Today’s “How He Loves” post is from Bianca Juarez. Bianca Juarez is a fireball. A fireball. A fire ball. I don’t know when, if ever, I’ve encountered someone whose light shone as bright. I met Bianca briefly at Catalyst West and have loved keeping up with her online, but can’t wait to have some more face time.

Find her blog here.

And her twitter her.

How He loves us, oh how He loves us.

How He loves us so…

The plane creaked loudly as we ascended into the clouds for a two-hour flight back to Los Angeles. To the left of me a thin Japanese man with wire-rimmed glasses neatly placed his feet on top of his black slip-on shoes. To the right of me a young, Midwest guy wore his sunglasses inside the plane and ordered a BudLight before takeoff. I hate sitting in the middle seat, I said to myself as we reached cruising altitude.

The Japanese man smiled and slightly bowed his head, an action I knew indicated a greeting. I spoke the few Japanese phrases I knew. He spoke the few English phrases he knew. And, please don’t ask me why, I spoke louder and slower as if he was losing his hearing like all Americans do when speaking to foreigners.

The pilot came on the PA and interrupted our hand gestures and hilarious communication tactics to inform us we were approaching heavy turbulence. (more…)

Today’s “How He Loves” post is from Sarah Markley. I met Sarah at Blissdom. And when she heard I’d been in Orange County for Catalyst West, she told me to stay with her, her husband Chad, and their two daughters, Hope (8) and Naomi (4). They took me in and became my California family. Words can not describe how much I love Sarah. She is the kind of friend that you spend years searching for, but that divinely appears in your moment of need.

Read more about Sarah’s marriage crisis and recovery here.

Find her blog here.

And her twitter here.

Look at the way my four-year-old looks at her father. Study it.

I have been all morning.

He, by no means, is an infallible father. He yells once in awhile, and sometimes he forgets. But in that moment, in the instant she rested in his arms, and the shutter closed, there was nothing but the two of them.

He is telling her jokes.

She’s grabbing at his face and trying to make him laugh.

The moment is pregnant with words about to be said. Something is on her lips, a laugh? A word? I don’t remember even though I’m the one snapping photos with furious speed. (more…)

So thankful to have Tam Hodge, aka @inprogress, sharing today.

I started following Tam on twitter awhile back and finally had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband Brent in February when they were in town for ReCreate. I instantly knew that she was someone I needed to know better. I sure hope she felt the same way, because she is going to have a hard time shaking me.

Find Tam’s blog here.

And her twitter here.

1987, 16 1/2 years old, i sat in an abortion clinic in southern california. alone and frightened. i didn’t show it. i couldn’t show it. i wouldn’t show it.

i no longer lived at home with my family. i had to be the big girl now. i had do the right thing. i had to look out for me.

at all costs. (more…)

A couple of months ago, my friend Stephen Brewster sent me John Mark McMilllan’s “Skeleton Bones” single. Ever since, I have been slightly obsessed with John Mark McMillan and his song “How He Loves.”

Later when Integrity Music released the official “How He Loves” single, they created a video of John Mark sharing the story behind the song.

I’ve watched it literally a dozen times.

And I’m still trying to digest the meaning behind his emotional words…

Love can be such a non-word sometimes. It loses its meaning, its potency. You know, like? I really love a cheeseburger. And then…I really love a sunny day. And…I really love my family. None of those loves are remotely the same. They are totally different things…

The love that I am singing about in that song is not a pretty, clean, Hollywood, hot-pink love. It is the kind of love that is willing to love things that are messy, difficult, and gross.

Click here to watch the whole video.

Words that are a beautiful testament to how God loves us so incomprehensibly, so uniquely, so powerfully, so messily. (more…)

These days most of my vacations are described one of two ways… as an “exciting adventure” or as some “quality time with friends and family.”

You know the kind? The kind where you set out each morning prepared to conquer the day? The kind where you see how many people, places, and things you can stuff in before time elapses and you suddenly find yourself transported back to the real world? The kind where post-vacation you have to drag yourself out of bed because you are more exhausted than before you left? The kind where the only feasible way to recover from your vacation is another vacation?

But after my crazy Spring, I knew that I needed to try something different. I knew I needed to find a way to put “relaxing” back into my vacation. (more…)

For the first time in a few years, I am living ALONE.

As a single extroverted girl in my thirties, ALONE is a word I’ve learned to…well…dread.

You know? As in, “I’ll be attending the wedding ALONE.” “Do you want to meet before church? I hate walking in ALONE.” “I went to the movie ALONE.”

But I am finding that ALONE is just what I need.

It’s what I need to appreciate all the wonderful people in my life. And it’s what I need if I am going to get better acquainted with me.

So…for the first time, in a long time, ALONE doesn’t feel isolated or LONELY.

ALONE feels just right.

How are you at being ALONE?

It is CRAZY how many “church” songs I know. (Guess all those years in “sunday school”, youth group, summer camp, Young Life, and K-Life paid off?)

Most days the songs simply lay dormant in my head. But sometimes I read or hear something – a verse, a quote, a conversation – that awakens them. And the lyrics start stirring around like agitated bumble bees.

So earlier this week when I these words by John Ortberg in The Me I Want to Be,

“God’s plan is not just for us to be saved by grace – it is for us to live by grace. God’s plan is for my daily life to be given, guided, guarded, and energized by the grace of God. To live in grace is to flow in the Spirit.”

“The only way to become the person God made you to be is to live with the Spirit of God flowing through you like a river of living water.”

this song started madly buzzing around in my head. (more…)

Last night I started reading John Ortberg’s The Me I Want to Be. I am one chapter in…and already LOVING this book.

Ortberg began by answering questions I didn’t even know I had. (He’s that smart.)

For instance, I didn’t realize I was having a hard time discerning what a more Godly Lindsey looked like. (I know you probably all figured this out a long time ago. But give me a break, I’m a slow learner.)

And I was having a really hard time with this. Don’t get me wrong…I want to be holy. But I so don’t want to be “holier than thou.” (more…)