Cindy Finley

Archives for November 2011

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A Lineage of Grace

“This is the geneaology of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham …”  Matthew 1:1

Are your eyes glazing over yet?  If not, keep reading.  As my eyes skim through the familiar, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, to the less familiar Judah, Perez, Zerah, I hit Tamar. 
Tamar, `twice widowed by Judah’s sons, viewed as cursed, she disguises herself as a prostitute and receives her father-in-law as her client.  As a result, she conceives and gives birth two twin boys, Perez and Zerah claiming her spot in the lineage of Jesus.
And then there is Rahab, truly a prostitute, who betrays her own people in order to buy deliverance for herself and for her family.  As Jericho crumbles and burns around her, Joshua and Caleb rescue Rahab and her family.  Rahab built a new life with the Hebrews, and with one Hebrew particularly, Salmon.  Salmon and Rahab have a baby boy, Boaz.
Enter Ruth.  Ruth, a Moabite. Ruth, as lovely as her story is, as faithful as she was to her mother-in-law, as bold as she was in asking Boaz to marry her, has a nasty family history.  The Moabites arose from an incestuous relationship between Abraham’s uncle, Lot, and his oldest daughter.  Boaz and Ruth marry.  Their great-great grandson is none other than King David.
David, claiming the beautiful Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife through adultery and murder, fathers Solomon kicking off the fourteen generations from David to the exile to Babylon. 
And, of course there is Mary, an unwed teenage girl claiming that the Holy Spirit is the father of her child.  Confusion, rejection, and a potential stoning figure into her story.  Chosen by God, Mary is the mother of Jesus.  
Five women, whose lives were touched with scandal, death, immorality, and risky behavior, chosen by God to have the pain of their own lives transformed into threads that would be woven into the beautiful tapestry of Jesus’ family history, his royal lineage, a lineage of grace.   I love it!  
This Advent season, in the midst of the shopping, the decorating, the baking, let your heart be stirred by the narratives of these five women.  Francine Rivers has done a beautiful job of bringing the stories of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, and Mary to life in her Lineage of Grace series. 
  
Francine wrote these novellas individually, but published them as one volume in 2009.  You can find them individually, or in this compilation.   My plan is to read about one novella each week of Advent.  Although, they are so compelling, I will have to exercise great restraint to not read them all in one week.  I’m reserving my copy from the library.  Care to join me and have your heart stirred by the beautiful stories in this Lineage of Grace?    

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Thanksgiving. What worked. What didn’t.

Although the house wasn’t perfectly clean and with twelve cousins running around, I can’t say that it was completely relaxing, at the end of the day, Bill and I agreed that we met our goal:

A relaxed day of THANKFULNESS with family, food, and fun.

Here’s what we did right:

1. Simple recipes.  As tempting as the Southern Living spread was, I went with what we’ve tried before and hasn’t failed.  We passed out the recipes and just enjoyed cooking together.  Since they were recipes I knew, I was confident having the kids cook with me.

2.  Cut corners where it doesn’t matter.  I just don’t care about making my own pie crust.  Neither does Bill.  Neither do the kids.  Pillsbury is good enough for us.

3.  Don’t cut corners where it does matter.  For us, this included Grandmother’s Cranberry Bread from Cranberry Thanksgiving

homemade cranberry sauce, dry-roasted pecans, two types of sweet potato casseroles (one with marshmallows and one with pecans), mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy, and several types of pies.  

4.  Simple decorations.  The kids collected leaves and a lot of this kind of stuff:

   Put in vases with candles around … It was quite lovely.

5.  We said, “Good enough is good enough,” and loaded up the unmatched socks and laundry that didn’t quite get put away into laundry baskets, stuck them in the closet, and enjoyed the day.

Here’s the one thing that didn’t work.  The Kid Tables. We’ve always just loaded everyone around our huge farm table, brought a child’s table into the dining room, and made it work.  But this year, we had the adult table out on the sun porch, and two kid tables elsewhere.  Next year,  we’ll have everyone sit together, somehow, some way.   I missed having them with us, and Bill and several of the kids said that they missed it too.

What about you?  What worked?  What didn’t?  Before Thanksgiving fades into a blur of red and green, have a sit-down with your husband and possibly your kids and evaluate, and then write it down so that next year you remember what worked and what didn’t.

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Thanksgiving: A Goal and a Plan

Last night I dreamed my “To Do” list for the week.  Pen scratching, pages flipping, smoke pouring from my pad, the list went on and on and on.   I awoke in a bit of a panic half listening for the fire alarm.

So, this morning I sat with my cup of coffee, my Bible, my legal pad, and my computer tuned to the Prayer Room.  As I prayed about the day ahead, Philippians 2:4 leapt off the page, swirled and danced around me, and settled into my heart.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests,
but also to the interests of others.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests.  This is good for me to hear, and for you too, I’m guessing.  My interests are important.  So often we, as women, are so consumed with the interests of others that we fail to think about our interests.  But if my own interests don’t match the interests of my husband and my children, I’m going to be the one doing all the work to make it happen.  That’s not fun.

So, as Bill, and then each of the kids wandered in, I asked,
“What is important to you about Thanksgiving?”

So, from their answers, I came up a Family Goal for Thanksgiving Day

A relaxed day of THANKFULNESS with family, fun, and food.

Let’s try that again.

A RELAXED day of thankfulness with family, fun, and food.  

Relaxed is the tough part, right?  And, the goal is not for everyone else to have a relaxed day, but for me too.  So, we’ve got a goal.  Now we need a plan.

With Philippians 2:4 in mind, I scratched out a plan.

Monday
Cleaning Day!  All the kids are responsible for their own rooms and one room in the house.  This evening I’ll finish the grocery shopping.  Honestly, with the cleaning, we’ll just get done what can get done.

Tuesday
Not much happens.  EXCEPT, I pick up our oldest, Sara Maria, from college- YEY!  I’m so excited for time in the car with her to process life.   Grace works all day at the YMCA, and the other kids will spend a fun afternoon and evening with Aunt Ann and Grandmom.

Wednesday
Cooking Day!  Beginning early in the morning, I’ll pass out our family recipes to the kids, the ones they told me are must-haves for Thanksgiving.  We will turn on our favorite CDs, claim territory in the kitchen, and go to it.  Fun!  But, this is what I really wanted to check out with the kids.  I wanted to know what dishes are important to them.  I don’t want to waste my time and energy making food that is only important to me.  And, I want their commitment.  If they want it on the menu, they need to be willing to help cook and clean.   Here’s where their interests really are my interests.

Thursday

Time to enjoy a RELAXED day of THANKFULNESS with family, food and fun!  
  • We’ll enjoy family – Grandparents, Aunt Ann, Uncle Chris, and the Dillon cousins will join us.
  • We’ll have fun – Cranberry Thanksgiving, Turkey Bowl (football), walks, board games, and LOTS of laughter.
  • We’ll have food.  Yes, we’ll have food, dishes that are attached to family history and prepared together. 
Let each of you look not only to his own interests,
but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:4

Looking to the interests of others, my family, our guests, and also my interests …  We’ve got a goal.  We’ve got a plan.  I’ll let you know how it shapes up.

What is your goal for Thanksgiving?  What is your plan?  I’d love to hear from you!

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Got-ya Katya!

Two years ago this Little Sprite came home with me!

After a nine-hour flight, back of the plane, in the VERY middle of the row 
we touched down at JFK. 
 Did I mention that my Little Sprite didn’t sleep at all?
Did I mentioned that I had Little Sprite on one side of me 
and a very talkative non-English-speaking Greek woman on the other side of me?
  
Did I mention that Little Sprite watched “Up” for nine solid hours?
  
Did I mention that I’m very thankful for both “Up” and headphones?
Ridiculously happy to see the rest of my family, I couldn’t get to them fast enough.
Okay, so Little Sprite wasn’t quite as excited.  
But, after nine sleepless hours at the back of the plane, middle row, watching “Up,” 
she did manage to fall asleep right as we were landing. 
You are right if you are thinking that it must have been interesting getting through customs.
  
So, on Thursday, I said, “Katya, what are you NOT going to do tomorrow?”
“I don’t know, Mom. What?”
“You are NOT going to ride on a plane for nine hours across the ocean.”
Happy Dance, Hallelujah Chorus, and “Woo-Hoos!” broke out all around.  :)
So, how’s her English?
Two years out, Katya’s English is amazing.  There is still a trace of an accent, but there is nothing, and I mean nothing that she is incapable of communicating.  Occasionally I realize there are still gaps.  This week, while working on a math lesson on perimeter and area, the instruction was to run your finger around the perimeter of the paper.  No problem.  But the next instruction was to run the palm of your hand over the surface of the paper.  She dug in her heels.  “This is too hard.”  After going ’round and ’round about perimeter and area, I finally realized that the problem was not with these terms, but with “palm.”  She didn’t know what the “palm of her hand” was.  
How’s she doing in school?
Fabulously.  We’re part of a Classical Conversations group in our new community.  At home and at CC, Katya is learning so much – states and capitals, skip counting, Latin vocabulary, human anatomy, U.S history, English grammar …  Her favorite history fact which she sings with great vigor is this one:
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 
causing the U.S. to join the Allies in World War II.  
If you find this slightly disturbing, that’s okay.  I do too. 
Every Friday the kids do presentations, sort of a show-and-tell, for their class.  Several weeks ago Katya brought in a photo album I gave to her when we were in the midst of adoption and told the story of her adoption.  I wish I had it on video.  Priceless! 
Does she see herself as any different from the rest of the kids?
During the first summer following her adoption, the kids and I ran into an acquaintance who wasn’t aware of our adoption.  I briefly shared the story.  He had spent considerable time in Eastern Europe and was excited, curious, and affirming.  As we walked away, Katya said with  bit more accent than she has now, “Mama, I don’t wants to be your daughter from Ukraine.  I just wants to be your daughter.”  
It’s a bit of a conundrum at times because people are curious and I LOVE to share our story, but my first priority is being sure that Katya views herself not as our “daughter from Ukraine,” but simply as our “daughter.”
For the most part, I do think she views herself as just one of the Finley Kids.  Occasionally, when she’s in a bad spot, she goes to this place of doubt.  Bill and I are praying for the Lord to completely heal this up, and doing our part to verbally affirm what is reality.  
How does she view her adoption?
Last week we gathered with our church to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  We had a blast shopping, packing, wrapping, and praying for the kids who would get the boxes.  
Back at the house that evening, we were hanging out in the den and I asked her if she ever got a box like that in Ukraine.  She said that she didn’t, only the box I had sent her during the summer before we came to Odessa with the rest of her brothers and sisters.  She talked a bit about Polina, and that Polina never got any boxes or presents like she had gotten from us.  We talked about Polina and that unless certain papers are signed, Polina can never be hosted, and never be adopted.  
Then she quietly said, “I am lucky.”
I held my breath and asked, “Why?”
Raising her head, she looked me squarely in the eye, “Because I got adopted.”  
“Katya, I’m the lucky one. I got you as my daughter.”   
This wasn’t the time to correct theology, to talk about being “blessed” versus being “lucky,” it was just a time to celebrate.  
Got-ya Katya!  And I’m so glad!

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Mobilize?

“Cindy, you want to mobilize women to impact the world through Christ? Isn’t mobilize a bit strong?  A bit ambitious?  A bit, well, scary?  Wouldn’t encourage or help be better words?”
“I do want to encourage and help women but even deeper, even stronger, I am passionate to mobilize women to impact the world through Christ.
I want to marshal women into readiness for active service in the army of the Lord of Hosts.
I want to train women to live fully engaged in the “now” with an eye toward the “not yet.”
I want to prepare women for vigorous action in Kingdom purposes that drip with eternal weightiness.

My heart sings at the idea of you being deployed to a field of Kingdom service that perfectly matches your spiritual gifts, your skills and abilities, the passions of your heart.  A field where you see the Lord take the hard things of your life, the things you’d like to forget, and see them transformed into beauty, praise.  My heart delights at the thought of you being fully mobilized into a place of service that glorifies God AND brings so much joy to your heart.  



In 1987, George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilisation electrified thousands of college students and young adults at Intervarsity’s Urbana Student Mission Conference.  I wasn’t in the audience, and neither was Bill Finley.  No CDs, no mp3s, no downloads onto itunes were available.  But, cassette tapes were.  And Chip, a college buddy of Bill’s, brought a stack of tapes from Urbana ’87 home for Bill.   


In 1991, as intentional dating, turned to serious dating with an eye toward marriage, Bill shared these tapes with me.  We listened to Becky Pippert and Joni Eareckson Tada, but the message that captured my heart was the one by George Verwer.

    
Thirty minutes is what it will take.  Listen to it while you’re folding clothes or fixing dinner.  Listen to it and let me know what you think.  Is mobilize is a bit too strong, a bit too ambitious, a bit too scary?  Or does mobilize stir your passions like it does mine?  



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Welcome!

Welcome to my new site!   Mobilizing women to impact the world through Christ  is my passion. My desire is to serve YOU and see you YOU launched into the REAL LIFE God intended for you.  Here, you will find me posting on:
  • Spiritual Gifts:  Unwrap the Mystery by  Discover Your Gifts and Finding Your Niche
  • Your past: God wants to use your life experiences for kingdom purposes
  • JOY  Maximization! Identity in Christ, Intimacy with Christ, Impact through Christ
  • The Bible:  How to have a Quiet Time that Fuels Your Day
  • Prayer:  More than a Vending Machine
  • Mobilized Women:  Interviews with Real Life Women Impacting the World Through Christ
  • Transformational Resources:  Key Books, Sermons, Articles to Mobilize You for the Kingdom
  • Life Transitions:  Into the Marketplace, Marriage, and Motherhood, but not necessarily in that order
  • Opportunities:  Connect with Real Life opportunities to Impact the World through Christ
  • AND MUCH MORE!

My desire is to serve YOU, so I’d love to hear from you!  In the list above, what really energizes you?  What makes you say, “Cindy, write that TODAY!”  What other questions, topics, conundrums would you like to see me discuss?  What  would you like me to address as you consider being mobilized to impact the world?  I’m excited about this new endeavor and can’t wait to hear from you!