Archives For Christianity

Can God Use Me?

smgianotti@me.com  —  June 9, 2015

I weaved in an out of traffic listening to my friend. Every Tuesday we hit a local coffee shop and try to make a dent in our writing aspirations. I changed lanes and focused back on what she was saying. During the last week she had run into two strangers that needed help—a homeless lady who she took to lunch and a young woman who was locked out of her car.

 

“I usually don’t interact with strangers so much,” my friend said, “but I really felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to help them.” 

 

I listened to my friend with mixed emotions. I knew I should be glad that God was working through her, but insecurity cluttered my heart. Her success felt like my failure.

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Photo courtesy of Luke Pamer via unsplash.com

 

Unlike my friend, I am not an extrovert. I dislike socially awkward situations and talking to strangers. Hearing how Jesus worked through my friend made me feel like a failure. After all, when was the last time I took a homeless woman to lunch? Continue Reading…

In Anxiety, Christianity , , ,
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3 Ways to Avoid Being A People-Pleaser

smgianotti@me.com  —  May 26, 2015

“Can’t you just give me something for constipation?”

 

I rested my stethoscope on her wrinkled belly and heard nothing. I pushed down gently and she jerked in pain. 

 

“I think you need to go the hospital,” I said. “You can barely stand me touching your stomach and you haven’t passed gas all day.”  

 

“But, can’t you just give me medicine?”

 

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“Victory in Tough Seasons BG” by Lee Steele (modified by Shannon Gianotti)

 

I hate moments like this. Medicine—despite how it seems on TV—isn’t a perfect science. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if someone need surgery or if they’re just backed up. And, no one wants to spend six hours at the hospital to find out that they were, after all, just constipated.

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In Work , , , ,
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Do Christians Still Care About Beauty?

smgianotti@me.com  —  April 21, 2015

I sat in front of my laptop. The sun was still snoozing under the horizon and I was reading Exodus, one of those books from the front half of the Bible. Actually, I wasn’t reading. I was floating half-conscious over paragraphs about alters, oil, and priests and wondering why I had left the land of sleep for this. 

 

But, then my eyes snagged on something. “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” (Ex. 28:2, ESV). 

 

Wait, I thought, beauty matters to God? 

 

Photo 1414058862086 136de6c98e99Photo courtesy of Jan Erik Waider via unsplash.com


After all the years I spent in Sunday school, I felt pretty good about how well I could predict God. If he was selecting qualities he wanted in worship—his first draft pick would be glory. Subsequent rounds he’d choose things like love, faith, and obedience. But, it had never crossed my mind that God’s idea of worship wasn’t complete without beauty Continue Reading…

In Beauty, Christianity , , ,
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Maybe Christianity is More like Netflix

smgianotti  —  January 19, 2015

I rinsed bits of wild rice and cranberry off my plate and grabbed my laptop from the table. While the next episode of Gilmore Girls loaded, I nestled into the couch and prepared myself for a Netflix binge.* 

 

The following morning, as I sipped on a cup of french roast, I contemplated my media marathon and the power of stories to pull us in. For centuries, story-telling has kept humans up after dark—around fires, in igloos, and via MacBooks on the couch. 

 

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Stories sneak past our mental gestapo and grab us at a level where facts don’t reach. They penetrate down to where emotions shape what we want out of life. 

 

Which makes me wonder…why do we tend to talk about Christianity like a set of beliefs, rather than a story that we’ve been swept up into? 

Continue Reading…

In Christianity, Story , , , ,
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