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Gindi Vincent

The Dish on Career, Fashion, Faith, and Family

Faith

28 Days: Day 22, Next To

February 22, 2020 by Gindi 1 Comment

At a retreat I attended yesterday, one of the leaders opened with a devotional from Nehemiah 1.

Nehemiah is a book in the Old Testament of the Bible that I’ve been fascinated with for years. He’s this classic example in Christian literature of the spiritual gift of leadership.

But as much as I’ve dug into portions of the book of Nehemiah, there’s always been some of it I’ve skipped over.

The devotional renewed my interest in this book. So last night, I started reading further in.

I was stopped cold by Chapter 3.

I couldn’t stop reading it.

If you’re not familiar with the story, Nehemiah is this Jewish guy in exile from Jerusalem who has made it all the way up in the Gentile king’s senior leadership. He hears Jerusalem is totally broken and burned, so he bravely asks the king if he can go back to his city and his people and rebuild (and amazingly the king lets him).

That’s where the story picks up in Chapter 3.

This is what struck me:
v. 2 – The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and Zakkur son of Imri built next to them.
v. 4 – Meremoth son of Uriah… repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah… made repairs, and next to him Zadok …also made repairs. 
v. 11 – Malkijah and Hasshub… repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.
v. 17 – Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites … Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district.  Next to him, the repairs were made…

Do you see it?

Does that knock you over?

And that’s not the whole chapter! “Next to” is said OVER TWENTY TIMES!

All these different people from different tribes and people came together to rebuild. Group A? RIGHT NEXT TO Group R! Team 12? BESIDE Team 423!

Working right next to each other to rebuild God’s city.

What if modern Christianity looked like this?

What if we were writing about Modern-Day Prophet X’s call for rebuilding crumbling cities and people and families and faith?
v. 1 – Next to her, the repairs were made by the Catholics…
v. 2 – Beside him, the Protestants carried out repairs for his district…
v. 3 – The Democrats carried out the repairs on the next section, and next to them the Republicans also made repairs.
v. 4 – The Fountain Gate was repaired by those from Mexico, and next to them the Egyptians also repaired the wall by the King’s Garden, and beyond them, the Russians made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs. Beside them the Nigerians worked on the point facing the armory and next to them the Californians and Texans zealously repaired another section.

Wow.

Can you see it?

I can envision it. I want so deeply.

It doesn’t say everyone came together and agreed on everything forever after. PLUS, it says people wanted to kill them for doing it. So much so that the rebuilders had to split so that half of them could guard those doing the building and then they could swap. (Chapter 4’s premise is “Opposition to Rebuilding!” And Chapter 6? “Further Opposition!”)

The act of restoration and rebuilding does not come easily. Or cheaply. It most certainly does not come without significant opposition. But there’s a blueprint in the book of Nehemiah that it can come.

And y’all, I can barely type it without crying, in Chapter 7, “after the wall had been rebuilt,” there is a LIST of the exiles who returned. Read it. “These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive…” and then there is an actual list with actual numbers of the people from the different families who returned along with the priests and temple servants.

After the hard and painful and severely opposed work of rebuilding was done, the exiles returned from captivity.

If this is not the picture the church universal should be working their fingers to the bone to achieve, then I don’t know what is.

This is the example of rebuilding we must follow. They came home. They confessed. They sealed a covenant.
Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord.

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: 28 days

28 Days: Day 10, Coming, and Leaving

February 10, 2020 by Gindi 1 Comment

Today, I led my monthly Monday work bible study for the last time.

A co-worker asked me to start a group four and a half years ago. I agreed, reluctantly.

My first week of Bible Study, October 2015, was the week after my husband lost his job.

My, what a four and a half years these have been.

The kids have changed schools. Both Bray and I have changed the kinds of day jobs we have. We’ve had health scares and vacations and remodels. Grief and joy. Suffering and laughter.

I went back and reread my first few bible study notes. Each month, I taught about a miracle. I wrote down the scripture text and then wrote down all my research and thoughts on those topics.

The first miracle I taught on was 2 Kings 4, The Shunamite Woman, still one of my favorites of all time.

The next one was from 2 Kings 6, where a lost axehead floats.

Then came the passage from 1 Kings 19, where Elijah flees in exhaustion and terror after performing the biggest miracle of his life on Mount Carmel. (I love me some Kings…)

As I was rereading my notes, I saw a theme from these beautiful miracles emerge. I didn’t even know it was a theme when I was teaching this in the fall of 2015. But I can see it now. And how God must have been weaving that message into my soul then when I need to know this truth so badly.

Run to God.

Always run to God.

Run to Him in your desperation. Run to him in your fear or your worry or your terror or your panic or your stress. He can take whatever emotion you throw at him – anger, depression, loneliness, grief.

They all came to Him in desperation. A mother after losing her son. A worker after losing his means to work. A prophet facing exhaustion and possible death.

Don’t let anything distract you. Don’t let social media or work or even friends divert you from your one true path to Him.

Lay whatever it is in front of Him.

Then watch what He can do.

A breath (2 Kings 4:34).

A stick (2 Kings 6:6).

A whisper (1 Kings 19:12).

Nothing is too far gone.

I didn’t expect to, but I cried through most of my study today. Gracious and encouraging co-workers who have become friends passed me tissues and prayed over me. It can be a little overwhelming to reflect on how God has worked so miraculously in your life over the years. And it can be a little overwhelming to lay something important down to make room for the next thing God needs to do.

I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to join a community who basically learned right along with me as God convicted me with scripture and I shared what He was teaching me.

It’s always powerful to remember what He can do. With so very little. He cares about the big and the small in your life. And nothing is too far gone.

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: 28 days

28 Days: Day 9, Examen

February 9, 2020 by Gindi Leave a Comment

Our church has begun having periodic Sunday evening services of quiet and contemplation. Lots of space for prayer and reflection among the candlelight and communion.

They are precious respites in the chaos of the day.

This evening, I had the privilege of attending our service featuring the Examen with my daughter while the boys and dad had back-to-back baseball and basketball.

The Examen, if you are not familiar, is a five step prayer process that leads you to see the good, and the hard, and determine what to keep and what change.

Today was a mixed bag, personally. There’s still a fair amount of tension in our house and there was lots going on but also a lot of dear sweet good one-on-one time with each of the kids.

So in the process of the Examen, we tackled these questions, with space and time to breathe and pray and really process:
Step 1 – Thanksgiving, What am I especially grateful for this day?
Step 2 – Petition, I ask to know God and to see myself how He sees me
Step 3 – Review, Where have I felt joy or goodness or love, taking time to see that and feel that, and then where I have felt harder emotions (anger, sadness, frustration…) and what should I do with those emotions
Step 4 – Response, In light of the things God has revealed to me and about my day, what should I do more of or less of or what work is still outstanding – how do I respond to God;
Step 5 – Looking Forward, how will I enter tomorrow based on what I’ve reflected upon today, what has He revealed to me that I can now put into practice tomorrow

It was deeply centering.

When driving home, I asked little bit what she thought of the service. I loved it, I love these Sunday evening services, she replied.

Ah. Such goodness. We all, regardless of our age, need a centering prayer to quiet our hearts, to remind us of the love of our Father Creator, and to convict us where there are things undone.

Will leave you with one of the final songs of the evening. In the early morning hours, when it’s still dark outside, this is what I’m going to be waking up to. The Goodness of God:

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: 28 days

Why Do You Think I Love Him So Much?

January 9, 2020 by Gindi 2 Comments

They sang a song at church Sunday: My Living Hope. 

It overwhelmed me. 

It was the first time I’d stood in a church service since attending Kristin’s son’s funeral. 

We were all five there, near the back.  I was hosting a family from church for lunch afterwards, so I’d prepped chicken enchiladas the night before but had a few last minute things to do before getting ready for church.  I was rushing.  The kids were fighting. I was yelling.  Things were tense and everyone was grumpy when we piled into the truck to drive the few short minutes to our church. 

We made it through the community greetings, all smiles, and a couple of songs when the band started playing, Living Hope.  The song, in part, says:

Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

I was completely undone. Trying not to cry, I lifted my hand in praise and let the words sink in.  It was all I could do to stay standing because those words rocked me. My Living Hope.

After we sat, my critical mind started attacking: What a hypocrite! You are chief among the hypocrites.  You come to church and act holy closing your eyes and singing these songs but you’re a mess.  You were just screaming at your kids a half hour ago and fighting with your husband and spending unwisely and…

You get the idea. 

But then the other voice weighed in: That’s WHY the words are so powerful. Given my failures and my utter messiness, He still died for me and forgave me. Why do you think I love Him so much? I’m a wreck. And He still loves me.

I remember sitting in an auditorium with Beth Moore teaching a bible study. She told a story about her grandson singing along with a Christian song on the radio. And she got big tears in her eyes when she heard him and thought, You have no idea how much you are going to love Him! You have no idea yet how much He will see you through.

I feel like that now, especially after these last weeks. Lots of travel. Funerals and diagnoses. Busyness and exhaustion.

In the middle of it all, His faithfulness. (Webster defines as loyal, constant, steadfast. What a gift.)

As I flew home Tuesday night from Washington, D.C., a quick work trip, we took off in the middle of a storm. Initially, it wasn’t as bumpy as I feared it would be. (There’s a post just in that.) But then we got into a cloud stormbank as we rose and the plane dipped and bumped and rocked. I’ve become ever more fearful as I fly, post kids, and I gripped the seat arms.

Then, just as quickly as it began, the airplane pulled through the clouds and calmed. Above the storm, blue skies. Before, you couldn’t see beyond the window. Now, you could see the entire sky stretched forth beyond the plane.

I read a blog post yesterday, entitled The Fog Always Rises, about a woman’s struggle with anxiety and depression, and she says: Sometimes, it’s through what becomes the fog’s reprieve that we can appreciate the blaze of the sun.

Why do you think I love Him so much?

Despite my failures and inadequacies, I know someone who loves me through it all, at all times, and forgives me no matter how many times I’ve messed up before.

No matter the stormbank or the fog, there’s light on the other side. It looks different than it did before you hit the stormbank or the fog, but the blaze of the sun, the clearing, does pierce the clouds and fog.

I don’t ever forget where I’ve failed. And I have to ask others for forgiveness too, not just my Savior. I never forget the storm. I never forget the fog. My heart still bears scars from the battering it took.

Yet, He brought me into a spacious place, He rescued me because He delighted in me. Psalm 18:19

Filed Under: Faith

Which is Easier

November 14, 2019 by Gindi Leave a Comment

In fourth grade, my kids have the opportunity to learn how to debate.  They’re in the debate segment of the curriculum right now.  This makes me happy. 

As you might guess, our kids are already pretty familiar with the concept of debate.  First of all, Bray and I support different political parties and any election season elicits a fair amount of debate in our house.  Second of all, I’m a lawyer and therefore fairly prone to debating on any manner of topics.  And finally, the kids are triplets and are regularly debating their position in order to get what they want or get out of trouble. 

I love that they’re learning how to support their position with supporting concepts during these classroom debates. 

The topics have varied from class to class.  The boys class debated the merits of dog ownership versus cat ownership.  Little bit’s class debated the value of getting paid for chores versus not getting paid. 

But on Wednesday, little bit’s teacher, Mrs. B, threw out an interesting debate topic:  Is it easier to follow Jesus or not to follow Jesus. 

We attend a small private Christian school, so I can imagine the topic idea caught the kids a little off guard.  Since they get to choose their side for the debate, no one raised their hand to advocate that it’s easier not to follow Jesus. 

Except little bit. 

I’d gone to chapel that morning and afterwards Mrs. B approached me.  She said how proud she was of our girl for taking a position different from the rest of the class and how her ideas were really strong and her point of view unique.  Little bit approached me when she heard, nervously, and said, are you mad?  Of course not, I responded, it’s absolutely easier to do your own thing and not have to worry about following what Jesus says. 

She came home last night excited to write out her debate ideas on her 3X5 cards.  She told Mrs. B this morning she would be happy to debate the entire class herself if no one wanted to advocate with her.  Today, one other boy decided to debate on little bit’s “team.” 

As she talked through her points tonight in advance of tomorrow’s debate, she tried to find additional support for her position.  She had to go two rounds.  One with supporting ideas for why it’s hard to follow Jesus.  One with support for the same idea but focused on it being hard to follow Jesus’ plan. 

When it came to why it’s hard to follow Jesus, she had lots of solid reasons: I mean you have to forgive everyone, how hard is that; and you have to love, everyone!  Then she started laying out why it’s so hard to follow His plan.  For one thing, she said, it’s really hard to wait on Jesus plan instead of following your own plan immediately.  And what if you don’t know what His plan is? 

Truth. The forgiving. Waiting. Not knowing. HARD.

But then she said, His plan is always better.

Just because it’s harder, didn’t mean she didn’t want to try.  It’s just she knew it would be harder.

Luke 9:23 – If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily

John 16:33 – In the world you will have tribulation

James 1:2 – Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds

Romans 5:3 – We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance

She wasn’t quoting scripture, she may not even know them, but she was laying out a pretty deep theological argument: Don’t follow Jesus because you think it’s easier.  You won’t get very far.  It’s better.  It’s not easier. 

I don’t know what made me prouder. 

Her having a sense that the price of Christianity doesn’t come cheap at the ripe old age of 10, or her bravery.  She boldly took a position for which no one else wanted to advocate.  Then she offered to debate the entire class alone.  My little introvert for whom school can be a challenge chose the brave option.  And she was excited about it too.  She came home bubbling and working on Wednesday and Thursday nights. 

She teaches me so much about life and myself. And this week, she reminded me, better may be harder. Do better.

Filed Under: Faith, Family

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