Friday Arts: Art that looks so good you just might wanna eat it!

Today we have a special guest blogger, Lindsay Snyder. Besides being one of my best friends, Lindsay is a beautiful soul with a knack for food! (see why I keep her around...smile). Truly she embodies the phrase "food for your soul." You can follow her blog at www.lindsaysoulfood.wordpress.com

This strawberry pie is my most recent masterpiece. My own piece of art, and it was delicious!

My name is Lindsay. I love to cook and bake. It's always been a favorite past time of mine. Just being in the kitchen provides such a creative outlet for me.

I'm not sure when my love for food started. I think it's always been there and I know it's always been growing, especially this past year. I didn't realize how significant cooking, baking and creating was for me until I was unable to do it these past few weeks. I was busy, I'd been traveling and was unable to get into the kitchen. I really missed it. I was finally able to get back into the kitchen today, which is why I created this pie, and it felt like I was home. When I am creating in this way, it just feels right.

For me, it all brings great joy to my soul. I believe this is the way God's created me. I love getting to plan and prepare new dishes. I also enjoy getting to bless others with what I create. More than anything, this is what truly brings me the most joy, allowing others to be blessed by the work of my hands.

A few months ago I decided to create a blog. It's called soul food. (www.lindsaysoulfood.wordpress.com)

I created it because I want to share my adventures on this journey with food with others in hopes of both inspiring and encouraging. I encourage you to take a peek at my blog. I hope you like it!

p.s. the recipe is on Lindsay Lou's blog

Friday Arts! "Rooted"

This is a small, mixed media canvas I did after a women's small group. We were discussing the joy of being transformed from the inside out through love.

I decided to put the fruit on the bottom to symbolize that a strong root system established in love will always blossom but it may take a while to see it on the outside. The important thing is that the roots are growing deep.

Ephesians 3:17-20 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁷May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

¹⁸That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];

¹⁹[That you may really come] to know [practically,through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

²⁰Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]--

Happy Monday!

Here's to Monday!

May there be S * T * A* R *S in your eyes and glimmers of hope to guide your days. (ok, not glimmers rather giant beams!)

p.s. I wrote this and scheduled it to post prior to what transpired over the weekend. I need to hear what I wrote as my dad went to the hospital Friday for two nights with intestinal problems and my nephew broke his leg Saturday in a fluke accident!? Praying for a healing, God's gracious love, and a restorative week for the whole Shaw Family.

That sweet little face...

The Dress(es)

My birthday is June 26th. As long as I can remember I have loved gifts. Giving them. Getting them. The process of finding just the right one. Love it! (I think I get this from my Mom and Dad who have an unbelievable track record of picking out just the right things).

One particular birthday stood out for years, but I wasn't quite sure why? That is until Jesus invited me back there, wanting to rewrite the story in a way only He could.

It was right before my 5th Birthday. I can still remember the anticipation and excitement looking through the children’s catalog (I'm telling you gift giving is a BIG deal). I carefully circled the pages and items I liked. And then... in this cornucopia of catalog goodness... I found it . . .

the most beautiful,

fuchsia pink dress I’d ever seen!

I specifically marked the page and eagerly showed mom my one special wish for my birthday—my princess dress!

My mom always delighted in my over-the-top dress up games and acting antics, I just knew she’d try to get it for me.

That is....

Until....

Mommy had to go away.

"She needs her rest. She'll be back when she feels better."

My dad and family did their best to give me a special birthday, despite not having mom’s help. I got to have my birthday at Chuck E. Cheese! Nothing beat that mouse, my friends, ski-ball and Ms. Pac Man, and, of course, presents!

After the pizza and games, I began to tear into the glorious gifts with great anticipation. I opened them

one by one,

Ooooooing and ahhhhhing at each special gift

... all the while anticipating the Big One (you know, the

one that’s always strategically left last).

THE LAST BOX…and…and…

A Barbie?!

No dress?

Where was my dress?

The one thing I wanted...

The special thing I had asked for.

I was confused...

But she knew?

Nothing in my little heart understood why the very thing I had wished for and delighted in wasn’t given to me? Why would mommy and daddy withhold something good?

And that's the story. This has always been where the memory ended. As I got older, I got my facts organized, completely understanding the impossibility of my mom or dad being able to get the dress because of my mom's medical needs at the time.

So...Jesus, what?

Go there Beloved....let me uncover other things that were going on. Who else was at work in the midst of your confusion and hurt. (When the Lord brought this up , my heart was ripe for the uprooting. There was so much heartache and confusion going on in my present circumstances somehow it made it easier to go there).

No dress?

Where was my dress?

“They tricked you.”

They tricked me. (doubt)

I could hear the deceit.

The distortion of truth.

Exposed.

But Jesus I know the truth now? She couldn't do anything about it?

"Facts” don’t change wounded hearts.

Jesus wanted truth to penetrate that “inmost place," that is where He wanted the transformation, to rewrite the story.

Sweetheart, your heart was assaulted by the enemy, he distorted the picture. And it was intentional. Think about it darling a beautiful, princess dress. Princesses long to be cherished, chosen, rescued.

You see the Evil One has used "the dress" event and numerous other events throughout my life (but the Lord chose this one) to tell me a twisted message; “See what happens when you open up your heart to desire? Don’t get your hopes up because, they’ll only get crushed (fear). Don’t open up your heart and ask for your desires because you’re never going to get it. Just settle, keep that stuff hidden, it’s always safer. And I know you want safety, right?”

He’s right, that wicked, sly, sick serpent is right, I do want safety, but at what cost?

Jesus was gently exposing the cost of self-protection and tenderly showing me more about its origins.

He also exposed the enemies scheme. The enemy used this disappointment and many others to unearth fear, “If you keep your heart open you will only be hurt. Your heart is too much anyway. It’s not safe to let them in. I’ll help you find a way out of your vulnerability so you feel safe again.” (bartering control, a way out of pain).

Fear and control are his greatest tools.

If he can get us to distrust God’s heart, skew our image of God through life’s hurts, make us believe we have nothing to offer, and take us out by bartering back a measure of control (a way out of fear and pain), He has our allegiance. We live a protected, safe, fearful life.

B U T .... once his twisted strategy is exposed that's been

hidden in the darkness,

R O O M is created...

JESUS' light can now permeate!

The Gospel can now touch a place that has yet to hear it in that inmost place...

Enter Dress #2

(to be continued...)

Southern Ol' Allure

I went on a walk late this afternoon. The air is moist yet warm, the birds are chirping, and the mist wafts over me...a familiar haunting in my heart. But it's not connected to this place (in fact the weather is rather strange for here) I'm taken back...to where...

Ahhhh, the South.

I've spent some significant time there for a summer and various vacations. And there is something totally unique about the allure of the South.

Perhaps because I'm a California Girl through and through (ok a little Brit) but my first time in the south took me off guard. I was surprised how different it was but how much I longed to cozy up in it and stay for a while.

Was it the history and charm I felt as I walked the streets of Charleston? The fresh wood deck that I lounged on in Hickory? Sweet tea over a long, lingering home cooked meal of buttered greens, herb roasted chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy? Fishing off the deck at Lake Norman? Dancing the night away in Nashville?

Something beautiful lingers in my heart in these spaces. Haunted by the permission the remembrance of the place somehow gives me to slow down, live simply (yet elegantly), enjoy the hot sunny days that give way to cumulonimbus nights, hovering at the skyline.

It's allure quiets me. Stills the clamor within. Reminding me to grab a glass, pour some tea, and rock for a while, taking it all in. (ok now I feel like I am in a Nicholas Sparks book).

The south has been a place of romance, adventure, reunited friendships, simplicity and beauty.

And today, here in San Luis Obispo, CA, my heart went back there, she allured me back.

Thank you, Sweet South.

Going into the Land

I'm going to a conference tomorrow--Catalyst West. Some great speakers are gonna be there and key leaders from around the Western United States, but you know what... I don't think it's is about them?


It's about us. Me & Him.


Going to this conference is more symbolic. It's saying: I'm here, God has prepared me (or so He says), and it is time. Going to this represents stepping back in for me.


Like Moses going to the Promise Land, Okay Lord I'll go only if you come with, though I'm not sure you picked the right guy and I've never seen it... only felt it in the core of my being. But because you say so...


Like Joshua, stepping into the Promise Land with courage because he had gone with Moses this far and knew it was His turn to lead the people.


Like Paul, who came from one land (Jews) and was invited to a new land (Gentiles) all because God had said he was the chosen one for these people and this task.


Going says, I believe. I trust you Jesus with what I do not see but that you do. You've prepared me for the land you have for me. Not more, not less. So here I am send me.


And so we walk (back) on to this new terrain. Yes I've been a leader. Yes I've done ministry. Yes I've gone to more "big speaker" conferences than I can count. Yet something about this land feels different. Like the real Susie in Christ is showing up. So watch out!


Somehow I don't think it's going to be a grand, loud arrival. Rather a quiet but beautifully strong infiltration.


I have no idea what this will look like (probably not what I think or imagine). I have no idea who the set of characters will be and what situations I will find myself living in. But I hear his voice, "Be in me. Let's walk this together. I will give you the words and a sense 'this is the way' when the time comes. Let's cross this new terrain together. I want to surprise you."


Pray for me. Stand with me. And cover me as I go to this new land, in a new place, with a new me!


I hesitate to even share all this with the blogging world. And you know why? It means I'm expectant. Hopeful. Believing He is at work.

BUT WHAT IF HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING? WHAT IF I'M NOT SURPRISED AND THEN TRY TO ARRANGE SOMETHING ON MY OWN.


But that's the smaller, old story. I'm gonna live the Bigger one.


I'm me.


He's in me.


That's really all I got to offer.


I either trust in that deposit or I got nothin'.


And so I'm curious. Hopeful. Excited. Walking into a new land with Him.

Heroes

How cute is this?

My little nephew, Christopher, LOVES Spiderman. He knows the superhero theme song by heart, dressed up like him for Halloween, and other day started singing this song, we then proceeded to you tube the original cartoon video.

When I was 5, my super hero was Wonder Woman. I wanted to be her. Literally, I spun around and around hoping I too would become like her; truth lasso, invisible plane, visits to paradise, gold power cuffs...AWESOME!

The thing my heart seems to respond to in the mythic idea of a superhero is that they are conflicted: the hero has a hang-up. If they don't properly deal with the hang-up, they too become dangerously close to becoming a villain.

I think we all can be like a superhero, in our own special way, if we let the power of good transcend each one of our own uniquely designed threats of darkness. This requires great courage to enter into the hang-ups to learn from them. We must see how they are sabotaging the very goodness we were created for. Then, learn how to move into a new way of a living where we no longer shy away from offering the "powers" we were designed to bring into the Greater Story being told.

So maybe there was a bit more to my 5 year old little desire to be like Wonder Woman: an everyday woman with the power to bring justice, a story of transformation and redemption, a "lasso of truth" that calls forth truth, power cuffs that deflect firery arrows that threaten the work of Paradise.

I wonder if there's more than meets the eye to a lot of these childhood interests we find ourselves reflecting on.

And as I consider these stories going on underneath the Greater Story, I'll enjoy watching little Chris belting out "Spiderman, spiderman..." and continue to wonder,"Who is this little guy? And what will be his greater story to be lived out?"

So....who was your favorite superhero? And, perhaps, you might wanna ponder the question, WHY?

Dreams...

I've been thinking lately about leaders. Ministries. Life, as a Christian.

Because of this, I've been looking at web-sites and blogs way more than I'm used to. When I look at these leaders blogs, I see how wide their scope is and how God has given them each unique territory to go into, and it makes me wonder more about what's mine? Where and with whom am I to go? I can't be Rob Bell. Donald Miller. John and Staci Eldredge. But I can be Susie. Most days I like being her, though there are days I want to trade in her life.

So, what's my platform? The thing I'd "tweet" about if I tweeted to get everyone to think more about?

I think some of it it would be about leaders and missionaries. They are often the forgotten ones. God gives them this unique platform and uses them in a myriad of ways, yet sometimes there is no where for them to wrestle, come undone, receive shepherding, and refreshment. I would like to provide environments for them to do just this. Whether it meant a team traveling out to them and their communities to be a listening ear, provide a retreat of sorts, or workshop that helps sustain them on their unique fronts. Or providing a place for them to come, a wide open space of beauty, nature, cozy nooks and crannies all designed with them in mind so they can be refreshed, sustained and have a place to tell the fullness of their stories. Leaders supporting other leaders.

Ahhhh...

I wonder how this would help the longevity and advancement of these ministries? I wonder if we'd hear less about moral failures and severed, divided teams? I don't know. But I want soul care for leaders to be a normalized part of what it means to be a 21st century Christian leader. For the soldiers who go out everyday and battle for Christ's kingdom, to know there are places and spaces to come back to for respite, rescue, and refuge, so they can head back out into their designated lands and conquer!

These are some of my dreams....Anyone wanna come with?