I was blessed enough to be asked to speak for a few minutes at our annual church women's retreat. As I was given no topic and free reign to talk about whatever I wanted, I went through about a million things to discuss. I was worried because I was given a short time to talk and knew that would be the most difficult part about my speaking. As you have probably noticed I love to talk. I can talk on and on and on, in person and not just on paper. My older sister once described me as “never having met a stranger” and I thought that was pretty funny and very accurate. The group of people I had never seen before, whom I interrupted and then talked to for 30 minutes out in the parking lot after church this Sunday can attest to that. They now know my life story (not kidding) and all about the revival going on in Lakeland and they definitely aren't strangers now.
The week leading up to the women's retreat I found myself super stressed out, not getting any sleep and generally under attack by the enemy on all sides. At the retreat I joked that Satan kept throwing those nails strips under my tires trying to stop me from coming to the retreat. Cops throw these strips with nails on them out in front of runaway vehicles and they shred their tires causing them to slow down or stop. I said I was riding on rims to get to the retreat but I made it and didn't let anything stop me. (When I told that to someone they responded that riding on rims would cause sparks and I liked that image)
My sister had the misfortune to carpool with me the hour and half it takes to get to the resort called Tan~Tara where the event was held. I was thinking if I could not ride down with me, I would; Because I so worn out and stressed out that I was sick of myself. You know what I am talking about when you wish you could take a vacation from yourself, I wished I didn't have to carpool with me. The drive was especially interesting because the elements were conspiring against me as storms were rolling in, the skies were very dark and extremely high winds kept buffeting the car. I just felt like another thing was going wrong and it was adding to my negative attitude. I was worried some ladies might be deterred from coming with the weather the way it was or someone might get in an accident. So I prayed that both would not happen and that the Lord would keep everyone safe and that they would be in a better mood than me.
The terrain to the resort has lots of little hills and after popping over one, I was suddenly struck by the beauty in the distant sky up ahead. There was a large opening in the dark cloud cover and tons a big fat rays of golden sunlight were pouring down. I got so excited and pointed it out to my sister and said, “Maybe all those rays are shining down right now on the resort where we are going. Maybe God is just pouring down His blessings on it preparing it for this weekend!” I was so uplifted at just the sight of it. Then my compilation CD switched to a new song whose lyrics were “your love is everywhere, your love is everywhere.”
Yes, His love is everywhere! The sun was shining everywhere above the thick cloud cover, just because I didn't see it shining down all over didn't mean it wasn't there. I just didn't have the ability to see it, from where I was. The break in the clouds made the streaming sunlight breathtakingly beautiful; whereas if it was just an ordinary sunny day I wouldn't have even thought about the sun, its rays or even appreciated its beauty. I would have taken for granted the dazzling orb's light and all its varied abilities. Much like God's love.
God's love is everywhere, He is everywhere regardless of whether or not we sense it or see it, His love is everywhere. When the clouds and times in our lives are darkest and His love and support bursts through and comforts us it is all the more dramatic and breathtaking. But on any given day, no matter cloudy or sunny, rainy or snowy the sun is still shinning above the cloud cover. The sun is constant, it doesn't change, it is always shining blindingly bright giving light and life to all.
I remember once taking off down the runway in a plane on a very cloudy and dreary day. The plane climbed and climbed blurring through the clouds until suddenly we burst through them and it was a glorious day with brilliant blue skies and a carpet of white and gray clouds underneath us. On the ground it was a miserable day but once you soared past the layer of clouds it was a totally different world in which the storm clouds underneath became beautiful and no longer oppressive. The contrast was so extreme, it was the same day and only feet and seconds made all the difference in what I saw and felt about the day.
Lord, please reveal to us your ever constant presence, let Your light shine to us and through us. Please continue to comfort us through our dark and cloudy days. Please give us a new perspective and take us higher in You to see and experience new things in You. Let us always bask in Your ever present love.
Psalm 44:3 “ It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.”
Psalm 109:21 & 26 “But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name's sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love.
Heaven helped me 6/5/08
Love Always,
A*
Monday, November 24, 2008
Divine Appointments
As I shared with many of you previously about feeling like I don't have as many divine appointments like I constantly had in Lakeland, as usual the Lord set me straight. Yesterday before I went to KC, my aunt was running late so I decided to run to Walgreens. When I reached the checkout I joked to the cashier that everything I was purchasing had a coupon. First thing she rang up was 6 boxes of cereal (and yes three of them were Fiber One and no, I haven't run out yet). She said that they were all different prices and the coupon wouldn't work on them. So I said I am sorry never mind then on those I don't want to buy them.
As she was ringing them back up to void them off my receipt, an older woman (70+) behind me said, "I would like to buy those for you, if you would let me." I was so surprised and touched by her sweetness and said, "That is soooo sweet of you but that's okay, thank you anyway." Then I kept chatting with her, asking her name etc...I couldn't pronounce it but she couldn't pronounce mine either so we were good. Bells were ringing in my head as to...
"Hello...Divine appointment here, you aren't in a bad mood in line at the DMV anymore...you can do this."
So I took my purchases out to my car and waited for her to come out and then I chased her down in the parking lot. (Literally that little lady could move, I had to run to catch up with her). I tried to butcher her name as I dashed up and then just sputtered out, "Is there anything I can pray with you about?" She looked at me and smiled and said, "Well, I guess good health." I don't think she was expecting me to do it right then and there and my whole shutting my eyes technique when I pray really comes in handy because then I don't see the surprise or shock in people's eyes, which would totally distract me.
So I reached out and put my hand on her arm, bowed my head and squeezed shut my eyes and went for it. I prayed for good health and that the Lord would bless her, etc. I opened my eyes as I was finishing and saw that she was smiling and had her head bowed too. I said, "Thank you again for offering to buy my cereal that was really nice, hope you have a great day." I bounced off feeling all proud of myself that I went for it and did it..(never a good sign, pride cometh before a fall).
I got into my car and felt like something was in my nose so I flipped down the mirror. Sure enough, bat in the cave! Big bat in the cave! I thought the poor little lady probably had her head bowed and was smiling because she was trying to dodge large debris from falling out of my nose.
Be careful what you pray about because after reading about King David being willing to make a fool of himself for the Lord, I told Him I was willing to do the same...Watch out the Lord hears your prayers and answers them all the time. Trust me, this fool knows it to be true! Lord I am still willing to be a fool for you any day, please just let me be an effective servant ready and willing to do your promptings. Hope you have a blessed and bat free day!
Heaven helped me 11/22/08
Love Always A*
5/22/08
As she was ringing them back up to void them off my receipt, an older woman (70+) behind me said, "I would like to buy those for you, if you would let me." I was so surprised and touched by her sweetness and said, "That is soooo sweet of you but that's okay, thank you anyway." Then I kept chatting with her, asking her name etc...I couldn't pronounce it but she couldn't pronounce mine either so we were good. Bells were ringing in my head as to...
"Hello...Divine appointment here, you aren't in a bad mood in line at the DMV anymore...you can do this."
So I took my purchases out to my car and waited for her to come out and then I chased her down in the parking lot. (Literally that little lady could move, I had to run to catch up with her). I tried to butcher her name as I dashed up and then just sputtered out, "Is there anything I can pray with you about?" She looked at me and smiled and said, "Well, I guess good health." I don't think she was expecting me to do it right then and there and my whole shutting my eyes technique when I pray really comes in handy because then I don't see the surprise or shock in people's eyes, which would totally distract me.
So I reached out and put my hand on her arm, bowed my head and squeezed shut my eyes and went for it. I prayed for good health and that the Lord would bless her, etc. I opened my eyes as I was finishing and saw that she was smiling and had her head bowed too. I said, "Thank you again for offering to buy my cereal that was really nice, hope you have a great day." I bounced off feeling all proud of myself that I went for it and did it..(never a good sign, pride cometh before a fall).
I got into my car and felt like something was in my nose so I flipped down the mirror. Sure enough, bat in the cave! Big bat in the cave! I thought the poor little lady probably had her head bowed and was smiling because she was trying to dodge large debris from falling out of my nose.
Be careful what you pray about because after reading about King David being willing to make a fool of himself for the Lord, I told Him I was willing to do the same...Watch out the Lord hears your prayers and answers them all the time. Trust me, this fool knows it to be true! Lord I am still willing to be a fool for you any day, please just let me be an effective servant ready and willing to do your promptings. Hope you have a blessed and bat free day!
Heaven helped me 11/22/08
Love Always A*
5/22/08
Fiber One
"Let not soft slumber close your eyes,
Before you've collected thrice
The train of action through the day!
Where have my feet choose out their way?
What have I learnt, where'er I've been,
From all I've heard, from all I've seen?
What have I more that's worth the knowing?
What have I done that's worth doing?
What have I sought that I should shun?
What duty have I left undone,
Or into what new follies run?
These self-inquiries are the road
That leads to virtue and to God." --Isaac Watts: Self Examination
Fiber One
So I like Fiber One Cereal and it so happens to be quite expensive around $4.87 or so I think, I rarely buy it full price. I usually wait till it is on sale and then stock up. In the Sunday paper it
announced it was on sale 3 for $7 at Walgreens so I went that very day to stock up. Make your guess now as to how many I ended up buying. Okay remember it. I went to the downtown location and was very dismayed to find that they did not have any in stock after asking the employee (kinda an embarrassing thing to ask if it is in stock and then show extreme disappointment that it is out of stock, she looked at me like I had issues, uuhh understandably, I might add)
The next day I went to the one near my house on Nifong and they had two boxes on the shelf and then I asked an employee if they had any more in the back. The good looking guy was all giggles and said "Yeah we have a lot in the back how much do you want...?" I kinda stammered around and said "Umm, I guess I don't know really." So he walked into the back of the store smirking and laughing. He came back holding a box all smiles and said "Well this is all we have-- ten boxes. You want to grab a couple out...?" I stood there totally red while another employee was looking on with obvious amusement.
I didn't know what to do or how many to get and I looked imploringly at him and said "Uh, how many do you think I should get?" He said, "I don't know, how much do you like it?" It was all they could do not to laugh completely in my face. I said "Well maybe I should get 9, huh?"
They were shocked. "9, really?" "Well, yes and you could put the other 3 on the shelves so that other customers could buy them because you don't have any stock out right now." Since I currently had the two boxes that were previously on the shelf in my basket.
They think I am insane that I am suggesting purchasing 9 boxes of Fiber cereal. I must have serious blockage in my bowels and my brains but at least I am a considerate consumer. As I am following him down the aisle so that he can put 3 boxes up on the shelf I change my mind and say, "Oh heck I will just take the whole box, never mind, just give me all 12!"
"Really" the cute guy is trying so hard not to laugh, he is having so much fun. I can just see they can't wait for me to leave so they can talk about this, the crazy chick buying them out of all their Fiber One cereal. "Yes, really just give me the whole box, all twelve."
So my polite little helper ever so sweetly takes the two boxes out of my basket and squeezes them into the big box and a cart it and my red face to the check out. Thankfully nobody was in line to comment on my love of Fiber One and I made some excuse to the check out girl about how it was great in salads and on yogurt, which is true, though I never actually do this. So the point of this, Oh so embarrassing story, as I was lying in bed thinking about my shopping addiction and my problem with "stocking up", I thought about this, what if Jesus came back tomorrow? Why did I buy 12 boxes of Fiber One if I want to live like Jesus is coming tomorrow? I don't think I will need Fiber One in heaven. So if I am trying to bring heaven to earth do I really need all this fiber?
Luke 1:19-21 “And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Heaven helped me May 2008
Love Always,
A*
Before you've collected thrice
The train of action through the day!
Where have my feet choose out their way?
What have I learnt, where'er I've been,
From all I've heard, from all I've seen?
What have I more that's worth the knowing?
What have I done that's worth doing?
What have I sought that I should shun?
What duty have I left undone,
Or into what new follies run?
These self-inquiries are the road
That leads to virtue and to God." --Isaac Watts: Self Examination
Fiber One
So I like Fiber One Cereal and it so happens to be quite expensive around $4.87 or so I think, I rarely buy it full price. I usually wait till it is on sale and then stock up. In the Sunday paper it
announced it was on sale 3 for $7 at Walgreens so I went that very day to stock up. Make your guess now as to how many I ended up buying. Okay remember it. I went to the downtown location and was very dismayed to find that they did not have any in stock after asking the employee (kinda an embarrassing thing to ask if it is in stock and then show extreme disappointment that it is out of stock, she looked at me like I had issues, uuhh understandably, I might add)
The next day I went to the one near my house on Nifong and they had two boxes on the shelf and then I asked an employee if they had any more in the back. The good looking guy was all giggles and said "Yeah we have a lot in the back how much do you want...?" I kinda stammered around and said "Umm, I guess I don't know really." So he walked into the back of the store smirking and laughing. He came back holding a box all smiles and said "Well this is all we have-- ten boxes. You want to grab a couple out...?" I stood there totally red while another employee was looking on with obvious amusement.
I didn't know what to do or how many to get and I looked imploringly at him and said "Uh, how many do you think I should get?" He said, "I don't know, how much do you like it?" It was all they could do not to laugh completely in my face. I said "Well maybe I should get 9, huh?"
They were shocked. "9, really?" "Well, yes and you could put the other 3 on the shelves so that other customers could buy them because you don't have any stock out right now." Since I currently had the two boxes that were previously on the shelf in my basket.
They think I am insane that I am suggesting purchasing 9 boxes of Fiber cereal. I must have serious blockage in my bowels and my brains but at least I am a considerate consumer. As I am following him down the aisle so that he can put 3 boxes up on the shelf I change my mind and say, "Oh heck I will just take the whole box, never mind, just give me all 12!"
"Really" the cute guy is trying so hard not to laugh, he is having so much fun. I can just see they can't wait for me to leave so they can talk about this, the crazy chick buying them out of all their Fiber One cereal. "Yes, really just give me the whole box, all twelve."
So my polite little helper ever so sweetly takes the two boxes out of my basket and squeezes them into the big box and a cart it and my red face to the check out. Thankfully nobody was in line to comment on my love of Fiber One and I made some excuse to the check out girl about how it was great in salads and on yogurt, which is true, though I never actually do this. So the point of this, Oh so embarrassing story, as I was lying in bed thinking about my shopping addiction and my problem with "stocking up", I thought about this, what if Jesus came back tomorrow? Why did I buy 12 boxes of Fiber One if I want to live like Jesus is coming tomorrow? I don't think I will need Fiber One in heaven. So if I am trying to bring heaven to earth do I really need all this fiber?
Luke 1:19-21 “And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Heaven helped me May 2008
Love Always,
A*
Sea of people
After reading part of Phil Schaffer's Boston marathon race report which is a break down of what he is feeling at each mile:
Race Report (excerpt) from :graceman
Mile 4 -(Pace 7:15) - People are calling out my name because I taped it to my jersey. I give them a thumbs-up so as not to expend too much energy. It's helpful to hear your name called, but it's here that I realize I should have put Forrest instead of Phil. That would have really gotten the crowd going - Run Forrest Run!
Mile 9 -(Pace 7:12) - I ran faster this mile but I don't know why. We've been rounding a number of curves and I have been trying to look ahead and see which way they are turning so I can do the tangents. I really enjoy looking ahead and seeing a massive sea of people.
I wrote the following email to him.
So I started reading your marathon report and first off I LOVE your email address. So clever, witty and well, so many things come to mind...ask me sometime what the sign language sign is for grace it is really cool. But when I read this line from your marathon report it hit me like a ton of bricks and I want to write a whole bunch of stuff about it. ---"I really enjoy looking ahead and seeing a massive sea of people."
---I instantly stopped reading your email because I didn't want to sully the image and feeling that this one line was giving me. Instead I thought I should share it with you, now. Profound one liners are really having an affect on me, as of late. Dan Barraco tried to compliment me on being a good writer (I say tried because I didn't take it to well, but I am trying to now in my own way) and I guess it has opened me up to just going for it and sharing whatever I feel in writing, apparently exactly --when I feel it. So I will pray that the Lord will use it for His glory and good. I guess for one I should mention that when I was sitting in the dance performance on Friday night that I wrote this and I think it really goes along with exactly your line.
Lord, let this "Heaven on earth be the revival I'm looking for, I'm praying for, I have faith for, I have belief for! Let it be big, let it be huge, let it be monumental, let it change history, let it change the way we live our lives now and forever and our children ever after. Let it be another outpouring of your Holy Spirit that causes an awakening in our hearts, minds, and very souls so that we open our eyes to a new way of seeing how to live our day to day lives. So that we change, really change, not just for one day or two but for every day after, change our habits, change our hearts, change our minds, change our steps, change our very breaths, to live and walk out and work to bring Your heaven, Your kingdom, Your good, Your Works, Your Will, On earth as it is in Heaven!
So ...
"I really enjoy looking ahead and seeing a massive sea of people." I want to look ahead and see this massive sea of people doing THIS running to the Lord and in the Lord, and in His Will and to His will, and by His Word and in His Word. I want His Holy Spirit to be in their I-pod earphones, the sounds in their heads and in their hearts which they are hearing, listening to, singing and obeying. That it is the call of the Lord, His voice that is their musical motivator which keeps them running the race set before them. That the Lord picks them up when they are weary, He is their Gatorade station and goo stops along the mile markers. Members of the church are the voices in the crowd screaming your name cheering you on, some because they know and love you and some just because your name is on your jersey. I am one of them; And I am going hoarse with yelling for you to run the greatest race for His glory.
As I have said before, I can "conceive us walking out great works of God in our lives!"** We are, we can and we will, I know it, believe it and can't wait to see it!!!
**(this is a phrase Phil used in an awesome message)
Heaven helped me 5/3/2008
Love Always, A*
Here is what Audrey Barraco added on....
Thanks for sharing your inspirations from Holy Spirit. They so encourage me and make me more hungry for the glory of God. I immediately was reminded of Hebrews 11 where the writer chronicles some of the "heros of the faith" and their struggles and victories on their journey. He then goes into chapter 12:1,2 calling them the "great crowd of witnesses", and refers to our journey as a "race."
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Hebrew 12:1-2
I can just imagine all the saints who've made it to heaven as well as those still here below - witnesses - calling out my name, urging me on, handing me a cool drink, refreshing my body and soul when the sun is beating down on me and the wind tries to hold me back and every part of my body says - "what's the point, you don't have to do this, just quit running and take it easy."
Keep on listening to Holy Spirit's voice and sharing what He gives you because in doing that you are fulfilling some of what Hebrews 10:24,25 tells us to be doing “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!!!!!!
Love you.....Audrey
Heaven helped me and Audrey 5/3/2008
Love Always A*
Race Report (excerpt) from :graceman
Mile 4 -(Pace 7:15) - People are calling out my name because I taped it to my jersey. I give them a thumbs-up so as not to expend too much energy. It's helpful to hear your name called, but it's here that I realize I should have put Forrest instead of Phil. That would have really gotten the crowd going - Run Forrest Run!
Mile 9 -(Pace 7:12) - I ran faster this mile but I don't know why. We've been rounding a number of curves and I have been trying to look ahead and see which way they are turning so I can do the tangents. I really enjoy looking ahead and seeing a massive sea of people.
I wrote the following email to him.
So I started reading your marathon report and first off I LOVE your email address. So clever, witty and well, so many things come to mind...ask me sometime what the sign language sign is for grace it is really cool. But when I read this line from your marathon report it hit me like a ton of bricks and I want to write a whole bunch of stuff about it. ---"I really enjoy looking ahead and seeing a massive sea of people."
---I instantly stopped reading your email because I didn't want to sully the image and feeling that this one line was giving me. Instead I thought I should share it with you, now. Profound one liners are really having an affect on me, as of late. Dan Barraco tried to compliment me on being a good writer (I say tried because I didn't take it to well, but I am trying to now in my own way) and I guess it has opened me up to just going for it and sharing whatever I feel in writing, apparently exactly --when I feel it. So I will pray that the Lord will use it for His glory and good. I guess for one I should mention that when I was sitting in the dance performance on Friday night that I wrote this and I think it really goes along with exactly your line.
Lord, let this "Heaven on earth be the revival I'm looking for, I'm praying for, I have faith for, I have belief for! Let it be big, let it be huge, let it be monumental, let it change history, let it change the way we live our lives now and forever and our children ever after. Let it be another outpouring of your Holy Spirit that causes an awakening in our hearts, minds, and very souls so that we open our eyes to a new way of seeing how to live our day to day lives. So that we change, really change, not just for one day or two but for every day after, change our habits, change our hearts, change our minds, change our steps, change our very breaths, to live and walk out and work to bring Your heaven, Your kingdom, Your good, Your Works, Your Will, On earth as it is in Heaven!
So ...
"I really enjoy looking ahead and seeing a massive sea of people." I want to look ahead and see this massive sea of people doing THIS running to the Lord and in the Lord, and in His Will and to His will, and by His Word and in His Word. I want His Holy Spirit to be in their I-pod earphones, the sounds in their heads and in their hearts which they are hearing, listening to, singing and obeying. That it is the call of the Lord, His voice that is their musical motivator which keeps them running the race set before them. That the Lord picks them up when they are weary, He is their Gatorade station and goo stops along the mile markers. Members of the church are the voices in the crowd screaming your name cheering you on, some because they know and love you and some just because your name is on your jersey. I am one of them; And I am going hoarse with yelling for you to run the greatest race for His glory.
As I have said before, I can "conceive us walking out great works of God in our lives!"** We are, we can and we will, I know it, believe it and can't wait to see it!!!
**(this is a phrase Phil used in an awesome message)
Heaven helped me 5/3/2008
Love Always, A*
Here is what Audrey Barraco added on....
Thanks for sharing your inspirations from Holy Spirit. They so encourage me and make me more hungry for the glory of God. I immediately was reminded of Hebrews 11 where the writer chronicles some of the "heros of the faith" and their struggles and victories on their journey. He then goes into chapter 12:1,2 calling them the "great crowd of witnesses", and refers to our journey as a "race."
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Hebrew 12:1-2
I can just imagine all the saints who've made it to heaven as well as those still here below - witnesses - calling out my name, urging me on, handing me a cool drink, refreshing my body and soul when the sun is beating down on me and the wind tries to hold me back and every part of my body says - "what's the point, you don't have to do this, just quit running and take it easy."
Keep on listening to Holy Spirit's voice and sharing what He gives you because in doing that you are fulfilling some of what Hebrews 10:24,25 tells us to be doing “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!!!!!!
Love you.....Audrey
Heaven helped me and Audrey 5/3/2008
Love Always A*
Back to my roots
“Whoever will labor to get rid of self, to deny himself according to the instructions of Christ, strikes at once at the root of every evil, and finds the germ of every good.” --Francois de Salignac de La Mothe Fenelon
I have decided to go back to my roots, literally. I am going to stop highlighting, bleaching, dying—whatever you want to call it-- I am going to stop doing it to my hair and let it go back to it's au-naturale color. You know, the color God gave me and wants me to have. Yikes, you might be thinking, hello condemning, this is not to make anyone feel guilty about what you do to your hair that is between you, your maker and your stylist ;) This decision was reached after I was in Kansas City and my sister was holding her daughter Mia who was lunging at me smiling and grabbing for my hair. Now this in and of itself should make me want to continue to keep that blond hair blond because that is what she was grabbing for, keep my niece happy and hello, 13 month olds have excellent taste.
We were standing in the front of the church after the service was over and some guy watching this says, “She really likes your HIGHLIGHTED hair, huh.” I have zero memory of either my response or my sisters, I think because someone else instantly came up and started talking to us. Or because we both were in shock. I am not sure which. Also what kind of response would have been fitting.
~Perhaps some of these: "Yes, my niece has an eye for appreciating finely applied hydrogen-peroxide based highlighting agents to chemically treated hair, thank you for noticing and pointing it out."
~ Wow, not only are you an astute judge of my young niece's character and tastes you also have bluntly commented on the unrealistic coloring of my hair and I thank you. Or perhaps the simple response of ~.. Really, ya think.
Okay, okay, okay I know you are saying, aren't I over reacting here. It was a very little comment and he didn't speak in capital letters did he. But he did and or he did to me and I might point out....As soon as we got in the door from church and had unloaded the two little girls (which takes a bit of effort, etc) the first thing my sister turns to me and says is “So ummm that guy you know that commented on your HIGHLIGHTED hair, he has social problems and is, you know socially awkward and stuff...”
Job 6:25 “ How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?”
Interesting, interesting, interesting, things that make you go hmmm. If socially awkward means you point out the obvious and are blunt... then yes I do know what you mean. All the poor guy did was say the truth, the truth is- I do have highlighted hair.
John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Someone said when I told them I was not going to dye my hair anymore that they didn't even know what the real color of their hair was anymore because they had been dying it for so many years. And I had realized that the same was true of me which is why I wanted to stop. I had been changing it and covering it up for so long that I didn't even know what it was anymore.
Have you lied to yourself for so long about something or someone that you don't even know what the truth is anymore? Do you need to go back to your roots to find out what your real color is buried underneath all that bleach? Lord help me to be real with you and go back to all my roots to get to the heart of all the things I really need to give to you and change today so that I can be a happier, healthier Christian!
Proverbs 24 “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”
Heaven helped me 5/22/08
Love Always,
A*
I have decided to go back to my roots, literally. I am going to stop highlighting, bleaching, dying—whatever you want to call it-- I am going to stop doing it to my hair and let it go back to it's au-naturale color. You know, the color God gave me and wants me to have. Yikes, you might be thinking, hello condemning, this is not to make anyone feel guilty about what you do to your hair that is between you, your maker and your stylist ;) This decision was reached after I was in Kansas City and my sister was holding her daughter Mia who was lunging at me smiling and grabbing for my hair. Now this in and of itself should make me want to continue to keep that blond hair blond because that is what she was grabbing for, keep my niece happy and hello, 13 month olds have excellent taste.
We were standing in the front of the church after the service was over and some guy watching this says, “She really likes your HIGHLIGHTED hair, huh.” I have zero memory of either my response or my sisters, I think because someone else instantly came up and started talking to us. Or because we both were in shock. I am not sure which. Also what kind of response would have been fitting.
~Perhaps some of these: "Yes, my niece has an eye for appreciating finely applied hydrogen-peroxide based highlighting agents to chemically treated hair, thank you for noticing and pointing it out."
~ Wow, not only are you an astute judge of my young niece's character and tastes you also have bluntly commented on the unrealistic coloring of my hair and I thank you. Or perhaps the simple response of ~.. Really, ya think.
Okay, okay, okay I know you are saying, aren't I over reacting here. It was a very little comment and he didn't speak in capital letters did he. But he did and or he did to me and I might point out....As soon as we got in the door from church and had unloaded the two little girls (which takes a bit of effort, etc) the first thing my sister turns to me and says is “So ummm that guy you know that commented on your HIGHLIGHTED hair, he has social problems and is, you know socially awkward and stuff...”
Job 6:25 “ How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?”
Interesting, interesting, interesting, things that make you go hmmm. If socially awkward means you point out the obvious and are blunt... then yes I do know what you mean. All the poor guy did was say the truth, the truth is- I do have highlighted hair.
John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Someone said when I told them I was not going to dye my hair anymore that they didn't even know what the real color of their hair was anymore because they had been dying it for so many years. And I had realized that the same was true of me which is why I wanted to stop. I had been changing it and covering it up for so long that I didn't even know what it was anymore.
Have you lied to yourself for so long about something or someone that you don't even know what the truth is anymore? Do you need to go back to your roots to find out what your real color is buried underneath all that bleach? Lord help me to be real with you and go back to all my roots to get to the heart of all the things I really need to give to you and change today so that I can be a happier, healthier Christian!
Proverbs 24 “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”
Heaven helped me 5/22/08
Love Always,
A*
Too much faith in faith
Sometimes nothing is better for me than truly testing my faith by spending time with non-believers who knew me at a time when I was not walking the walk, talking the talk or for that matter behaving at all like a daughter of Christ. This past weekend I was attending the wedding of a long time friend from LA and I had prayed that the Lord could use me and help me be a good representative for Him. If I want to be an ambassador for Jesus I need to look and act the part and not fall back into all my old bad habits. It struck me as, oh so funny, that I still found myself hanging out by the beer truck with all the boys but I wasn't guzzling the bubbly and wasn't running my mouth about inappropriate subjects. (I was formerly in love with said beer truck since it is a refrigerated trailer with about eight different beer taps on the outside and an endless supply of booze. It is also better for the environment because there is less waste since you don't have all the bottles and cans being used and or especially when you place your face underneath the tap and pour directly in your mouth...not that I have ever done that...)
What I found really encouraging was that the boys still considered me one of them and were divulging their secrets as usual, commenting to one another, we can tell her because she is one of us. I was standing there feeling like a completely new person in my mind, sober, sane, and not foul mouthed with lascivious talk. Until I started talking they didn't exactly notice the change but when I told them I had stopped drinking for good and taken a vow of celibacy, I was pleasantly surprised at their response. They kept congratulating me and saying they were proud of me, etc. What I found most encouraging was that the next morning I had more than one person say that they were starting to think that maybe they should stop drinking and they weren't just saying that because they had a horrible hangover.
My favorite conversation took place with a guy I barely know whom I have hung out with maybe two or three times in San Diego and La. I doubt we have ever really had a conversation between just the two of us since we have been around each other in large groups and he always had a girlfriend. (I tend to not strike up conversations with guys who have girlfriends it just makes life easier with less drama.) It was probably around midnight and someone had brilliantly deduced that a second meal would be appropriate late at night since the wedding dinner took place around five.
We were standing around the hot from the oven Shakespeare's pizza and he asked me how I was doing. I think I responded with, “Great really, really, great actually, I am happier than I have ever been in my life!” He smiled and said jokingly, “Oh, what did you find God or something?” I excitedly responded, “Yes, exactly that!” I can't remember if he asked me if I was seeing someone or I just launched into my whole vow of celibacy spiel but either way I started explaining it. I told him how it kinda even blows my mind that I have decided if I ever were to get married again that I want to wait until after marriage to consummate it. And that while I consider sex an important aspect of a relationship and had once said to my virgin sister before her marriage (which scandalized her) “Don't you want to test drive the car before you buy it?” I came to the conclusion if God has someone planned for me, He will make us compatible in every way. And that if I was really putting my trust and faith in God I would believe that He has picked the right person for me in all aspects.
His response was so classic, “Don't you think there might be something wrong with putting too much faith in faith?” Wow, I jumped all over that. There is no such thing as putting too much faith in God, as putting too much trust in the Big Guy upstairs. Now I am not talking about asking God to feed you with ravens like Elijah and going out on a camping trip with no food. I am talking about having the faith that God always wants ultimately good things for you. Knowing and believing that can only be a good thing, it can help you see things in a different perspective. For instance I fell quite hard the other day in a restaurant on my way to the bathroom. I then had to stand up and talk to someone I was going to completely avoid but since I fell right in front of their table, I decided to stand there extra red faced and chat. (It was a slippery stained concrete incline, I had on platform sandals, and I'm a spaz)
Now I could assess that situation as horrible. Not only did I fall in front of 30+ people I had to have an even more humiliating conversation with someone from P.S. whom I would rather forget, since they represented all things sordid about my painted past. (P.S.=Pre-Surrender, as in before I wholly surrendered to Christ and changed my wicked ways) How is God going to use this? I am not really sure but I have faith that even though I fell flat on my face that He will. Through my disgrace He will give me grace. Through my ungracefulness He will give me poise under pressure in the future.
Maybe the Lord used it because I told all the people at the table I was sitting at the hilarious story behind the guy (it was the 18 yr old for anyone familiar with that story) and they needed to hear a little bit about me P.S. Since many of them have only known me A.S. (after surrender, uhh post surrender still has the same initials) I don't know how or why the Lord might use it but I have faith that whatever situation arises He can use it. He can turn my trash into someone else's treasure. In an inner healing class I attended they suggested that you let the Holy Spirit guide you to painful experiences in your past and then ask the Lord for healing. I envisioned Jesus, white robe and all carrying a bunch of black trash bags and taking them out to the curb. I kept asking Jesus to take out my trash. I thought about it later and thought often people go and pick up other peoples discarded stuff off the curb because it is desirable to them. So hopefully my trash can turn into other people's treasure.
What I found really encouraging was that the boys still considered me one of them and were divulging their secrets as usual, commenting to one another, we can tell her because she is one of us. I was standing there feeling like a completely new person in my mind, sober, sane, and not foul mouthed with lascivious talk. Until I started talking they didn't exactly notice the change but when I told them I had stopped drinking for good and taken a vow of celibacy, I was pleasantly surprised at their response. They kept congratulating me and saying they were proud of me, etc. What I found most encouraging was that the next morning I had more than one person say that they were starting to think that maybe they should stop drinking and they weren't just saying that because they had a horrible hangover.
My favorite conversation took place with a guy I barely know whom I have hung out with maybe two or three times in San Diego and La. I doubt we have ever really had a conversation between just the two of us since we have been around each other in large groups and he always had a girlfriend. (I tend to not strike up conversations with guys who have girlfriends it just makes life easier with less drama.) It was probably around midnight and someone had brilliantly deduced that a second meal would be appropriate late at night since the wedding dinner took place around five.
We were standing around the hot from the oven Shakespeare's pizza and he asked me how I was doing. I think I responded with, “Great really, really, great actually, I am happier than I have ever been in my life!” He smiled and said jokingly, “Oh, what did you find God or something?” I excitedly responded, “Yes, exactly that!” I can't remember if he asked me if I was seeing someone or I just launched into my whole vow of celibacy spiel but either way I started explaining it. I told him how it kinda even blows my mind that I have decided if I ever were to get married again that I want to wait until after marriage to consummate it. And that while I consider sex an important aspect of a relationship and had once said to my virgin sister before her marriage (which scandalized her) “Don't you want to test drive the car before you buy it?” I came to the conclusion if God has someone planned for me, He will make us compatible in every way. And that if I was really putting my trust and faith in God I would believe that He has picked the right person for me in all aspects.
His response was so classic, “Don't you think there might be something wrong with putting too much faith in faith?” Wow, I jumped all over that. There is no such thing as putting too much faith in God, as putting too much trust in the Big Guy upstairs. Now I am not talking about asking God to feed you with ravens like Elijah and going out on a camping trip with no food. I am talking about having the faith that God always wants ultimately good things for you. Knowing and believing that can only be a good thing, it can help you see things in a different perspective. For instance I fell quite hard the other day in a restaurant on my way to the bathroom. I then had to stand up and talk to someone I was going to completely avoid but since I fell right in front of their table, I decided to stand there extra red faced and chat. (It was a slippery stained concrete incline, I had on platform sandals, and I'm a spaz)
Now I could assess that situation as horrible. Not only did I fall in front of 30+ people I had to have an even more humiliating conversation with someone from P.S. whom I would rather forget, since they represented all things sordid about my painted past. (P.S.=Pre-Surrender, as in before I wholly surrendered to Christ and changed my wicked ways) How is God going to use this? I am not really sure but I have faith that even though I fell flat on my face that He will. Through my disgrace He will give me grace. Through my ungracefulness He will give me poise under pressure in the future.
Maybe the Lord used it because I told all the people at the table I was sitting at the hilarious story behind the guy (it was the 18 yr old for anyone familiar with that story) and they needed to hear a little bit about me P.S. Since many of them have only known me A.S. (after surrender, uhh post surrender still has the same initials) I don't know how or why the Lord might use it but I have faith that whatever situation arises He can use it. He can turn my trash into someone else's treasure. In an inner healing class I attended they suggested that you let the Holy Spirit guide you to painful experiences in your past and then ask the Lord for healing. I envisioned Jesus, white robe and all carrying a bunch of black trash bags and taking them out to the curb. I kept asking Jesus to take out my trash. I thought about it later and thought often people go and pick up other peoples discarded stuff off the curb because it is desirable to them. So hopefully my trash can turn into other people's treasure.
Lord please use the garbage and trash in my past to help others in their struggles. Let me leave it behind and forgive myself and trust that you can use it for Your good. Please build up our faith in all things, dear Lord.
Colossians 3:5-10 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
(3:12-15) “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (3:17) “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Amen to that!
Heaven helped me 5/31/08
Love Always,
A*
Moss
As always, as usual, as the ever constant norm for me, I was arriving LATE last night to meet up with a group of people to pre-pray before the Friday night service at church. As I was hurriedly emerging from my car and walking across the parking lot something green caught my eye. Where the black asphalt thickly overlaps the white concrete curb there was bright green moss growing on the edge of the inky asphalt. I stopped and ewww and ahhhh with delight and spied that all along this edge the lovely little mounds of moss grew. This particular part of the parking lot was shaded by a row of trees planted in the median. I wondered for a moment what all ideal climatic conditions must have occurred to let this little crop of vivid green lushness flourish on the black rocky pavement.
I then scooted off and rushed into the church only to realize I had somehow in my hustle left behind my beloved water bottle. I waited until we were done praying and my friend Beth accompanied me out to the parking lot to retrieve my necessary H2O. When I pointed out to her the moss she responded with delight just as I had. She confessed that when she had tried to grow moss in her house she couldn't get it to thrive or survive. I inquired had she misted it often, since I know that many delicate and high maintenance plants require oh, so many puffs of aqua from the ole' spray bottle. She said she misted away and coaxed and cajoled but the moss did not deign to live.
I thought to myself, Wow, I picked the perfect person to point out the prettiness of the moss because only someone who has actually tried to grow this, could truly appreciate what a wonder it was to see it growing there in the un-likeliest of places. Nobody was cultivating this glowing, green softness with loving care, nobody other than the Lord was providing it all the necessities to facilitate its life sprouting out of the tary rocks of the blacktop.
Sometimes it only is the Lord that is sustaining our lives, sometimes only He can provide us the nutrients, and mist our very souls with His love that gives us life. And it can be in the most obscure and bizarre places that the Lord can reveal His glory to us. I mean seriously, I saw it in bright green moss. Much later in the evening when I was finally leaving the church and I was walking back to my car with Mr. B, I said, “Oh, there is some moss growing on the pavement...” and before I could finish my sentence, He said, “I don't care about trying to see some moss right now, it's late.” I wasn't planning on showing it to him exactly because at that time of night the parking lots amber lighting would not have been conducive to full appreciation of the other worldly color of the green growth. But I didn't even finish my sentence and I realized that sometimes people don't even want to really see God's hand in things, sometimes it's to late, I'm to tired, I don't care or I don't feel like it...get in the way of even trying to see the miracles of the Lord's goodness all around us.
Isaiah 44:23 “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.”
So Lord we ask that you reveal to us today and everyday your goodness, love and the miracles that you do through us and in us and all around us. Thank you for them and thank you for misting this moss here and giving me life and love especially in the un-likely places of my heart. Let nothing stop your glory from growing on me and in me, to me and through me. Thank you for all that you are and will be forever.
Heaven helped me on 5/17/08
I then scooted off and rushed into the church only to realize I had somehow in my hustle left behind my beloved water bottle. I waited until we were done praying and my friend Beth accompanied me out to the parking lot to retrieve my necessary H2O. When I pointed out to her the moss she responded with delight just as I had. She confessed that when she had tried to grow moss in her house she couldn't get it to thrive or survive. I inquired had she misted it often, since I know that many delicate and high maintenance plants require oh, so many puffs of aqua from the ole' spray bottle. She said she misted away and coaxed and cajoled but the moss did not deign to live.
I thought to myself, Wow, I picked the perfect person to point out the prettiness of the moss because only someone who has actually tried to grow this, could truly appreciate what a wonder it was to see it growing there in the un-likeliest of places. Nobody was cultivating this glowing, green softness with loving care, nobody other than the Lord was providing it all the necessities to facilitate its life sprouting out of the tary rocks of the blacktop.
Sometimes it only is the Lord that is sustaining our lives, sometimes only He can provide us the nutrients, and mist our very souls with His love that gives us life. And it can be in the most obscure and bizarre places that the Lord can reveal His glory to us. I mean seriously, I saw it in bright green moss. Much later in the evening when I was finally leaving the church and I was walking back to my car with Mr. B, I said, “Oh, there is some moss growing on the pavement...” and before I could finish my sentence, He said, “I don't care about trying to see some moss right now, it's late.” I wasn't planning on showing it to him exactly because at that time of night the parking lots amber lighting would not have been conducive to full appreciation of the other worldly color of the green growth. But I didn't even finish my sentence and I realized that sometimes people don't even want to really see God's hand in things, sometimes it's to late, I'm to tired, I don't care or I don't feel like it...get in the way of even trying to see the miracles of the Lord's goodness all around us.
Isaiah 44:23 “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.”
So Lord we ask that you reveal to us today and everyday your goodness, love and the miracles that you do through us and in us and all around us. Thank you for them and thank you for misting this moss here and giving me life and love especially in the un-likely places of my heart. Let nothing stop your glory from growing on me and in me, to me and through me. Thank you for all that you are and will be forever.
Heaven helped me on 5/17/08
Friday, November 14, 2008
Sparkle
~Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” ~
What I am sure will be a constant and ongoing battle for me with my pride and vanity led me to decide to give up wearing makeup for a week. Basically I was praying in church for the Lord to help me with my vanity and the suggestion was placed in my mind to go on a makeup fast. I also told myself that I could not tell anyone why I was not wearing makeup, offer no excuses nor could I brag afterwards about it. (so hopefully this doesn't constitute as such) What astounded me most about it was not the embarrassment but more how I wanted to constantly give excuses or explain to people why I looked so lousy. "Hey, the monk look is in don't you know, I have a hair shirt on order from Saks."(Goggle monks if you don't get this reference) Instead, I had to bite my tongue completely and in a nonchalant way say, "Yeah, I don't have any makeup on." I am sure you males can't relate, you don't have something that you feel completely naked and exposed without, do you? Or do you?
A male friend said when he started going bald it was his hat, and he didn't want to take that thing off for dear life and expose to the world that he was losing his precious hair. A lot of women I know don't need a drop of makeup and honestly up until about a year ago I didn't feel I did either but as my mother, Oh so loving pointed out to me one day: "Honey you're getting old and you need to wear makeup now! Everything and I mean everything falls apart at thirty!" Thanks Mom. I think my response and I kid you not was, "I hoped nobody else had noticed,-- Oh no, wait, that was after she informed me I needed to get a new kind of makeup because "I ALWAYS look greasy."
If you want an honest and forthright appraisal of –anything, look no further than my sainted mother, she will tell it to you straight and won't spare your feelings or mince words. I appreciate it on some levels. But between my father who never lies and my mother, my pregnant sister keeps asking for trouble pestering everyone with the whole question of, "Do I look bigger?" A word to the wise,be careful what you ask.
So yes, in response to your unspoken question both my parents pointed out rather, umm, pointedly that I was not wearing any makeup and I didn't let it go any further than that. Most other, (I'll refrain from using the word normal here), people didn't pry to hard as to why I didn't have makeup on. Some people just looked at me for a while as if they couldn't quite figure out what was "wrong" and those were the ones I had the hardest time keeping my mouth shut around. It was harder with them because I couldn't even say I didn't have makeup on, I could say nothing; I couldn't address something they didn't bring up. I couldn't suddenly pipe up, "Stop looking at me that way, I don't have any makeup on okay, I am trying to work on my vanity and it is revealing to me, how I put way to much importance on my looks.
Thank you for making me all the more aware of the gigantic zit I nicknamed Vesuvius which is due to erupt in t-minus and counting. You might want to watch out and take a step back. Sorry I have had to make you so painfully aware of it due to my abstaining from all types of cover up. -- It's called cover up for a reason it's supposed to cover up all of our flaws. And in covering up your flaws it makes you feel more confident, just as the lack there of made me feel so self-conscious and insecure.
I became afraid to look people in the eye and felt somehow if I didn't look at them closely then they wouldn't look at me closely. Or at least that is what I hoped. I realized how ridiculous it was that I felt less of a person merely because I was lacking some bat guana (bat feces is the main ingredient in most mascaras) and mica (powder) on my face. The word mascara derives from the Italian maschera which means "mask." My makeup was a mask and I felt prettier hiding behind it.
While enjoying the lovely April evening driving home the other night, I noticed that someone still had up in their Christmas tree lights. The lights were not turned on but I saw them faintly sparkling in the moonlight wrapped all around the limbs and the trunk of an outdoor deciduous tree. I thought poor little tree, it needs to push out its buds and leaves and will be inhibited by the wires and lights constricting it's ability to properly grow in this, Oh, so essential time of spring! In the wintertime when the tree was barren and leafless the lights ornamented it nicely all lit up and lovely. But now that it is springtime it would be an embarrassment to announce that you haven't taken them down, so instead the lights are hampering and hurting the tree rather than highlighting it.
Why does this relate? I think I let my dependence, the importance I placed or even the sense of security I felt when wearing makeup inhibit my growth as a person. And it was only in taking it off for a week that I discovered what all I was really covering up, not just the skin, not just the flaws of flesh, but I revealed the weakness in the walls of my own sense of self. The Lord loves me in Covergirl makeup or none. I need to love my reflection with my mascara mask in place or running in rivulets down my tear stained cheeks. I laughed the Sunday after I started wearing it again that God wasn't ready for me to start shlacking it back on because He was chipping it right back off again by having me cry all my clown face off in church. (Have no fear, they were all tears of joy.)
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.”
As an advertising refrain for a brand of makeup poses, “maybe she's born with it, maybe it Maybelline”, or maybe, just maybe it is so much more than that. Maybe she is born with it, maybe it is Maybelline, and maybe the Lord has blessed her with a beauty that shines out of her because she finally knows that the Lord loves her no matter what, tear stained, volcanic zits, or Tammy Faye eyelashes.
~Psalm 139:13-18 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”
Just like the Christmas tree lights I like my makeup to sparkle and highlight my attributes but I know that my real beauty only comes from the Lord from what He created in me, what He gave me in my DNA and from the transformation He is slowly but surely doing in me day by day.
Lord, help us to strip away whatever might be covering up and inhibiting our growth in You. Let us focus on the things of you and shed the vanities of this world and instead focus on sparkling for Your Glory Alone!
Heaven Helped Me 5/5/08
Love Always,
A*
What I am sure will be a constant and ongoing battle for me with my pride and vanity led me to decide to give up wearing makeup for a week. Basically I was praying in church for the Lord to help me with my vanity and the suggestion was placed in my mind to go on a makeup fast. I also told myself that I could not tell anyone why I was not wearing makeup, offer no excuses nor could I brag afterwards about it. (so hopefully this doesn't constitute as such) What astounded me most about it was not the embarrassment but more how I wanted to constantly give excuses or explain to people why I looked so lousy. "Hey, the monk look is in don't you know, I have a hair shirt on order from Saks."(Goggle monks if you don't get this reference) Instead, I had to bite my tongue completely and in a nonchalant way say, "Yeah, I don't have any makeup on." I am sure you males can't relate, you don't have something that you feel completely naked and exposed without, do you? Or do you?
A male friend said when he started going bald it was his hat, and he didn't want to take that thing off for dear life and expose to the world that he was losing his precious hair. A lot of women I know don't need a drop of makeup and honestly up until about a year ago I didn't feel I did either but as my mother, Oh so loving pointed out to me one day: "Honey you're getting old and you need to wear makeup now! Everything and I mean everything falls apart at thirty!" Thanks Mom. I think my response and I kid you not was, "I hoped nobody else had noticed,-- Oh no, wait, that was after she informed me I needed to get a new kind of makeup because "I ALWAYS look greasy."
If you want an honest and forthright appraisal of –anything, look no further than my sainted mother, she will tell it to you straight and won't spare your feelings or mince words. I appreciate it on some levels. But between my father who never lies and my mother, my pregnant sister keeps asking for trouble pestering everyone with the whole question of, "Do I look bigger?" A word to the wise,be careful what you ask.
So yes, in response to your unspoken question both my parents pointed out rather, umm, pointedly that I was not wearing any makeup and I didn't let it go any further than that. Most other, (I'll refrain from using the word normal here), people didn't pry to hard as to why I didn't have makeup on. Some people just looked at me for a while as if they couldn't quite figure out what was "wrong" and those were the ones I had the hardest time keeping my mouth shut around. It was harder with them because I couldn't even say I didn't have makeup on, I could say nothing; I couldn't address something they didn't bring up. I couldn't suddenly pipe up, "Stop looking at me that way, I don't have any makeup on okay, I am trying to work on my vanity and it is revealing to me, how I put way to much importance on my looks.
Thank you for making me all the more aware of the gigantic zit I nicknamed Vesuvius which is due to erupt in t-minus and counting. You might want to watch out and take a step back. Sorry I have had to make you so painfully aware of it due to my abstaining from all types of cover up. -- It's called cover up for a reason it's supposed to cover up all of our flaws. And in covering up your flaws it makes you feel more confident, just as the lack there of made me feel so self-conscious and insecure.
I became afraid to look people in the eye and felt somehow if I didn't look at them closely then they wouldn't look at me closely. Or at least that is what I hoped. I realized how ridiculous it was that I felt less of a person merely because I was lacking some bat guana (bat feces is the main ingredient in most mascaras) and mica (powder) on my face. The word mascara derives from the Italian maschera which means "mask." My makeup was a mask and I felt prettier hiding behind it.
While enjoying the lovely April evening driving home the other night, I noticed that someone still had up in their Christmas tree lights. The lights were not turned on but I saw them faintly sparkling in the moonlight wrapped all around the limbs and the trunk of an outdoor deciduous tree. I thought poor little tree, it needs to push out its buds and leaves and will be inhibited by the wires and lights constricting it's ability to properly grow in this, Oh, so essential time of spring! In the wintertime when the tree was barren and leafless the lights ornamented it nicely all lit up and lovely. But now that it is springtime it would be an embarrassment to announce that you haven't taken them down, so instead the lights are hampering and hurting the tree rather than highlighting it.
Why does this relate? I think I let my dependence, the importance I placed or even the sense of security I felt when wearing makeup inhibit my growth as a person. And it was only in taking it off for a week that I discovered what all I was really covering up, not just the skin, not just the flaws of flesh, but I revealed the weakness in the walls of my own sense of self. The Lord loves me in Covergirl makeup or none. I need to love my reflection with my mascara mask in place or running in rivulets down my tear stained cheeks. I laughed the Sunday after I started wearing it again that God wasn't ready for me to start shlacking it back on because He was chipping it right back off again by having me cry all my clown face off in church. (Have no fear, they were all tears of joy.)
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.”
As an advertising refrain for a brand of makeup poses, “maybe she's born with it, maybe it Maybelline”, or maybe, just maybe it is so much more than that. Maybe she is born with it, maybe it is Maybelline, and maybe the Lord has blessed her with a beauty that shines out of her because she finally knows that the Lord loves her no matter what, tear stained, volcanic zits, or Tammy Faye eyelashes.
~Psalm 139:13-18 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”
Just like the Christmas tree lights I like my makeup to sparkle and highlight my attributes but I know that my real beauty only comes from the Lord from what He created in me, what He gave me in my DNA and from the transformation He is slowly but surely doing in me day by day.
Lord, help us to strip away whatever might be covering up and inhibiting our growth in You. Let us focus on the things of you and shed the vanities of this world and instead focus on sparkling for Your Glory Alone!
Heaven Helped Me 5/5/08
Love Always,
A*
Sweet Aroma
This is the full version of an email interchange between three ladies. I thought I would include the whole thing because it was so cool to me that as I was telling two friends of mine what an encouragement to me another lady was, my friend Jen agreed and said yeah lets call her right now and tell her. So she picked up the phone and called her up and said we were sitting her talking about how God has gifted you with being an encourager to others and the next day she wrote this in response. I loved that Jen was smart enough to right then and there pick up the phone and encourage the encourager with our compliments.
Hello Ladies,
Jen, you were so nice to call me this evening. I am very excited that you three consider me an encourager. I am so blessed by this, because I feel like you are my encouragers. Well, I am just very excited that God led me to the Bible studies at our church instead of Community Bible Study ( which I loved, but didn't feel connected at church). Yeah! You are GREAT! I received this word today and I thought of Beth Moore's teaching this morning and my wonderful friends. You are a part of a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
“For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ which exhales unto God…” (Psalm 42:1).
Did you know that your life is a sweet fragrance to God? Think about how a wonderful aroma affects you personally. When it’s springtime and the flowers are blossoming, everything feels new again. The sweet aroma in the air is a sign that the flowers are fresh and alive. It catches your attention! It makes you want to take a deep breath and partake of the wonderful sweet fragrance. God feels the same way about you! He loves wonderful aromas and when you are living your life to please Him, it’s a beautiful fragrance that captures His attention! Just like the aroma in springtime is a sign that the flowers are alive, the aroma of your life is a sign that Christ is alive in you. It is pleasing to the Father!
The next time you experience a fresh fragrance, remember that your life is a fragrance unto God. You can rest in knowing that He is pleased with a heart that seeks after Him. As you continue to seek Him, you’ll be that sweet fragrance and you’ll experience His wonderful hand of blessing in every area of your life. ( Why I love to paint flowers sooo much)
Father in Heaven, I come to You today surrendering all that I am. May everything I do please You and be a wonderful fragrance to You. Keep me close to You today and always. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
My Response:
OHHH and Dana, remember the smell of that fresh lavender that someone
had brought over to your house that was lying on your table it smelled
so good. It was just lying there fresh picked but since it wasn't
sitting in any water it was all wilted but it still smelled lovely so
even when we are all weary and wilted we still smell good to the Lord
(at least to someone the most important someone!). Thank You so much
for sharing this Kim you are such a blessing, you all are such a
blessing to me!!!! I kept going on and on to my sister of how excited
I am to actually have Christian friends for the first time in my life
and what a difference it is! A*
Dana's response:
I do remember that lavender. I kept it until this morning. It still smelled sweet, even though the leaves were dry and brittle. :)
I love you ladies! I am so blessed to have you in my life to encourage me and speak His truth! I pray that today God blesses you beyond your dreams. :)
Dana
Hello Ladies,
Jen, you were so nice to call me this evening. I am very excited that you three consider me an encourager. I am so blessed by this, because I feel like you are my encouragers. Well, I am just very excited that God led me to the Bible studies at our church instead of Community Bible Study ( which I loved, but didn't feel connected at church). Yeah! You are GREAT! I received this word today and I thought of Beth Moore's teaching this morning and my wonderful friends. You are a part of a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
“For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ which exhales unto God…” (Psalm 42:1).
Did you know that your life is a sweet fragrance to God? Think about how a wonderful aroma affects you personally. When it’s springtime and the flowers are blossoming, everything feels new again. The sweet aroma in the air is a sign that the flowers are fresh and alive. It catches your attention! It makes you want to take a deep breath and partake of the wonderful sweet fragrance. God feels the same way about you! He loves wonderful aromas and when you are living your life to please Him, it’s a beautiful fragrance that captures His attention! Just like the aroma in springtime is a sign that the flowers are alive, the aroma of your life is a sign that Christ is alive in you. It is pleasing to the Father!
The next time you experience a fresh fragrance, remember that your life is a fragrance unto God. You can rest in knowing that He is pleased with a heart that seeks after Him. As you continue to seek Him, you’ll be that sweet fragrance and you’ll experience His wonderful hand of blessing in every area of your life. ( Why I love to paint flowers sooo much)
Father in Heaven, I come to You today surrendering all that I am. May everything I do please You and be a wonderful fragrance to You. Keep me close to You today and always. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
My Response:
OHHH and Dana, remember the smell of that fresh lavender that someone
had brought over to your house that was lying on your table it smelled
so good. It was just lying there fresh picked but since it wasn't
sitting in any water it was all wilted but it still smelled lovely so
even when we are all weary and wilted we still smell good to the Lord
(at least to someone the most important someone!). Thank You so much
for sharing this Kim you are such a blessing, you all are such a
blessing to me!!!! I kept going on and on to my sister of how excited
I am to actually have Christian friends for the first time in my life
and what a difference it is! A*
Dana's response:
I do remember that lavender. I kept it until this morning. It still smelled sweet, even though the leaves were dry and brittle. :)
I love you ladies! I am so blessed to have you in my life to encourage me and speak His truth! I pray that today God blesses you beyond your dreams. :)
Dana
Eggs in a basket
Eggs in a basket
We are all probably familiar with the adage, “Don't put all your eggs in one basket.” The idea being that it is unwise to put all the delicate eggs into only one container and risk harm coming to all of them if a mishap were to occur. Therefore one should place their eggs in multiple locations so if anything were to happen to any of the various baskets you still had multiple other baskets with eggs that were safe. This is probably best applied to investment strategies rather than dating or marriages. (I guess some Mormons think otherwise)
During worship in the Friday night service we were singing a song with these lyrics, “I love you, all of my hope is in You. Jesus Christ take my life, take all of me.” As I was singing this with all my heart, I had to grab my notepad and write this:
Lord I put all my eggs in Your basket, all of my hopes, all of my dreams, my fears, issues, joys and heartaches—all of me. Lord, I put all of me in Your basket and give it all to you. I put all my trust and faith in You alone to carry me onward. Please carry me up and on and into You, completely and wholly. Take me Lord and accept my feeble offering of myself and all that is me. Let me be a sacrifice and become a burnt offering for You and to your glory alone. Please take me Lord and accept me, cleanse me and make me new. Please take my basket and burn it all up and turn it into something new, something new and righteous in you.
So I started thinking if the Lord did burn up my basket with all my eggs inside it the heat would transform my rotten eggs into hard boiled or fried eggs. I hate egg salad, well as much as someone can hate something they have never tried and have no wish to try. But I told God that I was willing to be egg salad for Him if that is what He wants to turn me into. Hey, I have been a lot worse. So please Lord, whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, and however please use us Lord. Take us and use us for your glory and to further Your kingdom, Oh great and mighty God. I am willing and help me be more willing and more obedient in every way, everyday!
As usual, God has impeccable timing because Terry Virgo's message after worship was all about “Living by faith, keep happy by faith, put God first and believe in Him. Do demonstrations of faith, step into faith and believe, believe in God.” So give God your basket. Toss all your eggs in it and maybe He will make you into over easy, scrambled, hard boiled or a lovely frittata. Leap into it in faith and with faith by believing in God that He can, will and shall use you for good!
~C.H. Spurgeon “Go in for great things, brethren, in the Name of God; risk everything on His promise, and according to your faith shall it be done unto you.”~
Romans 4:3-25 (randomly abbreviated)
(4:3) "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
(13)It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. (16) Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (17) As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
(4:18-25) Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
I highly recommend listening to Terry Virgo's on 5/30/08 message via podcast on
http://www.christianfellowship.com/resources/sermons.php
Heaven helped me 5/31/08
Love Always,
A*
We are all probably familiar with the adage, “Don't put all your eggs in one basket.” The idea being that it is unwise to put all the delicate eggs into only one container and risk harm coming to all of them if a mishap were to occur. Therefore one should place their eggs in multiple locations so if anything were to happen to any of the various baskets you still had multiple other baskets with eggs that were safe. This is probably best applied to investment strategies rather than dating or marriages. (I guess some Mormons think otherwise)
During worship in the Friday night service we were singing a song with these lyrics, “I love you, all of my hope is in You. Jesus Christ take my life, take all of me.” As I was singing this with all my heart, I had to grab my notepad and write this:
Lord I put all my eggs in Your basket, all of my hopes, all of my dreams, my fears, issues, joys and heartaches—all of me. Lord, I put all of me in Your basket and give it all to you. I put all my trust and faith in You alone to carry me onward. Please carry me up and on and into You, completely and wholly. Take me Lord and accept my feeble offering of myself and all that is me. Let me be a sacrifice and become a burnt offering for You and to your glory alone. Please take me Lord and accept me, cleanse me and make me new. Please take my basket and burn it all up and turn it into something new, something new and righteous in you.
So I started thinking if the Lord did burn up my basket with all my eggs inside it the heat would transform my rotten eggs into hard boiled or fried eggs. I hate egg salad, well as much as someone can hate something they have never tried and have no wish to try. But I told God that I was willing to be egg salad for Him if that is what He wants to turn me into. Hey, I have been a lot worse. So please Lord, whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, and however please use us Lord. Take us and use us for your glory and to further Your kingdom, Oh great and mighty God. I am willing and help me be more willing and more obedient in every way, everyday!
As usual, God has impeccable timing because Terry Virgo's message after worship was all about “Living by faith, keep happy by faith, put God first and believe in Him. Do demonstrations of faith, step into faith and believe, believe in God.” So give God your basket. Toss all your eggs in it and maybe He will make you into over easy, scrambled, hard boiled or a lovely frittata. Leap into it in faith and with faith by believing in God that He can, will and shall use you for good!
~C.H. Spurgeon “Go in for great things, brethren, in the Name of God; risk everything on His promise, and according to your faith shall it be done unto you.”~
Romans 4:3-25 (randomly abbreviated)
(4:3) "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
(13)It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. (16) Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (17) As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
(4:18-25) Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
I highly recommend listening to Terry Virgo's on 5/30/08 message via podcast on
http://www.christianfellowship.com/resources/sermons.php
Heaven helped me 5/31/08
Love Always,
A*
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Coasting
Coasting
Here are some current gas prices worldwide according to an email:Hong Kong $6.25, London, UK$5.96, Rome $5.80, Brazil $4.42, New Delhi, India $3.71, Mexico City $2.22, Saudi Arabia $0.91,Kuwait $0.78 With current astronomically, high gas prices I decided I should come up with whatever way I could to save money on gas. My car is an automatic transmission but when I used to drive a stick shift you find that you are much more in tune with the car and what all that is going on with it while you are driving. I would often coast along instead of having my foot on the fun right pedal all the time. So I decided in an effort to save on the pricey petrol I would try not to constantly have my foot on the gas if it wasn't necessary and instead I would coast as much as possible.
When I told my sister, my new philosophy her response was, "I would hate to be the person behind you!" I found, to my own surprise, that often I had to apply the brakes because your car naturally rolls faster on even small inclines than the speed limit allows and that if you apply the gas at just the right point on a hill and then let off of it after the summit that you can glide ever so nicely down the hill at great speeds. Obviously if we lived in Kansas I would be sitting somewhere bored, broke and lonely and this email would not be written. Thankfully Columbia has many lovely little hills and tons of turn busting super slopes on the routes I routinely take.
I once received a ticket (so sad I know) going down one such big hill, in between Forum and Fairview on Chapel hill and let me tell you, the fact that the burning sun was setting directly in my eyes, which made it impossible to see the speedometer and that I was coasting, did not matter to the female police officer. Beyond the obvious, that you to can save money on I gas, I have realized while trying to stay conscious and aware enough of my driving to actually NOT have my pedal to the metal the whole time, that this also can be my attitude with God. I am so driven and gun ho to get somewhere with Him that I forget to just rest in Him, chill, spend a little quality time just being mellow and listening to Him for a change instead of me running my mouth endlessly.
When you are coasting in the car it's really peaceful, you don't have all the engine noise and it's quiet. For me I have to let some of that "get there now, you're late stress" go and just let the pressure off the pedal and off of me. It's really amazing how hard it is to stay aware and conscious of how basically before I drove,Bam, gas,go,go,go, ohh red light,brake, brake, brake, yeah, green light again-gaaaasss,gas...all over again, etc,etc..
Multiple people kept advising a precious friend of mine to rest in the Lord and I was like whaaaat, "No, go, go, go, run after Him, don't rest, keep running." But then I realized in my driving that there are perfect times when if you apply the pedal a little before the hill it will nicely take you over and then the momentum of the car does the rest and you can just float on down peacefully. So there are times when you need to use your va-va voom and then other times when it is great to just glide along for the ride.
Obviously you can't coast all the time or you would come to a stop eventually and if you were constantly flooring it you would run out of gas pretty fast and we all need to use the brakes sometimes, so I guess it is all about figuring out when it is best to use each one of these to most optimize your time and your gas and not to forget to Enjoy the Ride.
With the Lord's help, the Word's guidance and the Holy Spirit's prompting maybe we can all keep our spirit's tank full and coast on into His peace. Lord help us to drive safely and serenely into more of you and find the happy medium of how you want us to pursue You in all things. Please refill our tanks and help us to fill others and help us to find time to coast in You, today!
"Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD's approval."Judges 18:5
Heaven Helped Me 5/2/08
Love Always!
A*
Here are some current gas prices worldwide according to an email:Hong Kong $6.25, London, UK$5.96, Rome $5.80, Brazil $4.42, New Delhi, India $3.71, Mexico City $2.22, Saudi Arabia $0.91,Kuwait $0.78 With current astronomically, high gas prices I decided I should come up with whatever way I could to save money on gas. My car is an automatic transmission but when I used to drive a stick shift you find that you are much more in tune with the car and what all that is going on with it while you are driving. I would often coast along instead of having my foot on the fun right pedal all the time. So I decided in an effort to save on the pricey petrol I would try not to constantly have my foot on the gas if it wasn't necessary and instead I would coast as much as possible.
When I told my sister, my new philosophy her response was, "I would hate to be the person behind you!" I found, to my own surprise, that often I had to apply the brakes because your car naturally rolls faster on even small inclines than the speed limit allows and that if you apply the gas at just the right point on a hill and then let off of it after the summit that you can glide ever so nicely down the hill at great speeds. Obviously if we lived in Kansas I would be sitting somewhere bored, broke and lonely and this email would not be written. Thankfully Columbia has many lovely little hills and tons of turn busting super slopes on the routes I routinely take.
I once received a ticket (so sad I know) going down one such big hill, in between Forum and Fairview on Chapel hill and let me tell you, the fact that the burning sun was setting directly in my eyes, which made it impossible to see the speedometer and that I was coasting, did not matter to the female police officer. Beyond the obvious, that you to can save money on I gas, I have realized while trying to stay conscious and aware enough of my driving to actually NOT have my pedal to the metal the whole time, that this also can be my attitude with God. I am so driven and gun ho to get somewhere with Him that I forget to just rest in Him, chill, spend a little quality time just being mellow and listening to Him for a change instead of me running my mouth endlessly.
When you are coasting in the car it's really peaceful, you don't have all the engine noise and it's quiet. For me I have to let some of that "get there now, you're late stress" go and just let the pressure off the pedal and off of me. It's really amazing how hard it is to stay aware and conscious of how basically before I drove,Bam, gas,go,go,go, ohh red light,brake, brake, brake, yeah, green light again-gaaaasss,gas...all over again, etc,etc..
Multiple people kept advising a precious friend of mine to rest in the Lord and I was like whaaaat, "No, go, go, go, run after Him, don't rest, keep running." But then I realized in my driving that there are perfect times when if you apply the pedal a little before the hill it will nicely take you over and then the momentum of the car does the rest and you can just float on down peacefully. So there are times when you need to use your va-va voom and then other times when it is great to just glide along for the ride.
Obviously you can't coast all the time or you would come to a stop eventually and if you were constantly flooring it you would run out of gas pretty fast and we all need to use the brakes sometimes, so I guess it is all about figuring out when it is best to use each one of these to most optimize your time and your gas and not to forget to Enjoy the Ride.
With the Lord's help, the Word's guidance and the Holy Spirit's prompting maybe we can all keep our spirit's tank full and coast on into His peace. Lord help us to drive safely and serenely into more of you and find the happy medium of how you want us to pursue You in all things. Please refill our tanks and help us to fill others and help us to find time to coast in You, today!
"Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD's approval."Judges 18:5
Heaven Helped Me 5/2/08
Love Always!
A*
Humble Servant
I had a day off yesterday which means I wasn't sitting at my desk staring at my email in-box. Instead I was stressing out thinking "What on earth was I thinking, why did I email all those people as if they want to read what I have written, as if I am an expert on anything." I was petrified to turn on my computer and open up my in-box to see a hundred emails of "thanks, but no thanks." So first off I need to explain I will probably only send emails maybe once or twice a week, I forgot to mention that before and I also I am not a great writer or a great Christian for that matter. I am "New" at everything!
This particular one is personal and I was nervous about sending it but I thought well, if I am going to be revealing my heart to you, you might as well know where my heart is right now in the Lord. I don't think the emails will typically be this long or as personal but I do hope to be a toilet plunger, a bathroom mop, a roach motel and a dog food bowl for the Lord. (you will have to read below to figure that out!)
As with many of my stories I have to start at the beginning and this one begins with a message taught by Phil Schaeffer in a Friday night service in which he told us to ask the Lord for a vision. Phil shared that many years ago he was instructed before he was going to be prophesied over that he should write down questions he would like to have answered by the Lord. He wrote down a number of questions and sure enough during the time of Presbytery (where prophets came and prophesied over him) every single one of the questions was answered. So Phil encouraged us to ask the Lord for a vision.
It was an inspiring and powerful message and he encouraged us to come up with a vision and ask the Lord for it. All my life I have really struggled with finding my gifting and calling for what I should do with my life. Therefore asking the Lord for a vision was just as hard, what to have a vision for... So I decided that I wanted to do -Great things for God and would like to get paid for it. (If I have to pay my bills why not be doing the Lord's work) That was my vision of sorts and what I kept praying for until...
About three weeks later in another Friday night service Scott Williams had an awesome message using a video clip about a man by the name of Paul Potts (u-tube his name if you have never seen it) and he preached a message saying that we all have greatness inside of us and that we need to ask the Lord to help us achieve it and to pray for greatness in Him. Wow!
Then Scott says turn to someone next to you and pray together for the Lord to help you become Great in Him. Wow, wow, Wow! I, of course, start freaking out and saying this is what I have already been praying for-- I want to do Great things for God. I instantly connect with the person I was praying with, whom I had just met and start going to her small group that Sunday. (I was reading Mere Christianity at the time and their small group was too, another amazing coincidence ; )
So fast forward 4 months or so later and Oh yeah you guessed it...another Friday night..are you getting the theme here... FRIDAY night SERVICES are AWESOME!!! I had a serious personal, revelation, breakdown, breakthrough, epiphany... the works. I went to the Friday service at 908 for the first time and was just having an incredible time worshiping the Lord and I don't even know how it happened or where it came from...but suddenly I realized thatmy desire for wanting to do Great things for God was just another example of my vanity and pride.
That it is was the wrong desire and it was a big heart wrenching, gut punching, soul shaking revelation,but it felt good and it felt freeing. At first I just stood there during the worship and wrote some of this....
Oh Lord, I don't have to achieve greatness in you. If anything let me do a million little good things for you. Help me not to want to desire greatness in you or greatness in anything, for your glory alone should be my one heart's desire. But let me instead just find some purpose in you, just some purpose, no matter how small or little or lowly or insignificant. Whatever, where ever, whenever, tell me, whisper it to me, give it to me so that I might find how I may further your kingdom here on earth.
Lord please give it to, let me see it,chase after it, seek it with all my heart, find it, do it, claim it and work for it with all my strength. Let me do it all for you, Let me find my purpose in You, in Your kingdom. Let me hear the words at the end of my days "Well done thy good and faithful servant." Let me be a true servant with a true servants heart. Let me grovel at your feet, let me hang my head low, let me show you true obedience in thought, word and deed. Let me never question your commands. Use me Lord, as a humble tool in whatever low base task you need. I will be your toilet plunger Lord, I will be the bathroom mop, I will be the roach motel, I will be the dog food bowl. Whatever, use me to free those who are clogged and stopped up, help me to clean up and care after the sick, help me to find and care for the unwanted and help me to feed those who need to be fed. Lord, use me, let me and help me to find my purpose in You and for You alone!
But wait that's not all...
So I wrote part of this while standing there and then I just got on my knees and was crying and was telling the Lord that I would do whatever He wanted, I would lick the floor there for Him(if you have ever been to 908, its saying something) but see I don't want to sound prideful because this is all about me trying to really, truly give up my pride in everything -even in doing His work. Worship was great and I was just so unbelievably happy with this new knowledge and I got up off my knees and just as I was done dusting them off, a lovely lady I barely know comes over.
She tells me she feels that she needs to share something with me. She says that I am a fruit tree and that it is FINALLY springtime and that I am FINALLY going to bear fruit! But all along I have always been this same fruit tree but it is NOW that I am finally coming into springtime and it is NOW that I will finally bear fruit.
I think the NOW is important. I think I needed to hear this only AFTER I had come to the previous conclusion. God is soooo good. I wrote all of this two days ago but today I read this in my Beth Moore Breaking Free study and think it applies: "Life vastly simplifies and satisfaction greatly amplifies when we begin to realize our awesome roles. God is God. Frankly, it's all about Him. Thank goodness, He is the center of the universe. So how can we live with such a God-centered mentality? Freely! Because with God, it's all about us. We seek to please Him. He seeks to perfect us- and life works. Not without pain, but with purpose. Without the Potter, clay is just dirt."
Hopefully, these emails are one little thing I can do for the Lord and I will trust in Him that by revealing my heart I can touch yours.
As with many of my stories I have to start at the beginning and this one begins with a message taught by Phil Schaeffer in a Friday night service in which he told us to ask the Lord for a vision. Phil shared that many years ago he was instructed before he was going to be prophesied over that he should write down questions he would like to have answered by the Lord. He wrote down a number of questions and sure enough during the time of Presbytery (where prophets came and prophesied over him) every single one of the questions was answered. So Phil encouraged us to ask the Lord for a vision.
It was an inspiring and powerful message and he encouraged us to come up with a vision and ask the Lord for it. All my life I have really struggled with finding my gifting and calling for what I should do with my life. Therefore asking the Lord for a vision was just as hard, what to have a vision for... So I decided that I wanted to do -Great things for God and would like to get paid for it. (If I have to pay my bills why not be doing the Lord's work) That was my vision of sorts and what I kept praying for until...
About three weeks later in another Friday night service Scott Williams had an awesome message using a video clip about a man by the name of Paul Potts (u-tube his name if you have never seen it) and he preached a message saying that we all have greatness inside of us and that we need to ask the Lord to help us achieve it and to pray for greatness in Him. Wow!
Then Scott says turn to someone next to you and pray together for the Lord to help you become Great in Him. Wow, wow, Wow! I, of course, start freaking out and saying this is what I have already been praying for-- I want to do Great things for God. I instantly connect with the person I was praying with, whom I had just met and start going to her small group that Sunday. (I was reading Mere Christianity at the time and their small group was too, another amazing coincidence ; )
So fast forward 4 months or so later and Oh yeah you guessed it...another Friday night..are you getting the theme here... FRIDAY night SERVICES are AWESOME!!! I had a serious personal, revelation, breakdown, breakthrough, epiphany... the works. I went to the Friday service at 908 for the first time and was just having an incredible time worshiping the Lord and I don't even know how it happened or where it came from...but suddenly I realized thatmy desire for wanting to do Great things for God was just another example of my vanity and pride.
That it is was the wrong desire and it was a big heart wrenching, gut punching, soul shaking revelation,but it felt good and it felt freeing. At first I just stood there during the worship and wrote some of this....
Oh Lord, I don't have to achieve greatness in you. If anything let me do a million little good things for you. Help me not to want to desire greatness in you or greatness in anything, for your glory alone should be my one heart's desire. But let me instead just find some purpose in you, just some purpose, no matter how small or little or lowly or insignificant. Whatever, where ever, whenever, tell me, whisper it to me, give it to me so that I might find how I may further your kingdom here on earth.
Lord please give it to, let me see it,chase after it, seek it with all my heart, find it, do it, claim it and work for it with all my strength. Let me do it all for you, Let me find my purpose in You, in Your kingdom. Let me hear the words at the end of my days "Well done thy good and faithful servant." Let me be a true servant with a true servants heart. Let me grovel at your feet, let me hang my head low, let me show you true obedience in thought, word and deed. Let me never question your commands. Use me Lord, as a humble tool in whatever low base task you need. I will be your toilet plunger Lord, I will be the bathroom mop, I will be the roach motel, I will be the dog food bowl. Whatever, use me to free those who are clogged and stopped up, help me to clean up and care after the sick, help me to find and care for the unwanted and help me to feed those who need to be fed. Lord, use me, let me and help me to find my purpose in You and for You alone!
But wait that's not all...
So I wrote part of this while standing there and then I just got on my knees and was crying and was telling the Lord that I would do whatever He wanted, I would lick the floor there for Him(if you have ever been to 908, its saying something) but see I don't want to sound prideful because this is all about me trying to really, truly give up my pride in everything -even in doing His work. Worship was great and I was just so unbelievably happy with this new knowledge and I got up off my knees and just as I was done dusting them off, a lovely lady I barely know comes over.
She tells me she feels that she needs to share something with me. She says that I am a fruit tree and that it is FINALLY springtime and that I am FINALLY going to bear fruit! But all along I have always been this same fruit tree but it is NOW that I am finally coming into springtime and it is NOW that I will finally bear fruit.
I think the NOW is important. I think I needed to hear this only AFTER I had come to the previous conclusion. God is soooo good. I wrote all of this two days ago but today I read this in my Beth Moore Breaking Free study and think it applies: "Life vastly simplifies and satisfaction greatly amplifies when we begin to realize our awesome roles. God is God. Frankly, it's all about Him. Thank goodness, He is the center of the universe. So how can we live with such a God-centered mentality? Freely! Because with God, it's all about us. We seek to please Him. He seeks to perfect us- and life works. Not without pain, but with purpose. Without the Potter, clay is just dirt."
Hopefully, these emails are one little thing I can do for the Lord and I will trust in Him that by revealing my heart I can touch yours.
Heaven helped me 5/1/08
Love Always,
A*
PS. If you haven't noticed it is springtime for everyone right now!
Love Always,
A*
PS. If you haven't noticed it is springtime for everyone right now!
The Plumber
Thank you all so much for your prayers that camp would be a success for campers and counselors! God answered them in so many unexpected and surprising ways. I am always surprised that God always surprises me. Point to ponder. I think the first person to comment that my group had “the nicest cabin” was one of our camp coordinators as she was doing initial cabin inspections to make sure everything was in tip-top shape with our accommodations. She said she thought it was her favorite cabin and noted the quaint fireplace and lovely curtains. She also pointed out a negative aspect in that one of the two toilets in the bathrooms was clogged and non-operational. She said she would let someone know and let us settle in and get acquainted and left.
Now, who knows maybe had she walked in and said, “This place is a dump don't you ladies want to find a nicer cabin.” Perhaps we might have seen our cabin in a negative light, but thankfully our place glowed with positivity. She had arrived just as myself and the six other girls were unloading our luggage and making our own initial appraisals, therefore her opinion may have shaped our outlook. First impressions are delicate and formed by so many factors.
After she walked out the door I said something along the lines of, “Ladies, did you hear that, she said she thought our cabin was the nicest, so God blessed us with a nice cabin! By the second night and after the fourth person had said they thought our cabin was the nicest I was worried that the girls might get a little haughty and prideful -sadly a feeling I am all to familiar with and know it needs to be squelched. During our devotions time I explained to them how I send emails to people and that in my last one I requested people to ask God to bless us and our time at camp. I felt that God had indeed answered these prayers and that one of the ways He had done so was by choosing for us one of the nicest cabins but more importantly it was the best cabin for us.
I said, “Now ladies you have seen how big this place is, it is huge, there are hundreds of cabins, and I don't think that our cabin is necessarily the nicest cabin in this whole entire place but what I do believe is that this is the best cabin for us as a group. It is already abundantly clear that we all share my problem of poor time management, (granted they are 9-11 yrs old), and thankfully our cabin couldn't be any closer to the main meeting places. So the Lord helped us out and gave us a conveniently located one because He doesn't want us to always be late. I think because people were praying for us we have not only a nice cabin but what is even better we have a great group of girls inside the cabin.” We all know it is not just the surface things that count but we must look beyond that to what is really important.
How to make an impression on impressionable girls—my advice be genuine, be you and don't try and hide from the plumber. Back to the first day and the clogged toilet which of course we had all forgotten about after treasure hunts and other fun outdoor activities. I decided I wanted to take a quick shower before our evening meeting and grabbed my towel and dashed into the bathroom. While putting mass quantities of conditioner in my hair I hear a knock on the door and my 15 yr. Co-counselor sticks her head in and shyly says my name. I wonder what must be up since I have only left the girls for maybe four minutes if that... “Ummm, well errr I don't know what to do the plumber is here to fix the toilet.” I stick my head out and look at her with a deer in the headlights look calculating everything, this is not the Ritz where they are waiting on you with five star service, I can not tell him to come back later. I said, “Well, I guess I need to get out, right?” She said, “Um, I think you HAVE to.” I don't know what to do and start panicking, any/all decisions and logical thought is impossible. I decide I have to rinse out all of the conditioner from my hair because otherwise it is just going to make a mess dripping everywhere.
Meanwhile the floor is a swampland due to the shower curtain being opened and everything on the floor is soaked. So I hustle out sopping wet in only my towel and I don't even think I dried off because I was worrying that I was taking forever rinsing the conditioner out of my hair. For those of you that don't have extremely curly hair, you will never understand just how much conditioner is my friend and how thankful I am of its inception, creation and usefulness, otherwise I would have dreadlocks. I brought to camp a very large dark green towel, thankfully, but still... This is a Christian camp and I guarantee even the plumber is a Christian because I think even in his aged and weathered face I would have caught a blush if he hadn't spun around so fast to face the wall. I have no idea what he mumbled but I took it to mean he was “sorry” for intruding would be my guess.
I was already fully flustered and then to see him react that way and then basically stand in the corner by the door facing the wall so that he wasn't looking at me standing there soaking the carpet in my towel, I was speechless. I know, never happens to me. I must have blushed because I am a blusher. And meanwhile, Oh yeah, meanwhile...there are six faces riveted on the drama and intrigue being played out before them because our little cabin has only two rooms. One being the bathroom which I so grandly just exited with flourish and flushes, actually it is the lack of flush which has brought our new actor on the scene. If I had a lack of logical thought while washing my hair thankfully heaven must have helped me here, I have no memory really what words truly if there were actual English language words shared between the plumber and I at this point. I think it was more incoherent mumblings of pure embarrassment on both parts. Truly.
I do remember suddenly recovering my wits once he had gone in the bathroom and I realized I still couldn't get dressed until he had finished and left completely because there was no where for me to do so in the other one room I was now occupying. I asked through the door how long it was going to take.
I don't know about you but I laugh when I am uncomfortable. The girls were all giggles and so we had a good laugh about the whole thing, with me in my towel and plumber man plunging away. The whole rest of our time at camp everything turned into being about the plumber. Instead of fire drills we had plumber drills, every knock on the door was “the plumbers here”, lights out consisted of screaming plumber at the top of their lungs and running. Other campers were quizzed “have you seen the plumber?” and random people were asked if they had ever “plumbed”--upon which “AHHH you're a plumber” would be screamed in their face. The camp had all kinds of cool activities like daring rock climbing, zip lines and all kinds of water activities that we all had a blast doing. On the last day when I asked two of the girls in my cabin what was their favorite thing about camp they both simultaneously replied “The Plumber.”
I have no idea what all we chatted about while I hung out with the ladies in my towel waiting for the plumber to finish in swampland. I just remembered being honest in saying that it was embarrassing and then we all laughed and laughed. After he finished he walked out of the bathroom and the girls quited down watching and I walked a little ways towards him and he touched the brim of his cap and said, “Ma'am, you have one of the nicest cabins,” and walked out the door.
I asked the girls after I had gotten dressed what had happened while I was in the shower and they told me one of the girls had approached him and said, “Hi, you look nice what's your name?” He had told her his name was Mike. So I am not exactly sure which of God's blessings Mike the plumber was referring to, how nice our cabin looked inside or how nice the people inside were. Either way I think you played a part with your prayers in bringing about both of these blessings. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! And thank you Lord, for Mike the plumber where ever he is for bringing so much joy to our time at camp, please bless him in an extra special way today and bless everyone who is a servant for you who goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Have you ever plumbed? Either way, God bless you, too!
Heaven helped me 7/5/08
Love Always,
A*
Now, who knows maybe had she walked in and said, “This place is a dump don't you ladies want to find a nicer cabin.” Perhaps we might have seen our cabin in a negative light, but thankfully our place glowed with positivity. She had arrived just as myself and the six other girls were unloading our luggage and making our own initial appraisals, therefore her opinion may have shaped our outlook. First impressions are delicate and formed by so many factors.
After she walked out the door I said something along the lines of, “Ladies, did you hear that, she said she thought our cabin was the nicest, so God blessed us with a nice cabin! By the second night and after the fourth person had said they thought our cabin was the nicest I was worried that the girls might get a little haughty and prideful -sadly a feeling I am all to familiar with and know it needs to be squelched. During our devotions time I explained to them how I send emails to people and that in my last one I requested people to ask God to bless us and our time at camp. I felt that God had indeed answered these prayers and that one of the ways He had done so was by choosing for us one of the nicest cabins but more importantly it was the best cabin for us.
I said, “Now ladies you have seen how big this place is, it is huge, there are hundreds of cabins, and I don't think that our cabin is necessarily the nicest cabin in this whole entire place but what I do believe is that this is the best cabin for us as a group. It is already abundantly clear that we all share my problem of poor time management, (granted they are 9-11 yrs old), and thankfully our cabin couldn't be any closer to the main meeting places. So the Lord helped us out and gave us a conveniently located one because He doesn't want us to always be late. I think because people were praying for us we have not only a nice cabin but what is even better we have a great group of girls inside the cabin.” We all know it is not just the surface things that count but we must look beyond that to what is really important.
How to make an impression on impressionable girls—my advice be genuine, be you and don't try and hide from the plumber. Back to the first day and the clogged toilet which of course we had all forgotten about after treasure hunts and other fun outdoor activities. I decided I wanted to take a quick shower before our evening meeting and grabbed my towel and dashed into the bathroom. While putting mass quantities of conditioner in my hair I hear a knock on the door and my 15 yr. Co-counselor sticks her head in and shyly says my name. I wonder what must be up since I have only left the girls for maybe four minutes if that... “Ummm, well errr I don't know what to do the plumber is here to fix the toilet.” I stick my head out and look at her with a deer in the headlights look calculating everything, this is not the Ritz where they are waiting on you with five star service, I can not tell him to come back later. I said, “Well, I guess I need to get out, right?” She said, “Um, I think you HAVE to.” I don't know what to do and start panicking, any/all decisions and logical thought is impossible. I decide I have to rinse out all of the conditioner from my hair because otherwise it is just going to make a mess dripping everywhere.
Meanwhile the floor is a swampland due to the shower curtain being opened and everything on the floor is soaked. So I hustle out sopping wet in only my towel and I don't even think I dried off because I was worrying that I was taking forever rinsing the conditioner out of my hair. For those of you that don't have extremely curly hair, you will never understand just how much conditioner is my friend and how thankful I am of its inception, creation and usefulness, otherwise I would have dreadlocks. I brought to camp a very large dark green towel, thankfully, but still... This is a Christian camp and I guarantee even the plumber is a Christian because I think even in his aged and weathered face I would have caught a blush if he hadn't spun around so fast to face the wall. I have no idea what he mumbled but I took it to mean he was “sorry” for intruding would be my guess.
I was already fully flustered and then to see him react that way and then basically stand in the corner by the door facing the wall so that he wasn't looking at me standing there soaking the carpet in my towel, I was speechless. I know, never happens to me. I must have blushed because I am a blusher. And meanwhile, Oh yeah, meanwhile...there are six faces riveted on the drama and intrigue being played out before them because our little cabin has only two rooms. One being the bathroom which I so grandly just exited with flourish and flushes, actually it is the lack of flush which has brought our new actor on the scene. If I had a lack of logical thought while washing my hair thankfully heaven must have helped me here, I have no memory really what words truly if there were actual English language words shared between the plumber and I at this point. I think it was more incoherent mumblings of pure embarrassment on both parts. Truly.
I do remember suddenly recovering my wits once he had gone in the bathroom and I realized I still couldn't get dressed until he had finished and left completely because there was no where for me to do so in the other one room I was now occupying. I asked through the door how long it was going to take.
I don't know about you but I laugh when I am uncomfortable. The girls were all giggles and so we had a good laugh about the whole thing, with me in my towel and plumber man plunging away. The whole rest of our time at camp everything turned into being about the plumber. Instead of fire drills we had plumber drills, every knock on the door was “the plumbers here”, lights out consisted of screaming plumber at the top of their lungs and running. Other campers were quizzed “have you seen the plumber?” and random people were asked if they had ever “plumbed”--upon which “AHHH you're a plumber” would be screamed in their face. The camp had all kinds of cool activities like daring rock climbing, zip lines and all kinds of water activities that we all had a blast doing. On the last day when I asked two of the girls in my cabin what was their favorite thing about camp they both simultaneously replied “The Plumber.”
I have no idea what all we chatted about while I hung out with the ladies in my towel waiting for the plumber to finish in swampland. I just remembered being honest in saying that it was embarrassing and then we all laughed and laughed. After he finished he walked out of the bathroom and the girls quited down watching and I walked a little ways towards him and he touched the brim of his cap and said, “Ma'am, you have one of the nicest cabins,” and walked out the door.
I asked the girls after I had gotten dressed what had happened while I was in the shower and they told me one of the girls had approached him and said, “Hi, you look nice what's your name?” He had told her his name was Mike. So I am not exactly sure which of God's blessings Mike the plumber was referring to, how nice our cabin looked inside or how nice the people inside were. Either way I think you played a part with your prayers in bringing about both of these blessings. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! And thank you Lord, for Mike the plumber where ever he is for bringing so much joy to our time at camp, please bless him in an extra special way today and bless everyone who is a servant for you who goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Have you ever plumbed? Either way, God bless you, too!
Heaven helped me 7/5/08
Love Always,
A*
God bless you
When telling a story I used to begin with the phrase “This one time...” This had to stop when years ago a popular teen movie came out in which one of the characters started every line she said with “This one time at band camp...” After the movie came out I had to stop beginning my stories that way because people would mimic the line from the movie and make fun of me. Lately, I feel like I constantly tell stories starting with “This one time in Lakeland...” Honestly though so many things happened to me in Lakeland or were revealed to me there that I am still sorting through things and processing it. This is one such story.
While I was attending all the church style meetings in Lakeland, Florida many different people both men and women would smile at me, walk by, sometimes come up and hug, and/ or wave at me and say, “Bless you, or God bless you.” Now this might not seem very remarkable but it really was, in fact -it was incredible! They were not just causally saying some trite phrase. They were actually asking the Lord to bless me.
They were asking the Lord right then and there to rain down His blessing on me and it was powerful. There were times when I physically felt it, I don't really know how to describe it but it was like a wave of something would hit me. They were speaking powerful and meaningful words. They were not just saying some generic phrase because I had sneezed, they were really asking God to bless me even though they didn't know me, hadn't asked me my name, didn't know my story or anything about me. They just smiled and kept on walking and probably kept on asking the Lord to bless somebody else in the crowd.
These encounters really stayed with me and I started doing it too. I started responding with a hearty and joyful, “God BLESS you TOO!” I began to really mean it deep in my heart. I can't help getting grandiose in my thinking and so I would start looking around saying, “Bless them all Lord, bless everybody here, bless all my family, please bless everybody in our church at home too, bless everybody in Columbia, bless everybody in all the churches in all of Columbia, bless everybody in all the churches everywhere, bless everybody I know, bless everybody I don't know, bless everybody I am going to know, bless everybody I want to know, bless everybody!!!! I just couldn't help it...I want God to bless everybody, why wouldn't I, right?
So this one time in Florida I kept begging the Lord to bless everybody in the whole world...and I decided that I need to keep doing that all the time. I hadn't really started putting this idea in to practice and with many things I have to talk about it to someone to really make it concrete. My parents made the journey to Lakeland and two days after my mom got back we went to Kansas City together to visit my older sister. As I was describing this phenomenon to her, she totally knew exactly what I was talking about and confirmed that it wasn't just me, I wasn't imagining it. Random strangers were also sincerely wishing blessings on my mother and she noticed it too. I wasn't completely hogging the blessing spout, which is a good thing. I decided I was going to start implementing it and not just in safe situations- like church.
An hour or so after talking with my mom I found myself picking up lunch for my sister and mother at a local eatery and as I was bumbling with drinks and food stuffs and trying to open the door, a women popped out of no where and held open the door for me. I really was so thankful and really did need the help and so, ever so sincerely looked her dead in the eye and said, “thank you so much, God bless you!” As always with the Lord, He is soooo cool. The moment was awesome. The women suddenly became much more alert but then really softened at the same time and it was kinda like an AHHHHhhh type moment where everything hushed around us. She looked back at me and really looked at me and slowly said, “Wow.....thanks...you too!”
I just danced out the door still juggling a million things but felt like I was walking on air. I burst in the house so excited to tell my Mom how special just saying three little words could be, when you say them and mean them.
A very nice gentlemen I randomly met the other day said it to me as he was saying goodbye and it was so awesome and set me on fire again to really embrace this. I have since called my mom now to tell her about other cool encounters where I said it to a grocery store clerk with great results and response.
Maybe I am telling you something you already know and constantly do. Maybe you were one of the people I am writing about in Lakeland. Maybe you aren't and or maybe you could use a little reminding that we ALL want to be BLESSED so why not ask the Lord for it. Why not ask GOD to BLESS everybody all the time, just remember to mean it. So this one time in Lakeland I asked God to bless everybody and I am doing it again. God bless you, today and everyday! God bless all the people reading this and all the people you love, all the people you love right now and have ever loved. God bless all the people you work with and share the road with and share anything with. Lord please let us share your blessings with everyone we encounter and everyone that even runs across our minds. Lord, please Bless them. Let us be a blessing to others and let us ask You to bless others as well. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayer.
*****I had a completely selfish reason for deciding to choose to write this email out of the ones I have in my mental queue right now. Please, please pray for me for blessing and everything else you can think of while I am away being a camp counselor this week for grades 4th -6th grade. I need all the help I can get. Thanks and God bless you again!**********
Heaven Helped me 6/23/08
A*
While I was attending all the church style meetings in Lakeland, Florida many different people both men and women would smile at me, walk by, sometimes come up and hug, and/ or wave at me and say, “Bless you, or God bless you.” Now this might not seem very remarkable but it really was, in fact -it was incredible! They were not just causally saying some trite phrase. They were actually asking the Lord to bless me.
They were asking the Lord right then and there to rain down His blessing on me and it was powerful. There were times when I physically felt it, I don't really know how to describe it but it was like a wave of something would hit me. They were speaking powerful and meaningful words. They were not just saying some generic phrase because I had sneezed, they were really asking God to bless me even though they didn't know me, hadn't asked me my name, didn't know my story or anything about me. They just smiled and kept on walking and probably kept on asking the Lord to bless somebody else in the crowd.
These encounters really stayed with me and I started doing it too. I started responding with a hearty and joyful, “God BLESS you TOO!” I began to really mean it deep in my heart. I can't help getting grandiose in my thinking and so I would start looking around saying, “Bless them all Lord, bless everybody here, bless all my family, please bless everybody in our church at home too, bless everybody in Columbia, bless everybody in all the churches in all of Columbia, bless everybody in all the churches everywhere, bless everybody I know, bless everybody I don't know, bless everybody I am going to know, bless everybody I want to know, bless everybody!!!! I just couldn't help it...I want God to bless everybody, why wouldn't I, right?
So this one time in Florida I kept begging the Lord to bless everybody in the whole world...and I decided that I need to keep doing that all the time. I hadn't really started putting this idea in to practice and with many things I have to talk about it to someone to really make it concrete. My parents made the journey to Lakeland and two days after my mom got back we went to Kansas City together to visit my older sister. As I was describing this phenomenon to her, she totally knew exactly what I was talking about and confirmed that it wasn't just me, I wasn't imagining it. Random strangers were also sincerely wishing blessings on my mother and she noticed it too. I wasn't completely hogging the blessing spout, which is a good thing. I decided I was going to start implementing it and not just in safe situations- like church.
An hour or so after talking with my mom I found myself picking up lunch for my sister and mother at a local eatery and as I was bumbling with drinks and food stuffs and trying to open the door, a women popped out of no where and held open the door for me. I really was so thankful and really did need the help and so, ever so sincerely looked her dead in the eye and said, “thank you so much, God bless you!” As always with the Lord, He is soooo cool. The moment was awesome. The women suddenly became much more alert but then really softened at the same time and it was kinda like an AHHHHhhh type moment where everything hushed around us. She looked back at me and really looked at me and slowly said, “Wow.....thanks...you too!”
I just danced out the door still juggling a million things but felt like I was walking on air. I burst in the house so excited to tell my Mom how special just saying three little words could be, when you say them and mean them.
A very nice gentlemen I randomly met the other day said it to me as he was saying goodbye and it was so awesome and set me on fire again to really embrace this. I have since called my mom now to tell her about other cool encounters where I said it to a grocery store clerk with great results and response.
Maybe I am telling you something you already know and constantly do. Maybe you were one of the people I am writing about in Lakeland. Maybe you aren't and or maybe you could use a little reminding that we ALL want to be BLESSED so why not ask the Lord for it. Why not ask GOD to BLESS everybody all the time, just remember to mean it. So this one time in Lakeland I asked God to bless everybody and I am doing it again. God bless you, today and everyday! God bless all the people reading this and all the people you love, all the people you love right now and have ever loved. God bless all the people you work with and share the road with and share anything with. Lord please let us share your blessings with everyone we encounter and everyone that even runs across our minds. Lord, please Bless them. Let us be a blessing to others and let us ask You to bless others as well. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayer.
*****I had a completely selfish reason for deciding to choose to write this email out of the ones I have in my mental queue right now. Please, please pray for me for blessing and everything else you can think of while I am away being a camp counselor this week for grades 4th -6th grade. I need all the help I can get. Thanks and God bless you again!**********
Heaven Helped me 6/23/08
A*
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
