About Rosalie

Chris, Rosalie and Susanna. Heart for young people, skeptics, hurting and heavy hearted. Grateful that God qualifies the called, not the other way around. Striving to live in obedience to our call to church planting in Spain and documenting the journey along the way.

The Mountaintop Looks Different These Days

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Rosalie

Our retreat cabin sat on a hill overlooking this horse ranch and the ocean beyond.

I went on a ladies retreat. It was a much needed retreat from the daily grind, and I really enjoyed the break from Susanna and house. I missed her just the right amount.

But I had high expectations for the spiritual side of the retreat. I was longing for a mountaintop experience.

Here’s what I learned: the mountaintop looks a lot different these days. When I was a teenager, every new truth I learned about God that required a change in me was a joyful experience. I want to be clear: there were many times when I realized that my beliefs did not line up with scripture, and I often joyfully repented, submitted, and changed. I walked the ways of the world, so after I put my trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, for abundant life, my perspectives on marriage, relationships, the sanctity of life, purity, wisdom and the meaning of life all did a 180. And I loved to worship God, so I made my way to the mountaintop often, seeking those transforming moments.

But things have changed. The repentance that is required of me usually follows guilt and shame, because my sins hurt other people. God is so gracious to me, though. And I am thankful for these moments because I realized this weekend that I have the power and the desire (because of the Holy Spirit in me) to kill the sin in my life. I rarely feel the emotional highs that I did as a new believer (and a teenager), but I also didn’t have the will or ability to harness the power to conquer the little sins that the Bible warns will cause destruction.

The mountaintop is a joy today because I can choose to stay there as long as I want. To conquer perpetual sins, I must depend on God; to depend on Him, I must spend time with Him; to spend time with Him is to be on the mountaintop. Ancient Rabbis believed that losing one’s temper meant losing the shekinah, and they had a saying, “nothing is worth risking the shekinah!”* As long as I have God’s Glory resting upon me, I believe I am on the mountaintop.

*Learned that from a video session during Beth Moore’s study of James.

A Bit of Blogkeeping: If you read my blog updates via Google Reader, you’ll need to find a replacement reader soon, as Google is phasing out this application. I have tried Feedly and Bloglovin’ and can recommend both. Bloglovin’ is a bit simpler, but my starred posts didn’t come through in the sync.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Free Audio Bibles

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Rosalie

Wow! Right now, you can download free MP3 recordings of the Bible in a variety of versions. Check out the Free Audio Bibles from Faith Comes By Hearing and choose the version you most enjoy. These recordings are dramatized, which means different voices for different characters. You may or may not enjoy that, but I encourage you to give it a try, especially if you enjoy books on tape.

Also, if you’ve been watching The Bible on the History Channel, I encourage you to download the real thing. You might be surprised to learn some of the details left out of the film version! Here are links to the Old and New Testament in the ESV, my favorite word-for-word translation.

Halfway There

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Rosalie

The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
-1 Thessalonians 5:24

50 yard line I am bursting at the seams to announce that we are officially halfway to our goal! Next we’ll be invited to Essential Missions Components, the next required training at our mission agency, so long as we complete our assignments in time.

This has felt like a long time coming (two years since we started building our partnership team but who’s counting?).

Now we are praying to be fully supported by the end of 2013 so that we can be on our way to the field in 2014.

If you are part of our financial partnership team, thank you! Your contribution is the literal moving sidewalk that will get our feet on the ground in Spain.

If you pray for us regularly, thank you! Your prayers have enabled us to meet people, share our ministry in unexpected places, kept us encouraged on prefield, and set up a hedge around us to protect us from sin’s desires.

If you have written us or called us to encourage us in our walk, thank you for blessing us with words. Prefield can be lonely because partnership meetings trump any other kind of outing or get together, so your words of encouragement reminded us to keep our priorities in line.

If you have recommended books, classes or resources for church planting, thank you! You’re helping us fill a toolbox that will make us effective long-term missionaries.

If you read this blog, thank you! Sometimes it seems like I send words out into the universe and they just turn to dust.

Finally, if you’re interested in being part of our team in some way – through finances, prayer or any unique way (we have lots of ideas!), please contact us.

My Grandma’s Cousins

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Rosalie

I am blessed to know my grandma’s cousins. Thanks to long-living, family-loving great grandparents, Fred and Harriet Hertzog, I have quite a few memories with extended family and their children, especially three of my grandma’s cousins: Rick, Doug and Jeff. This extended family is one of God’s graces to me as I have navigated life without a traditional family.

Among my clearest memories is my great grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary, where all the families presented a song, poem or skit honoring our patriarch and his lovely wife. Over a long weekend, Hertzog family stayed in the converted barn or camped on my great grandparents Port Angeles property, and as I got to know my cousins, I learned a bit about the spiritual legacy inherited by my family.

I certainly didn’t recognize it at the time, but the Hertzog men live radical lives. Among them are foster parents, children who have served in missions, and hearts that have suffered loss and sickness and trial. Three years ago, Rick suffered a long, scary recovery from spinal meningitis. He was in a coma, but God saw fit to save his life. What a joy it was to hear of his recovery! True adventurers like many in our family, they have also been blessed to travel the world and host exchange students from all around.

After I became a Christian, I saw the influence of my extended family on my Christian walk. I do not know if they prayed for me when I was a child. I know they pray now. My situation, being raised by my grandparents, certainly warranted it, but we saw each other at weddings and funerals, for the most part. But they have always been so supportive. All three came to a baby shower to celebrate Susanna’s life just days before she came along. In spite that it took me years to remember who was who and which children and wives belonged to whom, there is a quality about the Hertzogs that has always made me look forward to our times together, brief and infrequent as they are.

And now one of them is gone. This weekend, Rick had a heart attack and now he is with Jesus. My heart is broken. It doesn’t seem fair that God would save Rick’s life only to allow it to end three years later.

But, (though It is easy for me to say, because I haven’t lost my husband or brother or father): it is fair. God is sovereign, he is in control, and he warns us in his Word that our days are numbered. Rick lived his life in a way that acknowledged that. It had an impact on me. The worst thing in our minds, losing a beloved, is the best thing for that person when he is a believer, as Rick was. He is with Jesus. Hallelujah! Rick, you will be missed. We look forward to meeting you again in our true home.

Belief.

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Rosalie

I have believed so many lies.

It is the desire of my heart that Susanna would believe Jesus. Whenever I read her little toddler Bible, I say, “listen, Susanna, this isn’t a story. This is God’s true Word!”

But I fear the thing I most desire for her is the thing I model most imperfectly for her.

This week, she has been getting up extra early. Oh how I have hated it! But a couple days ago I realized it might be that she wants to spend time with her daddy. Just as Chris finishes his morning routine, she cries out. I get her up, change her clothes, and invite her back to bed with me. That lasts a minute, but she wants to hug Daddy’s legs while he shaves, makes his lunch, pours his orange juice. He used to lean against the back of the couch to read his Bible, but now the two of them sit on the couch together. She watches cars out the window and Daddy reads, and then we all pray together before saying goodbye.

When she was sleeping later, did I get up early to spend time with my Daddy? Not usually.

The number one heart change I need is to trust God that the day has begun the way He intended it. Whether it begins with an early wake up, a grumpy, whiny, tear-stained face and immediate toy-throwing, or smiles, giggles and a calm breakfast, the day belongs to the Lord.