Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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 :)
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 :)Sunday, May 23, 2010
Out of Egypt
One of the ones I found from a while ago:
"They said to Moses, 'Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
-Exodus 14:11&12
I am reading through the book of Exodus in the Bible and have gotten to the part where the Israelites are finally being delivered from Egypt. It occurred to me as I was reading Exodus 14:11 that we are often like the Israelites (BIG surprise!). When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming after them (after Pharaoh had changed his mind and decided to go after them to keep them from leaving Egypt) they doubted God and inquired of Moses why he had led them out in the wilderness to die. We do this, too. We follow God to a certain point where we feel comfortable and then when the going gets rough, we question whether He is taking care of us or just leading us to die. It is then we must trust He has a plan and it will be fulfilled and He will bring us through. But we have to have faith that He does all things for the good of those who love Him and that no matter what circumstances look like to us, in the end it is for our best. But what if our "Egypt is all we know?
The Israelites had known nothing else for years. They had been in bondage for so long, they did not know from their small scope of life that there was anything better. They were actually under the impression that it would be better to live enslaved than to die free. Are we not the same way? We live so long in this world of pain and suffering, where people's hearts are devoid of God and it's all we know. And when we have the chance for something better, we balk at it. Instead of stepping forward and going through the discomfort of refinement to freedom (dying to ourselves), most of us would rather stay in our dark, dank, smelly world and rot away perhaps with only the hope of possible love from another person who is still preoccupied with themselves no matter how they try to convince us otherwise, or our next cigarette or shot of whiskey after a long day, or the next party we can go to and forget our troubles and trick ourselves into believing we are happy. But we know deep down that at the end of the day, when we are alone and lonely, none of those things satisfy. We are in bondage, in slavery. But on our way out, when God is in the midst of delivering us, we cry out to go back because what we've known seems to be a better option or we don't want to give up the sex, drugs, and parties that we think of as freedom. It is not until we see, with knees quivering in fear in the midst of our doubting Him, His awesome power break through and wipe out our bondage and open our eyes to the promised land, to the better place to which He is taking us, that we see and believe and are free. And even then we doubt sometimes. But once we are His, truly living for Him and not our selfish desires, He will always bring us back, bring us out of the desert, even through all our complaining. He will bring us out on the beautiful, glorious other side where eternity lies and we can rest in Him. Are we going to continue to prefer to live enslaved to these things, or are we going to see that dying free is the better portion? We must see that when we die to ourselves and live for God, THAT is true freedom.
"And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.'...Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground...and as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, NOT ONE OF THEM REMAINED. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea...Thus the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians...Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord..."
-Exodus 14:13, 21, 22, 27-31
"They said to Moses, 'Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
-Exodus 14:11&12
I am reading through the book of Exodus in the Bible and have gotten to the part where the Israelites are finally being delivered from Egypt. It occurred to me as I was reading Exodus 14:11 that we are often like the Israelites (BIG surprise!). When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming after them (after Pharaoh had changed his mind and decided to go after them to keep them from leaving Egypt) they doubted God and inquired of Moses why he had led them out in the wilderness to die. We do this, too. We follow God to a certain point where we feel comfortable and then when the going gets rough, we question whether He is taking care of us or just leading us to die. It is then we must trust He has a plan and it will be fulfilled and He will bring us through. But we have to have faith that He does all things for the good of those who love Him and that no matter what circumstances look like to us, in the end it is for our best. But what if our "Egypt is all we know?
The Israelites had known nothing else for years. They had been in bondage for so long, they did not know from their small scope of life that there was anything better. They were actually under the impression that it would be better to live enslaved than to die free. Are we not the same way? We live so long in this world of pain and suffering, where people's hearts are devoid of God and it's all we know. And when we have the chance for something better, we balk at it. Instead of stepping forward and going through the discomfort of refinement to freedom (dying to ourselves), most of us would rather stay in our dark, dank, smelly world and rot away perhaps with only the hope of possible love from another person who is still preoccupied with themselves no matter how they try to convince us otherwise, or our next cigarette or shot of whiskey after a long day, or the next party we can go to and forget our troubles and trick ourselves into believing we are happy. But we know deep down that at the end of the day, when we are alone and lonely, none of those things satisfy. We are in bondage, in slavery. But on our way out, when God is in the midst of delivering us, we cry out to go back because what we've known seems to be a better option or we don't want to give up the sex, drugs, and parties that we think of as freedom. It is not until we see, with knees quivering in fear in the midst of our doubting Him, His awesome power break through and wipe out our bondage and open our eyes to the promised land, to the better place to which He is taking us, that we see and believe and are free. And even then we doubt sometimes. But once we are His, truly living for Him and not our selfish desires, He will always bring us back, bring us out of the desert, even through all our complaining. He will bring us out on the beautiful, glorious other side where eternity lies and we can rest in Him. Are we going to continue to prefer to live enslaved to these things, or are we going to see that dying free is the better portion? We must see that when we die to ourselves and live for God, THAT is true freedom.
"And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.'...Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground...and as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, NOT ONE OF THEM REMAINED. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea...Thus the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians...Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord..."
-Exodus 14:13, 21, 22, 27-31
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Lumberjacks and other miscellaneous things
I have been dealing a lot lately with being saddened over friendships that are no longer as close because we are so far away. I do not want this to happen with my small group girls, but it seems it is inevitable. Talking on the phone is just not the same. And I am not rich so I cannot just get up and fly off somewhere with an expensive plane ticket. Tears have most definitely fallen over this realization and have in the past as well with other friends. As I go back through old photos of days gone by, memories flood in and the tears come freely as I dream of being back in that place doing that exact thing of which I am looking so longingly upon. This has especially been true recently looking over my Snow Ridge 2008 summer camp photos. I can feel the moments as if they happened yesterday. Somehow it is so surreal, because at times it seems like the things in the pictures never happened. I don't want this to happen with my girls. I pray the Lord would continue to keep all of us in each others' lives. But if that is not to happen, I have learned that He will bring me through it and bring me new community, new beginnings, and new friendships that will be just as meaningful as the ones of the past. I thank Him that no matter where I am or what I am doing, He will always provide for me, and as long as I am following Him, I know that I can place it all in His hands and He will bring out good from it.
Westcliffe, Colorado
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