All I Need Is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans: The Tired Supergirl's Search for Grace (19 page)

John 15:1–8

And this is where we find our hope, supergirls. This is where our faith lies and where our dreams live. In the vine. This is when we look at Not-in-a-Million-Years Guy and say, “Ha!”

Maybe even “Ha-ha!” Because while we may not be able to change on our own, while we have many, many things we have left to accomplish, and while we may not see how we will ever be who we are supposed to be, that isn’t the point. It is not up to us to grow ourselves. To change who we are. To root out the bad and prune back the good so that we can flower and blossom into all the loveliness we are meant for. It is not our job. Jesus is the vine. And God the Father is the gardener. He promises he will prune and grow us into who we are supposed to be. He is not about to let us stay the way we are today. He is determined that we should grow, flourish, and produce great things. Jesus tells the disciples they have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message he has given them. If they will remain in him, then he will remain in them. Well. This is good news. In fact, it is spectacular news because we have been given the same message. The message of Christ’s unending love. The message that he comes to find and save the lost. (That is us, tired supergirls.) And if we remain in him, he will remain in us. He says his true disciples produce much fruit. That means they are growing, changing, being the people God designed them to be. And this brings great glory to the Father. If we remain in Jesus, he will remain in us and we will bring great glory to the Father. That is one big fat promise.

If we listen to Million Years Guy, we lose. If we cut ourselves off from Jesus, if we give up and choose to rely on ourselves, we have lost hope. If we are severed from the vine, we won’t be able to do a thing. But if we hang on, if we bury ourselves into the very essence of who Jesus is and his plan of salvation, then all we have is hope. Truckloads of hope. Hope upon hope heaped upon an even bigger pile of hope. Because with Jesus, nothing is impossible. He says so himself. And he’s God.

We have a long way to go. We are not perfect. We have struggles and temptations and heartache. But all is not lost. We will arrive. Because he loves us and he will not let us stay the way we are. And when we choose to remain in Jesus, despite who we are, Million Years Guy does not have a chance. And as we traverse this narrow way, following after God, listening for his voice, submitting to his pruning, getting strength from his strength, we will have
that moment
. We will look into the face of all eternity, and we will hear these words: “Well done.”

And we will be tired no more. With those words, the vile foes of the years, the crazy nemeses, the mind-numbing struggles, and the various heartaches will fall away. So fight on, tired supergirl, wherever you are. Because you have heard the message. Remain in him. Don’t let go. Even when it gets harder than hard,
he loves you
. No matter what. And that is something that, surely, we tired supergirls can stake our very lives upon.

conclusion

From one tired supergirl to another, I commend you for finishing this book. I’m not kidding. Pat yourself on the back or get a manicure. This is no small feat. But as you get ready to tuck this book away on your shelf, I would like you to take a moment and ponder a few things.

First, if you haven’t asked Jesus to be a part of your life, there has never been a better time than right now. Find another Christ follower to pray with or simply say this prayer wherever you are. Even if you are in your favorite store. He will still hear you.

Jesus, I believe you are God’s Son

Who came to die for me and rose from the dead so that I could really live.

Forgive me for my sins. I invite you into my life.

I want you to be the boss of my life. I want to follow you I need you. Amen.

Now that you have asked Jesus to lead you in your life’s journey, make sure you tell someone what you have done. This is important because, really, this is a new beginning and a time to celebrate, probably with a whole lot of chocolate. Other people who follow Jesus would love to walk you through this, encourage you, tell you more about Jesus and who he is and how much he loves you (and share your celebratory chocolate). This is good stuff!

Second, for those of you supergirls who have been following Jesus for quite a while, sometimes it helps to take a look back to where all the tiredness began and how that beginning pertains to our present journey. And that would take us back to good old Eve. When we find Eve in the garden, she is not tired. In fact, being a new creation and all, she is anything but tired. Eve is brimming with life and hope and questions. She is living life in perfect communion with God and Adam. We tend to think it all went downhill when she bit into the apple.

But the story of the tired supergirl began long before Eve succumbed to the first crunchy bite of fruit. The story of the tired supergirl started when Eve began to believe the lies of the Snake. How she took them to heart and believed them to be true even though he was a snake, for goodness’ sake. It started with a hiss and a whisper and before she knew it, the thought of what that apple held, the excitement that was buried in its flesh, the new worlds of power and life that it held for her, wormed its way into her heart, and she was hooked. (Sound familiar?) I’ve often wished that I could have been there in the garden, to screech in a hideously high voice, “Don’t do it, Eve! In the name of all that is good and holy, do not listen to that wretched snake! Think of all that pain in childbirth that is headed your way. And mine, for that matter! For goodness’ sake, step away from the apple!”

But then you should probably also know that if I had been there, I’m sure I would have beat her to the tree. I really do love fruit, and I also find it very easy to sin. So in some ways I’m really glad I wasn’t there, because Adam and Susanna doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. But I digress.

The downfall of tired supergirls, in general, begins with the conversations that flood our minds. Conversations that excite us or feel right or just seem to make sense in the moment. We know about the Snake, thanks to our forebearer, Eve. We know he is sneaky and evil, and we do our best to block out the drone of his oily voice, with its slick lies. But the sneakiest thing of all is that he is a chameleon. He can easily disguise himself. And he is not above using a plethora of underhanded tactics to drown out the voice of the Father. The one that we long to hear and follow. The One who holds the key to all we hope and dream of. So the Snake has come up with a crew of different allies or nemeses, if you will, to aid him in the battle of the mind that he wages against all supergirls. Plan A was to take out God. As we all know, that didn’t happen. Plan B is that he wants to take down as many of us as he can with him. He’s going to keep us from hearing the Father’s voice any way he can. The Snake is playing hardball.

We tired supergirls struggle against the voices of those nemeses on a remarkably regular basis. We truly long to be all that God has made us to be and long to reflect a little bit of God’s glory to the world around us. We want to shine some light and close the gap between the person we are at present and the person we hope to become. We want to shut out all voices except the one that matters. The voice of the One who created us.

With a bit of God’s grace, I am hoping this book has and will continue to aid you in that journey. That as you read these confessions, some sad, some silly, all true, you found yourself turning Christ-ward, looking to Scripture for his truth and straining a bit harder to hear the voice of Jesus. And that you found a huge measure of grace poured out over you and are beginning to have some understanding of his unbelievable love for you, just as you are, even with all of your weaknesses and shortcomings. (And also, I really hope that you will be able to do some serious damage to that lousy snake and his stinky lies . . . maybe freeze him with your laser beam of truth or knock him sideways with a gnarly roundhouse kick . . . since you are a supergirl, after all.) So, all that being said, there is just this. Ephesians 3:14–21. It is a prayer, a blessing, that Paul prayed over the church in Ephesus.

I pray the same for you. Please pray it for me.

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.

Amen.

study questions

Chapter 1: I am oh so tired

1. In what part of your life do you struggle with the Tired Lady?

2. How do you feel like life is pulling at you?

3. Do you identify with Peter and his struggles?

4. What is your prayer as you ride the edge of imperfection and are caught on the cusp of crazy living?

Chapter 2: I am not a supermodel

1. Do you feel pressure to look a certain way? Where does that pressure come from? From yourself? Your peers? Your family?

2. How do you think God views how you look?

3. Do you give more care to your “inner beauty” or your “outer beauty”?

Chapter 3: I have pride issues

1. Can you think of a situation where pride has led to your own downfall?

2. In what areas of your life do you struggle with pride?

3. Using the definition of humility, recognizing yourself for who you truly are, how would you define yourself?

4. How does the fact that Jesus loves you, just as you are, imperfections and all, change your view of yourself?

Chapter 4: I worry about things

1. What does worry rob you of on a daily basis?

2. Why is it so hard to turn to God and trust him with your needs and concerns?

3. Do you believe that God has the ability to meet your needs?

4. How can you change the way you worry about things into a prayer that offers God your concerns?

Chapter 5: I forget there is no more condemnation in
Christ

1. What are the things that you feel condemned about?

2. How can you tell the difference between feeling convicted about something by the Holy Spirit versus feeling condemned about something by Condemno Boy?

3. What does “free” look like to you when you realize that Christ has forgiven all of your sins and loves you completely?

Chapter 6: I want chocolate to solve my problems

1. What is your substitution of choice? Is there more than one?

2. Do you identify with the woman at the well who keeps trying to fill her heart with the same thing over and over again but can’t seem to find what she needs?

3. What is the hole that you would like Jesus to fill in your life?

Chapter 7: I sin a lot

1. What sin do you need to bring into the light?

2. How does it make you feel that God is looking for you, wanting to forgive you so that he can hang out with you?

3. Do you have a close friend with whom you can be accountable to and share your sin and your struggles, and support each other in areas of weakness?

Chapter 8: I am jealous of my friends

1. What things make you jealous?

2. Does your jealousy move you to sabotage others with your thoughts, words, or actions?

3. How do your feelings of jealousy change when you realize the things or opportunities you are jealous of were never meant for you?

4. What are the things in the life God has granted you that you are thankful for? Relationships? Personality traits? Accomplishments?

Chapter 9: I judge people

1. Do you have the unspiritual gift of judgment?

2. Why is it so hard to examine our own issues, while finding fault in others comes so easily?

3. How do you think your view of others will change if you concentrate on removing the “log from your own eye” before judging them?

Chapter 10: I have anger issues

1. What really makes you angry?

2. When have you had a hard time controlling your anger?

3. What are some of the ways that you could let God use your anger to motivate you to make your life better?

Or to make the lives of those around you be what they were meant to be?

Chapter 11: I am undisciplined

1. What are the areas in your life where chaos reigns?

2. What disciplines could you incorporate in your life to help you invest in your future?

3. What are some ways that you can say no to yourself that would add to your life?

4. What are the reasons that you want to see past the momentary and look to the eternal by incorporating discipline in your life?

Chapter 12: I get too busy for God

1. How can you go about having a “devotional life” versus a “devotional time”?

2. What do you think about the JOY song and the idea of putting Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last?

3. How did Jesus remain so secure in his purpose and remain unmoved by the Pharisees or the multitudes of religious expectations of him?

4. How can you model yourself after Jesus and learn from his dealings with others?

Chapter 13: I am selfish

1. How often do you struggle with the Diva in your own walk with God?

2. What does your “selfish ambition” look like? What “cross” is Jesus asking you to take up and follow him with at this point in your life?

3. How can you drown out the voice of the Diva so you can hear the voice of Jesus more easily?