s needs you and your gifts.