Saturday, April 23, 2011

Christ came to save

I am hungry.
I am thirsty.
I am craving.
For more of Jesus. For righteousness. For more Jesus.

I am running. I am seeking.

May the way be lit,
the mess fall away,
and the Lord's radiance fall on me.

May glory to God be found in all that I do.
May His name be praised.
May I lose myself in finding more of Him.

His peace is finding its way into every part of me.
May I love better, deeper, truer with a pure heart.
May I dwell in the house of the Lord forever & ever.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Rest for the Weary

I shared with a few of you that I was overwhelmed with my schedule and very much believed I would be exhausted until the middle of next week..... and I know that some of you prayed that God would slow me down a bit, help me prioritize and say no to things... well, God is just so funny, because I've been in bed hella sick since Tuesday. Like, I want to die. Everything has been canceled from Disneyland trips, to Angels games, to work, to the Vegas weekend trip for a Bachelorette party.... so you know... my schedule has been dumped and I have been sleeping a lot...

I didn't tell Darin that I would be missing Saturday's round-table session because I didn't want to be out of town this weekend and welp, now I will be in town.

Anyways, if you could please pray for healing that would be awesome. I have felt lighter & happier since deciding to for sure not go to Vegas (which I have never been to before & was a little worried about). And I did see the doctor & am currently on antibiotics. 

The sun is out & its Friday. I don't want to be in bed anymore. Thanks for reading :) 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Malachi 3:10

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” - Malachi 3:10

“Remember this: Whomever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: ‘They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.’ (Psalm 112:9) Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourself, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Lots of reading, but its scripture! :)

The Lord has been teaching me about faithfulness. Particularly, my faithfulness to Him. He provides opportunities for me to be a blessing to others and if I act on it, He actually acknowledges my obedience and pours out greater opportunity. To see God’s hand move in my response to His call is incredible. I always wish to strive to be a benefit, a joy, a blessing to the people around me; those He has called me to love and to be loved by. To see others praise God because of my obedience is astonishing. I believe that He will continue to give me greater responsibility and opportunity if my motivation is to seek His will and be faithful to Him and His people. We are called to bring the first fruits, our best, whether that is devoting an hour in the morning (when we would all prefer to be sleeping) to meditating on the Word and in prayer or donating something we created and cherish to help raise money for those in Japan or bringing forth anything that we value and telling our Father, “Here, it belongs to you anyways. Though I love this, I love you and your Kingdom more.”

Once again, I just want to hear is: “Well done my good and faithful servant.”



Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Iris please

This is a testrunnnnn :)

Shout outttttt to Lindsey

Saturday, April 2, 2011

What is this love?

Saturday mornings are fabulous. I just woke up and decided that reading blogs for an hour would be the best idea ever. I hope that you are doing so well. I feel out of touch with many of you because life is crazy, but know that you are cherished and loved and missed.

My life has been busy. Work has been deadlines (not as stressful as some, but deadlines are deadlines :) ). I have been studying (not as committed to it as I should be, but still, I am studying). Overall, my week has been awesome. I don't remember the last time I have really been able to use that as an adjective to describe 7 days in a row. My brother and his girlfriend came down to visit and it was so good. My brother has grown up. He is 20, but has it together, loves Jesus, works hard, understands how to treat people well, and loves me. Bri (his girlfriend) is beautiful, sweet, caring, a fabulous cook, and it was amazing to watch them interact in such adoration of one another. God brought harsh closure on something that has brought me a lot of pain, uncertainty, self esteem issues while Curtis (brother) was here and I am thankful that God has brought my out of that time in my life. I don't exactly know why He brought me to it, but He did get me through it, Praise Him.

Wednesday night I taught a yoga class. It was at Azusa (where I proudly graduated from), it was a campus wide event, sponsored by the all boys dorms (whose RD I co-lead a trip to Nepal last summer). I absolutely think yoga is fantastic- a great workout and way to release tension, stress, and just find peace. I am kinda a yogi/addict too (or I was until work interrupted my life so abruptly, lol, but I will grow back into it). I was nervous a) being in front of lots of people b) what if they thought it was boring, too easy, too hard / they just weren't entertained, c) what if I didn't go the right amount of time, what if they just didn't like me. Yes, these were my thoughts. BUT, it was seriously so fun: mixture of laughter, challenging poses, relaxing, beautiful words of Jesus, stretching, smiles, and a flute player in the background. I think I want to do it again and again and again. And Justin, the RD/co-leader, said it was perfect with grin from ear to ear, which is exactly what anyone wants to hear.

Ultimately, this week, I have had several opportunities to love people. To walk through difficult (like I yell at God as to why He lets stuff like this happen to people that mean so much to me) situations, to help them just a bit, even if its just that I know what is going on and I am in prayer. I felt like I focused less on myself and more on what was going on around me, Praise Him. I thrive on the opportunity to be of help, to serve when I am needed, to be any kind of service, to provide, to protect, to enlighten, to be of use. And I think God used me this week. This makes my heart smile and laugh/dance with joy. And I felt more loved than I have in a very long time.

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Aahhhaaahhhaamen.