A Worshipful Heart

I Love the South

I'm a southerner born and bred. I've lived in the Deep South my entire life, spending almost my entire life in Alabama. And guess what? I love it. I've always loved living in the South. I've always been proud of being southern. While people from other parts of the country seem to think living in Alabama is some sort of curse, I've always thought it was a blessing. 

I just spent several days riding up to DC, traversing much of the South on my way. We traveled through portions of Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. And along the way I saw so many things that define the south....and make me proud to be from way down south in Dixie.

I love driving down a country road and passing an old man in his pickup truck and having him lift one hand in greeting, even though we do not know each other. I love going into a store and having the clerk call me "sweetie", "darlin'" or "sugar". Or sometimes all three. I love the football banter and seeing everyone wear their Alabama or Auburn or Vol tshirts and flying their colors all year long. There ain't nothing like college football in the South! I love my mom's homemade peach cobbler with ice cream. I love biscuits and gravy, my Granny's macaroni and cheese and chocolate pie and pound cake and, yes, I really do love grits. (with butter and sugar of course) I love sitting by the Tennessee River and watching the barges move slowly through the water with the sun setting in the distance. I love country roads that wind through cotton fields. I love hearing people say "y'all" and "fixin' to" and, "Bless you", and of course, "Roll Tide!".  I love the art forms that are a fixture in the South that were, many times, borne out of poverty, and necessity, experience, and even trouble - handmade quilts, woven baskets, delicious food, folk art, and even music such as the blues, jazz and blue grass. I love wading in the warm waters of the Gulf and walking on the seemingly endless white sand beaches in Gulf Shores. I love wearing flip flops from March til October. I love that all soft drinks are "cokes" and that people speak to me when I go to the grocery store, or get into an elevator, or whatever. I love driving down roads with names like "Butter-n-Egg Rd." or through towns with picturesque names such as "Hot Coffee". I love hearing people shout out the words to "Sweet Home Alabama". And I love the pine trees, and lakes and gently rolling hills. 

The South is not flashy. There are more grandly beautiful places in the world. It does not have the splashy and sophisticated beauty of the Rockies, or the California coast or the Grand Canyon. The beauty of the South is a simple, understated, gentle beauty. It's comfortable. It's warm. And it's genuine. Just like it's people.

 If you're from the South, share what you love about it too!

Beautiful

 I've been riding in the car alot the last two days. Lots of hours for introspective, important thoughts. And as I rode, I began to think of some things that I, as a  slightly overweight middle-aged woman, really wish were different......

I wish that these things were considered beautiful and attractive and desirable in today's economy. I don't see them valued much in general society but I've also I've noticed that even churches don't always actually value these things as much as they SAY they do.

 - Being comfortable with who you are - and not simply copying others in dress, style, speech or actions. God made each one of us to uniquely declare His glory. How can we do that if we are cookie cutters?

 - Brokenness - we learn the richest lessons in life as we walk through brokenness. Unfortunately, we often avert our eyes when someone is struggling because it makes us uncomfortable and it's often difficult to walk with someone through the muddy questions of real life. And we often - whether we want to admit it or not - view brokenness as failure. And there is not much room in the church today for anything but success.

 - Honesty and Introspection - David wrote in Psalm 51, "You desire honesty from our inmost being so that you can teach me to be wise." Yet, we are not often comfortable with true soul searching or the results of it. Its not often "neat".

 - Simplicity - Sadly, even the church has bought into the lie that bigger and more is better - and our goal. We do not value frugality or the simple things anymore. (Gee, I sound like my grandmother!) We are unable to sit still and be quiet and we seek - in all things - to be entertained or for things to be what we "like".  It's not enough to have a house, it must be bigger and have many extras. It's not enough to have clothing or food. And it's not enough to be with other Believers and worship. We always not only want "more" but we have become very self-absorbed. So it must also be the way we like it. All of this consumerism eats away at our soul. It is our enemy. Because when we are consumed with desires for more and for "our way", we can never learn to be content. We can never be at peace. Nothing is ever enough.

 - Experience and Wisdom - Instead we value appearance and fads. Enough said.

 - Tender-heartedness - It's hard to get ahead when you are tender hearted. I know that sometimes I'm just not tough enough. I think that sensitivity and tenderness can be great strengths. I just wish they were valued more.

 - Faithfulness - Sometimes this is the greatest gift we can bring. That we just care enough to remain faithful. 

 - Joy and Laughter - I think laughing at ourselves and together with others is such a life-giving thing.

So what about you? Any qualities you wish were valued more?

 

My Challenge to You

My friend Becky was sweet enough to focus on the Give Worship Project on her blog. Here's my guest post. You can start here and jump on over to Becky's blog....

 

One night I sat around a table with ten Haitian pastors. We had been discussing what they could do to help their worship ministries develop and grow. They had walked for hours to come to this training retreat. Many of them worked in the mountainous regions of Haiti, far removed from others. All of them were poor. And all of them were just like pastors here in the U.S. They want their churches to grow and thrive. They desire to build the Kingdom of God. As we talked, I went around the table and asked them what instruments they had in their churches. One had a drum, another a guira, one a keyboard, one nothing at all. I had more instruments than all of them together in my own home! One of them, a young pastor named Icene, looked at me with sad eyes and said, “Teacher Jannie, with no instruments how can we have a good worship ministry?” What a great question……

It was for churches and church leaders like Icene that I founded the Give Worship Project.

Read more here.....

 

I Must Know Jesus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it's been almost a month since I last posted. I apologize for that. I have struggled to put words to what I wanted to share with you. Tonight at dinner I was sharing the story of Anna with some of my family and I knew as I told it that THIS was the first story I wanted to share with you concerning my time in Rwanda.

This is Anna, a woman with a remarkable story. Her story is now even more remarkable because she came to know Jesus while I was in Rwanda. She is one of the precious souls I had the privilege of helping lead to the Lord. As you read her story, you'll soon see that I take no credit for that at all. I was simply there.....

Monday morning started out like most campaign weeks in Rwanda. We got up early, went to our mission points and met to begin to train our nationals, those who have come from the mother church and community to plant a new church in this place. After a morning of training, we were divided up into sub-teams (one North American on each team) and sent out to share the gospel. From our days of sharing the good news of Jesus in the community, a baby church would be born by week's end. My ministry partner and translator was Betty and I was assigned to work with two local women - Clementine and Anna. We set out down the road, four women together, all of us pretty much strangers to one another, yet bound together by a common task and desire. Or so I thought.

We went from home to home and people came to know Jesus in almost every single home we visited. In fact at one home, I shared the gospel three times. People kept coming in and asking me to share again. On this, the first day, I generally try to do alot of modeling. In between homes I will generally continue training and praying and encouraging them to share their testimonies and learn to share the gospel. 

The next morning we arrived once again at the village. Once again, Clementine and Anna walked for several miles to join us. Once again, we started our morning with worship, prayer and training. I gave all of the nationals "Evange-strips" which had all the pictures and scriptures of the actual evangecubes. (Thank you to my friend Nancy for making these!) I asked them to be ready to present the gospel and their testimonies on this day.

And off we went.....four women from very different places and backgrounds and experiences and even ages.......walking among the people of this small village near Butare, Rwanda to share the good news that Jesus saves. As we started off down the dirt road towards the center of the village, Anna spoke to me through my ministry partner. And she said something I'll never forget. She said "I have never prayed to ask Jesus into my heart. I want to know Jesus." I stopped and I'm sure I stared. I still cannot believe that I never asked my own team if they knew Christ. I just assumed that she was because I thought she attended church. I mean, she was going out and working each day all day long to help plant a church, right? 

We arranged to go into a home where we could find a few private moments to talk and pray. I asked Anna if she would tell me her story. She is about my age, but is a tiny woman. She shared that she lost her entire family in the Genocide except for one child who was still an infant that she carried on her back. She said that after they killed her family they came at her and she put up her arms to shield her face from the blows of the machete and the attacker stopped, sneered, spit in her face and said "You little cockroach. Someone else will kill you. You're not worth my time." She said she was so depressed and distraught that she did everything she could to put herself in situations to be killed. She walked straight through checkpoints, and even begged people to kill her. But yet she survived. Against all odds and almost totally alone, she survived. After the Genocide ended, she said she realized God spared her for a reason. She went back to the Catholic church she had been raised in and tried to share what was on her heart but no one would listen. Everyone was hurting. Millions of lives were severely impacted. Who wanted to sit and listen? And so Anna continued to hurt. But she was always seeking.

And today, after hearing over and over about having a close relationship with Jesus, she spoke up and said,

"I must know Jesus."

And so we bowed our head and Betty helped lead her in prayer. Tears ran down our faces as she bowed her head in that little dirt house, sitting on a mat on the floor, and said "yes" to Jesus. 

After she prayed, I sensed that she had further business to do with God. I said, "Anna, would you like to pray a prayer of thanksgiving now to thank God for all He's done in your life - for rescuing you, and for saving you?" I felt strongly that she had things she really longed to say to God. And so she prayed again. Loudly. Fervently. With many tears. Thanking and praising God for LIFE - as a Genocide survivor and as a new woman in Christ Jesus.

What a moment. The Holy Spirit moved in spite of my ignorance and assumptions. And I got to be a witness.

As the week went on, Anna began to share the gospel herself. She began to share her story a little bit. And each day her face shone more and more with the joy of knowing Jesus. I saw her greet with an embrace women that she had led to the Lord that week. Women she knew from the village, women she does life with day after day. Can you imagine a more powerful witness?

At the end of our time together, the "choir" sang a farewell song for me in our afternoon gathering. I was leaving and they were staying - my work there was over, and theirs was just beginning. They prayed over me and sang a prayer that God would keep me and go with me. And Anna sang along. That is the picture that you see above.

Anna going from mourning to rejoicing.

"To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,a joyous blessing instead of mourning,festive praise instead of despair.In their righteousness, they will be like great oaksthat the Lord has planted for his own glory." Isaiah 61:3

Thank you Jesus. That's all I've got to say.