photo: http://www.dreamstime.com/-image21944491

I want to comment on the joys of blogging and getting to know other bloggers.   I can’t remember which online group I met her through, I think it was Five Minute Friday.  But when I met Lisha Epperson, I knew I found a gift.  

We became friends online.  If you have never read her writing, it is very expressive and emotional…but not so much that I am turned off. (and yes, that can happen.)   

She also has an amazing back story of how Christ drew her to Himself.  I just don’t think it was in one place.  I have learned it from reading her posts over time.  I’ll give you a teaser…she was the child of one of three wives of a black muslim man.  I found the link to one part of her story here.  The part on how Christ found her is stunning!  

Lisha lives in New York City

She lives in New York City.  I’m sure if we looked hard, we could find theological disagreements.  We just haven’t looked.  I hope we get to meet in person this side of Jordan.  She is a bundle of contrasts...aren’t we all?  And I love the bundle!

She is a woman of color married to a clothing designer in New York City.   She also homeschools her 4 children along with trekking them to lessons throughout the city!  

She struggled for many years with infertility and eventually adopted her first 3 children.  In her 40’s, she conceived and was able to carry her youngest son (after many miscarriages).  

She still blogs about infertility, but if you read any of her writing, it is usually a little unexpected, a bit quirky but with lots of depth…something I love!  If infertility or any form of barreness is your situation, you will find her blog an oasis for your soul!

 I tasted the grief of not having a child briefly due to a miscarriage and stillbirth, but don’t pretend to have experienced it like many of my sisters who have gone years without conceiving.

Lisha’s perspective is different from mine in many areas

I still remember when the verdict came in on the Trayvon Martin case in FL.   Many of us felt justice had been done…until Lisha wrote her piece on the injustice of it all.  Oh my!  

I took the time to read what she had to say and I’m glad I did.  Her brother was shot in Chicago innocently…I was nearly crying as I read her piece.  She was crushed by the verdict!  

In this time of extremes in our political discourse, it seems we rarely have time to hear peoples’ hearts and heartbreak…even in the church.  That day I did.  And I’m glad.

I still don’t know if justice was done on that day in the Martin case.  I do know that we live in a very broken world that has been cursed by the Fall.  Truth and justice are twisted and rarely what their names imply.  I also know that truth and justice aren’t as simple as I once thought.  There are many facets to each.

Can we learn to listen to people

who are different from us in some ways…

with our hearts?

But if we can’t learn to love our sisters and brothers in Christ who have been hurt by circumstances that have never occured to us, what kind of christians are we?

That is when I learned one value of collaboration…of getting to know other believers whose lives are very different, through their blogs.

She is a dancer…graceful and fit

Lisha is a dancer.  As a young woman, she was a ballet dancer.  She still dances for enjoyment, worship and fun now.  

I am as uncoordinated as you can find.  I will never be able to dance this side of heaven.  But in my soul, I dance.  And Lisha helps me dance, think more broadly in some ways, maybe even write better.  I hope so. 

She adds a new perspective: city, artsy, a different culture

She also helps me see life from a different perspective than only mine.  She lives in the city.  She and her husband have more art in their pinkies than I will ever have…but I long for it.  I love their artsy influence on my life!  I also love the influence of their friends that I meet through her blog.  It’s like being part of another world. They add texture to my life!

Most of all, I look forward to the day when we both will stand before the throne of GOD, along with David and many others

…dancing and singing together for His glory as we worship the Lamb of GOD.