Hannah's Tea Room

Some general thoughts:

The mystery of who God is has been something the world has talked about since the beginning of time.

This is the way I used to think of God: If I was good, God loved me. If I was bad, God didn’t love me. In my mind, God was the scorekeeper. So I was always watching my back, trying not to do anything wrong, getting stressed out if I did anything bad, etc. It was not very much fun. I was constantly going around with a feeling of guilt, like I was the worst person in the world, wondering how God could ever love me because I could never seem to be good enough.

I don’t really know when the shift happened. I know that when I was a teenager I started questioning God and wanting to know if what I had been taught was even true. So I started on this journey of looking for God. And there’s this cool part in the Bible where God is talking to the people in Israel, who he had kind of adopted, and he said, “You will look for me and you will find me, if you look for me with all of your heart.”

So I did that, and eventually this shift happened in my thinking, where I figured out that God wasn’t really up there just waiting for me to make a mistake so he could get all mad at me. The Bible is really full of stories. It’s like 90% narrative. And reading those stories about how God interacted with people showed me that the view I had of God was kind of skewed. For example, the people in Israel, the ones God loved and took care of etc, they kept turning away from him. They decided they liked all these other gods better, but that was dumb because these gods weren’t even real. So that’s like a slap in God’s face, but he still loved them. Sometimes he punished them, but he did it because he loved them so much and wanted them to be close to him.

So reading about that made me realize that is how God is with us. That even though we do stupid stuff, and we get in trouble for that, God still loves us. In fact, he is so completely and utterly in love with us. I mean, he made us. We’re like his kids so of course he loves us.

That epiphany completely changed my life. I personally respond better to positive encouragement than negative. So figuring out that God loved me that much no matter what I did, was way better motivation to do the right thing. Because I wanted to make him proud.
So God to me is love. He’s love and he’s a life-giver and he makes my life worth living. That’s who God is to me.

What do you think? Who is God to you?

I love that everyone has different aspects of God that they love. I also think though, that sometimes people have a different and maybe skewed view of God.

There’s this story about 3 blind guys who were trying to describe an elephant. One guy was feeling the elephant’s leg and so he described the elephant as a tree. One guy was feeling the trunk so he described the elephant like a water hose. One guy was feeling the tail and described the elephant like a rope. And that story makes me laugh because I wonder what the elephant was thinking that whole time. And if he was like, “Dude, you’re right, but you still have no idea! You’re missing out on all of me!”

I sort of think God is like that. He’s up there saying, “No, this is the real me! I wish you could see.” But the difference between an elephant and God is that God has the ability to let us see. He wants us to see him for who he is, and he’ll show us. We just have to ask him and look for him. Because when we look for him with our whole heart, when we’re consumed with wanting to know who God is…that’s when we’ll find him.

Experience God.

My little sister wrote this on the back of two receipts. I think it captures the concept of "true love."

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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

He wants me. He will accept me. I am not condemned.

How. How could he love me? I don't deserve it. I break promises, I think mean thoughts towards people, I slack off. I am a human. Despicable.

Therefore. There. Is. Now. No. Condemnation. For. Those. Who. Are. In. Christ. Jesus.

He loves me. Without condition. Unconditional? Wow.

What wondrous love is this? A love so perfect? I don't understand. Why? Doesn't he get tired of loving a human race that is so imperfect, so fickle, so perverse?

Therefore! There! Is! Now! No! Condemnation! For! Those! Who! Are! In! Christ! Jesus!

[part 2]

He loves us.
We break His heart.
He loves us.
We turn our backs.
He loves us.
We put him in a closet.
He loves us.
We hang him on a cross.
He loves us.
We persecute his lost sheep.
He loves us.
We say, "There is no God."
He loves us.

What can separate us from His love?
Nothing.
Absolutely Nothing.
Romans 8:38-39

You love me!
When I break Your heart,
and turn my back,
and put You in a closet,
and hang You on a cross!
and persecute your lost sheep,
and say, "There is no God."

Thank You for loving me then.
Thank You for loving me now.
Thank You for loving me tomorrow.
And forever.

He loves me.

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God is especially fond of you. In fact, he is desperately, emphatically, and completely in love with you.

Even if you tell him he doesn't exist. Even if you decide you don't care. Even if you know what's right and choose to do wrong. He loves you.

So why do things go wrong? A father will discipline the child he loves. But he does it to teach the child the best way to live.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can get to God except through me."

He didn't mean that one religion is better than all the other religions. He meant that following him is the best possible way to live. You can't have true and full life without him. You can't get to God without him. He's the best way.

Thinking about how much God loves me makes me want to love him back just as much. His love is irresistable.

"There was a time when sex was a clean shaven gentleman. Mature, dignified, bearing roses, and speaking in poetic rhymes. There was a time when sex worked humbly and selflessly to bring about something good, pleasurable, fun, noble and pleasing to God..."

I get so sad at how different the society views sex today. It is no longer a selfless, holy act. It is now an impulse, a fleeting thought, meant only to bring a moment's pleasure.

"To the world, Purity seems puny. It smells bad, it looks geeky, and it is non-desirable. But to the select few who see Purity as it truly is, Purity is a noble strength, a deep passion, a white brilliance."

People seek great sex. But I think that most don't realize that great sex requires great purity. It requires the patience and self-control to wait for that one person you'll spend your entire life with. It requires the willingness to lay aside personal desires and wait for that marriage covenant between you, your spouse, and God.

"Righteousness and peace kiss each other." Psalm 85 paints a picture in our mind describing how closely holiness and peace are entwined. How could we ever have peace with God with sin separating us? You know the feeling...that knot in your gut when you do something wrong. Maybe you've gotten good at ignoring it. But you'll never truly feel at peace until you make it right. Until you seek that righteousness.

One of my favorite things about God is that he loves us no matter what we do. But darkness and light can't mix. Even if light wanted to, it's physically impossible to mix with darkness. No matter how much God wants to be close to us, our personal darkness can't allow it. So we get rid of the darkness in order to be close to God...because he loves us. Not to make him love us, like some believe.

Purity...holiness...sacred...righteousness....to many those look downright unappealing. But to the few who have experienced closeness with God, those things are a means to something more wonderful and exciting than anything this world has to give us. In the end, the world only takes. It takes our peace. It takes our hope and joy.

I want to raise the bar. I want sex to become that gentleman again. I want purity to become something so desirable that people fight for it. Anything worth having is worth fighting for. And believe me....it's definitely a fight...there's a raging battle inside me and sometimes I'm not quite sure which side will win. But then I see what the end will entail and it takes my breath away. So I'll wait, I'll fight, and I won't ever quit.
~Hannah
(quotes from Meet Mr. Smith by Eric and Leslie Ludy)
www.thenewlifecommunity.com

My interview at the Cheesecake Factory was pretty intense. They didn't just ask me questions about my past serving experience. They asked about my leadership abilities, how my past life experiences qualified me for being a good leader, what my weaknesses were and how I was working on changing them, etc. It definitely wasn't like any secular job interview I've ever had! And then they got to the one question that has consumed my life for the past seven years: "Do you think that one person can change the world?"

Do I believe that one person can change the world? So much depth in one question. To say no brings a hopeless feeling of reality to the chest of anyone who hears it. But to say yes means that you now have great things expected of you. To say yes means that you yourself can change the world. You are not just a person, going through life, only to die and end up in the dirt. Oh no, my friend. You are a legacy. You plan to do extraordinary things.

It's a hard question. It's a hard answer. Because to say yes means you have to do something to back it up.

I love the story of Esther. She was a Jewish orphan girl, living in exile with her cousin in a society that looked down on women. Yet through this amazing series of events, she becomes queen and ends up doing impossible things in order to save her people from annihilation. One girl faced death and saved a nation. If this girl, in an impossible society and impossible situation can do all that...why can I? Why can't we?

Do I believe that one person can change the world. The answer would be a resounding yes. With all my heart and soul, I do believe that one person can do extraordinary things. I do believe that one person can change a society, a nation, the entire world.

I know what you're thinking. How? How do you propose to do this impossible thing? The world is too big for one person! Good question. That's what I've been trying to figure out for seven years. Here's what I've come up with (with a little help from Dr. Arnett at CBC):

Let's say you, as a disciple of Christ, took one whole year to pour into one person. Teach them about life, about God, about community, about love, about death, about Christ...after one whole year, including yourself, you would have two disciples of Christ. Let's say that next year, you and that other person each poured into someone else. At the end of that year, you would have a total of four people who loved God. If this kept happening, if each year this doubled, at the end of 5 years you would have a community of 32 disciples of Christ. It may not seem like much. But if this kept happening, at the end of 20 years you would have a community of one million, forty-eight thousand, five hundred seventy-six people who loved Jesus with all their heart.

Did you hear that? ONE MILLION, FORTY-EIGHT THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIX PEOPLE!

And all that started with one person.

Imagine if each of us did this....

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....

....okay sorry, I quit breathing for a second. Because to picture that many people on fire for God is the most amazing thing I can think of.

So yes. I do believe one person can change the world. I'm doing it right now. One person at a time. What about you? Do you believe one person can change the world? What are you going to do about it?

~Hannah

www.thenewlifecommunity.com

I am a social tea drinker. I really can't even help myself. I'll try to drink tea by myself, in the privacy of my own home, but somehow the whole effect is lost. The great thing about tea is not the taste (although it is one of the best things in the world), but the togetherness that tea brings. Drinking tea brings warmth and exotic conversation. It brings talk of England and China, where tea traditions first started. It brings a kind of connection with people that used to be common, but now has been lost. "Tea time" used to be a time where shops would close and work would cease. Everyone would go share in one hour of togetherness, brought together by this simple hot drink.

Yes, I love tea. But I want to create a new way of drinking this old concoction. I want to bring back the fellowship and the togetherness. I want to take you into my home and offer you warmth. Well, metaphorically speaking. Let this blog be my own personal tea room, where people can come and share thoughts and ideas and dreams. Let it be a place to travel to new horizons, places that are bigger than ourselves. Let this blog be a place where nothing is impossible for those who are willing to dream of changing the world. Because those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world...are the ones who do. Will you join me in this quest? Will you join me in dreaming big and doing hard things? This is my tea room...a place of new beginnings. A place where things happen.

~Hannah

(Visit www.thenewlifecommunity.com for more ways to change the world.)