Why Becoming?

I’ve always joked about Future Lisa. Future Lisa is at once both five years ahead of where I am and also eighty. Future Lisa is sometimes me at the end of the day glad that I already cleaned the kitchen or me in the morning thanking myself for going to bed early instead of staying up watching tv. Future Lisa requires that I have vision, not of what will be one day, but of what might be.

People who follow Jesus are in the process of continual transformation, becoming more human, more like their actual selves, more like Christ. Growing to maturity in Christ means both the universal work of becoming like Christ and the particular work of becoming more ourselves. This tension is the story of our growth. Even as you and I both become more like Christ, we will not become duplicates, interchangeable with each other or someone else. Instead, we become vibrant, more alive with specific gifts and passions, shaped by our own context and formed by our experiences. In this transformation, God does the work in us, but we are also invited to participate in that work. There is a holy mystery in the way the God who is above all remains determined to partner with humans to accomplish His work in the world. We yield to God’s Spirit and we remain responsible for our lives.

This publication is called Becoming because we are all going to be someone someday. (And we are someone today because of who we’ve been in the past.) Maybe, for some of us, it will be a person similar to who we are now because we never challenged ourselves to grow. Change makes us uncomfortable and we sit stagnant, the remaining years of our lives just a repeat of what came before. Others of us may become someone on accident, falling into patterns and habits out by default. We choose the easier path and become a person we would not have imagined. Some of us, though, will intentionally partner with the Spirit of God to develop and mature across life. We will be shaped into a person more like Christ and more deeply ourselves. This is a person truly alive.

Why Subscribe?

Our becoming is easy to ignore because it’s slow; it’s marked by the routine, the mundane. Here we are making space to pay attention to the slow process of transformation and the many ways we change. If you browse the archive, you’ll see that we talk a lot about books both because I love to read and because our reading changes us. We’ll chat about theology, women and the Bible, parenting and specifically what it means to parent a child with disabilities. We’ll examine the way what we believe should intersect with how we live along with anything else that seems relevant. There will be many footnotes. You’re welcome to join us; I’d love to have you share this space.

Free subscribers will receive most emails, which will include occasional book reviews. The rest of the book talk is reserved for paid subscribers because I learned on Instagram that people have opinions about books and what you should and should not read. Who could have known that so many books were off limits? Paid subscribers will receive a monthly recap of what I’ve read along with the Five Things Edition, which is a culmination of what might have become Instagram captions if I still used that space. There will also be occasional goodies for paid subscribers, especially as I wrap up seminary in June.

Paying for a subscription is a way of support that exists outside of algorithms and advertisements. So gather your latte or a sparkling water, settle in, and be sure to leave a comment.

Who’s Writing?

Hi, I’m Lisa! I’m a writer—I’ve been blogging for 13 years though much of it has been deleted because—yikes—I have become someone different than I was 13 years ago. But even before the internet and before adulthood, I was filling notebooks with moody stories and bad poetry. I still write poetry but I rarely publish it here. The majority of it stays in my notes app or in a notebook. I’m a mom of four boys, one of whom is medically fragile, intellectually disabled, and autistic. I will graduate from Fuller Theological Seminary in June 2024 with a Master of Divinity and I’m so exuberant about wrapping up that part of my story. Four years is a long enough time to be in graduate school. I care deeply about the local church and the people who don’t feel they have a place in the church. I work in my local church as the groups director and guest lecture in our Institute classes. Teaching makes me feel alive. So does preaching.

How have I been shaped?

Because context matters I want to be clear about mine. I am Appalachia-formed. I grew up in Appalachia (the TN/VA/KY part) and lived there until three years ago. I attended a Baptist church until 2021 but what most expanded my faith was reading outside of my denomination. That reading helped shape what I wanted from seminary: a place that affirmed women in ministry, that valued diversity in professors, students, and resources, and that was interdenominational. I haven’t regretted my choice to attend Fuller.

What do I recommend?

These resource lists may not interest you—feel free to skip them! But they are my favorite thing to find from other people so I’m including one. This is not a comprehensive list but is simply a starting point.

Organizations

Bible Project: This is my first go-to for my own study and to recommend to others. Their podcast is great if you are a little nerdy.
Practicing the Way
Jude 3 Project
Truth’s Table
The Resilient Pastor