Today is the beginning of lent. A time to take a reverent walk towards the reality of Easter. I want these days to count for something. More than just preparation of my heart for Easter, I want focus. I want application. I want to take the idea of lent and turn it into an activity.
One of the themes of my life these past couple of years has been, “If I want to grow closer to God, I have to distance myself from distractions.”
Mostly I’ve focused on what I need to give up. I’ve spent seasons giving up different things… TV, sugar, diet coke, and other life comforts. But this year for lent, my focus isn’t going to be on what I’m giving up. This year my reverent walk is going to have the theme of giving more. I’m calling it… “and then some.”
My Pastor preached an amazing message this weekend. Tucked inside this great message on “Honorology” was this statement, “and then some.” I can’t exactly remember why Pastor said this statement but I do know that God Himself started speaking to me.
The statement grabbed me.
It got all up in my business and interrupted me.
It challenged me past the typical and into the realm of atypical.
It pushed me out of what is common and into the zone of uncommon.
It made me want to release the propensity toward being normal and into being more like Jesus.
Jesus was the Master of “and then some.”
He came to save us but spent His first 30 years living in the trenches of everyday life. Can you imagine what patience and humility that took? To live for 30 years swallowing the reality that you are the King of Kings… doing chores, getting along with your brother, learning the art of carpentry, and figuring out what’s for dinner… it really is amazing.
He could have just appeared as an adult and started preaching His messages.
But He didn’t. He started at infancy identifying with us. Then, He started at 30 inspiring us. Him identifying with us made His inspiration more real, more authentic, more touchable.That was just the first of His, “and then some” living.
He taught, don’t just forgive your enemies- love them.
He taught, don’t just feed the 5000- have left overs.
He taught, don’t just pray for the lepers- touch them.
And then some.
And then some.
And then some.
So, this is my lent proclamation, promise, and premise this year. Each day I will take a reverent step toward Easter by implementing an “and then some” activity in my life.
Do something…and then just to glorify God, I’ll add in a little more. Reach past what is possible in my strength and grab hold of God’s strength. That’s how we add “and then some” to our life.
Atypical. Uncommon. More like Jesus. Yes, that’s what I want… and then some.
____________________________
The winner of the ‘phone chat with Lysa’ giveaway last week from this post is Lisa! Lisa posted at 11:30am that day. If this Lisa is you, please email Holly@Proverbs31.org to schedule this call.
Lisa, you have gotten my attention with this. I am also going to be looking for the and them some this lent. Thank you for getting me off the focus of me, me me and onto Jesus.
I love this post..I so wanted to wallow in all I face today..single motherhood.dissapointed kids.college fees..kingdergarten supplies..etc..etc..but that small sentence..And Then Some…Resonated….loud and clear..I love you Tamerriell..and then some!!..Thanks for sharing…:)
I have made a pledge to give something everyday during lent. It might be my time, it might be a gift, it might be in person, it might be in secret. Looking outside myself to give to others in my house and outside my house. Also giving up my don’t care attitude about excercise and doing something every day no matter how small it might be. Thanks for the encouragement on this day # 1. Have a great journey these next 40 days, Lysa. Lisa
Lysa…this brought tears to my eyes…this is my heart’s cry to love Him more…to serve Him…to be like Him…to be in His perfect will each and every day of my life…to help people…I tell him all of the time that I want to help people and how much I love Him and thank Him…I want my life to make a difference for Him and I want my life to count for HIM!!! Thank you so much for sharing…Be Blessed!
hey !
i wanted to just let you know that i’d been mulling over what to give up for Lent the last little while. i’ve also just finished Made To Crave last night (thank you thank you thank you). this morning i woke up knowing what i would give up:
MY EXCUSES
i am so inspired!
everytime i hear an excuse, i’m gonna GIVE IT UP girlfriend!
This really spoke to me. Wish there was a way to share it on Facebook on my profile. If there is, please let me know how. Thanks!
Thank you for the reminder that I need to give more…and then some! It is so easy to get caught up in the “things to do” everyday that I forget to take time to see the needs of others and how I can give and to glorify Jesus with it.
I am giving up my lazy approach to God. This isn’t just a lent thing, it is a life change I have been in the process of, and I have a life-time of change ahead of me. God will always be ahead of me in the contribution department of our relationship, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try like a crazy girl to catch up. Everywhere I look I see something that I can contribute to my worship of God. A service, a moment of praise, a bit of testimony, a surpise gift. I have taken the lazy way too many times and walked past these moments to contribute to my relationship with God.
I love the “and then some” premise. Not in my strength but God’s. That is an awesome place to be.
It’s great to give more during Lent. So many see it as a time to “give something impt. up” so to speak. I like the challenge of doing something more for Jesus. Growing closer to Him should be the focus and all that comes out of that closeness is a blessing. That’s the kind of fruit I’d like to bear this Lenten season.
Blessings!!!
I LOVE what Tracey said about giving up excuses! And, I enjoyed your (once again) thought-provoking words, Lysa. I can’t ever say it enough, “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for allowing God to use you in this way!”
This is truly inspiring. I’ve already shared it with my friends on facebook. So they’ve had some Godly truth this morning whether they wanted it or not.
AND THEN SOME, that’s my new motto. Giving more, thinking of yourself less. Jesus tells us that when we give of ourselves, it lightens our own burdens. But that’s just because He’s helping us bear them! Thank you, Lysa, for these words today. God Bless You.
Lysa,
I am definitely on a and then some mission with the Lord right now. There isn’t a possible way to accomplish all that the Lord has for me in my own strength. I must have his strength. I get up at 5:30 am everyday to go to school online daily. I am getting my B.A. in Psychology to help more people to know Christ as their healer mind, body and spirit. I am a certified life coach who helps people overcome obstacles and life’s chronic “pains”. I am a busy mom of 3. I am a baseball mom. I minister on the healing and prayer teams at my church. And then some….Wanna hug? Yup. That’s my ministry wherever I go. It’s a lifestyle for me.
Crystal Dunn
I learned in the giving of time and self in simple ways proves to be an intervention of God. We served food at a BSM to students and you think how trival. But as it proves, serving a meal can enter into that moment where you can share the love of God. Those that came might be there for a meal but some have gotten more…..so my giving of my time and energies was…”and then some”.
This is beautiful Lysa. For Lent I’m practicing giving up with no intention of ever taking back. I think I will seek to fill that time with ‘and then some.’ Thanks for getting all up in my business today
Love you,
lisa
I was so blessed and motivated by your inspiration of :and thensome”. Also from every other responder. I too want to give more of myself in every area of my life. I too have so much to give up too become the woman God can use. Thankyou for the challenge today; first day of lent, and my first day in your book “Made to Crave”.I am just opening up to a new world! Thank God! Thank all of you!
Lysa, thanks for pushing us, and Thank you for reacting to each God-heart-whisper.
Prayers & hugs!
Reese
Wow Lysa! I think we’re “sisters from another mother!” How did you know I was thinking about giving up Diet Coke (again) and also about doing “and then some” for a couple of my co-workers?! May the Lord Jesus continue to bless you and yours as you have blessed so many with your words of wisdom!
In addition to reading your devotional every day I read Daily Guideposts. Debbie Macomber wrote today that for Lent a friend decided that instead of giving up something, she would DO something…it’s not a bad thing to give something up for Lent, but she’s discovered that the things she does become habits that makes a positive change in her life. I really like that and it reminds me, Lysa, of what you shared today.
PLEASE ooohhh please share with us “how” you are doing this daily. I am fascinated with the idea but confounded with the “how”!
“Reach past what is possible in my strength and grab hold of God’s strength.”
Reaching right now my friend. My impossible is having a head-on collision with God’s possible. At this very moment…my “and then some”…is not just praising and thanking the Lord in good times, but hearing from the Dr. just an hour or so ago that the mass is still there, and through tears as I type this now, offering a sacrifice of praise.
I WILL praise….and then some,
Joy
Excellent. Inspiring. Posting on FB.
By the way, I don’t “give up” for Lent, I “give in.” Submission to God means that He is able to show me whatever doesn’t belong in my life.
All I can say is “WOW.” I’ve been encouraged and challenged!!!!
This was great. Came at a perfect time too, I just commented on someone talking about giving up something for lent. I will have to share! <3
Thank you. You have given me the kick in the pants for an idea that I have been dilly-dallying with a little too long. God forgive me.
Thank you for these encouraging words. I’ve shared them with my facebook friends!
From the “Setting Captives Free” email this month:
For any person to be truly free in Christ they must apply a principle to their lives called “Radical Appropriation”. In other words, we must appropriate, or assimilate (to take in and be one with) Jesus Christ. Luke 11 warns us that if we merely remove sin, or cut out bad habits, but do not fill ourselves with Christ, our lives will become more of a mess than they were before. So our newsletter this month deals with this subject of “Radical Appropriation.” ..
(no link, sorry, but you can google it)
This is a very biblical God centered idea, and i love it. The OCD/ADHD that sometimes has me (as opposed to me having it) is a challenge, but the reaching past my possible, on to the God possibilities is the point. We must live by faith. Cultivating and growing more good habits indeed exercises and builds up my faith muscles, good stuff.
Not to mention the mind set of not losing something, but gaining..
I would love some ‘radical appropriation’!
Thanks Lysa.
all I can say is WOW…this also got ‘all up in my business’..:) love your thoughts….praying I will add ‘and then some’ to all I do in days ahead…:)
Wow, I just love that, Lysa. You really spoke to my heart today. So often we do “just enough” or get all caught in our pride about something….but to do “just a little more”– “and then some” — such a simple concept – but then again that’s what Jesus did. He took everything we “work” so hard at and made it simple. Just like salvation – we make it complicated, not God.
Thanks for sharing your heart and your life with us.
My small group is starting your study tonight “Made to Crave.” It was not my intention to start on Lent but I guess it was God’s…
Thanks again, many blessings & prayers
T
I so agree. Back when I was Catholic, our priest talked about how giving something up doesn’t necessarily draw us closer to God. He charged us all with finding something to do during Lent that glorified God or drew us closer to him; after all, that’s what this life is all about!
Wow!! This really struck a cord with me. Time to move on from “good enough” to “and then some”. I hope you don’t mind, I linked this post to my blog today:
http://krystalscardsandmore.blogspot.com/2011/03/abc-scripture-challenge-e.html
Thanks for your wonderful motivating words to get me beyond being just a “good Bible study girl”. You’re one of my Jesus girl heroes!!
thanks so much for today’s email. what a challenge. i am also reading your book Made to Crave – i admit i’m dragging my feet, as you say, “it’s getting all up in my business” – ha. thanks.
I like this idea. It pairs quite nicely with something I heard on my radio station the other day. Instead of “giving up” something a few years back, the woman who called in said she just started doing one kind thing for someone every day in Lent. She discovered a great deal about herself and utlimately realized that she did give up something for Lent – herself. I’d decided I was going to try that this year. I think I’ll see if “and then some” gets worked into it, too.
Lisa: I really like this “and then some”. What a great thing. I have always tried to take Lent as a time to become a better person. What can I do to help others? What can I do that will lead me into the person that I want to be? What can I do that will be an example to others? When I was younger, I used to do the whole give something up thing & really didn’t feel that it did much. Now I feel that when Easter comes, I have done some really good things. This year my goal is to spend some time to help our local Relay for Life team to prepare for their big event. My 20 minutes each day will help make the gifts for all of the survivors. I’m hoping that by Easter I will see the results & then be doubly blessed in June when I see the group of survivors in their purple shirts with smiles on their faces as we cheer for them. Keep us posted on your “and then some” things. It really is inspiring.
I recently purchased your book through P31 Ministries and have just begun to read it. A funny thing happened the day I started reading it! In the mail, we received a coupon book from McD’s and on the cover was the word CRAVE in big red letters with a big picture of a double cheesburger. It gave me a good laugh!
… just had to share this with you! I’m glad THAT wasn’t the cover of your new book!
I am looking foward to reading the book!!
Oh, how I would love to use this devotion from you to NOT give anything up for Lent this year! You have no idea how I really want to justify the continuation of certain strongholds in my life by concluding that God doesn’t really care if we give up anything for Lent. However, I know in my heart — especially after reading Made to Crave, watching your webcasts, and watching the MTC DVD’s — that God is definitely moving me to give up something this year. This Lent I am committing to fasting from caffeine and desserts. And because I won’t be filling my body with foods that make me cranky, sluggish, and unhealthy, I know that I will have the energy to also focus my time and attention on the “and then some” activities for God.
I look forward to you inspiring us by sharing what ways you are going firther than the distance!!
On a day that I have been demoted to trainee at work (teaching), you decide to post this. WOW! Not exactly sure, why or what God is doing, but I am trying to be the person He wants me to be! I want to praise God in ALL circumstances. Being able to do the “and then some” will be harder without the extra income.
Lysa- thanks for always taking the time to share your heart with us. You really spoke to my heart. I pray for GOD to continue to use you in such a mighty way to always inspire us. Thank you and lots of hugs and blessings!!!!
What a wonderful idea! This year, I am participating in a challenge (and passing it on to my readers) to spend 40 days praying for different people and groups that we may not think to pray for in our daily lives.
Lisa I thank God for you, I believe God is not leaving any stone unturned in you. Like when the Master entered the temple and people were busy buying and selling the Master got in and started turning the tables up side down, every unclean thing was chased out of the temple, Lysa your message “and then some” is more like looking deep and searching. All Jesus girls declare
Yes I am a pretty face and then some more
Yes I very beautiful clothes and then some more
Yes I am intelligent and then some more
Some more of the Supernatural beyond what man can perceive nor eye has seen no ear has head is what you are you are some more
Read further Colossians 3 verse 16 “The Lord is saying the word should dwell in you and not just ending there he is saying and the word should be more” and some hey singing hyms to one another
In his love you are a woman and “some more of the Holy Spirit. Today I pray you seek for some more of his divine abilities, divine powers, definately some more of his LOVE remember its depth, its length and some more of his grace.
God bless
I love this idea!!
Lysa, I love this idea. I am at a busy time in my life with going back to school, full time job, and family and I was trying to think of how I could incorporate ministering to others more. This would be perfect way for me to be able to do this in everyday life. It could be applied to so many aspects: work, family, and church.
Loved this in my inbox this week. And it has stuck with me. My and then some today was actually calling someone to pray with them instead of just saying I would pray for them and praying on my own.
So thanks for sharing. I get a little nervous sometimes about calling others to pray…or sometimes, just honestly, get busy. So glad God had encouraged me through you to do and then some.
Have a blessed weekend.
K
Great stuff!
This spoke so clearly to my heart…amid the many, MANY thoughts that run through my mind at the end of a busy day…a day filled with way too much focus on myself and so little focus on Him—I know He does not want us to “beat” ourselves over our shortcomings, but rather He wants us to learn from our failures and “less than exemplary” behavior and turn to Him…leave the nasties at the foot of the cross and move on leaving a little bit more of “us” behind. Thanks for this challenge…
Read your post last night and watched the Honorology sermons you referred to. I saw your Pastor on one of the MTC webcasts so knew I was in for something special before viewing. What I didn’t realize was that I would hear so much that applied to me. I discovered that I dishonor much more than I would have ever guessed because like so many I thought you had to be rude to dishonor. On my walk to Easter I am going to concentrate on honoring others and even more important, to cease the dishonoring.