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

iLike

Questions: Am I living life to the fullest? What’s next? Am I missing something?  Where am I on this journey?

Thoughts from Beth Moore: Extraordinary things happen around us continually.  We just don’t always recognize them.  The thought occurs to me afresh that great lives don’t always seem great while we’re living them.  They may seem embarrassingly regular.  Seeking to be extraordinary isn’t the answer because great lives are never achieved by making greatness the goal.

Everyone of us who embraces the glory of God as our purpose will end up doing great things precisely because we do God-things. His holy hand resting on the least act renders the ordinary extraordinary.  Spooning soup into the mouth of the weak or manning the nursery so a tired mom can go to church are acts of high worship when offered in the name of Christ.  He beholds the sight like a breathtaking work of art, tilting His head to study each subtle detail.

ht: Brandi

You Are My Strong Tower, Fortress When I’m Weak

” …people are haunted by the idea from the intellectual heights that life is, in reality, absurd.” p. 10 The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

Loving this book and definitely have felt like that before.  Like life is boring, not purposeful, the same thing over and over.  But not today and for that I’m thankful.  I’m thankful for dreaming, realistic planning, being able to run 5 miles, a camera, good talks after Core Team (even if I went to bed WAY too late), exciting plans, achieving goals, friends home from Australia (above! with yummy fruit), biking, Kutless (I love their songs “Strong Tower” and “Take Me In”–can we say, repeat), and that tomorrow is Friday!

Oh, the Opportunities!

Here’s the post: Please Don’t Shoot!! I’ll Write I’ll Write

Here’s the question: What would you want to do in life if YOU HAD to do something different than you are doing now?

Here’s the answer: Writer, baker–minus the early hours,go to seminary and then be a counselor, church planter/missionary wife, owner of a ceramics studio, bookstore owner, personal trainer, professional athlete. (yeah…I wanted to add some more!)