A Sacred Romance in the Deeper Places of Our Hearts

“The inner life, the story of our heart, is the life of the deep places within us, our passions and dreams, our fears and our deepest wounds. It is the unseen life, the mystery within – what Buechner calls our “shimmering self.” It cannot be managed like a corporation. The heart does not respond to principles and programs; it seeks not efficiency, but passion. Art, poetry, beauty, mystery, ecstasy: These are what rouse the heart. Indeed, they are the language that must be spoken if one wishes to communicate with the heart. It is why Jesus so often taught and related to people by telling stories and asking questions. His desire was not just to engage their intellects but to capture their hearts. Indeed, if we will listen a Sacred Romance calls to us through our heart every moment of our lives. It whispers to us on the wind, invites us through the laughter of good friends, reaches out to us through the touch of someone we love. We’ve heard it in our favorite music, sensed it at the birth of our first child, been drawn to it while watching the shimmer of a sunset on the ocean. The Romance is even present in times of great personal suffering: the illness of a child, the loss of a marriage, the death of a friend. Something calls to us through experiences like these and rouses an inconsolable longing deep within our heart, wakening in us a yearning for intimacy, beauty, and adventure. This longing is the most powerful part of any human personality. It fuels our search for meaning, for wholeness, for a sense of being truly alive. However we may describe this deep desire, it is the most important thing about us, our heart of hearts, the passion of our life. And the voice that calls to us in this place is none other than the voice of God.”

Many years ago, during a time of midlife crisis, God graciously broke through into my soul.  Early one morning after a night of fitful sleep, I began to see a vision of my heart at two levels.  The crevices of the deeper region were mostly packed in with decades of debris.  On top of this hard crust, I had piled on the outer workings of my daily life: wife, home school mother of 10, homemaker, church member, writer, and other duties.  I realized that even in my spiritual life of Scripture study and prayer (which have been so very valuable), I often live in the “oughts” and not from true desire or spiritual passion. Then, up from the bottom of the heart, a healing fountain burst forth and washed away all of the debris and the crust. I was to live from the deeper places of my heart, cleansed and refreshed. I wasn't to live by checklists, but responsively in a vibrant relationship with God. As I wrote these newer insights into my journal, the crust to the deeper places started to crack open. Visiting a friend later that day, I tried to put into words what I felt God was saying to me. Her mouth dropped open, and she ran to get a book she had just started reading. I flipped through the pages, and my mouth dropped open. Everything I had just tried to say, everything I had just written in my own journal, I found on the pages of the book she handed to me, The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. The quote above is from a chapter by Brent Curtis.

When I included this quote in an article I wrote back in July 2006, a friend at the church we were attending then wasn't too pleased that I would refer positively to a book by co-author John Eldredge. She even e-mailed the pastors to ask them to keep an eye on me.  Well, I guess that's one way of getting attention! ;-) I found it ironic a few years later to find the exact same quote in a book called One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God by Sam Storms, an author whose books were promoted in the pulpit and sold in the church bookstore. I'm not saying I agree with everything that Eldredge has ever written, but this quote from that book reached deep inside of me at such a critical moment in my life.  It was like a life line thrown to a drowning woman, and certainly a milestone in a complete paradigm shift that was taking place in my life then. This and many other things eventually led to us leaving that church last year. And the quote, which was from a chapter by Brent Curtis, still speaks to me. A friend shared a different quote from The Sacred Romance on Facebook this morning, and it brought my own favorite quote from it back to mind. I'm so glad that I took the opportunity to go back and read it, think about it, and share it in a few places. I know I will be pondering on it more in the days to come, and I hope you will, too.

Life is not a dry system, folks. It's not even all about rooting out the sin in our lives so that we can be acceptable to God and others.  It's not about rules of hierarchy and control and spiritual authority.  It's not about religion.  It's not about sharing pat spiritual band-aid answers with friends who are hurting. 

It's about experiencing the 

  beauty...

   grace...

    healing...

     liberty...

      hope...

       authenticity...

        acceptance...

         and LOVE...

...all from our heavenly Father, offered through Jesus.  

No one can do that for you. No one can write your life script for you. No one can ever know you and love you like God does. If like me, it feels like that kind of life has been quenched out of you again, maybe it is time to sit and soak in it once more?

If these words resonate with you, please read my poems It Became to Me a Dark Thing and This Is My Song and I Sing. 

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

Samaritan Ministries: Affordable Alternative to Health Insurance

SAMARITAN MINISTRIES

Affordable Alternative to Health Insurance

Samaritan Ministries has been such a help to us in the 7 years we have been members.  It is a Christian health cost sharing program with 16,500+ members that saves us a huge amount of money every month.  Basically, whenever we have a qualifying medical expense of $300 or more, we are reimbursed by other members of the program.  

We have never had a problem with this in all of the claims we have sent.  We have also been able to ask for cash discounts from health care providers, which in some cases (as in Florida Hospital emergency room) can be as much as 40%. 

The cost is only $320 per month for a two-parent family, $200 for a single-parent family, $270 for couples, and $135 for singles.  

There are optional programs for those who want coverage in excess of the usual lifetime maximum, or for those who want coverage for injuries that are a result of auto accidents.  We participate in both of these.

Samaritan Ministries is ideal for overseas missionaries, since you do not have to use doctors within a certain plan or location.

I understand that members of Samaritan Ministries will be exempt from mandatory health insurance when ObamaCare kicks in.

For more information, visit their web site at  http://www.samaritanministries.org/  They do have a referral bonus, so if you sign up, please list Virginia Knowles as the one who told you about it!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

Pineapple Pie in Pictures

Dear friends,


For my daughter's home school graduation banquet last week (see 

Joanna's Graduation in Pictures), each of the students brought their favorite dessert.   We made pineapple pie, which I've been fixing for my family for at least 20 years!  And it really is "as easy as pie"!

Just thoroughly mix these first three ingredients in a bowl: 1 pint sour cream, a 15 ounce can of crushed pineapple, and a small box of vanilla pudding.  Pour into graham cracker pie crust.  (You will have some left over. If you make two batches of filling, you will have enough for three pie shells.) Chill.  How simple is that?  

(Yeah, we have to label food that we are saving for special recipes -- or someone will snack on it!  And we use store brands nearly all the time; Great Value is from Walmart and we've never had a problem with it.  We also shop at Aldi.)


If you're going somewhere, take the plastic insert that comes in the pie crust package, rinse off the residue, turn it over, and use it for a lid!






If you don't want to buy a prepared graham cracker crust, you can make your own with graham cracker crumbs and melted butter, lightly baked in the oven.  (See more instructions for a homemade graham cracker crust here: Christmas Brunch and Dinner Menus, Plus Pineapple Pie Recipe) Or you can skip the crust and just make the filling, serving in parfait glasses layered with whipped cream if you want to get all fancy schmancy!


If you like recipes, especially for large families, check out  my Recipe page. 


Bon appetit!


Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

Here Comes the Sun!

Dear friends,


My husband left the house early this morning so he could meet his friend George for breakfast at McDonalds, as they often do.  Shortly after he left, he called to tell me that as he was driving out of our neighborhood, he was struck by how the sun seemed like a radiant orange ball.  He knows I like these kinds of things!  I told him I would be sure to poke my head out the door -- with my camera of course.  The sun was still so low on the horizon that I couldn't see it well from in front of our house, so I ran back inside for my van keys and drove over to the neighborhood elementary school, where I've gotten some of my best sunrise shots while on my morning walks.



I took some of the shots with my digital camera, but it was low on battery, so I also pulled out my iPod which has a camera on it.   A little editing brought out the natural colors.

The day is yours, and yours also the night; 

you established the sun and moon.  Psalm 74:16

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; 

for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 

to give his people the knowledge of salvation 

through the forgiveness of their sins, 

because of the tender mercy of our God, 

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 

to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the path of peace. Luke 1:76-79

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, 

the name of the LORD is to be praised.  Psalm 113:3

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, 

‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, 

and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.   Matthew 5:43-45

While we are at it, a few of my other recent sun photos...

This next shot was is at the same place as the ones above, just through thick fog. What a difference the atmosphere makes!  You can see more of the fog shots here: Friday Favorites #7 - and Emerging from the Fog

These next photos were all within a mile from my home, snapped either on my morning walk or while out on errands.  Yes, I will pull my van over to the side of the road to get a good picture!

You can see another of the cloud shots here: 

Friday Favorites #8: A Potpourri of Beauty and Grace

Oh, one more!  This is from last year, but the blog post that it's in (Morning Walk) still gets regular visits since the photo often shows up on Google image searches.

So there you have it!   It's been a good start to my morning!  And now, since most of the younger kids aren't up yet, I'm going to watch a little bit of the Gospel in Life DVD by Tim Keller on my laptop.  I borrowed it a while ago, and haven't watched it yet.  Another good way to start the morning!  You might have seen me write about his book Generous Justice before on this blog, such as in this post: Weekend Gratitude: Just Beauty and this one, too: Even More Weekend Gratitude.  Coincidentally, each of these posts has a lot of nature pictures, too!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com


P.S. I did watch four of the eight 10 minute segments of Gospel in Life this morning!  Good stuff!  

Joanna's Graduation in Pictures

Dear friends,



My daughter Joanna graduated from high school on Saturday.  It actually doesn't seem like she was a high school student to me, since she started dual enrollment in a local college in the fall of 2009 and just got back from a three month mission trip to Italy five weeks ago!





The Regent Academy, the home school enrollment program of Metro Life Church, had 18 graduates this year.   It was our fourth TRA graduation. 





The festivities started out with a masquerade themed banquet on Friday evening.  Each grad gave a little speech about their parents, and some, like Joanna, gave tribute to grandparents and/or siblings, too.  Very sweet!

The families each signed up for tasks.  Mine was the 24 page commencement ceremony bulletin, since I had done that the year Julia graduated.  It was quite time consuming compiling biographical information from all of the graduates and laying it out.  We decided on a "vintage typewriter" theme.  Not to mention that I stapled and folded nearly all 200 of them by myself!

Here is what Joanna's page said - and I hope you can see the funky old typewriter font! 

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." 1 Corinthians 13:7, 8a

 Random Fact:  Joanna was yanked into a Congo line at Carnavale in Italy while wearing four-inch stilettos and dressed as a mime, complete with all-out white face paint. 

 Accomplishments:   Joanna excelled in her high school courses and earned a Bright Futures Scholarship. She attended Valencia Community College for three semesters (top of the class in Composition II), sold out at the VCC Art Sale, and had her photography published in the 2010 Phoenix Edition after being awarded 3rd place in the FCCPAM Competition. She went on mission trips to Niceville, FL and the Dominican Republic, was part of a ministry to Japanese exchange students, and volunteered with Orlando Children's Church. Most recently, she worked as a Project Photographer to save up for her move to Italy from February-May 2011, where she taught ESL in the town of Chiavari, made many friends, traveled, and started learning Italian.

 Aspirations:   Joanna will work as a Disney photographer (she starts on Tuesday!) while finishing her A.A. Degree and then plans to either go to UCF to pursue a B.A. in Visual Arts (with a Minor in Linguistics) or to go to Daytona State to earn an A.S. in Photographic Technology. Long-term, she would like to have a family, become fluent in Italian, and continue in missions and the arts.

 Note to Parents:  Dad, thank you for challenging me to be my best and for living out being faithful in little as well as in much. Mom, thank you for raising me to value compassion, truth, and literature. You both have not simply stayed by me, but you have guided me with your sacrificial prayer and love. Cliché words, but they are true and are backed up by countless, specific memories. I pretty much love you. Keep the life advice coming… I'm only partially around the block. xo, Jo. (P.S. HI GRANDPA AND GRANDMA!!)

Each of the graduates also set up a display table with a photo board about themselves.  Joanna's had a lot of pictures from her trip to Italy. (You can see more at www.abbondanzadivita.blogspot.com.)

My parents (pictured here with my oldest daughter Mary) flew down from Maryland on Friday afternoon.

Our MC, Jordan Bellamy, is a young man who is well known to most of the graduates.  He did an awesome job, especially with his wacky sense of humor.  His concluding prayer for the graduates was very sweet, too.

Our commencement speaker John Stemberger,  president of the Florida Family Policy Council, counseled the students to learn to stand alone and speak truth to power.   Many of the graduates already knew him since he is a member of Metro Life.  He is also internationally known as the attorney who represented Rifqa Bary, the teenager who fled from her Muslim family when she converted to Christianity.  John and his wife, who home school their  children, have been friends of our family for many years.

The graduates were all seated on the stage.  When each one's name was called, the parents would join them up there while the MC read a few facts about the grad, then a slide show played with audio of the parents talking about their child.  After that, the dad handed the diploma (a mock copy) to his child and the mom moved the tassle.  A hug or two, pose for a picture, then on to the next student!

Congratulations, Joanna!

Four Knowles grads down, six to go!  

Blessings, 

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

Baked Oatmeal for a Crowd ~ Plus Teen Missions Memories

Dear friends,


Can you imagine fixing breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner for 30+ hungry teens every day for almost 2 months straight -- in a borrowed kitchen in a foreign country where you couldn't be guaranteed of a reliable food supply?   The thought simply boggles me now, but to be honest, I didn't give much thought to it when I was one of the hungry teens wolfing down the food on Teen Missions teams in the summers of 1979 (Scotland) and 1980 (Israel).   At least our teams weren't stationed in jungles like many of them were, and we did bring a lot of our food with us in industrial size cans and boxes.  But may I express a little retro gratitude for our team cooks?  And a recipe?

Someone on one of the Teen Missions Facebook boards kindly posted a recipe for the baked oatmeal that all of us chowed down not only "on the field" but also at the jungle boot camp in Merritt Island, Florida.  Of course, the recipe feeds a crowd, making 30 servings.  And I made the full amount yesterday, partly from nostalgia, and partly because I have a huge family and need thrifty, kid-pleasing recipes.   As of the end of breakfast time this morning, most of it was already gone.  Really.  Think seconds, thirds...  My little grandson Jacob enjoyed some as finger food, too.  I'm not sure why it had a slightly buttery flavor, but it did!  It does not hold together like a piece of cake; it is more crumbly than that. I could probably cut out some of the sugar, but I wasn't measuring that very carefully anyway.  I used brown sugar, and we also added a little vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg to ours. You can divide the recipe by 5 for smaller families, or you can make the whole amount and save it for quick breakfasts or midnight snacks.  I have included measurements for the smaller amount in [ ] marks for the math challenged among us.

Baked Oatmeal - 30 servings

Mix together:

• 2 1/2 cups oil  [1/2 cup]

• 5 cups white or brown sugar [1 cup]

• 10 eggs, beaten [2 eggs]

Add and mix:

• 10 tsp. baking powder [2 tsp.]

• 5 tsp. salt [1 tsp.]

• 15 cups oatmeal [3 cups]

• 5 cups milk [1 cup]

Bake in three 9"x13" baking pans for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Serve and pour on a little warm milk, if desired.

Now a word about my experiences with Teen Missions...



I was 15 when I went away to a weekend missions conference with the youth group from Timonium Presbyterian Church in the fall of 1978.  A fairly new believer, I was filled with enthusiasm for sharing my faith, and being of Scottish descent, I was excited that Teen Missions had scheduled a few teams to go to Scotland the following summer.  I signed up for the Scotland Bike Evangelism team and then started raising money from relatives and friends at church.  I guess I wasn't aware how hilly Scotland is when I signed up for that bike team!  I was by far the slowest member of the group, which I know caused untold frustration to everyone else!  But it was a life changing experience for me.  


The next summer, I signed up for a construction team in the Arabic section of Nazareth, Israel.  That's me in the white T-shirt with a hoe that we were using to hack out dirt from the hillside before building footers and steel frames for pouring concrete walls.  Again, it certainly wasn't the best fit for me physically, especially since I suffered some joint injuries in a car accident shortly before the team started.  But we got the job done, working together, each one doing what they could.  I still fondly remember visiting Biblical landmarks in Nazareth, Capernaum, Jersusalem and the Garden Tomb.  Amazing! I was baptized in the Sea of Galilee, too. I later moved to Florida to go to college near a boy I had met on the Israel team, but that is another story. 


The Lord's Boot Camp in Florida where we were trained for two weeks featured a strenuous obstacle course, which included running through the jungle, scaling a 10 foot wall (with the help of teammates), climbing the big rope Jacob's Ladder, swinging over a "slough" on a rope, and more.  We ate our meals sitting under the trees, and washed our dishes in our own net bags.  At night we hiked out to our campsites by flashlight beam, slept in tents that never quite kept out all of the mosquitoes or steamy air, and brushed our teeth using water from the pump.  The smell of sulphur instantly brings back memories of the water!  We swam in a pond that had who knows what else swimming in it. Ice and air conditioning were unheard of.  (The boot camp has since been modernized and has more comfort and conveniences. I'm not sure that's a good thing, since it was supposed to be preparing us for hardship overseas!)  We had our DQT (Daily Quiet Time) every morning, during which we memorized Bible verses for our weekly Scripture drill competitions.  If a King James Version verse ever comes to mind, I know it's from one of those little card packets!  Each team also had a box of Christian books and missionary biographies, which had quite an effect on me and my life goals.   If we broke a rule, we received "Special Blessings" in the form of extra character-building chores.   :-)  At the end of Boot Camp, the hundreds of teens were commissioned for service all over the world in a moving candle-lit service.  Even though those summers were very challenging for me, I am grateful for the lifetime impact and the sweet memories.


Somehow I survived both summers and grew more than I can tell you just from learning how to serve God and get along with other people.  (OK, I'm still working on that one...  I can be pretty difficult at times.) Since then I've always had a heart for world missions.  I am very grateful that my four older daughters have caught that love, too.  (See my Missions page.)   Between them, they have spent about 11 months on assorted mission trips in Bolivia, Italy, the Dominican Republic, and the USA.  One daughter works for Wycliffe Bible Translators and just finished editing a missionary book yesterday.  I trust that some of my younger six children will also get involved overseas as the years roll by.


I still have my Teen Missions song book, too, filled with old favorites like "Victory in Jesus", "The Greatest Thing in All My Life", and "Soon and Very Soon."


"Victory in Jesus"
by Burl Ives

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.

O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood. 

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory. 


O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood. 



Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com


P.S. Join this week's fun at Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays and link your own recipe!

Julia and Alex are engaged!

Dear friends,


I'll write more later, but I just wanted to share the great news that my second daughter Julia is engaged to Alex Corbett.  They are planning a fall wedding.  Here are two pictures I snapped on my iPod camera at their engagement party last Saturday.


Alex actually surprised her, which is no small feat since she is so observant.  He told her he was going to the beach with friends overnight.  She was staying the night with his sister Hannah, getting ready for their friend Rachel's wedding this coming weekend.  The next morning, Hannah suggested that they take a trip to the produce market on Park Avenue which is a ritzy area in Winter Park.  Alex had decorated a gazebo there with dozens of beautiful flowers and two pots full of plants.  Then when he knew she was there, he called her and told her to come on over, then went down on one knee and proposed.  Of course she said YES!  Hannah stayed at a discrete distance to photograph the occasion.


Julia and Alex met at church as teenagers several years ago.  They have been best friends for about four years, have been on mission trips to Bolivia, and work for the same company -- so this engagement has been a long time in the making!


Congratulations, Alex and Julia!


Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com