That's my King!

Truth.

The truth is that Jesus Christ loves us more than we can EVER fathom. Beauty is God, God is beauty. There is no substitute for Jesus Christ, there never will be. We are all broken in some way-all of us, ALL of us. Jesus Christ is the ONLY One who can TRULY heal us, Jesus not only wants to us to receive His salvation, but He wants to restore us from the Destroyer of this earth-Lucifer-did you know his name means “Son of the morning”? Satan was breathtakingly beautiful, but his beauty consumed him to the point where he wanted ALL of the attention on himself, not God, and so he was cast down. Thus Satan has a special hatred for beauty, for all things beautiful. This has a special relation when it comes to girls, we who were made to be exceptionally beautiful (how many paintings do you see of naked men?), we who are able to give life-Satan has forever haunted us w/a continuous stream of lies consisting of things like-you aren’t good enough, you aren’t worthy of that, you will never be that beautiful, no one will love you for who you really are, you have no special purpose-lies. I have to tell you, I have a personal relationship w/Jesus Christ, that may sound crazy to some-“you have a PERSONAL relationship w/the God of the universe?” Yes I do, it is the most important thing in my life-it consumes me almost constantly and most of the time I have to control the fact that He makes me so incredibly happy I could scream :o) This relationship is open to ALL, all you have to do is TRUST Him, take the “risk”, accept His perfect Love, why wouldn’t you? I’m a topic jumper, so now I want to talk about how RICH God’s Word is-this is an awesome verse:

“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
~Hebrews 4:12-13

Wow, I don’t know about you but I know that I definitely need the thoughts and attitudes of my heart judged, sometimes I don’t even know the awful things I have hidden in there. And how DEEP His Word goes-to DIVIDE the soul and spirit (body is the first layer, soul is something that can feel emotion and change and be “moved”, but the Spirit of someone-God’s Spirit living inside someone-when you accept Him as your savior-that is the deepest part of man-of me), and to divide joint and marrow? well if you know your anatomy-that is deep and tough! Jesus is my creator, He gives me my next breath and allows my heart to beat, He is the only thing that truly makes me feel like I am living, how awesome that I get to talk to Him, that He teaches me through His Word, that I get to share Him w/others, that I get to worship Him, that I can see this world in an entirely different light thanks to Him. Last night I asked Him to help me to see myself as He sees me, help me to see the beauty He sees in me so that I don’t have the need to hear that I’m beautiful from anyone else, and let me tell you today…

Oh, Jesus how I Love YOU!

“Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the Vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” ~John 15:4

Receive His salvation-take the “risk”, the BEST decision you will ever make:

Admit to God that you believe you are a sinner (we all are), tell Him that you believe Jesus died on the cross to drink all of these sins, that He came back to life (Happy Easter!) and that He is alive today (Hallelujah!), invite Him into your life to be your savior and friend, receive His precious Spirit inside yourself (how awesome!), pray something like this: “Dear Jesus thank You for making ME, there was no one on earth like me, so you created me because You love me-exactly for who I am, You accept me despite everything I have become-good and bad, I realize I have this deep NEED for You, I ask You to forgive me, thank You for dying for ME-for seeing ME personally as You did and taking my sins upon Yourself-I will never know how that felt-to take all of the worlds sins-past, present, and future on Yourself at one time, please help me to understand it more, as much as I know how, I want to follow You from now on, please come into my life and make me a new person, I accept Your gift of salvation, help me grow as a Christian, in Your name Jesus-AMEN!!!

I am not trying to sound like some CRAZED Christian, I just know that I am not the same as I used to be after getting serious about Jesus, to all my friends, I hope you know that I love you, and to me it would be a dishonor not to tell you about this insane Love I’ve accepted and live in (I hope most of you already know that I love Jesus), I am by NO means saying I am perfect and have it all together, but what I am saying is that I am going to heaven one day, I have this Man Jesus to fall back on every night when it seems all others have failed me, and want desperately for all of my friends to have this too! Wooooo, ok so here is my churches website if you ever want to visit www.gethope.net , and if you are just looking to explore what it means to be a Christian, there is an AMAZING class on the website called “Starting Point” (which I think starts next weekend) that you can go to-I went to it awhile back and LOVED it :o) Ok……I’m done, for now :o)

Watch this.

Two Wolves.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied,

'The one you feed.'

Rejection/Protection.

My room-mate and I were recently discussing "rejection". According to my pastor (and I agree!!!), God has to "hurt us" deeply in order to use us greatly. I believe that if you want to be used “greatly” for God, then you are going to have to be put through some stuff-allow Him to test all your “anxious thoughts”. When I asked God to sift me and mold me into whatever He chooses, I didn’t know how bad it was going to hurt, or how long it was going to take, and I was certainly surprised (and horrified) at things that have happened and will continue to happen along the way-like the people He will place in your life ONLY to be used as lessons and then remove them (not fun). In my opinion a lot of it just doesn’t seem to be fair (or even right!), as my heart had and had become entangled in many of these lessons-but He didn't ask for my opinion. I guess at the end of each day I HAVE to GIVE Him everything, that’s all I can do.

Now to get back to the rejection thing, here is a DIRECT verbatim excerpt from my very private journal (don’t tell anyone!):

2/12/09
~Angela and I discussed “rejection” this evening. In my opinion God uses “rejection” as PROTECTION, as in a situation where a guy may “reject” you, a friend, a job, an audition, a loan-all these things are God’s protection-His way of saying, “I’ve got something better for you, hold tight!” I expect nothing less from Him, He has our BEST interests in mind at all times-although He will allow you to go your own way (and choose not to obey Him), and maybe that way will “work”, but it wasn’t His BEST. I want God’s BEST for me, no settling-best husband, best job, best friends, best dog :o). Best doesn’t always mean "amazing in the world’s eyes"-best to God may be no husband, a job in Africa w/few friends, and a goat for a pet :o). In any case-I choose God’s best for me, I will wait on Him to bring it about, I will stand firm and continue to grow in Him each day.

Remember: Rejection often times means protection-don’t get it twisted.

I like this song in reference to all this-read the lyrics(I took it upon myself to change a few):

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to You

[Chorus:]
Every long lost dream led me to where You are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into Your loving arms

This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to HIM

I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to You
But You just smile and take my hand
You've been there You understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true
[Chorus:]
Every long lost dream led me to where You are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into Your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to HIM

Now I'm just rollin' home into my Lover's arms (HALLELUJAH!!!)
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road that led me straight to HIM
Amen!!!

(Credit to the Rascal Flatts-Bless the Broken Road :o))

Funny :o)

I watched Horton Hears a Who over Christmas break w/my little sis and I thought this character-Katie was funny, I thought you all could use a smile :o) (she actually reminds me of my other little sis-Sheela-ha ha!)

Scattered.

How can I lift this deep resurfacing "burden" in my soul? God has "scattered" (Ezekiel 11:16-17, 34:12-16) me, and I am now just waiting it seems, to be gathered. The only thing I can truly rely on is God-great is His faithfulness, His mercies are new each morning, His love is unfailing and in His eyes I am a treasure-of high value and price, right? My flesh and satan say otherwise, they say you are unworthy, you are ugly, you have nothing to offer, you will never make it. Why do I feel as if God is this ever present Spirit-that doesn't actually speak-just shifts-nudges and mostly withdrawing? Why don't I remember that God is not JUST Spirit, that He actually and audibly spoke to people in the Bible and that these people are not just some fantasy superheroes, but were ordinary human beings, just like us. It seems that the more I bare my heart to my Love, the more He is silent. The key is an infallible trust-nothing good will happen for the kingdom in your life until He is your first love-a jealous God we have. It is easy to place human love (bound to disappoint as it does) before His love because it is tangible. I'm being stripped and sifted of EVERYthing that can (and does) come before Him-my flesh cries out in a frustration that changes day to day. Yet as my Lord and Love never relent-neither will I, as Job lay in an ash heap on the ground, there will I lie too-for as long as this perfecting Love has His way in my inmost being-so that I can truly cry out with my life and my body and soul and spirit that I love my neighbor because I love myself as Jesus loves me!

"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen!" ~Revelation 2:2-5

I also love this verse in Ezekiel 34:26: God said,"I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing." We just need to get through these seasons :o) Amen.