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.

12 comments:

  1. Corinne it does sound like you had a good week :) It sounds like God is giving you joy and opening your eyes to the things around you even though you just went through a really hard time. God is amazing!
    By the way, I would love to do yoga with you. I just recently started doing it and I'm really loving it. ;)

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  2. Your praises to the Lord are so sweet and so encouraging. Seriously, the way that you thank Him for everything is very admirable and I hope to do the same in my life. I think it is so important to recognize the hurt and pain in life, but with that, to thank God in all circumstances for the work that He is ALWAYS doing. The yoga things sounds so great! I've never done it, but would SO love to... maybe you could introduce me to it... I'm sure you'd get a lot of laughs out of it. The joy of the Lord is so evident through your words Corinne.

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  3. You're wonderful Rinne.
    I love you so dearly & You really are being used. I thank the Lord daily for you in my life, especially this week, thank you for being so caring & strong for me :)

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  4. You went to Nepal?? Me too! I'd like to hear what you thought about it, and where you went.

    And yoga sounds awesome. You should let me know how I can learn that. Oh yeah, and Dannah has an interesting story to tell from her yoga class.

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  5. I guess we all want to learn yoga! Teach me too! I want to learn soooo bad. Thanks for sharing girl. You are so sweet! I am so glad that you had an amazing week :-) I can't wait to get to know you better because you have an amazing heart and you have a calmness about you that I want. Good luck on your test tomorrow morning! You are going to rock it!

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  6. spending time with you makes my heart smile-the laughter, the honesty, the quiet, the tears-i love it. i'm thankful for your great week and pray that God continues to meet you where you're at and reveal Himself in your circumstances.

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  7. "It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” -Matthew 20:26-28

    So stoked that you had an amazing week!! It feels so good to be used for God's plan and Kingdom advancing. You are being used in greater ways than you can even see. He has a glorious plan to use your gifts and passions to show who Jesus is to people. A servants heart...what a beautiful thing.

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  8. Corinne, you are lovely! I love reading your blogs so much! They are as encouraging and passionate as you are in real life. Thank you for sharing!

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  9. It is truly encouraging to see God surrounding you in your everyday life and shining his love all around you. I'm super stoked for you that you got to spend time with family. Family is so important. Thanks for sharing your life. Enjoy this Saturday as well :)

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  10. Darn. My post got erased. But basically I said how much I love Yoga. I haven't done it in forever but it's pretty rad! Also, thanks for letting us know about your week :) Great to hear!

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  11. CORINNE. hey beautiful. i think you're lovely. i want to be your friend. thank you for sharing about your last few weeks. i'd love to hang out this weekend if you'd be up for it. ah. you're really great.

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