Appreciating the Dysfunction

So they say if you have 2 more people in your family then it’s dysfunctional.

I guess I’ve spent most of my life trying to either understand my family, change it, dream it up to be something different, gotten angry at them, gotten frustrated with them, been embarrassed by them or dissappointed….

Well, this Thanksgiving I think the dysfunction brought me more laughter and joy than anything I’ve experienced in a long time.

Dustin and I arrived in Charlottesville, VA to begin our Thanksgiving at my aunts house where 15 of gathered. And without going into my characterizations and descriptions of them….it is quite of mix of people with different experiences in life, cultures, successes, failures yet all from the same blood line. 

Within 10 minutes of us being greeted, the jokes began, the small talk surfaced and the same anxiety that I always tend to feel rose up and forgetting that I must hurry up and put on my extra layer of thick skin. Well, after about 30 minutes…something just settled in me….looking around the room at each of them and what would have been feelings of judgement or defensiveness I found appreciation and life rise up in me. Just listening to the laughter, the jokes, and seeing how different we all were became a beautiful thing to me…something that I viewed as messy and chaotic when I was younger but now was of great beauty.

I was reminded of a picture from the book “The Shack”….when Jesus takes Mac into the garden. To Mac, it looked like a mess and it was horrible but to Jesus, it was tremendous and breathtakingly beautiful. Jesus said it was a “fractal”. A “fractal” is something that looks like a mess and looks like utter chaos but when looked at under a microscope it is ordered and perfect with patterns of color.

That “fractal” is my family. 

It’s not anything that they have done….it’s how I choose to look at things. Isn’t that always the case?

It was an amazing thanksgiving….as we played played flag football, watched movies, slept, hung out in the city, laughed, watched old videos of all of us from years ago, and ate till we cried….my soul sat back and rested in the appreciation of where I come from.

The dysfunctional family of mine is normal, is perfect, is fun, is challenging, is inspiring, and is me.

 

Picture of a fractal

The Power of a great song….

I was driving home yesterday from an afternoon hanging with Shae and April and I had my ipod on random shuffle. My heart and spirit collided with this song and I found myself feeling like I got a glimpse of magnitude of God’s love (it took my breath away) and Him reminding me of how much I love carrying His name…carrying His love. I felt like I could conquer anything!!!!

It was Phil Wickham’s song “True Love” that I heard….but I also heard the heart behind it and it exerted so much power…. it was God’s heart for me and and the boundless life that He has given me! I found myself dreaming…feeling like nothing was impossible again…found myself in the core of his heart for me…

The power of a great song with a great message is no small thing. 

I’ll even say that the song doesn’t have to be about God.

To think that when a human spirit meets with a melody and message that in 3:30 minutes their life can be changed, inspired, redirected, reconciled, healed…..I love it!

Think about it…what songs formed you? What song do you hear that in a matter of seconds wake up your spirit man to dream, to dance across the floor in your socks, to fall in love, to sing to the top of your lungs, to call a friend and encourage them, to love more, to laugh more, to cry more…

You songwriters..write like the wind! Your song is waiting to collide with human soul and set them free!

The Davis Dance

And so our one of the beauties of life is when our lives intersect another and we are never the same.

I’ve spoken already about the team that I went to Romania….all 9 of them had a tremendous impact on my life……

And so this brings me to speak of one of them in particular….Davis Harwell. 

He was on my team to go to Romania. Not only is he one of the most talented people I know but he has the ability to unlock hope, belief, and possibility in you. He has the ability to make you laugh like no other.

We all walked away from the trip richer knowing that we could bring back what we call “The Davis Dance”.

You will be able to accomplish anything if you learn it.

Click the video below and see for yourself.

Farewell Romania

 After 16 hours on a plane I am home from Romania….back with my husband….back with my team…so good.

As the week went on I found it harder to blog about Romania and all the things that were going on. Honestly, it became harder to stay on the surface because there were so many things that went on below the surface and so much that went on in the lives of the Romanians, the team, and myself.

Sooo…without getting to deep….I’ll list some things that I have taken back with me…

1. 9 new friends: Such inspiring and amazing people! I learned so much about myself  through them: April, Shae, Elliot, Casey, Chris, Kelly, Davis, Phil, and Brad. I am richer and better having them apart of my life.
2. People can understand and feel the heart and love before they hear and understand words.
3. Doesn’t matter where you are around the world…the fundamentals never change. The church at its core is really simple…love God and love others…period.
4. Worship is all inclusive. It is the native language of all nations.
5. There are new songs, new ideas, and a freight train of creativity that this young generation has that is mind blowing and profound if we will just lean our ear and heart and listen. I will never be able to write, brainstorm, or create like them…but I will learn from them and give of myself to them so the earth and the church will be filled with them.
6. A leader will only be as good as they can follow.

There is a ton more but that’s good enough for now. Thanks for all of you who kept up with these Romania blogs and prayed. Below are some random pics from the last few days.

Chow for now

~Miriam

Leading worship during an evening rally

Giving a talk on raising up and mentoring the next generation

The Team

Me, April, Marta, and Shae

The guys had a European modeling shoot to do while we were there.

Me, April and Shae

Romania's only superhero

The Davis Dance: A must to learn!

Mu ah ah ah!!!

So we woke up at 6am today to head out to Sighisoara to site see. It’s a city that is over 900 years old.

The first 5 hours of the trip I was visited by the flu bug and was sick the first 5 hours of the trip. It finally wore off…thank God! It was HORRIBLE!!! 

We arrived in Sighisoara…it was breaktaking. The architecture and trees were amazing! Um…might I add the the drivers in Romania have incredible depth perception….I was given many chances of life on the drive let me just say that…”holy cow”! The one thing that was rather disturbing were all of the gypsy children that would not cease in asking us for anything to give to them. We were told that they are taught by age 3 to beg….these are the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen and to think that some of them have never had a bath…we were met by some of them when we got off the bus. One girl, maybe 6 years of age was smoking a cigarette. My heart was broken.

Afterwards grabbing lunch there….we hopped back in the bus and now we are in Brovau staying at a beautiful hotel where we had our debriefing dinner together. What a heartfelt and moving time. I am so thankful for the team. I will miss them sooo much!

This trip has been life changing and they have EVERYTHING to do with it. My departure from them will be sad. 

Afterwards we all played Dutch Blitz and had some good laughs….as always! We will head to Bucarest tomorrow where we will visit Dracula’s Castel….MU AH AH AH AH!!!!

Chow~Miriam

 

Kelli, Shae, April and me in Sighisoara

Heading out…

Hey ya’ll…

Haven’t written in 2 days….it’s been extremely busy having to close the conference and say our goodbyes.

Alot has gone but it’s really late and I don’t have the strength to go into it all now but I will.

All I can say to you is that I am overwhelmed at God’s goodness and that this has been and will continue to be life changing.

We leave early in the morning for a 7 hours drive to Sigasora which is home to Dracula’s Castle and then to Bukarest in which we will have 2 days to chill, debrief, and site see before we come home.

I will write when we get to Bukarest and provide with you with pictures, events, and even a SOUNDTRACK of all that went on this week.

Good night!

Chow~Miriam

Half your age plus 7

…is the conversation that circulates the Mac table tonight here in Romania….”it’s the universal age equation” an explaination of it from the wise Chris Briley….

The Mac table….ah now there’s a topic to talk about….what exactly is the purpose of this table?

Mmmm…let’s construct a list of the intellectual and spiritual ways this table has be of great service this week…

1. Morning prayer and meditation

2. Scripture memorization 

3. Father I Adore You in a round as our morning worship time

4. Daily Communion

5. And closing with Praise Reports

Below is a pic of us is spiritual action….

Just to give you insight into our special times together….Of coarse I’m teasing…

Anyways….It was another great day today….tomorrow (Thursday) is the last full day of the conference and Friday morning we have a morning session. 

Had the privilege of giving a talk in main session tonight…don’t ever do it much at all…gave a talk tonight on mentoring/raising up the next generation ….from the perspective of what the Romanians brought to the table today in our breakout sessions and feeling God press to address some of them….scarey…but I must say that it was quite a sobering experience tonight to really feel that I did nothing…yes I prepared (with the help of our incredible team to help me process out thoughts!) but He gave the power and He can only do that….humbling….again reminded that I can’t do anything…without Him…anything having spiritual and influential power….period. 

Feeling weird….feeling that I grew up tonight…

Marking night for me…

~Miriam

To read more….Go to the Recreaza Blog click here.

Riches I need not nor man’s empty praise…

….was a lyric in the hymn “Be Thou My Vision” that I have been listening to the past 2 days…it’s stirred up my spirit…love it….random I know but that’s me…

Anyways….Day 5…It was a beautiful night and day….

It was a long day, I will admit….Casey and I spoke this morning about Private Worship to the entire group and this afternoon Elliot and I did 2 sessions on Authority and Structure In The Church…personally, I have and am learning so much through communicating this stuff but as we listened to so many questions and situations that they are in  I got overwhelmed…I love problem solving and getting my hands in the dirt with people and process but this was overwhelming….

Tonight’s service was awesome! A sweet spirit and God just moved…..awestruck I was…

Set List was….

• Not To Us
• Mighty To Save
• Lead Me To The Cross
• Stronger

Awestruck at the presence of God and understanding that there is absolutely no substitute for it. The songs we sing, the church we build are just tools to facilitate the presence of God but they are not the presence of God. The weight of my responsibility to worship privately has rested on my heart all day….

A simple prayer really for my heart as a worship leader…

Father,

May I not save my most significant worship moments for the platform but only for those to be revealed to me when I am with You only.

Love you all!

Chow for now!

~Miriam

P.S. Davis won the iTunes music battle yesterday for those of you that are wondering (thought I would help Davis’ confidence a little)

Ohhh and stay tuned…nice little blog surprise tomorrow or the next day :)

First Day of Conference

After 2 1/2 days of catching up on rest, site seeing, getting to know the culture and eating GOOD food….and I thought I was going to lose weight on a “mission” trip…heck no! I will for sure come back 5-10lbs heavier

Anyways….after these past 2 days we settled our minds and centered our hearts to focus on the mission at hand for this week. Got up this morning and spent some time talking to God about tonight being our first full night of worship with leaders of a lot of churches in all of Romania. I just sensed God’s love and peace all day…even in the logistics and in our team dynamics….I could feel Him. 

All day we just got ready for tonight….the kick off of our worship conference. Had rehearsal, hung up signs, cleaned the chuch, prepped for communion and in the middle of that… had a music therapy session with Davis, Casey, and Phil as they took turns contesting who could play the most beautiful song in their iTunes ….it was amazing!!! I LOVE OUR TEAM!!

5:00 was registration and dinner with the Romanians and then into to a night of worship and communion to set the tone and heart for the week. I wept! I am finding healing, breath, and restoration in places that I didn’t know I needed on many different levels on this trip.

Conference Day 1 Set List:

• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
• Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone
• Hosanna
• It Is You

Came upstairs and watched a message from Francis Chan that just rocked my world….still processing it…processing many things in heart, mind, and spirit. Good times.

Love you all!

Chow for now~Miriam

Camelot or bust….out my pizants!

Hello friends!!

Another incredible day here in Timesora, Romania! Day 3, Sunday….This morning we lead worship here at the VOX with Marta, the worship leader here, during both of their services. Our worship set was Give Us Clean Hands (1/2 in Romanian  and 1/2 in English), Mighty To Save (1/2 in Romanian and 1/2 in English), and 2 other Romanian songs. I cried during the entire first service. Yes, it was awesome to hear the songs in a different language but it was the language and worship of the heart that rang out! The language of praise and adoration to our God…there is no language barrier when it comes to that! I was a mess!

Davis, Brad, Casey, Phil, Marta, me, and Elliot rehearsing before the services at the VOX Church.

Our team leading worship at the VOX Church.

 After church, Adi and Jili, the Pastors at the VOX took us out to eat to a restaraunt called Camelot….oh shoooooot!! We got our grub on!! It was amazing! Just picture yourself in Medieval times. They served all the food on a slab….pork, pig, steak, duck, liver, sausage, potatoes, french fries, fruit, and cabbage and you just dig in with your hands. So bibs and all…we got busy! We were stuffed! Friends, Food, Laughter and Romania….doesn’t get much better than that. Below is a sneak peek. 

A slab of heaven!

After lunch we came back and had some team time to prepare for the week to come. Had some cool starter conversations for our Breakout Sessions and awesome prayer time, communion, worship on the roof and closed the evening out with a brisk walk to McDonald’s, where we saw the largest Romanian dog ever! Why a dog gotta be Romanian? Are there Romanian dogs? Focus Miriam…..

Tomorrow is the start of a busy week….our first full day of the conference. Keep the prayers coming.

Lots of love from Romania!

Chow!~Miriam