Life is lived beyond these walls

The past few weeks have been an array of emotions, events, encounters, and holiday festivities!
Many of you may not know but Branden and I were supposed to close on our home right before Christmas. As we were becoming anxious to get in we got some bad news a few days before we were to close. The home would probably not close before Christmas. From that point our lives erupted into a big emotional roller coaster. I should have known God was going to test me in this because that previous week the verse that I was studying with one my high school girls was Matthew 6: ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
And truly, I clung to that verse. Especially because I tend to worry...a l o t! I would be saying that verse at all hours of the day. While packing, cleaning, scrubbing the floors, you name it I was speaking it!

Here is a recap of our chaos of a week :) Here is where I was learning to trust in the Lord with all my heart! :)

Friday 18th- get word probably won't close. Go to apartment and get extension to stay. Call parents and let them know they can't come down for Christmas. Decide to fly to Spokane. Buy plane tickets that evening

Saturday- Go to apartment manager to verify some information. They then informed us they made a mistake and we have to be out by Sunday! ( in less than 24 hours!) Call Branden and freak out :) Call parents and cancel plane ticket to Spokane. Cried all day :) Begin a mad scramble to find a place to live with 3 animals! And start packing like crazy!!!

Sunday- Pack all day and found a new "home" and move in with our good friends the Hunt's! (can't thank them enough!!)

Monday- Sign papers on the house

Tuesday-Find out we had keys!! and begin forming a team to move in!

Tuesday pm- We are in!! and my parents surprised us and showed up.

In the midst of the chaos Branden had a few big papers due for school, was in the middle of hiring a Girls Director for the High School ministries, and we had some situations we were dealing with. Life was overwhelming!!

So here I sit a week later enjoying painting my home, making it cozy, and putting my personal touches on it! Life seems so much calmer. As I have been shopping, painting, and cleaning my mind is drawn to one thing. Life is lived beyond these walls. My heart is stirred to keep living eternally. To challenge myself to look beyond this house...physically and spiritually. The house I call Earth and the house I call Home.

I was watching a story on TV last night and it reminded me of all the hurt, pain, brokenness, and emptiness that fills the souls of people we see everyday.
My life isn't exempt either. The difference is I have a peace and joy in the middle of this crazy life! I couldn't do it without my Savior who I love passionately! I can't tell you how many phone calls and emails I've received in the past several weeks of people who are in tough situations. It has made my heart ache, groan and long for Heaven-but for now... more of Jesus!! From death, to addictions, to suicide there is a lot going on in our world. right. now. Do you see it?
I'm seeing it more and more. Everyday I choose to look beyond me and look out I am overwhelmed.

Last week I was sure this was a bad place to be in. I was a mess. crying and discouraged. There was just so much out there that I couldn't deal with it. I was filled with a heavy heart because of all the brokenness. I called a good friend and she prayed with me, spoke truth into my life, and heard my heart. And today, today I see this is right were I need to be:
Aware. Alive. Available. My eyes are opening. I see the sin tearing down lives physically, spiritually, mentally. The sin that so easily entangles us-
¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

And because I see, I need. I need Jesus that much more. I need his grace that much more. I need every ounce of Jesus if I'm going to make it! I long to be in heaven! No more sin. no more cancer. no more death. no more tears. no pain. no brokenness. no divorce. no hate.

and the astonishing part is I don't deserve one ounce of his grace. It brings me to tears. I'm humbled. I'm overwhelmed by love.

How can I not follow him? How can I not praise and worship this King? How can I not give my life up? The prize far outweighs these troubles on earth. I'm holding out with perseverance.

God, let your kingdom come....

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,^j]">[j] including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope^k]">[k] for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

From Sunday to Sunday: Sharpies to Heaven

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

¹⁶ That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are^a]">[a] being renewed every day. ¹⁷ For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! ¹⁸ So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

I am writing today out of reflection, a heavy heart, and new perspective. Oh how life flips upside down from one Sunday to the next! This afternoon I received a phone call from a friend to let me know her mom had passed. This was not something she was prepared for or even thought would ever be reality this week. As I was crying with her and trying my best to comfort her I was at a loss for words. All that came to mind was offer my prayers and time. But nothing seemed to do justice. I felt hopeless and useless at the moment.
As I was driving home and reflecting on her journey I felt like things in my life were coming back into perspective. I couldn't imagine my life being flipped upside down in less than a week. I remembered last Sunday. Last Sunday during Church I was getting texts and phone calls about how her dryer was ruined because she put a sharpie through!
I laughed at her. teased her. I even offered advice.
Last Sunday this was the crisis of the week!
And now this Sunday her world has been shattered. Sharpie marks in the dryer are miniscual today. The sharpie crisis doesn't even matter because today her life changed.
And today, my life has been changed. I was recalling my "sharpie moments" of the week---and I have plenty! :) I always know in my head that I shouldn't focus on the small things of life but to focus on people. But today that head knowledge became reality to change some areas of my life.
Today my perspective is being renewed. What really matters today?
People. Eternity. Love.
As I mourn with my friend, I am learning from this moment. To re-evaluate life once again. To come back to the basics. To love Jesus more and more. To love others with reckless abandon. And to express my love to others openly.
I hold on to this. Life does end on here. Oh how I look forward to Heaven.
Eternity with no death. no pain. no tears.
Eternity with our sweet Jesus.

Thank Jesus, For because of you, and you alone I live.
Thank you for being our comfort, peace, and joy amidst tragedy.


Even with a sad heart I rejoice in Jesus. Because of Him I have hope.

Psalm 23:4
⁴ Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, ^a]">[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.