Kicks and Giggles

I really like to laugh. I think "play" should be the 6th love language. People who laugh together will be friends for a lifetime. So, I thought I'd share a few things (including a few blogs!) which make me laugh.

warning: some of these things may include ridiculous and/or stupid humor.

1. Wiggle face pictures

  2. MadTV's Stuart sketches

3. Anything highlighting the stupid things people do

• Brian Regan, Bill Cosby, and Ellen DeGeneres
• the blog, Photoshop Disasters
• Sarah Haskins' videos in the series, "Target Women"

 4. Quirky perspectives on things, like Terry Border's Bent Objects blog. This week he celebrated his own made-up holiday called "SOSAD" (Strangely Orange Snack Appreciation Day)

Hope you giggled with me. :)

Jehova Jireh

My Provider!

The last few months, God has been teaching me ever-so-subtly that He is enough. When I was in a relationship, He reminded me that regardless of the presence of a man in my life, He alone is enough. This was easy enough for me to say (of course God is enough--He's God!), but not until I actually began to put it into practice did I realize how hard it is to believe it. But, as usual, God has proven Himself faithful.

In the last few weeks, I have made conscious effort to be satisfied in God and in His plan for my life. He has surprised me at every turn with glimpses of Himself in my everyday life. I turned on the radio and heard songs like Laura Story's Blessings:

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

I went out to Gull Lake Ministries to volunteer for Ladies Days, and He gave the speaker (Angela Thomas) some words meant specifically for my heart about surrendering my hope to Him. He also surrounded me with some of the sweetest, funniest ladies I've ever met. Throughout the week, I could literally feel Him pouring into me, filling me with His sweet presence.

His peace truly is beyond human understanding. I wouldn't want it any other way!

I leave you with song lyrics which paraphrase some of Psalm 119
"Lord I come into the light and listen as your Word shines it rays of Truth. Let your law be my desire, your might my soul inspire, swift to hear and do."

Be blessed!

Adjustment Bureau

Note: "bureau" is a difficult word to spell.

On the plane home from China this time around, I spent most of my time listening to Dracula and cross-stitching. When I finished the book and had almost killed my iPod, I started paying attention to the movies to see if anything was worth watching. First up: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son. Wow. Dozed through that.

Eventually it came to "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. I had never heard of it, but it looked interesting, so I watched. It's like a romantic action blur...romanction? That alone made it unique to me. But then I started analyzing it and pondering the worldview of the movie. It is about the presence of angels in our world, and their place in keeping us stupid humans in the will of God. One of them tells Matt Damon's character that we used to have free will, but we didn't know what to do with it and ended up almost ruining the entire world. Matt Damon's character has gone "off book" and so the angels spend the whole movie trying to keep him away from the woman, which of course makes him want to be with her all the more. In the end, he tries to get all the way to God to plead his case to keep the woman in his life. It ends with God re-writing His will to let the two stay together. Aw, for cute! He fought for her and won! The prince and his princess get to be together, happily ever after!

Wait, what?

The worldview of this movie is one where God is some High Power which sits on High, uninvolved, waiting for his puny stupid creations to mess up. He took away our free will because we couldn't handle the freedom to make our own choices, and sends his angels to make sure we follow the book. Also according to this worldview, if we fight it enough, God will change His will to give us our way.

I am not about to claim that I understand God. His ways and thoughts are higher! (Isaiah 40) But there are some Truths which cannot be denied. One is that yes, God has a will--a plan--for each of our lives. In fact, that plan was written by Him long before each of us existed. That plan is one for His glory and our good. The other Truth is that humans were indeed created with free will. Each and every one of us has the ability to make choices for our own lives. We can choose to walk in the path God has set before us, and in so doing choose the best life we could possibly imagine. We can also choose to walk away from God, and in so doing write our own life story. But let me give you this guarantee: the life you would write for yourself may be wonderful for awhile, but it will end in misery. Not because God wants you to be miserable, but He will allow you to live in sin if you so choose. He will continue to pursue your heart until the end, but if you continue to choose to live for yourself instead of for Him, then the consequences are all yours to bear.

Summary: Predestination and Free Will are both True. Choose Jesus.

Long Time, Much to Say!

To my 8 followers, I say a big "SORRY!" for not having updated my blog in 4 months! Yikes. My bad.

Rather than summarize all the wonderful things that have happened in the past 4 months, I'll just pick up where I am today.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have been praying that God would continue to work in my heart and make me more like Him. He has carried that through and done some amazing things. He has humbled me in conviction and confession with a wonderfully graceful accountability partner. He brought me to a place where I could step out of guilt and shame over a long-held sin and into the freedom for which He redeemed me! It was a painful, humiliating, but wonderful process. I praise Him for not being finished with me yet!

In this spiritually and emotionally raw time, He continues to work in other areas to draw me to my knees before Him. He has put a trial in my life, but He has also filled me with an incredible peace. And in a time of prayer this evening He brought me to 2 Peter 1:1-11. I pray you are blessed as I share that with you:

"To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received

a faith as precious as ours: (that's me!)
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God

and of Jesus our Lord. (it's mine!)

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins (that was me last week). 

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, (NEVER!) and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

That is chock-full of amazing truths to cling to, and I just praise the Lord for bringing Truth. For being Truth.

Speaking of Truth, I am also thankful for some specific people this week. My mother and two good friends, after I shared with them my issues of late, pointed me straight to Truth. What a blessing!

Also, as I look back on my walk of faith, I am grateful for the ministries of two women. Beth Moore (Living Proof Ministries and Lifeway Publishing) and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Revive Our Hearts) have been instrumental in bringing my heart closer to the Lord. Check out their Bible studies, devotionals, books, and pod casts!

Praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness!