Light in the Shadowlands

“Surrender-stillness-a ready welcoming of all stripping, all loss, all that brings us low, low into the Lord's path of humility--a cherishing of every whisper of the Spirit's voice, every touch of the prompting that comes to quicken the hidden life within: that is the way God's human seed-vessels ripen, and Christ becomes ‘magnified’ even through the things that seem against us.”

― Lilias Trotter

This quote, by missionary and artist, Lilias Trotter, takes me to a place of silence and awareness. It is an invitation to trust the Lord in the darkness and to wait for His light.

Our beloved church family, celebrating the feast day of Epiphany.

For the past several years, we have celebrated Epiphany with our church. We all bring delicious food, appetizers, and desserts to share. We dress up with layers, boots, and mittens and head out to a friend’s house where we haul our Christmas trees, crisp and dead from weeks of delighting our homes with the scent of evergreen and littering our floors with plentiful pine needles! This year, there were even fireworks before the bonfire. We gather around the small, brooding fire as my husband shares a liturgy to commemorate the arrival of the Magi, princes and Kings from distant lands, to visit the royal infant King who came to save all the nations. The Light of the World has come to all nations! One by one, the Christmas trees are stacked one on top of another, and the light from the fire grows and grows, as embers fill the sky in a magical swirl of beauty. The night grows, the shadows blanket the snow, but the light is growing steadily, and it fills us with joy.

We live in a world of darkness and brokenness. But we have not been left alone to wander aimlessly through this journey of life. Believers in Jesus have been given, quite literally, a Lamp to light our path. That light is Jesus Himself. That light is the Word.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” - John 8:12

His light opens eyes to see who He really is. His light shows people how to live life in His Kingdom. And just like the light from our Epiphany fire grows and scatters darkness away, He sends out His light, the light we so desperately need.

The kind people at the PCA EnCourage blog invited me to share some thoughts. Join me there as I share more deeply about my own struggle against the darkness, and how the light of Jesus keeps illuminating my path. May you experience the healing and strengthening graces of His light shining upon you today.

Light in the Shadowlands

Wild Things & Castles in the Sky ~ A Book Review at Story Warren

I snuck downstairs early before dawn, lighted my Wax & Wool candle, Pacific Coast scent, and wrapped myself in a knitted baby blanket I keep upstairs with my toddler baskets for when Mamas and Littles come to visit. Its quiet in the house right now. I hear a few cars driving by, people heading to work in town or in the plethora of orchards and fruit warehouses in the valley. My earl grey tea from an eastern European country is steeping while I type. I love to know where things come from. I read the back of the tea box and it tells me all about the beginning of tea cultivation in the far away country of Georgia, where a dear friend lives with her family:

“It was back in 1809 when the first tea plant was cultivated in Georgia under Mamia V Gurieli, Prince of Guria. That marked the beginning of two hundred years of Georgian tea history.”

I’m thankful for the gift of friendship and tea. When you know someone carried a box of tea in her suitcase to share with you all the way from the other side of the world, that cup of tea warms the heart in a meaningful way. It tells a story.

Tea and friendship and stories are all included in the gift I want to place in your hands. A few months ago, a dear friend from Bellingham, Théa, asked me if I would be interested in writing a book review for her first published book. I was elated, of course!

Upon visiting her lovely home in springtime, she gave me a copy of her book. I began to explore this tome of essays that she had both the opportunity to be editor of, as well as contributor. When I heard her name mentioned on The Habit podcast, I was overjoyed as I listened to Jonathan Rogers and Leslie Bustard discuss this brand new work of literature.

When beginning to write my review for the Story Warren website, I found that I had inadvertently written a half page about our friendship and how much she meant to me! Alas, I had to start from scratch, and remember to review the book, not the author!

Before I introduce you to this book, I want you to get to know Théa, and you can do so in and amongst the pages of her corner of the internet, Little Book Big Story, where she winsomely writes children’s book reviews and shares glimpses into her life with her husband and four daughters. We have been friends ever since our eldest girls were crawling and learning to walk. Fourteen years later, we no longer discuss birth stories and the latest in diapering accessories. That was necessary back then, but our roots have grown deeper and usually our conversations take a deep dive into our life journeys, joys, struggles, adventures in motherhood, reading, writing, music, things we are learning about our gentle Savior, and the way He continues to transform us.

I’m holding out to you a gift today.

It is a gift because when received, it has the possibility of forming hearts and minds, developing imagination, and creating a greater capacity for one’s mind to be expanded like a hot air balloon which can carry one away to behold new glorious life-enriching vistas.

There is a movement happening among our generation. It is a reading movement with a catchphrase… a leitmotif. The clarion call is for “truth, beauty, and goodness”. I hear this catchphrase so much in the books I read, the communities I’m a part of, and the podcasts I listen to, that when I hear it, it is a sign to stop and pay attention. It is a symbol that wakes one up to the reality that there are others among us who also hold to these values - values that come from the heart of God, the Creator of truth, beauty, and goodness. I call Him: my “gentle Jesus”.

Truth: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Beauty: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Isaiah 52:7

Goodness: Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. Psalm 25:8

What is your reading journey like? Have you looked into your past to see which books have shaped you and are forming you into the person you are today? The reading life is a powerful life of formation.

“A woman who reads is a woman who knows she must act: in courage, in creativity, in kindness, and often in defiance of the darkness around her. She understands that life itself is a story and that she has the power to shape her corner of the drama.” -Sarah Clarkson, Book Girl

Please join me on Story Warren, as I introduce to my readers Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to Choosing the Best Books for Children by Leslie Bustard, Théa Rosenburg, and Carey Bustard, where truth, beauty, and goodness are whispered on every page, and every page prepares our hearts and minds for the inspiring journey of reading with children.

The sun is rising, and I have so much more to say, but I’m closing my computer now to go outside and quietly watch the dawning of a new day over the eastern sky… because The Story is still unfolding each and every day.

Featured on Story Warren: A Book Review: Wild Things & Castles in the Sky

Elisabeth Elliot and an Introduction to Wildflowers Girls Mag

I cannot remember the first time I sensed the Lord calling me to full time ministry, but I do remember the moment He put in me a passion for missions. A fourteen year old teenager, I had traveled to Mexico with my family and church. We set up our camp, Canadians and Americans, in a farmers field perched high atop the hills of Tijuana. But nationality and citizenship counts for little when you are a citizen of Heaven.

We found unity and camaraderie among the group of about 60 Christians who had gathered in this field to set up our tents and trailers and camp out for the week while we drove in and out of our mission site to build a home for a family. Showers were in areas blocked with black plastic tarp nailed to a framed makeshift room with wild blue sky above. We gathered our one bucket of cold shower water from the large communal pool each day, dunked our heads in the water to wash our hair and rinse off by pouring the rest over our heads.

Each morning as we drove into town, we would be chased by cheering children to our work site. In an area surrounded by a cycle of poverty that was restricted by a complicated governmental system to work within, we set to work assisting a family in adding two rooms to their already deteriorating two room shack. Then one morning as I saw several young adult missionaries in their twenties jumping into their jeep and driving down the dirt path, it was that moment that I knew God was giving me a new passion in life.

What followed was years of working with various churches in various roles, short term missions trips, Bible college, long term ministry, and a desire to encourage and build up missionaries on the field. My heart was being reoriented in a specific direction by the Lord. It is no wonder then that my favorite genre of literature is missionary and historical biographies of which I have been reading since I first picked up the book Bruchko at a Bible school in Texas. This was also where I first met, in the pages of her book on purity, beloved modern missionary, Elisabeth Elliot.

Earlier this year, I had the privilege and joy of writing a biography of Elisabeth Elliot, missionary to the Auca tribe in Equador for a new girls magazine called Wildflowers. I felt honored to be able to pray, research, and write an account and short biographical sketch of her life, to pass on her story to a new generation of young girls, and to be a part of the thread that ties Elisabeth’s story to these young girls’ stories.

“Elisabeth Elliot remains one of the most powerful contemporary examples for Christian women, and thousands of women, young and old, have been discipled by her through her books and radio broadcasts. Through the trials she endured, her resolute trust in God and her love for Christ Jesus inspires vast numbers of women to live their lives in faithful surrender and obedience to God no matter the cost. Wildflowers, pg 12”

Being the first issue of the magazine, the theme was Spring, new life, and getting outside to see the miracles that abound. My soul was in desperate need of spring this year. After a very long winter in the midwest, spring only lasted for about a week before turning into the heat and humidity of summer, though very beautiful indeed. I didn’t really get a normal spring this year. In fact, the winter was more like a rough and rocky dirt path. But the Lord encouraged my heart this morning to remind me that this is where wildflowers grow.

Sally Lloyd-Jones writes in her most recent newsletter,

““Don’t you love it when flowers start preaching? It’s the long winter, the difficulty, the struggle, the hard ground that draws beauty from the soil. And one day—everywhere you look there is life and you’re overtaken by wild flowers. What hope!” - Sally Lloyd-Jones”

The Lord reminded me of wildflowers again this week while on a lovely walk beside the Bay as I found my own favorite wildflowers along a stony path that have been preaching to me for years. As in Elisabeth Elliot’s life, the Lord takes our times of pain and struggle and brings forth beauty, not only in our lives but in the lives of countless others and like Sally writes, suddenly there are wild flowers springing up everywhere. May these essays be like seeds in young girls lives to bring about gospel hope, truth and beauty… everywhere!

And now I must close this off and tell you where you can find this lovely magazine for young girls, because the summer issue is about ready to be released, and today I get started on my research for the next biographical sketch for the Fall issue.

To purchase your copy of the Spring issue of Wildflowers, click here. Wildflowers was created by my friend Maegan Keaton and is a creative collection of stories, book reviews, photography and DIY projects for girls ages 8-12! Just the perfect first magazine to give to my now ten year old daughter!

Lilias Trotter: Soul Into Blossom {Deeply Rooted Magazine}

Over a year ago, I wrote a piece describing my journey of delight in learning about and researching the life and work of missionary and artist, Lilias Trotter.

When I first met missionary and artist, Lilias Trotter, it was in the pages of a book given to me by a dear friend who is now, herself, a missionary to Ireland. This book, Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God, is written by Noel Piper and is a collection of short stories about the lives of five women and how God used them in their unique circumstances, giftings, and callings. With a love for Christian biographies, I dove into this book ten years ago to learn the life stories of these five women. One of them was Lilias.” Read the rest of the post here.

When I write, I pray that God will use my writing to bless the people He wants to bless with my words. Like dandelion seeds blown from the palm of my hand, those seeds go out into the world and I pray the Lord will cause those seeds to land on the soil He desires. He also determines how He will cause the growth. We have only to be faithful with the gifts He has given us to steward.

A year later, during our summer trip to the Pacific Northwest, I was invited to write an article for Deeply Rooted Magazine on the life and work of Lilias Trotter. At the time, I was researching even more about her through Miriam Huffman Rockness’ biography, A Passion for the Impossible. At the beginning of the summer, I asked the Lord to guide me to the books He wanted me to read this summer. As we packed for our summer in the Northwest, I picked up this biography and stuffed it into my backpack along with several children’s books, journals, and my Bible.

When asked to write this piece, I was overjoyed to see how the Lord orchestrated all these threads into one woven tapestry, and to have the opportunity to reach so many women around the world in an effort to continue to share Lilias’ legacy of art and ministry in Northern Africa. Below is an excerpt from this biographical piece.

When the Lord calls a soul to Himself, there is an unmistakable dying that occurs at the same time as there is a supernatural giving of life into union with Christ. At this point of receiving that resurrection life and power, the new child of God begins a life-long journey of hearing the continuous call in God’s Word, through the Holy Spirit, to die daily to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). That call of God demands a response. The question then becomes, how will you respond to this Christ-life dwelling within you? This is an account of a young woman who responded to that call with great sacrifice and with a passion for the impossible.

The young Lily became a woman with a way of seeing in regards to spiritual matters, the natural world, and human relationships. Much of this can be attributed to her mother and father, Isabella and Alexander Trotter. The Trotters were an influential and economically prosperous family in mid 19th century England. A dynamic couple, they each possessed a love of nature, adventure, travel and most importantly a love for Christ. In their travels, Lilias’ mother was known for her prayers and evangelism both in England and across the ocean in the New World of America. Their fascination with various subjects, peoples and cultures, prepared Lilias for her future ministry working with people who lived in very different circumstances and contexts than she was accustomed to.

Lilias grew up during an era of celebrated writers, theologians, poets, and artists including the likes of George MacDonald, Bishop Wilberforce, Christina Rossetti and famed art critic, John Ruskin. Perhaps the most spiritually influential of these voices were those of Dwight L. Moody and Hannah Whitall Smith whose writings, devotional material, and evangelistic meetings became for Lilias a source of discipleship that would develop the inward journey of her soul to a deep and abiding surrender to God, and propel her outward as she prepared for a life of serving others.

-Jennifer Harris, Soul Into Blossom: The Life and Work of Lilias Trotter, Deeply Rooted Magazine – Issue 12 The Calling, pg 37

To read the rest of this biographical sketch and savor the artistic talent on display in Lilias’ watercolor paintings, you can purchase Issue 12 – The Calling at Deeply Rooted Magazine.

With joy and delight,
Jen