Yesterday, I met my nephew’s daughter for the first time. This is Shelby Kate.
Isn’t she a lovey? [Read more...]
amazing grace.
April 17, 2013 by
Because it’s a song we all need to hear again and again. And I think especially in times like these … when we are tempted to stare at the screen with all the bad news, the sad news.
Sara Davis | Amazing Grace from Susie Davis on Vimeo.
When the bad news is stuck on rewind, the good news is: [Read more...]
fearlessness vs courage
March 29, 2013 by
This morning while I was folding clothes and making beds, I kept imagining how Jesus must have felt. On this day so many eons ago. Good Friday. The Friday before Easter.
While matching socks, I realized Jesus must have felt afraid on Friday. Because he knew what was coming. And because he knew exactly what he was doing.
That led me to reflect on a conversation my friend, Melinda, and I had yesterday about fearlessness. And the irony of thinking that any human is fearless. We think of courage as fearlessness but nothing could be further from the truth. Courage is feeling afraid and doing it anyway.
I think that’s what Jesus did on Good Friday. He stepped into the darkness full of courage.
While we’re apt to want to paint our life in Easter colors, bright and shiny, life is full of dark places. The kinds of dark places the make life heavy and confusing and entirely un-Easter-ish. Things like: [Read more...]
5 ways to grow in God …
March 25, 2013 by
It’s obvious to me what God’s job is … just, like everything. But did you know as Christ-followers, we have a job too? Yep, that’s right. There’s some shared responsibility in our spiritual growth. Check out Philippians 1:3-6.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
The word ‘partnership’ in the Greek translates as fellowship, communion, shared responsibility. Meaning, God has a job and we have a job.
Want to be more joyful, more patient, more forgiving? Do you want to grow in God? Will and I talk about 5 practical ways to grow in God.
Shared Responsibilities from Austin Christian Fellowship on Vimeo.
In town? Come visit us at Austin Christian Fellowship.
{from point #3 … see 52 sunday suppers here.}
dear daughters (on the subject of selfies)
March 11, 2013 by
dear daughters … I know I’m not your mom but I probably could be. I’d like to think I’m Lorelai to your Rory. (Though in honesty, I don’t dress that cute.) But if you’re online, reading this post ~ I’d like to invite you to talk about stuff. Today, let’s dive deep into selfies. The who, what, when, where and why of self-portraits online.
dear daughters … I’m writing because I worry. I know I shouldn’t but a mother does, you know.
I’ve noticed a trend lately. One that had me curious ~ and now has me truly concerned. Yep, the social media phenomenon known as #selfies.
Selfies: a picture you took of yourself … and posted online.
It’s not that I think publishing self portraits is necessarily wrong. In some ways, it’s an exercise in creativity. Picking a camera angle, posing, snapping the shot ~ then rummaging thru endless filter options to get the just right effect. Like this little arty number of me sitting in my robe, no make-up, etc. I took it just this morning ~ only took me a few minutes.
“An – exercise – in – creativity.” Sure. [Read more...]
listen to your life
March 4, 2013 by
A few weeks back we meandered through Austin camera in hand, just listening. What did we find? Everyday miracles and evidence that God speaks e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. He speaks in my hometown and he speaks in yours. If I could, I’d follow you around camera in hand listening in your life. For I know we would see “the fathomless mystery that it is.”
“If God speaks anywhere, it is into our personal lives that he speaks. We sleep and dream. We wake. We work. We remember and forget. We have fun and we are depressed. And in the thick of it, or out of the thick of it, at moments of even the most humdrum of our days, God speaks.
{hearing God in the unexpected from Susie Davis on Vimeo}
Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day’s work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving room to recognize him or not recognize him. [Read more...]
conversation starters: questions to ask to dive deep
February 22, 2013 by
We were sitting outside on the patio with friends and family enjoying our Sunday Supper when I was struck by the reality that there are things about God and me that nobody knows. Not my husband, not my kids. No one.
Those little things God does or says in a day that sit quiet between the two of us. So many, they’re impossible to count. Whispers, sightings, incidents. The things God does to woo me. Keep me close.
I know them. (I bet you do too.) So I waited for a break in conversation and I asked those gathered: What’s one thing we don’t know about you and God? [Read more...]
What does God’s love for you look like?
February 15, 2013 by
Oh, y’all … this is what God’s love for you looks like when you run to Him.
Just look at this photo of my sweet dad with his great granddaughter, Grace.
It totally reminds me how God looks when we run into his arms.
I can barely look at it without crying. So grateful for my dad who loves our family so well. And even more so for a heavenly Father who loves us all so enthusiastically and c o m p l e t e l y.
Run to God today.
see more of this spectacular photo shoot by my niece, kate stafford, here.
What are you afraid of?
February 5, 2013 by
At a writing seminar on Saturday morning, she asked the question and we wrote the answers. And in just seven minutes, this short writing exercise exposed truth sitting silent.
I am afraid of … of deep, cold water with no visible bottom and edging around the sides of too-tall mountains. Snarling dogs and Emily driving home late at night on I-35. Wasps that fly straight into my face and rattling along in a bus on the chaotic streets of Managua. The phone ringing at 1 am. Again. Sirens wailing and ICU. Big, dark, empty buildings alone. There is much to be afraid of.
Yes, I am a mess. But. I am not afraid of my own backyard.
Or of dying … [Read more...]
6 ways to stay close to God
January 28, 2013 by
I tend to wander. Do you?
I wake early, scribble down a list of all my to-do’s … and before you know it, I’m feeling disconnected from God. I know He sits close but all too often, I’m distracted.
Here are a few of the ways I pull myself back to His attention.
