how the light gets in

by Andrea Smithberger
how the light gets in
  • November 1: Honoring
  • Day 2: Signaling
  • Day 3: Revealing
  • DAY 4: Reminding
  • Day 5: Reflecting
  • Day 6: Changing
  • Day 7: Surrounding
  • Day 8: Healing
  • Day 9: Filtering
  • Day 10: Spreading
  • Day 11: Unveiling
  • Day 12: Distinguishing
  • Day 13: Challenging
  • Day 14: Nourishing
  • Day 15: Unassuming
  • Day 16: Leading
  • Day 17: Delighting
  • Day 18: Reaching
  • Day 19: Shining
  • Day 20: Reviving
  • Day 21: Growing
  • Day 22: Comforting
  • Day 23: Holding Space
  • Day 24: Beckoning
  • Day 25: Stunning
  • Day 26: Igniting
  • Day 28: Introducing
  • November 2020
  • Tag: Elijah

    • Grounding: Practicing Presence in your Present

      Posted at 9:35 am by How the Light Gets In, on October 28, 2021

      Listen Here

      Raise your hand if you have been to a Chuck E Cheese.

      Raise your hand if, after skeeball of course, you went into the Ticket Blaster.

      A pro would know to step into that cylinder with your shirt tucked in and your hair pulled back in a ponytail so you’re ready to grab everything you can.

      Because just like that, a tornado whips around you sending tickets in a swirly mess. Since the booth is transparent, from the outside it becomes instant entertainment for anyone who chooses to stop and watch you. From the inside, your goal is to grab as many tickets as you can so you can cash in for the grand prize of a stale tootsie roll and maybe even a glittery pencil. Every ticket was one more opportunity to earn a bigger prize. Your eyes are darting up, down, left, right trying to catch any and every ticket you can. It’s frantic and loud and messy but fun.

      Life is feeling like a ticket blaster these days – for good and for bad.

      Like this past weekend, all 5 kids were home. We packed 48 hours celebrating Bean’s birthday with Cheeze-It Chicken and duckpin bowling and ice cream at The Charmery, with basketball games (for Lily and even Jason – which is a fantastic story for another time). All good things, right? And I found myself trying to lock in on each kid and my husband to capture and hold their faces, the way they were getting along (because they were actually getting along), the smell of the bowling alley, the creaminess of the surprisingly amazing vegan ice cream… all of it. I wanted to capture and hold all of it, both hands.

      On the flip side, I’m aware of friends and family awaiting test results, going into surgery, watching a tumor, witnessing the passing of a beloved Uncle and I find my self praying, yet frantic to capture and hold all of it, both hands.

      If I haven’t said it before here, I’ll say it now; it is tough being a human being. And I am forever grateful for my therapy. It just helps me be a better human.

      I had never considered God as a therapist until I read this interaction He had with Elijah.

      We’re going to read through a bit of a “Ticket Blaster” situation Elijah finds himself in and then how God moves with him through it.

      Elijah is a model of obedience and focus and endurance when it comes to a relationship with God. And near the end of his assignment, Elijah starts tripping on his own feet grabbing at whatever he can. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is running away from Jezebel (with good reason since she’s threatening to kill him). Elijah is afraid, he’s tired, he’s done. “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my fathers.” He wanted to die. The story continues, “Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched hm. He said, ‘Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you. So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty night to Horeb, the mountain of God. He entered a cave there and spent the night.”

      Suddenly, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “what are you doing here Elijah?” He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my ife.”

      Then He (being God) said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

      Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

      Let’s notice what just happened. God just pulled a Jamie here. Jamie is my therapist. If and when I’m overwhelmed, a practice Jamie walks me through is “Grounding.”

      This technique engages all five senses with these prompts:

      • search for 5 things they can see
      • search for 4 things they can touch
      • search for 3 things they can hear
      • search for 2 things they can smell
      • search for 1 thing they can taste

      Now do you see how God pulled a therapist move here with Elijah? God asks his faithful servant a question. But, Elijah is too overwhelmed to answer. So, God walks him through some Grounding. He sends wind Elijah can see, an earthquake he can hear, a fire he can feel and smell and then a whisper.

      At the end of the experience, God repeats the question. It’s important to notice, the circumstance hasn’t changed. So what’s different?

      Elijah answers with the same words but I bet the tone is different. He’s grounded. He’s more aware. And he knows God is with him.

      “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

      Again, notice Elijah’s answer is the same.

      But, now that they’ve taken a breath together, God recognizes Elijah is ready to move. And Elijah recognizes he’s ready to move.

      There’s a lot of power in the “here,” as in where you are this very moment.

      There’s a lot of power in knowing and being aware.

      I love that God uses the gifts He’s given us- our senses- to pull us back to our senses.

      It’s more than a realization of the details. Grounding pulls all of you in the moment you’re in. It shows me how much God values every bit of me that He would invite me into the good and the bad with all of me to remember He’s in it with me.

      Remember how we talked about stacking stones as a practice to remind you where you were? Let Grounding be a practice to establish where you are right now. The past should be remembered but don’t stay there too long. And forget the future – I don’t know about you but the future can look a little too wacky with my imagination.

      God made me with more than just two hands. Life is not a Ticket Blaster. God gave you and me our senses, therapists and Grounding to realize His presence in our present. Let’s cash in on that prize today.

      Posted in FEBRUARY 2022, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged 1 Kings 19, Elijah, Grounding, How the Light Gets In, Jesus, Therapy
    • Now What

      Posted at 11:06 am by How the Light Gets In, on April 20, 2021

      Now What?

      I asked you to consider sitting in the suffering with me. I dared myself and you to not look away but to look at Jesus and the cross. You did it.

      So, now what… This is the best part!

      This is the best part of knowing Jesus and letting Him know you. This is the best part of understanding that while this world will mean suffering; there’s more because of Jesus.

      Now, it’s time to stand. The suffering of the cross is not the end of the story. The end is that we live.

      Because of Jesus, we live. Easter was not just Jesus dying on the cross but also His busting open the gates of heaven.

      Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, blood, whipping, humiliation AND because of His leaving a tomb empty, going to hell and then sitting next to God the Father in Heaven – because of Jesus we live.

      So, now what?

      Now, we start living the life we were meant to with purpose, through a promise.

      You did it. You were brave enough to look at the cross, to see Jesus suffering. You were brave enough to sit long with your own suffering. It was dark and heavy. That’s enough now. It’s time, you brave and beautiful person.

      Get up.

      Stand.

      Stand, knowing you are worthy.

      Stand, knowing you are loved.

      Stand up.

      If you know me, then you know right now I am standing and my arms are louder than my words because this “now what” part is THE BEST part, all because of Jesus.

      Because of Jesus; death isn’t the end of the story.

      Now what?

      Now there’s hoping.

      Now there’s rising.

      Now there’s living.

      You have purpose you spectacular human being. The way God made you, this world He’s put you in, the pain you’ve been through, may be going through and will go through; He sees the potential for you to rise and live and hope.

      ANTICIPATING so hard your calves are sore, LOOKING so hard your eyebrows are high up on your forehead, EXPECTING so much your heart is pumping hard in your chest – that’s what Jesus has done for me.

      If the only God you’ve seen is through parts of my story here on this babbling blog, Praise God. But there’s more for YOU.

      There’s still more for me too. I think I forgot! You know what looking at the cross did for me? It jogged my memory back through so many pain points AND through more miracles than I can count. I hope you didn’t get stuck on the pain points. It’s time to stand.

      After Jesus died, his disciples were alone and scared. Jesus could have stayed up in beautiful, cozy Heaven but He came back. Can we just recognize that? Let it sink in? He came back. John 20:19 sets the scene; “The disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came and STOOD among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.'” Sometimes, suffering can lock our hearts in fear. If that feels true for you, read that story again.

      Let the message be clear, there is a God old and powerful enough to part waters for His people, creative and beautiful enough to push crocuses up through winter’s frozen dirt, loving enough to constantly be on the search for open hearts so He can pull them in close under the shelter of His wing, bold enough to send His one and only Son after you – YOU. Are you clapping yet? It is ridiculously beautiful and generous and true.

      To keep us pushing through, I am stealing and paraphrasing this paragraph from Priscilla Shirer’s “Elijah” Bible study (p157).

      Stand up.

      Lord, I present myself to you. Here I am Lord. I want to walk in step to the rhythm of Your Grace. I want to lean on and depend on the empowerment of Your Spirit. I’m looking for you Lord. Show me how you want me to adjust my life so I can honor you. I pray Your Spirit would consume me. Give strength to my calves and eyebrows and hands as I live in the anticipation and expectation and hope of Jesus. Amen

      Before you hit play on this one, turn up volume okay? Let it shock you. Let the words bring you to your feet in gratitude and joy – THIS is life with Jesus.

      Posted in APRIL 2021, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Elijah, How the Light Gets In, I Thank God, Jesus, John 20:19-21, Maverick City Music, Now What, priscilla shirer

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