Shannon's Blog

Just Show Up – Commitment / Constancy

Today’s virtues have tenticles that reach and dig deep into the very marrow of my spiritual bone.  Over the course of this weekend I have been troubled with some personal issues and then secuumbed to illness.  For awhile I wasn’t sure if my illness was brought on by spiritual fatigue or by a true physical ailment.  When my son Seth got sick yesterday it was apparent something true and physical was going around but I couldn’t help notice how the daily devotionals were helping to cure the spiritual ailment as well.

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young offered, “Come to Me and rest.  I’m all about you to bless and restore.  Breathe me in with each breath.  The way just ahead of you is very steep.  Slow down and cling tightly to My hand.  I am teaching you a difficult lesson learned only by hardship.”

Commitment  – (private virtue in relationship with God)

“How can I repay the Lord for all the good done for me?  I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.  I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.”  Psalm 116:12-14

Commitment is not an outward effort, but an inner transformation.  It is a gift of grace.  When we commit our lives to God, something happens deep within us.  We begin to see the spiritual truth  in every day life, to realize that keeping our word is not just a matter of making a good impression, but a matter of being true to the One who created us and redeemed us, the One in whose image we have been reborn.

“Speak to me!”  I want to jump up and shout just as they do at my friend Rev. Timothy Sloan’s congregation (The Luke) when the spirit is high and the mesage is loud. ;)   I want to shove my hand upward to God and show Him that I recognize His gentle but firm reminder.

What had me ‘ailing’ over these past few days is a falling down on my commitment to God.  I allowed the slightest bit of compromise to go against who He has formed me to be.  For many if I were to tell you what it was you would laugh and think nothing of it.  To ME it left a bad taste in my mouth and if anything it brings me back to recognize the ferver I held onto ten years ago when wanting to be even a tenth of who I am today seemed so hard but worth the struggle to go against the grain.

Constancy – (public virtue in relationship to others)

“Blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life.” 

Philippians 2:15-16

Love is the “North Star” that draws people home to God, the never-changing mark that guides them into a safe harbor.  Poeple of faith must hold fast to the truth of God’s mercy and grace.  We must be faithful to God and to others.  We must establish our lives, our relationships, and our actions in the bedrock of Christ’s sacrificial love.  Then we can be the Polestar that keeps the world pointed in the right direction.

Can ya hear it?    Can I get an ‘Amen’?    I’ll say it again, ‘We must establish our lives, our relationships, and our actions in the bedrock of Christ’s sacrificial love.’   As it says in Phillippians we are in the ‘midst of a crooked and perverse generation’.  We need to be stronger, more diligent and more purposeful in our lives, relationships and actions.

It’s the ‘little laughable things’ that can trip us up…that tripped me up.  But it is allowing those little, laughable, often looked over and excused setbacks that build up an ugly layer of muck that can hide Christ’s light.

Thankfully Christ is all about blessing and restoration.

I wanted to share a very interesting blog post that a friend sent me the other day.  It is beautifully written.

The Mominizer

Blessings

Shannon

PS… HopefulHeartsMinistry.com is soon to come!  I’m very excited about the new website but don’t worry, the blog will continue, hopefully it will just be better looking.

Just Show Up – God is for Us

And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.

And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.

This song ‘Our God’ by Chris Tomlin has been reverberating within my soul for the past few weeks.  As I inch closer down the pathway of my specific purpose (Jeremiah 29:11  For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—says the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.) I take great strength in knowing that I am not alone.  Not only am I not alone but God is with me and FOR me to succeed.

Today I made the drive to the offices of B&B Media to meet with Tina Jacobson and her team Diane Morrow and Rick Roberson.

 

Together we strategized for over three hours about what shape Hopeful Hearts Ministry will form and in order to help me to their best potential they needed to know more about my goals, dreams and ideas. What struck me as I sat in this meeting was the timing.  When asked what I envisioned for the ministry and for my personal life in five years I realized how long I’ve been holding onto achieving the first step of THIS vision (nearly 15 years!!!).

I’ve learned that five years is a drop in the bucket of God’s blessings.  I think back to 15 years ago and I wasn’t walking with God but I had the dream of helping others find hope through the stories I wrote.  Only ten years ago I welcomed God back into my life and suddenly I realized I wasn’t ready to offer so much of myself to others because I needed to feel worthy of that hope.  And just five years ago He led me down the path that I am on now, one cobblestone step at a time, teaching me how to watch out for the large cracks in-between and teaching me to get back up if the toe of my shoe got caught on the edge of the step.  He prepared me along the way.  I’ve learned to appreciate the preparation because I don’t want to rush the journey and fall flat on my face!  So five years from now?  God only knows.

I will say this, I know that as long as God is WITH me and God is FOR me then no one can come against me. AND…I want to see a multitude of my books in this ‘book room’ at B&B.  :)  (God Willing)

One of the greatest gifts of the day was in typing this blog my youngest, Seth, came in and was reading the beginning and began to sing the song behind me.   May the song resonate within his spirit.

Take a listen:

Our God (Chris Tomlin)

Blessings

Shannon

Just Show Up – Lift Me Up

After three years Crystal Beach has been renewed.  Once considered the ‘ground zero’ of Hurricane Ike it has now been given new life and was a perfect setting for a girls weekend.

Nine of us got together  to celebrate four birthdays and to simply relax.  We are all moms of middle school students at the Catholic school here and so we had plenty to ‘shed’ as we are all going through the precarious road of raising teenagers.

Early Saturday morning before everyone arrived I took the time to walk down to the beach and fill up with the serenity and peace of God that resonates when I’m near the ocean.  On my run I thought about a comment that my friend made as we drove into Crystal Beach.  She is the owner of the house where we stayed and we were talking about the amount of destruction Ike left behind.  There were rows and rows of houses gone, obliterated.  Driving along the beach front highway we still could see remnants of the storm, a hollowed out Cheveron station, and a beach house left standing on two shaky stilts the rest of it looking as if it had been blown up by a bomb.  My friend said (all paraphrased of course), “You know I always hear that the beach is like heaven but I think it’s a great example of heaven and hell.”

“Why do you say that?”  I asked.

“Because when we first bought our house one year before Ike hit I would sit at the mouth of the ocean, letting the ways calm me down and lift my spirits.   But it was that same water, those same waves that rose like a wall over this entire island swallowing it whole and causing such distress.  It was like hell.”

“Yeah, I can see that except hell is the absense of God and I bet God was here for many at that time,” I offered.

“Sure, of course He was but it is amazing to me that something that depicts the true radiance of God could also be used to demolish.”

On the run I looked at all of the newly built houses that lined the beach and about all the ways in which my friend commented on getting to know her neighbors through that tough time and how the community picked up and helped one another.  God does allow destruction to happen and at times it feels like living through hell but how awesome it is to know that at this juncture we still have the grace to see His hand pick up the pieces around us and set us on a new course to rebuild our lives for the better than what they were before.

It never fails when I am on the beach and thinking deeply about God’s hand in life I feel a surge of the Holy Spirit and I want to reach out my arms like a toddler who wants to be lifted up by her Father and carried away.  I stopped to take this picture and the song “Lift Me Up” by The Afters came on at that exact moment.

Listen to The Afters “Lift Me Up” now!

What a way to begin the day!  The day only got better to be surrounded by amazing women.

Great views.

and AMAZING food!  Crawfish Etoufee on Friday, and homemade pasta for the Fettucini Alfredo Saturday night…I had to roll home on Sunday.

What I’ve also come to know with God is that He will (at least for me) give me moments like this weekend to relax just before a storm brews in the distance.  It is meant to sustain.

Last night my husband asked for prayers.  I won’t get into it but it’s normal life that is hard to deal with especially when you are dealing with it and have a disease like MS.

So I ask you to pray for Neal and that He can feel God’s love in this time of discourse.

Blessings

Shannon

 

Radio Interview w/Cyrus Webb

Thursday afternoon I had the privilege of joining Cyrus Webb on Conversations Live! Radio broadcast.  It was a very engaging interview and gives me the personal momentum I need to continue forging ahead.  Thank you Cyrus Webb!

Listen to NOW:  Conversations Live with Cyrus Webb

Cyrus Webb is also an Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer and he graciously reviewed the book as well.  Check out the review:

Amazon Reviews

Blessings

Shannon

Just Show Up – Virtues – Compassion/Balance

Compassion – a public virtue (one focused on our relationship with others)

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

Colossians 3:12

God requires more of us than random acts of charity. It’s a monumental challenge to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”  We know what makes us weep.  But do we know the hidden anguish in the hearts of those around us?  Do we get close enough to see the source of other people’s tears?  Even more importantly, do we know what makes God weep?  We can bring hope and healing, direction and protection.  But we must go to others as Jesus did.  He loved them.  He knew what made them weep.  And he wept with them.

I love the insides of people.  I haven’t always.  When I was in a place that I couldn’t allow myself to receive the compassion of God I didn’t have it in me to see the source of others pain because I wore mine like a blanket.  If someone else hurt I wanted to say, “Really?  Well I bet you don’t hurt as much as I do!”  It was a game of who has it worse.  “You think you have it bad?  I have it worse.”  It’s almost as if I carried the anger, hostility, resentment, disappointment, shame and loneliness like a badge of honor.  And then someone said to me, “I’m sorry you have had it so bad.”  I didn’t know how to accept the compassion but it made a mark on my wall of reserve.  My eyes were opened to a different view.  People could be nice.  People could care.  I let my guard down and before I knew it God grabbed me and pulled me out of the pit where the only thing keeping me company was self-loathing.

God’s light isn’t just a metaphor, it’s truth.  Life is different when you trade light for darkness.  Light gives new dimensions for you to spread out, it opens up your lungs so you can breathe and it takes the load off your shoulders so you can stand.  God’s light takes your focus off the dungeonous four walls of your man-made pit and allows you to see the same hurts in others.  Suddenly it’s not a contest.  Suddenly you are not alone.  Suddenly the weight of everything that defined you is now suffocating and you want to take it off, get rid of it.  Ultimately you can’t even bear to see it on others and you want to help others take it off too.  This is compassion.

BALANCE - a private virtue (one focused on our relationship with God)

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her.”

Luke 10:41-42

Does God care about all the responsibilities we juggle in our daily lives?  Of course.  But He cares more that our lives demonstrate balance, the ability to discern what is essential and give ourselves fully to it.  We may be able to juggle a lot of things at once, but we can only hold a few things. – Our Lord – our loved ones – our inner lives – our outward calling.

This morning before I sat down to read my devotionals and take some time in prayer I was already thinking of the day ahead, what is on my ‘to do’ list, how much could I get accomplished in a short amount of time.  By the time I went to pick up the devotional my mind was on everything else but this quiet time with God.  It wasn’t until I physically sat down in the chair that I recognized what was happening.  My mind was sabotaging God’s time!

A verse of the hymn Be Still immersed into my crowded mind and calmed the waters.  ‘Be still my love, know that I am God’       I stared into the space ahead of me and focused on this verse until I could get to a place of true quiet, quiet in my head.  Then I reached out for the first devotional ‘Jesus Calling’ and the first sentence was ‘Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life.”    I had to laugh.  I read through the rest of the devotion and then decided  what I needed to do for prayer this morning was just ‘be’. So I sat with God.

Do you find balance to be a hard virtue to grasp?  Take five minutes and sit with God.  Five minutes.  It’s not a lot of time but it will change your outlook on your entire day.  Five minutes with God sheds an abundance of light into your world.

Return the favor and smile at someone today.  Be Gods’s light.

Blessings

Shannon

The Vote is in!

And I have a winner!

HOPEFUL HEARTS MINISTRY

So far so good…no one else has this name so in about a day or two I’ll know if it will be accepted.  Thank you to Kristen Minar Nasr for coming up with the name.  I love that this ministry is beginning in all aspects as a community endeavor!

Thank you to EVERYONE who offered your suggestions and your votes.  All the names were great and encompassed an aspect of the ministry that I want to portray to those that might not have any idea who I am.

God is taking me on this journey one day at a time.  It’s like receiving a new present each day and being surprised by the contents each and every time.  But He is the greatest at gift giving because He knows exactly what I need even if I open the package and think “Oh, I don’t think I like this.”  OR “Does He not know me at all?  Why would He give me this?”  Often it’s those days that I receive the perceived bummer packages that the gift ends up lasting for lifetime.

I pray you appreciate your gift today and I look forward walking on the new journey of establishing the Hopeful Hearts Ministry with you!

Blessings

Shannon

 

Vote now for top TWO names for the ministry!

Many of you left suggestions on my Facebook and I appreciate every single one of them!  Below are the top four that I liked and I need to narrow it down to the top TWO.  Once I get it all finalized and the ministry is legally named I’ll announce the winner!

Healing the Hearts Ministry

Bought by Grace (A Ministry to Heal Hearts)

Exposed Ministry

Hopeful Hearts (or Hearts of Hope?)

 

I look forward to your responses.  I’m blessed to have you all be a part of this endeavor with me!

Blessings

Shannon

Just Show Up – Fuel for my Fire

Two stories were told to me this weekend that serve to ignite my fire and passion towards those that are broken or have been broken or are on the verge of making decisions that led down a broken path.  I want to warn you now, they are not pretty and I feel the call to share them because I think we all need to recognize what our teens are facing and hiding.  If you do not like to read about issues regarding sex then please do not read any further.  I rarely, if ever, write about this in such a blatant manner but I think it’s important to shed light on what is really going on today.

Another precept before I tell these stories is I do NOT know the people involved so if you happen to know me then do not try to assume you can ‘guess’ who the subjects are…what they need more than your curiosity is your prayers.  Again I was told these stories (and others very similar) so the exact details are obviously lost…I’ll only give generality.

There were two young girls, I believe to be either in the eighth or ninth grade at the time, best friends.  One young girl had an older boyfriend who was very jealous.  They were already in a sexual relationship and one day he accused her of cheating on him.  The young girl desperate to ‘save’ her relationship with this boy decides he can get ‘even’ if it would prove to him her love.  She calls her best friend over who unknowingly is walking into a set up.  When the best friend gets to the home she is then forced into a room her best friend’s boyfriend, locked inside and he rapes her while her best friend sits outside the door and waits.  When he is done they then put the victimized young girl into the bathroom while the boyfriend/girlfriend have sex.

Once freed the victimized young girl presses charges (praise God) and the young man was convicted and the former best friend was not.  However, I believe the young man didn’t have to serve any actual time…just had to switch schools.  Since hearing about this I can’t seem to get rid of the stench of the evil it represents.

Second story… have you ever heard of an ABC party?  Anything But Clothes. These began occurring on college campus’ (not since I’ve been but apparently it’s not new).  Well, now they are having these parties in high school.  You show up wearing anything but clothes (Ie: a box, a twister mat, etc) and then it just becomes a free for all.  Sexual favors are swapped and I suppose it’s one modern day orgy.

There are other stories, other truths I hear straight from the broken-hearted that make the fire blaze with a desire to wrap all of these young women AND men into my arms and say “Remember who you are!”  They are all victims of a longing to feel whole and complete.  They want love and acceptance which God has for them but the enemy keeps them blinded by the false approval of peers vs the everlasting approval of God.

I shouldn’t say ‘them’…I should say ‘we’.  I’ve encountered many young adults and even some adults in the same dark valley.  If you are suffering in this silent hell remember that God is a breath away.  Just say His name daily – Jesus.  Say His name when you begin to feel inadequate, insecure, uncertain, anxious, overwhelmed, pressured, or lonely.  He is here to bring light to the darkness.

Please pray for our youth today.

Blessings

Shannon

Help! Name the ministry…and get a free signed copy of EXPOSED.

I found out TODAY that Healing Hearts Ministry is taken.

That name encompassed the ministry, let alone the fact that I’ve had it for five years.  Had I known this is where God was going to take me then I would’ve set it in stone then.  Yet, then again if I could foretell the future I probably wouldn’t budge from my seat.

The lesson has been to TRUST, correct?  And God has shown He is faithful and He has shown me that I am not alone in this endeavor.  So what a better way to come up with a name that ‘fits’ the ministry than to ask for YOUR help.

In order to get your creative juices flowing I will provide a rough ‘purpose’ statement for the ministry and what is behind the logo.  I want to keep the logo!  So that’s where this is tricky.

Purpose: “To reach out and minister to those in search of healing, hope and forgiveness through faith and personal experience.”  (rough draft of course)

LOGO:  3 Healing Hearts

• Each heart is made up of two symbols, 1 V and an upside down M.
• Each M represents three saints that have survived abuse and each V represents the glory of the Saint:
• Blessed Mother Mary – Victory
• St. Mary Magdalene – Value
• St. Maria Goretti – Veneration

With this logo a scripture verse was revealed:

Ephesians 5:11-14

“Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

In order to stop abuse we must not allow it to keep us in the dark. If you have been abused in any way, please contact your local authorities, priest, youth minister, or a trusted family member. Do not keep it in the dark, rather break free and allow Christ to shine hope upon you and flood you with His healing grace.

The logo was fashioned by artist Emily Lacour. Thank you Emily!

The only other ideas I had for a name was “Mending Hearts Ministry” or just “Hearts for Healing”  but I think I’m stuck on ‘hearts’…even though the logo is hearts the name doesn’t have to include it.

Your ideas and comments are greatly appreciated!  If I choose your idea for the name I’ll send you a free signed copy of EXPOSED.   If I get enough response and happen to like two or more ideas then I’ll put it to a vote!

Blessings

Shannon

 

Just Show Up – Acceptance / Authenticity

I’ve been called to focus on virtues ever since I joked about it in my bon voyage blog a few weeks back.  Even as I wrote it I was being cheeky but once I was on the ship I thought about how many virtues there were and how a few years back I had done an excercise on the difference between the ‘public’ and ‘private’ virtues.  I went and dug up my information and though I will be honest and say I have no idea who the author is over this, I will say it isn’t me.  I thought about not sharing because I can’t correctly give props to the writer of the small segments but it has been calling my name for ME to listen and I don’t see that it’ll hurt to share for you as well.  What is not mine is in italics.

“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called to according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28

Acceptance – Acceptance is a public virtue (one we can relate to our relationship with others).  Acceptance is a matter of trust.  Trust in ourselves, but trust in God, who alone can see the heart.  The heart that accepts is a heart of peace.  Rather than constantly striving to re-create our lives and the people we love, we can learn to be content through the grace given to us in Jesus Christ.

Trust has been ringing in my ears for the past two weeks and after spending much time in prayer and discernment and accepting the wonderful messages I’ve received from some of you I recognized that God was saying “You aren’t to go this road alone.  Accept the help people are offering and allow them to be a part of this exciting journey.”  When my father called Monday and told me he was behind me and that he believed in me and that he wanted to be a part of helping heal others I felt that weight of uncertainty lift.  I knew I needed to take my friend up on the offer of starting a small business 501 c-3 which allows me to move forward with whatever it is that God is wanting to do through the books He calls me to write or the message He calls me to deliver.

The ministry is called Healing Hearts Ministry and is being set up TODAY!   The 501 c-3 takes a bit longer to apply for so please keep this in your prayers.  Actually it benefits everyone in the long run for me to be designated in this way and it keeps me accountable which makes me feel better.

The coolest part about this?  If you look at my HOME page, the masthead is the HEALING HEARTS LOGO and if you click on the scrolling screen with the HEALING HEARTS  logo and click on the FEATURED STORY it will explain how this logo and ministry name came to be about 5 years ago!!!!  I kept it, I used it and knew that it would be meant for something in the long run in regards to what God is calling me to but I had NO IDEA it would be this opportunity.  None.

God is faithful.  God shows up BIG and he shows up small but he always shows up.  God shows up…sometimes way in advance.

“Make no mistake: God is not mocked, for a person will reap only what he sows, because…the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.” 

Galatians 6:7-8

Authenticity – Authenticity is a private virtue (one we can relate to in our relationship with God).  Authenticity with God and within our own souls brings great liberty, and great power.  We can relax and be ourselves.  We can admit our shortcomings and allow God to work within us.  We can stop trying to keep up a front and let the Spirit come in.  And then a miraculous transformation begins to occur:  we begin to look more like Jesus.

Being authentic with God is trusting He loves us and accepts us even in the ugly.  Being authentic with God is giving Him the ugly!  We can give Him the ugly because He only sees the beauty of His creation and what it is you’ll work through, push past and overcome in order to reveal His beauty to the world.

This is one virtue I pray for my boys and for every kid out there.  Be authentic with who God has made you to be.  Even as adults we try to be like everyone else and it never feels right because we are putting on a mask that is itchy and just doesn’t fit because it was not formed by Him.  Someone asked me recently what makes me happy and I said “God”.  The only person that can make me happy and the only way I’ve noticed that I receive true happiness is when I am with God, when I bring Him into every moment of my day and when I finally ‘let go’ and take off the mask(s) that I’ve been trying to work on and mold to fit me because I naively thought they would make me ‘happy’.

When you seek the virtue of authenticity you find happiness.

May God bless you all in this day!

Blessings

Shannon

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