Personal web site of inspirational Christian speaker, writer, and author, Julie Ferwerda

Get Julie's RSS feed by email | What is RSS? »

Julie's Recent Blog Entries

Opening My Eyes to the (Orange) Lilies

But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, "He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them." John 12:37, 40

This week I was walking with my good friend Darcy when we passed a yard. She pointed at my neighbors yard and said, "Look at all those lilies!"  

I looked at the yard for several seconds and stared blankly. I wondered what she was talking about. Sure, there were lots of flowers, but I saw no lilies.

"Where?"

Darcy just laughed at me. "They're everywhere you goofball. You don't see all those orange flowers?"

"Orange! I thought lilies were white." As soon as she said "orange," a sea of lilies suddenly appeared in my viewfinder.

Recently I've had a "conversion" experience. I realized that for the first 40 something years of my life, I've been conditioned to look for white lilies, and missed the many orange ones right in front of my nose. This discovery has been both an uncomfortable and a completely euphoric experience!

In short, I've been blind in the way I was taught to read my Bible, and have missed out on understanding and glorying in the true power, redemptive plan, and victorious purposes of God. But now the strength of His arm has been revealed to me, and I am smitten!

Four elements have totally revolutionized the way I see and understand my Bible now, and for the first time it makes total sense, cover to cover. I don't feel like there are any huge holes, indiscernible foundational meanings, etc.

1.    A Jewish perspective on the Bible. It's a book written by Jews, for Jews, and one must grasp the Covenants, the Feasts, the Harvests, and Jewish culture and traditions in order to make sense out of where we started and where we end (and how we get there).

2.    A historical perspective on The Church (Gentiles), and how the Bible was put together and by whom.

3.    God's plan for the ages, not for eternity, as spelled out in the Bible. Yes, there is an eternity, but the Bible actually teaches very little about it, focusing rather on particular ages. This is hard to see in erroneous modern translations, but can be more easily detected in literal translations and in the Hebrew and Greek.

4.    God's redemptive plan for His creation. It is much bigger and more inclusive than we have been taught by tradition, and the Bible is full of orange lilies that tell about it!

If you want to know more about these four crucial elements in seeing the orange lilies—lilies that were there all the time—you can read through my One Year Bible Blog, beginning with January 1 to follow my trail of learning this year. You can also write and ask me for more information. But a word of warning. There ARE orange lilies, so be sure you're ready to graduate from the white ones before setting out.

I once was blind, but now I see... 

July 1, 2009 | 2 Comments | View or add comments

Facing the Giants

"The land we explored will swallow up any who go to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there...we felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that's what we looked like to them!" Numbers 13:32-33

Many days I feel like such a grasshopper (my husband might agree that I look like one sometimes, too...more later).

For me, grasshopper days all started with my journey of faith from Egypt to the Promised Land. You know, Egypt—that crushing place of bondage to sin, Satan's lies, and the enticements of the world. Had I stayed in Egypt, it surely would have been the death of me—death of my hopes, dreams, peace, and purpose (these are the Promised Land of the Christian life here in this life). And so in His great love, God came down with signs and wonders, showing me the way out...the way to move toward promise and freedom in Him.

Looking back on my journey, I've encountered many Red Seas and many giants along the way. Both are equally terrifying, but also different.

Red Seas: These are the tests of faith that God leads us to where we have no choice but to trust Him to deliver us. There are no other options or Plan B's. Life is out of our control. We are walled in on every side, and nothing and no one can save us but an act of God.

God delights in Red Seas. It gives Him a chance to show His stuff and to remind us why He's God and why we're not, and why we can't put our trust in anything else for the answers or for hope in life. These are the places where we have the opportunity to learn who He is and how big He is if we will not be too thick-skulled, obstinate, and unbelieving to get it. Sometimes the Red Seas of our lives are small ones that could easily be dismissed as "a stroke of good luck." Other times they are huge, monumental miracles in our lives when we get to see walls of water stretching up beyond our vision while we walk through on dry ground.

Giants: These are the tests God leads us to where He asks us to look back at the Red Seas to remember His power and faithfulness, and to choose to believe despite massive odds. These are tests we have a choice about, where God asks us to do something we can't do on our own or to go where we could never go, or to attempt the impossible in Him.

God delights in sending giants. Through this avenue, He offers a new level of relationship with His children where they can respond to Him in faith, or miss out on the adventure. Facing giants takes our lives from nothing special to making history, because everyone who takes on giants makes history—or at least His-story. People who don't take risks for God NEVER make history.

Bill Bright (Campus Crusade) was a person who knew about facing giants and taking risks. On his desk he had a little plaque to always remind him Who delivers him from his giants. The plaque read: "I am no grasshopper."

I've been in giant territory for the past 10 years, and it has been a test of faith all the way. God has asked me to step out in ministry in so many ways that are beyond me—ways a mile out of my comfort zone—writing, speaking, and teaching. I can never look too far ahead or I get totally freaked out (these are the days my husband says I look like a grasshopper). In fact, some days I give in to paralyzing fear and my faith monitor looks more like a heart monitor.

All this is to say that faith is definitely a journey, one that is still in process in me. But I want to beat the giants. I want to live the adventure, to fully learn who God is, and to go down in His-Story. To do this, I just have to keep my eyes on Jesus and slay one giant at a time. And you know what? He's never let me down. I don't expect Him to either because...

 I AM NO GRASSHOPPER!

June 18, 2009 | 4 Comments | View or add comments

Top of Page

To read more recent blog entries click here .