Anne Marie Miller

Blog

  • Shortage of Power

    I’m happily in isolation on an island that can only be reached by seaplane or ferry. During this week away, I’ve asked several friends to fill in for me this week. Hopefully you’ll meet some new voices of people I admire.

    Today?s post comes from Crystal Renaud. She was but a mere high school senior when I met her, seven or so years ago. Now she is growing into a passionate and brave young woman with a heart for helping women discover and embrace their God given gifts.

    —–

    Shortage of Power

    Growing up, I was certainly a tomboy and even through high school I battled with the role of being a woman. But the older I get, the more I embrace my womanhood. What makes me special is that I am a woman. The world wasn?t finished before Eve and I think we as women we need to feel empowered to on our God-given role.

    On more than one occasion I have read and heard about how much the enemy hates women. More so than he hates men. But why?

    Because he is jealous of her. Before the creation of Eve, Lucifer was the most beautiful thing God ever created and he knew that Eve was more beautiful than he. He didn?t go to her because she was weaker than Adam. He went to her because he wanted to destroy her.

    But it sort of backfired on him.

    Yes, she was deceived, but in Genesis 3 God says to the serpent, ?Because you have done this (serpent deceiving Eve), cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity (hatred) between you and the woman.?

    Perhaps the serpent thought God would destroy her for him. Or that God would change his mind about having created her. I don?t know. But instead, God further condemned him and further raised Eve up to do battle.

    So, not only do women have the word of God in them, we also have the calling and anointing to do battle. And even now the enemy knows we were created for battle against him. Which is why we are the ones he comes after.

    Yet, society is robbing us of that power.

    For too long (especially in my generation) women have been given mixed signals about who we are and what our role is. Some are told we?re in competition with men?in business, ministry and even in relationships. And some of us have been told we?re merely for show and pleasing men sexually.

    Whichever voice we?ve heard most, these extremes are creating a generation of women who are sexually confused, angry at men and our relationships with God are strained or non-existent.

    Jeremiah 31:21-23 says, ?How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man.?

    This doesn?t mean a woman is to rule over a man? or to be ruled over? no. It means she will stand beside him, stand with him, surround him, and even protect him in spiritual warfare. And that?s a powerful statement.

    Joel 2 speaks of ?the fig tree,? ?the grapevine? and ?the olive oil.? I believe this is what God?s women are made of. The oil representing the anointing, the fig tree representing the sweetness, and the wine (or grapevine) representing the new thing.

    When God-fearing women begin manifesting these things in their families, their churches and the world, the enemy will be filled with terror. He knows that women will impact their world for God, just as the early church did in Acts 2.

    And that?s a whole lot better than the old ?sugar and spice and everything nice.?

    There?s a quote that says, ?Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, ?Oh no, she?s awake.??

    What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Has our culture of gender confusion and role reversal robbed us of our true call to do battle? What can be done to regain what’s been stolen?

  • Dealing with Change

    I’m happily in isolation on an island that can only be reached by seaplane or ferry. During this week away, I’ve asked several friends to fill in for me this week. Hopefully you’ll meet some new voices of people I admire.

    Today’s post comes from Graham Brenna. I met Graham when I spoke at a church in Chicago. He’s a very passionate and encouraging person. And he is really tall.

    —–

    Dealing with Change

    Change is inevitable.

    People change, jobs change, relationships change, toothbrushes change, for better or for worse, things change. It?s how we deal with those changes that will make or break us.

    Take the all too familiar interview question, where do you see yourself in five years?

    What would happen if we jumped ahead five years overnight? That would be a massive change! We wouldn?t handle it very well because we would not be prepared for it. We go through little changes in our lives daily and handle them with ease, however, big changes are inevitable, even some we might not be ready for.

    For the sake of not drawing this out into a twenty-page post I?ve narrowed how we react to changes into two groups; kicking and screaming and acceptance.

    Kicking and Screaming

    For many of us, our initial reaction to a last minute change is to fight it. We like to stick with the plan. When things don?t go as planned we get angry and our nostrils flare. We are quick to find the faults in others that led to this unforeseen misdirection and cast blame. The truth is that throwing blame around in the middle of a change is a dangerous game. It?s best to keep a level head and go with the flow. You don?t want to be seen kicking and screaming? it?s not flattering? usually your hair gets messed up and there is the possibility of rug-burns.

    Acceptance

    Some changes are easier to accept than others. When something is planned out before implementation it is easier to go along with. However, when a last minute change occurs. I?ve found that acceptance is a safer way to respond than by kicking and screaming. Accepting a last minute change can be frustrating sometimes however it?s best to revisit the situation later to debrief instead of putting up barriers.

    These last minute changes shouldn?t be looked at as bad things. They should be embraced as learning opportunities. I?ve been trying to form a new habit lately. When things don?t go as planned, I write down what the situation was and what caused it to go awry. Then I try and figure out what I could have done to prevent it. Doing this usually takes all of five minutes. Actually writing it down and doing my own debrief of the situation has given me clarity and has helped to prevent unwanted changes in the future.

    How do you deal with change? How can we help each other deal with change in a more grace-giving manner?

    —–

  • Lost in Church

    I’m happily in isolation on an island that can only be reached by seaplane or ferry. During this week away, I’ve asked several friends to fill in for me this week. Hopefully you’ll meet some new voices of people I admire.

    Today’s post comes from Lynse Leanne. I met Lynse when I was visiting Nashville for a conference a few years ago. Somehow I ended up in her wedding and she’s ended up sleeping on my air mattress and we’ve been friends ever since.? Lynse has some serious cajones for being such a young girl. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

    —–

    Lost in Church

    This is a phrase I have been thinking a lot about lately.? The more I talk to people in church ministry the more I see this common thread throughout those ?ministering.?

    I don?t know that these words have been used to explain it, but I think that so many church employees are lost in church.

    Now, before you get on your spiritual high horses and ream me for implying that you are not saved let me unpack what I mean.? I don?t mean that you are ?lost? in the term the church uses?.I mean have you lost who you are in the machine of the church?

    Let me give you a bit of my story.? I have been employed by a very successful church for about 5 years. It has been enjoyable?.but the longer I was there the more discontent I have felt.? The more I began to hate what I did?.and more than that who I had become.? I was too busy to minister alongside my husband, too busy to connect with my friends out side of the four church walls.? Through much thought I realized that I had lost myself in the machine. And to no fault of the church, I had surrendered myself into the machine and lost me.? I became lost in church.

    I personally think that I got so behind the business of what we were doing and forgot who God had called me to be.? Those He had called me to reach.? The calling and dreams he had placed inside of my heart.

    I was lost.

    No dreams, no vision, and lost in what I was doing as Lynse and not as “Lynse the church employee.”

    Because what I had forgotten is that God created me for a reason and to reach people.? Yes, he called me to serve my local church and reach people there, but He also made me with a specific calling and purpose?.and I had lost that.

    And for some reason I don?t think that I am the only one who over time has become lost in the church.? Business, tasks and accomplishments is what I was lost to?I had lost the day to day relationships and human contact with those outside of the church.

    How can we as ?church leaders? keep from getting lost in church and lost in the machine?

    —–

  • A Week of TwitPics

    This week will be a little different on FlowerDust.net. I am headed up to a friend’s cabin on Orcas Island and since I’m trying to squeeze the juices from every creative verbal node in my brain, I’ve asked a few friends to guest blog to take the pressure off me.

    I’ve read and scheduled their posts and have to say they bring some unique perspectives and should stir up some good conversation.

    In lieu of Twittering and blogging, I’ve decided that when I do Twitter, I’ll only be doing it via Twitpics and a small, obscure but related line of text to the photo…a song or poem or quote it reminds me, or…who knows? I think this exercise will help me help me dip into the abstract a bit.

    It will be interesting. I hope.

    How can you journey along with me?

    Follow me on Twitter here.

    Also, you can visit my TwitPic page here.

    Or subscribe to the TwitPic RSS feed here.

    Or just check out the sidebar on this blog as I update the photos (although you’ll miss the mildly pithy descriptions).

    See you in a week…

  • Some Conferences You Should Know About

    The parallel for Back to School for church leaders is Back to Conference.

    There are several conferences coming up this Fall that I thought I’d let you know about. I’ll be at all but one of them, sometimes speaking.

    Christian Web Conference – (Biola U, La Mirada, CA) September 11 & 12 (*Speaking)

    Innovate 09 – (Granger, IN) September 24 & 25 (*I’ll be in NYC on vacation…but you should go!)
    A conference best experienced in team, Innovate delivers hard-earned, practical next steps no matter where you?re located, whether you?re a paid staff or unpaid volunteer, part of a church of 50 or 8,000 ? it?s unique. **I have THREE free passes to giveaway! To enter, just tell me in the comments that you’d like to win and I’ll choose three random winners!

    Catalyst – (Atlanta, GA) October 7-9 (*Speaking!)
    I’ll be speaking in one of the Catalyst Labs on October 7 and hosting Catalyst Backstage on the 8 & 9. TODAY (8/27) is the last day to get the early bird discount! Hurry!

    Story Chicago (Aurora, IL) – October 28 & 29 (*Not speaking, but I’ll be around!)
    Some of my favorite communicators will be speaking and one of my favorite people in the world is the genius behind this event.

    National Outreach Convention (San Diego, CA) – November 4-6 (*I’m the only girl speaking…please bring chocolate).

    Lead Now/Fusion (Dallas, TX & Satellite Broadcast everywhere!) – November 5-7 (*Speaking. Three times I think.)
    We live in a world where followers of Christ appear to be frozen in their faith, unable to take the necessary steps required to initiate true life transformation. We believe the problem is big, but the solution is even bigger.

    DIRT (Little Rock, AR) – November 10 & 11 (*Speaking. Three times I think.)
    Dirt is for the video and graphics guys (and girls), worship teams, creative staff, pastors (because you know all this is your fault anyway), sound and lighting crews, actors, weekend series developers, web and copy writers, and multi-site churches.

    (And then I am going to take a really, really long nap…)

    Will I see you around?

  • Facing Down Fear at a Shady Motel

    It was unseasonably cold in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last December.

    When I arrived Wednesday, it was 75 and muggy. ?By the same time Thursday, it was 32 degrees and windy – a cold, damp, biting wind that messed up all of our hair and left us shivering in the shuttle which drove us around the most dangerous areas of town.

    After making the rounds at several adult establishments to hand out roses to the ladies who worked at them, we visited the almost condemned Alamo motel, home to pimps, drug lords and prostitutes.

    The cold air kept the prostitutes indoors, but we managed to stop by one motel room where we knew we?d find a lady the team I was with had gotten to know over the last few months.

    She answered the door in a house robe and hair net...

    (Read the rest of my experience at a shady, Baton Rouge motel over at (in)Courage. Comments off here so you can join the conversation there!)

    —–

  • Momma Always Said

    Momma always said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

    But I’ve taken it a step further.

    If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything.

    This year I’ve been more intentional in practicing the discipline of solitude. Taking regular days offline, simply enjoying whatever is in front of me: a good book, a movie, reorganizing furniture, taking a nap with a thirteen pound cat on my lap, or strolling in downtown Franklin window shopping. Even with the things that are screaming at me for attention, I’ve come to cherish the one day each week or so that I soak in the essence of what’s tangible and present.

    Creatively, these days are refreshing. And as a new season approaches – my last week working at Cross Point, and a month before the first draft of my manuscript is due – I don’t think I could survive without them.

    Every ounce of energy I have seems to be spent in working on Permission to Speak Freely. Granted, I don’t have a dozen books under my belt but I do think it’s fair for me to say that it’s unlike anything I’ve ever written before.

    Usually I feel the pressure of someone’s expectation, whether it’s my own, or what I perceive to be yours, or my publisher. But this book is different. In its own way, it’s my way of living out the message of the book. I’m speaking more freely than I ever thought possible. Typically there are words I write that are just words…but this project is different. Every word I place into that running document is drenched in heart-felt inspiration. Inspiration I pray is an overflow of the words and whispers I hear a Father speaking to me.

    His expectation is the only one that matters now.

    A week from today, I’ll be isolated in a friend’s cabin on Orcas Island. I plan on being as disconnected as possible and will have some friends sharing their thoughts on my blog while I’m attempting to knock out a good 20,000 words or so on my manuscript.

    There’s a part of me wants to apologize for the quietness that you may experience coming from this corner of the internet for the next month or so as I tie things up, but there’s a part of me who just wants to say thank you. Thank you for your encouragement, for reading (as inconsistent as things may be), for inspiring, and for letting me discover (and rediscover) the next steps on my journey with you.

    —–

  • Update on my Surgery

    About 10 am, I was taken back to the Cardio Cath lab.

    Which was about 30 degrees. Below zero.

    They stuck me in all awkward places with little pads and wires and gave me some lovely medicine where I dozed off to Coldplay. I woke up once when my heart was pounding out of my chest. Evidently, my earlier guessing of my heart rate maxing at 190-200 was wrong, as they easily triggered it to 220-240BPM. They gave some more drugs and a couple hours later, I was put back up in my room, almost fully awake, and feeling much better.

    My leg, where they inserted the catheter, isn’t sore (granted, I’m on some pain killers) and I’m on bed rest for another 3 hours or in order to let that artery heal.

    So the diagnosis was pretty correct. WHAT A RELIEF!

    He assumed I had an extra pathway on my AV Node (the main node that receives electricity in your heart) and sure enough, there it was. However it was SO close to the AV Node they couldn’t burn it fully…he froze some of if, which I guess is safer. Sometimes when they burn the extra pathway so close to the AV Node they accidentally burn it completely, which would require me to have a pacemaker.

    MMM, no thanks!

    After they fixed that pathway, they retested my heart and lo and behold – ANOTHER pathway that shouldn’t have been there! TWO extra pathways? No wonder my heart would shoot up into such a high rate so quickly!

    This one was in a very safe place (considering) so they ablated that one right away. They tried to get my heart into another arrhythmia and at that point, it didn’t!

    For the few months, he expects my heart to still flutter a bit as my brain relearns my heart, which is totally safe. At least it shouldn’t be hitting 200+ BPM after a couple minutes of exertion.

    He wants me to start exercising slow but over the next month, I should be able to run, bike, whatever! I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to kayak in the Orcas Islands when I’m up there in a few weeks.

    Thank you SO MUCH for the unbelievable amount of prayers and support over the last week. I have never felt so prayed for in my life!

    Hopefully tomorrow I will be discharged and on my way to a much more active life!

    Much love,

    Anne

    (PS – please show grace if there are any typos. I am on some loopy meds as I write this!) :)

  • Sexy Survey Results

    In under 24 hours over 500 people took the “Do Women Dress too Sexy” survey, which was the least scientific, most general survey the researchers at FlowerDust.net has ever conducted.

    It was a short survey, so here are some of the results:

    On a scale of 1-10 (1 being extremely immodest and 10 being extremely modest) how would you rank the level of modesty for women who claim to be followers of Christ? The average rating was 5.

    On a scale from 1-10 (with 1 meaning extremely immodest and 10 meaning extremely modest), how would you rate the modesty level of women who claim to be irreligious? The average rating was 3.5.

    Have you ever been distracted by what someone was wearing at church or a church event because it was immodest? 89% said yes.

    Do you think women should dress more modestly in general? 87% said yes.

    The top five most “immodest” things women wear (depending on context – in order of most votes to fewer votes):

    1. Deep V-necks (showing obvious cleavage) 94%
    2. Short Skirts 82%
    3. Short Shorts 79%
    4. Tight Fitting Jeans 43% *(it should be noted many people also added leggings in an “other” field).
    5. Tight Fitting Shirts 31%

    And finally, here are 10 comments I chose that represented ideas presented consistently in the “If there was one thing you would want to tell women about dressing modestly, what would it be?”

    “Guys have a harder time than you think, so think like them for a second while you plan what you wear.”

    “I know that women probably roll their eyes a lot when they hear to dress modestly, but seriously, its a huge help. A. Huge. Help. Look, if you are an attractive woman, you are right, you cant control where guys thoughts go. But you dont have to help them get there quicker. A lot of us are really trying, and small skirts or deep cleavage just sets us back, no matter how strong we are. “

    “Cover the cleavage. It’s intoxicating, they’re wonderful but I should really concentrate on my wife’s and not yours.”

    “My sister, when it comes to being tempted visually, I am your much weaker brother. I would humbly ask, as you exercise your wonderful freedom in Christ, you would demonstrate grace and help me in my quest to live a life that honors our great God. YOU can help ME in my weakness.”

    “If women knew the devastation that their immodesty could cause a man who is struggling with porn/lust (and his family), I think they might reconsider. ESPECIALLY in church….which “should” be a safe place for men to not have to dart their eyes every 2 seconds.”

    “I would tell them about my husband’s former struggles with pornography and fantasy, about how much we underestimate the power we have over helping or hindering our brother’s walks with God, and the marriages of our sisters and how much a glance at another woman’s cleavage is heartbreaking to a wife. I would tell them that while that is not their FAULT, dressing modestly is a way to love and cherish our brothers and sisters in Christ, even when the temptation to get the attention and feeling of being noticed and desired is great (especially in our society). (Maybe that’s two things? I don’t know!)”

    “What makes me sad is that most of us Christian girls don’t care about protecting our Christian brother’s purity. True, there are some things a guy can do, such as look away and not look again once he’s seen the girl dressed in skimpy clothes, but we need to do our part in helping them too. The way that God made them, it’s hard for them to not look and imagine the rest. If you think what you’re wearing is modest when you’re standing up, bend over and if your breasts or buttocks hang out, change into a less revealing outfit. Also, I’ve been told by Christian guys who care about this issue that even bra straps, or anthing that looks like bra straps, coming out from under a shirt can cause their minds to go off.”

    “Dressing immodestly may seem harmless to anyone but yourself, but you must realize that’s not true. Try to be respectful to men who are trying to overcome sin. They struggle with lusting after immodestly dressed women. Some have absolutely no self control to look away. It’s really hard for them!”

    “You don’t understand the intensity with which men are compelled in and battle these things…not giving us more to mentally work with does not win our battle (nor does dressing provocatively lose it) but simply being thoughtful in how you dress and doing your best to help us see who you are instead of how your body looks is greatly appreciated.”

    “If you are a Christ-follower, please understand the lust issues that men face. It is difficult enough for us to stay mentally pure.”

    —

    So there you have it. I understand the survey was extremely broad and everyone has a different opinion on what “modest” is to begin with. But I hope that you’ll see some consistencies and common threads woven throughout how people responded.

    Any final thoughts?

    —-