Seizing Moments

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?