Category: FemmeFuel by Sasha Katz

Love Stories

On By sashakatzIn FemmeFeatures by Sasha Katz, October 2011 (Devotions)1 Comment

By AbbyA

Mom, who is Ruth?  I realize that I have been waiting for this my entire life; that is, since the day I met Ruth in the Word.  My heart literally has been waiting for someone to ask me about my favorite book in the world.  Let alone my own little boy!  Ah, I love it.  This is my favorite love story.  I love Boaz.  I love Ruth’s proposal on the farmhouse floor in the dark at Boaz’s feet.  I love that Ruth is King David’s great-grandmother – – who I also love.  I love the gleaning – – symbolic of Ruth’s reliance on the sufficiency of God.   I love that Boaz is surprised, humbled and honored by Ruth’s love.  I love that Boaz didn’t sleep until he redeemed Ruth.  I love the seven months that it took Ruth and Boaz to fall in love.  (That’s my calculation – Ruth 2:23).  I love that seven is God’s perfect number and it is hidden in this love story.  Yes, I love this book and I will say it again that I love this book.

Why do I share my madness over this book with you?  There are so many reasons.  First, it’s His Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1.  He took His invisible self and, through His people, He crafted a book of evidence of Himself.  He described Himself and revealed His heart through every word, story and life put in His ink.  He is able to expose His own death and life without any regrets or rewrites or edits.  Because there is no shame in His revealing.  No mistakes to explain.  No forgiveness to ask for.  Every word He has written was meant to express His love for you and His worthiness to receive our love.  God is love.  1  John 4: 8. The Word is His love letter to you.  And, it is written in Perfection.

Why do I share my madness over the book of Ruth with you?  His word reveals to me who I am.  In the emptiness of my bitterness and depression, I remembered Ruth.  I remembered that I love her because she laid down on the floor in the dark to wait for her beloved to wake so she could profess her love to him.  She took a very big step in faith for her earthly husband because she first believed that she had a fully trustworthy partner in Christ.  At that time, I already had lost sight of who I was in my sadness, but through the Word, I remembered that I once rejoiced over Ruth’s story and really believed in love.  I eventually found myself making very big steps of faith to change my marriage.  Ruth is my Cinderella.  God used her to keep me humble and give me new hope at a time where I decided to lose my hope.

Why do I share my madness over the book of Ruth with you?  It’s His Word.  It is His love letter to you.  It is the map that leads you home.  It is the story of your life.  What do you love about it?   I also love Jeremiah because he tells the truth no matter what.  I love Matthew because it connects me to my Jewish heritage.  I love Revelation because I want to know the future and want to know how to judge myself.  I love Samuel because no one can deny a true “dramatic historical nonfiction.”  I love Proverbs because it makes me wise.  I love Psalms because it is the cry of my heart.  I love Paul and his New Testament letters because he claims to be nothing and is admirable in the sight of God.  I love His Word.

What do you love about it?  I love that, when my boy looks across the bed with bible in hand, and asks me who Ruth is, my heart leaps.  It leaps because I can look back at my boy with genuine excitement and tell him about my very, extremely, most favorite love story of all time.  And in my eyes, I know he can see that Christ’s love for him also is the greatest love story that was ever told.

Questions: What is your favorite love story?  Is it real, in a book or have you lived it?  Have you ever read His Word?  Do you have a favorite book of the bible?  What does it tell you about yourself?  Do you have guts to share something about yourself?  Do you have the guts to share the Word with someone close to you?

Challenge:  Jot down a verse or book of the bible every day this week.  Write a few lines about what it means to you or what it reveals about you.  Just once this week, share your truth with someone.  Love stories are worth passing.

Moving On

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Sasha Katz, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By AbbyA

Stuff comes a knockin’  all day long.  I’d like to characterize much of it as static.  But that is not the case.  It is stuff that . . . Chips at the heart of who I am.  Who I work very hard to be.  The who in me that tries her best to be just like Him.

Someone said to me just the other day – – in the same sentence where she described her loss – – that she needed to move on.  That comment has stuck with me all week.  There is such a fine line between what has happened to us and where God wants us to go from there.  There is so much evidence of God dividing our past from His remembrance.  So much evidence of Him sending apart East and West.  So much burying at the bottom of His Sea.

At the same time, we are defined by the floods that floor us.  The quakes that shake us.  The roaring winds that bring us to our knees.  At least it feels that way.  We are defined by loss and suffering and death.  Our own mistakes.  Intentional sin.  We all, at times, have heavy tears and even Scarlett Letters.

My friend’s need to move on statement has stuck with me.  I recall saying something similar about myself some time ago.  I remember thinking, Lord, I just need to move on from holding accountable or even holding against my disappointments towards a particular person that I love.  I remember wanting to move on so badly.  Really grappling with why I could not just move on.  Wanting to be like Him – divide, send apart, bury.

But, really, what I learned more than a year later, is that He is the Divider and the Burier.  I can’t do the Majestic and Supernatural.  I can’t be crushed by a wave and then separate my own injuries and pain from who I am.  He is the Interceder.  He is the Time Keeper.  His depth surpasses even eternity.  He knows my injuries and pain.  He is the one who allows floods, and waves and quakes.

But He is also the one who piles up sand bags around my heart to stop the bleeding.  He is the one who does not stand afar.  He is the one who catches tears in jars.  Allows me to wipe my tears off His feet with my hair.  He is the one who marks spiritual time and measures how far I have come from my injuries.  He is the Healer who knows when it is time to divide the Red Sea and put Egypt behind me.

I don’t know about when to move on.  I just know that, without notice, it happens one day.  Without the knowledge that He has divided and buried.  Without the knowledge that the sand bags have been replaced by spiritual strength built into your foundation.  Without full knowledge of what He has done, you wake up to His Glory.  And, according to Him, that is new every morning.  Lamentations 3:22

I have become a wonder to many, But you are my strong refuge.  Let my mouth be filled with Your praise.  And with your glory all the day.  Psalm 71:7.

Expectations

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Sasha Katz, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By AbbyA

I have really been convicted this week.  Bindu challenged me to reflect on one thing that I am worried about.  I took her challenge and followed her instructions and started thanking God, acknowledging His control and letting it go.  In bringing my concerns to Him, He gave me direction for solving my problem.

I mentioned earlier in the week that I’d like to learn to drain my expectations through a spiritual colander.  I figure if I deconstruct before I react, my communication will sound more like music than a broken record.  Help me Lord to express myself with clarity, truth and love.

I have been sounding like a broken record lately.  No one likes that kind of music.  Not even me.  Listening to myself makes me feel like one of those crazy Walmart moms who has no control over anything but keeps yelling and making threats.

As soon as I began Bindu’s challenge, God quickly gave me some instructions for solving my problem and led me to deeper matters.  He shed light on my expectations.  I feel like a broken record and He knows why.  He challenged me to see that I don’t recognize the gifts and talents of a particular person that I love.  I keep expecting this person to deliver in tune with my expectations.  I am expecting in areas that s/he can’t even consistently deliver for him/herself.  God showed me that if I encourage this person in the area of God-given gifts and talents and provide support in the other areas, this person would grow past his/her own personal limits.  Now, God didn’t promise that this person would then meet my expectations, He just promised that this person would grow past his/her own personal limits.  That means that I would be working together with God to accomplish His will.  Thanks Bindu.

Somehow I know this will make Joan C. Webb smile.  I hope she is right now.

Answers to Questions

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Sasha Katz, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By AbbyA

Do you find yourself almost wishing your life away as you wait for those Fridays or just live for special days like Christmas? 

A wise man once told me that every day is worth living.  He challenged me to enjoy each day and not to wish it was Friday every other day of the week.  That comes from my wise old dad whose days off were Sunday and Monday; who worked nights many days a week; and who always took a nap at around 3pm.  Yes, dad, every day is worth living.

What can you appreciate right now about your life? 

I appreciate that I have a mind to think, wisdom to understand and a heart to love.

While there are some things you can’t control, what can you change to improve your life so you enjoy it more? 

I’d like to learn to drain my expectations through a spiritual colander.  I figure if I deconstruct before I react, my communication will sound more like music than a broken record.  Help me Lord to express myself with clarity, truth and love.

We’re all consumed by life and the hectic chaos, but challenge yourself this week to be present in the Present and focus on the blessings in your life. 

Having lost a lot the last few years and suffered terrible pain, I am in a season of thankfulness and joy for what He has brought me through.  I pray that as mountains and valleys continue in my life, I would retain a spirit of thankfulness for the great work He has done on the Cross.  And, I pray that the prayer warriors in my life – – who interceded for me in my pain and suffering – – would reap a harvest for their prayerful sacrifice.  Among others, thank you Mom.  You will always be all that I am and all that I hope to be.  (Borrowed from President Lincoln, but from my heart).

FemmeReaders: I encourage you to ask yourself hard questions.  Seek deep answers.  For as you tredge through the darkness, Christ’s light becomes ever so bright.  Blinding your past, leading the way to your future and warming your Present.

Ally O . . . I hardly know you, but I love you

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Sasha Katz, October 2011 (Devotions)1 Comment

Ally O, I hardly know you, but I love you.  And, yes, we all know, your mama loves you too.  She greets us every morning with a smile and the truth wrapped around her heart.  It is all mixed up with sweat, but that’s what we’re here for anyway.  Aren’t we?  It is the sweat of the flesh and the sweat of the spirit.  That’s what we are here for anyway.

Ally O, you know your mama better than me.  But I can’t help but tell you how she beams for her three.  And breaks for any one of you who is suffering.  Like a roller coaster ride, she cares for you from afar – – going through your ups and downs with you.  Her pure, pure heart watches you grow.  And on her knees she intercedes for you.  And, every now and then, she leaks patches of your walk to us.

I know, Ally O, that He stripped you of all the confidence you gained for the 18 years before you left for college.  He took away the many athletic and academic successes you collected over the years.  He looked you squarely in face and asked you to trust in Him.  Your mama grinned and bore your pain.

I know, Ally O, that, just a year later, He’s teaching you more.  Seems like He’s taking you apart again.  Looking you squarely in the face and asking you to trust Him.  We are promised certain things.  Sometimes we are sinking in the mire of a dungeon.  Some days we soar on wings like eagles.  Isaiah 40:31.  But, mostly, He invites us to experience His Sufficiency.  BinduAdai

You will find Him, not in the occasional cold looks of your team mates, but in the security He provides to you as His daughter.  You will find Him, not in your swooning, lovesick study buddy, but in the grace He gives you to manage your friend’s crush.  You will find Him because the only reason He put you where you are is to do just that.  To find Him in the deepest way you were made to find Him.

Ally O, you have a mother who would move mountains to rescue you from your pain.  But you also have a mother who rather coach you to climb your own mountains.  As you face your mountains, I leave you with the very wise words of my dear friend . . . And do not forget, Ally O, that I love you.

Let those difficult days be the days where God reveals His true power to you. Where you experience the “Peace that Passes All Understanding” despite your circumstances. Where you experience His Power over the most hardest of hearts. Where He opens up the impossible doors of your life like the Red Sea so you can walk through them. Those difficult, stormy days that you are hating and wishing would just pass may end up being the most defining days of your Christian walk. Because it is there, through the haze and fog of the storm, where you will see and experience the Presence of your Maker.

The First of Many . . . Devotions

On By femmefuelIn FemmeFeatures by Sasha Katz, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By AbbyA

I have never surfed before.  But just once, my first boyfriend Gordon McKennon lifted me up belly side down onto his surf board.  I rode the wave leaning on my elbows into shore …. and I felt like I was flying on the water.

It was one of those early independence days.  I was probably about 13.  Dropped off at the beach by mama with the same three other girls and four boys I did everything with.  There were perfect blue skies, shiny reflective waters, warm sand.  Very big smiles.  Constant laughter.  Between talks about the depth of friendship and how it would never end.  Thirteen.

I take a snap shot of thirteen in my mind.  I think that is what God is asking of me.  Take a snap shot of riding a wave into shore where everything around you is perfect.  But everything around me is really not perfect.  There are days when insecurities rise up in me.  Days when I am speaking, teaching and directing and no one appears to be listening.  There are days when I haven’t had a good night sleep . . . for days.  Dull and dreary days.  Days that I fall short.  When I can’t reach.  When there is no ladder around to lift me up.  When stuff is upside down.  And I figure it’s not too hard for onlookers to tell.  Days like this . . . when riding a wave into shore is more likely a teary, wet question to God about how I am supposed to ride a wave under circumstances such as these?

God showed me poor Jeremiah who preached to the Israelites for forty years to no avail.  No one ever listened or took his advice.  No one believed that God would use Babylon to judge Israel’s sin.  Because of his message, Jeremiah spent days sinking in mud in dungeons.  His life was regularly threatened.  Even so, God kept pressing him on to speak.  Pressing him on until there was a day when, I think, his entire life’s ministry was affirmed.

Now Jeremiah remained in . . . prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken . . . And the captain of the [Babylonian] guard took Jeremiah and said to him: The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place.   Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said . . . And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand . . . See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.  Jeremiah  38: 28; 40:2-4.

Jeremiah’s prophecy came to pass and, on that same day, he was offered freedom.  No doubt Jeremiah experienced freedom in His relationship with the Living God, but his days were filled with bouts of insecurity, wisdom rejected by deaf ears, exhaustion and feelings of failure.  We get those difficult days, but we also get other picture perfect days.  Like Jeremiah’s day.  The day the person – – you thought was your enemy – – approaches you, tells you that your ministry has been in truth, takes off your chains and sets you free.  Picture perfect days.

Take a picture of your day.  Take a snap shot of riding a wave into shore where everything around you is perfect.  Despite everything, ride your wave.  See the perfection around you that only He can provide.  Ride your wave and know that your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Him.  Jeremiah 39:18.

Questions: Can you remember a picture perfect day in your life?  Have you ever felt like you were flying?  Have you ever felt like you were sinking in mud?  Do you believe that He will be with you always, even to the end – – until you ride into His shore where everything is perfect?  Challenge yourself to embrace both difficult and picture perfect days.

Verses: Jeremiah  38: 28; 40:2-4; Jeremiah 39:18; Matthew 28:20; James 1:2-4

The Truth About the Lion Who Sometimes Makes you Limp

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Sasha Katz, September 2011 (Authenticity)1 Comment

“. . . Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world!”

Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face.  “There it said, “that is not the breath of a ghost.  Tell me your sorrows.”

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman.  And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and all of their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert.  And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis.  And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to eat.

“I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.

“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta.

“There was only one lion,” said the Voice.

“What on earth do you mean?  I’ve just told you there was at least two the first night, and — ”

“There was only one: but he was swift of foot.”

“How do you know?”

“I was the lion.” And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued.  “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis.  I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead.  I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept.  I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time.  And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”

“It was I.”

“But what for?”

“Child,” said the Voice, I am telling you your story, not hers.  I tell no one any story but his own.”

“Who are you?” asked Shasta.

“Myself,” said the voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again, “Myself” , loud and clear and gay: and then the third time “Myself”, whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if leaves rustled with it.

Excerpt from The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis.