faith

Dwelling with God

January 23, 2018 by Kristin 2 Comments

I decided to follow Jesus twenty-two years ago. I was at a weekend called Chrysalis in January 1996 with no one I knew. I had been asking God a lot of questions in the months leading up to that weekend, but it was there in a room of strangers I wrote on a piece of paper with what was hindering me from choosing God and then nailed that paper to a cross. The worship team was playing Rich Mullins’ “Growing Young,” and I was choosing to let God made me new.

God saved me that one day, but
He’s been rescuing me ever since.

{Tweet that.}

Throughout the years, I’ve learned so much about walking this faith journey. Circumstances have changed. How I spend time with God looks different from one season to the next. But I’ve learned dwelling with the One whose spirit dwells within me is life-changing.

When Becky Hastings asked if I wanted to preview her email series called DWELL, I was in. DWELL is a five-day email course that helps women connect with God in their everyday lives. It includes scriptures, devotional messages, encouragement for next steps, and resources.

I enjoyed DWELL because it was packed with refreshing truth. I loved having that show up in my inbox like a friend spurring me one toward the One who makes us new. And it’s presented in a way that just requires a few minutes but leaves you wanting to dwell with God even longer.

DWELL is now available for free to anyone interested. You can sign up here to receive the series.

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I also want to share a Q & A with DWELL creator Becky Hastings so you could hear more about how this resource came to be:

Kristin Hill Taylor: What does the word DWELL mean to you?

Becky Hastings: DWELL makes me think of an internal pause. We all have all of these busy life things spinning around us all the time. DWELL is choosing to pause my spirit to be with God, even as all those other things keep spinning. We know the kids and work and laundry never stop, but we can take moments in our head to be with the Father. He doesn’t need us to do things for Him as much as He longs for us to be with Him.

KHT: What prompted you to put together DWELL for other women?

BH: Honestly, I was getting sucked into the New Year, New You mentality. I was thinking that when January 1 hit I was going to be a different person. I would magically read my whole Bible in a day – well, maybe not a day, but certainly in a year. I would wake early and spend time and the kids would never interrupt and life would never get in the way. I was being drawn to the idea that turning that calendar page was going to make me into a better Christian, a better child of God.

But then I realized two things:

1. That was never really going to happen. Let’s be real.

2. It was never what God asked of me. I could never be a better child of God. He loves me just as I am. He sees the dishes piling up and the baby that won’t sleep. He sees the endless mom taxi service and the meals that need to be made. He doesn’t love me in spite of those things. He loves me in those things. In the mess. In the middle of life.

God doesn’t call us to live our Christian life and our “real” life. It’s all one.

I figured if I needed help learning how to be okay with that, maybe other women did too.

KHT: I know some people (including me!) got to preview this series. What was the initial response and how did that encourage you in your own relationship with God?

BH: It was a big step of faith to reach out and ask women (most of whom I barely know outside the internet) to preview DWELL. I wasn’t sure anyone would say yes. But God provided the perfect group of women to be part of this. They are women who understood the desire to spend time with God in the middle of their very real, and very busy, lives. That was a huge encouragement, to know I wasn’t alone.

And the response has been great! I think DWELL has provided a grace-filled framework for women longing for more of God in their lives. I’m so blessed by each person who has taken time to participate and let me know what they think. And I hope that doesn’t end! I love hearing from readers! We’re all in this together.

KHT: What do you want women to get out of their time DWELLing with God?

BH: Freedom and grace. It really is that simple for me. I hope women see that their time with God doesn’t need to be perfect or fit a formula. It can be simple and honest and short and He still shows up. And it’s those little, simple pauses in our day that add up to a cumulative DWELLing in our spirit.

Our time with God becomes part of who
we are instead of something we have to do.

{Tweet that.}

KHT: Once women finish the DWELL series, what next steps can they take if they’re new to spending time with God?

BH: This is one of my favorite parts about DWELL. It’s not five days you check off and you’re left hanging. It really is a framework you can use over and over. When you complete the course I provide a curated list of my favorite resources to keep going, using the same framework. And you may even get the occasional email from me when I find a new resource I think you’ll love!

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Rebecca Hastings believes in embracing grace in real life. At My Ink Dance, she captures hard, uncomfortable, often unspoken feelings and brings light, honesty and God’s truth to them in a relatable way. She is also the author of “Worthy: Believe Who God Says You Are,” a 20-day devotional inviting women to live life confident of their worth. Rebecca is a wife and mother of three in Connecticut writing imperfect and finding faith along the way.

When the past & the present collide

August 17, 2017 by Kristin 3 Comments

Nineteen years ago as a college sophomore, I walked into the Murray Christian Fellowship house on the edge of campus. I had learned about MCF while compiling a list of campus ministries for the student newspaper. What the campus minister had said during a brief phone call intrigued me. I didn’t know anyone, so I dragged some friends with me because I wanted to go.

Three years later, I graduated with a bachelor’s of science and walked away from that MCF house with a deeper understanding of my faith and some the dearest friends a girl could have.

On a recent Sunday in August, the current student leaders from MCF fill a row of seats near us in church. I held the college memories in my heart as my 7-year-old boy still let me hold his hand in church that same morning. My almost-2-year-old girl was eager to go the nursery and my oldest, who is somehow already 10, sat on my other side. Even so, I remember so much of college like it was yesterday.

God collided what He did long ago
with what He’s doing now.

{Tweet that.}

We’ve introduced our kids to the MCF house recently because our small group painted the front porch and started to haul out trash from the leaking basement. We’ve gotten to know a couple of the current students and hope to spend more time with them. Meanwhile, we are still missing the former student who was my kids’ babysitter but understandably graduated, moved away, and got married in recent years.

I’m grateful our church – which was started out of that same campus ministry more than three decades ago – is still in a relationship with the organization God used to teach me and love me when I was finding my way as a new believer. I sat there in the row of chairs Sunday morning with my kids while others prayed over MCF’s student leaders.

I prayed silently in my head:

Thank you, God, for prompting me through a newspaper assignment to walk the couple blocks from my dorm to the MCF house. Thank you for meeting me there that day, many days in the following three years, and even times since. I love how that ministry and our current church are intertwined and how nobody hesitated to join those students with prayer. Thank you for giving my family the opportunity to serve these kids as they serve you and their peers. Be with the students as they begin a new school year. Let them shine lights and love others for you, God. Let them hold onto the truth of what you’re doing now so they can remember your faithfulness later. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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I love living in a college town! I shared yesterday about welcoming college students to my hometown (and wanting to mother some boys I crossed paths with in Kroger). You can also read the letter I wrote last year to Murray State freshmen.

Light, Fresh Air & New Things

September 28, 2016 by Kristin 17 Comments

You can feel His hand pressing in sometimes. His hand a whisper, a voice tangible. You claim the voice feels difficult to recognize, but you know it. You at least recognize it by its gentleness, its firm nudging toward what feels good and uncomfortable and right and hard. You feel the tension, subtle but sure. And you squirm.

You want to run, but you don’t. You don’t want to stay, but you do. Questions come, the voice whispering, gently: Why do you feel uneasy, the walls feeling close, too close? But you ignore it. And you keep making small talk with the people you’re with, not asking yourself the real questions and turning your tangled thoughts over to God:

Why am I so insecure? Why am I choosing to be hard-hearted and not soft? Why am I judging? Why am I believing I am separate, different, better than her?

I don’t ask myself the questions. And when she – the woman I don’t yet know – enters the house, the wide, front double doors swinging in, I reach out my hand stiffly. And I see it, recognizing the judgment in me, the subtle deciding of who she is and who I am. I feel myself deciding her worth, assessing her, choosing to see through murky lens rather than through the pure eyes of my Father.

Chosen. Adored. Beloved. Beautiful. My child.

I am not seeing her through His eyes. I am not listening to her with openness. I am sizing her up, forgetting who I am. The lies I heed, on my own, contrast too starkly with the beautiful truth of what He sees.

I am the daughter of a King who was born in a stable among animals and excrement and was holy.

I am the daughter of a King who honored His parents but could not stay away from learning and teaching, for hours, about His Father.

I am the daughter of a King who waited at a well for an adulteress and saw her true heart, underneath her actions, her mistakes, her failures, and loved her and stayed with her and spoke to her and showed her she is special and matters.

I am the daughter of a King who challenged selfishness with fierce gentleness and who conquered death with self-sacrifice and love.

I am the daughter of a King who knew His Father and heeded His heart within Him and trusted Him and chose Him and let His will be done.

I am the daughter of a King who loved thieves and liars and murderers because He saw their heart underneath their actions and knew they were His brothers, His sisters.

I am the daughter of a King.

{Tweet that.}

The moment I judged the woman who walked into the house, the woman whom I had not yet met but had judged in my heart before I even said a word, was just one of the moments I forgot the truth of who I am. There are many days I forget this, but when I assess the worth of another person and value the opinions of people rather than the heart of my King, I separate myself from Him. I separate myself from the truth of who I am.

My daughter. My restored. My flower. My delight.

And so here, in this safe place with sisters, I lay myself down. I confess and beg forgiveness and call out, weak and broken and strengthened and healed. I confess I forget whose daughter I am, and I forget the face of my God.

No more judging. No more hurting. No more separating. No more condemning. No more forgetting who I am.

Do you hear His whisper, friends? Do you feel His touch upon your heart? Do you need light, fresh air, and new things?

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If you would like to go deeper and explore the life-changing effects of having raw, honest conversations with God, please take a look at the book “Breathing Eden: Conversations with God on Light, Fresh Air, and New Things.”

“Breathing Eden” is 40 raw, honest, heartbreaking and encouraging conversations between women and God. These prayers are like our own: full of pain, celebration, anxiety, and joy.

If you pre-order before Oct. 3 (you have a few more days!) and forward Jennifer your Amazon receipt (jennifer@gatherministries.com), you will receive bonuses specifically created to enhance the experience of reading “Breathing Eden.” Find out more here.

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Jennifer J. Camp knows what it’s like to chase down an identity not her own. And now she listens and writes and speaks to point women to Jesus. She is co-founder of Gather Ministries with her husband, Justin, and she’s passionate about encouraging women to live lives of identity, community and adventure with Christ. Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with Justin, their three kids, and her very insecure dog. Connect with her at jenniferjcamp.com.

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