Chocolate Chip Cookies from Heaven

I bet you're really good at something.

Maybe it's playing sports or texting super fast or cleaning your room or whittling a piece of balsa wood into an amazing four-poster bed. 

I make these off the hook, melt in your mouth, really crazy good chocolate chip cookies. 

There have been times when hoards of people (OK so maybe not hoards, maybe its closer to one kid on a skateboard) will follow me around at parties, begging for the recipe or at the very least more cookies to stuff in their pockets for later consumption.

One hazy morning found me baking up a very special batch of these cookies for a new friend--a friend that I wanted to impress with my cookie baking skills. I knew that these would be a huge hit, not only for her, for but for her entire household. (Can you sense the humility here? It's borderline embarrassing.)

Fresh out of the oven, I zip-locked the gourmet goodies and carefully put them in a gift bag, ready for delivery.

It was her birthday after all. Man, was she in for a treat!! (And yeah, I fully realize that the horn-blowing is reaching maximum overload, but please indulge my profound big-headedness for just a moment.)

One problem though. When I asked for a good time to drop them off, I never heard back from her.

A day went by and nothing. And the special part? The part I'm not proud of? 

I got mad.

How dare she IGNORE my prize-winning treats of joy? How dare she blow me off? Didn't she know what she was passing up?? 

Not only my sweet delicacies, but my FRIENDSHIP!! (Insert sarcasm here. I can be a tad (ha!) overdramatic. Not to mention self-centered.)

I was so upset that I PRAYED. On my knees, bag of cookies in hand.

"God?? What do I do?"

"Give them to Lisa."

"Lisa? Who's Lisa?"

"At Starbucks. Give them to Lisa."

Shocking.  God was aware of my daily sojourn to my neighborhood Starbucks. 

And so off I went with the cookies.

"Is there a Lisa that works here?" I asked in between making sure that there were plenty of Splendas in my soy latte. 

If there was ANY question that God was involved in this transaction, that notion was IMMEDIATELY dismissed upon hearing the barista's response.

"Lisa? Yes, there is a Lisa here, but she has cancer and she's off right now for chemotherapy."

BAM.

Tears. Chills. Yelling about Jesus right there in Starbucks.

The God of the Universe. The Guy that created sharks and sailboats and sunrises and gravity took time out of His busy schedule to make sure that one of His daughters knew that He was with her in the midst of her pain.

Wow.

That's some serious LOVE, isn't it?

Going through something? God hasn't forgotten you. He sees you, He loves you and He is right by your side. 

Say out loud, based on Isaiah 41:10:

'I will not fear,  for God is with me; I will not anxiously look about,  for He is my God. God will strengthen me, surely He will help me. Surely He will uphold me with His righteous right hand.

Thank you God FOR everything!!! Most powerful prayer on the planet!

Way before I really knew Jesus or had any experience with the Holy Spirit, I was in one of those predicaments that so many women find themselves in when we rely on our own highest thought to direct our own lives.

Or lowest thought.

Against my better gut judgment, I said "yes" to moving in with a guy that I had been dating. Completely selfish and self-centered and having zero idea of Christ-like love or sacrifice, I literally drove this guy to drink. I'm not kidding. He'd come home later and later until finally one day, he didn't come home.

So there I was, crying my eyes out for what seemed like days, when a dear friend came over with some Christian tapes, lunch and a sympathetic ear.

If you ever want to make a huge impression on anyone in pain, bring them food. I'm serious. That makes an impact.

She was different and all she said about that was that she had rededicated her life to Christ.

Hmmm.

Long story short, she left me with the tapes and I started listening to one in particular called Prison to Praise.

Changed. My. Life.

The premise of the tapes was based on 1 Thessolonians 5:16-18(NIV) which says:

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,"

and Ephesians 5:20(NIV) which says,

"always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The author, Merlin Carothers, spoke of being instructed by the Holy Spirit to give thanks not just in all things, but FOR all things, for this is the will of God for His plan for salvation.

There are stories in Prison to Praise that speak of parents thanking God that their daughter was dancing in a strip joint, praising Him that this was all part of His plan for her salvation. Soon after they started praying in this way, a believer walked into the seedy dance bar and offered her the gift of salvation. She accepted Jesus and is now serving Him in a mighty way.

Another story details a soldier who wanted to quit smoking and couldn't find the will power on his own. After praying that specific prayer, every time he started to smoke, he'd throw up violently until his desire to smoke soon disappeared.

In my own life, I've prayed that prayer over incredibly difficult circumstances within my family and I've literally seen the people involved drop their argument and come crying back to each other begging forgiveness.

I've prayed "thank you God for..." when my husband and I've had a disagreement and have seen miraculous things unfold; things that have created a newfound understanding between us where before there was nothing but argument and dissension.

All from thanking God FOR the situation.

A friend shared this story,
"My teenage son was addicted to methamphetamine and pornography and would disappear for days at a time. For years, I would pray that God would make him stop using. We sent him to rehab after rehab and nothing worked. Within days of release, he'd be back at his dealer's house getting high again. We were out of options and ready to give up. Someone suggested that we thank God for his meth addiction; that it was all part of God's plan for our son's salvation. At first, it was hard to pray that way, but we realized that God knew what He was doing. Days after we prayed and thanked God for Mike's meth addiction, we received a phone call from Mike's best childhood friend telling us that Mike was there on his couch, sobbing. Mike got on the phone with us, and between choked back tears, told us that he had been using speed and in the midst of getting high, he was suddenly struck sober. He said that all of a sudden, he was aware that he was killing himself. He said it was almost like he was watching himself destroying himself with a needle and he was horrified and disgusted. He broke the rig in half, flushed the drugs and called his friend to pick him up. Mike is now serving the Lord in our church's youth group and has been clean for two years. He loves Jesus with his whole heart and he still loves snowboarding, playing bass guitar and reading spy novels. He's still Mike, bur he's not bound by drugs and pornography anymore. It was like our thanking God for Mike's drug problem released God's power in a miraculous way."

God wants to meet our needs. We don't have to beg Him, we just have to praise Him.

Say out loud, "Thank you, God, for __________; it's all part of your divine plan for my (or someone else's) salvation."

Say What, Jesus?

I love this from writer John Shore, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Simple, simple, so profoundly challenging about none of us do it.. If you have the nerve to call yourself a follower of Christ, then have the moxie to obey what Jesus unequivocally proclaimed the most important commandment of all. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And then go, Christian, go." 

Seriously can be one of the hardest things to do. Oh sure. It's easy to love the people that are nice to us. The ones that show up on time, the ones that give us compliments, that buy our lunch. 

But what about the folks that ignore us? That betray us? That belittle us? Are we supposed to love them too?

Uh, yes.

But how? I mean, how can God expect us to love--to extend grace to--someone who is irritating or mean? Or just plain undeserving (in our limited estimation)? 

That's where our need for Him and a huge helping of grace comes in.

I don't know about you, but I tend to take things personally. 

I know, it's not about me. Right, I get that. 

But I make it about me and then I miss the point. 

I miss the miracle.

I miss the fact that there is an opportunity to demonstrate LOVE and see the Almighty Love Machine in action. 

So what if someone is rude? It's probably because they're tired, lonely, worn out or on a mental vacation. Maybe they just got terminated, or they're terrified or just got turned down. 

Maybe, just maybe, they don't believe that God exists and it frustrates them that you call yourself a Jesus follower. 

Maybe they're waiting for you to show them otherwise.

Dare to show LOVE to at least one "undeserving" person today. Pray first and be prepared to be blown away. 

Based on Mark 12:30-31, say out loud:

God, help me to love You with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength. Help me, God, to love my neighbor as myself. I know, Lord, that there is no commandment greater than these.

Treasure Hunt

What if your life were a map and all that you could see was your current location? What if there were amazing treasures just around the bend and you had no idea about them?

Seriously. Picture a treasure map, filled with adventure, secret treasure and the occasional hardship. Imagine a sandy beach on one side and some rocky mountains on the other. You've been given all the tools you need to navigate through the terrain--a pick ax, a shovel, plenty of water and a compass, but because you can't see five feet in front of you, you decide to throw down your tools and give up.

Isn't that what so many of us do in real life? We get scared and give up, often just a few feet away from a box full of treasure.

As a young person, I was terribly short-sighted. I couldn't see what lie ahead, so I settled for what I saw in front of me. Poor relationship choices (dating a guy whose response to "what are your interests" said one word, "Sting"..), ridiculous "career moves" (slinging reheated scrambled eggs for the breakfast crowd at Hotel Circle in San Diego), and walking away from an opportunity to go to an amazing school (Go Cal Bears!!)...all because the idea of waiting for something better, choosing wisely and going for excellence were too scary for me.

What about you? Do you have any idea about what's in front of you? Can you predict the future? Maybe what you're going through right now is temporary. Maybe there's something amazing just around the bend.

Don't miss it.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV)

Don't ask God to "swiffer" your life, cause He will!!

I had just asked God to root out and remove anyone that He didn't want in my life. And guess what? They stopped calling. They stopped showing up. And the loneliness was deafening. The well of pain was so deep it hurt to breathe. Literally.

It was just a few days, but those days were dark--dark like I'd imagine when the disciples thought that Jesus was gone forever. It was like climbing uphill without any energy or motivation.

Meanwhile, a dear friend called. Out of the blue. (So, God's blue?) My friend had lost both of her parents in the span of less than a year (as well as her grandmother). If that weren't enough, she had faced losing her ability to sing and minister musically as her vocal chords were cut for back surgery. She had gone through such devastating loss.

Although it had been a few years since we had seen each other, God seemed to keep the chords strong between us. The day seemed perfect to finally get together.

My friend is extraordinary. A diamond--beautiful, compassionate, exceptionally talented...with a serious love for Jesus. She, like me, has a young child (and two older kids) as well as a husband that she loves dearly. As we planned a visit, my thoughts were along the line of "God, give me words to say. Inspire me Lord. I don't know how to be there for her."

I felt God saying, "Don't treat her like a Christian music star, but like a sister in Christ." I get that. A star can do no wrong. A star is untouchable and unapproachable. A sister is reachable, touchable, relatable. Hugs and tears and laughter happen between sisters.

What a gift that day turned out to be. I didn't minister to her. I didn't encourage her. SHE MINISTERED TO ME!! She reached in and touched my soul. She grabbed my wounded heart and with God's help, gave it life. Praise God!

We are both treasures out of darkness. We are both examples of God giving beauty for ashes. We are both talented, amazing, light-filled, broken, redeemed, women of God.

God used my friend to give me something that I didn't even know that I'd lost. Hope.

We've always said that we didn't know why God put us together or what He had in store for us, but it's becoming clearer and clearer now. I'm pretty sure that He wants us to remember where we come from so that we can help other women dig out from the wreckage and rubble that comes from living outside of God's will. I also know that He wants us to mention His name at every opportunity.

And why not?

He deserves all of the credit.

Do you want in on this whole Jesus thing?

I'm not sure where you are in your faith.  For that matter, I'm not even sure if you believe in God. I'm not sure what made you pick up this book and start reading. Maybe it was the title--True Grit for Teens-- the nitty gritty and not so pretty real stuff that God want you to know--that caught your attention.

Whatever the reason you're reading this book and wherever you are in your faith, you are not here by accident.

It's a divine appointment. You could be reading MAD magazine right now, but you chose this little book.

And God wanted you to pick it up. In fact, He was counting on it.

It's not because He wanted you to read my pithy chapters. It has to do with more with the fact (not the theory) that He loves you.

He loves YOU.

And He wants a relationship with you.

How do you enter in? Easy.

Think about the thief on the cross. (For details on that guy, read Luke 23:40-43 (NIV) in the Bible.)

There were two guys, criminals, who hung on two crosses on each side of Jesus during His cruxifiction.

One of the thugs challenged Jesus, saying in essence, "if you're really God, get yourself and us off these crosses." Rude, right?

The second criminal said (Monika paraphrase), "Don't talk down to Jesus, He's GOD. Aren't you freaked out to talk to God that way when you've been sentenced to die? We deserve the electric chair for our crimes, but this man hasn't done anything wrong." Then he turned to Jesus and said, "Jesus, remember me when you get to heaven."

Jesus showed tremendous compassion and love when He said, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."

HOW COOL IS THAT? A total "loser" by the world's standards was instantly FORGIVEN of all of his mistakes and ASSURED ENTRY INTO PARADISE???!!!!

A low-budget con artist type with front row seats to eternity.

Notice how Jesus didn't make this guy jump through hoops or be good or act religious and wear his hair a certain way or even attend church to be ushered into heaven? All the thief had to do was BELIEVE that Jesus was WHO HE SAID HE WAS, REPENT (This guy was humbled in the presence of God and knew that he had done wrong. He was sorry and asked Jesus to remember him.  Jesus gave him much more than he'd ever asked for--serious GRACE), and then he RECEIVED salvation.

It's that simple and you can have the same privilege.  The same grace ticket. The same hope for eternity and the same joy and peace.

You're invited. Your place at the feast is assured;  all you have to do is accept the invitation.

Pray this prayer (or your version of it),

"God, I want a relationship with Jesus. I want to be set free.  I know that I have relied on my own limited thinking to get by. I've been selfish,  I've held onto resentments,  I've been  full of fear, mistrust and disbelief.  I'm ready to trade that junk in for a new life. God, I want Jesus as my Lord and my Savior. I want to experience the love that comes only from accepting Your Son, Jesus, into my life. In Jesus' name, amen."


If you just prayed that prayer, don't stop there. Get involved in a church, start praying daily, read your Bible (you might want to start with the book of John), and hang out with some other Christ followers. Your life is about to radically change. (P.S. I'd love to hear from you if you did just pray that prayer, so that I can hear your story and pray for you too.)

Really? Do you have a death wish?

Smoking is so not cool anymore.

And really, let's get real. Smoking was NEVER cool when you consider the health ramifications.

We can't plead ignorance anymore.

Smoking kills. Period.

Consider the facts: Illness related to smoking kills more people per year than deaths from HIV, alcohol use, suicides, illegal drug use, murders, and car accidents COMBINED.

Dude.

Smoking is no joke. It's like picking up a loaded 9 millimeter, aiming it at your own head, pulling the trigger and hoping that nothing happens.

If you're thinking, "Cool, I'm out of the loop because I just chew tobacco."

Sorry.

Bad news.

The nicotine in smokeless tobacco can cause sudden death because it can cause the heart to stop beating suddenly (ventricular arrhythmia) as well as being linked to all kinds of crazy cancers.

Feeling safe because you're under 18 years of age? Of the 25 million people alive today that will die prematurely of smoking-related illnesses, 5 million are under 18. (check www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statistics)

That means YOU if you smoke or live with somebody who smokes.

So why bring this subject up? Because chances are that you or someone that you hang out with smokes and thinks its alright.

Maybe its not "alright."

You read the facts didn't you? 5 million kids will die of smoking related illnesses this year. Death from things like esophageal cancer and cardiac arrest and emphysema. Nasty, horrific, unimaginable diseases that no one should have to endure.

All for a short-lived buzz and maybe being 20 pounds skinnier than you would be if you didn't smoke.

There, I said it. How many women smoke to stay thin? Two bites of your burger and then a smoke and boom--you stay skinny, right? Is being thin now worth losing 15 years of your life later?

How about smoking because it "calms you down  and takes the edge off."

Does it? Sure, for a little while. But then you're back where you started once you put your cigarette out.

(By the way, I'm not trying to be a nag, I'm just hoping to make you think about what you're doing to your body. You know, the one that God formed in your mother's womb? The one that He asked us to be good stewards of--that precious gift from God??)

Obviously, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are some of the most addictive drugs on the planet. So, aside from tons of will power, a pack of Nicorette gum and a big pile of snacks, how does one quit smoking?

Ask God for help.

Seriously. Ask Him for help to quit smoking--one day at a time. Ask Him to remove the cravings, the withdrawal symptoms, and the pleasure associated with smoking. Ask Him to give you a disgust for it. And yes, thank Him that you're addicted to cigarettes, because it's all part of His divine plan for your salvation.

And then watch out, because God will blow you away.

Say out loud, based on psalm 119:45: "I will walk about in freedom because I follow your precepts."

You can be set free in Christ from all forms of tobacco and still be cool.

Cooler in fact.