HOPE

Yesterday marked the beginning of advent, the season of waiting. For some waiting is exciting and fun. For others, this advent may be tiresome and very hard. I think one of the amazing things about advent is that no matter how great or difficult the waiting period is for us, it always points to the same thing, the birth of our Messiah, our hope, Jesus.

This Sunday was HOPE Sunday for advent. Honestly, it can be hard to see hope in the world around us. There has been so much violence in the world just this week alone. But in the midst of the hurting, we still have hope and we still have Jesus. Sarah Bessey wrote an amazing Advent post that I encourage you to read. You can find it here. Something she wrote truly resonates with me this year as I have been trying to figure out a life that is balanced with hope, but realism and awareness as well. She writes, “I don’t want to be swallowed up by the darkness. Nor do I want to be blinded by the beautiful facade. No, I want to be a part of the people who see the darkness, know it’s real, and then, then light a candle anyway”

Artist Page

Hope doesn’t mean that we ignore problems, injustice, and despair. It means we have a reason to go on in spite of these things! It reminds me of my favorite passage of scripture found in Lamentations 3. The people of Israel had been taken into exile. They were lost in every sense of what the word “lost” means. They were separated from their home, their promise land, their family, their heritage, and their culture. Everything was taken from them. They were in darkness. Yet right in the very center of the book, the prophet Jeremiah says these profound words

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!’”

Lamentations 3:19-24

This entire book is dedicated to lamenting and crying out to God (which is a good thing and needed!) yet in the middle of the lament, there is still hope. Jeremiah isn’t ignoring everything going on, he recognizes it, and still says that God is hope even during this painful time. That is the faith I aspire to have. Hope in the darkness. I pray that as you enter into the space and time of waiting and advent, that you bring your heartache and weariness to the Lord and allow him to bring you rest and hope.

I love to write poetry and on my poetry page on Instagram I shared this poem yesterday that I now want to include in this post. It is titled “Hope” and is part of an advent poetry series I’ll be doing this month. I hope it encourages you today.

My Poetry Page

Resting at the Feet of Jesus

Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). Its a story that almost everyone knows. Martha is running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get everything ready for Jesus coming to visit and Mary is simply sitting and learning from Jesus.

There is so much from this story that we can learn from: Jesus’ affirmation of a woman learning, the importance of focusing on Jesus, and so many more applications we can make. We know that God cares about Martha and what she is doing. And honestly, what she is doing isn’t necessarily wrong, we need to be getting ready and doing the practical life things too. Martha shows us that both work and worship are important, but all too often we forget the latter.

However, sometimes we as humans and as the church are getting so caught up in the “getting ready” and preparing that we forget to sit and rest with Jesus. We forget that its okay to slow down. We forget its okay to not have everything perfect and ready all the time. We forget its okay to set aside the craziness (even if its good craziness) to REST.

Our culture is obsessed with success and productivity. Is it good? I would say yes most of the time. However, when all we do is productivity and constant moving, we become drained. When we don’t take Sabbath, we can’t function to the best of our ability and can’t serve God with our best. So how can we change? Our culture is built around deadlines and fast paced “more more more”.  WE NEED TO BE INTENTIONAL. That is what Mary was doing in this story. Yes, Martha was doing important things, but Mary was being intentional about taking time to learn from Jesus and resting at His feet. What if we did that too? Could we? Do we value our time with God over the to-do lists and functions of life?

Sometimes the activities of Martha become the church. Sometimes we are so busy with “church” and all our “ministries”  that we forget to rest with Jesus. My goal for this next school year is to rest. To not rush through everything just because its what everyone else is doing, but to be intentional like Mary and learn and rest at the feet of our Lord. I hope you take the time in this next season of your life to rest with Jesus, no matter what is going on.

Hosea 6:3-“Let us strive to know the Lord. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land.”

Let us strive to know the Lord.

-Maddie Mullins

Share Your Story

 

So its been a while since I’ve posted, honestly things have been crazy in both good and difficult ways. I kept wanting to write but got caught up in anxiety, my need for perfection, and people pleasing and it kept me from writing. I’ve been working on it…

Anyway, I wanted to write about telling your story. I was a youth leader at my district’s church camp this past week and the morning services were all about giving people the space to share their stories. The first person to speak was our district superintendent who has been in ministry for 45 years. Next it was our camp director/youth district president. After that, I was given the opportunity to speak and share part of my testimony and my story.

I prayed about it because I know that God can use anyone to bring glory and help others, and I wanted God to use me. I honestly wasn’t sure what would come out of me speaking, but as always, God is good, and God shows up in miraculous ways.

After I spoke in chapel that morning, someone attending the camp asked to speak with me. They shared some truly difficult things that they hadn’t shared with people before and we were able to pray together. And then later that week, I was sharing with someone else and they confided some baggage they had been carrying for a long time because again, they didn’t think they could share their story or have anyone to talk to.

I am writing this so that you may know that your story is important, no matter how crazy, hard, or simple it is, it matters. And when you open up and share that story with someone, it allows them to share and have a safe place to talk. Community is an essential part of the Christian faith and by creating these spaces where people can be vulnerable and share, we can build community grounded in Christ.

I implore you to not keep your story in! Share with someone! I am always here for anyone who needs a safe person to share with! Especially if you haven’t before, it can help bring so much healing, because we can’t do life alone, we need each other, we need each other’s stories.

-Maddie

 

All Oppression Shall Cease

Merry Christmas! Tonight at my church we sang one of my all time favorite Christmas songs, “O Holy Night”. It was so beautiful and reminded me of the miraculous, holy birth of Christ. There was one line in particular that always stands out to me that I think we tend to forget or not really think about what we’re singing. That is the phrase in the third verse (my favorite verse) in which we sing, “And in His name, all oppression shall cease” In the name of Jesus Christ, all oppression will no longer exist! Praise God! However, this isn’t always reflected by us followers of Christ. Looking back in history, we see over and over again people who claim to be Christians using the name of Jesus and the Bible to justify oppression, instead of ending it. When we as Christians don’t love, don’t strive for peace and justice, and don’t fight for an end to oppression, we are not fully living out the mission of Christ. I hope you and those you love have a very Merry Christmas and that you remember that holy night that changed the world, the night which brought us our Savior and Messiah. A Savior that brought peace, love, joy, and shall end oppression. Let us strive to honor Christ not just tomorrow on Christmas, but every day! Honoring God in the way we treat people and the world around us. To finish this short, last minute post, I encourage you to read and pray the third verse of “O Holy Night”:

Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His name, all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we

Let all within us praise His holy name

I am not okay

“Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.”

-Psalm 31:9

I am not okay.

I haven’t been for a while. But if you know me, you know I don’t like to admit that. I like to think I have my life all together and I’m perfectly fine, but I’m not. I’m working on being more vulnerable and opening up about what’s been going on in my life recently. So I decided to post it on the internet where anybody can read it. (kinda terrifying for me)

This past year has been horrible. Great and amazing things have happened and I’m so thankful for those happy moments. But this year as a whole had been really rough. I have dealt with a lot of death. I don’t even want to count the amount of funerals/memorial services I’ve been to. From the death of a baby, to two double funerals, my friend, my amazing instructor, and more.

I want to think I’ve handled it well but I haven’t. My friend Alyssa who died over six months ago I think of every day and every day I cry from the pain. My karate instructor, who was so much more to me that that, recently passed away and I can’t even begin to know how to move forward from the loss.

I suffer daily with anxiety. I never know how I’m going to react. Every day I deal with anxious feelings, tenseness, and uneasiness. Some days, I can barely be around people at all. I frequently, way to frequently than I’d like to admit, have anxiety/panic attacks. These happened before all of the sorrow and death, but have increased recently.

It’s exhausting. I’m exhausted from the pain and heartache. I’m exhausted from constantly fighting tears and sadness. I’m tired of being afraid of how things are going to affect me or how I’m going to react. I’m tired of wondering who is going to die next and what’s the next thing that’s going to cause me pain before I can heal from the last painful event. I’m tired of constantly dealing with anxiety. It’s just tiring.

I’m starting counseling/therapy which I am praying will help, because I really need help. It’s hard because I have amazing friends, a loving family, a wonderful, incredible boyfriend, and college is great, but there’s all this hanging over it, wearing me down.

I’m trying my best, and I want to be better. That’s why I am starting counseling.

Life is hard.

I know I will be better, but right now, I am not okay. I ask for your prayers as I learn to navigate through this hard thing called life right now. We all go through tough times, I’m just ready for this one to be over. Thank you for letting me share a small portion of the things I am going through and letting me be vulnerable.

-Madison

More than the Benefits

“Jesus is bigger than the benefits He brings.”

That thought-provoking quote was said by Dr. Scot McKnight-a theologian, seminarian professor, author, and so much more. He said this in an episode of his podcast titled, “The King Jesus Gospel”

As I was listening to this episode I was really convicted. Because you see, in our Americanized-evangelical churches, we are overly individualistic. Even to the point that we tend to only think about Jesus in terms of what He does for ME, how does Christ fulfill ME? What can I get out of Jesus? To be honest, none of those are necessarily bad or wrong questions. However, they aren’t the most important ones either. When we only think about the benefits that Jesus brings with salvation, I think we are truly missing the point of salvation all together. We get so focused on the “me” part of salvation that we forget the Jesus part of it…which is the whole part.

Jesus is so much more than anything we can imagine, and He is definitely bigger than the benefits He brings to you and me.

I truly encourage everyone reading this to go listen to the podcast episode for more insight on this.

Some questions to think about:

• Do you think of Jesus as just a “key” to get into heaven?
• When you pray are the only things you pray about for yourself?
• When you read a passage of scripture, do you only focus on how it applies to you personally? –applying scripture is extremely important, but it is not the only thing we should do while reading a passage. Instead, try asking the following question first: “What is this telling and teaching me about God/Jesus?

These are just a few questions, but hopefully help you start thinking more about this.

By only focusing on the benefits of Christ we miss out on experiencing a fuller understanding and relationship with Christ.

I am not writing this to make anyone feel guilty; because I am the first to say that I do this. It is something I am continually working on. I am writing this to encourage you to pay attention to the way you think and to start conversations on who Christ really is: He is bigger than the benefits and more than we can imagine!

*Thanks for taking the time to read this post! I apologize my latest posts have been short and few and far between. Life has been super crazy! I just moved into my dorm at college this weekend and once I get settled into a routine I will be posting more!  -Maddie*

PRAYER: ft. special video

Hey everyone! I hope y’all are all having a wonderful start to your summer. I recently started a job so that’s been interesting and fun!

Recently, a friend of mine, Abby Lynn, posted a video on her YouTube channel talking about prayer. She shared some testimonies of prayer from her own life and in the later half of the video shared tips and advice for beginning/having a strong prayer relationship with the Lord. This video is full of great wisdom and I highly suggest you all watch it and subscribe to her channel!

Prayer is something that is so important to Christ followers because it allows us to connect with God in a personal way, which is so beyond amazing! If you aren’t sure how to pray or what to pray about, the video linked is a great place to start. I love this quote by Max Lucado,

“Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.”

I want you to know that I am praying for all the people who read this and if you ever have prayer requests feel free to message me on my social media pages:

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

I would love to pray for you and any requests you have💛

My First Time Preaching

This past Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to preach the sermon at my church. It was graduation Sunday and since I was one of the graduates, and had a call to pastoral ministry, my pastor asked me to preach. I loved it! Although I was a little nervous beforehand, once I got behind the pulpit, all those feelings went away. My sermon was titled, “Rebuilding Our Foundation” and I will put the link to the audio recording HERE if you would like to listen to it.

Since there were several extra things going on in the service, my sermon didn’t need to be that long. It ended up being a little over 10 minutes. A few things I know I can work on is pausing more, and slowing down just a little while talking.

After I got done preaching, my senior pastor did something I am so grateful for. He walked up and told the church our view on women in pastoral roles and church leadership. He said, “Who are we to judge who is called by God?” And he told the congregation the biblical truth of equality: that ALL are equal in the kingdom of God.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:28‬

Although I knew our denomination and our church’s beliefs on this, I’ve never heard it proclaimed from the pulpit and hearing it was so refreshing and such a blessing! So many woman are called, but don’t belong to an affirming church and it’s heartbreaking. I am so thankful to have had that opportunity and for my church to allow me to step into my calling.

When I was 7 years old, I would line up my dolls and stuffed animals and play pastor and preach sermons to them, at 15 I realized I was called to be a pastor, and on Sunday I was able to take another step closer to that calling.

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”

Acts 20:24

BOOK REVIEW-Emboldened by Rev. Tara Beth Leach

A woman, Mary Magdalene, was the first to proclaim the risen Savior on Easter over 2,000 years ago. So I thought it would be fitting to discuss a book all about women in ministry & pastoral leadership this Easter Sunday, 2018.

The book Emboldened by Rev. Tara Beth Leach is one of my favorite books! She writes in a conversational, very inviting, non-judgmental tone which is so nice to read. She speaks with both love & truth! I would like to note that although it is taking about women in ministry, it is written for both men and women and I would recommend anyone in ministry or considering ministry to read it.

The foreword of Emboldened is written by Scot McKnight and he says a profound statement, “How can young, gifted women know there is a place for them on the platform if they don’t hear stories about women ministering?” Well Rev. Tara Beth does just that. She saw what was missing and wrote this outstanding book.

One thing I love about this book is right at the beginning she brings up how Jesus sees, affirms, & emboldens women. She says, “Jesus boldly affirmed the value & worth of women, & appointed them to be colaborers in the mission.” She emboldens women by reminding them that women are among the priesthood of ALL believers as stated in Galatians 3:28.

All throughout the book you can tell that Pastor Tara Beth finds her confidence in the Lord and that is very encouraging and creates a great perspective.

She talks about how God doesn’t just work within our human made stereotypes, but that God works everywhere! Something that she wrote that really resonated with me and blessed me while reading was this paragraph:

“You see, our femininity is not rooted in ideology or cultural norms but in our humanity, which is firmly rooted in the humanity of Christ. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of King Jesus informs our identities. We sometimes bear children & sometimes we don’t, but childbearing isn’t our identity; instead, our identities are ordered in the saving and transforming activity of the triune God”

In many church settings, a woman’s worth is centered around being a wife and mom, which are both amazing things, but that excludes so many women and is not a woman’s greatest/only calling. I’m so thankful Pastor Tara Beth stated that in her book!

In chapter 4, she discusses what to do when people don’t affirm you or are opposed to your calling. She has a very positive outlook on this and focuses on not being bitter, which is what many people fall into. “However, the moment I decide to let anger and bitterness deep into the very depths of my being is the moment I lose sight of what I was called to do in the first place” She mentions that there will be people who are against you and that it is good and important to know your theology but that it is also equally importantly trust the Holy Spirit.

Our culture is very self-minded, we are competitive and often hurt others to boost ourselves. However, Rev. Leach has a whole chapter dedicated to women encouraging and emboldening one another-not something we often hear, but something we NEED to hear.

Although I love every chapter, my favorite one is probably chapter 6. It is all about singleness, family, and marriage. She talks about how God uses and emboldens single people whether or not they ever get married in the future, Christ sees value and uses them to further His kingdom. Pastor Leach talks about marriage and especially mutuality and mutual submission. She discusses the mom guilt and difficulties you may face as a mother and a pastor. It was so refreshing! These are things I have worried about and thought a lot about and it encouraged me so much to read. She also has a section in that chapter written to Pastor’s husbands, in which she encourages them, and discusses the difficulties but also amazing things they will see and be a part of. Reading her words to Pastor’s husbands literally brought tears to my eyes!

In our self-focused society, we often forget about the mission of God, but Rev. Tara Beth does not. She reminds us that God’s kingdom is one of inclusivity and acceptance. She has this quote which floored me when I read it,

“She didn’t keep on so she could prove to the world that women belonged in the pulpit, but she kept on because the mission of God needed to continue.”

We often get caught up in the craziness of life, but our focus should be on God’s mission.

Pastor Tara Beth has a whole chapter dedicated to men and how they can embolden and come along side women together to better further the kingdom of God. If you are a man in any ministry, please read this book but especially that chapter!

I could go on and on about this book, but I will finish with a final quote from the book Emboldened,

“Now is the time, dear church. Not tomorrow, but now. Now is the time for women to claim their full callings and be freed from gender-based restrictions. Now is the time for women to rise up and use their God-given gifts with boldness. Now is the time for the church to no longer be lopsided, but to move forward in it’s full potential, with men & women serving alongside one another-unhindered. Now is the time to be the church we were meant to be-a sign & wonder.”

Rev. Tara Beth Leach links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

BUY EMBOLDENED HERE

Tears, Emotions, & Prayer

All too often we try to shut down our emotions and pretend they don’t exist, especially in church settings. However, I, as a human, am an emotional being created in the image of a God who also has emotions! So why do we keep acting like emotions are taboo?

Over the past year, I have dealt with some pretty hard, sad things. People super close to me have too. I have had many times that I went to pray about it and I literally couldn’t do anything but cry. But here’s the thing, I believe that those tears were prayers too. Those tears, God understood. Even in the Bible, Christ showed emotion! We read in John 11:35 that, “Jesus wept”. Not just shed a tear, but WEPT!

That is why I believe that tears on the altar are one of the purest forms of worship.

Jesus said in Luke 10:27, “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, and will all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind…” Our minds control emotion, and our hearts break, so I believe giving our emotions to God is worship and God honoring.

Sometimes our prayers will just consist of tears and hurting, and that’s okay. Sometimes our prayers will be very deep and articulate, and that’s okay. Sometimes our prayers will be awkward and uncomfortable, and that’s okay, because God doesn’t mandate what our prayers look like, and He Himself created us to be diverse and to have emotions.

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

‭‭[Psalms‬ ‭56:8‬]