Author Archives

Norma L. Brumbaugh

Inspirational Writer, Author, and Speaker

PO Box 6432, Chico, CA 95927
nlbrumbaugh@gmail.com

Keep a smile in your heart.

3000 Miles to Jesus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers by Lisa Deam (Broadleaf Books, 2021)

TODAY Lisa Deam is launching 3000 Miles to Jesus. Soli Deo gloria. This book starts where it should by giving glory to God. I read this book in little chunks at a time. Sort of like reading about Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, I needed time to absorb what I was reading to get its quality. Lisa Deam unpacks for us the pilgrimages of a handful of medieval travelers on their way to the Holy Land, to the very places where Jesus walked, ministered, and was crucified. Like with any real life adventure, I learned how rigorous, risky, lonely, and costly it was for these pilgrims intent on seeing it through to the end. “Our medieval travelers were slow-movement philosophers way before the modern era. For pilgrimage, true pilgrimage, is always slow. It takes the time it needs,” writes Deam. Pilgrimages commence in stages as do our own spiritual pilgrimages. Preparation and trust in God are necessary for putting both feet in the same direction to move forward toward our pilgrimage’s fulfillment. Sometimes you pause for awhile, to wait and pray, like the pilgrims waiting for a boat to take passage across the sea to the shore of the Holy Land. Then to wait a couple weeks more until authorities let them debark. Even then, not with freedom to go where they wish, to pursue at will, but within the confines of the authorities’ directives and guides. Oh the joy, though, when their quest brings them to the path of our Lord, where they are moved to worship. We are welcomed to make our own spiritual pilgrimage as we follow the path of those who have gone on before us. I enjoyed the topic and the presentation. Illustrations and quotations enhance this book.

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Not Feeling It

Grace for Today

I think about the grace of God so often. The first time I actually comprehended the concept in real life was when I was in college. I was with my boyfriend in a borrowed car when he was stopped by a cop for speeding. He deserved a ticket. When the cop found out that he was a student at Western Baptist College, he was given a warning but let off the hook. It shook my boyfriend up a bit and his first words afterwards were, “That was grace!” He knew the cop could have given him a ticket.

And it was grace on the cop’s part. We later found out that the borrowed car’s speedometer wasn’t correct. He’d been speeding even more than he thought at the time! His exclamation, that it was grace, stuck with me. It made grace seem real to me. He deserved a ticket but received grace instead.

By the way, on a pleasanter note, he was the one person in my life that caused in me a desire to learn. He knew tons more than I did and was engaged in learning for learning’s sake. I loved that about him, and it impacted me then and forever after.

Every day we see evidence of God’s grace in the little and big. When I look for it, I see it everywhere, even in nature. When I don’t look, I am more apt to complain.

My maternal grandmother was a joy-filled person. She lived it. She walked it. She expressed it. It wasn’t because her life had been easy, though. She had had a lot of loss in her life, starting in childhood with the passing of her mother, yet I never heard her voice even one bitter word. That’s an amazing way to live. Her love for God flowed freely. She was a composer. The lyrics in her songs are full of God’s ministering Spirit.

Whenever my former pastor was preaching about God’s love, he opened his arms wide. He said that God’s love is for all people. I loved the visual. God’s love is that wide, and it’s a beautiful thing.

When I started knowing God through pure eyes–with no prior constraints, trying to not let my limitations color my view–His love flowed in me in a new way. His love became my love. His love for people is a love for their heart. My love for people became a love for their heart.

How I came to realize its presence in me was that my speech and thoughts were less about me and more about others. I had an intrinsic desire to see them come to Jesus for His healing grace. I wanted God for them, personally, not just for salvation and redemption, but for what He is and He gives.

I’ve always been very shy and insecure but the love of God trumps my fears and becomes a multiplied blessing. I love it when I see this grace of God in other people. This may sound weird, but I can read it in their expressions and hear it in their voices. They’ve fallen in love with the Savior, and He is a part of them. They are refined by His love. God is the Refiner.

Let Christ in. Let His wisdom flow in you. Give your fears and insecurities to Him. He will cleanse them and set you free. Like the song says, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you.

A couple of suggestions.

  • Act when God makes a suggestion that could make a difference in somebody’s life.
  • Release yourself from your wounds and the bondage in your own life.
  • Ask God to help you do this.
  • Open your heart to God’s love. If this seems impossible, ask Him to help you to be willing to open your heart to His love.
  • Request His Spirit”s enabling in your life.
  • Praise Him for ministering in your spirit.

We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). These words still ring true. Read further and you come to these words, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Nothing between us and our Savior.

God is bringing many sons and daughters to glory. You and I have a purpose in this life. As Christ followers, we are Christ to the confused, hurting world. Christ is abundant life. His life in us is abundant and free. We can let the freedom of Christ reign in us.

Not feeling it? I would have you to not despair. You may not feel God’s love but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there with you. He has said He will never leave us or forsake us. You are not alone. You are not abandoned. You are wanted. You are loved by God. Look to Him. I believe you will find what you seek when you are ready to receive it. That circles back to my suggestions above, open and request.

Am I serious? Yes. Very serious. Are you serious? When you get serious about your interior self, your soul-side, and your walk with God, change will work its way into you inner being. It may get worse before it gets better. It is like when you are working at improving your gut health. There is a die-back period, when the bad bacteria is dying, which causes headaches, achiness, and joint pain. This has to happen before the good bacteria can multiply and thrive to bring about healing. Then the aches depart and renewed health is experienced.

Grace for today? I’ll end this post with a comment from a friend. She says, “Some days our journey is harder than others. Lately every day seems hard. We just have to persevere. And we need to remember that we are in good hands: His hands. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep looking up. God is guiding us on this journey. Amen!”

God is in this.

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Photo by Boris Misevic, Unsplash