Sisterhood of the Empty Quiver

Okay, I promised I'd elaborate on this past weekend's conference. I'm still struggling to find the adequate words. You just have to be there. I can tell you that God convicted me in a  special way. Of course, He always does when I'm faced with His Word.

Priscilla Shirer talked about King Jehoash in 2 Kings 13:10-19. Basically, the Assyrian army was coming and Israel was vastly outnumbered. He went to Elisha, the Prophet, for war advice. Elisha told him to take his bow and arrows and shoot them into the ground. King Jehoash only shot three arrows so Elisha told him that he would only defeat the Assyrians three times. If the king had completely emptied his quiver, then he would've had complete victory. However, he held on to some arrows for a Plan B option. Ah, there's my conviction.

I don't want to hold onto any of my arrows. I want to experience God completely. I don't want to just experience His safe side. I want the whole she-bang. (Or would that be He-bang?) I want to belong to the "Sisterhood of the Empty Quiver". I want to know that I've completely emptied myself before Him and that I'm completely obedient to His Plan...not my own.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done."
Matthew 16:24-27

You get out of God what you put in.. and I want to offer my whole self as a living sacrifice.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2

Please pray for clarity and wisdom as Bear and I search out what God has planned for us and wait on His perfect timing. Because whatever He's got in the works, I know it exceeds any plan I could put together and I'm already thanking Him for what He's going to do.

"LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago." Isaiah 25:1

Here's a taste of what we experienced. (Pause my player at the bottom of the page so the music doesn't play over the video.) How are you going "deeper still" with our God? I'd love to hear how He's emptying your quiver. It would definitely further encourage me to do the same! Anybody want to go to Kentucky in June?

DeeperStill - Birmingham AL from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Deeper Still

Deeper Still was unbelievable! I mean, I just can't describe it. God showed up big time. I don't even know where to begin without giving you a whole transcript of the entire weekend. The teaching was SO good. The worship was SO sweet. But maybe this can sum it up.

I know you might not be able to tell because my eyes were practically shut from smiling so big...but that's ME (2nd row, 2nd from the right) with BETH MOORE and my Siesta blogging sisters!

I would ask you to pray for Bear and I as we try to follow God and completely empty our quivers before Him. I'll explain later this week but for now, I'm just going to stare at my picture.

The Shadow of a Cloud

I was in such a hurry yesterday to post pictures from our night last night that I didn't give God a chance to work. Just go ahead and call me Peter: quick to verbalize, slow to ponder. He's patiently teaching me what it meant when "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). She probably didn't jump on her blog and start telling everyone how those shepards smelt to high heaven! Instead, she let God do a work in her and weave His truths in her heart to prepare her to raise such a special Son.

Well, God spoke this morning in my quiet time. In Isaiah 25, God is praised for His perfect faithfulness. And that's what He was last night. Perfectly faithful. He came in to our stormy time and softened both my heart and Bear's. Just like the shadow of a cloud, He covered us with His grace and tenderness. He was shade in the heat that comes from the pressure cooker of Christmas. He was refuge for me in my time of distress. I don't deserve His tender correction. I deserve hellfire and brimstone like Sodom & Gomorrah. Instead, he creeps in like the morning fog to wash those dirty places in my heart. He's so good. Perfectly faithful.

"LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you. You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled. On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

The LORD has spoken." Isaiah 25:1-8

On a completely different note, guess who's wanting to go to Deeper Still with Mommy?

Baby Girl, I promise one day when you're older, and if I still rank on the cool scale, we'll go sit at the feet of Jesus together!

Cookies & Cocoa

Tonight was Cookies & Cocoa with "You Know Who" at Jonah's preschool. I'm proud to say we survived relatively unscathed. We started out in the craft room making ornaments. Jonah made a gingerbread man...

...and a snowflake "for Esther Grace".

I was really proud of Bear. He got into it.

Then, we went into the snack room where Jonah got to make "Snowman Soup". I really want this recipe because it's like froo-froo hot chocolate (if hot chocolate could get any more froo-frooier).

Yes. That is powdered sugar. I'm sending the bag with him

tomorrow night when he spends the night with Pop & GB.

Up next? Make our family Christmas plate. However, "You Know Who" was in the room that you had to walk through to get to the family Christmas plate station. I held my breath and we pressed on. Thankfully, the cookie table was opposite the "You Know Who" station and we found ourselves completely engrossed in deciding which delicacy we would be trying after making our plate.

We made our plate (Sorry! No pictures...our fingers were all dipped in paint making fingerprint Christmas lights on our plate tree. Trust me. It's very cute!) and headed back to the cookies. I knew what would soon follow.

"Hey, Daddy! I want to get a picture with Santa."
"No, Buddy. Let's eat our cookies."
"But I really do," in a quiet little voice.
"No. Oooo! Look! Red, sparkly cookies!"
"See? Santa is real."
Yikes. That got me a look. I quickly intervened.
"Hey, Jonah. (I'm whispering because I don't want every pre-school parent sending me hate mail in Jonah's lunch bunch envelope.) Remember when we talked about St. Nicholas and how he helped people? (Nod.) Remember when we talked about how good people dress up like him now and help make people happy? (Nod.) That's why that man is dressed up like that. He's pretending to be St. Nicholas and he helps give to the poor and needy."

Jonah now probably thinks everyone that goes to school with him is on food stamps. What can I say? It's better than telling him how that man probably makes six figures in just two months out of the year. Add to the scene Bear stepping in to say that man probably enjoys taking advantage of little children's parents during a time of year where everyone's materialism exponentially increases instead of their selfless sacrifice of love and service in the Name of the person you are to be celebrating. Trust me. It wouldn't have been pretty. (On a side note: the "You Know Who" was really very good. I encourage everyone to visit the Lake Oconee Ritz Carlton and see him for yourself. Of course, I don't think that would be top on my list of priorities if I ever made it to the Lake Oconee Ritz Carlton...they have a spa.)

Bless him. Bear really was trying to be festive. I was very proud of him. And I was proud of Jonah for not pitching a fit. He was very grown-up about the whole thing.

We all enjoyed our cookies...um, some a little more than others.

Before you go posting comments about her

white dress, let me just say- that's what a

Clorox bleach pen is for.

Then we took family pictures together as a consolation. Well, we tried to take family pictures together.

I'm pretty sure she's stealing Jonah's cookie in this one.

Could someone please tell me why my children look be-you-tiful with their Daddy in every picture ever taken

but with me, we get this:

I don't know if that's panic in my eyes because we're

sitting 20' away from "You Know Who" or if it's

excitement that it's going so well. Either way, I look

like a deer in headlights.

A little better but Esther Grace is more interested in

her candy cane. (It matched her dress. She had to have it.)

And WHAT am I looking at?!

Jonah, the amazing jumping bean

Esther Grace is mad because her candy cane's gone.

Why can't I just have a normal picture with my kids???!!!

Anyways, after that Bear headed back to work and we drove around a little bit looking at Christmas lights. I was waiting on the candy cane to wear off before unstrapping her out of her car seat. We have a decorated tree at home that thanked me as soon as I walked through the door with her in a snoring heap.

All in all, it went well. Bear was glad we went as soon as he saw Jonah beam as he introduced us to every friend & teacher he saw. He even showed us where the bathrooms were "in case we needed them in anumerjincee". And don't you worry about Beanie being disappointed about no pictures. Bear promised him that on Sunday, we will be getting our picture made with Baby Jesus at Journey to Bethlehem and he's pumped! He has already cast a mini-series in his head about how he and Daddy "are going to 'scape from King Herod's evil soldjers and rescue that Baby so's no one can kill Him".

That's my boy.

A Silent Night

Don't you love it when God answers a prayer before you even know you need to pray it? That's where I find myself today. It's only December 1 and I'm already feeling the stress pressing down on me that comes with Christmas! Maybe because it's the last day that I will ever be in my twenties....yes, I turn THIRTY tomorrow. Maybe because Bear and I have already had about twenty tense conversations about Santa. Maybe because I haven't even started my Christmas shopping. Whatever it is, I need some intervention. I heard this song by Amy Grant and it spoke deep to my soul.

[Scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause my playlist so you won't hear two songs playing at once.]



God knew this would be my prayer way back in May and has already provided an answer! Isn't He amazing? I'm headed to Deeper Still 2010 in two days! Friday and Saturday with no kids, no laundry, no cooking- just me, my Bible, and my God. I CAN'T WAIT!!! Bear's taking me for my birthday along with my MOSM-I-L (Mean Old Step Mom-In-Law...don't worry, it's a joke between us. She's not mean or old!), my sister-in-law, and a friend from small group. Bear- you're a good man, Charlie Brown. I told him that if he wants me to, I'll buy him a pink t-shirt from the gift table. He said he'd try to refrain himself.

Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, and Priscilla Shirer- the Bible study Trifecta as far as I'm concerned- will be there AND as an added bonus, there will be an early morning devotion on Saturday by Kelly Minter. This summer, Toni (MOSM-I-L) and I did a study on Ruth by Kelly Minter and we couldn't be more beside ourselves. Ain't God good?!

Please pray for us as we travel to Birmingham, Alabama that we will have safe travels and that it will be a much needed time of spiritual refreshment, renewal, and reinforcement as we enter this Christmas season. Pray that God would grow me and that I return invigorated for all that He has planned for me. (I'll settle for keeping the laundry up to date!)

Please take just four minutes to listen. I promise it will speak to you too...unless all of your shopping is completed, your baking is done, and all you have to do the rest of this month is prop your feet up beside a warm cozy fire with a cup of coffee and read. Sigh. That sounds like heaven! Maybe after all that laundry....