Hey Reader!

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Happy April 10th! It's hard to believe we're a third of the way through this month already. My garden is growing! Recently a lady stopped by my house, rang my doorbell, and wanted to talk gardening! We're going to have tea sometime soon. How fun to meet a new friend!

I hope this Thurs-yay finds you joyful. Perhaps you need prayer? You can skip to the bottom of this post and be prayed for immediately. Or you can listen to today's episode of Pray Every Day, where I'll pray for you!

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I could use some prayer, too.

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• Pray for my sleep.
• Pray for me as I try to care for an aging loved one.
• Pray for insight in what to take off my plate.
• Pray for wisdom about what to do about the writing intensives. It looks like I won't be able to do them this year, but perhaps next year? I'm really grieving not coaching writers in Switzerland.

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Thank you so much, Reader, for praying for me. I appreciate your kindhearted prayers on behalf of me and my family.

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Super fun announcement!

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Did you know I'm representing a movie about Jesus? It's going to be amazing. Light of the World releases in September, and I'm representing all the book related products. Be watching for a local theater--there will be at least 1800 screens the movie will release on.

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It gives my missionary heart so much joy to represent this project created by a ministry and animated so beautifully. Why? Because once it releases worldwide in India, North, Central, and South America, the ministry will be giving the movie to the world for translation.

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Think of it as The Prince of Egypt and the Jesus Film had a baby. Be praying for the release of this special movie. The official trailer released earlier this week. Here it is:

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Lenten Art

“For evil men will lose their power, but the Lord sustains the godly.” Psalm 37:17
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This drawing/painting came to me quickly, which is not always the case when I am trying to come up with a metaphor. Although evil folks appear to be strong, leafy trees, they are rotting from the inside out, and eventually their folly (unless they turn away from their predation) will reveal itself.

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In the meantime, God flourishes us as we take step after step of quiet obedience. We will grow. Our souls will reach heavenward. We will grow fruit. And we, by God’s grace, will be a blessing to our world.

Way:

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(NOTE: this article came from my new Substack account. If you'd like this kind of long form essay content on a weekly basis, you can subscribe here).

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Silence or Silenced

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Way back when, I started ministry in my twenties with speaking. And although it was difficult, there came a time when I felt led to share my testimony, which meant I talked about my upbringing and my se*ual abuse story.

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Two responses greeted me.

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Silence and silenced.

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Most people in the 90s were not accustomed to vulnerability from the stage. They were stunned to silence, not knowing how to react. But it was the ministry leader in the back of the room that looked horrified. Why would I say such things?

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Mind you, I was not explicit in any way. I shared my story in fairly veiled terms. And I was sure to give Jesus so much glory because he truly rescued me from an untenable situation.

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Back then, this level of frank honesty was a shock to most.

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Except this: many women came up to me after I spoke. Quietly, with tears, and much trepidation, they spilled their stories. They thought they were the only ones. They hadn’t every let out their story; this was their first time. I felt grateful for the privilege of shedding light on my difficult story because it meant others no longer felt alone.

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…

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Once my husband shared a vulnerable story from a stage. Thankfully, this group of people welcomed it, but one person did not. Because we were connected to him, he panicked because he didn’t want to be associated with such a raw (but redemptive!) story. He immediately approached us and encouraged us to do damage control, make a statement, or to be silent. But everything had already been said.

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It was later that we learned this leader had a coffin full of skeletons in his closet. Vulnerability was not the way he operated. His was a carefully playacted facade of Christian perfection. His spouse once told me that she had never sinned. They appeared godly, but as community rubbed up against their “perfection,” cracks opened up, and their secrets spilled out.

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2 Timothy 3:5 has important words to say to us when we encounter people who prefer silence or silencing people, who live for the facade rather than the truth. “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!”

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Eventually, we did distance ourselves from them. Immediately I felt freedom from the emancipation, but oh-my-goodness did triggers remain. If I ran into either of them, I would panic. That’s what happens when you get close to wolves who bleat Christianese.

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Telling our stories is a risk. But in many ways, people’s or a system’s or a ministry’s or a church’s response to that honesty is a temperature gauge of how that entity feels about truth.

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In my case and in Patrick’s, the negative responses were not concerned with how we were doing (there was no empathy, for example)—instead they were bothered by how this reflected upon them. High vulnerability scares insecure leaders, and instead of helping, they scrambled to hide, silence, and malign.

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…

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I don’t want to make myself or Patrick the hero of these stories. We certainly bumbled our way through them, and we battle sin like any other folks. But we learned this: how a ministry responds to brokenhearted truth reveals their degree of legalism.

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If they seek to silence, it may be an indication of their own heart issues. It could be revealing an unhealthy system. It might be showing you their wolfishness—in the most extreme cases.

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So pay attention to how people respond to your vulnerability, particularly when the testimony or message you give is tempered, healed, and seeks to help others rather than vomit on your listener. Their reaction may tell you quite a bit and give you necessary intel.

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Unsafe places will silence your story.

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Safe places will welcome it.

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Play

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I'm so excited that my client, Deanna Shrodes, released her book on Tuesday: Uncommon Answers.

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Read this amazing endorsement:

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Deanna is a woman of prayer, and her stories will inspire you to trust God for that prayer request that seems impossible. Thank you, Chosen Books, for publishing Uncommon Answers!

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Pray

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Jesus, please be near to my friend Reader today, and thank you for being tender with Reader's story. Help Reader identify any legalistic or wolfish spaces. Renew Reader's mind and give hope in that seemingly hopeless situation. I pray for Reader's loved one who is far from you, that you would woo them to yourself supernaturally. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

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Humbled that you read this, Reader!
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Gratefully,

Mary

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