Wish I could...

Today...

Excitement filled the air around me.

Thoughts swirled above my head, just waiting to be grabbed and pulled down to paper.

My mind turned back to yesterday.

It's amazing what can happen when you pull a group of people from so many different walks of life and unite them with a single cause.

A few days ago I was listening to a sermon from one of my favorite pastors... he was talking about how strange it is that we can say we love Christ, we can act 'righteous' until we run into someone who believes the same things we do, but is a little too different for our comfort. He talked about how ridiculous it is that we don't embrace them, but give them a cold shoulder. How awful is it that we shy away from the people who are different from us! The believers that walk alongside me who are the MOST different from me, the ones that MOST often make me uncomfortable, who I MOSTly don't get are the ones who stretch my faith, challenge me to grow closer to God, and expose parts of me I hadn't recognized before. Those people I love (among other reasons) for those reasons! I love being around people who are similar AND different from me. I think it's good for us to be uncomfortable sometimes. After all Christ didn't come to make us more comfortable...

... He didn't come to pave a life of comfort and security for us.

... way too often we are way too comfortable in this world. With this life...

But one day, we all all live comfortably, wonderfully together united in the purpose of praising our savior...

Sometimes I just can't wait for that day to be here!!!

But in the meantime... there's so much to be done. So many people who need to hear, and so many lives that need to be touched.

In the meantime, I need to become more like Him and less like the world. I need to stretch, grow, and reach further...

And I need to remember that life on earth is just that... life for the meantime...

In His Hands

I have so much to say… So much I have learned.

Hurts from the past finally laid to rest… Vulnerability confessed and finally practiced. Faith placed back where it belongs – in His hands. Lately, I've been feeling as though God is doing such great things… I can't place my finger on just what it is… Just that it is happening: and that I will continue to pray.

Tonight… A dear friend called unexpectedly. Normally we talk about work-related things, but tonight was something new… Something sweet, unexpected and so encouraging in many ways – a new branch of friendship formed.

A few days ago… I drove down the old ranch road. The windows rolled down, a favorite song playing on the radio. I held my hand up and looked as my fingers laced through the sky, as though I were tracing the stars…

…and my thoughts wandered. Our Father knows the exact number of stars in the sky… How humbling, how exciting! The very fact that He knows us by name… knows our every thought… every breath… and loves us like He does. An impossible, beautiful, awe-inspiring love.

How I love Him... and how wonderful to know that my faith in Him assures me that no matter how I might mess things up, I will always be securely placed where I belong - in His Hands.

I have Aunt fever!!!

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting and the moment is finally here...

I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!!!!!!!!

I think all the parents in the baby section of Target must have thought I was the biggest nut in the world - I just was way too excited to be shopping in that section for MY SISTER (YAY!!!) and I just could not make up my mind on whether or not she absolutely needed the yellow rubber duck thermometer, the ducky chew toy, or a fun froggy blanket.

I'm so excited that over the next few months I'll get to plan a baby shower, help decorate the room, get meals ready for when the baby is born, and then... BABYSITTING!

I just feel so blessed that God is giving a sweet baby to my sister and brother-in-law! They're going to be such great parents and I feel so blessed that I get to be a part of their lives and be living so close to them during this special time!!

Grace

Today a conversation while standing in a parking lot caused tears... and I pray heart changes.

It's so hard to look someone in the eye and tell them about the grace the Lord has given you and know that they want it so badly, but can't - no won't - accept it. They refuse to accept what Christ has done for them, so that they don't have to carry that cross. So that they don't have to live in the past.

... It's almost as though they choose to let their past define who they are today, because it's easier for them to punish themselves than to admit their is a perfect God who loves them dearly... who took all our sin, all our shame, all of OUR punishment, so that we wouldn't have to endure it.

He doesn't always take away the consequences, but He is a God of mercy. He is a God who wants and has planned an abundant life for us. Not a life full of shame, bad consequences and pain. He doesn't promise us that following Him will be perfect, but He has promised He will go through it with us, and He has promised eternity in a perfect heaven with Him! He has promised He will never leave nor forsake us... He has promised us so much more than we could ever ask for.

... and so much more than we deserve.

This world is full of God's mercies, His miracles, His wonders, His HOPE, His GRACE, and His beauty...

... If you walk with Him, if you love Him all you have to do is look for it.

and go and embrace the life He's offered.