Jennifer Howe, Author at Facets of Faith

Blessings—as You Go…

02.01.2021 by Jennifer Howe //

Dear Reader,

The FACETS are thankful for you. After all, this whole project was completed with you in mind. We thought of you each time we sat at the keyboard to share. I hope you know that.

A writer can be tempted to share words for her own benefit, and it would be difficult to think that focus of heart couldn’t slip in silently while we are unaware. Know our hearts desired to serve, to share words designed to bless and encourage. We always hoped to stir deeper connection with God and with others. Mostly, the team believed words could stir something in the soul that led to thoughtful moments and exciting conversations with God, internally, and with others. We hope FACETS of Faith blessed you, too. It definitely did some precious work in us!

Please—read the content here. Some of it is pure gold. We’ll keep it here for a period of time.

Before the last page turns and the book is closed, I (Jennifer) wish to pray for you—

Heavenly Father, I pause here and now to pray on behalf of your daughter, a member of the FACETS of Faith sisterhood. Hear my heart and receive the “golden bowl” I offer as a prayer of blessing…

My friend is precious in Your sight because You say, “He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). There is no burden she carries that You do not wait for her to set down at Your feet and give to You. Anxiety, fear, guilt, shame, every sin and the punishment connected to it—You ask her to put it all down and surrender it all to You. You will take it from her, and it will be far from her, “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).

Her experiences shape so much of who she is, and that, too, is precious. There is pain in the past, and You was present in those moments. Give her eyes to see Your presence and grace in those moments. Give her the gift of freedom and healing because You say, “by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

You are “the God who sees” (Genesis 16:13). You see her, my friend! You do not leave her alone in the highs, lows, or mundane middle. Your antidote for painful hardship, loneliness, or relational distance is relationship to You, “the God who is and who was and who is to come” (Revelation 1:8)! Thank you!

If You, Lord, can transform the life of the “chief of sinners,” You most certainly can do the same for my friend (1 Timothy 1:15). There is no one You don’t love deeply, no one You have not died for, no one who cannot be redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus’ saving work on the cross! Meet her in this moment and bring to mind the incredible, unfathomable love You have for her! You will meet her with truth, grace, mercy, and love. May the Spirit help her know more completely and to the core of her soul that You are her Savior, Lord, and Lover of her soul. Thank you!

Breathe fresh wind into her everyday life. Give her breath for each day. Sustain not only her breath but also her mind, heart, and strength. Help her see when she tries to succeed in her own smarts, heart, or perseverance. You give wisdom, if she asks (James 1:5). You calm the storm (Mark 4:39), give her peace in every moment (1 Thessalonians 3:16), and help fill her mind with thoughts that keep in step with Your mind (Philippians 4:8). Thank you!

Let her trade in life’s ashes for Your crown of beauty (Isaiah 61:3). Help her know and celebrate Your royalty and her adopted status when she seeks Your face. When she asks that the blood of Your Son be applied to her whole life in order to cover her sin, let Your Spirit confirm to her that she is victorious, a child of God (Revelation 21:7). Thank you!

Give her spiritual insight to notice and celebrate Your presence in everyday life. The world is noisy and busy and distracting and hard—all the things—Spirit, help her slow down and make space for Your quiet voice and gentle leading. Let her see the evidence of Your presence and the work You are completing in her during this life. Thank you!

She wants to hear Your voice! Help her hear the quiet whisper (1 Kings 19:12). Thank you!

She wants to be available to You. Work in and through her. Reveal Your presence and power in beautiful gifts and fruit as she submits her heart, mind, and strength to You (1 Corinthians 12, 14; Galations 5:22-ff.). Please give her courage and strength for the divine appointments You have placed before her. Thank you!

And grant her Spirit-infused endurance for the race so she can fight fiercely for things that matter to You and finish her life in a way that glorifies You to the end (2 Timothy 4:7). Thank you!

Lastly, “Let perseverance finish its work so that [she] may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4). She needs You to persevere through each day. Spirit, let it be! Thank you!

Friend, you are blessed as you go because I have asked Him to bless you. Thankfully, He answers prayers that are in keeping with His heart, mind, and purposes.

You are blessed to GO and BE a blessing!

Love you, friend. Until we meet again…

The Blessing and the Battle

01.18.2021 by Jennifer Howe //

Hello, friend. I’m thankful you’ve come back to visit during this special month. If you’re following along, you know we’re focusing on “The Blessing.” If you haven’t seen the team post from last week, take a look. We had the honor of walking along Memory Lane. It’s so sweet, really.

Look for different posting times and authors this month. You never know what you’re gonna get in January.

When I (Jennifer) sat down to write my final FACETS post, I was a mess. I puzzled…and paused…and puddled. Over and over. It’s been days. To be honest, I had no idea what to say in my last words strung together in this space. Please have grace for the “behemoth” that follows. I’m leaning into the blessing and the battle.

Finishing Well

The focus of this site looms bigger now: conversations about life, faith, and friendship. When I began, my heart was revealed in Bible study-like posts. Over time, I learned to share a little more of my soul. A tiny crack became an open door. My heart for relationship to God, self, and safe others became the lens through which I wanted to write.

Buckle up, friend, because a shift is happening—from The Road I’ve Walked when you first met me to the longer road I hope to walk when I’m no longer one of the FACETS. In one sense, I’m thankful to know when the finish is, as sad as that is. I see the end of the run, and I want to finish well.

Words are Powerful

When I joined the team that dreamed up FACETS, I believed words were powerful, and I hoped to share my heart. The topics weren’t the “fluffy” kind most of the time, and that was intentional. The niche was women who craved something more thought-provoking—deeper, truer, real-er than the usual. It could’ve been FACETS of Faith Lite… Nah!

I’ve mulled these words over for quite a while. I hope you find them useful in your world and in your journey.

Wars and Rumors…

You and I live in a time like no other. We live more completely and immediately connected but more distant than ever. This played out in 2020, didn’t it? The world shifted to a 2-D life. Fear and social distancing threatened our relationships and maybe our peace with God and others. I felt that.

Then the election dropped a seemingly catastrophic wedge between people who used to hug and high-five. I felt that pain, too.

“Once-upon-a-time-friends” started lining up to oppose each other. I don’t think it was obvious to all of us at first. Nevertheless, there was the right way to do life…and everyone else’s way. Masks, six feet, and gathering. Race, protests, and riots. To vax or not to vax. Government, the election, and every political thing. And then it seemed everything was a political thing.

This is war?

And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed… Mark 13:7a ESV

Not if. When. This time and this place? I’m not sure. Still, there are obvious culture wars.

What’s Going on Here?

I’m sad, friend. People I know and love stifle words for fear of rejection, condemnation, and shame. I do it, too. The social media feeding frenzy whips up quick. I’ve seen friends—people I know love each other!—shred one another with posts, comments, and words before my very eyes. There’s a terrible, political information war going on here, and too many are casualties of “friendly fire.”

Is a habit, preference, priority, or belief system so valuable? More valuable than the person right there in two dimensions or three? I had to ask myself these questions first. I blamed 2020 for a long list of relationship fractures; and while stress added a thick layer over everything, I’m responsible for my portion of any relational tension. Ouch!

When the FACETS chose relationship—the “high way” over “my way or the highway”—it was a thing. Over and over. We chose relationship. We chose peace. We chose to think the best of each other. We chose to honor one another. This isn’t just the stuff of blog collaboration. It’s for every relationship!

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Romans 12:10 ESV

I’m learning how to do that every day, and there’s plenty of room for growth.

The Battle

Closing this chapter called “FACETS” feels right, complete, and awkward at the same time. When the decision was made, we never thought there would be the swirling activity in culture we see now. The “cultural war” seems to rage, but I submit to you a much larger battle looms—a battle was waged in Genesis 3 has raged ever since.

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. Genesis 3:1a ESV

This battle between God and the enemy of our souls has an end, and we can read about it (Genesis 3:15; Revelation 21:1-ff.).

Our Battles

In many ways, every day is a battle, isn’t it? We might label our own battles according to topics or our enemies:

Struggles with God and others
Finances and having enough
Personal image as we are accepted or rejected
The political thing is hard to overlook
The battle for freedom
Every war on—everything

And all these things can divide us. Make no mistake, the Christian is called to be wise, discerning, and generous. The follower of Jesus defends the weak and cares for the poor. Like the “men of Issachar” and other wise men, we can know the signs of the times when we live with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (1 Chronicles 12:32). We don’t know the dates or times established for His appearing, but we can look through a biblical lens.

Like the Bereans, we must study and test all things against the Scriptures.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11 ESV

The Scriptures, the Sword of the Spirit, is one of our weapons for battle! (See Ephesians 6:10-18.)

The Wrong Battles

We pick our battles for all the emotional reasons I mentioned: habits, preferences, priorities, deeply held beliefs, and religious values.

Maybe we pick some of them because they are in line with righteous indignation described in the Scriptures. Not every battle is wrong, but some definitely cannot reflect the heart, mind, or hand of God. I’ve picked some that reflected the darkened heart and mind of Jen well enough.

Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 NLT

There is a “good fight.” That fight is for “true faith”—and holding on to the gift of God, which is eternal life, and confessing that gospel to those who do not know Him or the true faith. We never know who that is, do we?

We have one singular message.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

Err and Repair

We were made for “life, faith, and friendship.” Something in us knows there is something more than this world; that’s eternal life. We were made to trust in something (Someone!) bigger and more powerful than ourselves, to search for hope in this hard world; that’s faith. And we were made to love and be loved; that’s friendship. When any of these things is out of whack, we know and feel it deeply.

A “seemingly catastrophic wedge.” These are the words that come back to me. I may not be responsible for the wedge appearing between me and God or me and others, but I’m responsible for what I do with it. Do you know how many times I’ve caught myself working with the wedge divisively in relationships hours, days, months, or years late? If you only knew how selfish I can be.

But there is hope!

I need two things: repentance and reconciliation.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, Acts 17:30 NLT

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NIV

The peacemakers are blessed, for they will be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9 HCSB

There is forbearance for the weakness and ignorance in relationship to God and others, but the call is to repent and reconcile. The real calling on a Christian’s life is to be a peacemaker. And there’s no time like the present!

We err in relationship because we are human. We repair the relationship because, as followers of Jesus, we must! We desperately need spiritual vision, a gift from the Spirit, in order to see our errs and navigate the repairs.

The Blessing

By now you’re wondering why I chose these words. It’s out of love. Can you believe that? I wish to bless you with words that reflect one message: Christ crucified. I need the reminder if you don’t.

Friend, this—

And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 HCSB

The conversation about life, faith, and friendship in this space may not go on, but it simply must continue in our lives, in the culture, and in our individual spheres of influence. Who are you caring for, concerned about, and encouraging? Who are you blessing? I am choosing to bless YOU!

I offer these words because I hope you will choose love and good deeds, and also encourage others in the same. I submit them because I’ve had a talk with my own heart as they were written. Those words up there are challenging for me, too.

Let’s be a blessing!

Now be blessed—

To repent
To reconcile
To be redeemed
To be used by God as He redeems this broken world

Do it while there is time.

I have more words for you, but I will be putting those prayerful words in a separate space here. I love you! Be blessed to be a blessing, friend!

If these words are worthy of sharing, I thank you for that. If you read every word, you are a blessing to me!

January 2021: The Blessing

01.07.2021 by Jennifer Howe //

Hello, friend. We’re glad you stopped by. We have something special planned for January 2021, and we want everyone to be part of it. We’re calling it The Blessing. We’re counting blessings and extending blessings to our readers and writers. Enjoy!

Friend, the FACETS love you! And we always have, whether you are the quiet, anonymous reader, a gracious reader who comments on words that struck you, or the vulnerable guest writer. You are part of what makes FACETS sweet. You’re kinda the reason this whole thing happened, you know. You are a blessing—you’re kind of a big deal. Did you know that? Over the years, hundreds of you peeked at this corner of cyberspace. Thank you!

Story Time!

Do you know the story of FACETS of Faith? If you’re a long-time reader and pieced together the stories in our posts, maybe you do. It’s a good time to share what we could never have known in 2015—our story. We hope you enjoy it because, to us, it’s full of blessings!

Once Upon a Time…

In 2015, three friends from a local writing circle met at a Panera for the first time and dreamed up a safe, online space for women to have conversations about life, faith, and friendship. There were three of us, then four, then three again. The founding team was set: Tracy, Kim, and Jen.

Two team members had a clearer vision of the project, but one had no idea this was actually going to be a thing for a few weeks. “Oh. Wait! You mean, we’re actually going to do this thing?”

A Vision Became Real

Those were sweet days in the life of this collaborative site. The three of us learned so much about creating a website, and all the details. We picked a name, drafted a mission statement, identified our reader, and talked about invitations to guest writers. We chose a site design and logo. We picked colors to distinguish writers’ posts at a glance. We met for months to plan at our favorite hidey hole. We divvied up the work. Eventually we found our stride.

Tracy is a fountain of amazing ideas and connections! She and her husband, Sam, have been plain sacrificial in supporting the site. It could never have happened without their choice to back the site in every way. And Sam graciously and tenaciously fought the tech battle for us time and time again—from the set up to the time FACETS was hacked. (Thanks for serving this site so well, Sam. You were the invisible team member, until we begged you to write for us!)

Kim always shares her best words infused with her beautiful heart, and her readers love her for it. Her heart has always been for her readers, and it was for our team. If you only knew how precious she was when our team struggled to take things a little slower, a little gentler, and be more loving and relational. If you could see how we came together at such tender moments and tried to be present and listen well, you’d be blessed, too.

Jen is always learning more about who she is as a writer and as a woman. Writing a short bio was a hurdle. Can a few words define a person, a writing journey, and a hope to share powerful thoughts? What do you do if you’re a writer who has more words than allowed and prefers to write herself out of content more than writing herself in? Sometimes that’s Jen. She found a happy place behind the scenes and working on the graphics.

Becoming a Team

Our friendships grew. My goodness! We laughed. We cried. We worked through the challenges of our individual ideas, preferences, and emotions. You know, that’s where friendships are forged or forgotten. We hit bumps in the road, and it was a decision every time. Would we choose to honestly see each other and listen? Would any one of us choose “my way or the highway”…or would it be the high way? These friendships were forged early, and we made the choice to stay in relationship over and over.

Rolling With Change

Things happened, beautiful things! Tracy stepped into a ministry role and became the kind of advocate for women that, honestly, is tenacious and amazing! Many posts reflected her lioness heart on behalf of the weak. Kim’s life blossomed, too: hosting an event for women, a new man in her life, the wedding, a honeymoon, and eventually a blended family dynamic—all while she was working in ministry and trying to get words on the page. Jen was working through old relational trauma, finishing the homeschooling race, and trying to define her “grown-up self” while trying to get words on the page. We were doing life together, though.

And then it happened. We knew it could. A FACET moved to—Bean Town. We were thrilled for Kim. We could leverage technology for our meetings. No big deal.

In 2019 Kim needed to formally step away from FACETS of Faith. It was a hard decision. The whole thing was hard. We love her, and we know readers do, too.

Nature (and a Team) Abhors a Vacuum

There was an empty spot, and Tracy and I worked through it in many conversations over months. We knew something just wasn’t right. A site focused on life, faith, and friendship perspectives cried out for more perspectives.

In December of 2019 we invited Megan to the team. She wrote as a guest in October 2017, and we thought she would be a perfect fit. Her words and perspective are a blessing to us for lots of reasons! She brings fresh, gentle hope to every topic. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading her words.

The 2020 Challenge

That brings us to 2020, the year no one saw coming, and there are no words for it. Our meetings went virtual when we couldn’t meet. We did get a few sweet moments in around the shutdowns. It was complicated. Then, at the end of the summer, Tracy made the hard decision to step away from FACETS.

The Fork in the Road

I (Jen) have stood at a fork in the road lots of times. A creative, strategic internal processor likes to look at all the steps that can be taken and know where the road might go. Maybe it was time to run hard and fast with the site…

Nope, it was time to be still. I needed to hear what God wanted, especially when I can be temped to do what I want.

The Final Chapter

FACETS—the team and this site—it’s been a journey…a privilege…and an honor. Fifty-eight topics. Forty-two guest posts. A post each month from the FACETS since the beginning of 2016. We wrote a lot of words (a super-lot if you count the ones over the laughable 600-to-800-word limit!). Wow! So many powerful, heart-felt words in one space by so many amazing people!

Thank you, writers! And thank YOU, readers! It’s been a blessing.

Standing at the Door

January 2021 is bittersweet. This month we’ll share posts from writers who want to share words related to blessing…

YOU are invited to share thoughts about a memorable post here, of your own reading-writing journey here, of a guest writing opportunity at FACETS, or a prayerful blessing to the readers!

We’re throwing the door wide open before we close it. You’ll see things you haven’t. It might be a post, a graphic with Scripture, or a prayer of blessing. The timing will be rather…random. *Grin*

Dear friend, you are loved! We hope you take the opportunity to make January 2021 at FACETS of Faith something special! Consider sharing with all of us.

Let’s get the word out so no one misses this month. Share on your social. Share in the comments. Share, share, share.

In case you were wondering, the powerful words here are still available for a time. Read, read, read while you can.

~ The FACETS