Good morning…
I woke this morning to a pleasant surprise. Blessing my inbox at 3:00 am was the introduction to our With God Weather Life Advent devotional. After I had labored hard to deliver the heavy manuscript, I gifted to the church the baby God had conceived in my soul’s womb. Our talented Creative Services department added gorgeous photos, printed devotional books, and pre-programmed our online devotional for interested subscribers. Tomorrow, December 1st, begins the Advent season which carries us through Christmas morn.
Many of you who have received previous online devotionals from Northside Church likely received this same pleasant surprise in your inbox this morning. I will paste the post below for those who did not receive the introduction to With God Weather Life. If you did not receive today’s introductory email and you want to sign up for the daily emailed devotional (which will replace our SueToYou blog posts from December 1st through December 25th) please add your contact information to our mailing list by visiting www.NorthsideUMC.org/devo. I welcome you to stay in touch with me personally through the month of December by emailing me directly at sue@suetoyou.com.
Go ahead, examine me from inside out, surprise me in the middle of the night— You’ll find I’m just what I say I am. My words don’t run loose. I’m not trying to get my way in the world’s way. I’m trying to get Your way, Your Word’s way. I’m staying on Your trail. I’m putting one foot in front of the other (Psalm 17:3-5a, MSG).
…Sue…
Introduction to With God Weather Life by Sue Allen
Over five years ago, for some unknown reason, I began collecting broken shells. Shells of odd sizes and shapes. Shells weirdly weathered by life’s pounding waves. Shells left unwanted by savvy, seasoned beachcombers. Unhindered by my family’s embarrassment, I would meander in the sand for hours, a “beach shore bag lady,” before carting home plastic grocery bags pregnant with weathered treasures.
Over time, I felt drawn to unpack and re-wash the worn-down remnants, wondering, “What wisdom, my dears, do you have to teach?” Instinctively, my fingers began to separate these irregular gifts into piles of “like kind.” During periods of prayerful reflection, six different categories seemed to emerge. Then, shaped by God’s living Word and twelve years of timeless insights gathered from book studies hosted in our home, my inner eyes suddenly noticed a simple truth: these six categories of well-weathered shells extended God’s invitation into spiritual transformation.
Eventually, the Spirit coaxed me to organize my observations into a spiritual teaching, and in the fall of 2017 I facilitated our first “With God Weather Life” retreat. In the spring of 2018 we hosted a second retreat weekend. Now this divinely inspired teaching patiently waits for us on the pages of our 2019 Advent devotional.
We are each formed in the womb by our Heavenly Father, whole and complete, one-of-a-kind (Psalm 139:14–16). After being born into this broken world, we are shaped by a plethora of imperfect people. Over time, we are weathered down to the core of our true self. Listening to these piles of tattered shells, we are invited into the adventure of a “with God” life.
Category 1: Porous shells with buckshot-like holes. People are like sponges. We soak up the energy invisibly surrounding us and are shaped by the strong love and the strong hate we experience.
Category 2: Shells with a few gaping holes. Most of us suffer a handful of significant, life-altering hurts. These unplanned wounds allow God’s healing power to sink in deep.
Category 3: Hermit crab shells of increasing size. Expanding from within, we gradually grow spiritually. Old comfort zones are outgrown as God coaxes us into spacious, new ways of being.
Category 4: Shells with barnacles attached. Sometimes the demands of life feel incredibly overwhelming, and we are drawn inward by the Spirit to rest at peace with our gracious God.
Category 5: Shells eroded down to a skeleton. Diminishment happens to all of us, yet as outward appearances wear thin, our inner Spirit is renewed day by day. Less of us means more of God.
Category 6: Petrified shells. From inside-out, God’s Spirit grows strong in our weak, broken places. In God we trust: “We are all mysteriously held together by a pregnant, hidden wholeness.”
As we begin this Advent season, we sink our bare feet into the shifting sands of life, waiting for God’s life-giving gifts to wash up on our shore. “Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes!” (1 Samuel 12:16, NIV).
