Who Are Your Walking Partners?

Minnesota winters require creativity if you like to keep fit by walking. Locally, we're fortunate to have a dome-covered soccer field with a walking track around it where I regularly meet friends to catch up on life. It's a terrific way to multi-task. I am so thankful for the exercise but even more appreciative of the conversation. These are times of mutual encouragement, reflection, shared insights, and even prayer.

My experience with “walking partners” is both literal and metaphorical. Often these friends help me stay spiritually fit and challenge me to grow. Throughout my life, I’ve been fortunate to have friends who were like disciples to me. They persistently helped keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Whether they sent a timely email, prayed with me on the telephone, chatted on a soccer sideline or listened from a chair on a dock at the cabin, these precious women have carried me to Jesus through good times and bad.

Friendship is one of life’s greatest gifts. Having a trusted and encouraging friend to confide in during a time of crisis is particularly valuable. Yet for some people in the midst of challenges, the sense of loneliness and isolation can feel more overwhelming than the crisis itself. Sometimes we just need to talk with someone who “gets it.”

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Larry and I are strongly in favor of seeking professional Christian counseling, particularly in the face of challenges such as grief or loss, disability, chronic/terminal illness, strained marriage, and addiction. We ourselves have benefited tremendously from Christian temperament counseling and 12 Step-style Bible study groups. Yet we also believe that professional counselors would be needed in far fewer circumstances if more Christians lived out their calling to be disciples — in a lifestyle of walking shoulder-to-shoulder with one another listening, encouraging, exhorting and empowering in relationships where Christ is central to the conversation.

What kind of Walking Partner are you?

Do you need to be more intentional about developing these mutually-discipling kinds of relationships in your life?

When we started Walk Right In Ministries, we were acutely aware of this deep and broad need around the world — an even more critical need when people are facing adversity. We wanted to support people in getting connected with others who had “been in their shoes” but would do more than just empathize. Today our goal remains the same: to ensure you are connected with others who will pray with you and encourage you in your walk with God. We call friends like that “Walking Partners.”

A Walking Partner is someone who will cheer you on while helping you maintain a clear plum line against which to measure your relationships, choices, goals and dreams. You can get “social networking” and good mentoring in lots of places but a biblical, disciple-growing kind of friendship like this is soul-reaching and can change your life for eternity. Walking Partners celebrate the Living God and will respectfully and lovingly share Him.

LORD, please teach me how to be this kind of friend. Help me find and connect with others who will be Walking Partners with me for Your glory. Starting this week, help me to be more aware and intentional about making You a central part of my relationships so that anything I have to offer my friendships is not dependent on ME but flows out of YOUR love, truth, hope, and comfort. AMEN

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:16-17

Watch for upcoming posts about Walking Partners! We'll explore these questions and more:

• What are the qualities of a Walking Partner according to the Bible?
• Who are our Biblical models for being good Walking Partners?
• How many Walking Partners should a person have?
• What are the "Do's" and "Don'ts" of being a good Walking Partner?
• What does a good Walking Partner look like today?

Our Constant in the Chaos

I smiled knowingly as I read a friend’s Facebook status recently. I’ve changed the names but this is how it read:

“Needs a break from the chaos, aka my life…Husband missing in action, Cindy chasing dog around and around in circles, then dog chasing Cindy, Jan acting like she has never had a friend over in her life, Marcia texting how she isn’t getting enough time with Matt (awww, young love) and then there is me watching it all happen in slow mo…I am exhausted.”

Each of our lives tends to ebb and flow through seasons and degrees of chaos. Some days it’s easier to smile through it than others. Sometimes the chaos is largely external, other times it’s a chaos of the soul that leaves a feeling like life is falling apart at the seams. Having a child with severe disabilities has certainly brought external chaos into my life but I’m grateful for what it is teaching me about how to experience internal rest.

Chaos can have one of two effects on us. It can draw us deeper into our understanding of God and our relationship with Him or it can distract us from exploring the truth about who God is. Any response but drawing nearer to God will ultimately have the affect of increasing and perpetuating the chaos.

We tend to live on a treadmill of effort trying to discover the latest and greatest tips, tools and techniques that will help us. We try to learn better parenting methods, explore tips for better cooking or household management, seek out marriage strengthening techniques, study money management strategies, and develop new career skills. While there are many good resources available, we are prone to becoming overwhelmed and distracted in the details trying to keep up, buck up, and measure up.

I don’t believe that God intends for us to get caught up in learning a myriad of tips and techniques. The Bible keeps pointing us back to core principles and shows us that by living according to certain basics, we will thrive because the Holy Spirit empowers us!

REST IN GOD’S NEARNESS— Psalm 139 reminds us that there is nowhere we can go to get away from God’s Spirit (Psalm 139:7-10) and He will fill us with joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). God promises that if we draw near to Him, he will draw near to us (James 4:8). He is our ever-present help (Psalm 46:1)!

REST IN GOD’S FAITHFULNESS — Throughout the Bible we find encouragement that God responds favorably to our trust in Him. For example, when the Israelites stepped into the Jordan River in obedience to God’s prompting, He piled the flood-stage waters into a heap and made a way for millions of people to cross over to the Promised Land. Even when sin has brought chaos that seems un-calmable, God is faithful and just to bring cleansing, healing and freedom when it is confessed (1 John 1:9 and James 5:16).

REST IN GOD’S SUFFICIENCY — Despite our best efforts to do enough, be good enough, afford enough and say the right things, God alone holds the power to equip us and make us fruitful (2 Corinthians 3:4-5). God alone is able to fill us (John 7:37-38, Ephesians 1:22-23) and to make more of things than we ever can (Ephesians 3:20-21).

REST IN GOD’S PERSPECTIVE — All of our circumstances, relationships, and attitudes take on a different meaning when viewed through the perspective of an all-knowing and all-powerful God who always has a bigger picture in mind (Colossians 3:1-4 and Romans 8:18). Christ himself endured the cross because He trusted that there was something much bigger than His own comfort at stake (Hebrews 12:2-3).

If we truly make it a priority to seek the Living God FIRST and embrace the truths of God’s nearness, faithfulness, sufficiency and perspective, we will experience a kind of “rest” in life that goes far beyond comprehension and this world’s understanding of rest. God will bear in us the fruit of a thriving life and a restful soul.

Reprinted with permission from the women’s retreat titled Our Constant in the Chaos by Lisa Jamieson, author of Finding Glory in the Thorns and Executive Director of Walk Right In Ministries. Copyright © 2009 Lisa Jamieson. All rights reserved.

Making Much Out of A Little

“Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, (Jesus) gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.” Matthew 14:17-21

How many of us are trying to make a little bit go a longer way? Since Larry was laid off last September, our household budget has been tremendously stretched. Because of our daughter’s sleep disorder, we even go to bed at night asking God to make the little bit of sleep we get ENOUGH. We are far from alone. This is an economy and culture desperately entrenched in trying to make enough out of a little.

People everywhere are trying to make their money do more or trying to get the most of the little bit of time and energy they have. We want our wardrobes to flatter us making us look more attractive or thinner than we really feel. We want more patience with our kids but it runs thin. We long for more satisfying marriages when so many are holding on by threads.

I was recently reading in second Kings and noticed something that impressed me.

"For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, ‘Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.’" 2 Kings 7:6

Guess what? The Syrians thought they were hearing the sounds of two entire armies. It was really just four men with leprosy. God did that. The Syrians were so afraid that they fled immediately leaving their tents and horses behind and the whole road strewn with clothing and equipment. Imagine their shock if they ever found out that only four leprous men were sitting in their tents enjoying food and wine then making off with their silver, gold and clothing!

This was not the first or the last time God made something huge out of something insignificant. This is God’s business — creating the universe from nothing, making feasts for thousands out of scraps, making the sound of eight footsteps sound like the horses of two armies, bringing beauty out of ashes.

What are you facing today that feels insufficient or unfixable?

What dream is burning on your heart but seems unattainable?

Please join with me in remembering God is more than able.

Help me to remember, Lord, that if you are answering my prayers with “no” or “wait,” it is not because you are unable to respond. It is because you have perspective that extends to eternity. Unlike me, you know all things necessary to understand what will truly be best. I know You want me to keep asking but help me to trust You for big and unexpected results. Show me how to walk boldly but patiently in that trust. Help me to follow Your promptings as I set courageous goals and dream big dreams but help me to hold them loosely trusting that you can and will do even more than I ask or imagine — truly BIG things — they might just look differently than I expected. AMEN