Joanne Heim

Coincidence and God's voice

So often, those things we tend to categorize as "coincidence" really aren't. God speaks in many different ways, and so often what we think of as random, hmm-that's-weird kinds of things are really God's voice speaking.

Here's an example. 

So last night Emma prompted some family prayer. She asked how I was feeling, I mentioned that I'm worried/burdened/anxious about teaching Bible study and the preparation I'm doing, she said, "Let's pray about it." She got up, put her arms around me, and prayed for me. Right then and there.

(I know. How sweet and mature and amazing is that? Especially in a nine-year-old? As Beth says, some things are caught, some are taught--and she's getting it. I see such faith and practical obedience to God in her. Which is a whole 'nother post.)

After she prayed, I told her how much I appreciate her and how I see her doing what the Bible says--not worrying about anything, but turning our worries into prayer. As The Message says, "Instead of worrying, pray!" 

So then she hops on her iPod, finds the passage, and emails it to me. (Tech savvy kid!)

Not ten minutes later, the phone rings. My dad is calling to tell me that my basement has flooded because of a blocked drain. In Denver. Where lot of my stuff--not to mention my friend's stuff--is stored.

Worry! Fret! Stress!

Feeling helpless, far away, and unable to do anything. Guilty that my dad and brother-in-law have had to leave dinner to go deal with it. Horrible that my friend who's living in my house has to deal with such a mess. Worried about what it's going to cost to fix it. Borrowing trouble about another potential problem Dad raised that needs to be addressed later in the spring about drainage away from the house.

And on and on and on.

And then I thought of the simplicity of what we'd just been talking about. "Shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns."

Coincidence that we'd just been talking about what to do with worry? With fretting? Not at all. Coincidence that we'd just been talking about the fact that God wants to know our concerns--all of them--even stuff that we somehow doubt he'd care about it? Nope.

So our prayers last night had a lot to do with houses and drains and water damage and plumbers and so on. They may not have sounded "holy" or "spiritual." But something tells me they sounded just fine to God.

Shape your worries into prayer.

I have to say that I love The Message. Its simplicity and directness communicate the truth of what we often pass over as familiar in a fresh and exciting way. Toben worked with Eugene Peterson as the publisher for The Message for a number of years, so it's a Bible close to our hearts.

Want to get a copy of The Message for yourself? Check out my Amazon shop here. You can also read more of it at biblegateway.com. 

Bible study + sassy shoes = happy Joanne

That was my Twitter update earlier this evening--along with this picture, which is kinda blurry, but you get the idea. I LOVE these shoes. Red gingham and embroidered cherries? And a ruffle? And a super high heel? 

It just doesn't get much better than that. Unless of course you're wearing them to the first night of Bible study, which I was.

 

We started Bible study at church tonight--Priscilla Shirer's He Speaks to Me. I'm so excited to get up and do my first day of homework tomorrow. Even though it's already 10:19 and way past my bedtime!

I love my group already and took lots of notes on the intro video session. I've never heard Priscilla before and I loved her right off the bat. It doesn't hurt that she and Beth Moore are friends--cause I typically love the people my friends love. Priscilla has the loveliest smile, don't you think? It's making me want to get my teeth whitened.

Study finished at 9, but I sat around talking to my new friend Kristin with an "i" (Hi Kristin!) about books and Beth and studying God's Word and passion and so many other things. We could hardly talk fast enough. She's definitely what Anne would call a kindred spirit, I think! 

Okay, I've really got to head toward bed. The kitchen needs cleaning first (hate that when all I want to do is go to bed) and the coffee needs prepping. But even though I'd rather go straight to bed, I'll have an easier time getting up in the morning if the kitchen is clean and the coffee already on. It's the little things that make the morning run smoothly, you know.

So, have you started Bible study this spring/winter (it's hard to tell what it is in Phoenix!)? What are you studying? Inquiring minds want to know (which is really a nice way of saying I'm being nosey!). So do tell!

Memory Monday: John 15:1-4

 

This is short and sweet...gotta get running this morning and get some school done and the house clean and packed to leave for Pasadena early this afternoon.

We are up through verse 4 in John 15 and will be adding verses 5-6 this week. (Note to self--get the cards made for the girls to customize.)

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Here's what we're adding:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown in the fire and burned.

What are you working on? Leave a link below! Want to join in? Click on the button in the sidebar on the right.

Happy birthday, Emma!

Meet Emma. My baby who is somehow nine, NINE, today! Who will be two whole handfuls this time next year, as Miss Patti (her favorite grownup outside the family because she gets down on her level to talk to her and is always interested in what Emma has to say) is wont to say.

Emma, who loves steak and American Girls and her cat Pumpkin and helping her mom do just about anything and the color turquoise and loves to snuggle and isn't feeling so small anymore and whose hair is long enough for pigtails again and who has the gift of a happy heart and a cute dimple on her nose.

Emma, who finally met her match yesterday in a steak too big for her to finish.

 

(Yep, she had birthday dinner in her pjs! Wouldn't you?)

We celebrated her special day a day early since her Papa was in town. Donuts and balloons and birthday candles and steak and potatoes and artichokes and a mint chocolate ice cream cake.

And we thanked God for technology that allowed us to have a virtual party with Gran and Aunt Kristen and Uncle Wade and Ava and Tyson. They got to sing to her and watch her open presents and blow out the candle on her cake all thanks to Skype.

 

But as Papa said, "It's good to be on this side of the screen where the cake is real!"

What's up?

(Yep, it's a list...)

School. We've been reading some great books as part of our curriculum. I'll be sure to add the new ones here so you can see.

Running. Ran in the rain yesterday--and even added a little to my distance. I love/hate it--all at the same time, which is weird. It's still all about the music. This week has been Kirk Franklin, High School Musical, and a mix of my current favorite worship songs.

Company. We've had people in for dinner a bunch this week. And that means I have small flowers tucked here and there because a few of them brought me beautiful bouquets. I love having flowers in the house--and so do the cats. :(

Staying dry. It rained all day yesterday, and is supposed to rain all day again. I love rain!

Working, working, working. I feel like I'm starting to get in a rhythm of when/how to work best. But I'm still in that steep learning curve, though I'm starting to see a level path ahead. I really like what I'm doing, but miss having an afternoon with nothing to do!

Birthday planning. Emma turns nine on Monday--how is that possible?! We're celebrating on Sunday and eating steak. Not sure if we'll have anything with it. It's her day and she loves meat.

Washing sheets. Gotta do that today--my dad is flying in tonight for the weekend and needs fresh sheets to sleep on. He and Toben are headed to the Barrett Jackson car auction thing tomorrow.

Pasadena. Toben and I are headed to California on Monday for board meetings. (He's on the board for the Fuller Youth Institute.) We're driving there and back between Monday and Tuesday to get some time together in the car. And I'll get a day at the seminary library to prepare for Bible study, and I'm excited about that.

Bible study. Bible study starts next week! We're studying Priscilla Shirer's He Speaks to Me for the first half, then I'm teaching on Psalm 23. (Thus the library day! I've been studying and need some uninterrupted blocks of time to gather/organize/write.)

What're you up to?

Feathering my nest, part 3

A few more pictures...

 

After all the map wonderfulness at Anthropologie last fall, I wanted some. And said so to my bloggy turned in-real-life last September friend Rachel. (If you don't know her, go meet her. She is terrific!) Wanna know what we did? Went to Anthropologie, for one! She said she had a bunch of maps in a box and would mail some to me. And she did!

They're stapled onto what was a big, blank, empty, blah wall, giving us something fun and colorful to look at. I love maps and could spend hours looking through an atlas. My grandmother loved maps too and they always make me think of her!

  

This picture is kind of dark and I tried to lighten it and now it's washed out. But you get the picture. We've added some lamps to the house, which means turning off the overhead ceiling fan light that shines like the sun, casting huge shadows on your face. The house looks better, I look better!

Brought back my stool from Denver, topped it with my new clock, and added a handful of pens. Call me crazy, but I have an obsessive love of Bic crystals. They are everywhere in our house, and may be worthy of a post all their own. 

 

Lastly, here's a close-up of my mailbox by the front door. Isn't the writing on the card wonderful? I buy vintage postcards whenever I can find them--and ones that were actually mailed are my favorites. Makes me wonder who Nettie Hickman in Dana, Indiana was, what she was like, what she thought about and dreamed about.

Running by faith

But I just have to come and say that on my run yesterday I RAN THE WHOLE WAY WITHOUT STOPPING!

And it's funny, because it felt good--until the end was close and in sight. Then it was hard to catch my breath, hard to keep going. Suddenly my legs felt like jello and I wanted to quit. Why is that? Why do I want to stop when I can SEE the end?

I saw this clip from Facing the Giants the other day and it's been on my mind. I know it's long, but it is so good--take the time to watch it.

Here's my thought: So often, we think it's hard to walk by faith; we long to walk by sight. We beg to walk by sight. If only God would show us the big picture, we think. 

But God knows that we can go further by faith than we can by sight.

I don't know what you're facing today, what you're taking on faith. But I do know this, walking by faith just may get you further than if you could really see.

Hang in there. Keep going. Give it all you've got.

Memory Monday: John 15:1-2

 

This past week, the girls and I learned John 15:1-2:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

As we've worked on it this week, here's some of what we've been talking about:

• Jesus is the "true" vine. Are there false vines? What are they?
• What does a gardener do?
• Why would a branch that is in him not bear fruit?
• What kind of fruit is Jesus talking about?
• What does pruning look like? What does it feel like?
• Why does a gardener prune?

As we memorize each week, we make a point to talk about WHAT we're memorizing, to understand what the verse means so we're not just rattling it off by rote.

This week, we're adding the next couple of verses in John 15.

What about you? Leave a link or your verse in the comments below. And if you're new and want to know more, click on the button in the right-hand sidebar.

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho

It's about time for a run, but like I said on Twitter, I'm just not feeling quite up to snuff. So I'm going to stay home this morning and hang with you instead.

I've said recently (Did I? Am I just thinking I did? Oh dear, I can't remember...). Anyway, there have been some changes around here lately. One of which is that I've gone back to work. Sort of officially, sort of not.

Here's the deal.

One of the things Toben and I rediscovered while we were up in mountains for that weekend away (I say "rediscovered" because we knew it, but had forgotten and/or ignored it for years) is that we work best when we work together. At pretty much whatever that work might be. 

We have more fun. We do a better job. We work harder. We stay closer.

Despite that, I haven't been involved in his work much at all--well, not at all--for the past seven years. And one of the things the counselor recommended is that I get involved. Immediately.

So, as of last Monday I'm involved. I'm part of Toben's team. I'm homeschooling the girls in the morning and working in the afternoon.

And, yep, it's a lot. My goal is to work for two hours in the afternoon while the girls do some work on their own, play, or read. But as I catch up and figure out how this is going to work, it's been a lot more than that. We're in that place where things take longer because you're still figuring out how it's going to work and doing your best to catch up.

I am having fun though. I like being involved in his work. We complement each other well and I can see a difference. In the job. In me. In him. In us. It's good. 

So that's a peek at what's up around here.

Feathering my nest, part 2

While we were in Denver for Christmas, we visited our house there and dug through our stuff stored in the basement. I had some very specific ideas of what I was looking for--some of which I found, some of which was so far buried I had to give up.

The goal was to find some things that make me happy and bring them back to Arizona. Yes, I know that it's just stuff and I can live without it. But after six months of living without those little touches and treasures, it was time to bring some home to make this house feel more like home.

I'd been telling myself these things were just things, with no real purpose. But the more I thought about it, I realize that their purpose is just to make me happy. To cause me to smile when I see them. To give me something interesting to look at. And that's a good purpose.

Stuff is not the most important thing, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is important.

Nuf said. On with the pictures!

 

The vintage books in the rack came from Toben's mom. "Our Button Book" from my mom. And things like old jacks, scrabble letters, bingo pieces, and dominoes just make me happy. The girls do love to play with them, and use them for counters in math. And they're just so fun to look at!

 

Hmm...kinda blurry. Oh well, squint a little!

I've been doing my best to add more color around here. Vintage books on the shelves, our old quilt over the back of the couch, the Chinese checker board from my mom for the girls. (Why not hang it on the wall? We just pull it down when we're ready to play and hang it back up when we're done.)

The picnic basket was a score from shopping with my mom while we were in Denver. Here's a peek at what came inside, along with my new kitchen clock!

 

The tin on top is full of popcorn and kind of Christmassy, but I think it'll stay there even when it's empty.

And did anyone notice my typewriter in yesterday's picture? I LOVE MY TYPEWRITER! That was a gift from my mom last Christmas.

 

I have no idea what the original purpose of this piece of furniture was. But its job now is to hold all kinds of random treasures--porcelain door knobs, rooster-shaped candy molds and cookie cutters, birds' nests and wooden eggs, old sprinkler heads, tiny terracotta pots, Jello molds, Kristen's old jump rope with wooden handles, a railroad spike, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

There have been a few other fun changes, like my mailbox hanging by the door with lovely vintage postcard hanging out (I love old postcards--especially ones with writing on them!), but that's another post since I'd have to go take pictures in the dark.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

P.S. In case you're wondering about the photos... Took them on my iPhone using Shake It Photo. My sister recommended the app, and if anyone would know about photo stuff it's her. It takes a picture, makes a noise like a Polaroid, and then you shake it to develop the picture. Not sure what it does to the color--saturation, cross processing--but it makes pictures look so cool!

Feathering my nest

I have to confess that I've done a whole lotta complainin' 'bout the house we're living in. A whole lotta complainin'. I've even said "I hate it!" a time or two or twenty. I've thought of it as temporary.

But home cannot be temporary if home is our family, God's presence in a house with us, the place we are together. Haven't I said--told others even?!--that home is wherever you are? Yes, ma'am.

We came back from our weekend in the mountains last month and transformed our bedroom in two days flat--together. It's the room I hated the most, the one that felt most temporary. And, yes, it reflected a lot of other things too, as was so clearly pointed out to me while we were away.

Wanna see what we did?

 

(Hmm...thought I had more than just ONE picture.)

We bought each other chairs for Christmas! And we haven't bought each other Christmas presents in forever. These sit in the corner of our room and we have our "morning meeting" (a whole 'nother post) there every day. And, yep, they recline. (And though you can't see it, they have really big stitching that remind me of True Religion jeans.)

We got new bedding too--super soft jersey sheets (red!) and you can just see a corner of the comforter in the picture. (Found at Walmart of all places! And 100 percent cotton and so soft!)

There's another new lamp on the dresser at the foot of the bed, some new candles that smell oh-so-yummy, and we're on the hunt for something to go on the wall over the bed.

And guess what? What was my least favorite room in the house went to being my favorite room in the house! (And, yep, that reflects a lot of other things too!)

Memory Monday: Psalm 19 in person!

Here we go--all of Psalm 19 up close and in person. Well, sort of. Does video count? We're a little distracted, cooking dinner at the same time but you get the idea!

What are you learning this week? We're going to start working on a passage from John 15. So on the list today is getting verse cards done. (I've said it before, having our own verse cards--something small and pretty and colorful--makes learning a verse that much easier!)

Leave a link or join in the fun. (Yes, memorizing Scripture IS fun. Because I promise it comes back just when you need it. It will make a difference if you do it.) Click on the Memory Monday button in the sidebar to get the scoop.

Remember last week?

Last week when I saw the same verse multiple times in a morning? And blogged about it here? (Just noticed that post is highlighted on the Blogher ad bar over there on the right. That's kinda cool!)

Anyway, I just read THAT SAME VERSE AGAIN. Catching up on more blog reading.

Here. Coincidence? Not hardly. (That's my friend Robert Benson's blog, by the way. If you've known me for very long, you know how I feel about his books. They are some of my favorites. Go check them out in my Amazon shop here.)

Have to say, God is speaking left and right. Not just through this verse. But with repeated ideas and EXACT PHRASES that are showing up every time I turn around.

• He's doing a new thing. He's making a way.
• This oppression we're feeling? Warfare. Plain and simple.
• The effectiveness of truth against lies. We are not powerless in this battle!

And I can't tell you how much it means to me. It's been a hard week.  

Don't get me wrong. It's also good. A good hard, if you get what I mean. Funny how things can be good and bad at the same time. Happy and sad. Exciting and terrifying all at once.

God is at work. And the work he is doing is good and he will complete it. I KNOW that for sure. Yet having him reassure me that it's really him, that he's listening when I pray, that he's answering and using the same words so I know he really did hear? 

Wow. Leaves me breathless to be loved like that.

God listens when we pray. He speaks in response. Give us ears to hear, we pray.

Teaching the kids to grocery shop

 

We're doing a new thing around here in the new year. Audrey and Emma are doing their own laundry (can I get an Amen?) and they are both planning and shopping and cooking a couple of meals a week.

They're really excited about it. Well, about the menu planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. They're not convinced that laundry is fun. Yet.

Here's what we're doing. 

The girls flip through their cookbooks (Emma got a stack from Gran for Christmas) and pick out what they'd like to cook. A breakfast, a lunch, a dinner, and a snack.

They make a list of those recipes, noting which cookbook and page it's on. And they make a grocery list of ingredients they'll need. (After last week, they've decided to organize their lists--all the produce together, all the frozen food together, etc. Let's just say we did a lot of back and forth-ing!)

On the day we shop, they first shop at home, crossing off anything we already have. Then they each get their list and a pencil, their own cart, and off we go!

 

 A couple of things:

• I do review what they want to cook to make sure we have a balanced meal. But I don't review their lists. That's up to them. If we have to go back because they forgot something, we have to go back.
• This is fun if you decide it will be fun. Except for getting run over by their carts. I HATE getting hit in the back of the heels with a grocery cart. Ow!
• It's going to take more time. Lots more time. Especially the first couple of trips. So expect that and it'll help with deciding it'll be fun.
• After last week, the girls learned to organize their grocery carts, how they put stuff on the conveyor belt, how to put all the bags back in the cart, and how to pack the car. (Bread goes LAST! Heavy stuff goes FIRST!)
• And, yep, part of grocery shopping is putting the groceries away when you get home.

Here's their stack of cookbooks:

 

You can sort of see which ones they use if you click on the picture to make it bigger. There are loads of kids cookbooks out there--check places like libraries, Goodwill, and used bookstores. Ones with pictures are great. And ones with simple recipes with clear, easy directions.

Cool, but a little weird...in a good way

One of the ways I know God is speaking is when he says the same thing again and again. Not that he's beating me over the head to say, "Don't you get it yet?" But more of a reminder, an assurance, "Are you paying attention? Are you listening? Do you see that this is something I want to tell you?"

Does that make sense?

I was catching up on some blog reading this morning. (My Google reader is hugely full and I have to go ahead and admit that sometimes I just push the "mark all as read" button even when I haven't read them at all. It kind of makes me feel bad. I wish there was a "I wish I could read all these posts, but something has to give and this is it" button.)

Anyway, I was catching up on some blog reading (well, it was more of blog "skimming") this morning and saw the same verse three times. Three times in my quick perusing, three times in three different places.

I could go off on a tangent over the three (three in the Trinity; three dimensions of time with past, present, future; three wheels on a tricycle, three holes in a Twinkie). But maybe I should just pay attention to what the verse said.

It's one I've memorized in the past, one that I memorized during a particularly hard season (spring 2005 is what is marked in my Bible), one I've taught, one that fits the season we're in remarkably well.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

It's a little weird how well it fits. And a little bit weirder because of some things that happened just last night. Yesterday morning, it wouldn't have jumped out to me quite the same way.

God's timing is perfect. That's something I know. Something I believe. Something I trust.

And it's something that continues to catch me off guard at times, to cause me to catch my breath in amazement, to raise goosebumps.

Isn't he amazing?

Something I read this morning

 

There is only one day left in the devotional I read every year during this season; tomorrow is the twelfth day of Christmas.

I love reading the same book every year, seeing what I've underlined in year's past, finding something that I'd not noticed before. This year, I've started dating the notes I make, to record and remember the when for years to come.

(And I wonder if someday my girls will read it, or perhaps their children, and want to know when and why I underlined the things I did. Reading another person's book, seeing their notes in the margin and funny squiggles and stars to mark something vital, gives insight into who they are, I think.)

One of these things in the picture was underlined already, the other I noticed this morning. It's hard to see well, but the contrast struck me today--because these two quotes sit next to each other on the page--one on one page, the other opposite.

It's easy to think that it's a happenstance of typesetting; it's just how the words flowed onto the page in design. Or perhaps it's Providence demonstrating the contrast between them visually as well as in idea.

Here's what's written on the left-hand page:

So to trust in a promise is faith: complete dependence without complete knowledge. And trusting in a command produces obedience...

And this is what's written opposite on the right-hand page:

And the lack of knowledge, far from producing trust in the wicked one, produces fear. Lack of knowledge is lack of control, and the loss of control threatens his power.

Wangerin is comparing Joseph and Herod, and in their lack of knowledge we can see ourselves. Each day we are faced with things we know only in part. 

Lack of knowledge--incomplete knowledge--is part of my life. Part of your life. What will it produce in me? Trust? Fear?

How often do I think or say, "I don't know"? And in those words I can easily relate to fear, lack of control, loss of control, threat. I can easily be Herod.

As this new year begins, I pray my response will change to be like Joseph's. Trust. Complete dependence. Faith. Obedience.

Memory Monday: All of Psalm 19

After working on Psalm 19 three or four verses at a time (and then NOT working on it for the past few weeks while our school schedule has been up and down and here and there), this is the week we finish Psalm 19. 

I'm excited to get back to it. Next week, the girls and I will recite the whole thing!

 

These are Emma's verse cards (and that's my striped couch). Each week I type out our verse and then the girls customize their card--changing color and font. Then we get them laminated and add them to their rings. Waterproof, bend-proof, all kept in one handy-dandy place.

What are you memorizing this week? Leave a link in the comments below. And if you've not joined Memory Monday before, you know the first Monday of a new year is a great time to start something new! (For more Memory Monday information, click on the button in the sidebar over there on the right. It'll give the whole scoop.)

Which reminds me... For those of you who've been doing this from the beginning, we've been memorizing Scripture together for more than a year! How cool is that?

 

What I will remember from this Christmas

 

This Christmas wasn't like others. We didn't have a tree and I didn't make many gifts. We didn't celebrate Advent the way we have in past years. Our house wasn't decorated. Wade and Kristen and their kids weren't with us on Christmas morning.

We woke up and opened our stockings. And I felt sad because I didn't have many gifts to give--which is something I really love and look forward to.

But then we read the Christmas story. And as I sat on the couch and watched Emma sit in her Papa's lap and listened to them take turns reading paragraph by paragraph, I realized that everything else didn't matter nearly as much as I thought it did.

This is Christmas. The story of Jesus. Passed down from one generation to another. Shared and discussed and remembered.

Change happens best on Monday

Isn't it funny how when we get out of a routine, things can fall by the wayside so quickly? I really did intend to get back in the bloggy swing after my last post, and then, well, I just didn't.

So even though New Year's Day was last week, it's tomorrow when the change really starts to happen. Because, let's face it, New Year's Day is a HOLIDAY! And change happens best on a Monday.

So the first Monday of a brand new year is a double whammy of getting into a new routine.

What are you doing differently starting tomorrow?