All I Want for Christmas....

... is my two front teeth, Oops, that's another song!!

What I want for Christmas is LAUGHTER.....

What I want for Christmas is Grandpa Walton's Christmas Wish.....

What I want for Christmas is for wishes and dreams to come true.....

What I want for Christmas is for others to LIVE, LOVE, and LAUGH because they are so overwhelmed by GOD's Love, which was revealed to us in the BESTEST, MOST PERFECT GIFT that has ever been given.....

What I want for Christmas is "A Sunrise Gift"
(December 11 entry in God Calling)

To those whose lives have been full of struggle and care, who have felt the tragedy of living, the pity of an agonized heart for Jesus' poor world... to those followers of HIS, HE gives Peace and Joy that brings to age its second Spring, the youth sacrificed for HIM, and for HIS world....

Take each day now as a joyous sunrise gift from JESUS. Your simple daily tasks done in HIS Strength and Love will bring the consciousness of all your highest hopes. Expect great things. Expect great things. This coming year....

My Christmas Wish...

I have always liked Amy Grant's song, "Grown Up Christmas List", but the other morning on the way to work Klove played a Christmas Wish by Grandpa Walton.

Anyone remember the Walton's? Well, as I was listening to the words of Grandpa Walton's Christmas Message or Wish tears formed in my eyes and I was so moved. I met GOD right there in the moment and saw HIM while looking towards the beautiful mountains where I live.

I have tried my hardest to find a link online to the audio of it because I believe that is the best way to hear it, in his own voice. However, all that I could find was a list of the lyrics so to speak. So what I share with you now is those words:

Grandpa's Christmas Message

What is Christmas? It is a time when some of your dreams come true. Every year it roles around and takes you by surprise some of the time, especially when you’re as close to a 100 years old as I am. You think...it Can’t be time for another one, but there it is with all it’s hope and joy and the promise of the wishes granted. I bet you wonder what I wish for. What could an old man wish for? Maybe you think I would wish to be young again. I don’t want that. Being young is a painful thing. Being young and in love to boot, which most young people are, is even more agony. I’ll tell you what I wish. I’d wish for the power to return some of the love that’s been given me. I’d wish the time and place for all that giving could be commemorated like the heart I carved on the tree around your Grandmother’s and my initials. I wish too for more days to my life. Time...time to give to children some of the beauty of this Earth that has been revealed to me. A drop of water is a wondrous thing.

A spade full of earth is a kingdom in itself. A cloud is worth watching as it passes from one horizon to another. A bird building its nest is as wondrous as men building the Pyramid, and any green thing that grows is proof that God exists. It all comes into focus at Christmas. It is a tender time. We grow cautious because we open ourselves to love. We exchange gifts, but what those presents really say is "I love you." It makes some folks uncomfortable to say or hear these words. Maybe it’s because they’ve never learned the secret of the given heart. There are more takers than givers in the world. People, communities even countries spending their time grubbing and rooting for the goods of this earth like pigs after acorns in the Fall of the year. This is a country with a given heart and I pray it will always be so. It’s a good country and it’s part of our strength, something that we brought with us as pioneers that we can share with the fellow who is down on his luck, with those who suffered calamities: with the loss of their homes or land or their hope. This is a family with a giving heart. You children may squabble and bicker among yourselves but you’ve been taught to love and to give, and that’s the greatest present your Momma and Daddy could have given you. So take pleasure in the trappings of Christmas. Be merry like the songs say. Revel in the tinsel and the glitter and the sparkle and sing the old songs for all the joy that’s in them and the memories they bring back. But to touch the real Christmas, to feel the true spirit of the season, look to your own heart and find all the secret treasures that they’re there to give. There is one wish that I make every year. I never said it aloud before, but I’ll tell it to you now. I wish for all the seasons I have known, endlessly to come and go; the dogwood Spring, the watermelon Summer, the russet and gold of Autumn. I wish for Christmas to come again and for each of us to be here again next year at this time...together, safe, warm and loved as we are at this moment.

Read by Will Geer on "The Walton’s Christmas" Album

What an amazing Christmas Wish!! MeRrY ChRiStMaS and HaPpY BiRtHdAy JESUS!!!!

What....

I want for Christmas this year.... Well, it 'caused me to look back and think about two years ago at this time and for that matter I thought about four years....

Four years ago, I was packing to spend this time with my littlest sister in Australia.... I dream of a lifetime!

Two years ago, I was wanting a phone call as my gift... not my usually asking, but what I wanted. I got it and then I prepared to spend this holiday in Bali, while on another dream come true.

So I reflect... I'd really love to ask for another wish, dream to come true. Earlier this year, I thought it just might. I thought that I might actually get the one wish for Christmas that I have been asking for for a long, long time. But, it doesn't look like I will get that wish this year.

BUT, what I want is to Live, Love, and most importantly Laugh fully and abundantly as I began to during the beginning of this decade in my life.

Interesting thing is is hearing these words in a song on the radio. It is a new one by Point of Grace.... Kind of just sums a bit up of how I am feeling at this particular moment in time.

The Lyrics to "I Wish" are:

I wish I didn't feel so helpless
I wish I didn't act so selfish
I wish I didn't wring my hands night and day
My hair was a little bit smoother
My jeans fit a little bit looser
And I always knew the right things to say
And I wish I wouldn't hide what?s been going on inside
And I wish you wouldn't get scared and run away

Chorus
I wish I was doing better
With all the things that matter,
I guess I got some learning to do
I wish everyone had someone
To hold em and to love em
The way I'm always gonna love you
I wish wishes came true

I was there was a cure for cancer
I wish somebody had an answer
And all God's children, never got hurt
I wish Eve never bit that apple
You men never went to battle
And I didn't get so mad at the world
I wish I was more like Jesus
And could pick up all the pieces
And make a better life for my baby girl

Chorus
I wish I was doing better
With all the things that matter,
I guess I got some learning to do
I wish everyone had someone
To hold em and to love em
The way I'm always gonna love you
I wish wishes came true

For everything I am wishing
I know GOD is up there listening
So, I say my prayers when I go to bed
Ahh, ahh, ahh
Oh pray my wishes come true
Oh

Chorus
I wish I was doing better
With all the things that matter,
I guess I got some learning to do
I wish everyone had someone
To hold em and to love em
The way I'm always gonna love you
I wish wishes came true

I know wishes come true
I wish, I wish

Praise....

I am feeling alive again. I have longed for a while now to Love, Live, and Laugh again. And though I don't quit feel that I am through the desert yet, I have found a small oasis for the moment.

I have been hearing and experiencing GOD more powerfully lately. I read something and it hits home, or touches my heart. Feels like GOD speaking again.

I recently read this in a book, "I know that if it seems the Lord is not speaking or moving, it's just a cycle, and when He's ready, He'll be there.

I am beginning to feel that Life, Love, and Laughter again in my heart and soul. And it all has to do with HIM!!

Praise Jesus!!

GOD's Glory Story

I have just finished reading When Women Walk Alone by Cindi McMenamin and loved the chapter where she talked about God writing His glory story out of our trials.

I think it really hit me knowing where I have been walking this year. It has been a walk through the desert, a winter season, and basically a season of waiting (though waiting has been a part of my life almost constantly). The hard part for me is that I usually hear GOD in these times and feel closer to HIM, yet sometime during my time in Korea and in returning I have felt more of HIS silence... hence, a true season of waiting.

This particular chapter just hit in the middle of my heart... though the whole book was once again GOD's perfect timing for me to pick it up and read.

Cindi writes: "Sounds like God is writing quite a glory story." As I drove home in silence, I thought about the "glory story" God writes on the fabric of our lives. I thought about the underside of that tapestry, where all the knots and imperfections are, so that the top side can be perfect and intricately beautiful. I thought of this God who has a way of weaving lessons and revelations of His love into the troubles that bombard us in life. And when we are determined to see that He gets the glory for all that we encounter, then the things we go through are not for nothing.

I know and believe with all my heart that GOD is writing HIS Glory Story in my life. HE weaves together everything in order for HIS Love and Glory to be shown. But why is it that we are soooo afraid to show or let others see the underside of our tapestry... all that we want others to see is the beautiful upper side, but it is all GOD and all of it every thing about us is a part of HIM.

As I mentioned for me the hardest part has been being afraid of my heart getting hurt again and again (which it is right now at this moment), yet it seems hard because I have not felt GOD in a long time... I know HE is right here with me, because HE lives in my heart... but HIS silence is hard even if I know it is a part of HIM writing a glory story with my life.

Psalm 73: 23-26 says: Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.


So true, HE is my everything and all that I need or want is to have my life reflect HIM... and to have HIS glory story be written in the fabric of my life... every tiny stitch of it.

She goes on to write: And in all stories, I'm convinced that even though life might look at times like it's spinning out of control, there's a God who knows what He's doing, He's weaving a lesson, preparing a promise, readying a revelation of Himself... He's writing His glory story.

God knows what He is doing. We might not ever know why He allows certain things to happen in our lives, but we can be assured that He knows what He's doing and He has promised it will be for our good.

Can you count your trials as pure joy, knowing that as your faith is tested perseverance is produced, and that endurance leads you to be made more perfect and complete, lacking nothing and more strong in HIM. (James 1: 2-4)

Wants, no Needs MORE...

Lately we have been talking about money in church on Sundays. How most people want a nicer car, a bigger house, they basically want more and more things.

And the funny part for me, is I have been feeling like I have been needing and wanting more, BUT it has nothing to do with material things. What I am talking about is MORE:

of GOD, laughing, loving, living, time with GOD (which I need to just start taking), time with family and friends, quiet times, quiet nights, of Ty, fun, football, etc...

I don't NEED or WANT more money or a bigger house or a nicer car.... I don't need those things. I have all I need.

I just want MORE of GOD.... more and more and more. For this journey we call life is still ALL ABOUT HIM whether it is walking in the desert or through a season of winter or even a time of waiting (though at times I feel like I have spent my whole life here)...

So yes, I WANT and NEED MORE, but nothing of material or earthly value..... What is on your heart to want more of?

Priceless...

A friend of mine in class tonight wrote this:

ONE CLASS AT REGIS.... $1,000
SNACKS EVERY WEEK.... $2
SCHOOL SUPPLIES.... $50

BEING BORED OUT OF YOUR MIND.... PRICELESS!!

Thanks, Steph for the smile in the middle of a stressful boring uninformative class meeting... which got much worse after you all left.... awful... absolutely awful!!

Now

I know that it has been a while since I have written or posted anything, but I just read this statement on a friend's facebook and it seems to fit exactly where I feel I am at right now.

I love these words he wrote: "learning everything that I can at every opportunity, staying in each moment so that the pain that I'm in will make into something of greater value to those around me."

Seems to be right where I am at at this moment. Wandering through the desert and looking for the living water to fill my thirsty soul.... good thing is that I refuse to dwell here.... though I know I must wait upon my Maker for the right moment when HE will open my eyes and lead me out... don't think these days, or months are done yet.

But looking forward to the JOY that will come when this too passes.

Classes

I just left my last class meeting for the summer.... grades will be in next week. The funny part was that I was the first one to share on the first day of class, yet ended up being the last person to give my presentation on the last day of class.

I wish I could say that I was excited to be done, but this was the first class I really learned anything in...It is by far my favorite one. And I am excited in my thoughts of continuing on once I have completed my license and masters to get a second endorsement in Reading and I could do it all online with the educator I just had....that would be so cool.

At the same time, I can't believe I am even entertaining the thought of it, especially at this point. I really liked this class and wish I didn't have the stress from the other class I had to finish assignments for at the same time, plus all the other things in life that are adding to the stress.

Anyways, I wish I could have just sat in one of the eight class meetings anytime since I began teaching, or working with kids for that matter. I think about how much that this class has given me as a teacher and then think about all the students I have had in the past....wow, just the information from one class meeting would have made a huge difference in my teaching. Glad I have something to go forward with.

With that said, I know this is gonna be a rough year at one of my schools....I just keep reminding myself that GOD opened up the way for me to be getting paid while getting my Masters and learning from both good and bad examples in the classroom with hands on experience. So I am thankful and will need to continue to Trust in HIM, and most important seek HIM, because I can't do it without GOD...it's gotta to be ALL about HIM.

Now it is time to go rest in HIS Arms by taking a well needed nap.

Ever have....

a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day? I think Alexander did once in a book. That was my day in all aspects....Don't think it or life could seem any worse at the moment.

Trying my hardest to stay focused on GOD in all of it, as well as Trust HE has a plan and a purpose in all of it....but, I am spent and don't have anything left to offer in a given day.

I WANT and NEED GOD more than ever right now....I can't find that peace in HIS presence at the moment and I think I struggle a lot with that....much more than all the other issues of life.

Oh LORD, Please....I know you are right here, but I want so much more of YOU!

Life...

...just sucks right now, no doubt about that and not much more needs to be said. It is taking everything I have just to find something worth anything in a given day. Funny that I can write that and it is how I feel, yet at the same time....I see GOD in the littlest of things....like the rain, the sunset, the mountains. I see HIM in the things HE created, except not in me...yet, HE created me too.
Makes me think about the David Crowder song Everything Glorious:

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than it's hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You are glorious. You are glorious.

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

I do KNOW that HE makes everything Glorious....just really seems blah right now

Is still

...reflecting on: "If you want Love, make a choice and act!!, but remembering that Love will ALWAYS require a sacrifice.

Update on KONG

I had to give him up today. I wish I could write that it was to his forever home, but I had to take me to a boarding shelter until they find another foster home or someone to adopt him.

His separation anxiety is just too much....I tried to leave him out in my condo yesterday, after getting him from the vet where he had 4 surgeries. He pushed his way out my window onto the roof again.

He is a great dog that I love a lot and am going to miss, but he needs a home where someone is home most of the time and has at least one other dog. He just needs constant companionship. Funny, that is why I have to give him up, because I decided to foster so I would have some companionship.

Just a reminder that GOD didn't wire us to journey though this life alone. I pray Kong finds a loving home and family REAL soon. All I know is that he touched my heart and reminded me of how deep my heart is and how capable it is of loving others, and loving them deeply.

Calling Out...

As I am driving home from class with my heart aching in so many ways, yet not really knowing why. I can't stop crying right now... I feel empty and alone, yet knew I had to come home and finish some entries that I have started....to let my heart be poured out...for when I am here writing it is usually when I have met the RISEN CHRIST in something.... I saw GOD clearly.... I know it is a place where I meet HIM and am with HIM, yet aren't I always in that place...

All I know is I was crying out...repeatedly calling out that beautiful wonderful name: JESUS...JESUS...JESUS. HE is all I NEED, and ALL I WANT, Nothing else I could ever desire can compare to HIM. I only want to GLORIFY HIM...yet, I fail constantly at it.

And though I KNOW HE is here with me right now at this moment...I want to feel HIM, and I can't, the noises inside are so loud....I keep calling JESUS, do I not feel HIM, because I have an expectation to how I want to meet HIM in this moment....'cause I KNOW as soon as I speak those words, JESUS...HE is right here, but since HE lives in my heart....HE is ALWAYS here.

In this moment, I HURT sooo much and truthfully as I have written earlier.... I feel more alone right now than I ever did in Korea.

I am thankful for Klove....The two songs that were on when I was crying out the most to GOD in the car were:

"Bring the Rain" by Mercy Me and "Call My Name" by Third Day

I KNOW HE came when I called HIS Name.

Love...

...ALWAYS requires a sacrifice!

This stood out from the message in church this morning... we have been reading in 1 John.

I think of last week...so if you want love in your life, you have to make a choice and act. But now remember, that Love will always require a sacrifice.

Wow, as I am writing this I went to an old Bible on my book shelf to look up verses in 1 John....but what I found in the back of this old Bible, was notes from a sermon at some point long ago in my life and well deserves mention here. What I have written, but don't know when it was written and not complete is this:

1 Tim vs. 5-6
-Love is a commitment (NOT a feeling)
Luke 22
-Commitment to what?
to being Genuine to each other(BE REAL)
Ps. 139:17
-To Giving unconditionally
1 Corth. 13
True Success What we give
+Love is a commitment to being genuine and giving unconditionally.

Seriously, that was very interesting in finding while writing about LOVE ALWAYS REQUIRES A SACRIFICE.

Hmmm.....is all I can say.

Also want to share these from "GOD CALLING":

Wonderful Life
I am your Lord. Lord of your lives, Controller of your days, your present and your future. Leave all plans to Me. Only act as I bid you.
You have entered now, both of you, upon the God-guided life. Think what that means. God-taught, God-guided.
Is anything too wonderful for such a life? Do you begin to see how wonderful life with Me can be? Do you see that no evil can befall you?

Forget-Forgive
Our Lord, we thank Thee for so much.
We bless Thee and praise Thy Glorious Name.
Fill your world with Love and laughter. Never mind what anguish lies behind you.
Forget, Forgive, Love, and Laugh.
Treat all as you would treat Me, with Love and consideration.
Let nothing that others do to you alter your treatment of them.

My Consolation
O Jesus, come and walk with us and let us feel Thy very nearness.
I walk with you. Oh! think, My children, not only to guide and comfort you and strengthen and uphold, but for solace and comfort for Myself.
When a loving child is by you is the nearness only that you may provide protection and help for that little one?
Rather, too, that in that little child you may find joy and cheer and comfort in its simplicity, its Love, its trust.
So, too, is it in your power to comfort and bring joy to My Heart.

Memory Alone?

Today I felt more alone than I ever have in a long time....it may be because of all the undue stress I am placing on myself and feeling at the moment.

Whatever the cause all I know is that I have felt much more alone in returning from Korea than I ever did while I was in Korea.

Then today, I remembered so vivid something my high school guidance counselor said when I came back after graduation to get some advice. She had said that she had been doing her job for many years, yet had never seen someone as popular as I was, yet more alone walking through the halls than anyone else she had ever seen. She said it always perplexed her.

That is the way I feel today....popular, known by many....yet, feeling so alone. As if I am journeying through this life by myself with only GOD as my guide. And I do know that HE is all I want and all I need. But I am suppose to be journeying down the path in community with others.

Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

This was in "Living the Message" yesterday:

A beech tree in winter, white
Intricacies unconcealed
Against sky blue and billowed
Clouds, carries in his emptiness
Ripeness; sap ready to rise
On signal, buds alert to burst
To leaf. And then after a season
Of summer a lean ring to remember
The lush fulfilled promises.
Empty again in wise poverty
That lets the reaching branches stretch
A millimeter more towards heaven,
The bole expands ever so slightly
And push roots into the firm
Foundation, lucky to be leafless:
Deciduous reminder to let it go.

[Jesus said,]"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule." Matthew 5:3

And this one was in "Living the Message" today:

Flash floods of tears, torrents of them,
Erode cruel canyons, exposing
Long forgotten strata of live
Laid down in the peaceful decades:
A badlands beauty. The same sun
That decorates each day with colors
From arroyos and mesas, also shows
Every old scar and cut of lament.
Weeping washes the wounds clean
And leaves them to heal, which always
Takes an age or two. No pain
Is ugly in past tense. Under
The Mercy every hurt is a fossil
Link in the great chain of becoming.
Pick and shovel prayers often
Turn them up in valleys of death.

[Jesus said,]"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you." Matthew 5:4

One Chair

I have noticed numerous times while out walking Kong, a patio with only ONE rocking chair, or a table with only ONE chair around it.

That makes me sad and reminds me of a good friend, who on her anniversary collects pictures of TWO Chairs. Her and her husband, say that when all the kids are gone, it will still come down to two chairs, one of each of them. I loved that when she shared it with me.

So in seeing these places with only one chair made me a little sad...and then I felt alone, but I KNOW for me that if I do stay single the rest of my life...and that I don't have a partner to sit on the porch in our two rocking chairs with, that I will still always have TWO CHAIRS...

ONE for me and ONE for GOD, who is my Everything.... I will NEVER have only ONE CHAIR, whether rocking chairs on a porch or sitting around a little bistro table...

Always, TWO...even if I remain single. Yep, ONE Chair for me and ONE Chair for GOD...for HE is always welcome at my table and on my porch...For is always in my heart.

Looking from the Edge

As I am reading a book for my Multicultural class this poem struck me in many ways... so wanted to share it:

Looking From The Edge
by Elizabeth Capifali
on 10-12-94

As I stand on the periphery of life around me
I ask myself, do I not deserve to partake of the sweetness of this land?
I've asked myself this question ever since I was a child,
But, a HAND always kept me at a safe distance.
"DO NOT TRESPASS" always seemed to be the message.
I have leaped into the enveloping arms of life waiting for me and I am Living!
Still, hands try to hold me back, but I am stronger no,
I push them aside and say, "Let me in."

Choose and Act

I am trying very hard to focus on my homework, but all that is on my mind is a statement from the message at church this morning....

IF YOU WANT LOVE, YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE AND ACT!!

How true is that...I know many people who only will walk into something or choose to act if they know things will work out, but with love....especially loving GOD... well, it is about making a choice and then acting upon it. HE gives us a choice whether or not to live a life surrendered to HIM.

I think that could be true in many things, for me when I was deciding to go to Korea I was pleading with GOD to give me peace so that I knew where HE wanted to guide me, but what I realized was that HE wanted me to make a choice and act on it....Then, HE brought the peace and rest I was so desiring.

Funny, but I think "GOD CALLING" goes along with this statement above:

My Standard
Carry out My Commands and leave the result to Me. Do this as obediently and faithfully as you would expect a child to follow out a given rule in the working of a sum, with no question but that, if the working out is done according to command, the result will be right.
Remember that the commands I have given you have been already worked out by Me in the Spirit World to produce in your case, and in your circumstances, the required result. So follow My rules faithfully.
Realize that herein lies the perfection of Divine Guidance. To follow a rule laid down, even by Earth;s wisest, might lead to disaster.
The knowledge of you individual life and character, capability, circumstances, and temptations must be, to some extent, lacking, but to follow My direct Guidance means to carry out instructions given with a full knowledge of you and the required result.
Each individual was meant to walk with Me in this way, to act under Divine control, strengthened by Divine Power.
Have I not taught you to love simplicity? No matter what the world may thing, Earth's aims and intrigues are not for you. Oh! My children, learn of Me. Simplicity brings rest. True rest and Power.
To the world foolishness, maybe, but to Me a foretaste of Divinity.

1 John 3:18 "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

Yep, IF YOU WANT LOVE, YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE AND ACT!!

My Big Guy

Ok, I have a love in my life besides GOD, at least for the moment. I have decided to help the Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue and here is the guy, Kong, that has captured my heart for at least the moment...



He is HUGE, but so gentle. However, today when I was in class he decided to climb over the deck onto the roof. My condo is on the second floor!! I think I was more shook up than he was, at least when I got home. PRAISE GOD, for awesome neighbors who got him back on to my deck and broke into my home to put him inside. He did pee, but a small price to pay.

So I decided to use the baby gate my neighbor gave me to put him in the kitchen while I am out. However, I am thinking if he climbed over the deck railing, how the heck is a baby gate gonna help him. I decided to walk to the store, I was gone about 20 minutes. When I got home it wasn't the baby gate he climbed over, but he climbed up on the kitchen counters and walked over. Of course, peeing again.

So tonight I had a meeting to go to and thought I would leave him in the bathroom while I was gone. Well, here is what I came home to...


He just came out and hugged me for the longest time when I got home... He just doesn't want to be alone...

I don't blame him, we weren't made to be alone in this journey. We are wired to be in fellowship with GOD and community with others. Adam was alone when GOD was creating things in this beautiful world, so GOD chose to create a suitable helpmate for him....

So if you are out there and you are walking this journey thinking you can do it alone , think again. GOD created us to journey through this life in community.

*Two notes:
1. I can't believe that some of you only came to the blog after reading my email to see the new "guy" in my life...seriously! GOD will break my love life wide open when it is HIS Perfect Timing....until then it is a day at a time TRUSTING HIM and Waiting on HIM and him!

2. I can't even begin to tell you all the rest of the things that Kong has done....but talked to a behaviorist today, July 29, 2008, and I may not be getting him back after his surgeries tomorrow....she said I had already done enough to help this dog and that most would have given him back right at the start. She could not believe, all that I did and how much I still want to do....I laughed, that is just me. I don't give up on people, and will stick through things, even the hardest of things. I know where she was coming from with his separation anxiety and I only want what's best for him, but I don't know if I can say good bye if I have to tomorrow.

Finishing up...

I want to continue to share, in no particular order, some of the things that struck me when finishing up "The Pressure's Off"...

Your soul, the real you that you've nearly lost sight of beneath all the posturing and busyness, lies empty, alone, bored. It could be different. You know that. It's suppose to be different. You know that, too.

Don't live the Old Way. If you value the blessings of life over communion with GOD, you'll end up miserable. Guaranteed! But if you live the New Way, if you draw near to GOD, not to exploit HIS power but to enjoy fellowship with HIM, then HE'll supply everything you need to participate in furthering HIS agenda. Guaranteed! And you'll know HIS Joy, the Joy HE experiences in the fellowship of the Trinity.


You long to involved in a few relationships where you can be
known in loving safety,
explored with genuine interest,
discovered by hopeful wisdom, and
touched from the source of spiritual power.

When trouble comes, our first thing focus must be on entering GOD's presence (encounter), participating with others on the journey to GOD (community), and cooperating with the Spirit in forming CHRIST in us (transformation).

I wanted to...
encounter God, to fellowship with each member of the Trinity, to join Their party.
participate in community with other broken, desperate, grateful saints who, stunned by grace, were journeying toward God, unwilling to settle for lesser joy.
experience transformation, to be spiritually formed until others, but especially the Father, could see in me an actual resemblance to Jesus.

Whether my passion for GOD became compelling in this or any moment is up to the Spirit. It's a sovereign work of grace. All I can do is want it and wait.

We must learn to understand what is meant by; attending to GOD (where HE is going), abandoning ourselves to GOD (following wherever HE leads), and union with GOD (enjoying HIM on the journey). We must realize what GOD is doing whenever HE withholds blessings we legitimately desire: HE is pursuing HIS agenda. HE will be with a people who value HIM above every other blessing. HE will create that people at the cost of HIS Son's death and at the cost of being hurt every day by children who really don't want HIM except to use HIM. HE is allowing good dreams to shatter to arouse the better dream of knowing HIM.

Still looking down the narrow path, I could see the sunrise of my transformation. I knew that by the Spirit's power, someday, in this life, I could be
still loving, though discouraged,
still giving, though spent,
still patient, though exasperated,
still sensitive, though offended,
still hopeful, though worn down by life.

It's all about GOD and HIS Glory and our satisfaction in HIM.

I pray that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has, by the riches of his grace, brought us from a state of enmity into his glorious fellowship with himself, may give you such a taste of his sweetness and excellence in this communion as to be stirred up to a greater longing for that eternal enjoyment of him in eternal glory.

As Always...

...I am spending time with GOD... just praying and talking to HIM today. Wanting HIM and only HIM, wanting to draw closer to HIM and only HIM... wanting nothing less than HIM, not even HIS Blessings and I decide to go and read my utmost for His highest...and as always HE meets me there and speaks through the words I am reading.

July 8, 2008
Will To Be Faithful
. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . .
—Joshua 24:15

A person’s will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will— I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do. The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans. The best thing to do is to remember what you did before when you were touched by God. Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you.

". . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . ." Your choice must be a deliberate determination— it is not something into which you will automatically drift. And everything else in your life will be held in temporary suspension until you make a decision. The proposal is between you and God— do not "confer with flesh and blood" about it ( Galatians 1:16 ). With every new proposal, the people around us seem to become more and more isolated, and that is where the tension develops. God allows the opinion of His other saints to matter to you, and yet you become less and less certain that others really understand the step you are taking. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading— the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.

Openly declare to Him, "I will be faithful." But remember that as soon as you choose to be faithful to Jesus Christ, "You are witnesses against yourselves . . ." ( Joshua 24:22 ). Don’t consult with other Christians, but simply and freely declare before Him, "I will serve You." Will to be faithful— and give other people credit for being faithful too.

It always amazes me when I just read something and experience a moment with HIM in it. Those moments are never the same and reminds me just how wonderful GOD is, and I realize how much HE Loves me... and not just me, but everyone.

Today I was pondering a message that a high school classmate of mine wrote with a question and an observation on her part. She said she thought I had the world at my feet in high school.... I was pretty and popular, oh and can't forget that I was a cheerleader (like that really makes somebody something) and then I had a tragedy happen in my family... and now she sees that I have done a one eighty and have given my life to 'the calling' as she put it. It just reminded me that the world sees things so much different than GOD does. Having the world at my feet is like wanting only blessings from GOD and not GOD for who HE is. Which goes along with what I have been reading in Larry Crabb's book "The Pressure's Off." So I was struck again how GOD speaks a theme through so many parts of my life.

Yet, as I finished reading this particular book today, I found myself struggling with the fact that I continually find myself smacked in the face with someone else having something in my life that I was suppose to have... heck, I know I heard GOD's voice and yet they have what I thought was going to be mine. And that's when the words from what I have been reading hit me so hard in the face.... I was living the old way that Crabb continued to write about. This journey is not about living a life full of blessings, it is about wanting nothing less than GOD. Crabb writes that we have a choice, "Either we can keep asking HIM to give us what we think will make us happy- to escape our dark room and run to the playground of blessings- or we can accept HIS invitation to sit with HIM, for now perhaps in darkness, and to seize the opportunity to know HIM better and present HIM well in this difficult world."

Though in my heart I was saying HE was enough... I was still living like HE owed me something for following HIM, especially to Korea. That if I loved HIM enough and obeyed then the blessings would come. The blessing should have been mine... but, I am willing to follow HIM with or with out the blessing... You betcha!!

Wow, that is pressure for sure, but it is not what I want or where my heart truly is. Anyone, who knows me and has walked even a part of the journey with me at some point knows that I am not perfect... but in my heart I always come back to wanting the same thing, MORE of HIM and only HIM. No matter if my life is going good, or things seem pretty yucky... it comes down to being all about HIM...WANTING to be with HIM no matter my circumstances, WANTING to cry: Let me just Know YOU, LORD and Serve YOU!! After all for me knowing HIM and being in HIS presence is all that I want and is the BIGGEST, HUGEST BLESSING EVER!

The Sunset...

Last night I wish I could have captured the view I had of the sunset...

Wow, is all I can say about the picture from GOD I saw.

Most of the sky was dark because it looked like storms, but right over the mountain range was a little clear, blue sky patch. The sun's reflection made a reddish, golden color in the sky....

But what was the most amazing was the clouds over the mountain with the golden light upon it was in the shape of a cross.

All I could do was smile at how awesome, magnificent, glorious, overwhelming, amazing,..... GOD is!!

Everyday HE paints such a Gloriously Magnificent picture for all of us to see in the things around us if only we would take the time to notice them....

This picture in the middle of the sunset was just soooo much more and a huge Hug from GOD.... Oh the beauty HE brings to everything.

Amazing GOD!!

I just got back from spending the weekend in Buena Vista, Colorado, having some fun adventures at Noah's Ark with some folks from the Youth Group at my parents church in Michigan.

It amazed me how the words in "God Calling" went with every day of this adventure I was on. Something we did, I thought, was discussed/talked about, or experienced went right along with what I later read when spending some time alone with GOD. Just where I am at in wanting more of JESUS. I am only gonna share some of the words in "God Calling" and not much of what I was sharing and experiencing with GOD... you will just have to trust that the following words were related in some way to what GOD was doing in, through, and around me the past few days. HE really is amazing.

I drove there on June 26, the two hour or so drive was spent talking to GOD and viewing HIS wonderful creation. That night I read DO NOT RUSH:

Learn in the little daily things of life to delay action until you get My Guidance....
So many lives lack poise. For in the momentous decisions and the big things of life, they ask My help but into the small things they rush alone.
By what you do in the small things those around you are most often antagonized or attracted.

I went Rock Climbing and Rappelling on June 27, the idea of trusting GOD... especially while standing on the edge of a cliff... amazing HE is!

The Eternal Arms shelter you. "Underneath are the Everlasting Arms." This promise is to those who rise above the Earth-life and seek to soar higher, to the Kingdom of Heaven.
You must not feel the burden of your failure. Go on in faith, the clouds will clear, and the way will lighten- the path becomes less stony with every step you take. So run that you may obtain. A rigid doing of the simple duties, and success will crown you efforts....
...Remember now abideth these three Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith is your attitude towards Me. Charity your attitude towards your fellowman but, as necessary, is Hope, which is confidence in yourself to succeed.

I will add only succeeding with CHRIST, can't do it on my own because the Hope comes in HIM.

I went Whitewater Rafting on June 28, of course I have a story just like every time I have gone down Brown's Canyon on the Arkansas River with Noah's Ark. However, thank Heavens that I didn't fall out this time... only ended up in a bush, gave lots of Laughter to all.

It has not been in vain this training and teaching time. The time of suppression, repression, depression is changed now into a time of glorious expression.
Life is flooded through and through with Joy and Gladness. Indeed I have prepared a table of delights, a feast of all good things for you.
Indeed your cup runneth over and you can feel from the very depth of your heart. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

I went for a hike up Mt. Princeton on June 29, we had an opportunity to sit and be still with GOD for over a half hour... Wow, did I meet HIM there in that time and it was awesome to listen to HIS still small voice... I got to spend time in prayer on some matters that really need GOD's attention.... and things that I have and need to continue to hand over to HIM and Trust HIM in and with. I also got to have JUST HIM for a while. Wow, I do love HIM soooo!! I really couldn't believe this day how the words later were a reflection to my time with HIM.

MY WILL - YOUR JOY

Our Lord and our God. Lead us, we beseech Thee. Lead us and keep us.

You can never go beyond My Love and Care. Remember that. No evil can befall you. Circumstances I bless and use must be the right ones for you.
But I know always that the first step is to lay your will before Me as an offering, ready that I shall do what is best, sure that, if you trust Me, what I do for you will be best.
Your second step is to be sure, and to tell me so, that I am Powerful enough to do everything, that no miracle is impossible for me.
Then leave all with Me. Glad to leave all your affairs in a Master Hand. Sure of safety and protection. Remember you cannot see the future. I can.
You could not bear it. So only little by little can I reveal it to you. Accept My Will and it will bring you joy.

I left the morning of June 30, to return home after saying good bye to some new friends, as well as old ones. Thank you Teresa for allowing me to join you all... what an awesome and amazing adventure to take part in.

Take joy wherever you go. You have been much blessed. You are being much blessed.
Such stores of blessing are awaiting you in the months and years that lie ahead. Pass every blessing on.
Love can and does go round the world, passed on the God-currents from one to the other.
Shed a little sunshine in the heart of one, that one is cheered to pass it on, and so My vitalizing joy-giving message goes.
Be transmitters these days. Love and Laugh. Cheer all. Love all.
Always seek to understand others and you cannot fail to love them.
See Me in the dull, the uninteresting, the sinful, the critical, the miserable.
See Me in the laughter of children and the sweetness of old age, in the courage of youth and the patience of man and womanhood.

Being up in the mountains playing this past weekend made me feel alive in a way I haven't felt in a long time. I love being out in GOD's creation. I love doing the activities I did this past weekend. At times it makes me wish I could do them all the time, every day like when I worked at a summer camp. I want to ask GOD why a door hasn't opened up in this area or in some way to do it all the time? But HE knows, HE has a plan and a purpose and HIS plan and purpose are much better than my thoughts on the plan. I know HE has spoken many times things in my life when I was seeking HIM... and I know that those things will happen some day in some way... However, they won't be like any of the thoughts that I have had on the matter. Plus, it really isn't about me doing the things I think I should do or would like to do... it is ALL ABOUT HIM, if CHRIST isn't at the center and what it is all about then what is the point. As I have written recently.... JUST GIVE ME JESUS! HE really is ALL I WANT and NEED.... and that is exactly what I got to do this weekend.... Meet and Experience the RISEN CHRIST. What an Amazing GOD!!

Just Give me JESUS!!

That is all I WANT, JESUS!! I am not looking for an easy life, or the desires of my heart, or even to have blessings come my way... JUST GIVE ME JESUS!

I have been trying to read "The Pressure's Off" by Larry Crabb. I say trying because I have been attempting to pick it up since about Christmas... but, in light of all that is and has been happening in my life this year there seems to be no time.

However, I am making the time to read it. If this is the only book I get read this summer I will feel like I have accomplished a lot.
*though I must make a note here to say that I have read a lot of text book material and articles this year, as well as my quiet time, so I am reading! I am just not reading like I really like to. But then it is ALWAYS GOD's Perfect Timing when I finally do pick up and begin to read.

My prayers before finally picking the book up to read have been that I could have More of JESUS, that's all period. As well as, prayers about Trusting HIM more and being myself again (which I haven't felt like I have been in a long time... feel like I have been pretending and afraid. That I have been walking in fear, as well as pain and hurt of the past).

Anyways, I pick up the book and those things are what Crabb is writing about. He talks about an old way and a new way of living. He states it best when he states that there are two difficulties:

One, it requires us to yield control over what happens in our lives and to trust God to do whatever He thinks best. Regular quiet times and fervent prayer do not guarantee the cancer won't come back; neither do they ensure expanded and effective ministry. We prefer to claim influence,if not control, over which blessings come our way.

Two, it's harder to enjoy God than His blessings. Offer a young child the choice of having Daddy present Christmas morning with no gifts or having Daddy absent and a stack of gifts piled high beneath the tree, and the child might choose the gifts. Only the mature value the blessing of presence over the blessing of presents.

Hmmm... valuing the blessing of presence over the blessing of presents... That soooo stuck out to me because that is where my heart has been lately. Sure I'd love to have some things happen in my life, but truthfully I'd rather have HIS Presence than any Presents, so to speak, that HE could give. Again.... JUST GIVE ME JESUS!

I find that lately in the past few years I have not been living as fully or abundantly as I had at the beginning of my thirties. I find myself living the old way that Crabb is talking about, consumed with my desire to feel alive, not be bored, but to be in a passionate, adventure seeking experience. I then get tired from the effort of making it exciting that I need to find relief in HIM. I think I have been walking down the path wanting the presents, along with the presence. But my heart wants more of JESUS!

Then I get to the part about not being me and walking in my fear, not Trusting GOD. Larry Crabb used an example of an apple that brought my thoughts more into prospective. He writes:

I've viewed myself as a shiny red apple sitting in a fruit bowl positioned on the center of a dining-room table. Look at me from a distance and you'll be drawn. The apple is big, there are no visible bruises, and it's well shaped. Come a little closer- read a book I've written, attend a seminar I'm leading, listen to me teach the Bible- and your impression that the apple is good fruit might be strengthened. You may want to pick it up and take a bite... Have a conversation with me, come to me for spiritual direction, join a small group with me, combine your gifts with mine to develop a ministry- and you might conclude that indeed I'm the juicy, substantial, sweet-tasting apple I appear to be. But I know. I know what you don't know and what I'm determined to never let you discover. There's a worm in the center. A few more bites and you will spit me out. I must keep you from moving too close. To know me much is to like me. To know me fully will reveal how disgusting I really am.... I can buff the apple till it shines and convince you that no worm could possibly live in such a good-looking piece of fruit.

For most of my thirties I haven't minded being fully know... so what happened when I went to Korea, as well as my return? This really hit me that I haven't been me... Kimie is not afraid to let the worm be seen inside the good fruit, but I have been afraid to be me. Afraid that if I was really seen it would be yucky and ugly. This has been so true since meeting someone very special to me. I don't know why he has stayed around, because I sure as heck haven't given him any chances to see the Kimie that I Know GOD has created me to be and that I am. And in the process of walking in that fear I haven't even given him a glimpse of a shiny, juicy, good-looking apple on the outside... so how the heck can I let the one person right now that I want to know me, really know me and see me?

The only way to truly get there is to Trust GOD and JUST GIVE ME JESUS!! Let me put it this way by using more of Crabb's words, yet changing a word to fit me right now.

Who am I? Am I the moral weakling I so often know myself to be, full of pride and fear? Or am I the woman of GOD I long to be, centered in the Person of CHRIST and empowered by the Spirit to reveal HIS Glory through my life?

Again, let me add that it still amazes me that GOD brings me to a book that adds to my own thoughts at the moment. It is like HE is speaking through the words right to my heart and then it feels like a hug from HIM as well. Thank you GOD for loving me that much.HE knows that I want more of HIM and that I want to be centered in HIM in order that HE may be revealed and Glorified through my life. JUST GIVE ME JESUS!

Here is something else from the book that made me think. Crabb stated that: We live near a three-headed dragon. The world is around us, the devil prowls toward us, and the flesh lies within us. When this dragon roars, it doesn't always sound like a volcano erupting. It can seem more like a friend dropping in for supper.


I also liked how Larry Crabb compared Paul and Bilbo Baggins,from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit". He said like Baggins, Paul left a comfortable life and set out to find treasure. He wrote: They both walked away from the Better Life of Blessings and entered on a journey full of hardship and trouble that promised a Better Treasure. For Paul, it was nearness to God- now in measure, then face to face.

That is what I WANT too....I don't want a better life of blessings....

JUST GIVE ME JESUS, and a life that seeks HIM, a life HE can be Glorified in and through.

Yes,....
JUST GIVE ME MORE OF JESUS!

Not again?!

Yes, it did happen again! That is another car problem. On my way home from class tonight something happened with my clutch and I had to pull over and stop the car... I was almost home by the way.

I am not really writing because of that. I just find it interesting how these things continue to happen to me, but...

...the reason I am writing it down is because I can't believe how I am handling it. Usually I get emotional and very stressed over these kinds of things, NOT so this time. Maybe that is because it happens too often and I am getting use to it?

Nah,I believe it is a test from my prayers yesterday. I am not stressed or emotional about it, heck I even laughed about it with a friend over the phone.

I KNOW that it will ALL work out, GOD ALWAYS takes care of me. So, a test to see if I REALLY do TRUST HIM? Maybe...

All I know is that when it happened it was about 10:30pm and I was on my way home from class. My first thought was who am I gonna call and how am I going to get home? I knew I needed to call a tow truck, I also called my mechanic, and called two friends.

Tow truck couldn't make it until morning they said... left a message for mechanic... left a message for friend whom I knew was sleeping and would get the message in the morning... left message for other friend across state. Then I called the police.... I figured they needed to know that my car was there if a tow couldn't happen until morning and thought they could get me home. Well the officer was awesome. She called a tow truck and sent another officer... in the mean time, my friend called back and said she'd come get me and I could use one of their cars, plus spoke to mechanic and friend across state. GOD was all over each moment. PRAISE JESUS!!

Things all worked out and I didn't stress a bit.... I knew HE had it all under control.

Now if I could just get to this same place of Trust in my love life, WOW! Thanks GOD for Loving me soooo much.

Perfect Prayer...

...at least at this moment for me. There have been two written in the past couple of days in "every woman, every day" and they are ones I am saying as well:

LORD, I don't understand why waiting is such an impossible thing for me. Time appears to plow ahead, and the changes I long for seem like distant dreams, whispers of possibility, but far from present reality. Help me understand that in the waiting I am living my questions one day at a time. In living the questions, I can be assured of learning much more about Your nature than instant answers or change will offer me. Please give me patience and faith. Like the rolling of the unending tide, Father, I pray that You will continue to come upon me, restoring my faith and granting me greater patience for the journey.

LORD, I understand how important guarding my heart is to my well-being. The longings and desires of my heart affect every other aspect of my life. Teach me how to guard my heart, how to protect it. Teach me how to keep my heart pure. With a pure heart, I can be pure physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

I know they are someone else's prayers... but the words were almost what I had been praying about when I read them. They are my cry at the moment. Along with the word I say so often in my day:

TRUST

"I TRUST YOU, LORD"

Not in awhile

I haven't posted anything in a while....not because GOD hasn't been talking or moving in my heart... HE meets me exactly where I am at, or with something I think I want or need everyday. HE continues to uplift my heart even when it seems so heavy. Each day I just continue to love HIM more and more.

Yet, I know I haven't written here because I am not for sure I want to share the things GOD has been doing in my heart at the moment, or to share the things I struggle with at the moment. Maybe I feel people have had enough so why do they want to read about my life, after all my life is really uneventful and pretty boring to say the least. Plus, when I share what is going on in my life and things change... well, others get hurt too and I can't handle that. I can handle the pain and rejection myself, but for those who care about me to experience it too just seems to hard.

Recently I have been told that I like "drama" and find a way to create it.... I'd say that is pretty true. Sure life is an adventure, but I don't know if I would call my life adventuresome. I am pretty sure I create the drama, mostly because during those times of turmoil, adventure, storms, etc.... I find a way to draw closer to GOD, therefore find that need to create it. I would also say that it is because I like to take "Risks".... yet, that is where my heart has been struggling lately.

I feel the pain has been tooo much in the past and don't know if I can RISK enough again if there is gonna be pain in the end. Yet, isn't the Risk worth it? I begin to doubt and fear creeps in.... though I am trying with all my heart in every moment of every day to TRUST........ TRUST in GOD!!

Every time a thought comes in... I take it captive and lay it at the foot of the cross.... and just say "I TRUST YOU, GOD!" This is sometimes on a minute basis in a given day. Yes, "I TRUST YOU, GOD!"... Some days it is more like "I WANT TO TRUST YOU, GOD IN EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING!"

My cousin sent me and email the other day that had these words in it:
Worry looks ahead, Sorry looks behind, but Faith looks up!!

It was perfect timing as always in my life. The month of June has been hard for many reasons, yet I always know GOD is right there to hold me in HIS Arms until I fall asleep and Rest... so to speak. I know that I don't want to look behind or ahead, I ONLY want to look UP. After all today is the tomorrow that was thought of yesterday.

Ok, I really need to get back to my homework... I have a busy weekend and week ahead. Class, moving back into My condo, then class... not to mention next week is the last week of school (for work teaching, that is ).

In closing I want to share the words that were in a Birthday ecard from my Dad on my Birthday this year, May 31, 2008. I don't know if he took that much time in contemplating which one to send, but I felt his words really moved me and that if he did find the perfect ones, instead of just finding a card, then he "knows" me pretty darn good.

My Birthday ecard:

Daughter, You are so Loved

She greets the dawn of each new day
with the brightness of the sun itself

And finds joy in the smallest things.

For being wise beyond your years,
yet still believing in the wonder
that each day can bring…

For having your own special dreams
and giving so much of yourself
to make them come true…

For all the ways you make life an adventure
and fill even the most ordinary days
with fun…

you are loved more
than you could ever imagine.

Happy Birthday.

Woman Should...

MAYA ANGELOU'S Best Poem Ever...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants to or needs to...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
something perfect to wear if the employer,
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
a youth she's content to leave behind...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
one friend who always makes her laugh,
and one who lets her cry...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
a good piece of furniture,
not previously owned by anyone else in her family...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored.

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...
a feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to fall in love without losing herself...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to quit a job,
break up with a lover,
and confront a friend,
without ruining the friendship.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
when to try harder,
and when to walk away...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her childhood may not have been perfect...
but it's over...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she would and wouldn't do for love, or more...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to live alone even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...
and a year...

A Child's Wonder

"Finding ways to encourage children's love for learning while establishing them in the Faith is an important investment in the future." by Dennis Fisher

Our children are a gift from GOD
On loan from Heaven above,
To train and nourish in the LORD,
And show to them HIS Love.--Sper

We shape tomorrow's world by what we teach our children today.

All quotes taken from Our Daily Bread for today. Wow, what a gift GOD has bestowed upon us. How are you making a difference in the world of tomorrow?

It seems....

like "when it rains, it pours"...that is the slogan for the salt company that bears my last name, but seems to be sooo true in my life at different times. Right now is feeling like one of those times again.

It just seem likes one thing after another with my car. And then....well, just so much more.

However, recently I have been told that I thrive on this kind of pouring down and make opportunities for it. Maybe so.

Maybe it is because when my life feels like it has drama, excitement, adventure in it, I feel like people care and this life doesn't seem so lonely.

Either way, my last name is still linked to the slogan "when it rains, it pours"...

What I would really like would be to have a quiet, simple life where the only things that poured anywhere were the things of GOD.

May Day

I remember as a kid getting a paper cups and turning them into a basket and then filling them with goodies. Goodies like popcorn and candy. After making these paper cups into baskets, which we called "May Baskets", we would then go and leave them on our neighbor's front step.

I don't know what has happened in my life to recall that memory, but it did remind me that we always did this on May Day and that May Day is May 1st, which is today. I wish I could leave you all May Baskets on your front porch, but since I can't let me share this about Spring with you:

SPRINGTIME (by A.J. Russell in "God Calling")
"Rejoice in the Springtime of the year. Let there be Springtime in your hearts. The full time of fruit is not yet but there is the promise of the blossom. Know surely that your lives too are full of glad promise. Such blessings are to be yours. Such joys, such wonders. All is indeed well. Live in My Sunshine and My Love."

This also happens to be the first Thursday in May which has become known as the National Day of Prayer. SO I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW, HOW I CAN PRAY FOR YOU? As well as, challenge you to pray for others.

"Embrace your smaller world through earnest prayer as you consider lost individuals in your family, neighborhood, and workplace. Then,as you seek to live and give the good news, expect God to open doors of opportunity."
-Joanie Yoder (from Our Daily Bread).

Meeting HIM...

I met GOD in such a beautiful and amazing way tonight in soooo many moments.

First, in a rough, yet awesome phone conversation. As well as, from the love of a friend; in tears; in the Sunset on a walk; passing an important test; a hug from a child, exactly when it was needed; and a beautiful child sharing her torn blanket.

Yes, truly meeting the RISEN CHRIST in parts of my night....like getting a HUG from GOD!!

PRAISE JESUS!

Earth Day

Wow, I just think how today is Earth Day....and that GOD is the creator and HE sure did make everything. Our lives should be centered on and around HIM. Nothing else...it is ALL about HIM.

My friend, Ryan, sent pictures of the view of his backyard: the sun setting behind the mountains. Then, I am remembering my drive home from Grand Junction, as well as my time there with all the beauty GOD has created. And then to think, wow, HE not only created those beautiful views, but me as well as all of you. I am going to share "God Calling" for today:

Trust in Me. Do as I say each moment and all indeed shall be well. Follow out My commands: Divine control, unquestioning obedience- these are the only conditions of supply being ample for your own needs and those of others.

The tasks I set you may have seemingly no connection with supply. The commands are Mine and the supply is Mine and I make My own conditions, differing in each case- but in the case of each disciple, adapted to the individual need.

Have no fear, go forward. Joy- radiant Joy must be yours. Change all disappointment, even if only momentary, into Joy. Change each complaint into laughter.

Rest-Love-Joy-Peace-Work, and the most powerful of these are Love and Joy.

Once again another life change with a job for me is happening. Right now at the school where I work we have two ILC teachers, but next year are going form 2 to 1.75, meaning one teacher will be going to 3/4 time....And today I found out that the teacher would be me.

I know GOD has a plan and these words from "God Calling" along with Matthew 6:25B-26 from the Message used in "Living the Message" today gave me Peace.

(Jesus said,)"There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of GOD. And you count far more to him then birds." Matthew 6:25B-26 (the Message)

Thoughts of...

I drove home yesterday from Grand Junction....what an awesome view I had. I love that GOD led me to Colorado. How can you not see HIM in the beauty of where I live? My thoughts were full of GOD and just how awesome and in control HE is. My thoughts were on how much I want more of HIM in my life and how much I want and need to Trust HIM with Everything in my life. Heck, look at what HE has created!!

Anyways, I had the best 4 hour drive listening to worship songs by David Crowder and Christ Tomlin. Listening to such amazing songs about GOD as I drove through the Rocky Mountains. After all, HE has made everything Glorious...

Oh, to see and feel GOD in such a powerful way. HE was awesome in the little ways HE blessed me too as I was driving, like when I pulled off to get a drink and a "Sonic" was there (it was happy hour)...then having a rest area appear right when I needed it. I know those seem silly....but after a good week on break in a beautiful area with special moments and a special person...Well, I met GOD on my drive home in many cool and interesting ways. Which meant I spent a lot of timing PRAISING HIM and just being in HIS Presence.

GOD continued to send little blessings in the way I thought about emailing a couple of friends, they were people I was thinking about and they actually sent me the email or called first...it was just another way to see and meet the RISEN CHRIST.

HE really is GOOD ALL THE TIME!!

GOD's Love

I just loved thinking about GOD and what GOD's Love really means. As I was pondering my thoughts today it was no surprise to me that "God Calling" by A.J. Russell, would speak to me. Here is what it said:

My children, I come. Hearts eager to do My Will, send out a call that ever I find irresistible. I know no barrier then.

Resignation to My Will keeps Me barred out from more hearts than does unbelief. Can anything be such a crime against Love as being resigned? My Will should be welcomed with a glad wonder if I am to do My Work in the heart and life.

In all true discipleship, and in the true spiritual development of each disciple, there is first the wonder and the joy of first acquaintance, then comes the long plain stretch of lesson-learning and discipline.

But the constant experience of Me, the constant persistent recognition of My Work in daily happenings, the numberless instances in which seeming chance or wonderful coincidence can be, must be traced back to My loving forethought- all these gradually engender a feeling of wonder, certainty, gratitude, followed in time by Joy.

Joy is of two kinds. The Joy born of Love and Wonder, and the Joy born of Love and Knowledge, and between the experience of the two Joys lie discipline, disappointment, almost disillusion.

But combat these in My Strength, persevere in obeying My Will, accept My discipline, and the second Joy will follow.

And of this second Joy it was that I said, "Your joy no man taketh from you."

Do not regret the first, the second is the greater gift.

This so hit at home in my heart today. It was refreshing to have such a long quiet time with the LORD!! I have been seeing GOD in so many ways the past couple of days, and just longing to draw closer to HIM. Not only was today "God Calling" sooo powerful, but yesterday's spoke to me as well, even as I reread it today. It said:

Love, love, love. Tender Love is the secret. Love those you are training, love those who work with you, love those who serve you.

Dwell on that thought- God is Love. Link it up with My "I and My Father are one." Dwell on My actions on Earth. See in them Love in operation.

If it was God who so acted, then it was Love, Perfect Love, performed those actions, those wonders. Then you, too, must put Love (God) into action in your lives. Perfect Love means perfect forgiveness. Lo, My children, you see that where God is there can be no lack of forgiveness, for that is really lack of love.

God is Love...no judging.
God is Love...no resentment.
God is Love...all patience.
God is Love...all power.
God is Love...all supply.

All you need to have is love to God and man. Love to God ensures obedience to every wish, every command. Love is the fulfilling of all law.

Pray much for love.

GOD's Love, what an amazing thing. All I want is HIS Love in my life. For that to be what my life is about and what others see. To know that it is ALL About HIM! Each day and moment is an opportunity to see HIM, the RISEN CHRIST in action.

"Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." Ephesians 5:15-17

The Movie Again

I saw "27 Dresses" again at the dollar theater this time and again, how ironic it was to be moved in some way due to my own circumstances at this time by this particular movie.

A lot has happened and changed in my life since I first saw this movie, and again I wouldn't even put it on my list of good 'chic flicks', but for some reason GOD has used this particular movie, twice now, to speak into my heart. To move me, to warm me, to allow me to ponder some thoughts.

Hmm...HE really can be in ALL of our story. In all the little things, even if they are silly. HE speaks in so many ways, maybe we can just hear HIM when we are longing to, desire to, need to, want to....Heck, I want that and HIM all the time.

Don't you? PRAISE JESUS, that HE can be found in each moment of our day.

Peace from GOD

Wow, "God Calling" was exactly what I needed to hear today in light of all the warnings and concerns I have heard recently and my reply back that I am Trusting in GOD.

Here is what GC had to read:

Courage
I am here. Fear not. Can you really trust Me? I am a God of Power, as well as a Man of Love, so human, yet so divine.
Just trust. I cannot, and I will not, fail you. All is well. Courage.
Many are praying for you both.

I also really like scripture used in "Living the Message" from the Message Bible:

Teach believers with your life; by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by intergrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching.
1 Timothy 4:12b-13

I just felt GOD speaking and touching me.

On my Mind...

Every time you cross my mind,
I break out in exclamation of thanks to God.
Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer.
I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.
Philippians 1:3-4 (the Message)

I Have...

When GOD decides to bless you, HE really can go beyond your wildest dreams. HE has given me an incredible gift.

And the thing that makes this gift stand out from anything else and any other in my life is... this gift is choosing me.

I have wanted to be chosen by someone I wanted to choose for as long as I can remember. And I am being chosen. GOD chose me soooo long ago and continues to choose me day after day. And now, HE has come in the form of flesh to choose me.

Over the last month...I have been blessed beyond anything I could ever imagine. I can't wait to see how my tomorrows unfold.

All I know is that for right now, this very minute...

I HAVE the bestest gift of all in HIM and him, my Ty.

And yes, my Heart is spoken for!!

Seek Beauty & Simplicity

Those are the titles for the past two days in "God Calling" and they just hit a place in my heart at the moment so I want to share some of them both.

March 11
Draw Beauty from every flower and Joy from the song of the birds and the color of the flowers.

I am with you. When I wanted to express a beautiful thought, I made a lovely flower.

When I want to express to man what I am-what My Father is- I strive to make a very beautiful character....

...Look for Beauty and Joy in the world around. Look at a flower until its beauty becomes part of your soul. It will be given back to the world again by you in the form of a smile or a loving word.

Listen to a bird. Take the song as a message from My Father. Let it sink into your soul. That too will be given back to the world in ways I have said. Laugh more, laugh often. Love more. I am with you. I am your Lord.

That is truly all I want to see each and every day is the Beauty and Joy around me that is GOD. I am still hoping and waiting for HIS beauty in a flower of some sort. I know that I will see HIM in every part of this journey. Oh, to grasp hold of that Beauty and the Joy HE brings in each and every thing and moment.

March 12
Simplicity...
Choose simple things always. Love and reverence the humble and the simple. Have only simple things here. Your standard must never be the world's standard.

I am sooo very thankful that GOD has never let my standards be the world's standards. Especially, when it has come to matters of my heart. Though I have stumbled and fallen many times.... HE has kept me from following the ways of the world.

Waiting for GOD's standards has led me to an awesome indescribable gift, my Ty!

My HEART is...

I have really liked the song, "Spoken For" by Mercy Me. I have known for a long while that my heart has been spoken for by the LORD. HE has always continued to grab a hold of it and has kept it for HIMself for so long.

I have always dreamed that someday GOD would allow HIMself to come in the flesh, so to speak, and my heart would be spoken for here on earth. Or maybe I should write that GOD would bring the man of my dreams into my life and I would know my heart was spoken for.

Well, I am pretty sure that I can say that I am 99.9% sure that I have never been here before (that would be a line in a song thanks to Brian McComas). My heart has never felt the way it is at this exact moment before. I would also say that I am almost 100% sure that my heart is finally spoken for.

By being spoken for by JESUS and thanks to my Ty...

My heart is smiling...
My heart is skipping beats...
I think, My heart is finally spoken for.

PRAISE JESUS!!

As you Wish

That line from the movie "Princess Bride" was used in church this morning. I think it struck me because of writing what I did yesterday. I know when I started this journey on this blog I wrote how on a daily basis in my life I have looked to GOD and said "Here I am, send me". And yet, I liked this too today. To stand before our RISEN SAVIOR and to give HIM all and respond to HIS calling, prompting, nudge, whatever you want to call it, by saying, "As you wish."

The message was pretty much about being in a season of 'winter' and when you're in that season and feel like running, don't run away. But run to, run today, and run together.

Just made me thankful that I have a RISEN SAVIOR to run to, that there is no time like today...why wait?, and that I have others who are willing to run with me. I am presently not in a winter, I have just past through that season and am sooo thankful to be in this spring.

GOD has brought new in my life in just about every area. It is refreshing and I look forward to watching the flowers bloom. If that makes sense to any of you. At least it does to me.

Today, tell GOD "as you wish" while you are running to HIM. And make sure you reach out and ask others to run with you.

Starfish

GOD does continue to bless and speak in so many ways. A story is going on right in front of us and we get to choose whether or not we are among the characters. GOD has already designed our part, it is up to us whether or not we meet HIM in the story and decide to participate.

Thursday night was my last class meeting for my first class in my Masters program. Our professor gave us a poem and told us to start collecting things that encourage us or touch our lives...I thought, isn't this what my blog is all about. Recording my part of the story. If I would keep or write about everything that has touched my life and encouraged me...I don't think I could. GOD is just so amazing and has done so much just for me, times that by all of you. What Love that demonstrates all the time.

Are my eyes and ears open to the RISEN CHRIST? Do I see HIM and hear HIM in everything? Do you wonder why you continue to journey everyday down a path that seems to have no ending? Can you not see the end of your tunnel? Do you wonder if your life makes a difference?

Here is the poem my Professor gave us on Thursday to start adding to our collection:

Every day, an old man walked the beach with a pail, picking up starfish that had been washed in by the tide, and throwing them back into the sea. One day a young boy stopped the old man and asked, "Why do you throw the starfish back? It doesn't matter. They will only wash up on the shore again tomorrow." The old man picked the starfish out of his pail, threw it as far as he could into the sea and replied, "It mattered to that one."

If you think your life, your story, your journey, and the things you do in it don't make a difference to someone then look above and ask the RISEN SAVIOR to show you the way. Lean on HIM daily, draw ever closer to HIM and learn to Love HIM more and more each day. For your life does matter to HIM. Amazing how HE continues to pick us up and throw us back into the sea, into the game of life every time we wash back up to shore.

I went home after class and had my quiet time....I found it interesting that the message in "every Woman, every day" went along with these same thoughts. So I met the RISEN CHRIST again in that moment. Here is what it said for February 28:

We are to love God above anything else in this world, with as much strength and passion as each of us possibly can. We demonstrate this love for God by focusing our thoughts and energies on those things He's prepared for us to do and that are also pleasing to Him.

Does this mean God is your one and only constant thought through out the day? No. But even as you think on the various other things that demand your attention, should you be loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind? Absolutely. When we demonstrate responsible stewardship of the life He has given us, our lives offer proof of our love. (taken from "Every Woman's Battle, page 70)

I also loved the prayer offered in the same book on the following day:

Holy God, You who deserve 100 percent of my love and affection, show me the parts of my heart that I've given away to others. Please make my heart whole and make it wholly Yours.

That is my prayer too, I want to be wholly HIS. I want HIM to have all my thoughts, strength, and passion. Wholly HIS...I like the sound of that. HE is my everything and shouldn't I demonstrate that same love by giving HIM ALL of me.

GOD is...

...good all the time and all the time GOD is good.

This was a phrase that I said at my church in Korea every Sunday. God Is Good, was the titled for Our Daily Bread today. It made me miss the people I met in Korea and my time spent with them and mostly GOD there.

Here are two parts that stood out to me from ODB:

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. Psalm 25:8

We can't rely on feelings. But day by day as we choose to trust Him more, we learn to believe with confidence that God is good--all the time.
-Anne Cetas

A teacher's pay...

The following was sent to me by a friend, who is also a teacher. I loved it and felt I had to share it here, especially with all that is happening in my world with being a special ed. teacher and getting my masters.

May it make you smile as well. May you recall a teacher who did something extra special in your life to change your world. For me, I always think about Miss Steed and Mrs. Watson. For that matter, most of my teachers from Jonesville. GOD blessed me in such amazing ways in my life, even before I really knew HIM.

Those teachers NEVER got paid nearly as much as they deserved, but the eternal value is worth more than they will ever know. Here's that email:

Teacher's Salary

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do--baby sit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time. That would be $19.50 a day (7:00 AM to 3:30 (or so) PM with just 25 min. off for lunch). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

NOW... How many do they teach in a class, 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! We're not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 x 180= $105,300 per year.

What about those special teachers and the ones with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage, and just to be fair, round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 x 6 1/2 hours x 30 children x 180 days = $245,700 per year.

Wait a minute--there's something wrong here! Average teacher salary $50,000/180 days = $277/per day/30 students = $9.23/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student. A very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even try - with your help - to EDUCATE your kids! WHAT A DEAL....

Make a teacher smile; send this to someone else who appreciates teachers...

My Valentine's Gift

I had the BESTEST Valentine's Day that I have ever had. Why you ask since you all know I am single? Well, it is because my Valentine was GOD Himself. And also, because HE gave me the best gift ever.

I had a huge paper due tonight and really needed some time to finish it. It was going to snow and I was praying very hard for a snow day. If we had a snow day then I would have all day to work on the paper. I didn't get the snow day, but GOD gave me something even better. Because it was Valentine's Day most of my kiddos had parties in their general ed. classroom. Thursdays are also a special day for my sped kids and that gives me a longer lunch hour. We also had a delayed start at school, meaning we started the day an hour later. So I only had to be in the classroom for my reading group. I KNEW this was GOD. HE knew exactly what I needed, because I got to spend time on my paper (which was finished at 2:10pm). If we would have had a snow day I would not have gotten to work as easily as I did, for at home I would have had distractions. It was just a beautiful boutique for me.

Not only that, but because of writing this paper and two others that are all due I haven't slept. For the past week, I haven't gone to bed until 2:30 or 3:00 am. I am feeling exhausted and wondering if I have what it takes to complete this Masters? So yesterday I received this in an email from a friend:

Being in school is not easy. Higher education is somewhat like a "rite of passage". It is designed to see who can make the cuts. You are one of the toughest people I know. You can do it. I'm so proud of you for what you are trying to accomplish and all your hard work. I look at you and feel for you remembering many a nights like you've had. Before long you will start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and you won't believe that you've actually done it. There is no greater accomplishment in life. When I was at my graduation, I literally wepted as I sat there after my name was called. I could not believe that I did it. But I did do it and you are going to do it too!!!!

And then before going to bed late, I had to read a devotion. "God Calling" for February 13, went right along with that above email and what I needed to hear from GOD. Here is what it said:

In a race it is not the start that hurts, not the even pace of the long stretch. It is when the goal is in sight that heart and nerves and courage and muscles are strained almost beyond human endurance, almost to the breaking point. So with you now the goal is in sight, you need your final cry to Me. Can you not see by the nerve and heart rack of the past few days that your race is nearly run? Courage, courage. Heed My voice of encouragement. Remember that I am by your side, spurring you on to victory. In the annals of heaven, the saddest records are those that tell of the many who ran well, with brave stout hearts, until in sight of the goal, of victory, and then their courage failed. The whole host of heaven longed to cry out how near the end was, to implore the last spurt, but they fell out, never to know until the last day of revealing, how near they were to victory.

I shared that with my friend who sent the email and she wrote this:

Well Kimie I guess I understand why I felt led to write that email to you yesterday. I guess God is your biggest cheerleader here making sure that you know He is behind you even when it is tough.

So after reading that last night and GOD giving me the gift HE did today. Again, just reminders to me about HOW GREAT GOD IS!

I then received some great words of encouragement from a couple of friends who thought of me today. The first was an ecard which said:

Your Divine Valentine

A Valentine may play a love song for you,
but GOD sings you the
sweetest love song in the universe

The Lord your God...will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

A Valentine may give you flowers,
But GOD sent you the
most beautiful rose of all, Jesus

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Song of Solomon 2:1

A Valentine may take you out to dinner,
but GOD has invited you
to the most amazing feast ever given

Blessed are those who are called to the marriage of the supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:9

A Valentine may bring you chocolate,
but GOD provides you with
something even sweeter, His Word

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter then honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

A Valentine may be far away,
But GOD is always with you

I am with you always. Matthew 28:20

A Valentine may give you something,
but GOD has given you everything

God...gives us richly all things to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17

A Valentine may love you for a lifetime,
but GOD loved you before you were born
and will love you for all eternity!

Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love...with loving kindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3

Praying you're blessed by the wonderful love of GOD this Valentine's Day and always!

I also received an email from a friend, who didn't know what the words would mean to me or even if I would want to read them. I did and it reminded me of the times when I have had dates with JESUS. I started them in Nashville and have had quit a few here in Denver as well. The following words reminded me of those times:

Dating Jesus: The Single Cure for Loneliness
Julie Ferwerda

"You'll never be satisfied in a relationship until you're satisfied with Jesus."

If you're single, you've probably heard the well meaning, albeit superficial-sounding, vague admonition thrown at you usually by seemingly content married people. Great. How in the heck do you find contentment with Jesus when you feel the daily nagging ache for true earthly love--the love that even God said is the better way (Genesis 2:18)?

Really, I've found there's only one way. Date Jesus. And the reason why married people "insensitively" tell you in so many words to do this, is because they know that marriage doesn't solve all your longings for intimacy and belonging. They're trying to give you the hint that, while marriage has it's advantages and is overall a good thing, it isn't the end all to loneliness and love hunger. Many have discovered this only after they got married and were still lonely. Now they're letting you in on the secret: only by dating Jesus will you find what you're truly searching for.

I just so happen to be married, but a few years ago when I was single--and lonely--I began dating Jesus. Now that I'm married, I still date Jesus. My husband, great guy though he is, can't possibly be all I need for unconditional love, security, intimacy and belonging. Nor I for him. Without dating Jesus, I'd still be as lonely as a raft at sea.

Is it possible? Is it weird, thinking of Jesus as a romantic interest? And how do I do it?

The Bible tells us that when we get to our heavenly kingdom, we (his followers) will walk the holy matrimony aisle as his bride, celebrating our own great wedding day with our Prince of Peace (Revelation 19:7-9). That means to me that while we're here on earth, we are in a sacred courtship with the King of kings. We're in the relationship-building stage, getting to know him mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, but not getting to be united with him physically ... until our wedding day. There's nothing weird about thinking of Jesus like your greatest romantic interest, even if you're a guy. He wants that kind of intimacy with you so that he can win your heart with his amazing, perfect love, and make you ready for the big day when you get to live happily ever after with him.

THANK you my friend. I love dating JESUS. Must admit I haven't done it as frequently as I use to. I know once I am settled back into my own place I hope to start making a date night again.