Pray!

“I have you in my heart.” Philippians 1:7

Forgive the lack of blogging…I kept going to blog, but then getting distracted or falling asleep.  Oops!  Here’s a quick recap of the week: last staff meeting of the year, talking with some lovely ladies, binding and more binding (woot! leadership summit books to impact lots of kiddos!), saying good-bye at adopt-a-family, last town time aka shopping for gifts for that kid up there, last church complete with “Madly,” birthday parties for Joyce (Basotho staff–we went to her house!) and Jen (ninja themed), making a dvd for that kid up there, saying good-bye to the hope house kids….that was rough, and going to church with that kid up there!

Starting off this week, I need some prayer!  Today, I say “see you in His timing” to Lindo…..I miss him already, but am trusting God big time knowing that He has Lindo in his heart too.  So if you get a chance to pray for him, his family, and me today, thank-you.  Anything I can be praying for you about?

Bam!

If you know me even a little, then you probably know that I tend to think….think a lot.  Sometimes to the point where it gets in the way and puts up walls (not a good thing) and stops things from going from my head to my heart.  The last few days I got all caught up in the thinking.  The heady, here’s what experience tells me.  I “know” the truth, but I couldn’t shake the all over the board emotions ranging from confused to frustrated to happy to disappointed to sad to lonely to okay to everything else.  I bounced around and couldn’t find my footing on the solid rock.

Until today. I sat in class and I tried to pay attention and engage in conversation, but every once in a while my thoughts would overwhelm me still.  Until I heard these words, “Follow Me.”  Funny thing is that we were talking about ministering to youth and I really don’t remember how that fit in and neither does my roomie (I asked her later).  So then, God immediately brought to mind the verse below:

“…what is that to you?  You follow Me!”

My reaction: Whoa. Lord, you are so here.  You are so getting my attention.  Because really.  What is it to me that ___ is doing this or that God is working in that way in their lives.  Even, who is that to me and what is that to you that I’m working in a way you didn’t expect.  When all I need to focus on is following Him then everything else fades away.  Africa fades away. Lindo fades away. Thrive fades away. Hope House kids fade away. Marriage fades away.

Yes, good things and yes, serving is good, but He just wants me to “be.”  He loves me when I’m just sitting on the floor with Him leaning against my bed.  He wants me to follow Him and be with Him.  He wants to step out only on His firm foundation.

“It had opened her eyes to the fact that right down in the depths of her own heart she really had but one passionate desire, not for the things which the Shepherd had promised but for himself.  All she wanted was to be allowed to follow him forever. “Nothing else really matters only to love him and to do what he tells me.” -Hinds Feet in High Places

Monday Musings

• excited to listen to this podcast when it comes out and love some of the thoughts Perry posted already:
  • Love for her intimacy with God…and not just the information she knows about Him!
  • When you focus on what you do not have (a relationship) more than you focus on Jesus and His Word…the result is usually compromise.
  • AND…YOU DO NOT HAVE TO COMPROMISE…EVER!!!  If I could sit down face to face with every single girl I would say the same thing…WAIT for God’s best…it’s worth it.
• had my first “see you in His timing”
  • my heart is already aching at the thought of saying more of those soon…
• hung out with Lindo today….man, that kid is too much fun and I love his family
  • definitely made me smile today
  • working on making a video of the tons of pictures I have of him
  • can’t wait for next week so i can give him a soccer ball and whatever else random I find in town for him…so what does a 5 year old like?

  

• “no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.” ht: note
  • The weapon of jealousy will NOT prosper against you because we will CELEBRATE what God is doing
  • The weapon of feeling insignificant will NOT prosper against you because HE MADE YOU SIGNIFICANT when He saved you and called you…your significance comes from your salvation…not from “success” in ministry.
• can’t wait to see this girl.
• asking God to hold me tight tonight and help me fight
  • feeling a bit broken tonight.
  • getting away with Him.
• listening to this guy thanks to his free music. 
  • speaking of music. integrity music and their free song on friday makes me happy

Camping Out

I’ve been camping out in Isaiah and here’s a verse that God pulled to my heart today:

“But you will not go out in haste…For the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” -Isaiah 52:12

Threads

I’m all over the board and feel like I have so many threads of a blog post coming together, yet not quite being enough to fully develop.  So, here are are some threads to follow:

• I read Acts 1 this morning and wondered about Joseph only to find that this post also touched on the subject.  I love and am standing on this:

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”  (Jeremiah 29:11, MSG)

So I take a deep breath.  Calm down.  Say a prayer of surrender…again.  And remember that I don’t want to be on someone else’s path regardless of how alluring or attractive it may appear.

Because y’all?  The Creator of the universe, He has plans for me.

And I don’t want to miss it.

• Nanowrimo reminds me why I love writing and why I love writing about things I’m passionate about…aka South Africa and the stories from here.  I’m pumped about this crazy story.
• When you find yourself in a hole, you usually either don’t know how to get out, don’t know you’re in the hole, don’t know how to keep yourself out of the hole….walking with people and helping them see how to stay out of those holes means being intentional, knowing them, spending time, asking tough questions, not letting “busyness” get in the way, and being passionate about walking in freedom.
• Hinds Feet on High Places is still rocking my world. More quotes and thoughts to come.
• God is HUGE.  I don’t want to put Him in any box.  I don’t want to put any of my time lines or worldly logic or anything else on Him.  He can do so much more than I can even imagine so why wouldn’t I pray BIG, why wouldn’t I expect BIG?
• Proverbs 4:25 “Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.  Watch the path (track, entrenchment=so firm that change is difficult or unlikely) of your feet and all your ways will be established.  Do not turn to the right nor to the left.  Turn your foot from evil.”  Fixing my eyes on Him and Him alone because He keeps reminding me that I can’t let others tell me who I am or define me or label me or let the plank in my eye take away from the promises I have in Christ.  I am complete in Christ.  I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.  Yes, beloved, dig deep, but hold fast to this and who I am first and foremost.
• Good-bye’s are already hard…my heart is here and I love these people.
• I’m overwhelmed by this. Yet, God is BIG.
• Tomorrow’s a BIG day.
• Bedtime. Hope you enjoyed some random threads of my life.

Nanowrimo

Call me crazy…I am embarking on a month long adventure. The goal: to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of November. Yep, crazy, but I’m pumped. I love writing and I’ve got a great idea for the overall novel. Also, I downloaded this fancy 30 day trial to check it out. Fun stuff. So here we go…

Endings Mean Beginnings

Check it out–my newsletter for the month!  I pray this newsletter will open your eyes to see what I see and to see how God is at work in South Africa thanks to your support and prayers.

October Newsletter

b’ahava (with love): הבהאב
To let everyone know of the abundant life in Christ by living to glorify God through
following Him, speaking words of life, and coming alive in order to do everything
with love that overwhelms, empowers, and transforms.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.-John 10:10

Behold, I make all things new. -Revelation 21:5

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

Something More.

“Dreams are fuel.
They fuel us to victory.
But most of the time they stay just that.
Dreams.
I lived most of my life “about” to do something.”

“But we also realized that the American dream of white picket fences and a 9-5 isn’t our shtick.
And here is the harder truth.
It isn’t a lot of yours either.”

I love these quotes from this post mostly because I’m right there.  Right there knowing I could play it safe.  I could get that 9-5 and the steady paycheck.  But I’m not.  I know that I only go to the 9-5, white picket fence, happily ever after because it appears safe, comfortable and a great decision.  Except it’s not what I’m supposed to do right now.  God calls me to jump into the water and get completely wet while not holding back anything.  Complete surrender of my heart, desires, hopes, dreams, and life.  Except the amazing thing is that He’s right there beside me ready to bless me and show me what an abundant life looks like when I’m walking with Him.

Move Along

Things move.  People move.  Today, I moved right along into my bed where I promptly slept the day away.  Whereas, my parents moved from devotionals to Hope House planning to LaunchPad.  I tried so hard to feel better (did I mention I have an icky sore throat, headache and just plain feel gross…) by LaunchPad, but instead slept right through lunch to be awoken by a phone call, which sent me back to bed.  Though, all day God reminded me that even though I may be sidelined, He’s in control.  He orchestrates the details and I need to continue to say “yes.”  I need to let Him orchestrate whatever He wants and to let my own agenda fall to the side no longer to be seen.  Even if I may not be part of the front lines some days, I play an irreplaceable role.  My relationships with others can either move backward or forward.  My relationship with Him does the same.  My decisions and steps lead a certain way.  I can run with what He’s set in motion and recognize my dependency on the body of Christ or I can complain and refuse to play my role.  I continually need to decide to move along wherever He calls.  So, are you moving along with Him today?

I feel like I’m still learning how to trust

Above: Me rappelling/abseiling down about 8 stories.

Below: A view of the rock I went down.

Thoughts: I feel like I’m still learning how to trust. Trusting God, trusting others.  Trust holds such power and potential.  With trust, comes vulnerability and in turn we can be known.  Walking down the side of a cliff with only ropes and metal holding you up requires trust.  Trust in the  ropes, in the person who set up the ropes, in the harness, and most of all in God.  Trust in God’s plan, purpose, and protection.  My fear of heights really centers on whether or not I trust God no matter what happens.  I made my way down the cliff in one piece and definitely learned more about trust.  Right now, I’m still learning to trust God while I’m still waiting and not planning what’s next, but letting Him show me what He has in store.  And yeah….I’m pretty excited