The Story Table: Recent Episodes
Shellie Rushing Tomlinson
Hello friend! Happy New Year! I’ve got a word of encouragement for you today. It’s one we don’t celebrate nearly as much in the body of Christ as we should, but one I want to be found sharing with anyone who’ll listen.
First, some back story. Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of being with a group of women at my local First Methodist Church here in Lake Providence, LA to wrap up their study of my latest book, “Seizing the Good Life.”
I could use a slew of words and I’d still come up short trying to report how those women blessed me as they recounted their experience with the study. If pressed to choose one word, I’d go with sweet. It was so very sweet. Before I left, they gifted me with a beautifully wrapped present containing individually sealed letters from the different ladies with their personal thoughts about walking through John together.
I knew I’d be wrecked when I read them later. I was right.
At some point during my remarks and the ensuing Q&A, I reminded the group of Jesus’ words from John 16:27 when He told the disciples that “the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”
Hear that. Sit with it. God loves you because you believe He sent Jesus to be the Savior of the World. Can you grasp that? God rejoices because you believe He sent Jesus, His Son, to reconcile us to Him. I asked the girls to celebrate that truth. I’m asking you to do the same.
Follower of Christ, your faith delights your heavenly Father. He is smiling at you.
Yes, you.
This morning I feasted on some words in John 17 that build on that soul-fortifying truth.
In speaking to His Father, Jesus said these words about his disciples, beginning in verse seven, “They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.”
If you’ve spent any time at all in the gospels, you might remember that the disciples didn’t get it all right from day one. They didn’t keep the Word flawlessly from the onset. Many times, John records that something happened that “caused them to believe” long after we thought they already believed. Wait. What? Jesus’ inner circle questioned Him, doubted Him, and yes, even denied Him. And here we have Jesus giving a satisfied report to His Father of their mature faith in Him and the message He brought them from God.
Mind you, these are the very men who had only recently confessed to Jesus in John 6:30, “Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”
Please note that in praying to His Father and ours, Jesus didn’t include a caveat of all the times the disciples didn’t get it right, didn’t keep His Word, and failed to completely understand that He was speaking the very words of God to them. Oh, no. Jesus, the friend that sticks closer than a brother, simply speaks of those His Father gave Him as having faith in Him and His Words without ever pausing to revisit their past mistakes. We don’t see Jesus sighing and exclaiming, “Well, Father, they finally got it. Better late than never, right?!” Instead, Jesus simply takes joy in their belief in Him and His revelation of God.
That’s good news for this remedial learner who fails to get it right all the time, or even most of the time. Hear me. I’m not rejoicing in or promoting a sloppy grace that papers over our failures. God doesn’t wink at sin. Never has. Never will. It cost Him the life of His Son. I’m asking us to celebrate the truth that God showers amazing grace on us and then – wonder of wonders— He takes satisfaction in us when we embrace it.
We’re woefully slow at feasting on this truth.
We’re not good at it because we stay too busy telling ourselves how we’ve missed the mark. We tell ourselves how we’ve fallen short, and all the ways we don’t do enough, pray enough, read enough, and serve enough. The tragic result is that all the ways we tell ourselves we aren’t enough only serve to make us want to hide from the One who is All Sufficient and waiting to transform us and mature us by His Presence through His Word.
On the other hand, believing that we bring God joy coaxes us into the Light where Jesus waits with healing in His wings.
“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.” Malachi 4:2 KJV
Pray with me?
Father God, thank you for showing us that You and Jesus have a shared joy in our faith. Remind us to celebrate this truth. We need Your help because it’s so hard for us to grasp that we could bring You any measure of satisfaction when all we see is our weaknesses and failings. Help us draw nearer, still. Help us wrench our eyes from ourselves and keep them fixed on You, the author and finisher of our faith so that You can do in us what only You can do in us. In the sweet name of Jesus, we pray. Amen
Take care friends, and drop me a note if you’d like.
Hugs,
Shellie
P.S. Here’s the Youtube clip of this post. You can also find an audio tape below, or look up The Story Table on your favorite podcast platform. Blessings, y’all. My every intention is to use every avenue available to bring you value.
Hello friends and family and readers/listeners who feel like friends and family. I realize you may have heard me say that before, but I don’t tire of letting you know that your company on this journey is much appreciated by this wordy girl.
It’s been ages since I dropped a podcast on The Story Table, right? Forgive me. When I left live radio in favor of podcasting from my home here on the banks of Lake Providence, I had every intention of podcasting regularly. That was the plan, this is how it’s going, me popping in regularly for months and then dropping out of the podcast rhythm for every bit as long. It’s hard to believe I churned out five, yes ma’am, five features a week for close to twenty years. But life is all about seasons and in this one I’m trying to continue answering the call of ministry on my life while keeping up with the challenges of being in the sandwich generation – it’s a real thing.
That said, the podcast has been on my mind. I have people asking me if I’m going to revisit the Gray family this summer. If you missed that series, I released a novel called Sierra’s Story on this podcast, one episode at a time a couple years ago. You can still find it in the archives!
I thought of telling y’all “Sierra’s Story” as a once and done type of experience, but y’all are making me rethink that. Stay tuned for news…We may be heading back to Providence. That was the name I gave our fictional town. I know, that’s incredibly imaginative isn’t it?
But, enough of that, I want to tell you why I slowed my roll to podcast today! If you haven’t heard me talking about my latest book Seizing the Good Life, well, you aren’t on social with me and you aren’t reading my newsletters. I’m more than a tad excited about it. Granted, I love talking about it period, but I happen to have received some files from the audio book version, AND I have permission from the publisher to share these excerpts with y’all.
Which perfectly delights me because I can let you hear exactly how the book is set up. It’s sorta different, like yours truly.
There are 21 chapters in Seizing the Good Life that correspond to the 21 chapters of John’s gospel. And each of my chapters are broken into three sections. There’s the Dear John opening, where I talk to John in storytelling conversation style– that is NOT meant to be a séance, friends. That’s not biblical. It’s simply me trying to help us see what it was like when Jesus broke into John’s world so we can better see Him in ours! Then there’s the Dear Reader section, where we get into the Bible Study of the corresponding chapter, and finally, there’s the Dear Jesus section. That’s where I journal a prayer for us to help us implement what we learned in Dear Reader. Got it? Ok? We’re set? Here are samples from those sections. The Seizing the Good Life audio is narrated by yours truly and produced by Oasis Audio.
You can listen to The Story Table wherever you like to hear your podcasts or click the audio link below.
Hey friend,
A glory story— that’s what my bestie calls a story that has God fingerprints all over it. This one is about God showing out at the end of this year’s 30 Days of Thankfulness Drive and it has four great takeaways for all of us! You can watch it on Youtube, or listen to The Story Table podcast on your favorite podcasting platform like iTunes or Spotify. And as always, I’m including an audio link below if you want to stay right there.
Merry Christmas! ~Hugs, Shellie
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