Posts
Hannah Morrell
An Invitation to Relationship

Many people tell me that they aren’t doing enough for God, which really means they don’t think they are working hard enough to make Him happy. I find this so demoralizing and discouraging, as everyone also has a different standard for what “enough” really looks like. We get weary, burned out and frustrated as the standard seems to keep moving depending on who sets it for us. A lot of religious people would love to set that expectation—maybe it looks like giving money, or helping the less fortunate, or being a pastor or giving your life as a martyr. But I don’t think we get the order right when we make this the priority.

All ministry, I believe, must come FROM relationship with Jesus, not IN ORDER TO get closer to or appease Him. We get the order wrong when we believe we can earn His acceptance, and we end up working for something we already have. Jesus has already brought us in, given us worth and told us we are loved and accepted. We didn’t have to do anything to try to earn that, and when we try to do it after the fact, it leaves us trying to live the Christian life without the power to do so.

God’s standard is how Jesus lived on the earth—everything He did came out of relationship with His Father, and nothing was more important than that Source. When we try to live like Jesus did, we make it impossible by removing the source and believing we can achieve that on our own. Instead, we can continue to live with Jesus and with God’s power being the spring from which all of the work we do begins.

An Invitation to Relationship
Posts
Hannah Morrell
The Greatest Rabbi

I have many teachers in my life, and I know I will have many more. I’ve had great teachers, terrible ones, and many who were somewhere in between the extremities. I think it’s interesting that some of the most impacting teachers in my life are people that many not even consider themselves teachers. They are those who walk with me, demonstrating through their lives what they are teaching me as they provide safe space for mistakes and new starts. They are not those who criticize, condemn and demand respect.

A friend and I were talking recently about how there are so many things in my walk as a believer in Christ that I don’t understand or don’t know. She was pointing out how grateful she is that we still have a rabbi, a teacher, in Jesus as He walks with us. We don’t have a God who has abandoned us to perform and figure it out on our own, but One who travels each step of the journey with us.

So often I notice that people want to proclaim how much they know, how wise they are. I find myself recognizing how little I know the older I get. I have actually been freed up in that revelation quite a lot, as I don’t have to have all the answers (or pretend I do!) when someone asks me a question. I remember my friend Mike Wells telling me that he had just received the answer to a question he had asked God 25 years before. My first thought was, “It took 25 years to get an answer?!” I was a bit disappointed in that news. But then I realized that meant I didn’t need to have all the answers right now, as God would bring the information I need in the time I need it. That’s a relief!

The Greatest Rabbi
Posts
Hannah Morrell
Hope is a Warrior
Hope is a Warrior
Posts
Hannah Morrell
God of the Messy

God of the messy and the inconsistent,
God of the distracted and ashamed,
God of the broken-hearted and grieving,
God of the discouraged and anxious— 

Thank you as we start the year afresh,
We do not fear our own weakness or lack.
That we don’t have to pretend with you,
For you already know us inside and out. 

Thank you for choosing to be the God of the messy.
Thank you for not expecting us to have it all together,
Or figured out or planned ahead.
Thank you for your patience in our failings and flaws. 

God of the Messy
Posts
Hannah Morrell
Out With the Old, In With the New

In the work I do with pastoral counseling, we discuss the past and the way it has shaped our view of ourselves today, as well as our views of God. I do believe there is validity in doing this analysis to a degree, as it allows us to know why we do what we do presently, and also how to do something different as we move forward. So often we need to know the problem before we can allow God to heal the problem.

I do, however, believe that there is a limit to this, as continuing to go over and over the past ends up getting our eyes on the hurts and not on the way through. We must allow God to take the hurts of the past and replace it with our new identity. He has already done this, but we get to recognize how that plays out in our lives. Instead of continuing to believe we are worthless, shameful, unloved and unacceptable, we get to move into the reality that Jesus has made us worthy, shame-free, loved enormously, and acceptable completely. The more we focus on the past, the more stuck in it we become. So, it becomes a fine line between understanding the past and the effects on today and letting the past continue to control our present and future.

Mike Wells used to say that dwelling on the past and our pain for too long is incredibly boring. We get bored just over-analyzing all of it and getting nowhere. I want better, more and new. I don’t want to allow whoever hurt me to continue to control where I go now, both mentally and physically.

Out With the Old, In With the New

prayer

Joy, Prayer and Thanksgiving When You Don't Feel Like Any of It

Joy, Prayer and Thanksgiving When You Don't Feel Like Any of It

I was being a whiny baby yesterday. Do you ever have those days where you feel like you just complain and moan about everything, and you don’t even want to be around yourself? That was my attitude. It was unpleasant to say the least.

In the middle of my funk, I remembered something I’ve heard many times—there is always, always, always something to be thankful for. That thought did not help my mood, as I wanted to throw a complete tantrum stating there wasn’t anything to be thankful for in this day.

But God.

In His quiet, shepherding way, Jesus reminded me of a verse in 1 Thessalonians, one which I’ve used to beat myself up in the past in an attempt to bust out of the whining and complaining. But this time I heard it differently.

What's the Point of Prayer

What's the Point of Prayer

Prayer has ignited a struggle in me more often than a lot of issues. I knew it was important, but so many times it seemed like trying to force-feed yourself when you feel sick. What is the point? Why should we pray? What good does it do? Am I doing it right? These were all questions that plagued me when it came to praying.

I don’t claim to have it all figured out at this point, but I do have some thoughts on the matter as God has brought a bit of revelation about talking with Him.

That’s what prayer is after all—a conversation with the One who knows you inside and out, who has chosen to love you and who has promised to never leave you. So, at least you know that no matter what you pray, He will listen.

God's Availability

God's Availability

“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.” Corrie ten Boom

The availability of God to me astounds me. I can talk to Him any time, any place. There are no prerequisites or standards that must be achieved before I have access to Him. He has given me the incredible gift of constant connection. Of course, I don’t have to choose to acknowledge I have the access, but I am overwhelmed by His willingness to provide this.

I think we often are under the impression (whether we will state it in so many words or not) that we can’t talk to God about everything, or that we need it to sound a certain way. Unfortunately, many religious people have promoted the concept that you need them to be your go-between to God, or you need to learn from them how to approach Him. And what a crying shame that is, as God calls us to approach Him boldly (Heb 4:16).

When my kids have an issue, they don’t stew about presenting it to me the right way and in the right time (although that’s probably coming in the teenage years!) but rather they melt into tears and come storming with all their emotions exposed about what has happened. I love that God has included the Psalms in the Bible, with all their raw, vulnerable aching. David expresses his anger, his sadness, his depression, his fear—just lays it all out there for everyone to see. And God doesn’t condemn him for it! He encourages it!

Walking with the broken to find hope in Jesus