Week 1: The Poverty Of The Heart
Week 2: God Is Not Silent
Week 3: Understanding Poverty
Week 4: Prayer
Week 5: Be The Change
Tomorrow, Mindy and I are going to begin reading Hope Lives: A Journey Of Restoration by Amber Van Schooneveld. It’s a five-week study and the first week is called The Poverty Of The Heart. Van Schooneveld writes…
“The first step on the journey is to understand the poverty of the heart, to search our hearts and ask why it’s sometimes so hard to help those in need. How are things like materialism and individualism stifling compassion? On the journey, we’ll set down the burden of guilt and pick up God’s grace instead.”
We look forward to sharing our thoughts.
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19 responses so far ↓
Greg Birgy // April 26, 2008 at 9:36 pm |
Your plan sounds great and I’ll enjoy following your journey. I’ve breezed through the book myself and am planning to carve out time for Michele and I to actually study through it together in the practical way that it was intended to be read/experienced. I sure do miss that 60-75 minutes a day that I lost when I had to move out of a home office and begin commuting!
Jodi // April 26, 2008 at 9:59 pm |
That book looks great! I’ll have to add it to my list of future reads.
I’ll look forward to reading what you guys have to share. I heart compassion. (Both little “c” and big.)
ian // April 26, 2008 at 10:49 pm |
@ Greg.
Oh man. Some days I don’t even leave my house!
@ Jody.
Compassion hearts you.
ian // April 26, 2008 at 10:59 pm |
Week One, Day One – Trials And Abandoned Treasures
Prisoners who are jailed unjustly, those who are abused, the hungry, the poor, the homeless, and those in need. My relationship to these people just got defined. Beyond stories on a whiteboard in a network news conference room, Isaiah 58 says that these people are actually my family.
ian // April 27, 2008 at 1:35 pm |
Week One, Day Two – Barely Gettin’ By: The Lies Of Affluence
My “just getting by” is emperor-like riches to most of the world so it’s not a matter of what I can do but what I will do.
“…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, Who is the LORD?” Proverbs 30:8-9.
mindy // April 27, 2008 at 9:24 pm |
I’m a day behind ian with the study, having read the first one this morning. And what was killing me as I read, journaled and prayed was the feeling that something deep inside me is horribly broken-disconnected. It feels numb and I hope that through this study my heart will begin to glow with compassion and love that resembles the Lord’s heart for the poor. That’s my prayer. Tomorrow morning…day two.
ian // April 28, 2008 at 5:43 pm |
Week One, Day Three – The Good Life: Myths And Mistakes Of The American Dream
I appreciate how Van Schooneveld gives credence to the industriousness found in American culture as she shares her observations of how detrimental individualism and busyness are to these same Americans. It reminds me of Hosea 13:5-6.
I cared for you in the desert,
in the land of burning heat.
When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
then they forgot me.
The people were blessed by God but what was beautiful turned into horror when self settled in.
I’m blessed by God with certain skills as well as the time to pursue the Lord’s calling on my life. May I never become self-sufficient lest I become subhuman.
“A self-sufficient human being is subhuman.” –Archbishop Desmond Tutu
mindy // April 29, 2008 at 6:26 am |
day two: this chapter solidified in my heart and mind something the Lord has been speaking to me loud and clear for awhile now…”You are so rich”.
The question I’m now hearing that follows this truth about my life is, “So what are you going to do about it?”
right now….I don’t know. But I want to.
mindy // April 29, 2008 at 6:40 am |
day three:
“A part of my soul is missing and broken when I’m not connected in the bond of human need. I need the humility of those in need. I need their sacrificial hearts. I need their love for others. I could learn far more from them than it’s comfortable to admit. Without them, I am “a boarded-up discount store in an empty parking lot with weeds rising up out of the pavement cracks.” My cracked soul needs God’s grace and healing.
Having children has healed much of this brokenness in my heart. Being responsible for their every need has humbled and reshaped my heart. I believe, now, the Lord is calling me to a new level of brokenness though. Looking and loving beyond the needs of my little family and beautiful children-to the broader unknown of His suffering world.
ian // April 29, 2008 at 5:40 pm |
Week One, Day Four – Willing Ignorance And Guilty Charity
I’m a verbal processor. I’m also a “practicing processor” meaning that I do in order to learn. I want God’s heart for the poor and I’ve found that I won’t EVER help those in poverty if I wait for my heart to adequately mirror God’s desire for justice. Rather, my heart increasingly reflects God’s heart AS I help those in need. Guilt and charity shouldn’t be long-term motivations to help the poor but if it helps someone “do in order to learn”…
mindy // May 1, 2008 at 1:21 pm |
day four:
my heart has got to change. And I can’t change it, however much I want to. And just doing charitable acts won’t change it either. I need to reconnect myself to the unconditional love that the Father has so graciously lavished on me. I need to remember the extent to which He has been charitable, merciful and long suffering with me. And realizing that it is a gift-once again-and remembering that I have done nothing to deserve this gift of grace in which I stand-perhaps will produce gratitude. And out of gratitude, perhaps charity and mercy will blossom.
I hope and pray.
ian // May 1, 2008 at 1:23 pm |
Week One, Day Five – My Burden Is Light
When we devote ourselves the Lord we shine, we are healed (quickly), we have refuge, and we are heard by him (Isaiah 58:8-10). How do we devote ourselves the Lord? By freeing those who are imprisoned wrongly, by sharing our food, by opening our homes, and by clothing them for they are our family (Isaiah 58:6-7).
Rachel // May 2, 2008 at 7:40 am |
I LOVE Isaiah 58, and I’m loving reading your hearts so candidly in process. Thanks so much for sharing!
Amber Van Schooneveld // May 2, 2008 at 7:55 am |
Hello Friends! I’m getting ready for an interview for Moody Radio on Hope Lives, and reading through your posts is encouraging and refreshing. Thank you for sharing!
mindy // May 2, 2008 at 1:12 pm |
day 5….
At the end of the first week of reading “Hope Lives” I am seriously challenged. But in a new and refreshing way. Not to go out (yet) and “do” something different. But to call upon the Lord to sift my heart and ask that He would prune me.
Considering what I’ve read:
“An occasional guilt or benevolence offering isn’t what God wants from me. True charity is love. True charity is mercy. And it’s not extra credit, not an addendum to my faith. As Christians, it’s who we are; it’s our essence”.
it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that it’s not a lack of understanding of God’s commands that keeps me from entering into human suffering. It’s a lack of love. And perhaps too much love of self, unfortunately. And if I’m lacking love for the world and the people in it, then I’m likely not as connected to “the vine” as I’ve thought. In John 15:9 Jesus tells his disciples (that’s me too), “As the Father a has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…”
I want my heart to grow in love with my Savior, so that I can comfort others with the comfort I have received from him. I want mercy and compassion to flow freely from a deep understanding and appreciation for what Christ has given me. And so I make this prayer from what I’ve read thus far my own,
“God, please give me your heart. True charity, true mercy bleeds. It’s not an uninvolved, unthinking check. I know you don’t want sacrifices that cost me nothing. ‘ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13;3, NLT). If I give every last cent, but I don’t do it in your love, it’s a waste. Mercy is attached to my heart. God please change my heart. I give it to you. Transform it to love with your love.”
ian // May 3, 2008 at 6:21 am |
@ Rachel. Thanks for the encouragement. The Lord is speaking to us. And I’m falling in love with Isaiah 58, too.
@ Amber. Thanks so much for stopping by! You’re welcome here! I trust your interview went well.
ian // May 3, 2008 at 7:00 am |
Week One, Refect & Act
A couple of things from Isaiah 58.
1. The phrase “spend yourself” in verse ten.
I used to do development work for my alma mater where we put on banquets to raise money for student financial aid. The idea was to have donors pay for each table (ten to forty tables) and then a host would fill the table with friends, family, and acquaintances to have dinner and to hear about what was going on at the school.
At first, it seemed like a big task to get donors to pay for each table. Over time, however, I found that the bigger challenge was for each host to fill the tables with people from their circles of influence. It’s relatively easy to write a check. It’s work to engage people. It’s work to “spend yourself.”
Interestingly, Isaiah 58 talks about helping the poor but it doesn’t ask for donations. Spend yourself.
2. The titles of “Repairer of Broken Walls” and “Restorer of Streets with Dwellings” in verse twelve.
I want “Repairer of Broken Walls” to be on my tombstone.
::
Mindy and I were in the Pearl District yesterday and a man asked me for some money. I gave him a dollar. I didn’t over think it and I believe this was because I saw him as my own flesh and blood (verse seven). I know that there is a whole slew of social, economic, physical, and spiritual considerations connected to an exchange like this. (Shrugs.) Whatever. My brother needed a dollar.
::
A Note To Future Readers: It’s true that Hope Lives is broken up into a five-day-a-week format over five weeks. As I was nearing day five I was, like, “I need a break.” But after each fifth day there’s an opportunity to reflect and act on the week that just ended. I regard it as a sixth day. Another day to have your rear handed to you. Grin. I’m gonna take that break now.
sheri beck // May 12, 2008 at 10:36 pm |
I am just beginning my journey through “Hope Lives”. I’m finding that I have to take it in small chunks because it is really challenging me to examine myself.
“Who are the rich?”
I am.
Praise God for placing this book in my hands.
Sheri
ian // May 13, 2008 at 7:43 am |
Thanks for coming by, Sheri! You’re welcome here.