In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb…(NEW strategy!)
Friends! How exciting March is here and spring has sprung—gorgeous flowers are coming up everywhere and beautiful trees are in bloom. However, we Kentuckians had a whale of a windstorm (Yes, March did come in like a lion!) and a boatload of rain the very first week of March, decking a few huge trees all around us. We lost four.
The whir of our generator, as I type, is right outside our back door—praises be it is still cranking as it’s elderly for its’ age. We sympathize with loads of LG & E customers who are still without power and with no generators. No fun!
Enough of our woes, today I’d like to share with you, thanks to the influence of an old proverb, “In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb” a petite little paperback that packs a punch! I learned about it thanks to Ann Voskamp’s recommendation.
Because I’m forever needing to sport the entire armor of God, as in “putting on the FULL armor of God,” see Ephesians 6:10-18, the title of this book jumped out at me and I ordered it immediately.
Here’s the book’s title and the cover:
The Loudest Roar: Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ by Judy Dunagan
Of Judy’s twelve endorsements, Carol Kent’s is my favorite. Check it out:
“If you long for courageous faith, authentic truth, righteous living, and a prayer life that faces fear and uncertainty head-on, look no further. In The Loudest Roar author Judy Dunagan teaches us to defeat the enemy and stand firm in the mighty strength of our powerful Lion of Judah! This book gave me tools to develop my ‘roar’ in the face of disappointment, discouragement, temptation, and unfulfilled expectations. Read this treasure on your own, or better yet, with a group of friends who will explore the ‘Going Deeper’ section together. The prayers in the back of the book give you everything needed to roar like our Lion, and to send the enemy whimpering away.”
The book is divided into 3 parts:
The Bigger Lion
His Unshakable Victory and
Our Mightiest Roars
Each chapter includes a powerful prayer, “the Roar of His Word” which includes extra Scripture look-up, pertinent to the chapter, and a suggested worship song. And you know about the “Going Deeper” section from Carol’s endorsement. I’m telling you, each and every chapter is worth its’ weight in gold!
My favorite prayer in the book is one I’ve written into pages of different Scriptures I try to read every day, tucked in my journal. This idea is thanks to a suggestion to choose a Scripture for each day by Louie Giglio in his book, Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at the Table. Here’s the link to my review of that book if you’re interested.
Here’s the powerful and equipping “victory prayer” from Chapter 4, “When I’m afraid….” :
Whoa, isn’t that powerful? I’d never thought to ask the Lord to cover us with peace, etc. from the tops of our heads to the tips of our toes. What a visual! And this idea gets even better in light of wrestling with fears and/or prayer concerns over our children and now grandchildren.
Judy says, “Turn your worries into prayers on their behalf….Think of them (your children and grands) as being covered in His armor of protection from head to toe. Pray over them!” This will give all of us a “sense of surrendering them into His care.”
We also learn about Christy Nockels lullaby song called, “Head to Toe.” It can be found on her album, Be Held: Lullabies for the Beloved. She also calls that song “The Armor of God Song.” Give it a listen, you’ll love it.
The TIMING of the arrival of The Loudest Roar is uncanny. It is an only-God-could-pull-this off God-incident, speaking once again to a favorite verse:
Deuteronomy 31:8 says,
So the week before Halloween last year, John and I finally got our 2nd shingles shots. Unrelated, I was excited about the upcoming weekend as my friend, Sherry, and I were to deliver a fun message on another powerful paper back book called Balcony People by Joyce Landorf Heatherley to the Cana Sunday School class at Christ Church United Methodist.
That Friday, John and I were supposed to go to a birthday party for our oldest son, John Jr. All day long, however, I’d felt some funny pressure off and on in my chest. Finally I called John’s brother, Billy, who’s a doc and asked him about it. He suggested I get checked out because women present heart problems differently than men.
All that to say, we “got” to spend the night at the B.E.R. (Baptist East Resort—“resort” being quite a stretch). Good news: Docs and nurses don’t mess around with women having chest pressure and/or pain. Bad news: I was admitted overnight in the cardiac unit for “observation.”
So back to this invaluable resource of a book, The Loudest Roar. It had just arrived that very week and was at the top of my pile of books. Never without a book bag (!!!), I tossed it and my iPad into the bag to tote with me to the hospital.
I honestly believe the book was heaven sent. (Note from Deuteronomy 31:8 that our Lord will personally go ahead of you…) And, since no one is ever able to sleep a wink in a hospital, I read most of The Loudest Roar while there.
It was hugely helpful in equipping me with Scripture and prayer to combat fear. The “what-ifs” were circling like vultures.
I highlighted and dog-eared pages like crazy, praising the Lord for my sweet husband who never left my side and for author Judy Dunagan for writing this book! (Her Dad, Mark I. Bubeck, was a preacher and a missionary. He wrote another interesting sounding book called The Adversary and Warfare Praying: Biblical Strategies for Overcoming the Adversary which she quotes in her book.)
More good news: to make a painfully long story short, nothing concrete was found to be wrong with me. John and I believe that that 2nd shingles shot was the culprit as he’s forever asking (when something goes awry), “What’s changed?” The shot happened Thursday afternoon and this whole debacle happened Friday afternoon thru’ Saturday, busting my chances of co-teaching Sunday School on Sunday.
Alas, more good news news for all of you who want to learn the concept of Balcony People! Sherry and I will finally be presenting it to the ever-patient Cana Class at Christ Church United Methodist Church at 10:00 a.m., Lord willing, on Palm Sunday, April 2nd.
If any of you live in the Louisville area, do join us! BTW, Balcony People applies to men and women. We promise chocolate (I’m not beyond bribing), a wee Bible study, an exercise (so you can say you got quite the workout from Sunday School!), and a beautiful concept you’ll tuck away in your heart forever.
Now, back to our book discussion—you know how we like to close! “Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore (Barnes and Nobles’ newest store just opened in the Paddock Shops! It moved from the side with Five Guys to the side with Malone’s. Note my landmarks are restaurants. LOL) and grab The Loudest Roar: Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ by Judy Dunagan. You’ll be blessed and will want to return to it often.
‘Til next time!
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”