I finally finished my book about two weeks ago and it has been fun taking moments and making the most of them. Especially in the past three weekends.
Three weekends ago I spent my Friday night sleeping under the stars in a sleeping bag on a trampoline with two of my favorite kids. We had so much fun and made it through the whole night. I was in the middle with each on the sides of me.
The weekend after that was spent sleeping under the stars again in a way. I had a sleep over with two other of my favorite kids. This time in their room, which their mom has done in a theme as a camp and put stars all over the ceiling. It was really sleeping under the stars again in the middle with one on each side.
Then this past weekend was spend up in the mountains at Rocky Mountain National Park. Just camping in the mountains is something I really love to do and wish I did more often, but the company I was with made it even better.
Then today being able to spend the day with a friend as we picked out new glasses for me and finding something that would step me out of my comfort zone.
All moments worth seizing and making the most of each situation and where God had put me and the opportunity He was giving me. I don't know if it is because in 6 weeks I will be living in a another country and I finally have time to enjoy those I love. But it has also reminded me of all of you who haven't been present in a while in my life, but that I remember so many divine moments with. It allows me to reflect on where I am going, but where I came from. God just keeps speaking into my life and I can not help wanting to share it all.
These moments made me reflect more on some of the last pages I read from the book by Erwin McManus "Seizing Your Divine Moment", I am going to share some lines from it now:
*God uses the challenges we face to shape the character within us.
*We are our own worse enemies when our hearts are left unattended.
*Divine moments compel us to live differently, and this different life that we are called to live requires us to become different.
*It is a powerful thing when you give yourself away to a higher purpose.....we get better when we give ourselves away.
*When we, like Christ, begin to serve others in His name, we discover that our needs have been met in the process.
*Yet the journey is lived out in the context of relationships, and a significant part of the adventure is the way that God uses you in the lives of others. OR MORE IMPORTANTLY THEM IN YOURS!
*If you have ever dared to love deeply, then you have been deeply disappointed. We are all broken vessels with divine capacity. A part of the challenge is to never give up on people.
*God is always the Source of life. Wherever He is, there is always a future and a hope.
*To know the life of God is to follow Him into this new frontier.
As I continue to prepare for the new frontier, God keeps reminding me that this is Him calling and speaking. I must remember to obey. David McCasland in "Our Daily Bread" wrote: As Christians, our value to God comes not from what we DO for Him, but in what we ARE to Him. Our being-more than our doing- glories His name.
May this also encourage you, as it did me, as you seize each moment with Christ's abundant love and take risks that allow you to experience God. Let me leave you with a challenge from one more section of McManus's book.
*...no matter how profound or dramatic a divine moment may be, no matter its significance or its breadth of impact, even if at the end of the day we are able to look back and reflect on the amazing experience we have just encountered, we must never forget that the battle moves on. With the end of each day, there is a promise of another day's coming. And with that new day come new battles, new opportunities, new challenges, new adventures. Even while we celebrate the last moment's victory, we begin the new moment's journey. We must engage it with fresh energy and anticipation. You know where to begin: take initiative. You know who God is, so embrace life's uncertainty. Remember that the person you are becoming in Jesus Christ is your greatest gift to others, so use your influence. Every great adventure is filled with peril and danger, but the risk is worth it. You have already been authorized to move forward, so advance. Impact your world by fighting the battles that are on God's heart. Move with an urgency that creates a movement. Engage in an adventure so compelling that it causes the awakening of the dead in spirit. In this moment, each of us will have to choose. Will you seize your divine moment or let it slip away?
Monday, June 26, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Closure
What is "Closure"? What does it mean? I am finding that closure is an interesting word and lately I wonder what God is trying to speak to me about.
As my departure is getting closer with each passing day, I think the hardest day for me so far has been May 27. I should have wrote about it back then, but turning in my last month of availability today at REI got me remembering.
May 27, was hard because it was the day that I moved my last box out of my condo. Ironically, it was two years exactly from when I closed on my condo and moved my first box into it. It was hard because I was alone and though I still own it, I truthfully don't know if I will ever live there again. I have no idea what God has in store for my tomorrows.
All I know is I cried that night, but they may have had to do with the other things that happened during the end of May. I moved out, had my Birthday, ended the school year, ran into many from my past, met some new people, and got to spend time with my bestest friend whom has been gone almost a year from Colorado.
Saying goodbye to my amazing class was hard because a part of me wants to be right at Colorado Christian teaching that third grade class again as fourth graders. My class was amazing everytime it came to prayers. And I loved receiving at least 15 hugs a day, but it was usually about three times that much. They will be in my prayers and missed a whole bunch. I know God has big plans for their future, I can only hope that they remember "MY WISH" by Rascal Flatts for them.
To top things off My bestest friend was in town during this week and it was interesting realizing the people God had come across my path who were from the past and I was able to share it all with her. Oh, I should mention that most of them had been men that I have dated in the past almost two years. They were some of the really good ones though. This made for a lot of thinking, yet still having no idea what God was trying to say in all of it happening. I still don't know that, but I know He has a reason in it all. It did remind me that I know what I want and refuse to settle for anything other than God's best plan for me.
Yet, I know it was Him who led me to run into these people because on two of the occasions I almost didn't go to where I ran into them. I knew it was not an accident any of the times. I know it also made me realize that I am really single at the moment because God wants it that way. I have met and gone out with too many men that I would have considered pursuing something with, though there is only one who has made my heart smile. And the number of them that I have met through blind dates, eHarmony and Great Expectations, you wouldn't believe it if I told you. That is how I really know that God is truly in control of this area of my life. Oh but you should hear some of the reasons or are they excuses I have gotten to why they (as men) choose not to pursue me. Most of them turn out to be pretty amazing compliments to me and total realization of people's (mostly men's) fear to take a risk.
In thinking of this word closure it is also kind of funny knowing that two years ago when I was buying my own place for the first time it was also when I decided that I wasn't going to wait until....anymore. It was also when I decided that I wasn't meeting the kind of men that I wanted to so I figured I would put myself out there and let God do His work. So very interesting that those from my past would just happen to come back into my life when the thing that made me open up the door to possibilities was coming to an end.
I am also finding it interesting that as so many from my past have come across my path in the past couple of months, there have been a few people whom have disappeared or chosen to not be a part of my life right now. It just has gotten me to think about closure and how blessed I am and how much I REALLY miss a couple of those who have chosen to stay away for the moment or maybe good.
Just my thoughts and wonders of what closure really means?! However, this all has just reminded me that God is so ever working and moving in our lives. Though I can not make any sense of it right now, I know that He has a reason and a plan for it all.
As my departure is getting closer with each passing day, I think the hardest day for me so far has been May 27. I should have wrote about it back then, but turning in my last month of availability today at REI got me remembering.
May 27, was hard because it was the day that I moved my last box out of my condo. Ironically, it was two years exactly from when I closed on my condo and moved my first box into it. It was hard because I was alone and though I still own it, I truthfully don't know if I will ever live there again. I have no idea what God has in store for my tomorrows.
All I know is I cried that night, but they may have had to do with the other things that happened during the end of May. I moved out, had my Birthday, ended the school year, ran into many from my past, met some new people, and got to spend time with my bestest friend whom has been gone almost a year from Colorado.
Saying goodbye to my amazing class was hard because a part of me wants to be right at Colorado Christian teaching that third grade class again as fourth graders. My class was amazing everytime it came to prayers. And I loved receiving at least 15 hugs a day, but it was usually about three times that much. They will be in my prayers and missed a whole bunch. I know God has big plans for their future, I can only hope that they remember "MY WISH" by Rascal Flatts for them.
To top things off My bestest friend was in town during this week and it was interesting realizing the people God had come across my path who were from the past and I was able to share it all with her. Oh, I should mention that most of them had been men that I have dated in the past almost two years. They were some of the really good ones though. This made for a lot of thinking, yet still having no idea what God was trying to say in all of it happening. I still don't know that, but I know He has a reason in it all. It did remind me that I know what I want and refuse to settle for anything other than God's best plan for me.
Yet, I know it was Him who led me to run into these people because on two of the occasions I almost didn't go to where I ran into them. I knew it was not an accident any of the times. I know it also made me realize that I am really single at the moment because God wants it that way. I have met and gone out with too many men that I would have considered pursuing something with, though there is only one who has made my heart smile. And the number of them that I have met through blind dates, eHarmony and Great Expectations, you wouldn't believe it if I told you. That is how I really know that God is truly in control of this area of my life. Oh but you should hear some of the reasons or are they excuses I have gotten to why they (as men) choose not to pursue me. Most of them turn out to be pretty amazing compliments to me and total realization of people's (mostly men's) fear to take a risk.
In thinking of this word closure it is also kind of funny knowing that two years ago when I was buying my own place for the first time it was also when I decided that I wasn't going to wait until....anymore. It was also when I decided that I wasn't meeting the kind of men that I wanted to so I figured I would put myself out there and let God do His work. So very interesting that those from my past would just happen to come back into my life when the thing that made me open up the door to possibilities was coming to an end.
I am also finding it interesting that as so many from my past have come across my path in the past couple of months, there have been a few people whom have disappeared or chosen to not be a part of my life right now. It just has gotten me to think about closure and how blessed I am and how much I REALLY miss a couple of those who have chosen to stay away for the moment or maybe good.
Just my thoughts and wonders of what closure really means?! However, this all has just reminded me that God is so ever working and moving in our lives. Though I can not make any sense of it right now, I know that He has a reason and a plan for it all.
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