Let The Journey Begin…

**This post may contain sponsor, affiliate, and/or referral links. I have been given Let The Journey Begin by Max LucadoLet The Journey Begin by Max Lucado  free of charge in exchange for this review. However, the opinions in this post are my own. For more information please read my full disclosure statement here. **

What if God's plan for your life meant giving to God the thing in life you Cherish the most? What if it means going outside of your comfort zone and doing something you're scared of? Something that brings anxiety of the unknown and uncertainty to the surface? 

Would you still answer his call? Would you still decide to follow Jesus, anywhere he lead you? 

As much as I long to continue to be a stay at home mom, then homeschool K, right now thats not what is being placed on my heart. With our move comes a transition in life that I had known would come. 

When God says, I need you for something different now.

I will guide you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. 

Psalm 32:8

My heart has been changing, my interest and knowledge of apologetics has been growing and prayers for God's will to be done have been prayed. As anxieties fill my heart, I prayed for peace about this transition if it is God's will. I have begun to feel peace and a hope for the future. 

Though I know this transition will be happening - I don't know when or how. 

Questions like, what is God's plan? Where will I work? Who is it that I will encounter?, fill my head. I wonder how in the world am I supposed to know where to start. 

Then I received, Let the Journey Begin by Max Lucado in the mail. This month's Max Lucado book to review is all about transitions in life and its journey. How amazing is God to provide the right book at the right time? A true answer to my prayers. 

Let The Journey Begin is another compilation of exerts from Max Lucado's other books rolled into a short 157 pages focusing on guiding through scripture and words of wisdom as you take the next step in your own journey. It is a book to encourage and inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and embrace God's will for your life. 

My book is now covered in highlights and notes of things I want to remember and apply to my own life. Such as… 

"Wouldn't you love to look back on your own life and know you had down what you were called to do?" 

-Max Lucado, Let The Journey Begin

"Enjoy serving the Lord and he will give you what you want. Depend on the Lord; trust him and he will take care of you."

Psalm 37: 4-5 

This is not what I expected when I started reading, this book is very much like On Calvary's Hill in the way that it takes from other works as well as like Before Amen in having an "apply to your life" section at the end. It is truly a "It is what you make of it" kind of book in the sense that you could just skim right through or you can slow down and actually go deeper by putting these words into practice in your own life to guide yourself toward your journey of God's will. 

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. 

Proverbs 3:6 

I personally will be taking in all I can to help pave the way towards God's plan for my life. Choosing to take an active role instead of continuing down a passive path. Will it be easy? Will I get to do what makes me happy? Probably not, I most likely will have to stop doing what I have known for the past 3 years and step out on faith that God knows better than I. 

And it all begins with trust. Trusting God with my life and my plan even though I don't know what it is yet. With my life I trust him fully. His will be done. 

So, Let the Journey Begin...

Email Address

More Than Just A Symbol, More Than Just a Story, More Than Just a Cross.

**This post may contain sponsor, affiliate, and/or referral links. I have been given On Calvary's Hill by Max Lucado free of charge in exchange for this review. However, the opinions in this post are my own. For more information please read my full disclosure statement here. **

It has been one month since Lent began. Lent is such a special time - a time to really place our focus as Christians on the cross, on God and what Christ did for us. It's not a time to just give something up for the sake of it, but to fast so that we may be more prayerful and set our hearts on the amazing love God showed us by sending his son to die. 

It is my worry that since we are 2000 years removed from Jesus' life and death we view it in more of a nice story without any real emotional connection to it at all. We believed he suffered died and was buried, but I know I have trouble grasping that Jesus understands what I go through because though the cross has been used to remind us of what he did for us - we have a tendency to forget because crucifixions don't happen now. We don't have any type of physical memory that we can tie it to other than what is told to us about Jesus really suffering for us - which at least in my case growing up was glorified, polished into this nonviolent story. 

"Next time the fog finds you, remember Jesus in the Garden. The next time you think that no one understands or cares, reread the fourteenth chapter of Mark and pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain that prevails on this dusty planet, listen to him pleading among the twisted trees."

-Max Lucado, On Calvary's Hill 

Despite our forgetfulness this is more than a story. Jesus' dying for us was brutal, horrifying, bloody, mortifying, embarrassing, and painful beyond our wildest comprehension. 

And it really did happen. 

I think we did a disservice when crosses and crucifixes of a cleanly dying Jesus started to be manufactured. Overtime the image of a clean Jesus beautifully hung on the cross, or no Jesus at all just the cross, is what people started to think about when taught of the crucifixion with no real understanding of the real details of how a crucifixion was the most gruesome, humiliating, painful and inhumane ways to die of all time. 

We will never be able to fully grasp what Jesus suffered, but we should do our best to know exactly what was done to him so we are truly grateful for the GIFT that is God's love for us. And to know the punishment we were saved from. 

On Calvary's Hill by Max Lucado is a great start to opening our eyes to the events and details of the last days of Jesus. It is a 40 Day/Chapter Devotional book focused on what truly happened to set our minds on the true gift from God. 

On Calvary's Hill goes step by step through what happened in short 2-3 page chapters. It starts with a verse that relates to a small part of Jesus' journey, it expands on it leading us into how we can relate what Jesus went through to our own lives, then finally ending with a prayer. 

This is a devotional you can do once a day for the 40 day Lent period and all it takes is 5 minutes of your time per day. This book is another great one from Max Lucado which I personally saw as a great jumping off point into the last days Jesus lived on earth. I yearned for more in depth details, so after a chapter I would open my Bible and spend some quality time with my Savior who suffered worse that I will ever know. 

I wish though that this book had some guide to more in-depth reading on each part of the story, maybe listing all of the places in the gospel where I could find the specific scriptures related to it. However, I can see how open this book is to leading to your own personal study of the road to Calvary.

I don't believe this book would have had as much affect on me if I had not already read in detail the physical/medical and horrifying description of Jesus' crucifixion in Lee Strobel's book, A Case for Christ. However, it most certainly is the beginning of an in depth look at that time. 

As Christians, we cannot continue walking around unaware of the true nature of Jesus' crucifixion because it wasn't supposed to be Christ up there on that cross, it was supposed to be you and me. 

Without the physical and mental image of Good Friday it is easy to forget that Jesus knows our suffering better than all of us. And the moment that we fully understand what was done and how much we are loved is the moment we can stop worrying about this world and start giving ourselves fully to God and Jesus Christ. 

When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 

At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"

Mark 15: 33-34 

One of his disciples betrayed him for money, one denied knowing Jesus 3 times, and the others fled scared. I promise you that we all cannot ever say that Jesus didn't know the pain we suffer. He suffered through it all for our sake. Even on the cross God, our powerful and faithful God, turned his back on him. God is ever faithful to us sinners, but he forsakes his own blameless son? Why? In order to save us from that punishment our sins rightfully deserve. 

"Why? Why would heavens finest Son endure earths toughest pain? So you would know that "He is able…to run to the cry of… those who are being tempted and tested and tried." (Hebrews 2:18 AMP). Whatever you are facing, he knows how you feel. When you turn to him for help, he runs to you to help. Why? He knows how you feel. He's been there. He's not ashamed of you. Nor is he confused by you. Your actions don't bewilder him. Your tilted halo doesn't trouble him. So go to him."

-Max Lucado, On Calvary's Hill 

We finally know the cost of our souls - it's more than just a symbol, more than just a story, more than just a cross. It really was done, for you and for me because Jesus, our perfect savior, loves you and me more than saving himself from that cross.  

Go grab Max Lucado's book On Calvary's Hill and truly meditate on the amazing, unbelievable gift that God and Jesus gave us. I promise you, your heart will be changed come Easter.

"Not that he refused to defend himself when blamed for every sin of every slut and sailor since Adam. Or that he stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven and the giver of light was left in the chill of sinner's night.
Not even that after three days in a dark hole he stepped into Easter sunrise with a smile and a swagger and a question for lowly lucifer - "Is that your best punch?"
That was cool, incredibly cool. But the coolest thing about the One who gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns: He did it for you. Just for you."
-Max Lucado, On Calvary's Hil

Email Address

Prayer In A Bathroom Stall...

**This post may contain sponsor, affiliate, and/or referral links. I have been given Before Amen by Max Lucado free of charge in exchange for this review. However, the opinions in this post are my own. For more information please read my full disclosure statement here. **

It was almost three years ago exactly, early January 2012. I was the fresh new intern at one of the best production companies in DC. It began like any other day, I drove to the hour commute of bumper to bumper traffic to get to my three day a week internship. The only difference about that day was that I was still brewing over a conversation my husband and I had the night before. 

It just boggled my mind as I drove down I495 into the city and finally parking in the closest parking garage, just replaying the night over in my head. How he could he not see that God was in control of our lives and he is the one who provides all of our blessings. How could he be so blind to something that is so clear to me, I wondered. 

I walked out of the parking garage into the crisp January air, crossed the street and strode into my office at 8 am when only a handful of people were there. With production companies normal business hours being 10 am - 6 pm, I had a lot of quiet time to myself in the mornings, which meant I was talking to God about my confusion with my husband (in my head of course). 

I gently placed my briefcase, coat and gloves on the very tiny intern corner desk and headed to the restroom continuing to pray the whole way. 

As I turned to flush the toilet I said a quiet prayer out loud, 

"Lord, I know you are in control, 

please show him you are in control." 

Flushed the toilet, washed my hands and went to work without thinking anything more about it. 

** Important Side Note:  In January of 2012 I was not a true living-the-word Christian. I was lukewarm. I wasn't going to church, I was living in sin by living together with my husband (boyfriend at the time). I believed in God but didn't know him well enough to have a deep relationship that caused me to transform completely. That was in June of 2013. But talking to God is just something I have always done, just talking to him throughout the day like an ever listening friend. Whether or not I actually believed he would hear me and answer them was another story.**

I have never been good at prayer in my opinion. I found myself with extreme anxiety if in a situation of the "around the circle prayer" where everyone took turns praying out loud, or silently hoping that the bible study leader wouldn't ask me to pray when seeking a volunteer and being, in a way, repulsed or annoyed by people who would go on and on in prayer (though I believe that some of that was a problem with my heart). 

I always thought I was a terrible Christian because my mind just couldn't stay focused. 

Even after I was born again I doubted and was ashamed of my prayer life - like talking to God throughout the day was never good enough or long enough or deep enough. As if because I didn't pray quoting scripture every two sentences or by going into some elaborate prayer or because I couldn't pray when a group of people were gathered, that my prayers weren't good enough for God to hear or answer. 

But you see I'm not the only Prayer Wimp: one suffering from "Prayer Attention Deficient Disorder", or believing that my prayer life isn't good enough, long enough or deep enough. 

In Max Lucado's new book Before Amen he confessed that he also considered himself a prayer wimp. 

"Hello, my name is Max. I am a recovering prayer wimp. I doze off when I pray. My thoughts zig, then zag, then zig again. Distractions swarm like gnats on a summer night. If attention deficit disorder applies to prayer, I am afflicted. When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do. I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray. 

….I am a card carrying member of the PWA: Prayer Wimps Anonymous" 

-Max Lucado, Before Amen 

Before Amen has been the most practical and real guide to prayer aiming to help us all grow better, deeper, stronger in our prayers. Its not just another sermon on why prayer is important and then leaves us feeling inadequate with no clue where to start. Max Lucado understands that we ALL have our doubts about prayer, and reminds us that even Jesus Christ's own disciples had no idea how to pray. 

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:1

They needed help talking to God too. (Just let that sink in for a moment.)

The Son of Man's OWN DISCIPLES needed to ask for help in prayer. And do you know what Jesus did? He taught them a powerful simple prayer. This is the key that Max Lucado taps into in Before Amen. He goes step by step through the simplest prayer because God doesn't need fancy as our own Savior pointed out. 

So whats this amazing prayer, from Jesus, that will rejuvenate and fuel my relationship with God? 

"Father, 

                    you are good. 

                          I need help. 

                                           They need help. 

                                               Thank you. 

                                                                             In Jesus' name amen." 

                                                                                                      -Before Amen

Yes. That's it. It is that simple. All these feelings of inadequacy in your prayer life will have no foothold after you read Before Amen because Max will open your eyes to God's true want when it comes to prayer: YOU. He wants to a deep relationship with you and you can only do that if you talk to him. 

You can give me any excuse you want on why you do not pray as deep or as strong as you could: life gets busy, I forget, I can't kneel for that long. What ever your excuse is, let me leave one thing for you to ponder. 

Jesus Christ, the son of Man, the son of our loving Father, our sinless savior, and perfect God-- PRAYED. 

"He made the planets and shaped the stars, yet he prayed. He is the Lord of angels and Commander of heavenly hosts, yet he prayed. He is coequal with God, the exact representation of the Holy One and yet he devoted himself to prayer. He prayed in the desert, the cemetery, and garden. 'He went out and to a solitary place; and there He prayed." (Mark 1:35)" 

-Max Lucado, Before Amen 

 Not only does this wonderful book open your eyes to God's truth but it calls you to action with its Prayer Study Guide prepared by Jenna Lucado Bishop, which I am currently working through myself.

Before Amen by Max Lucado has been awarded Family Christian Bookstores 2015 Book of the Year,  with good reason. It encourages us that God doesn't want fancy or elaborate, He just wants us to pray and invite him into our lives because when we do that God will do miraculous thing

After all is said and done though, my absolute favorite thing about this book is that it reminded me that how I do pray, throughout the day in conversation with God, is enough. 

So, I know you are all dying to know, 

Did God answer my prayer in the bathroom stall? 

Well I bet you all know of Gods amazing sense of humor. 

Two weeks later in that exact same bathroom stall 

I saw two pink lines on a pregnancy test. 

God was in control of our lives and our blessings. 

Nine months later, in  October 2012, we had the most beautiful baby boy I have ever laid eyes on. 

A true blessing from the Lord. 

Through K and my husband God brought me back home to him, and has taught me that my prayers are heard. 

If my simple one sentence prayer in the bathroom stall to God was answered, with a greater gift than I ever thought possible than your prayers anywhere, and of any type are heard. 

My friends, You are Prayer Warriors and so am I because as long as we are praying to God, he is listening. 

I highly recommend going and getting your own copy of Family Christians 2015 Book of the Year Before Amen by Max Lucado right away!