Titus 3:3-7 "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
Last night I had an experience that was pretty amazing! It wasn't amazing because I liked where I was at, I did not. In fact, quite the opposite. Let me give you a little preface to my evening.
My husband and I used to have an entertainment business. We no longer put on our own shows (concerts), but we help out others when they need extra hands. So, a couple weeks ago I received a call asking if I would be a runner. This is a person that will go purchase food, alcohol, etc for the bands at their requests. I said ok. By the end of the day I called her back and let her know that I just didn't feel comfortable with this and so my husband would take that spot. Two days later she called back and asked if I could work the door. I hesitated. Then plain as day I heard "go". So I told her I would. Keep in mind...I did not want to be a part of this show at all!!
So, I get there last night and said a little prayer before I went in. One of the other two girls I had along is also a Christian. As we were waiting for doors to open we were talking about Jesus. Ha! Got some strange looks. Oh, I had on my "Find the Way, seek the Truth, Jesus is Life" shirt. Anyway, it hit me while talking to her that I am to pray for these people. I took a moment and prayed for all those getting ready to attend this show, for those involved with the show, essentially anyone in that building that night. Instantly I knew why I was there.
As I greeted people (many of them with young children) and took their tickets, I prayed for them. Just quick little "shout outs" about little specific things that occured to me as they passed through. I just had these little nudges about things that were needed......it was amazing! Jesus filled me with a love for the unlovely!! He reminded me of a sermon that Pastor Andy gave awhile back about each person that we encounter is potentially housing Jesus Christ. Each person that we may shy away from may be housing the Holy of Holies! Maybe this is a Christian slipping. Maybe this is someone who has never been introduced to the Lord. Maybe this is someone who is on the verge of saying "Father take me...I love You...I am Yours!"
So I guess what I am saying here is that I needed a reminder that I am no better than anyone else....He is the Father to all, some are just in denial. So, I need to treat each of these people as He would. I may not agree with the lifestyle, the clothing, the language......but He says to love! Not love the lovely...not love the cute and friendly...not love the clean....just love! If He met me right where I was, won't He do the same for anyone else who opens their heart to Him?!
1 Timothy 2:1 "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,"
Lord please keep my mind open and my heart ready to love all of your people, both those that already know you and those You are waiting for!!
Lord, use me to be a light for You in this dark world...use me as a tool to show people how deep Your love is for them and how very real You are...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Golden Heart Award
Wow...to open up an email and receive this was so overwhelming to me. I didn't know about this award and I have been blogging for quite awhile now. But let me tell you a bit about the person that sent it to me....Christy Rose. I met Christy not too long ago and have quickly fallen for her. She has a heart for the Lord that is just relentless. On my lowest days, I can read her blog and see Him right there. Please, don't take my word for it, visit yourself at http://www.thesecretlifeofanamericanwifeandmom.blogspot.com
You know, I think the reason that I got so excited about this was that now I can share 5 other blogs with you that just blow me away....5 other women who have such a love for Jesus that just pull me so much closer to Him when I read their words of inspiration and love! So, in no particular order I am going to share with you 5 amazing blogs to check out.
Kellie, my dear friend, I have known you for the majority of my life. I have seen such amazing growth in you!! You are truly an inspiration to me! I see the love that you so freely share, the simplicity in which you share His love with others. I love you as if you were really my sister and I am sooooo thankful that He once again put us on the same path!
Traci, I have still to meet you in real life, though my daughter thinks you are super! Reading your blogs, I would have to agree with her. Over the last year I have read about your personal struggles, accomplishments, and family happenings. I have witnessed young people that I know and love blossom under your leadership. Even at the hardest moments, you hold tight to Jesus and know that He has it all under control. I so admire you and your strength in the Lord.
J...you are simply beautiful!!! From the inside that is so full of His love to the beautiful smile you shine for us all to see. You are another that I have not met in real life, but I have been so blessed by you! You have touched my heart so deeply in the way that you express your love for your Lord and your family! You have two very blessed little girls.....S~ is going to make an amazing, loving big sister!! Thank you for all the comments you have sent my way....they have fallen on a thankful heart! You truly are God's Girl!
Sarah, I just added you today but I must tell you that I am amazed by you!! I just couldn't stop reading. My heart has been on missions for a little while now and I am praying for clarity. I am in awe of His grace and beauty all over you!!!!! Thank you for what you do!!!
Miss Rachel....oh, lil' one you make me cry routinely!! When I read the words you put down they take me straight to His feet. You make me cry out for more of Him!! You make me so thankful and so hopeful!! He is moving in you and I cannot, cannot, cannot wait to see what He has in store for you!!!!! I am just so blessed to have met you and now I can sit back and watch in awe as He shapes your life!!!!
These are just 5 of the amazing author's that I follow......there are many more. Please check my profile and be entertained, enlighted, and inspired by all of these beautiful people!!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
something wonderful
You know, there are days that can be so overwhelming. Days when I feel so overworked, stressed, irritated, and the list could go on. On days like these I would go to bed just feelin yuck prayin for a better day tomorrow.
Well.....
It "came" to me a month or so ago that His beauty is all around me everyday. His fingerprints are all over the place if only I would look to see them. Sometimes what seems as though it isn't going to turn out just right has an effect on me that is unexplainable. So I prayed He show me how to become more intentional....prayed He help me stop overlooking His beauty in an ordinary moment, a moment that seemingly has no purpose.
His answer was "I am there. Seek me. Find me."
So....I do! Everyday I wake up and ask Him to let me see His beauty in today. Let me see even one thing that is just so wonderful my heart sings out to Him because it overwhelms me with His love and grace and beauty.
I have shared this thought with a couple people and each day ask...."what was your something wonderful today?" I love to hear the answers! I love to see that light come on when the response pulls them closer to Him.
So....today I want to challenge you to look for something wonderful! I would love it if you sent me a message to share, but even if not, I still want to challenge you. Better yet, for the next seven days really and truly at beginning of your day be intentional and ask Him to show you something wonderful that you have not before noticed!!
Happy hunting!!!!
Well.....
It "came" to me a month or so ago that His beauty is all around me everyday. His fingerprints are all over the place if only I would look to see them. Sometimes what seems as though it isn't going to turn out just right has an effect on me that is unexplainable. So I prayed He show me how to become more intentional....prayed He help me stop overlooking His beauty in an ordinary moment, a moment that seemingly has no purpose.
His answer was "I am there. Seek me. Find me."
So....I do! Everyday I wake up and ask Him to let me see His beauty in today. Let me see even one thing that is just so wonderful my heart sings out to Him because it overwhelms me with His love and grace and beauty.
I have shared this thought with a couple people and each day ask...."what was your something wonderful today?" I love to hear the answers! I love to see that light come on when the response pulls them closer to Him.
So....today I want to challenge you to look for something wonderful! I would love it if you sent me a message to share, but even if not, I still want to challenge you. Better yet, for the next seven days really and truly at beginning of your day be intentional and ask Him to show you something wonderful that you have not before noticed!!
Happy hunting!!!!
He can turn nothing into something...
I am so excited this morning! I had the most amazing dream! I know some of you are saying, "here she goes with those crazy dreams again"....lol....but when I have some of these dreams I just have to put them down in words and if they are that important to me, then why not share them with you. Too, I remember very little of this but what I remember is so profound to me that I have to see if "speaking it" brings any more back. So, here goes......
I had a friend and she kept getting ill. She refused medical treatment over and over. I couldn't physically go to her, so I would sit on the computer for hours with her just feeding her the Word of God and telling her how much Jesus loves her and wants her for His own. She fought me on it so hard at first! Then she came to a point that she started asking me questions. "How can you be so convinced that He is?" "How can you believe that He loves you like that?" "How can you possibly believe that He will forgive all that I have done?" "Even if I say ok and believe it doesn't erase my past, it doesn't erase what I have done, it doesn't wipe out what has been done to me." and so the list goes on. These questions continued for a spell. I prayed on each answer. I begged for Him to just speak to her right through me so that none of me was present and she only saw Him and His love for her.
One morning I received a phone call. It was this friend. She said "It is time. I don't know if I am going to make it. If you will, could you come take me to the clinic?" I rushed right over and took her to the clinic. We got there and they rushed her in. I wasn't able to be with her from that point and they wouldn't give me any information on her, just told me to have a seat and wait.
So, I was in the lobby and someone came out and called my name and I went with her. She told me that the results were in on my test. I told her that there was a mistake, I hadn't taken a test I was here waiting on a friend. She smiled and touched my hand and said "Honey, you are safe with me. We can be honest here, I know it isn't your friend you are waiting for. I know it isn't your friend that had this test done. The results are wonderful...honey, you are pregnant" At this I laughed and said "See, that proves that it isn't me. I had a hysterectomy when I was 25. I cannot have children." She looked strangely at me and asked if we could take the test again. I, of course, said yes so that I could prove myself.
I went back to the lobby to wait and while there I spoke to a few people about the love of Jesus and prayed with them for their healing. They smiled, hugged me and walked out of the clinic without any further words. The lady that tested me came back and called me and we went back to the office again and she had a funny look on her face and said "honey, you are pregnant." I again said it is impossible...I have no uterus....I cannot be pregnant! So she called in a doctor who did a physical exam and he said "Sweetheart, it is a positive result. Your uterus is intact and you are most definitely pregnant"
I got up and left the office in a daze. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't understand what he was saying or why or how it could even be remotely possible. The doorway to exit passed into a tunnel. I stopped in the center of the tunnel, it was dark and I could see nothing. I knelt right where I was at and cried out to Jesus. I begged him to explain this to me. I was in disbelief and quite frankly afraid. All of a sudden there was a beam of light shining through the top of the tunnel landing on my head and I felt perfect. I mean, I have never felt so perfect ... there was nothing wrong, nothing out of place...I felt perfect and full of love. I looked up into the light and there was a dove and then it fluttered upward out of an opening, but the light stayed. A voice filled me up...it wasn't like a voice heard in the tunnel, it literally filled me up in a way I cannot even describe. He said to me "My child you speak of me with such love and conviction to others, yet you sometimes doubt your own worth. Do you not know how much I love you. Do you not know your worth. You are with child. The child of My Word. The child of My love. The child you have always wanted to be. This child won't be born unto you. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. You have been made whole, made perfect again and you belong to me. I am in you and you are in Me. You see my child, I can make something out of nothing but you didn't take that for yourself. I can make something out of nothing and you are something."
Then I woke up......oh my goodness!!!!.....I cannot explain to you the feeling I am in right at this moment....I am in awe of Him....I am so in love with Him.....I am way overwhelmed right now!
Right before putting this down, I read a beautiful woman's blog.....in her blog she said "He can make something out of nothing"..............
I had a friend and she kept getting ill. She refused medical treatment over and over. I couldn't physically go to her, so I would sit on the computer for hours with her just feeding her the Word of God and telling her how much Jesus loves her and wants her for His own. She fought me on it so hard at first! Then she came to a point that she started asking me questions. "How can you be so convinced that He is?" "How can you believe that He loves you like that?" "How can you possibly believe that He will forgive all that I have done?" "Even if I say ok and believe it doesn't erase my past, it doesn't erase what I have done, it doesn't wipe out what has been done to me." and so the list goes on. These questions continued for a spell. I prayed on each answer. I begged for Him to just speak to her right through me so that none of me was present and she only saw Him and His love for her.
One morning I received a phone call. It was this friend. She said "It is time. I don't know if I am going to make it. If you will, could you come take me to the clinic?" I rushed right over and took her to the clinic. We got there and they rushed her in. I wasn't able to be with her from that point and they wouldn't give me any information on her, just told me to have a seat and wait.
So, I was in the lobby and someone came out and called my name and I went with her. She told me that the results were in on my test. I told her that there was a mistake, I hadn't taken a test I was here waiting on a friend. She smiled and touched my hand and said "Honey, you are safe with me. We can be honest here, I know it isn't your friend you are waiting for. I know it isn't your friend that had this test done. The results are wonderful...honey, you are pregnant" At this I laughed and said "See, that proves that it isn't me. I had a hysterectomy when I was 25. I cannot have children." She looked strangely at me and asked if we could take the test again. I, of course, said yes so that I could prove myself.
I went back to the lobby to wait and while there I spoke to a few people about the love of Jesus and prayed with them for their healing. They smiled, hugged me and walked out of the clinic without any further words. The lady that tested me came back and called me and we went back to the office again and she had a funny look on her face and said "honey, you are pregnant." I again said it is impossible...I have no uterus....I cannot be pregnant! So she called in a doctor who did a physical exam and he said "Sweetheart, it is a positive result. Your uterus is intact and you are most definitely pregnant"
I got up and left the office in a daze. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't understand what he was saying or why or how it could even be remotely possible. The doorway to exit passed into a tunnel. I stopped in the center of the tunnel, it was dark and I could see nothing. I knelt right where I was at and cried out to Jesus. I begged him to explain this to me. I was in disbelief and quite frankly afraid. All of a sudden there was a beam of light shining through the top of the tunnel landing on my head and I felt perfect. I mean, I have never felt so perfect ... there was nothing wrong, nothing out of place...I felt perfect and full of love. I looked up into the light and there was a dove and then it fluttered upward out of an opening, but the light stayed. A voice filled me up...it wasn't like a voice heard in the tunnel, it literally filled me up in a way I cannot even describe. He said to me "My child you speak of me with such love and conviction to others, yet you sometimes doubt your own worth. Do you not know how much I love you. Do you not know your worth. You are with child. The child of My Word. The child of My love. The child you have always wanted to be. This child won't be born unto you. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. You have been made whole, made perfect again and you belong to me. I am in you and you are in Me. You see my child, I can make something out of nothing but you didn't take that for yourself. I can make something out of nothing and you are something."
Then I woke up......oh my goodness!!!!.....I cannot explain to you the feeling I am in right at this moment....I am in awe of Him....I am so in love with Him.....I am way overwhelmed right now!
Right before putting this down, I read a beautiful woman's blog.....in her blog she said "He can make something out of nothing"..............
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
His beauty around me
Sunday was an amazing day. Jeff and I went to church together--that is praise number one! I can't even describe how it feels to finally sit next to my husband in church. Overwhelming emotions there. But we are standing during praise and worship and I looked down into the lower sanctuary and was just overwhelmed. There were so many young people lifting their hands to the Lord..singing His praise...loving Him so openly that it just grabbed me by the heart. I was so overwhelmed with love and gratitude. It literally brought me to tears.
Then sermon started. Wow. Ok, Pastor had us write on a blank piece of paper anything that we feel is holding us down, anything making us feel as though we do not belong in the presence of God. Then, we were to go to a paper shredder nearby and shred the paper. Simple right.......TRY IT! wow! I asked the Lord to just pour out my insecurities, my doubts, my fears onto this sheet of paper like I wasn't in the equation. Lord, show me what is keeping me from being closer to You...show me what I am letting stand in the way of my love for You. He did! I put on paper each thought exactly as it came to me until I knew that was the end of it. I quietly stood and prayed myself over to the shredder and I kid you not, as that paper began to shred I began to cry. But it was happiness...freedom...love...joy...these things I wrote are things that were hidden inside that didn't show themselves often. They were just little bits of poison stored here and there in just the right spots to keep me sick! To keep me from feeling I was free...to stand in the way of being so many things. Now they are gone! The Lord revealed them, I acknowledged them, Father will never look at them again!!!! It really is that simple! I think it is the acknowledgement that was so important for me. When I am hiding from myself, how can I be honest with Him. What I realized there isn't anything that I can hide from Him....He revealed these things to me so that I would be free of them, it wasn't me revealing anything to Him.....how did I miss that all those times before?! When we ask, He answers....but we have to listen!
So, after service we headed to Starved Rock for the blessing of the bikes. Now, I have to tell you that one of the biggest reasons I love to ride is that while I am on that bike it is me and my Father..I have no interuptions...no music...no voices...no distractions...it is just His beauty all around me and a direct connect conversation going on and it is the most amazing thing to me. So we are riding along and I am just praising Him and thanking Him and offering all my love to Him when He says to me "stop trying and just rest in me!" stop trying? I wasn't sure what I was trying cuz truly at that moment it was all about the worship....but He wasn't answering "to" that moment. He was answering "in" that moment because that is when I tuned in and allowed Him to have my attention. Once that hit me I just wanted to cry! I want to always tune in...I want Him to always know that I am ready for Him....so I need to slow it down....I need to stop trying and just rest in Him....how simple is that really, but wow to apply it!
Father keep in the center of your will for me and keep my hands still in Your works. Let only Your love and Your wisdom and Your grace flow through my life so that others may see You and know Your love. Holy Spirit stay with me and help me help others come to know and understand how perfect Your love is!
Then sermon started. Wow. Ok, Pastor had us write on a blank piece of paper anything that we feel is holding us down, anything making us feel as though we do not belong in the presence of God. Then, we were to go to a paper shredder nearby and shred the paper. Simple right.......TRY IT! wow! I asked the Lord to just pour out my insecurities, my doubts, my fears onto this sheet of paper like I wasn't in the equation. Lord, show me what is keeping me from being closer to You...show me what I am letting stand in the way of my love for You. He did! I put on paper each thought exactly as it came to me until I knew that was the end of it. I quietly stood and prayed myself over to the shredder and I kid you not, as that paper began to shred I began to cry. But it was happiness...freedom...love...joy...these things I wrote are things that were hidden inside that didn't show themselves often. They were just little bits of poison stored here and there in just the right spots to keep me sick! To keep me from feeling I was free...to stand in the way of being so many things. Now they are gone! The Lord revealed them, I acknowledged them, Father will never look at them again!!!! It really is that simple! I think it is the acknowledgement that was so important for me. When I am hiding from myself, how can I be honest with Him. What I realized there isn't anything that I can hide from Him....He revealed these things to me so that I would be free of them, it wasn't me revealing anything to Him.....how did I miss that all those times before?! When we ask, He answers....but we have to listen!
So, after service we headed to Starved Rock for the blessing of the bikes. Now, I have to tell you that one of the biggest reasons I love to ride is that while I am on that bike it is me and my Father..I have no interuptions...no music...no voices...no distractions...it is just His beauty all around me and a direct connect conversation going on and it is the most amazing thing to me. So we are riding along and I am just praising Him and thanking Him and offering all my love to Him when He says to me "stop trying and just rest in me!" stop trying? I wasn't sure what I was trying cuz truly at that moment it was all about the worship....but He wasn't answering "to" that moment. He was answering "in" that moment because that is when I tuned in and allowed Him to have my attention. Once that hit me I just wanted to cry! I want to always tune in...I want Him to always know that I am ready for Him....so I need to slow it down....I need to stop trying and just rest in Him....how simple is that really, but wow to apply it!
Father keep in the center of your will for me and keep my hands still in Your works. Let only Your love and Your wisdom and Your grace flow through my life so that others may see You and know Your love. Holy Spirit stay with me and help me help others come to know and understand how perfect Your love is!
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