As the poverty rate increases, the political climate tensions, and households everywhere seem whirling in uncertainty, increasingly hard times can leave people paralyzed along seas of desperation.  Hearing the world’s birth pains, feeling the contractions of those struggling can overwhelm with guilt-induced deafness when faced with the reality, “We just can save them all.”  As a result, instead of swimming with the broken, it can seem easier to stay frozen, watching from dry land, letting fear blind us to those drowning with needs, faking disablement while the life preserver of hope dangles vainly around our neck. 

What do you feel? Hope? Discouragement? Sadness? Fear?
At Obama, Romney, facebook friends, tv?
To feel sad does not mean you aren't trusting God. Look at Jeremiah the weeping prophet and many others including Jesus Himself when He was about to face suffering. He sweated blood. He was sad, He was distraught. It's ok to feel what you're feeling. What matter is what you act on.

But if you're anything like me, when you're sad or discouraged, pat answers hurt more than comfort. There are a ton of emotions and thoughts raging about the election results, some ring true lining up with scripture and others just seem so naive and short-sighted. Here's my thoughts on some of them.

Some of the pat answers I've encountered:
"Trust God, He's in control."  or something along the lines of God being Sovereign.
I love the heart behind this response. A heart of wanting to comfort and encourage the discouraged. What a blessing to have these people in our lives. But just because something is coming from a sweet and pure heart doesn't mean it's actually helpful or encouraging. Sometimes those can be the most hurtful comments. 

So what does it mean to "trust God, He's in control" when you have a President who doesn't respect God and is in direct opposition to what God says is true?

My wise friend put it so well last night. "Seriously, I am just about speechless... And so troubled that people think you're just supposed to be like 'oh well God is in control' ummmm yeah He is! And in some ways that makes me shudder even more! GOD IS in control." 

This coming January it will be 40 years since we legalized killing babies. God, the Creator of life cares about that and that Creator of life is the One who is in control. Perhaps we view God a little bit too much like a fluffy candy giver instead of the One who will come with a sword described in Rev. 19. Where is our fear of God? Hearing that God is in control and is Sovereign when our country elects someone to lead us who hates the things God calls good should cause us to shudder. Do we really think God will delay forever? 

Here's another response:
 "If you honestly believe these next 4 years are going to suck, you need a reality check. If you think these next 4 years are going to be the best yet, you also need a reality check. Life goes on. Mind your own business and live your own life. I know one thing for sure...These next four years ARE going to be amazing because I get to spend them with my amazing husband, family and puppies...Not because of a Democrat or a Republican running this country." or others like it that our personal life hasn't been drastically effected so what's the big deal?

This is one of the most discouraging things I've read. Are we really so engulfed in our own life of pleasure we can't see the suffering of others? Are we so self-absorbed that the only things that matter to us is how comfortable we are regardless of right and wrong, regardless of obeying God? Maybe not everyone has felt the effects of choices that go against what God says, but everyone will. Check this out. This is the cycle of God's story, His-story, history.

You may not feel the effects now, but you will, we all will. When luxuries abound but you can't afford to put dinner on your table (like Rev. says is going to happen), you'll feel it.

Here's another, "Jesus is my King". This seems to come from people who have their hope in the right place, in Jesus, the only person deserving of our hope. But there's another side of this that perhaps is not very comforting. A very clear but overlooked reality. Jesus is in heaven, He hasn't come to earth to rule yet. He will come back to be King but with that comes the breaking of some pretty serious seals and tipping of some horrific bowls, the tribulation. So let's hope in Jesus as the King as He will rightly rule someday. But just know that before redemption comes suffering just like we see at the cross. Expect pain, expect suffering but know He has overcome the world, the pain and suffering won't last forever.

I told some friends from church months ago I truly believed Obama would get elected because that is God's will. Not because Obama is a better leader. Not because a human is suppose to deliever us. But because perhaps God is setting the world stage by giving us a President who will turn from Israel and stand let Russia and Iran attack them (among a host of other things contrary to God's heart and desires) in order to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

It reminds me of Pharoah. God used him to bring freedom but that freedom came with some pretty serious suffering. Just as when Jesus comes back, the ultimate freedom that can be given, freedom from an earth filled with pain, suffering and evil, will come after some pretty serious suffering.

We probably have a lot of suffering coming our way friends but in that there is hope because in this world we will have trouble but God has overcome the world. God will allow us to experience the effects of our decisions but it wont last forever. Jesus will come on His white horse and rescue.

Perhaps God will delay no longer. Perhaps it is finally time He deliever the babies being murdered, perhaps He will deliever the little girls being sold for sex. Perhaps He cares so deeply for these weak and oppressed ones that He is allowing us to take steps down the path preparing the way for Him come to defeat evil. 

If that's the case, let's intentionally get on it! Once all unreached people groups hear the gospel He will come and rescue the oppressed. Are you fet up with babies being murdered? Are you fed up with little girls being sold for sex. I am. Let's do something about it!

We live in this incredible time where a lot of the unreached people groups can be reached on FACEBOOK. Just wow! This is a picture of the top countries with unreached people groups. And here is a website where you can discover where they live, JoshuaProject.net 

Our new book reach (www.reachebook.com) will give you ideas of how to do this. But if you don't want to spend $4.99 then just set up a facebook ad geared toward one of these unreached people groups (by checking the Joshua Project website and finding the state inside the country and gear the ad toward that country and state). As far as the ad, check out the Jesus film app or website. There are tons and tons of translations of the Jesus film. You can turn one of those into an ad and gear it to India. Or you can use the story as a facebook ad gearing it toward a certain part of an unreached country with a super high percentage of unreached people.

This is totally possible people!!

Oh sweet friends, I know I can be a bit intense sometimes. But when I see the possiblitites ahead, the possibilities of God using this to get people fired up for reaching the unreached, it's exciting. We might actually be living in the most exciting time of all time!

Did you know...

"America has become the world's largest producer and consumer of pornography, over $12 Billion annually."[1] and “More revenue is generated through porn than through all professional sports combined.”[2] 

“90% of 8-16 year olds have viewed it online.” [3]

Nearly half of young adult women today believe viewing pornography is acceptable behavior.

Nearly a third of young adult women intentionally use pornography from time to time, and about 1 in 5 women do it habitually—every week.

According to a survey of more than 11,000 college-age women, more than half said they were exposed to sexually explicit material by the age of 14. For some girls, these exposures to pornography are not just brief brushes with sexually explicit pictures—a pop up here, a link there. On at least one occasion, about 1 in 4 girls sit down to watch Internet pornography for at least a half-hour straight.

One in 13 girls aged 14-to-20, who participated in a recent study from Boston University’s School of Public Health said they have engaged in “Multi-Person Sex”.  And porn use makes teen girls five times more likely to have group sex.

“This has led, not only to personal shame, but it has also led to massive sexual addiction. This means that, try though they may, victims simply can't stop. Many addicts follow the addiction cycle of pain buildup which leads to acting out followed by shame, guilt and deeper loneliness, isolation and more pain which then starts the cycle all over again.”[4]

So what’s the problem? Besides robbing us of intimacy with God, is there other effects?

There are a ton of psychological, neurological, social and spiritual effects of porn. Neurologically speaking when there is an overuse of dopamine it causes addiction and causes less and less amounts of dopamine are available and the cells start to atrophy. This causes the person to feel like they have to view porn in order just to feel normal, in order to have a normal amount of dopamine. This also creates the neurological feeling of need to increase the amount of pornography and have more shocking images in order to have the same level of dopamine. It is a downward spiral than never says stop.

"A frequent side effect is that it also dramatically reduces their capacity to love (e.g., it results in a marked dissociation of sex from friendship, affection, caring, and other normal healthy emotions and traits which help marital relationships). Their sexual side becomes in a sense dehumanized. Many of them develop an “alien ego state” (or dark side), whose core is antisocial lust devoid of most values.

In time, the “high” obtained from masturbating to pornography becomes more important than real life relationships. . . .

The process of masturbatory conditioning is inexorable and does not spontaneously remiss. The course of this illness may be slow and is nearly always hidden from view. It is usually a secret part of a person’s life, and like a cancer, it keeps growing and spreading. It rarely ever reverses itself, and it is also very difficult to treat and heal. Denial on the part of the addict and refusal to confront the problem are typical and predictable, and this almost always leads to marital or couple disharmony, divorce and sometimes the breaking up of other intimate relationships." 
Dr. Victor Cline, in his essay, “Pornography’s Effects on Adult and Child,” 

So what do we do?
If you don't struggle with porn:
Recognize there are people close to you that probably do and they need someone they can trust and help them walk through it. They need a safe friend that will offer grace and truth. A friend that will pray with and for them. A friend that will love and accept them no matter what yet will help them take the next step.

If you do struggle with porn:
* If you have submit your life to Christ and let Him forgive you (because you've recognized you can't live up to the standard of perfection He requires. But understood that Jesus did and made a way for you to stand right before the Father) then you are forgiven, everything past, everything present and everything future. The Father sees you through the perfection of Jesus. He loves you. He accepts you and nothing you can do can change His mind about you. Having a firm grasp of your identity if Christ will draw you closer to Him allowing for Him to continue to make you more and more like Him from the inside out. 

* Bring it into the light. Unhealthy things grow in the dark. Realize you are not alone and there are people in your life who want to help you through this. “Confess your sin to one another that you may be healed.” When we are honest about who we are and what we are struggling with other believers and tell them, we see they love and accept us no matter what and it brings healing. It brings healing because it allows for someone to come along side you and put their arm around you and help you through it. It is satan’s lie that people will hate you if they knew. The truth is that their are people in your life who want to love, accept and help you. And statistically, many many others are right there with you. 

* Don't believe lies. Here's a couple common ones. 
"It's not hurting anyone". It's hurting you, it's hurting your relationships and it's hurting other people all over the world since your contributing to the biggest export in this country. 

"No one knows or will find out." But Jesus warned His disciples and us “there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12:2-3 Satan wants you to think no one will know because things decay in darkness and he wants to destroy your life.

* Think of what's to come in heaven. John Piper says, “The fire of lust’s pleasures must be fought with the fire of God’s pleasures. If we try to fight the fire of lust with prohibitions and threats alone-even the terrible warnings of Jesus we will fail. We must fight it with a massive promise of superior happiness. We must swallow up the little flicker of lust’s pleasure in the conflagration of holy satisfaction.”

*Check out some of these resources:
CovenantEyes.com 
Bravehearts.net
DirtyGirlsMinistries.com
X3pure.com
Beggarsdaughter.com

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[1] Leahy, author of Porn Nation
[2] Don Williams
[3] Meghan Daum, in her recent L.A. Times op-ed column, "Porn's Lost Sex Appeal,"(Sat., Oct 20, 2007)
[4] Don Williams

Photo source

I love Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." I think of this verse when I wake up with a song in my head. This morning I woke up with the phrase from a song, "I won't give up on us" and immediately I knew the Lord was singing that over me while I was sleeping. 

My first reaction was, "Wow God" and almost immediately afterward, "But that sounds like our relationship is on the rocks or something. I'm close to You. I spend time with You and hear from You." My reaction exposed my heart of how quick I can be me-centered, works based and performance oriented. I felt the need to defend my relationship with God, not based on what He had done on the cross, but on what I do. 

Not a couple hours later I showed up at church for the Experiencing God conference my church is putting on. I had forgotten my special name tag, given to me because I had been part of the organizing committee putting it on. And when I realized I forgot it I almost immediately started wrestling with if I should go home and get it for the motive of parading my importance. Again, not finding my importance in what Christ did, but in what I do and what others think about that. Yuck! I didn't get it and embraced the correction the Lord was bringing about in my heart.

What a gracious God that can put a mirror up for me to see my heart yet in such a gracious way. Truly His kindness leads to repentance. 

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Mind Sharing?

Who is not emotionally effected by the Sandusky scandal? I tend to be more of a thinker than a feeler but when I hear of young boys being raped, and people covering it up for years and years for fear of reputation, it brings almost immediate tears to my eyes and I feel physically sick. It is just so awful. It begs the question who could not speak up about something so awful! What in the world would cause someone to keep quiet about something so horrific!?

But then the Lord reminds me of all the ways we are so easily shut up about things just as big of a deal. Like sharing the gospel. What those boys endured is horrific. What people will endure in hell, not for a short time, but for all eternity is even more horrific. Yet we can be so easily shut up in telling people.

Or like speaking truth in love. Just today my husband got bashed twice on facebook for simply making a comment about something he stands for. Here's the response below. Austin, my husband, is talking about the book 50 shades of grey that is a book about a male stripper. Here's the first paragraph from Plugged In Online telling about the movie:     
     Within the movie's opening minutes, Mike slips naked out of bed (we see him fully from behind) and starts
     talking with his topless friend, Joanna, about the naked girl passed out on the bed (whose bare backside is also     
     aimed at the lingering camera lens). They both talk about how they enjoyed having sex with her the night
     before, but neither can come up with her name. 

Other people came to Austin's defense and even now are getting a chance to share the gospel with Corey (will you pray?). But it amazes me how just taking a tiny stand causes such a backlash with the intention to shut you up.

And relating to the Batman shooting.
A handful of our students went to the opening showing last night but at a different theater and are wrestling with evil that was so clearly in their face. Like Tina, one of our student leaders who is super smart and loves Jesus a lot. She wrote this just this morning asking the question of what to do about all the evil in the world. My husband responsed with some thoughts and gets reamed.

I wonder if the men who knew about Sandusky were faced with some of this same opposition about speaking up for what's right. Maybe comments about being judgmental (which isn't calling someone judgmental actually being judgmental since you're judging their heart?) or threats caused them to shut up.

Threats kind of like the one that Brad Pitt's mom recently received when she endorsed marriage being a union between one man and one woman.

"It's not the criticism, it's the death threats that have apparently scared Brad Pitt's mom into silence after (as we told you last week) she wrote a letter to the editor urging her fellow Missouri Christians to vote for Romney based on shared moral values, including opposition to gay marriage." Brian S. Brown, President of National Organization for Marriage 

Martyrdom in the Bible is defined not only as loosing your life for the sake of trusting Jesus but also loosing your life for standing for the Word of God, standing for righteousness.

What about you? What would it take to shut you up about the issues of righteousness? Or perhaps, what did it take to shut you up? 

The Lord is able to give you everything you need so that in all things and at all times you will have all you need in order to abound in every good work. 2 Cor. 9:8 

Our faith muscle only grows as we use it. Why not take a little step of speaking up for something the Bible says today with gentleness and respect. And if you are opposed, know that you're in a good place since you're in the same boat as Jesus. And just remember to pray for the person opposing you (pray what's the best thing for them, not the get em God type of prayer) and respond with compassion. But don't let opposition shut you up.

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Take a sec to share?

My life is awkward. I think it's inevitable, dare I say normal, since we have two non-stop talkers ages 3 and 4. At least that is what I tell myself so I don't feel like a weirdo. 

In the last 24 hours my boys have talked to a lady about her "whiskers", opened the shower door on me, asked a stranger about dog nipples and pretended to be a wolf for most of the soccer game instead of actually playing soccer. 

When you have that many awkward moments a day you'd think I would be an expert at dealing with awkward, but I'm just not. Not anywhere close. Each time I have absolutely no idea what to say. So what do I do? Embarrass myself even more by pretending like I didn't hear. What in the world do I think that would make it easier!? The person obviously knows I'm acting oblivious. And then they pretend they don't know that they know I am acting like I don't know... oh my.

But here's reality. Not pressing in to awkward causes us to miss seeing what God is doing. 

Yesterday Uriah started calling a random lady on the bleachers by us a bad guy. But then he remembered that Jesus turns bad guys into good guys so he asked for a gospel tract. I had The Story in my purse and handed him one. He struted right over to the girl and said, "It's a gospel tract" and walked away. Isn't that so cute and brave...  and awkward. 

Me, a missionary who has shared the gospel a thousand times, felt so awkward that I defaulted to pretend I don't know what's happening mode. Oh my! Now, looking back, all I had to do was ask a question to eliminate the awkward. All I had to do was press in, to enter the awkward and say, "Do you have a spiritual background?" or "Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?" and I would have got to see what God was doing in that girls heart.

But this morning the Lord, in His incredible grace, comforted me by showing me the disciples didn't know how to handle awkward either. Get this,  "Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" (John 4:27). Jesus had just been sharing the gospel with a lady, a Samaritan no less, and they walk up. Ya know those times you walk up to people talking and they stop talking... yeah, that. 

But just like me, the disciples didn't say anything either! That is comforting I am not alone. Perhaps they defaulted to ignore and pretend that didn't happen mode just like me. Though I'm not alone in my not being able to deal with awkward so well, I still missed out on seeing what God was up to just like the disciples missed out. If they just would have asked what was going on, if they just would have entered the awkward, they would have got to hear Jesus explain that the gospel was for the Samaritans too. They would have got to know the Samaritan lady had just put her trust in Him. But they missed it.

So, what do you say, want to make an effort to enter awkward with me and catch a glimpse of what God is doing?

Laura, the creator and host of Missional Women is married and has four kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 11 years serving with Master Plan Ministries. Laura is the Women's Development Coordinator and has discipled over 150 girls, led over 30 Bible studies and speaks to college and women's groups. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, and A Devotional Journey through Judges, a devotional to accompany the free online Bible study at TheBookofJudges.com. You can find her on facebook,twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram and her author site.

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So Austin and I have two boys who are adopted and a little girl who is not. I think there is probably a question in a lot of peoples mind, "Do you love your biological child more?" So, thought I would take just a minute to share.

Before we had kids I heard many women say after birth you just have this sweeping love feeling where you think you just can't love anything else more. I wondered if that would be true even if I wasn't the one giving birth.

Asher has an incredible birth story (actually they all do). I was told I had unexplained infertility. And in my mind it was worse than being told we couldn't have children at all because I didn't know if it was possible to have kids. And there is no way to fix something when you don't know what to fix. So there was this weird lack of hope of being fixed but sliver of hope that it was possible. Strange feeling combination. So we started praying. I mean really, taking our heart before God, not holding back for fear He would let me down kind of praying. 

After 2 years, God brought Asher into our life through adoption. It seriously is the coolest adoption story I have ever heard. (If you've got a minute, click awesome adoption story and scroll way down till you see cute little Asher's face.) I wish I had all day to tell you. When he was born I was in the hospital room and I loved him but I was more terrified. I actually thought if his head fell his neck would break. I was a terrified first time mom. I worried more than I actually thought possible and totally understood overprotective moms. I kinda freaked out that I was going to be one, but then I didn't really care that much because the worry outweighed the fear of what people thought.

Anyway, I brought Asher home and I loved him and had a great affection for him. I was amazed at how God brought him into our family, but didn't know him. I wondered if biological moms knew their babies. You know, like that, "I know you, you did life with me for 9 months" type of thing. 

Uriah was born 13 months after Asher (they are biological brothers, how cool is that!) and since I didn't pray for 2 years for Uriah I didn't feel as connected at first. I had the same, "Who are you little guy?" feeling. Though I was excited to find out.

Then surprize, Eden. I am not sure what happened. Uh, well, I mean I know what happened, but I'm not sure how after 10 years of marriage we get pregnant. That was a whole story in itself, but to make it short, I was NOT excited (Just being real here. Story for another time I guess.) God did some heart changing in me and changed my mourning into joy before Eden burst onto scene. 

My awful pregnancy ended with an emergency c-section with the chord wrapped around Eden's neck 3 times and around her body. Without the c-section, the doctors say she wouldn't have survived. But there she was a healthy little girl. We took her home, laid her in her crib and had that same exact feeling/thought I had with the boys, "I don't know you. Who are you little girl?" And just like I didn't have the feeling of oushy-gushy love for the boys when they were born, I didn't have that feeling with Eden either. (Can you tell I am much more of a thinker than a feeler?)

I honestly don't have more of an affection for Eden over the boys. Isn't that crazy awesome! What a picture of God's love for us. When we admit our guilt before a sinless, perfect God and receive His forgiveness He adopts us. He loves us as His own. And I know it. No matter how a child comes to you, the love is the same. Eden is a girl, meaning she doesn't have to kill everything and be in constant motion and that's nice. But the boys and Eden are mine. God picked each of them for me. Graciously.  

And to be honest, hoping my kids don't ever read back this far in my blog 20 years from now, Uriah probably gives me the most enjoyment right now in life (when he's not throwing a 45 min. fit). I know there will be fazes where each one will be more enjoyable than the others. But I just share that to make it known that it truly is a lie to think that someone could never love an adopted child as much as a biological child.

Welp, that's it really. Here's another great read. Top 10 Reasons Adoption is Awesome. And obviously I am super open about this, so if you have questions, I am available to answer.

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Mind Sharing?

I'm so glad you are here! Thanks for popping in, I hope to get a chance to "meet" you too. (I try to visit the blog and respond to every comment.)

I'm Laura and have been married for 10 years, have 3 kids, two of who are adopted, am a missionary to college students and love teaching God's Word (which I get to do 8-20 times a year). I started blogging in 2009 a couple times a month-ish but the Lord led me to put more time into it as a ministry about a year ago. I love it! What an incredible privilege to minister to people all across the globe from my living room fitting around my schedule. 

This link gives a glimpse into what my family and ministry look like.

So here's a little bit about Beholding Glory. 
Every Friday I host a blog party on my home page-Devotional. It's a place to link up any post that ties into your faith in Jesus somehow. So why not head on over today? 

I write in 3 categories:
They are two things I'm passionate about, God's Word and character and mobilizing laborers for the expansion of His kingdom. The third category, Just Thinkin, is my processing outlet.

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And series like these:

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Summer time came and I went to put my shorts on. They didn't fit, I tried another, didn't fit. None of my shorts fit! I had grown out of all of my shorts. I couldn't believe it. I had never outgrown my entire wardrobe like that, so asked Austin, "Am I fat?" Ok, not a question you're suppose to ask. Austin says, "Laura, there are a lot of girls fatter than you." Gasp! "Fatter than me!? I AM fat..." 

Believe it or not I laugh at the whole thing now because he really wasn't trying to be mean and didn't mean it that way. But seriously... how can someone say something like that and be oblivious!? Oh men.

10 years of marriage later we are driving down the road to Vail for Easter when he says, "I love you and I'm committed to love you" in a real sweet voice. We had a little argument not long before that so I say, "Why?" (Why oh why... did I not learn to not ask crazy questions!?) So he says, "Well, you're just hard to love sometimes but I'm committed to love you and will love you till I die." Sweet thing, kinda. But all I heard was "You're hard to love" and all I could think about was how I didn't want to be a duty to love but a delight. My Easter weekend was filled with sadness and a pity party. 

But really comments like those bring me back to reality. The reality that the constant adoration I deeply desire of the man being desperately in love with the woman, smitten, is not in fact reality. I am broken and my husband is broken. And the reality is that God is smitten over me. He adores me. He watches me and thinks about me more times than the grains of sand on the seashore. The reality is that no man will ever be all we desire. No man will ever give us all the adoration, affirmation, approval and acceptance we crave. No man but Jesus, the One smitten over us. The One stunned by our beauty because He sees us through His blood. And really isn't marriage made to be a reminder of our relationship with Him, not a replacement of it.