My Pastor recently wrote about things that inspire him and how they have changed over the years. I read it thought it was nice and moved on...or so I thought...
My subconscious must have taken up the string of thought and began to work out the things that inspire me and how my life has been changed and affected by them. The past couple of days, the information gathered has slowly made its way back to the forefront of my mind.
So here are things that move and inspire me....not a completely comprehensive list...but a start.
..... Seeing anyone come to Christ and their world turned upside down uncontrollably by the gospel.
.... Realizing that my Savior did not just die for the middle class white republican man, he died for the poverty stricken and the wealthy, the derelict that society gives up on, just as much as he died for the Mother Teresas and Billy Grahams of the world. What HOPE!
.... A song that "makes my DNA remember Eden and my Heart long for HOME."
....The pure laughter of good friends...the kind that makes your stomach hurt for hours afterwards!
....Those that love their God so much that they are willing to sacrifice their lives, the comforts of the suburbs and time away from their family to serve Him.
....Those that love their nation so much that they are willing to sacrifice their lives and time away from their family to serve it.
....Church leadership that preach the gospel not traditional moral retoric, and who live out what they preach. Who are willing to go and sacrifice time away from those they love to further the message of the Father they Love!
....Friends that are aware of the sinful depravity of my soul and make the choice to love me anyway.
....The purity of a child's laughter
....Beauty that can be captured within a viewfinder.
....The face of an African baby
....a cool, quiet morning on the patio with a rich cup of coffee
....a full moon
....the roar of the ocean
....that moment just before dawn when the birds first wake up and start to stir
What stirs your affections for Him?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Interesting Day
I am always humbled and amazed by how much God chooses to love me. I have a friend who does not believe that God cares about the "little things." He believes that we were created (by evolution) and then placed on earth and into orbit and God only should be "bothered" by the big things.
Praise the Lord my life is contrary proof of this thought process! What an amazing week this has been! Last Sunday I blogged saying I was packing. Well three days later I was still packing. Why is it that you get this incredible amount of packing done and then sometime in the wee small hours of the morning while you are fast asleep, little elves creep out and take things out of boxes...and create never ending piles of stuff! People I do not have that much stuff, i just couldn't seem to get it all in the box. I also love how packing starts out very organized. Books go in book boxes, lamps go in lamp boxes, all the kitchen goes in a box, then all of the bathroom stuff in a bathroom box, however, by the end of the packing you have boxes with mustard and ketchup in with curtain rods! All sorts of spiritual examples spring to mind with this!
Moving day came on Tuesday, and even though Lisa and I had stayed up till late in the night there was STILL packing to be done. One of those "little details" that God is so good at comes into play here. My sweet former roommate Lisa, (we have only been apart 5 days it is miserable), works for a moving company, and because they were already moving her for free (all the way to Austin. sad.) They offered to load up my stuff and move it across town for free too! What a blessing! We got boxes for free and movers for free. God certainly took care of those tiny details.
Some other details I'll show you later with photos of my new place, but this apartment fulfills not only my basic need for shelter, but my some of my selfish little wants that bring me joy as well.
Other things that were happening on Tuesday....In Mary Kay, I had the production finished, but needed two more of my 6 team members active to be on target for the first level of car! I had been working towards this goal all month long, and the production had been done for weeks. My director had done interview after interview, I had new team members, but only 3 of them were in active status at the time. I woke up on Tuesday, knowing that I absolutely could not think about it. I prayed as I got up and gave it over to the Lord, if it was going to be done, He was going to have to do it. One of my team members called as I was waiting at my new place for my AT&T guy to get the internet installed and needed to get an order placed and wanted some advice on holiday gifts. I was able to talk her through that and sure enough, she placed her order and was active. Praise the Lord! Only one more was needed......
Before I could even give thought to that, the next moment Lisa called and said she couldn't find picasso (my cat) anywhere.
I left the AT&T guy at the house and off I drove back to the old apartment. We searched for 5 hours, but no kitty to be found. Finally we had to leave...both of us were so tired and sore and depressed we were leaving each other. Lisa compared it to the last episode of Friends where they turn out the lights in Monica's apartment for the last time. We stood at our island were we'd had so many conversations, most of our meals, laughed, cried, discussed life, God and boys, and we prayed with each other. Thanking God for the year and a half we had lived in that place, for the laughter and the tears, for the lack of even one argument, for the provision of unexpected needs, and provision of desired wants, for warm beds and shelter when so many don't have that security. We thanked him for letting us find each other, bring us together as roommates and building a lasting friendship between us. We also prayed for the people that would live there next. I don't know who they are, but I hope they find Jesus in that place, or if they already know Him..grow deeper with Him. We cried a moment longer and prayed for Picasso, and then left.
As I pulled into the parking garage of my new apartment building, I got a phone call...one of my team members called to say that she decided to come back active in her business and with that phone call at 10 pm...I was officially done with month one tracking for my 1st free car! I just sat exhausted and overwhelmed in my car and cried!
Picasso was found on Friday, after an exhaustive search. My friend, B, was walking her dog and found him just hanging out at the Lofts across the street! He was unharmed, quite a bit hungry, and has now taken over his rightful control of the new apartment.
God is in the details, he cares about the small things. Why did Picasso get lost, why did I have to wait till the very last second to wrap up month one car production...why did we have to go through that stress? I don't know, but I know that my faith is stronger today because of it. Mark Lowry says, that God shows up in the interruptions of our plans. We think we have things all figured out and that we know exactly which direction we are going in and how we are going to get there. Then God shows up and says, "Sweet child, I have such a better way. You may not like the direction at 1st, but if you don't resist, and you walk the path I have drawn up for you, you will have "joy unspeakable and full of glory".
Praise the Lord my life is contrary proof of this thought process! What an amazing week this has been! Last Sunday I blogged saying I was packing. Well three days later I was still packing. Why is it that you get this incredible amount of packing done and then sometime in the wee small hours of the morning while you are fast asleep, little elves creep out and take things out of boxes...and create never ending piles of stuff! People I do not have that much stuff, i just couldn't seem to get it all in the box. I also love how packing starts out very organized. Books go in book boxes, lamps go in lamp boxes, all the kitchen goes in a box, then all of the bathroom stuff in a bathroom box, however, by the end of the packing you have boxes with mustard and ketchup in with curtain rods! All sorts of spiritual examples spring to mind with this!
Moving day came on Tuesday, and even though Lisa and I had stayed up till late in the night there was STILL packing to be done. One of those "little details" that God is so good at comes into play here. My sweet former roommate Lisa, (we have only been apart 5 days it is miserable), works for a moving company, and because they were already moving her for free (all the way to Austin. sad.) They offered to load up my stuff and move it across town for free too! What a blessing! We got boxes for free and movers for free. God certainly took care of those tiny details.
Some other details I'll show you later with photos of my new place, but this apartment fulfills not only my basic need for shelter, but my some of my selfish little wants that bring me joy as well.
Other things that were happening on Tuesday....In Mary Kay, I had the production finished, but needed two more of my 6 team members active to be on target for the first level of car! I had been working towards this goal all month long, and the production had been done for weeks. My director had done interview after interview, I had new team members, but only 3 of them were in active status at the time. I woke up on Tuesday, knowing that I absolutely could not think about it. I prayed as I got up and gave it over to the Lord, if it was going to be done, He was going to have to do it. One of my team members called as I was waiting at my new place for my AT&T guy to get the internet installed and needed to get an order placed and wanted some advice on holiday gifts. I was able to talk her through that and sure enough, she placed her order and was active. Praise the Lord! Only one more was needed......
Before I could even give thought to that, the next moment Lisa called and said she couldn't find picasso (my cat) anywhere.
I left the AT&T guy at the house and off I drove back to the old apartment. We searched for 5 hours, but no kitty to be found. Finally we had to leave...both of us were so tired and sore and depressed we were leaving each other. Lisa compared it to the last episode of Friends where they turn out the lights in Monica's apartment for the last time. We stood at our island were we'd had so many conversations, most of our meals, laughed, cried, discussed life, God and boys, and we prayed with each other. Thanking God for the year and a half we had lived in that place, for the laughter and the tears, for the lack of even one argument, for the provision of unexpected needs, and provision of desired wants, for warm beds and shelter when so many don't have that security. We thanked him for letting us find each other, bring us together as roommates and building a lasting friendship between us. We also prayed for the people that would live there next. I don't know who they are, but I hope they find Jesus in that place, or if they already know Him..grow deeper with Him. We cried a moment longer and prayed for Picasso, and then left.
As I pulled into the parking garage of my new apartment building, I got a phone call...one of my team members called to say that she decided to come back active in her business and with that phone call at 10 pm...I was officially done with month one tracking for my 1st free car! I just sat exhausted and overwhelmed in my car and cried!
Picasso was found on Friday, after an exhaustive search. My friend, B, was walking her dog and found him just hanging out at the Lofts across the street! He was unharmed, quite a bit hungry, and has now taken over his rightful control of the new apartment.
God is in the details, he cares about the small things. Why did Picasso get lost, why did I have to wait till the very last second to wrap up month one car production...why did we have to go through that stress? I don't know, but I know that my faith is stronger today because of it. Mark Lowry says, that God shows up in the interruptions of our plans. We think we have things all figured out and that we know exactly which direction we are going in and how we are going to get there. Then God shows up and says, "Sweet child, I have such a better way. You may not like the direction at 1st, but if you don't resist, and you walk the path I have drawn up for you, you will have "joy unspeakable and full of glory".
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