The Best Gift

Of all the gifts God has blessed us with in our time on earth, none is so beautiful, so touching, as the gift of friendship. There is a saying that goes...¨Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.¨How true it is. True friends know each others weaknesses, they know what makes the other one laugh, they understand the quirks, and may even shake their heads in disbelief at the others´ hairbrained ideas. But true friends accept the whole package and choose to love you for who you are. They know when to overlook faults, and when to confront. They may offer you a hug one minute and then turn around and shake some sense into you the next minute. And that is the beauty of a true friend...someone you can relax with and never have to question their loyalty.
God has blessed me, in the past few years especially, with people that I can honestly call ´true friends.´ They have jumped the boundary from casual acuaintances to being sisters and brothers. So to my true friends out there...and you know who you are...I thank you...for your patience, for telling it to me straight, for your hugs, for the memories, and for the love. And I´ll always be here for you. Because the best part of our friendships is...that they will last forever.
What a good God we have, to allow something as precious as friendship to continue into eternity. Because the Man who died to save us is our Friend...the Friend of sinners.

My Heart is Filled

Sometimes the things we want to say have already been said better by someone else...this is one of those times...

My Heart Is Filled

My heart is filled with thankfulness

To Him who bore my pain

Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace

And gave me life again

Who crushed my curse of sinfulness

And clothed me in His light

And wrote His law of righteousness

With power upon my heart

My heart is filled with thankfulness

To Him who walks beside

Who floods my weaknesses and strengths

And causes fear to fly

Whose every promise is enough

For every step I take

Sustaining me with arms of love

And crowning me with grace

My heart is filled with thankfulness

To Him who reigns above;

Whose wisdom is my perfect peace;

Whose every thought is love.

For every day I have on earth

Is given by then King.

So I will give my life, my all,

To love and follow Him.

Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music/MCPS

Radical Obedience

My devotions this month have been taking me through the book of Ezekiel. I´m ashamed to admit that my knowledge of the major and minor prophets is quite lacking. It has been challenging to read about these men, the ministries that God gave to them, and the difficulties that they faced. It wasn´t until the other day when I came to chapter 24 of Ezekiel that I was floored by three verses.



¨Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man´s bread of sorrow.¨

´So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.´ Ezekiel 24:17-18

Here we have the prophet Ezekiel, faithfully serving God as His prophet, given the job of relaying messages from God to the children of Israel, and suddenly he finds out that his life is about to become an object lesson. God tells Ezekiel, ¨I am about to take away from you the one you delight in...your wife...but you are not to go into mourning, cry, or even show sorrow.¨
My mind cannot even comprehend the horror and grief that must have ripped through the heart of Ezekiel. The woman he loved was to be taken from him, and it was all because of a lesson to the Children of Israel?
But what I find even more incomprehensible is his recorded response in the Word of God...he obeyed. There was no questioning of God, no bitterness, he says himself ¨I spoke to the people in the morning and at evening my wife died, and the next day I did as I was commanded.¨

That is what I would call radical obedience. The kind of obedience that is ready, simply waiting to follow its Master´s direction.
The Bible doesn´t really tell us any more about this incident in the life of Ezekiel; I wish it did...
What it does tell us is that Ezekiel was a person who radically obeyed his Lord...what kind of person will I be?

All Things

Romans 8:28
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

While on our family vacation, I sat in the car one day thinking about things in life that are coming up quickly...a new year of college (my Senior year!), being an assistant RA , and even things about life after that...and I started getting a little apprehensive. There are so many challenges to face, stress, confrontation, relationships, priorities, work, church, Spanish, and others, that will be crowding my mind. And that is nothing compared to the great unknown of life after school! But as I was thinking, God strongly impressed the words of Romans 8:28 into my heart and mind. I have the promise of an Almighty God that as His child, everything that comes into my life will be used by Him for my good. Not necessarily for my happiness at the moment, but for my Christlikeness and eternal joy. That fact is overwhelming and brings with it great peace. Today I choose to claim the promise of Romans 8:28 for my life. God will work everything...the joyful times and even the times of deep pain and night...for my good. I will rest in that promise, no matter what lies ahead.

Writer's Block

It would be so fun to pour my heart out right now and leave you all with a profound thought or a witty saying, or a deep reflection. However, I have no such inspiration at this moment, except the feeling that I want to be writing and wish I had something interesting to share instead of the flow of my thoughts. Maybe the fact that its nearly midnight could have something to do with this temporary writers block.
I love night! Some days it seems there is so little time to do things that you want to do...well, working is good...and I am an avid proponent of earning money for the ominous school bill that looms on the horizon. But busy days of working leave little time for creativity. :-) A friend told me today that if I truly enjoy writing I must make time for it, even if it is only a little time every week. And so, I shall try. If nothing else, I can keep a blog to have a record of my thoughts because I'll wager that only a very small population of the world will ever stumble across my tiny portion of the web.
Today I was reminded of the gratefulness I should have for the life God has given me. I think in my eagerness to move on to the next stage, or in my imagination of the way things could be, I often take for granted what I actually posess. That's no way to live, because I will miss out on the beauty of the present.

Thank you, Father, for the life that you have given to me. Thank you for each person that you have placed in my life. Help me not to take my blessings for granted...like my family, my job, my friends, and my health. I don't deserve blessings...I don't deserve You.

Soon and Very Soon...

Well, I am back! After this incredibly long absence and a year of life changes, it is time to start writing again. I'll never be able to re-cap all that has happened, but I can pick up again where I left off and continue on with the "normal" posts about life. lol...but life can never be normal, and it rarely is what we expect...which often makes it so exciting!
My next post will be something substantial...I promise :-) For now, let me just leave you with something to think about...a verse that describes my feelings about the past year of life.

Deuteronomy 3:24
"Oh Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like your works and your mighty deeds?"