Word of Mouth

I pray that your week, and year, is starting off as well as possible!

I have a new poem up this week called "Word of Mouth". Passing things by word of mouth has often been thought of as one of the best advertising tools, and I would agree. I would also say though that word of mouth can be a dangerous weapon when used to spread gossip and rumors. We live in a digital age where everyone can know peoples' "business" in an instant through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Add in a vindictive spirit and trouble begins.

I've also noticed that in general we're all becoming more flippant with words and insults towards others. It's not uncommon to hear kids cursing at their parents, and vice versa, in Wal-Mart these days. Respect for others is a slowly decaying idea. We as Christians need to take that back and lead by example, showing Christ's love by taming the tongue.

The past couple days have been ones of turmoil for me that's been brewing for several weeks I guess. My sense of who I am in God, where my heart is, and how I've actually been living are being deeply shaken. A new year is bringing new revelation of where I should be, and I am struggling with giving it ALL to Him. Complete surrender is what He asks, and He will settle for no less. I would appreciate your prayers as I stumble through this new section of the path God has for me.

I posted on Twitter and Facebook on New Year's Day that I was working on a major project for the poetry, so I thought I'd let you in on the secret a bit. I'm not certain of a date, but within the next couple months I will be releasing a book! It will include a selection of my poetry from the past two years, as well as some of my testimony. I wanted to tell some of my story, the amazing journey I've been on for 32 years and how Christ has lifted me out of the miry clay. You'll get to see how some of the poems were born out of that and find out more about my background. So keep your eyes open for that announcement!

I would be happy to pray for anyone who is in need. Please let me know how I can pray for you at anytime! You can send me an e-mail at holli@holliswank.com, contact me on Twitter, or on Facebook. You can also leave a comment here on the blog.

Have a wonderful week and may God bless each and every one of you!

Happy New Year!

Well, 2011 is here, like it or not! Quite a bit has happened in the past few weeks to be sure.

Christmas was amazing as we'd hoped it would be. Friends and family filled our home with love, and gifts of course. The most wonderful part of the day was when Larry and three of our friends sat in our living/school room and played music. Erin even joined in on wooden spoons for a while. The sense of fellowship and love embodied the Christmas spirit completely for us.

Starting the 28th, IHOP (prayer not pancakes) began their major conference, onething. They stream the entire thing for free so from Tuesday afternoon through Friday night that consumed much of our time. We heard some really excellent messages, some absolutely amazing worship, and were able to download the notes and MP3 recordings of everything. We're looking forward to going back and listening to the things we didn't catch and pouring over the notes to go deeper into the ideas.

New Years Eve was very fun, consisting of watching the webstream of onething, rocking out with the worship music, and praying fervently for healing for my husband. It was amazing to ring in the new year watching somewhere around 25,000 young adults worship the Lord and pray for each other. There is hope in those kids.

I hope that you were blessed by this holiday season, and if you have any prayer requests, feel free to get in touch with me. Here's to a new year in the Lord and being days closer to His return!

Season of ...

What is Christmas to you?

A season of ... joy? giving? celebration? busyness? stress? Maybe a little of all that?

For me it's that last one; or at least it has always been before. I'm hoping that this year will be a little different though. This year (I pray) we've got the focus right.

A verse that has been on my mind since I found it is Hebrews 13:6. I obviously try to do good and share, but are those two things really sacrifices in my life? Do I share to where it hurts? Are the good things I do forcing me to sacrifice anything?

I wrote about our amazing Thanksgiving dinner last week, and this verse reminds me of that evening. We sacrificed time as a family, money for the extra food, gas to drive our friend back and forth. I sacrificed some comfort, having a new person I didn't really know well in my home.

But God blessed it mightily. He was well pleased with what we did. And I want that again. I want all the blessings God has for me.

So, like I said in my last post, we are opening the doors of our home to friends, family, maybe even a stranger, on Christmas Day. We'll have food, warmth, music, and fellowship. It won't be quiet. It won't be private. It won't look like any other Christmas we've had in the past.

And I am very okay with that.

I have been writing Christmas poems for a few weeks now, and I currently have four that I'll be posting the week of Christmas. I'm actually hoping He'll give me one more so I have a full slate of new ones that week, but we'll see what He's got.

Have a great week everyone. I pray that God pours out blessings as you navigate this season and that you are always able to hang onto the reason we celebrate every year. See you next week!

Giving Really is Better

Thanksgiving in our house had always been a family thing. For a long time, we traveled to my grandparents home until they passed away several years ago.

Then that home was passed to my mother, so we went to the same home, only ate with my mom and brothers. Something was still missing.

Then three years ago my husband and I decided to make it about just our family. That was better, without the drama, but something was still missing.

In 2008 and 2009, it was our family and my youngest brother. Again, nice, but missing something.

This year changed EVERYTHING.

This year we invited a man I would call an acquaintance to eat with us. He is a former soldier, having done two tours in Iraq, going through some personal issues, and was going to be alone (save the dogs) on Thanksgiving. My husband and I found this to unacceptable.With some cajoling, prodding, and assuring him it was no burden, he came on Thanksgiving to eat with our family of five.

And it was the best holiday we have ever had.

We made him some dinner, talked to him for a couple hours, gave him the leftovers to take home, and it was one of the best feelings I've ever had. He was so thankful and appreciated having people to talk to. What was a simple gesture made such a difference to him, and us as well.

On Christmas Day, we're opening the doors of our home to any family or friends who want to come. I'm going to bake throughout the day and set out snacks and spend the day with the people we love and cherish.

And I suspect it will be the best Christmas I've ever had.

The old adage is true: Giving is truly better than receiving.

Toda

Toda means thanks in Hebrew. This became the basis for my poem this Thanksgiving, giving thanks to God and Christ in one of the most important languages to both Jews and Christians.

I really wanted to write something special this year, because I have so much to be thankful for. The past few months have been an incredible season of blessing and learning and spiritual growth for me. He has poured out so much into and for me recently.

I pray that you have a blessed holiday and safe travels this week. May He smile on each one of you during this time. God bless!

Impressions

"Impressions" was inspired, like many other poems, by a song. "The Song You Sing" by Creed really made me think about the impact I was having on other people, day in and day out. The lyrics that really caught me were:

Does the song you sing
Have enough meaning
Inspire us to sing along
Does the song you sing keep echoing
Inspire us to sing the song you sing

God wants us to have an everlasting song. He wants us to sing a song that brings others to eternal life with us. It's not enough for us to make it if we don't try to bring anyone else to Jesus. We can't just coast along now that we're saved. We need to go out, be His hands and feet, sing His song, speak His word, and spread His gospel.

Have a great week everyone and may God bless you all greatly. See you next week!

On the Move

Yesterday was probably one of the longest days I have ever had. The family piled in the car at 4 AM and took off. Our destination? Dallas, Texas.

18 hours later we arrived.

I will never do that again. EVER. Except for the ride home.

There were blessings in the trip though. We got to see an enormous amount of God's beautiful Creation as we drove through Missouri and Oklahoma. Illinois and Texas were cloaked in darkness, however we did get to experience God's power in an intense thunderstorm as we approached St. Louis.

His hand was clearly on the entire thing as none of the kids killed each other, got sick on the ride or was (majorly) injured. There were no problems with the van and we were given fabulous directions by several different people. We made it, even in the dark, through the (to us) insane Dallas traffic.

I am hoping that being in a hotel, even with three kids, for 3 days while my husband is off doing his work will give me a chance to write some. I had planned to schedule poems for this week on Monday as we were originally to be here tomorrow, but the plan changed so I did not get the chance to schedule anything. I am going to do that today and everything should be back to normal next week.

I hope you all have a great week. We'd appreciate your prayers on Saturday as we travel home. God bless you all!

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