IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR SHARON MUSGROVE TO THE OVER 50 WRITER. SHARON SHARES HOW THE VOICE OF DECEPTION CAN LEAD US AWAY FROM GOD’S TRUTH.

THE GIFT OF NAKEDNESS

by

Sharon Musgrove

Who told you that you were naked? Genesis 3:11a (ESV)

This question, posed to Adam and Eve when they were hiding in shame, is one God asked me in my early 50s. It was a pivotal time in my spiritual development, when the foundations of my faith were crumbling in the shakeup of my church. In His question, I was encouraged to look at what I believed and who I was believing. God’s inquiry was a means to both deconstruct religious falsehoods and reconstruct faith in my Lord.

“And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”  Genesis 2:25 (ESV)

When my children were little, we had a tradition after bathtime we called “naked running.”  The kids would get out of the tub, dry off, and then go sprinting through the house with all of us happily calling out, Naked running! Naked running!  It was all fun and games until my grandfather moved in with us and witnessed our youngest frolicking au naturel. A perfectly innocent activity turned sour when the eyes of an outsider caught hold of an unguarded moment. Unconsolably embarrassed, our preschoolers never again played the game.

Some of my Christian upbringing played out like “naked running,” where blameless activities were met with the stink eye from church leaders or Sunday school teachers. Frolicking freely in creation was a no-no, according to the rule books written from the pulpit, and shame chased me around like Granny with a towel.

The religious environment I grew up in led me to believe that following Jesus was not fun, but something to take with all seriousness. A “good girl” was disciplined, reading the Bible daily and refraining from “unwholesome” activities.

But God seeks out His children when they aren’t living freely. And when He finds us hiding in fear He stops to interfere.

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Genesis 3:11 (ESV)

Our Maker brings us into this life vulnerable and helpless. Being naked was never the issue.

Believing voices that cast doubt on God’s covering was. The voice of deception told my ancestors that they would gain God’s abilities by circumventing Him. And that lie has been circulating ever since.

Like Adam and Eve, I had swallowed the seed of “God is not really good.” And from that frame of mind I had lived decades, despite weekly rituals of worship, daily Bible workouts, and constant appeals for forgiveness. In all my Christian works, roots of unbelief still grew. And in my striving to be “good,” I was attempting to keep myself covered.

God’s pointed questions poked holes in my cloak.

In my situation, that darkness within the church was the perfect time for God to shed light on His truth. The pain I felt in losing what I thought was the way was the process of tearing down my religious misconceptions. And in its place, I find myself discovering a Lord who dresses me so well that I don’t want to wear the covering of my own design.

Who knew that being naked was a gift?

Today I look back on the evening games of naked running with so much fondness. My grandfather loved his great grandchildren and delighted in the squeals of their play! That visual is so helpful in reminding me how much God wants me to be free and joyful in His Kingdom without the anxiety of the dirt that’s already been washed down the drain.

May Christians of all ages lean into the covering of Christ as the only means by which we are acceptable. May we remember attempts to hide our true selves is only self-deception. And may we never forget how great is the goodness of God!

Sharon Musgrove has been writing and teaching biblically based curriculum, Bible studies, and devotionals since 2007.

She has had the unique position of writing curriculum and teaching for two private, Christ-based, residential recovery programs. Both programs primarily served women in the homeless community.

Sharon has traveled multiple times to Kenya, serving on medical teams and teaching in the rural Maasai communities. She’s been privileged to speak in Leadership camps intent on encouraging and empowering the impoverished, underprivileged, and often abused young women.

Within these ministries, Sharon has witnessed the transformative power of loving words spoken to the broken-hearted. Sharing God’s love and witnessing its transformative power has become her passion.

Sharon and her husband divide their time between Oregon and Hawaii. They have two grown children.

Currently, Sharon is encouraging others via her inspirational blog, but prefers sharing face to face. Additionally, she is working towards a degree in Ministry.

Connect with Sharon:

Website           

Facebook              

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IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AMANDA WILTON TO PATTI’S PORCH. AMANDA SHARES HER INSPIRING STORY OF WHAT HER DAUGHTER TAUGHT HER ABOUT EVANGELISM.

THE COMMAND TO “GO,” A TEENAGER, AND A MIDDLE-AGED MOM

by

Amanda M. Wilton

Evangelism scares me. Because it scares me, I have not done much of it in the 34 years I have been a Christian. I rationalize this by telling myself things like, “I just don’t know many non-Christians,” or “It’s better to build relationship with someone before I spring Jesus on them.” However, my carefully constructed attitude on this subject was single-handedly dismantled by my 13-year-old daughter this summer.

“Mom!” she whispered excitedly to me that Sunday during announcements at church.

“Look! It’s a mission’s trip to New York City! We have to go!

With fear in my heart, but a smile on my face, I turned to Michaela and replied half-heartedly, “Yeah, wow, that sounds…interesting.”

Fast-forward several months later, as my daughter and I carried our weary bodies off the plane returning home from our trip. She not only convinced me to go to New York, but also demonstrated courage and boldness for Christ while there. I am so thankful that the Lord never stops molding us into who he has for us to be–and uses our kids to humble us!

New York City is home to more than 180 people groups from over 65 different countries, making it a microcosm of the world. Michaela and I were blessed to visit the “city that never sleeps” as a mother-daughter team for Jesus. Each day began in worship, prayer and teaching. Next, our teams split up to head into the city for a day full of ministry. This included prayer teams, worldview surveys, sharing testimony and feeding the hungry. Throughout it all our goal was to spread the love of Christ as we ministered, have Spirit-directed conversations and share the Good News.

God blew away every assumption I held about evangelism and himself while on this adventure. I assumed New York would be a cold, hard, godless place, uninterested in discussing the Lord Jesus. How wrong we were. Michaela and I had many conversations with people that were hungry to talk about the Gospel, open to hearing Truth, desiring to engage in respectful conversation. What has become a pivotal moment in my faith journey is when I met a Pakistani Muslim woman, while we were distributing food.

Dressed in traditional Muslim attire, I immediately assumed there would be no chance of a Gospel moment with a woman so very different from me. But all praise to my Lord Jesus Christ, I was so very wrong. This sweet woman shared she was in a difficult domestic situation. She felt despair and was in need. When she said to me, “I feel as though there is a bad girl living inside me. The things I want so badly to do – I do not. And yet, the things I do not want to do, I do,”

I realized God was inviting me to step into a Holy Spirit moment. I shared Romans 7:18-19 (ESV), “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing…”

Her eyes got large, and she exclaimed, “This is exactly what I am saying! So, what can we possibly do?” I then shared 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Hope welled up in her eyes, as she pointed out this was saying all the bad things she has done could be atoned for in Jesus. We then discussed who Jesus is, not just a prophet, as she formerly believed, but the true and only son of God who paid the price for our sins. I then asked her if she believed this, and if she wanted to give her life to Jesus Christ. To my joyous surprise, she said yes! We prayed, and I got to behold a soul giving her life to Christ. Praise Jesus!

I am so grateful to the Lord for humbling me in the kindest way. Michaela and I returned from New York with a deeply-held belief that there is nowhere that Jesus cannot go, and nothing he cannot do! We are eager to see how the things we have learned, our deepened faith, and our new skills in evangelism may be used in our hometown.

To that end, would you pray He would show us how we can continue to be used? Would you pray how God might use you to bravely share the Gospel? And would you please pray for these dear people we encountered on the streets of New York? It’s hard to leave them there, not knowing how the rest of their stories play out. But, isn’t is encouraging that Jesus does?

Amanda lived in the Motor City - Detroit - for 30 years, where she obtained an MA in Public Relations and Communication from Wayne State University. She spent decades representing other people's work and now looks forward to promoting her upcoming manuscript.

Amanda's a big city girl that fell in love with a country boy, who whisked her off to the Midwest over a decade ago. She is a military wife that lives on a cozy street with the hubby, two amazing kids, and two hound dogs. They like to explore the world together camping, while drinking copious amounts of artisan coffee.

She has lived in Alaska and the United Kingdom for extended periods of time, and has traveled throughout the contiguous United States and internationally frequently.

Amanda is the founder and president of the We Can Read Book Club, which meets monthly. She is an ACFW member