MyLeslieNotebook

Welcome home! Isn't Christmas break the best? You're so excited to be with your family, get caught up on sleep, see your friends, and just chill for that amazing 5-week break that only colleges give. :) But things are weird. There's tension. It's like you've come home to a different house.  How do I know? Because it's what happened to me. It's what happens to every college freshman who comes home for the first Christmas. And here's the deal: you've been away at college for about 4 months. Your family is used to you NOT being there. And by virtue of you being back, that's one extra person to feed, clean up after, include, and help. (Not that your parents mind this! But it's just a different dynamic.) And you are accustomed to pretty much doing as you please; you don't need to let anyone know when you're coming or going or what you're doing. You eat, sleep, shower, shop, watch movies, hang out with friends, and drink coffe...

For you college girls out there, I know what's consuming your life right now: EXAMS.  And so much stuff comes with exams: studying, papers, stress, and an ongoing desire to just GO HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. (More on that in another post!) Yes, exams are meant to be hard. They're meant to see what you really retained over the past 4 months. They're meant to push you, make you dig, and see what actually got buried in your brain. You want to succeed at exams.  They are a way to measure what you remembered. But do you know that your success--or failure--in your exams does not define you? Really. And, come to think of it, neither does your GPA, now or in high school. Neither does your school, your major, or your scholarship level. You're not defined by your friends, your abilities, your family, your social skills, your intelligence, or your past. Really? Really. I promise. So who are you? What defines you? How do you define yourself? Other people define you...

I realize as we get close to Thanksgiving that there are things you aren't thankful for. Exams.  Papers. Roommates who don't respect the fact that you sleep and hang up your clothes and throw out food before it gets disgusting. But for some of you, there is much, much more. Life-altering illnesses. Death. Parents with addictions. Homes without love. A past full of tragedy, abuse, or brokenness. And those challenges cloud your outlook on things that might have made you thankful. A good turkey dinner can't stack up to the evil you've seen or heard or felt. It's hard to be thankful for the little things when the big things are terrible, right? So you might be offended at these verses: "Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks  to God the Father for everything ..." (Ephesians 5:19-20) "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances ; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus....

Thanksgiving can't get here soon enough, right? I mean, it's a BREAK. A break from class, from your job (as long as you're not in retail!), and from your normal, everyday life. It's a break from studying, stress (hopefully), and, to top it all off, it creates one of the greatest 4-day weekends ever. We're thankful for Thanksgiving. But I'm not content to head into Thanksgiving season with just a thankful heart. And I'm not content for you to do that, either. :) So consider these questions: Why are you thankful? For what  are you thankful? Who are you thanking for those things? I challenged myself several years ago (and I'd challenge you to do the same) to dig into the book of Psalms and analyze thankfulness   according to the men who wrote those immortal songs. David and the other writers were very thankful, obviously, because the word thank in one form or another ( thankful, thanks, thanksgiving ) is found 43 times. But what  they are tha...

I'm wrapping up this series on Psalm 23 in a different way: with my testimony. The last verse of Psalm 23 is somewhat like the summary of the verses preceding it: when I live like a sheep, follow my Shepherd, allow Him to set my path and take care of me, I know Him to be not only a loving, powerful Shepherd but also King of Kings. And when my life reflects that knowledge in faith, "Surely [His] goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever," (verse 6, NIV). I knew Christ was calling me to accept Him as my Lord and Savior starting in elementary school. And, honestly, I told Him "yes" in prayer many times, but I was petrified of walking down the aisle and having all of my church look at me. [This memory is especially funny today, knowing how much I love speaking and leading large groups!] But my courage grew, and at age 13, at a Youth Retreat in Gatlinburg, I publicly became a Jesus follower. I li...

David, the author of Psalm 23, takes a new path in his writing in verse 5. In the first four verses, David has made the point that he is a sheep, God is the shepherd, and a sheep needs its shepherd for EVERYTHING. But God is not only a shepherd.  He is also a king. Granted, the shepherd analogy is a good one to help us understand God. He is always with us, He loves us and protects us, He provides for us, and He is the source of all wisdom, blessing, and success. But if we picture God as a shepherd only, we miss so much of who He is.  He always was and always will be. He created every single thing that exists, from the tiniest part of a cell to the most elaborate of stars in a galaxy so far away we'll never know they exist. He supports everything that has life and decides its time to die. He knows every single thing  that goes on in the life of every single creature . He spins the planets, fills the oceans, and tells the clouds when to appear. He made each organi...

"Your rod and your staff, they comfort me," (NASB, Psalm 23:4) "Your rod and your staff, they protect me," (CEB) "Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me," (AMP) It's funny what brings comfort to a sheep. But before I get into the rod and the staff, let me tell you what doesn't  bring comfort to a sheep: independence. Sheep FREAK OUT when they feel alone. Total panic. And they feed off the panic of others. They are dead in the water  without a shepherd and they know it. And as much as you long for independence right now, let me assure you: you do not want independence from your Shepherd . You were created  to depend on Him. You cannot make it without Him. You will FREAK OUT in this world without the love, protection, and comfort of your Shepherd. He is the only one who has overcome this world (John 16:33) and He is the only one who can always be with you (Matthew 28:20). So as you walk down the path toward inde...

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me," (Psalm 23:4, ESV) "Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for you are with me," (Psalm 23:4, AMP) "I may walk through valleys as dark as death, but I won't be afraid," (Psalm 23:4, CEV) It's one thing to admit you're a sheep in need of a shepherd, knowing He is nourishing you, quenching your thirst, and leading you on the righteous path. But what if the right path (Psalm 23:3, CEV) is as dark and as scary and as horrible as death itself?  Would a loving shepherd take His sheep on that path? Yep.  To some of you, this is a shock. You think, How could a good God lead someone on such a terrible path through life?   I don't know. But He does: Abraham was asked to leave his father, his homeland, and everything he knew and travel hundreds of miles to go...

So after I finished the last post about the paths of righteousness, I realized I had SO MANY MORE scriptures in my notes that I didn't use. And I still felt inadequate in my description of righteousness. So today I'm just going to give you those scriptures, praying you understand God's definition of righteousness and ask Him to show you how to stay on the path of righteousness (Psalm 23:3). (If you didn't read the post on the Paths of Righteousness, you can here .) [All scriptures are NIV unless otherwise noted. Anything in italics is my own commentary or thoughts on the scriptures.] "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,"  (Matthew 5:6). Once you really  know what righteousness is, you are thirsty for it. You realize you're parched and can't go on without righteousness. "The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him," (Proverbs 20:7). "Blameless...

I've avoided today's passage for as long as I could.  (Okay so "avoided" is the wrong word. I sat down to write this 10 times, but couldn't find the words or peace at what I wrote. So I've waited on the Holy Spirit to fill me and speak clearly through me.) I've wanted to make sure I had the right heart when I wrote about today's verse. No judgment. No implied guilt. Just a straight-up teaching of God's Word. So I come to you with a humbled heart, confessed soul, and many weeks of deep Scripture study over what seems to be the shortest phrase in Psalm 23: "He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake," (verse 3b, NKJV). Or like this: "He leads me in paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him--not for my earning it, but] for His name's sake," (AMP). And this one helps me really get what it's saying: "He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake,...

(If you haven't read Psalm 23 Part 1 yet, you can here .) Here's the next idea presented in Psalm 23 (verses 2-3a): "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul," (NKJV).  (Or you may like this one:) "He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters. He refreshes and restores my life (my self)," (AMP.) Now keep in mind what we already know about sheep: fearful. panicky. defenseless. But luckily we have a Shepherd who keeps us calm.  How? He makes us lie down . Some translations say "He lets me lie down." So, first of all, He knows we need rest. Wait. Stop. Did you hear that? YOU NEED REST . Now, I'm not talking about sleep . (Granted, you're college girls; you DO  need sleep. But that's not the point here.) I'm talking about rest.  When you're able to look around at your life, your habitat, your environm...

One of the most exciting parts of scripture study is reading a passage you've known forever in a fresh, new way. I did that this morning with Psalm 23. Now, I remember memorizing that passage when I was a preschooler in my Wednesday night Mission Friends class (shout out to Mission Friends, right!?!?!) and the big hug I got from my teacher, even though I had to say "debts" instead of "transgressions" because a 3-syllable word was just too much for my 4-year-old brain. So I've known Psalm 23 for well over 30 years. Which makes me, #1, OLD. But #2, especially excited when it jumps out of the text at me like it's the first time I've read it. Of course, when God shines His awesome spotlight on a passage, we dig DEEPLY into it. So that's what I thought we'd do for the next few weeks. Let's take a long-handled shovel and see what we can find in Psalm 23. The Psalm opens with this sentence: "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not wan...