Kenya

I have the amazing opportunity to go to Kenya in December for 10 days. I have been praying that the Lord would bring me an opportunity to do a mission trip this year, and here it is. All I need is for the plane tickets to work out. I know that if this is what He has for me, it will surely happen. I am waiting patiently, with courage in my heart. Please pray that everything would fall into place if this is the Lord's will for my life. I am already beginning to have a love in my heart for the people there and I am praying that the Lord would open my eyes to His people and expand my vision beyond my comfortable life here. I have never been outside of the US so I am a bit nervous for the flight among other things. I could really use your prayers right now. I really feel the closeness of the Lord as I seek Him through this. It's been amazing. Thanks everyone who is praying!

Unto You I Come

I come into Your presence, Lord

Unto You I come
All the life I have to live
I let go and run
The race You've marked out for me
Author of my salvation
Let me throw off all that hinders
Triumph with great elation
I want to know Your courts, O Lord
Where love and faithfulness meet
Teach me of Your endless love
Make my trust in You complete
You alone are my God
Mighty, wild, and free
Let me forever be with You
And You dwell within me
Where You are is where I belong
You're all I want always
For where You are is safety and
A shelter for all days
In Your presence all bow down
Righteousness and peace together
In the majesty of Your grace and glory
Let me delight in You forever!

In Christ Alone

It is all by Christ alone that I do anything. It is all by Christ alone that I can do all things.  I ran a 16 second 100 meter 2 days ago. It was so exhilarating! The Lord really blessed me with that. It made me realize I've forgotten to count my blessings. I've been looking at others' lives and being envious instead of remembering God is doing what He wants and what is exactly right for my life. I pray the Lord would help me to trust that and that I would always remember everything He does for me. I don't often enough just sit down and dwell on all He has done, on His majesty and His power and that He is Lord over my life. I have been looking to other things for my happiness, including church, friends, and the idea of being healed. Instead of remembering all the things that excite me in every day life, I have been looking to the church to give me that joy, and when it hasn't I've been disappointed. But joy is not just in what church you go to and how amazing it is, joy is found in relationships, in the things that make you happy, even in the seemingly small blessings God bestows upon you everyday. The Lord has given me a great job, a new car, a subbing job for the summer, the possibility of moving into my own apartment this fall, getting to ride Abe again (his leg is healed), and my new-found (or should I say rediscovered) love of running (thanks Lianne and Mitch). I haven't even let myself be joyful over these things because I always think they have to be spiritual things that give me joy. But in truth, all those things are spiritual, they are a gift of God. The rush of wind in my face as I'm sprinting, the feel of God's arms around me, the freedom I feel when I'm riding Abe, the fun I have when I'm dancing to my favorite rap songs with my favorite people, laughing at inside jokes, being with people I love, watching Drew and Evi play together and seeing Evi put her hand up to the window in the Chick-fil-a play area to wave at me with the biggest grin on her face, making a silly movie, going on a roller coaster and feeling the adrenaline rush, driving around in my new car, listening to music that makes my heart soar, the cold, crisp feel of the first step outside early in the morning just as the sun is rising on a winter day, the chance to go to Colorado and climb a 14'er, these are all gifts from God and I can be joyful over them! It just makes my soul well up with gladness and admiration for the Lord! The Lord wants us to dwell on the blessings He gives. He supplies our every need. I want to thank God everyday, even for the small things He gives me. Exclaiming over His works is what the book of Psalm is all about. We are to tell of his marvelous works.  That is what I want to do, no matter what my circumstances. God will meet all my needs because He is committed to that. I am going to live out my faith. I will look to the Healer and not just the healing. I am going to live like I am well. He gives me the strength for the day.  That is all I need.

My Favorite Phineas and Ferb Song

Anybody else love Phineas and Ferb???

Praising God

May 10, 2010
I don't often think about the earth itself praising God. Even the birds and the horses and the rocks and the trees praise Him. They all proclaim His majesty. Today at the barn I listened to the old praise and worship CD from City Church. Three different birds sat on the fence across from my car for longer than usual. It was as if they were listening to the worship. As if a part of them remembered for a split second what it was like when Christ was on the earth. Yes, I forget that even they have a purpose. Though I'm not sure they consciously know it, I see glimpses of the Lord taking care of them and them fulfilling their purpose to the glory of God. Even the beauty and ingenious design of a bird's nest I found in the hay shed at the barn. The bird had wrapped twine round and round a post winding it in and out around the cross section the nest was perched on. The outside of the nest was neatly woven hay, twine, and white hair that I can only assume was Cloud's, Laura's dog. (Laura is one of the girls who owns a horse at the Greenway) Amazing. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. When a bird makes a nest, when a horse runs wild and free with its mane flowing behind it, when a dog chases a squirrel, when ants march in a row working together to build their hill, when a bumblebee gathers nectar from plants for honey, when the earth shakes, when the grass sways, it is all worshiping the Lord. It is all to His majesty. They are living in their call. Living is simple. We are the ones that complicate it.
Matthew 6:25-27"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

The nest in the shed

The baby in the nest :)