Have you ever heard the quote that says "something" like,
'We remember 10% of what we hear, 20% of what we see & hear, 30%.......................................... and 90% of what we experience."?
I often will say to God, " Oh God, I don't want to just read about you and hear about you I want to EXPERIENCE you through something very personal. I want to learn about you through my own stories and experiences so my faith and belief in you is DEEP and REAL. Would you please give me an experience with you today ? Would you open my eyes so I can see you and will you teach me, reveal to me your truths."i
So, 2 years ago, I attended a Beth Moore conference near Detroit with a group of AWESOME women from the River. We arrived at our hotel and got all settled in our rooms. I put my key to our room in a very specific spot so I knew right where it was. When my friend, Kelli, needed to get into our room and asked for my key ,I was sooooooo pleased to get into my purse, into my inside pocket where I KNEW I put the key, and grant her request. This brought me such incredible joy because if you haven't picked up in some of my previous e-mails, I can be a bit of a scatter brain. I don't want to be, I just ALWAYS have a lot of things on my mind and it takes great effort for me to be very mindful ALL THE TIME of where I put things. So, I proudly handed the key to my friend thinking to myself, "Good job, Kristy! You did it! Rob would be so proud of you (Rob is my husband, who when we were dating knew when I would borrow a pen from his drawer because I didn't put it back in the EXACT spot. It probably helped him that his dad was a military man training him in these skills since he was 1 day old )." This losing things is a real sensitive issue for me because I really want to be like Rob and all those other anal people who never lose things, I'm just not (yet.....nothing is ever hopeless). So when I do know right where something is I throw a little party for myself inside my heart. This was one of those nights. We had a great Friday night enjoying the conference and each other. But then came Saturday.
Saturday morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then headed over to the conference. As we were all waiting in line to get in, everyone began looking for their tickets to have ready at the door. I began looking for my ticket, ......and kept looking, and looking, and looking ,completely emptying my purse searching every nook and cranny and coming up with NOTHING. I couldn't believe it. Just yesterday I had felt soooo good about myself, like I was really improving and getting this "putting things in a certain spot, and being MINDFUL of that spot, all the time" thing. I WAS SOOOOO MAD AT MYSELF. My dear, precious friend, "Smelly Kelli" ( I'm "Stinky Linky) stayed with me as I trudged back to the van to look in there. No ticket. The hotel was too far to go back to so I had to face the reality that I might not get into the conference. There was nothing I could do. I was COMPLETELY at their mercy.
I scanned all the ticket takers looking for the one who just might be merciful. My eyes landed upon this older woman with a smile on her face. I approached this woman who would hold my day in her hands with my shoulders humped over and my eyes looking down at the floor not wanting to make eye contact with anyone out of my shame. She must have been watching me sheepishly approach her because before I could say a word she said to me, "Did you lose your ticket?" I just shook my head yes. I will never forget her response to me. She said in the kindest, most merciful voice, "That's okay honey, I have a ticket right here with your name on it. Come on in!" I had just barely entered through the doors when "hundreds" (not really that many, but a lot of them)of truths of God began flooding my mind.
Immediately, this verse popped into my mind:
" To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. HE WOULD NOT EVEN LOOK UP to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have MERCY on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -Luke 17:9-14
"OHHHhhhhhh! I get it God! This is what it will be like at heaven's doors. Only the people who have "lost their ticket" and who "won't even look up" and fall on the mercy of the One who holds their ETERNAL LIFE (a little bit more than a day)in his hands will be allowed to enter."
"So, you, God ,are like the kind, merciful ticket taker lady deeply delighting in offering me mercy and having a ticket ready for me with my name on it. Jesus is that ticket. I simply just have to humble myself and admit I 'lost my ticket' (I'm messed up) and fall on your mercy and receive Jesus, my "ticket"."
I will guarantee you I was the happiest woman in that arena. I had just been given MERCY.
MERCY- Kind and compassionate treatment of an offender, enemy, or other person under ones power. Reprieve from a fate of considerable severity without further implication. A disposition to be kind and forgiving. Something for which to be thankful for; a fortunate occurence.
When you know you don't deserve something, but get it anyways; when you know you fail and mess up alot and all your offenses are not held against you; when there is nothing you can do to enter a place you really want to be in and you are allowed in, that is something for which to be VERY, VERY thankful for. I was walking around that arena (after I stopped crying and sharing with the ticket taker how thankful I was and how she was like Jesus) with an INCREDIBLY thankful heart.
As I was walking to my seat, God began revealing more truths to me. I found myself going from feeling very, very, thankful for mercy, to feeling very, very ashamed. There were thousands of women in that room and I began to hear one of those evil whispers, 'You're the only one who is in here because of mercy. Everyone else knew right where their ticket was. See all these women- they deserve to be in here, but not you. All these women are better than you, Kristy. YOU LOST YOUR TICKET. How irresponsible of you. You don't belong in here with all these "responsible" women"
I found myself "hating" (not really) all these other women walking around proudly because they "deserved" to be in here and I didn't. I was soooooo aware of my own shame and "sin" (weakness). I thought, "God, is this how people feel when they come to church? Do people walk around with their shame heavy on their hearts and minds?" Do people think that everyone else that gathers to worship you is there because they "deserve" it and because they do everything right? Do people that come to church think that everyone is looking at them, knows their "sin" and is judging them for it ? No wonder people wouldn't want to come to church. No one else in that arena knew that I lost my ticket but I felt like every woman there was staring at me and thinking to themselves and whispering to their friends, "That's the woman who forgot her ticket". I wanted out. I did not want to be "that" woman.
Then something wonderful happened. Another truth emerged. After I had finally made it to my seat through all my torture in my "inner man", God gave me an insight. I realized that Heaven will be like, and church should be like, Beth Moore standing up on the stage in front of these thousands of women and simply giving these words;
"Would those of you who lost your ticket and are simply in this room solely on the mercy of the ticket taker, please stand up?"
I would stand up, scared to death, that I would be the only one ,but much to my surprise I would see the ENTIRE room of women standing there. " What!?! You mean to tell me this whole time I thought I was the only one who was messed up and I thought that everyone was judging me, but we are all actually in the same boat? All these women in here are only here because of MERCY? They are not all judging me? They know what it is like to not be perfect? They are not all thinking about me and how bad I am but rather worshipping the "ticket taker" (God) for His wonderful mercy of letting them in here." Ahhhhhhhhhhhh- all of a sudden all these women I "hated" (not really) felt like "sisters". We were all together JUST SOOOOOOOOOOOOO THANKFUL FOR MERCY AND FOR BEING ALLOWED TO ENTER.
I will never enter church the same since that experience. I will never take another day or my acceptance into heaven for granted since that experience. I will live every day of my life just thankful that our God is a merciful God.
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in MERCY, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved..........For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it it the GIFT of God- not be works, so that NO ONE CAN BOAST. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
---Ephesians 2:4-10
May I encourage you to not live someone else's faith, to not just read about God or hear about him, but ask Him to give you your own personal experiences with him. You are here to fall in love with Him. You won't fall in love with him if you don't experience Him personally. He has soooo many things He wants to teach you and reveal to you through your own experience- just ask Him. He says in James,
"You do not have, because you do not ask God."
Ask Him. May I also encourage you to seek to understand mercy- His mercy. It is out of this very important understanding of the mercy that he has bestowed upon you, that you in turn can be a "worshipper" and then in turn offer mercy to others.
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to LOVE MERCY and to walk humbly with your God."
----Micah 6:8
If you were to come to "Bombadil" (my home) you would find hanging over one of my arched doorways the words, "Love Mercy". May it be! Blessings from Bombadil. May your soul be watered and may you water another's soul. Kristy Joy Link
'We remember 10% of what we hear, 20% of what we see & hear, 30%.......................................... and 90% of what we experience."?
I often will say to God, " Oh God, I don't want to just read about you and hear about you I want to EXPERIENCE you through something very personal. I want to learn about you through my own stories and experiences so my faith and belief in you is DEEP and REAL. Would you please give me an experience with you today ? Would you open my eyes so I can see you and will you teach me, reveal to me your truths."i
So, 2 years ago, I attended a Beth Moore conference near Detroit with a group of AWESOME women from the River. We arrived at our hotel and got all settled in our rooms. I put my key to our room in a very specific spot so I knew right where it was. When my friend, Kelli, needed to get into our room and asked for my key ,I was sooooooo pleased to get into my purse, into my inside pocket where I KNEW I put the key, and grant her request. This brought me such incredible joy because if you haven't picked up in some of my previous e-mails, I can be a bit of a scatter brain. I don't want to be, I just ALWAYS have a lot of things on my mind and it takes great effort for me to be very mindful ALL THE TIME of where I put things. So, I proudly handed the key to my friend thinking to myself, "Good job, Kristy! You did it! Rob would be so proud of you (Rob is my husband, who when we were dating knew when I would borrow a pen from his drawer because I didn't put it back in the EXACT spot. It probably helped him that his dad was a military man training him in these skills since he was 1 day old )." This losing things is a real sensitive issue for me because I really want to be like Rob and all those other anal people who never lose things, I'm just not (yet.....nothing is ever hopeless). So when I do know right where something is I throw a little party for myself inside my heart. This was one of those nights. We had a great Friday night enjoying the conference and each other. But then came Saturday.
Saturday morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then headed over to the conference. As we were all waiting in line to get in, everyone began looking for their tickets to have ready at the door. I began looking for my ticket, ......and kept looking, and looking, and looking ,completely emptying my purse searching every nook and cranny and coming up with NOTHING. I couldn't believe it. Just yesterday I had felt soooo good about myself, like I was really improving and getting this "putting things in a certain spot, and being MINDFUL of that spot, all the time" thing. I WAS SOOOOO MAD AT MYSELF. My dear, precious friend, "Smelly Kelli" ( I'm "Stinky Linky) stayed with me as I trudged back to the van to look in there. No ticket. The hotel was too far to go back to so I had to face the reality that I might not get into the conference. There was nothing I could do. I was COMPLETELY at their mercy.
I scanned all the ticket takers looking for the one who just might be merciful. My eyes landed upon this older woman with a smile on her face. I approached this woman who would hold my day in her hands with my shoulders humped over and my eyes looking down at the floor not wanting to make eye contact with anyone out of my shame. She must have been watching me sheepishly approach her because before I could say a word she said to me, "Did you lose your ticket?" I just shook my head yes. I will never forget her response to me. She said in the kindest, most merciful voice, "That's okay honey, I have a ticket right here with your name on it. Come on in!" I had just barely entered through the doors when "hundreds" (not really that many, but a lot of them)of truths of God began flooding my mind.
Immediately, this verse popped into my mind:
" To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. HE WOULD NOT EVEN LOOK UP to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have MERCY on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -Luke 17:9-14
"OHHHhhhhhh! I get it God! This is what it will be like at heaven's doors. Only the people who have "lost their ticket" and who "won't even look up" and fall on the mercy of the One who holds their ETERNAL LIFE (a little bit more than a day)in his hands will be allowed to enter."
"So, you, God ,are like the kind, merciful ticket taker lady deeply delighting in offering me mercy and having a ticket ready for me with my name on it. Jesus is that ticket. I simply just have to humble myself and admit I 'lost my ticket' (I'm messed up) and fall on your mercy and receive Jesus, my "ticket"."
I will guarantee you I was the happiest woman in that arena. I had just been given MERCY.
MERCY- Kind and compassionate treatment of an offender, enemy, or other person under ones power. Reprieve from a fate of considerable severity without further implication. A disposition to be kind and forgiving. Something for which to be thankful for; a fortunate occurence.
When you know you don't deserve something, but get it anyways; when you know you fail and mess up alot and all your offenses are not held against you; when there is nothing you can do to enter a place you really want to be in and you are allowed in, that is something for which to be VERY, VERY thankful for. I was walking around that arena (after I stopped crying and sharing with the ticket taker how thankful I was and how she was like Jesus) with an INCREDIBLY thankful heart.
As I was walking to my seat, God began revealing more truths to me. I found myself going from feeling very, very, thankful for mercy, to feeling very, very ashamed. There were thousands of women in that room and I began to hear one of those evil whispers, 'You're the only one who is in here because of mercy. Everyone else knew right where their ticket was. See all these women- they deserve to be in here, but not you. All these women are better than you, Kristy. YOU LOST YOUR TICKET. How irresponsible of you. You don't belong in here with all these "responsible" women"
I found myself "hating" (not really) all these other women walking around proudly because they "deserved" to be in here and I didn't. I was soooooo aware of my own shame and "sin" (weakness). I thought, "God, is this how people feel when they come to church? Do people walk around with their shame heavy on their hearts and minds?" Do people think that everyone else that gathers to worship you is there because they "deserve" it and because they do everything right? Do people that come to church think that everyone is looking at them, knows their "sin" and is judging them for it ? No wonder people wouldn't want to come to church. No one else in that arena knew that I lost my ticket but I felt like every woman there was staring at me and thinking to themselves and whispering to their friends, "That's the woman who forgot her ticket". I wanted out. I did not want to be "that" woman.
Then something wonderful happened. Another truth emerged. After I had finally made it to my seat through all my torture in my "inner man", God gave me an insight. I realized that Heaven will be like, and church should be like, Beth Moore standing up on the stage in front of these thousands of women and simply giving these words;
"Would those of you who lost your ticket and are simply in this room solely on the mercy of the ticket taker, please stand up?"
I would stand up, scared to death, that I would be the only one ,but much to my surprise I would see the ENTIRE room of women standing there. " What!?! You mean to tell me this whole time I thought I was the only one who was messed up and I thought that everyone was judging me, but we are all actually in the same boat? All these women in here are only here because of MERCY? They are not all judging me? They know what it is like to not be perfect? They are not all thinking about me and how bad I am but rather worshipping the "ticket taker" (God) for His wonderful mercy of letting them in here." Ahhhhhhhhhhhh- all of a sudden all these women I "hated" (not really) felt like "sisters". We were all together JUST SOOOOOOOOOOOOO THANKFUL FOR MERCY AND FOR BEING ALLOWED TO ENTER.
I will never enter church the same since that experience. I will never take another day or my acceptance into heaven for granted since that experience. I will live every day of my life just thankful that our God is a merciful God.
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in MERCY, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved..........For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it it the GIFT of God- not be works, so that NO ONE CAN BOAST. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
---Ephesians 2:4-10
May I encourage you to not live someone else's faith, to not just read about God or hear about him, but ask Him to give you your own personal experiences with him. You are here to fall in love with Him. You won't fall in love with him if you don't experience Him personally. He has soooo many things He wants to teach you and reveal to you through your own experience- just ask Him. He says in James,
"You do not have, because you do not ask God."
Ask Him. May I also encourage you to seek to understand mercy- His mercy. It is out of this very important understanding of the mercy that he has bestowed upon you, that you in turn can be a "worshipper" and then in turn offer mercy to others.
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to LOVE MERCY and to walk humbly with your God."
----Micah 6:8
If you were to come to "Bombadil" (my home) you would find hanging over one of my arched doorways the words, "Love Mercy". May it be! Blessings from Bombadil. May your soul be watered and may you water another's soul. Kristy Joy Link
