Stephanie Rische

Blogger and Writer: Capturing Stories of God's Grace

Archives for February 2015

Happy Birthday, Blog (Plus a Free Giveaway!)

birthdayWe are a people who mark occasions—not just on the day they happen but on subsequent years afterward. Birthdays. Death days. Anniversaries. Class reunions. Mother’s Day. Father’s Day. The commemoration of special events. The day a war started and the day it ended.

And why is that, I wonder? Why don’t we just celebrate or mourn on that day, as the occasion calls for?

There’s something significant about an anniversary, I think. It puts a stake in the ground and lets us see where we are now, and where we’ve been. And this isn’t just nostalgia; God commands us to remember:

Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
—Deuteronomy 32:7

So why do we need to remember?

I think we need cues to remember because we’re so forward-focused that we forget the milestones from last month, last year, last decade. We’re so busy forging ahead that we forget the things (the good ones and the hard ones) that made us who we are today. We need a reminder to slow down, to look in the rearview mirror, to thank God for where we are and where we’ve come from.

I think there’s another reason God instructs us to remember. It’s because the emotions of the thing we’re recalling are often too big to be absorbed in a single day. We can’t take in all the joy required when a person is born, so we spread it out and mark that day on each ensuing year. We can’t take in the enormity of a loss on the day we lose someone we love, so we come back and revisit it later. We can’t do justice to all that being a mother stands for on that one day of labor, so we set aside a day to commemorate motherhood every year.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of this website, StephanieRische.com, and it’s gotten me thinking about remembering in general and about staking the mile markers of God’s faithfulness.

I’ve been thinking about how we’re pretty good at remembering the big anniversaries, but we often overlook the less obvious but no less significant ones. I want to do a better a job remembering, savoring, taking note, saying thank you. I want to be aware of God is doing in the moment, and I want to be intentional about thanking him afterward.

I have a lot of remembering to do, but here’s a small start. This month marks five years since I’ve been praying with my Tuesday prayer buddy. Just a few weeks ago marks the day four years ago when the man of my dreams got down on one knee on the cold pavement and asked me to marry him. Last week marks the day my little niece was baptized and charmed the whole congregation with her big eyes and fluffy white gown. This February marks my college roommate’s birthday—the 18th one I’ve celebrated with her.

I don’t want to take these mini-celebrations for granted. I want to come to God in gratitude for all of them—for his faithfulness in the moment they happened and for all they mean to me now.

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What about you? What small celebrations do you want to commemorate? I’d love to hear about them.

In honor of my blog birthday, I’m giving away two gifts to two new subscribers! Type in your email address on the right to be eligible for a $10 Starbucks gift card or a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card. I’ll choose two randomly selected commenters on Wednesday.

10 Minutes with God

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I’m excited to be writing the devotions for my church again this week! (See this post for last week’s devos.) My favorite musician (aka Daniel Rische) wrote a new musical interlude for this week, and if you want to check it out, you can listen to the audio version here.)

This week I’m writing about Acts 14 and how success can bring opposition.

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We had just finished eating lunch with a pastor from a country in Southeast Asia. He had come to the States for a few weeks to give an update on the small but vibrant church that met in the basement of his home. In his country, it was illegal to convert from another religion to Christianity, and he and his fellow church members had faced the kind of persecution that seems unimaginable to most of us in the West. One member of their congregation had lost his job due to religious discrimination. One woman had been disowned by her family. Another man had been thrown into jail without cause.

When he had finished giving us the update about his church, one of my friends asked, “Pastor, how can we pray for you?”

The room was filled with palpable silence as we awaited his answer. Would he ask us to pray for religious freedom in his country or an overthrow of the current government? Would he request safety and physical protection for his family? Would he ask for financial provision for his church? Would he ask for the means to move to a safer place?

“Actually,” he said, his voice thick with emotion, “my church prays for you.”

“For us?” We were incredulous.

“Yes, for the church in America.”

No one could formulate a response. We just stared at him.

“We are worried for you in America,” he said. “You are so comfortable here. If you do not face trials because of Jesus, how will your faith be proven true? How will you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

Here I’d been wondering how his faith could stand up under so many trials, and he was wondering how my faith could stand up without them. Clearly I had a lot to learn about suffering for Jesus.

Reading the accounts of the early church in the book of Acts can feel like a cross-cultural experience for us—it turns our preconceived notions about faith upside down. As Western Christians, it’s easy to think that if we’re facing opposition, we must be doing something wrong. If we are criticized, we wonder if it’s time to throw in the towel. If we run into conflict, we decide maybe this wasn’t God’s will. If we feel the pangs of doubt and discouragement, we figure this must not have been our calling after all.

But the book of Acts lets us in on a secret American culture will never tell us: success doesn’t automatically lead to smooth sailing. In fact, sometimes success leads to opposition.

When Paul and Barnabas embarked on their missionary journey, the very fact that people were listening and responding to the message of the gospel was what got them in trouble. If they’d just been coasting along, not making waves, the Jewish leaders no doubt would have left them alone. It was only because God was at work through them that they found their lives in danger: “At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers” (Acts 14:1-2).

As difficult as this opposition was, there were some unexpected upsides to this time of hardship: it deepened their reliance on God and solidified their relationship with other, giving them an even more unified bond in Christ.

The same is true for us. For all that opposition is uncomfortable and frightening, it unites with the God who can protect us in the midst of trials and with our brothers and sisters, who walk through it with us.

Friday Favorites

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For book lovers who love coffee and coffee lovers who love books . . .

These descriptions of what famous authors would do when ordering coffee is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time. They’re all great, but I especially liked this one: “Charlotte Brontë goes up to the counter for a cup of tea and Reader, she orders it!” If Authors Ordered at Starbucks

For anyone who’s still recovering from Valentine’s Day . . .

Great thoughts about love and marriage from Beth Moore. A Valentines Post: I Believe and I Don’t

For word geeks . . .

Although there are at least a million words in the English language, the 100 most common words account for over half of the words we use. This cool site lets you type in a word and find out its ranking. The Long Tail of the English Language

For anyone who is wondering if the little things they do matter . . .

This is a beautiful post by Christie Purifoy about the unexpected hospitality God gives to us. “I think that the very quietest hospitality might just be the hospitality God extends to each of us.” Love Prepared Table

For anyone who longs for real connection in their life . . .

I love it when worlds collide, and this is a beautiful collision: on this podcast my friend from college interviews an author I work with. How cool is that? Sophie Hudson talks about her new book, Home Is Where My People Are, and they discuss good stuff like female friendship, what makes a place home, and the journey of faith for the “good girl.” God Centered Mom

Breaking through Impossible Barriers

alarm_clock_leftFor the next few weeks I have the privilege of writing 10 Minutes with God, the daily devotions put out by my church. We are going through a series on the book of Acts right now, and I am finding myself bowled over by the drama of everything that happened as the church was being born.

Below you’ll find the first devotions from this series on Acts 13. If you’re interested, you can catch up on more of the devotions here.

I’ve also recorded these devotions on audio, which you can access here. (As a special bonus on the audio version, listen for the musical intro and outro, composed and mixed by the one and only Daniel Rische!)

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For decades after the first airplane was invented, aviators and scientists believed it was impossible to break the sound barrier. They were convinced that any aircraft that flew faster than the speed of sound would be instantly torn apart.

And so, for about forty years, the speed of sound was an accepted boundary in aviation. Pilots didn’t question it. They didn’t flirt with it. They didn’t cross it. It was a firm line, deeply entrenched in flying culture.

This idea of a deep-seated, uncrossable barrier is perhaps not so different from the religious culture in the book of Acts. For centuries, ever since God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5, the Jews had been God’s chosen people. He had revealed himself specifically to this nation and had promised that the Messiah would come through their Jewish line. But when Christ came, he redefined what it means to be chosen by God. Now, in Christ, “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).

The book of Acts recounts the birth of the church, and with that beginning came some birth pains. God’s plan for the church was—and is—to create a unified community out of diverse individuals. This includes men and women, old and young, Jews and non-Jews, people from all races, cultures, languages, and countries.

This revelation was difficult for the Jewish believers to take in. After all, it was a barrier that had been in place for generations. Was God really opening his family to include people who weren’t part of the Jewish line? It was an idea as revolutionary and impossible as crossing the sound barrier.

Yet this passage in Acts shows how the early church began to demonstrate unity in their diversity. They accepted God’s vision for including people of all backgrounds, and they immediately put that vision into action.

Let’s take a closer look at the list of leaders in the church in Antioch in Acts 13:1. Barnabas was a Levite, a descendant of the Jewish line of priests. Bible scholars believe that Simeon’s nickname, Niger, indicates he was of African descent. Lucius was from Cyrene, meaning he was likely Greek. Then they had in their mix someone of dubious political background, who had close ties with the emperor partially responsible for Jesus’ death. And finally there was Saul, a former devout Jew who had spent most of his career before his conversion persecuting Christians. If ever there was a recipe for church conflict, this was it.

And yet even with all these racial, cultural, and political differences, the church remained unified. How was that possible? Quite simply, what unified them was more powerful than what divided them. And what united them was Jesus Christ.

In the years just after World War II, some people started to question the commonly held belief that the sound barrier was impassible. And after some trial and error, Bell Aircraft Company created a rocket plane, which was modeled after a 50-caliber bullet, in an attempt to achieve supersonic flight. In October 1947, Air Force captain Chuck Yeager flew the aircraft, dubbed Glamorous Glennis. He took the rocket plane higher and faster until, at 662 miles per hour, history was made: the sound barrier was broken.

From that moment, the entire landscape of aviation changed.

And so it is with God’s chosen ones. History is forever divided by this barrier that was broken in the book of Acts. This has significant implications for us as part of the church today. If these followers of Jesus could remain unified amid their radical differences, then we, too, must strive for Christian unity. With Christ as our common ground, all other differences will fade away.

10 Sacred Love Notes

cake topperValentine’s Day can be fraught with so many emotions other than love . . . no matter what stage of life we find ourselves in. If you don’t have someone to celebrate with, the incessant jewelry commercials can feel like multiple carats of pain. And even if you do have a valentine, there are plenty of opportunities for ugly things like guilt, comparison, and unmet expectations. Social media only seems to make us feel worse, as there’s always someone out there whose life looks happier, prettier, or more romantic.

My sister recently asked me to share a fun Valentine’s Day memory, and to my surprise, the one that came to mind was the Valentine’s Day I was in fourth grade, home with strep throat. I was heartbroken to miss the school party—and the valentine exchange in particular—but to my delight, my neighbor brought my decorated shoebox home on the school bus for me. My mom sat on the edge of my bed and we opened them together, one by one. My fiery throat was momentarily forgotten, and it didn’t even matter that I had no appetite for the chalky candy hearts. As my mom sat there reading valentines with me, I felt supremely and unequivocally loved.

Wherever you find yourself this Valentine’s Day, my hope is that you will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you are loved. If you’re feeling loved already, he’s inclined to pour on even more love—the excessive, abundant, prolific kind. And if you’re having a rough Valentine’s Day, I think he’d like to just sit there beside you and let you know you’re not alone.

These are some of my favorite love notes from God, and I hope they will speak to you today too. (Chalky hearts not included.)

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. ~Zephaniah 3:17

For his unfailing love for you is higher than the heavens. His faithfulness reaches to the clouds. ~Psalm 108:4

May you have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love for you is. ~Ephesians 3:18

He has loved you with an everlasting love. With unfailing love he has drawn you to himself. ~Jeremiah 31:3

Surely his goodness and unfailing love will pursue you all the days of your life, and you will live in the house of the Lord forever. ~Psalm 23:6

The Word became human and made his home among you. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. ~John 1:14

Even before he made the world, God loved you and chose you. ~Ephesians 1:4

In his unfailing love, your God will stand with you. ~Psalm 59:10

See how very much our Father loves you, for he calls you his child, and that is what you are! ~1 John 3:1

Nothing can ever separate you from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither your fears for today nor your worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate you from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate you from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus your Lord. ~Romans 8:38-39

*Note that I have taken the liberty of changing some of the pronouns in these verses to make the application more personal. I trust that I have done so while keeping true to the meaning of Scripture.

On Grace and Podcasts and Longing for Love

God centered momNot long ago I had the privilege of being interviewed by my friend Heather at God Centered Mom. We went to college together back in ye olden days of permed hair and oversized sweatshirts, and those relationships formed on our wing as we bonded over silly dress-up nights and late-night talks about God and boys and life are still some of the most precious ones in my life.

So it was especially fun to get to talk to her about my journey toward grace—how during my single years, as I asked God for a husband, he turned my world upside down with his extravagant grace instead.

The revelation of grace came to me as I was struggling with this longing for companionship and love, but I think it’s a message that hits us all, wherever we are . . . whether we’re moms or wives or daughters or sisters or friends. All of us know what it’s like to have a longing that hasn’t been fulfilled and to wonder who God is in the midst of our unanswered questions.

So wherever you are on your journey of life, I hope you’ll listen in and join our conversation. When have you experienced God’s grace in a way that knocked your proverbial socks off?

You can listen to my conversation with Heather here.

Announcing the Winner of the Book Giveaway!

Bird by BirdThanks to everyone who contributed writing tips and advice in our discussion 10 Quotes for Writers! There were so many nuggets of wisdom in your comments. I wish I could sit down with each of you and continue to glean insights from you.

And now, announcing the winner of the Bird by Bird giveaway. I used a random number generator to pick comment #11. Congratulations to Rachel Quigley! (Rachel, I’ll send you a separate message about getting the book to you.)