Monday, August 21, 2006
Wedding Plans...
Pictures this weekend were fun. It was nice to be able to spend some time with the family as well. I can't believe how big all of my nieces and nephews are! They're so great...even you Malle! I won't hold it against you that you cried EVERY single time that I was around! :)
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Even if I die...
Last night during worship the Lord brought me to Matthew 26 and opened up the following passage to me. Then this morning as I was on my way to church I was listening to a Jason Upton song that says something along the lines of "am I sleeping while my savior is dying, oh teach me how to pray". "Coincidently" Pastor George preached on this same message today. Hmm, I'm thinking that it was more than a coincidence. Here are the verses:
35But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.
Gethsemane 36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
There is a lot of stuff in there but some things really stuck out to me. One of those things is that my life is not my own. I literally have nothing of any worth, but that which God has given me. And because of that, it is not, or at least it should not be difficult to give that very stuff back to Him, since he's the one who gave it to me in the first place. However, I struggle with that. One reason is the mere fact that I am human and live by sight and not by faith. It is easy to give a starving man food if he is in front of you and you can see his bones sticking out, but it is much harder to give that same amount of money based on a "feeling" that you have on the inside. I want to live like that. I want the Lord trust me to the point of being able to put an inkling in my heart and for Him to know that I will follow through and be faithful with whatever He puts there, but it is not always easy. Not to say that it does not happen. But I know that I don't act every time that the Lord calls me to, and I'm longing for that. I'm longing for that "intimacy" with the Father where I KNOW his voice more clearly than I know my own. However, that type of intimacy only comes from stepping out and training my ear to the Father's voice. Solution: I go and live in a cave for the rest of my life, listening to the Lord. ABSOLUTELY NOT! We are called to live in the world but to not be of the world. I am here to be a witness, not a recluse. So what then do I do? 1) I pray, spend time with God and listen to the Lord in the quietness of the day. 2) I listen, I intentionally turn off the tv and radio and listen for the Lord to speak. How else do I tune out the other voices and noises and listen to God? 3) I step out, the other day I was setting up for practice and I closed my eyes for a moment and the Lord gave me the word "M*A*S*H". I asked the girl next to me if she liked the tv show, to which she responded that she did. THEN the Lord gave me the rest of the word. It didn't come before I asked her the question, it came after I stepped out and asked her. It ended up being a word that really touched her, and spoke to an area of her life that she needed comfort in.
I have found that lately these type of things have been happening more frequently, but I fear that I am not paying attention to them. A friend has been having a physical problem for the past week, and I was asked to pray for him today. I wanted to pray for him, but I had an impression to let others start praying, and then to begin once I felt released to do so. That was a little un-nerving since I didn't know what point I would be released and I WANTED TO PRAY. But I waited, and just as I was walking over to begin praying for my friend he began to open up to the guys around him about the very thing that the LORD had put on my heart to pray over him about. If I had not waited, it would not have been God's time. It very well could be that the words that the LORD wanted to speak over my friend would not have been spoken at the right time, or to an openness of heart that they were spoken to when the LORD dealt with the timing issue. Both of us ended up leaving the prayer time touched, but it required sensitivity to the spirit.
I wasn't intending on spending so much time on intimacy, but rather, on the joyous message that the Lord has given me this weekend. I am HIS and no one can ever change that. Not only that, but my life and every breath in me is the LORD's. HE CAN DO WITH IT WHAT HE WANTS!
35But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.
Gethsemane 36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
There is a lot of stuff in there but some things really stuck out to me. One of those things is that my life is not my own. I literally have nothing of any worth, but that which God has given me. And because of that, it is not, or at least it should not be difficult to give that very stuff back to Him, since he's the one who gave it to me in the first place. However, I struggle with that. One reason is the mere fact that I am human and live by sight and not by faith. It is easy to give a starving man food if he is in front of you and you can see his bones sticking out, but it is much harder to give that same amount of money based on a "feeling" that you have on the inside. I want to live like that. I want the Lord trust me to the point of being able to put an inkling in my heart and for Him to know that I will follow through and be faithful with whatever He puts there, but it is not always easy. Not to say that it does not happen. But I know that I don't act every time that the Lord calls me to, and I'm longing for that. I'm longing for that "intimacy" with the Father where I KNOW his voice more clearly than I know my own. However, that type of intimacy only comes from stepping out and training my ear to the Father's voice. Solution: I go and live in a cave for the rest of my life, listening to the Lord. ABSOLUTELY NOT! We are called to live in the world but to not be of the world. I am here to be a witness, not a recluse. So what then do I do? 1) I pray, spend time with God and listen to the Lord in the quietness of the day. 2) I listen, I intentionally turn off the tv and radio and listen for the Lord to speak. How else do I tune out the other voices and noises and listen to God? 3) I step out, the other day I was setting up for practice and I closed my eyes for a moment and the Lord gave me the word "M*A*S*H". I asked the girl next to me if she liked the tv show, to which she responded that she did. THEN the Lord gave me the rest of the word. It didn't come before I asked her the question, it came after I stepped out and asked her. It ended up being a word that really touched her, and spoke to an area of her life that she needed comfort in.
I have found that lately these type of things have been happening more frequently, but I fear that I am not paying attention to them. A friend has been having a physical problem for the past week, and I was asked to pray for him today. I wanted to pray for him, but I had an impression to let others start praying, and then to begin once I felt released to do so. That was a little un-nerving since I didn't know what point I would be released and I WANTED TO PRAY. But I waited, and just as I was walking over to begin praying for my friend he began to open up to the guys around him about the very thing that the LORD had put on my heart to pray over him about. If I had not waited, it would not have been God's time. It very well could be that the words that the LORD wanted to speak over my friend would not have been spoken at the right time, or to an openness of heart that they were spoken to when the LORD dealt with the timing issue. Both of us ended up leaving the prayer time touched, but it required sensitivity to the spirit.
I wasn't intending on spending so much time on intimacy, but rather, on the joyous message that the Lord has given me this weekend. I am HIS and no one can ever change that. Not only that, but my life and every breath in me is the LORD's. HE CAN DO WITH IT WHAT HE WANTS!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
negative six months anniversary
yeah, today ryan and i get to celebrate our negative six month anniversary. it's going to be exciting to say that we get married in less than half a year. i love you babe!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
work
"we all need somebody to lean on..." Goodness, gravy that could not be truer. This week has been absolutely ridiculous. I felt badly for Daniel today because he wasn't supposed to have to be with a team, and then ended up working in the morning with me short-handed. Then, it turns out that I was one of the only RN's in the building answering calls and doing other "nursey" type things. Agggggggghhh, it's been a long week and it's only tuesday. I really can't wait for my honeymoon in February. It's going to be wonderful. Time with Ryan, ALONE, and absolutely NO work. I CAN'T WAIT! By the by... my stethoscope is in my bag and I am virtually RUNNING out the door screaming in my head, get me the heck outta here and take the dog-gone picture already!!
Sunday, August 06, 2006
church picnic 2006
Yesterday was the annual church picnic and it was a good time, as usual, minus a couple of things that always seem to bother me. 1) You show up at a large group gathering and someone always seems to have the water gun or water balloons. You make it known that your really don't want to get wet, and that no, you're not kidding. Yet, you're still hit with water balloons, or people trying to be funny and they throw a balloon next to you that hits an open chair and soaks someones purse. Nice work fellas. 2) FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD and NO self control! 3) Picnic = pick up afterwards. I really love it when people start picking up, and simultaneously a game of catch or cards or "oh I gotta go" breaks out. You're welcome, no problem, yes the picking up will happen with out you, just remember, the garbage will be desposed of on your front porch.
In all honesty, I'm just kidding. I did have a good time, and we had great weather. A lot of people were able to make it, and no one seemed to have gotten hurt or food poisoning, which is always a plus!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
cute couple
So my former roomie is getting married the last weekend of August. I'm really excited for them. Dominique is finishing up with a camp that he has been working with for a few years, and Lisa is making last minute arrangements for their wedding. It should be a great wedding, and very different than any other that I have been to. Lisa is going to wear a traditional American wedding gown for the ceremony, and a traditional Laotian dress for the reception. I can't wait to see it all come together. Plus, it gives Pastor George another run at wedding ceremonies before he does ours!! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
