Margaret Feinberg - Organic God
Continuing the series, "Unabridged", the 7/22 host at http://www.722.org/, interviews another well known author; Margaret Feinberg. Margaret was raised with a Jewish father who came to know Jesus Christ and her mother was a Christian. They were products of the 60's, so very free spirited. Her dad manufactured surf boards in Coco Beach. But one day, they got tired of where they were living so they packed up and moved to Maggie Valley, NC. Her mother got a job as a teacher on a Cherokee Indian reservation while her dad got involved in construction. Meanwhile, they got part time jobs at Cataloochee, a ski resort. After about 5 winters of doing this, they decided to hit the big slopes in Colorado for a season. They drove to Steamboat Springs and spent the winter there. They decorated their place with local Salvation Army furniture. They loved it so much that they moved to Steamboat Springs permanently. Now they live on a remote island in the Bahamas which they built with a Haitian while in their sixties! Although Margaret knew Jesus, she had a brief stint partying and rebelling in her freshman year in college. BBB -Boys, Beer, Ben & Jerry's. At this point, the youth pastor encouraged her to go to a conference. God grabbed her by the collar and said, "you are mine". She ended up being a Religious Major at Wake Forest. After jumping around on a couple of brief jobs, she decided she wanted to be an author. She says she loves writing more than she loves to eat. "Thank goodness, right?" (The starving artist). She began writing fervently as an editor and as an author of a string of books. But "Organic God" came as a result of fervent prayer for God to feed her hunger for Him. She said that the same thing that she loves about God is kind of the same as what someone would experience at Whole Foods. It's a grocery store, but much more than that. By the same note, she says that, in her book, she focuses not on the theologically big words like "omniscient", but rather words like "beautiful" and "mystery". Margaret goes on an interesting run explaining how with just one word she uses, "beauty", can be elaborated on such as how it affects our life and how God window dresses our hearts. There is also a part of the book where she recognizes how God seems to be so distant. A while back she was absolutely financially broke and she wondered what God would do. Immediately, the phone rang and a magazine said that, if she would make herself available to them for 20 hours a week, they would cover all her travel expenses and give her a big check. The Lord whispered to her to pray about all decisions for a night. She asked for a few days to do so, and during that time the Lord asked, "Do you want bronze or are you willing to wait for Gold?" It was hard, but she said that she decided to pass on the job because she felt God had something better. "I would love to tell you that the next week, an even larger offer came over the phone, but it didn't." She had to trust God. There's a verse in Isaiah that talks about how God will exchange gold for brass, but she refers to a verse near it which says that we shall know (through his power in our lives) he is the Saviour, Redeemer and mighty one of Jacob. Moving on in the interview, Martha talks about the "mystery" of God which comes, in part, when he doesn't appear when we want him to in our lives. But if God were a "pocket God", this makes him so much smaller than what he really is and can be to each of us. His Ways are perfect and the mystery of miracles is what makes life exciting. Some people have a thing about churches and feel repelled by it, but Margaret addresses this by saying many people fail to see the church as a Community of support for believers rather than a spiritual salon. Then she is asked the question about how people can't seem to get close to God or they are directionless. She answers this by referencing an illustration made by Young in "Shack" of a small bird that can't fly until it has fully developed. The bird cannot fly if it is injured as well. It has to be doctored and it must wait to be fully healthy to take flight. We are to be encouraged by God's work in us to make us fly. Then the interview moves to Margaret's new book; "Sacred Echo". This is a (non-spooky) book about how God speaks to us. Lastly, Margaret closes with two words of wisdom. First, in Revelation 20 and 21, God describes Himself as the Alpha and Omega, the "beginning" and the "end", but translations often have missed that God is in the middle too. He works in us. He is the beginning THROUGH the end. Secondly, be honest and authentic. God doesn't want us to be someone else, he wants us to be who he created. God says, "you be you and you be Mine." Very enjoyable time with Magaret.
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