This is how many I have. This is how it is stated in Spanish. I have 25 years. 25 years that I have been given, as a gift. What have I done with my time here? I would be lying if I claimed that I was excited for this birthday to come, for a lot of shallow, worldly reasons, I was dreading it actually. Then the morning of my birthday, I woke thinking of the children I was fortunate enough to spend time with this summer in an orphanage in Kenya called Into Abba's Arms. When asked to give testimonies Sunday morning during the church service a long line of children formed quickly, they love to speak of their Father's providence and provision in their lives. It sounded something like this...
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord again!
I would like to thank God because He woke me up this morning,
many people wanted to see today, and they did not,
I am so happy that I got to have another day.
"The God who made the world and EVERYTHING in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being"
Acts 17:24-28
I LOVE this passage. So many different POWERFUL truths! He has determined the exact times through history that He would have each of us here, and exactly where we should live. This just makes my heart flood with peace and strength to walk forward in where He has placed me!
He woke me up today, and that is reason to praise Him.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord again!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Hillsong Conference 2008
I am so grateful for this weekend. What an incredible opportunity to literally, spend hours in corporate worship before our Savior. In the very beginning there was a statement made that said, "The same things that separate us from Him, separate us from other people"...sin. Wow. Intimacy is so vital, on so many different levels. I am finally at a point where I can recognize this...the word still freaks me out a bit, I have issues...yes I know. One cannot love people without loving Christ first. My first and foremost calling during my time on this planet is to love Jesus Christ with every part of me. Sometimes I get way to involved with figuring out my calling beyond that, where am I called to go, which ministry am I supposed to be involved in when I get there, etc. If I do not love Christ, with every part of me, I will not be able to love people as He has called me to. I desire to be a light. Not a light for international missions, or social justice, or service projects, or humanitarian aid, but a light for the one who died for me, who redeemed me and give me the very breath to exist. THAT is my calling.
"You have shaped my heart for Your pleasure"...and that makes anything so very worth it. You tell me that no thing, or circumstance will come my way that has not come THROUGH You first. And while it may not make a lick of sense, there is purpose, and You will be glorified in my inability and weakness. This statement is not one of completion, but of an ongoing process...
Ready or not here they come tomorrow, 20 new little ones...I talk a big game about being so strict this year and laying down the law, and then I melt into this pansy of a teacher when I get around the kids and all I want to do is plan parties and trips and spoil them...so we will see how that goes.
"You have shaped my heart for Your pleasure"...and that makes anything so very worth it. You tell me that no thing, or circumstance will come my way that has not come THROUGH You first. And while it may not make a lick of sense, there is purpose, and You will be glorified in my inability and weakness. This statement is not one of completion, but of an ongoing process...
Ready or not here they come tomorrow, 20 new little ones...I talk a big game about being so strict this year and laying down the law, and then I melt into this pansy of a teacher when I get around the kids and all I want to do is plan parties and trips and spoil them...so we will see how that goes.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
He is Hope
I had every intention to write an entry about this summer, what I saw, what I learned, what I felt, who I met, the stories I heard, and how all of that translates back to life while I am in the States. I didn't know how. So I was going to put up pictures...but that doesn't do justice. You should go, everyone should go, but that is a different post for a different day.
"Hope that promises will be kept, that a refuge will hold, that the sun will return, that seasons will change despite the weighty darkness, and all evidence to the contrary. Hope at the center of despair. The footprints left, when we look back at the most tempestuous seasons of life are purposeful, organized, significance in the chaos...evidence that we were remembered in our darkness and most vulnerable days."
Hope in light of the Truth. America is crazy, the push, and pull and drive and speed and pace of life is unbelievably demanding (and I'm not sure it is the way that God intended it to be). If I do not fall on my face daily before Him, and beg for the grace and mercy to not only survive but truly live & abide in Him, I will fail miserably. Oh how I must cling to Him, and His truth. When I start measuring myself by the worlds standards, the enemy is given way to much room to work planting seeds of doubt and discontent.
Lessons learned...I can question Him, and while He may not ever answer the specific question, He will give me peace in my soul knowing that He is God, and is sovereign in ALL things. He loves me enough to tell me no. His mercies truly ARE new every morning and are more than sufficient for what each day brings. He can and will heal in His time, in His way...for this I am grateful.
"Hope that promises will be kept, that a refuge will hold, that the sun will return, that seasons will change despite the weighty darkness, and all evidence to the contrary. Hope at the center of despair. The footprints left, when we look back at the most tempestuous seasons of life are purposeful, organized, significance in the chaos...evidence that we were remembered in our darkness and most vulnerable days."
Hope in light of the Truth. America is crazy, the push, and pull and drive and speed and pace of life is unbelievably demanding (and I'm not sure it is the way that God intended it to be). If I do not fall on my face daily before Him, and beg for the grace and mercy to not only survive but truly live & abide in Him, I will fail miserably. Oh how I must cling to Him, and His truth. When I start measuring myself by the worlds standards, the enemy is given way to much room to work planting seeds of doubt and discontent.
Lessons learned...I can question Him, and while He may not ever answer the specific question, He will give me peace in my soul knowing that He is God, and is sovereign in ALL things. He loves me enough to tell me no. His mercies truly ARE new every morning and are more than sufficient for what each day brings. He can and will heal in His time, in His way...for this I am grateful.
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