Reflections, Random Thoughts, and a Perfect Jesus

    I've got a stirring within my soul tonight that cannot be stilled. A stirring that will burn deep within and continue to burn until the coming of our Jesus Christ....A stirring that burns even deeper in the moments where I feel the Spirit moving and see Jesus in my brothers and sisters face..A stirring that cannot be quenched until every hurting, sick, lame, and lost is brought into the Kingdom...If you are a believer in the precious LORD and are walking with Him then you know what I am talking about....
     I want you, dearly beloved reader, to take a step back and reflect on the amazing things that God has done in both your life and others lives around you, and things you've seen God do in your city, state, nation, and world......Ponder, meditate, dwell, soak in, all of the above...in fact, take a minute, or two,  and quickly jot down 10 awesome things you've seen God do. They can be anything, just whatever comes to you first.........Write, write away...Jot down 100 things if you'd like....Done, yet? K well I'm moving on with this blog entry so finish up. Now, look over your list. WOW, we serve an AWESOME GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is worthy of all our praise (and of course, an excessive amount of exclamation points...)! Can you agree? So, point of this being that however old you are, you've seen God do some pretty amazing things. I'm 18 years old. I rededicated my life to Christ a couple weeks before I turned 17 and since the day I stated, "LORD, my life is Yours, take and use me." He has been so faithful to use me and has opened my eyes to appreciate, marvel at, and be inspired by all He does, the way He moves, and how He reveals Himself to us.
     In a year and a half, He took me, broke me, molded me, and sent me to Uganda with a group of 25 other amazing team members. He called, we responded, and we were in Africa this summer serving Him. Praise be to His name alone! In the past year, He put a call on my church, Solid Rock, to plant a church and spread some salt in the city, if ya know what I'm saying. Now, we meet every Saturday night, downtown Portland, at 6 and 8 pm and are seeing people being broken down and pushed back into Jesus. PTL!!!!!! In the past 6 months, my family, my father specifically, was going through some very rough things that we could have never expected. It was really a time of struggle and a battle within my father and Praise be to the LORD Jesus Christ that the victory was already won when He paid the price on the cross. I can say today that my daddy is so far in the process of healing and only because of the strength, love and unending forgiveness of the LORD and prayers from the body of believers. This past week, or 10 days, the LORD used a group of high school kids and some young leaders to love on some handicapped orphans in Mexico. The LORD placed a called on the heart and these high schoolers and leaders choose to use 10 days of their summer pouring themselves out to be a blessing to these children and adults.
     I just have to say that......

God is on the move.

and how incredible it is! All that I have observed in the past year and a half/two years of my life since I rededicated my life to Christ has been absolutely more than incredible. God moves and uses the weak to lead the strong, the poor to lead the rich. He uses us wherever we are at. We, by no means, need to be perfect, or have it all together. All we truly need to be is willing, eager, and attentive to His call upon our lives. Listen, this is the good stuff and what I was slapped in the face with this weekend at church, The same Spirit that raised Christ from the DEAD is alive and present in us. To work through us. Can I please get an amen? If in only a year and a half/two years I have observed God do an insane amount of awesome things, I can't even begin to imagine what the future holds! All I can say is, LORD, I'm so ready for it...:)  Use me, mold me, take me, break me, create in me a willing and eager spirit to do your will. Take me out of my comfort zone for Your glory alone.

We serve an incredible God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Living, Learning, and Appreciating

     Life is full of situations, choices, and responses. Each day we live, we are faced with the good, the bad, the great, the awkward, and sometimes the just plain ugly in life. We often times cannot choose the situations that occur in our lives, but we do have the choice to choose how we respond to them. Each day we can choose to stand for love, rather than hate. Each day we can choose to stand for positivity, rather than pessimism. Each day we can choose to stand for forgiveness, rather than vengeance.  Each day we can choose faithfulness, rather than infidelity.

Each day we can choose the way of Jesus, rather than the way of the world.

It's so cool that each day we have the power to make a difference because of Christ living in us.  God is good, amen? Amen.

     Today, I want to highlight two things I appreciate. The first being my sisters in Christ. I am so encouraged, blessed, strengthened, comforted, lifted up, convicted, all of the above and more by you guys. If you're my sister and reading this just know I love you so deeply and am so blessed Christ placed you in my life! Today I met with a sister for coffee and was so encouraged by the advice she gave me and just her walk with the LORD. She reminded me of something that I have been reflecting on all day. She reminded me of when John Mark said in a teaching......

"Good is the enemy of best."

So interesting to think about and such a true statement. Often times, we have something, someone, or an opportunity in our lives that seems so good and so right that we just take it, go for it, etc. Sometimes, we (definitely including me) take, receive, do things out of God's timing. To us the timing seems good and right, but what we don't realize is that God sometimes wants us to wait. Sometimes we need to take time to prepare our heart for a relationship so that we will be perfect for our future spouse. Sometimes we need to let a certain job opportunity go by because God has a better one in store. Sometimes we need to wait to purchase a house because God really wants us to move in 6 months across the country. God is good and His timing is the BEST. Something God has been teaching me is to absolutely wait on Him, trust in His timing, and be confident that His way is always the best!

     Second thing I appreciate is GUNNER!!!!!!!!!! I am watching Tony's sweet, sweet little beagle for the weekend and it is just great. This dog is a little love bug and is a joy to watch. He doesn't even know what's in store for him tomorrow....a trip to the beach! So excited!

Anyway, I should go read a bit and get ready for beach...leaving Jenna's tomorrow round 9 am for the beach..thinking and praying for the mission teams that are in Mexico and Zimbabwe currently! Keep these guys in your prays! Can't wait to hear all about the trips...sleep well world...Remember, Jesus Christ is faithful and His timing is always BEST!

 

  

2 Things I appreciate and 1 Thing I'm Learning

     First, I will most certainly share the one thing I have been learning over the past couple days because it is 1) About Jesus, who always comes first and 2) Very relevant to all walking the Christian walk.  The topic that the LORD has just been pressing on my heart and slapping me in the face with is trust, and my lack of trust in Him. Yesterday I read the classic, but so terribly powerful verse in Proverbs 3v5-6-

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Over the past year, a series of events have went on in my life and my families lives that have really tested our faith and trust in God.  Even over the past week something went on that just left me stumped, for lack of a better word.  One of the many incredible things about having a relationship with Jesus Christ is that we can and are called to fully put our faith in Him and trust in His perfect plan.  Situations and relationships often times do not turn out the way we want or expect them to. In our lives, we are hit with a hurricane of events that we do not understand or see anything positive resulting from.  The one thing I've just so been learning though, is that God always has a perfect plan. He is always working out situations for our greater good; He knows what's best for us.  We can have full 100% trust in Him, that He is watching over us and if we acknowledge Him in our lives, He will direct our paths.  

What would 100% trust in Christ truly look like?

So often, we like having control over situations and relationships, but what we forget is that once we surrender control to the LORD, He will work everything out for our good, as His dearly loved children. How cool is that?! True Love doesn't get any better folks, I'm telling ya.....God is SO good...




     Now, time for me to ramble on to my next topic of appreciation. There are so many, many different people, places, traits, ideas, and items that I appreciate in life, and I feel the need to highlight certain ones I am thankful for day by day.  Today I am very appreciative of my wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Stamm, and perfume.
     Mrs. Stamm is one of a kind. She is absolutely in love with the LORD and hands down one of the most godly woman I know. I was blessed to have her for two years in high school and so blessed when she called to invite me over to her house for breakfast today. School takes a long time, especially if you're going to get your Masters, Doctorate, etc. Throughout our years and time in school we have all sorts of teachers. There are the teachers who careless about you exceling in school and mostly just mistook their true calling for the call of teaching and those are the teachers that are often times boring. There are also the teachers who are very strict and never in a great mood. You don't know why this is, but you often feel sorry for them and wish that bringing them a shiny apple would brighten there day, week, year, etc. Then there are the teachers who treat you like a baby, the substitutes, the homework-givers, the list could go on and on. Most importantly there are the teachers who are passionate and love what they do. These are the teachers that believe in you and inspire you to be the best you can be in life. I believe each individual comes in contant with one, two, maybe three, if your lucky, of these teachers during their years of schooling.  Mrs. Stamm is certainly one of these types of teachers. I was blessed to be in a Christian school pre-12th grade and have all sorts of wonderful, God-fearing teachers, but Mrs. Stamm has certainly stood out. She radiates Christ in all she does and truly appreciates all you have to say and thinks every painting, charcoal, colored pencil, etc. you do is just absolutely amazing. I have been so blessed by her and look up to her so much. Anyway, so this morning I was so blessed to go to her sweet home and eat breakfast with her and Kelsey and shares pictures and memories from my Uganda trip. The fact that she cared so much to hear about all that the LORD's doing over there was great. Great time of just fellowship and banana pancakes.  Delicious. Next Tuesday, or Wednesday, I will be headed over there again for a cooking lesson. This should be exciting.....

    Lastly, I appreciate perfume. Everyone has a certain smell and each individual has certain scents that remind them of certain people and certain times in their lives.  Perfumes, colognes, and scents, in general, all tell wonderful stories. You know how your house smells, how your kitty cat smells, how your best friend smells, and all these smells are just comforting.  Shampoo, detergent, perfume, cologne, lotion, and deodorant, of lack there of (hehe), make up a typical American individual's scent. It just feels nice to smell good. After lunch with my grandparents today-which was just wonderful, I might add-I went in to the Rack and picked up my favorite Betsey Johnson Eau de Parfum. It's such a blend of fruits, musks, and woods, I love it.  Silly as it may sound, I think a nice perfume and a dainty dress make any girl feel pretty and like a princess.


  Now, back to reality, got to go do some cleaning for the campout tonight with my brothers and sisters from my Senior class...so excited...remember, most importantly-TRUST GOD-He cares for you beautiful child more than you could even begin to imagine...

 

Clear Skies and Country Roads

     So, I am starting my first blog. There isn't much rhyme or reason as to why now, but I feel a desire to share the little parts of life and glorify my Beautiful King by doing so.

     I work at a little diner out in the country called the Cruise In Country Diner.  We are a small establishment, located near a small intersection. We serve mostly organic and local food and make mad milkshakes if ya know what I mean.  We have many wonderful older folks that come in weekly and order their usual, but their are also a large amount of families with lovely babies and rowdy little kids.

  As I was working a standard 10:30-5 shift on Saturday I was blessed beyond belief by a young man. All day I had been quite anxious and had a lot on my mind-one of those days where you just want to get out of your own head-anyways so I'm going about work a little half heartedly when two women and a young man walked in.  They sat down at a booth and I went over to wait on them.  One of the women shared with me that she and her son were here visiting from Vancouver BC. The boy was probably about 20 years old and had some sort of mental disorder. He talked a little bit slow and couldn't quite look me in the eyes. He was so adorable. I took their order and continued about my work, making milkshakes and handing out burgers. I stopped for a second to breathe and looked around the restaurant. All of a sudden, something caught my eye. The young man I had just waited on was outside by himself. He was leaning against the window and staring out at the road.  He was leaning, watching the cars go bye.  As I observed this scene, my eyes lifted and glanced at his facial expression-the biggest of all grins.  There he was, fully content to be outside, on a nice day, watching the cars go by on the rough country roads...

     What if we all took the time to just step back, go outside, and watch the cars go by? So blessed by such a sweet young man on a summer afternoon...

   Now, it's dinner time with Jenna Hope and Miss Emily! Bagel bites and salad yum.....