Beloved

Jesus loves me!!

Oh, I have been experiencing His love on a deeper and deeper level over the past few weeks. Even this weekend I have had such deep revelation of just how intense the Father's love for me is.

He has pulled me from the depths, looked at me at my worst, and admired me. He is pleased with my heart, He is pleased with my love for Him, He is pleased with me!

How He enjoys listening to me sing. Oh the pleasure He takes from me dancing before Him. And to think that He adores my smile, my laugh, my crazy quirks!

My Daddy loves to give me good gifts, because He loves me. My Best Friend loves to speak listen to my every thought, because He loves me. My Lover loves to make me feel beautiful, special, and treasured, all because He loves me!

Oh the great love He has lavished on me! He heals me, He teaches me, He encourages me, He disciplines me. He proves to me over and over in a million ways a day how much He truly, deeply, genuinely, and passionately loves me.

I am so thankful that nothing changes His love for me. I can't get away from it, I can't earn more of it. He loves me the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He loves me in my prime, He loves me in my nastiest.

I love my Jesus. I love Him because He first loved me! I love Him because He lifts me up. I love Him because He is kind to me. I love Him because He is my portion. He has made my life abundant.

I am my beloved's and He is mine.

"Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away."
Song of Songs 8:7

Pure Religion

"Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
James 1:27

"What is pure religion? What is pure Christianity? What is pure love? What is this life all about? Is it about how many people we lead to Jesus or how many churches we plant or how good a person we have been? Or is it about being so hidden in the heart of our awesome, eternal God of love that we are swallowed up in Him, so that it is no longer we who live, but Christ in us?

"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My breathren, you did it to Me'"
Matthew 25:40

Every day Jesus meets me in unexpected ways. Sometimes He is an orphan looking for low and unconditional acceptance; sometimes He is a widow desperately begging for a simple job in order to provide the basic necessities of life for her hungry children, sometimes He is another lost and broken person who just needs a hug and someone to listen to them; but every day I see Him in a new way.

Yes, we are seeing hundreds of Moslems come to Jesus every week; yes we are seeing multitudes of sick people healed by the power of the Holy Spirit; yes, we are seeing the kingdom of God come in power in the most dark and dangerous places in Mozambique. But, at the end of the day, what matters most is LOVE! I am trying to learn to be like Christ in every possible way, yet every day, I am seeing that Christ is already inside of me and He is happy to come out and make Himself known through me to the lost and dying world around me. He is happy to use my hands to pray for the sick, my arms to love on and to hug the orphans, my feet to boldly go anywhere to preach the Gospel of the kingdom to whoever's heart He has prepared to hear the Good News!

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."
Galations 5:6

What is faith working through love? Simply abiding in Christ and letting the sweetness of His presence flow through us and minister to those around us who are lost, dying and desperate for God. It is believing that which Christ accomplished for us on the cross is enough to equip us and empower us to be bright, shining lights amidst a crooked and perverse generation. It is laying down our lives, so that the kingdom of God can come forth to the broken, the lost, the dying and the weak. It is changing history one person at a time! Hallelujah!"



---Erik Shipley
in The Hungry Always get Fed

day in day out

well, while the spare moments in my life are hard to come by..I've have a discovered a few minutes to stop in to write my thoughts out. Though I could be doing a million other things, I have decided that I will take a few minutes everyday to unwind..process if you will. I have nothing particularly inspiring to write about today..just me.

So what has today taught me, you ask?

Well..I am reminded how faithful God is to provide! Thank you to the U.S. mail service to testing my faith...but my birth certificate has arrived! Now it's trusting the Lord to take care of that document that holds my fate in the traveling-halfway-across-the-world department: my passport! But, like I already said...God is faithful. Period.

So if you happened to have caught my previous blog, you will be glad to know that I walked slower today!! I left my room this morning in my typical, near-running pace. But I caught myself, took a deep breath, and smiled genuinely at the next person I passed. It was a bit refreshing I'd say. I even waited in line with patience and was late to my class!! What an achievement! Thank you Lord for teaching me to be patient!

Well, I'd love to say that this marks the beginning of my daily blog habit..but with the way my life looks at this moment, I wouldn't count on it. And I'd hate to disappoint all of you bloggers who love to follow my thoughts...not. So here's to finding time to ponder the day, take a few deep breaths, and have a good laugh. Cheers.

"A heart at peace
gives life to the body.."
Proverbs 14:30

The end doesn't justify the means, the means brings about a great end!

Wow..life never stops. Never slows down. Not even for a minute. Sometimes I think I like it that way..and other times I feel like I'm missing things I shouldn't be missing. I'm constantly thinking about the next place I have to be or the next task I need to conquer. I speed walk every where I go, and I feel like my speedy walking pace somewhat defines my life. I'm so caught up in where I'm going that I totally forget about how I get there...So...bear with me..I have a few seemingly unconnected thoughts that..may actually end up not connecting..we shall see.

I have a good friend..and unlike myself...he strolls everywhere he goes (a fact that was the source of great frustration for me at many times). Any time we walk anywhere together, I am constantly turned around, trying to have a conversation with him. It's seriously a chore for me to walk at his glacial pace! It's become somewhat of a running joke in our friends about how slow he walks..but you know...I think he's the one who should be laughing at us..because HE'S the one who understands.

I have another dear friend..we walk together every other day or so and have oh so great conversations. One day we were talking about feet; about how everyone's are different and people have such different walking styles. But she said something really basic that struck me in such a profound way. She said, "You know, walking is a funny thing. You can always count on your other foot to come up in front. You don't even have to think about it!"

So, today as I was leaving to go back to campus, the thought of driving in 5 o'clock traffic was NOT appealing to me. I HATE waiting in line for ANYTHING!! Consequentially, I took every back road, loop, and drove through every neighborhood to try and avoid all the cars. In the end..it took me about twice as long to get where I was going, but I avoided the crowd!



So...through all of these events, I have learned a few things about myself. First of all, that in my rush to get things done, be on time, and avoid the crowds I have effectively learned to stay in my own little world for the majority of my life. Sure, when I'm not in a hurry or when I have nothing else going on, I'll stop and smell the roses or talk to someone who looks lonely, but ONLY when it's convenient for me. So how do I fix this?? SLOW DOWN! I will just have to learn to be ok with running a little late, missing out on something that's "super important" or maybe changing my plans a bit. I want to love life, enjoy every day I'm given.

Second--I have learned that, just like my feet, I can always count on the Lord to be there with every step. I never have to wonder, contemplate or worry if He will support all my weight with each step. I don't think about walking, I don't want to have to think about trusting in the Lord. I want to learn to depend on Jesus just like I learned how to walk. (and like I'm learning to walk slowly : ))

Finally--I've realized that to live like Jesus lived, I cannot always avoid the crowds. Jesus was constantly surrounded by the masses, people FLOCKED to Him. Sure, He withdrew for time alone (just like I've realized I need to often do) but he walked in the people, ministered to the people, loved the people. I want to be a person of the people: Loving people, serving people, leading people. To do that, I cannot always AVOID the people.

So, I'm going to stop. I'm going to read a book. I'm going to smile really big at someone tomorrow when I pass them. I'm going to say "Howdy!!!" to as many people as I can. I'm going to rely on Jesus to teach me where to walk. I'm going to blog more! I'm going to laugh as much as I can. I'm going to thank Jesus for what He is doing! I'm going to buy myself some flowers! I'm gonna buy someone else some flowers! I'm going to write an encouraging note! I'm going to sing out loud! I'm going to love with abandonment! I'm going to serve with a full heart!

Above all, I've learned that life is fun. And I'm tired of missing it.

"This is the day
that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and
be glad in it!"
Pslam 118:24

heart's cry

Ever experienced a moment, or a day, or a weekend, where you wish you could somehow record everything that happened, was said, or you felt. A time that you never wanted to forget? Hmmm...well I have. And sadly, the mind is unreliable, and I tend to forget very quickly experiences I desperately long to remember. But thank God for blogs eh!?!? So the purpose of this entry is solely for me..to remember. To look back in years and remember how I felt, what I thought, what God did in one amazing weekend. My life is ruined..I'll never be the same.

So yes, this is my follow up to World Mandate blog. I was told beforehand that I couldn't have expectations high enough of what God would do. Well, I'm pretty skeptical when it comes to stuff like that. I've been to my fair share of conferences, camps, and events, and sure...I've seen God do amazing things. Don't get me wrong--I know that the Lord works at things like that..but it's also very emotional as well. So..I confess I went in with semi-unhigh expectations. But praise Jesus that He doesn't care about our expectations!

The one thing I really learned about the Lord this past weekend is how well He really knows me. He ministered to me in the way that only He could. Speaking to me in ways that I understand, teaching me the things I really need to learn, and singing over me songs that I've been longing to hear for my whole life. He answered prayers, reminded me of promises, and rekindled dreams that I long ago had abandoned. When the speaker said on Friday night that if we want to see God move, we have to run into the pain, instead of away from it, my heart was stirred deeply. Yes! This has been the cry of my heart for as long as I can remember, and God knew that. In this world of inevitable pain and hurting, I want to be there to help ease and heal the hearts of people who have no where else to turn. I want to minister and share and serve those who are forgotten. I don't just want to serve the "least of these," I want to join them. Cry with them. Heal with them. Learn with them. Seek God with them.

I saw God do amazing things this weekend. I can come to you with complete sincerity in saying I was blown away. My life is never ever ever going to look the same way. How can it? My passion to see people experience what I have cannot be stifled. The fire in me cannot be put out. The thirst placed inside of me by God himself will not easily be quenched. I have gotten a glimpse of a picture much bigger than my own. I'm no longer satisfied to sit and receive from Jesus. I will be one who soaks in everything God can give, and take it and run. Take to those who need it most. I must go. I must go where the pain is greatest. I must go where I can bring healing. There's nothing else to do!

And so, as I was asking the Lord what my life was about, what do I do now? He replied to me...

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kinds to the brightness of your dawn."
Isaiah 60: 1-3

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be empty again
This seed I've received I will sow