Don't lose heart...

Therefore we don't lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen us eternal.
1 cor. 4:16-18

I absolutely love this verse!!
In our community group we are going through the book of Acts and I am really enjoying it! It has been refreshing to read the first Church and the challenges they faced. It has been a time to refocus and reconnect. I've been questioning and examining my life. Am I allowing God to renew me day by day? Lately I've committed to read AND Meditate on His Word everyday (I'd like to say I was already, but I wasn't committed) It has been an experience that I am deeply thankful for...
I am thankful for the Cross, His Word, His unfailing Love, His grace, and the gift of Heaven that awaits!

Reflections

I will praise you forever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.
Psalm 52:9

Taking time away for a vacation is so refreshing! To get away and just be "you" is refreshing, rejuvenating, and a necessity! Branden and I cherish our getaways and this time it was much needed.
Being in the midst of such stunning scenery can only lift your spirits! It was so refreshing to walk to the ocean each morning with no agenda and just allow yourself and mind to relax! I tend to be a thinker...or as others would say, a worrier: ) But just sitting and starring out into the endless ocean would hypnotize me.
I also loved spending quality time with my husband and friends!
The whole week I could not stop giving thanks for all God has created, done, and is doing.
While we were in Hawaii we celebrated Easter! I loved celebrating Christ's resurrection in his beautiful creation! It was a wonderful reminder that He is alive, His love is everlasting and He deserves all of our praise!
Throughout the week I reflected on some current situations that I have been dealing with it and began to see a need for a shift within me. I felt that is was time to let go, stop dwelling on the problems and start living a life of deep praise. I want praise and adoration to flow from my lips with sincerity and love. It is time for me to stop thinking about all that is wrong and start giving praise where praise is due!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 100:4

We are called to live a life of praise and thanksgiving. This isn't a choice we have but rather a command God calls us to. I think I carelessly skip over this part of my life because it I think I already am thankful. But am I? Am I truly living my days with praise and honor for my King?

Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind for your love is ever before me and I walk continually in your truth.
Ps. 26:2.3

This has been my prayer as of lately, and I have been challenged to live a life of deep gratitude to my Savior. This Easter was a heart-check for me. It was I who deserved that cross yet because of God's love and sacrifice I have eternal life. That alone demands all my praise, all my life, and thanks!
May you begin to see the other side of life;not what we don't have BUT all that we have been given!

pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:17

The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!
Psalm 18:46

Spring, Sheep, and a Savior

It is the time to seek the Lord- Hosea 10:12
Oh how I love Spring! Within me there is a fresh spirit when Spring time comes. Recently I have been in search of new flowers blooming and baby lambs. :) I have gone on drives with my camera in hand ready to find some sheep to watch. This may come across as funny but it is a Spiritual reason. Time and time again Jesus compares his people to sheep. I have been studying this in depth which has awakened my soul to a new Love of my Shepard Jesus.

"I'm the good Shepard; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." -John 10:14

Do I find it coincidence that as Spring has come my Soul as awakened as well?

In my devotion book by Charles Spurgen I came across a quote I wanted to share because it struck a chord to how God is working in me this Spring:).
" The month of April is said to derive its name from the Latin verb aperio, which means to open, because all the buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the gates of the flowery season....Every blossoming flower reminds you that now is the time to seek the Lord; do not be out of tune with nature, but let your heart bud and bloom with holy desire."

When I read this it all came together for me. As God has been at work in nature he also is at work refreshing my Spirit.
My interest in finding lambs is truly just to observe their nature with one another. I want to have a deeper understanding to Jesus' corilation with his people and sheep. I want to be reminded of why I am in daily need of my Shepard.
"I am the good Shepard. The good Shepard lays down his life for the Sheep." -John 10:11
I want to be in his creation giving praise.
"But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you." -Is. 12:24

As Spring has come and Easter approaches may your heart seek Jesus...

contemplating

I've been quite reflective lately, really pondering the true point of this life.
As I am driving, walking, or working out my mind is in a constant stirring of thoughts.
I think as I become more closer to the heart of God I begin to see how meaningless stuff really is.
My heart is beginning to beat for different things in this world.
My perspective is daily being shifted into an eternal one.
I have become overwhelmed in the face of this new perspective, it as if my heart can't handle what I am truly seeing.
Instead of focusing on getting, wanting, working, me, me, me
I am seeing a shift within me to others, eternal life, joy, and thankfulness.
Because of this I have found my heart heavy and overwhelmed with deep emotion.
I am calling upon the Lord daily for grace, wisdom, strength, endurance, and his mighty help.
Just sitting in the presence of the Lord I look upon the world and seeing something changing rapidly....
I want to be just like Jesus more than anything else in this world
I want to be ready

Old Testament

I have really been diving into the old testament the past week...From Joseph, Moses, and the exodus I have been really challenged and renewed. I believe a portion of what is taking place in my has to do with this mission trip to Africa in June. Everyday there is a battle in my head, but deep in my heart I know I am to go. I really can't explain to you the anguish I battle with everyday, but I know it is a Spiritual war. I know God is preparing me in ways I don't even understand. I was reading in Exodus 3 today regarding God calling Moses. I related to Moses in many of his weak moments!

"Who am I, that I should go?" -3:11

"What if they don't believe me or listen to me?" 4:1

"I have never been eloquent, neither in the past not since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." 4: 10

"O, Lord, please send someone else to do it." 4:13

Down at the bottom of my Bible I had written a note from when I was at Bible School-never knowing God would use it 6 years later in my life...
Satan tries to let us think we aren't good enough to be used by God...but it is Christ IN us...We just need to be willing!

Every morning I cry out to Him, knowing I am not fully capable, but I am evolving into being fully willing to be used by Him.

This process of becoming weak so that HE may fully use me is a bumpy road, but one full of indescribable joy!!


God just wants a willing vessel....

Be still

I have many things in my life to rejoice over! With that being said it is so easy to throw that out the window as soon as one hiccup in life hits. Everything is going well and then it starts unraveling...one thing after another. As individual events they are minuscule in all of eternity. But when these little incidents begin compiling upon your life, you begin to break down. This has been my life lately and though I have felt like breaking down God has given me a refreshing time in the midst of this whirlwind. I don't know why emotional and physical pain has entered my life at once but I know that I choose to rejoice in my Savior.

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior! The sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of deer, he enables me to go on the heights."
-Habakkuk 3:17-19

Let me allow you to enter a transparent area of my heart....
I believe with all my heart this is God's testing of me. I truly believe God is doing a greater work in and through me. I don't know what it all entails and all the reasons but What I know for sure: There is a purpose to why all aspects of my life are being tested.
In these areas of pain and helplessness I have turned to God in ways that has renewed and strengthened me. I believe God wants me to be fully and utterly be dependent on him, even in the tiniest parts of my life.
I have had encounters with him that have lifted my soul to a deeper place.
Being broken isn't easy, Being vulnerable is scary, Being helpless is overwhelming
But there is a reliance on Him that you would never find otherwise.
Why carry our burdens that we were never meant to carry (even the littlest ones)?
Currently, I am being tested to the core of who I am.
May you openly allow God's testing in your life.
I have found a sweeter love for my Savior.
I have found how precious the Cross is.
I am on a journey....