Disappointment: Pain

Another question that I'm sure at one point or an other we have thought these things. "God why all this pain?"  "Why must I endure and suffer all this pain?" "Why must the world suffer all this pain?" "Being a all loving God how can you watch all this pain and not do something?" I know I have thought this things, and I can probably put money on the fact I will probably think it again at some point.  

I had one person say to me one time "How can God look into the face of an innocent child and not save them from pain and suffering?"  " How could He not rush to help them?" "How could He let such awful things happen to then?" Honestly in that moment I had no idea what to say.  When we think about it don't all of us in some way want to scream this from the top of our lungs some times too.  "How can you let such evil happen God?"

There are 2 things that I have come to understand a little better in my search to understand disappointment with God and pain.  The first thing is that if we have all powerful God and a all loving God to the purest sense, then we have one thing for sure.  This one thing is that Love in its most purest form is not coercive.  Now if someone would ask me if love was coercive I would obviously say no, but I will have to give credit for this thought and say I heard this idea from a wonderful sermon from Ty Gibson called, Through Tears.

True an utter love is not coercive.  True love is not generated by coercive tactics.  You can't hold someone at gun point and say "love me!" and suddenly their heart goes a flutter for you.  Their heart my flutter for sure out of fear, and they might even say they love you, but they would not Really love you. If you really want someone to truly love you, you have to show love to them and try and draw them by your love.  You have to give them freedom right?

If true love requires freedom then there has to be choice. There has to be an option to walk the other way away from love.  You could love someone soooo much and long for them to love you and do all these great things for them, but they could still choose to walk away from you.  So then love is risky.

This is how Ty writes it Love=Freedom=Risk.  

This concept seems so simple but honestly is very deep if you think about it.  It blew the lid off my jar of cranky complaints against God.  For it helped me see how an All Powerful  & LOVING God could have a world like ours, like Ty would say, "On His hands".  Pain exists because God will not force anyone to love Him.  

This brings me to my other thought.  As a medical professional I see  a lot of people with pain.  Nearly every person I see is suffering from pain and looking to me to help them get better.  Now is pain a bad thing? Well.... in some ways yes... but is pain always bad? No.  From the physical side of things pain can be a very good thing.  It warns the body something is wrong.  Pain saves lives many times! If you get a huge gash in your leg and you have no pain you could bleed out and die before you noticed enough to get help. 

Honestly, even emotional pain is a warning system that tells us something is wrong and we need help.  Even emotional pain can and will kill us from the inside out if we don't get help.  Pain in many ways is a gift and an opportunity to get the help we need to survive.  

Now looking at pain from a broader perspective gets a little harder.  We look at our world and see that their are innocent people being tortured, killed, displace from their homes, starving, living in war zones.  If we thought of the world like the human body, this would be warning signs that there is something majorly wrong. This world has a huge infection and needs help.  Are you following me?  Its true right?  Most of us would agree with this.  

So an all powerful God made this world and man, but because He is all loving as well, He gave freedom.  He was up front and told Adam and Eve there is a disease out there that will kill you.  "If you do this one thing you will be infected and die." But He didn't force them to stay in His love, He gave them freedom.  True to the all loving God He is. We know the story.... Adam and Eve chose to turn away from God and the horrible infection started for the whole of the human race, Sin.  

We are lovers of sin, but God knows this is fatal.  But He allowed freedom because He is a God of true love.  He restrains Himself from just vaporizing us, because He first loved us.  He longs to save us from our condition but He still has to allow freedom.  So He made a plan to cure our disease.  Jesus!

• John 3:16-17 - " For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" NIV

So He personally sacrifices Himself!  This All powerful & All loving God permanently marries Himself to the Human race because He SO loves us.  And as pure love would do, is willing to die and take on the whole worlds infection to cure us!  And hopefully show us how much He loves us so we will chose to love Him and be saved!

This is the true message of the Gospel!  Why the Gospel is such Good News Right!!!  So in some ways we can begin to understand and believe that This all powerful God is truly All Loving and does hurt with everyone of us suffering on this planet, but also doesn't take all pain away because each person has choice.  Pain is an indication we need our savior and we live in a war zone. You cannot expect that your life will be peachy in a war zone. We have an infection each one of us.  But God does not force anyone to choose love over hate.  It is not love if it is by force.  So we have ones that chose love and ones that don't.  This is war.  We suffer and have pain.... but honestly in a way it is a gift because it lets us know something is wrong and we need to turn to Jesus!!!

Paul in his ministry talks about a thorn in his side and that he asks God 3 times to take it away.  God tells him this:

• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - "   But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." NIV

I look at this verse in a whole new light.  God says "No" to Paul 3 times in his hardship.  Are you feeling like that?  Are you having some major pain in your life and you are begging God to remove it?  God seems to be telling you "No" over and over?  Take courage!  Paul suffered the same!  God told him basically "Paul, I know this is hard for you but I will help you to endure this" "My grace is sufficient for you!"  "When you are feeling your worse and the world is pressing in and you feel totally weak and helpless, I will show my power to the world when you are at your weakest!"  He told Paul "your suffering is not in vain, and I will help you through, and reach many others through it"

Isn't that the truth so many times.  We are inspired and see the love and power of God when someone else that suffers way more than us witnesses for Jesus and finds ways to show the world Jesus love despite their disability or horrible abuse done to them or losing several loved ones to war.  Don't we look at them and realize in the deepest part of our hearts there HAS to be a Loving, powerful, and Amazing God out there if some can endure all that and still witness and do all they do despite all that has happened to them? I know I sure do! 

So in my search recently, I have to say and beg to point out that pain is relative.  And in many ways pain can be a gift to us and this human race.  I know some one reading this may want to punch me for saying that, especially if in the middle of major pain in life,  but I challenge you to really think about it.  God has the cure!  It isn't to remove all of pain in this world it is to surgically remove the cancer eating our souls. It Will be painful, we Will suffer, not because He wants us to.  Its about saving us spiritually and eternally from the inside out, not from the outside in.  Pain is relative, but doesn't ever have to be in vain.  Ultimately Christ suffered most so we could suffer less! Remember, God's grace is sufficient for you too! Take courage!

Lens of Love

So lenses are very amazing things.  They are able to take in light and show and image to the viewer.   In photography, the lens makes all the difference on what you see.  Things can appear totally different than what they really are.  There are lenses with glass that warps an image to be really close up and the edges far away, or one that makes things close seem far away, or even with certain colors prominent. 

My lens or lack of lens has been a little skewed lately. Have you had times like that?  You know like you have a good friend and they seem a little distant, or a brother or a sister you are close to said something that seemed a little off, or a co-worker you normally get along great with seems to not like one of your ideas.  It kinda messes with us doesn't it.  

In theses situations we have choices right?  Based on our experience with them and the truth we know, we can choose what we do with the things that seem not good.  We choose to believe what we see on this one occasion as the truth, or we can choose to believe what we know about and have seen from the past. We can decide what lens we will look at the situation.

Now we were meant to be able to look at the world with pure clean lenses.  God made man to see the world as it really is, a beautiful gift of love from our creator. But the Devil had other plans to come and distort or vision and inject sin into this world.  And we all know sin as flipped this world upside down.  Now what is right, SEEMS wrong, and whats wrong, SEEMS right.  

The beautiful thing about God is that He gave us a lens that helps flip the image we think we see into the image it really is.  

JESUS

• John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." NIV

So when we think life is too much and we are doomed, we aren't! Thinking about this Love of God by giving us Jesus, doesn't this have the capacity to change our view?  Of  COURSE! 

So all those people you know that may have let you down sometimes or done something that didn't feel good. If you choose to look through the lens of love, that they love you, you can trust them.  Then you know that even when things a little off, you can trust their love for you.   You are able to still move forward in the relationship with them even when things aren't perfect.

It is the same with God!  God does so much for us every day from the warm bed we sleep in at night, to the flowers outside, to fuzzy little mongrel that welcomes you when you come home from work! But besides the things we enjoy now God has given us JESUS! He gave us Jesus to show us His great and abounding love for us beyond question!!!!  So even if our warm bed is taken from us, or the flowers forget to bloom, or the fuzzy mongrel is no more, that we can look to and through the Jesus and this Great Love, to know that God looks out for us and will not abandon us!

So as usual and as many of us do sometimes, I got down about life circumstances.  In times like these, I lose my lens.  I decide to try and look at the word and my circumstances through my own eyes and start doubting God's love for me. I get lost in the lack of a spouse or kid when all my friends have one, or in dissatisfaction with my job or family.  Instead of stopping and taking the time to look through the lens of Jesus.  I cry out to God and say "why is everything so messed up!!!"  And God gently reminds me "Remember My Love"  "Look to and through the lens of My Love, Jesus"

I was sitting in church yesterday and I was listening to the music being played for the offertory "Redeemed".  The line that always touches me is "Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, HIS CHILD AND FOREVER I AM" 

With that kind of love, how can we not want to look through the lens of love always!  I pray for you and for me that we get better at choosing the lens of love, over any other in this world.  God bless you this week!  Amen!

Singing Over You!

"The Lord your God is in your midst,
 a mighty one who will save;
 he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing"

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

I was just recently introduced to this verse.  I just so love the picture it paints of God.  That He rejoices over us as His kids!  That He quiets us with His love and is so overwhelmed with love for us He sings loudly over us!  

Can you imaging God walking around heaven saying your name and how much He loves you and starts singing in joy over you and the relationship you have together, like a Dad sings to his kids to comfort them, or be playful with them, or be proud of them because they are HIS kids!  

Dear friends in Christ!  Please know this today that God loves to sing over you!  May you be encouraged this day! 

Trust Me

My heart has been hurting a lot lately. There are times in each of our lives that we feel down or discouraged. I feel the pain of a couple of close people to me.  I identify with their suffering and questions.  I long to reach them but they barrier themselves up because of their pain or disappointment.  They can only see their pain they cannot see past it.

Boy do I identify with these feelings.  I have been several times in places where all I could see was my suffering.  I had no idea the damage my own suffering was causing to those around me.  Anyone that tired to help I would fight and argue with  because I was too afraid to let anyone touch that wounded part of me. But deep down I longed to be set free and be healed. 

I know what awful games the devil plays with our minds and even still I find myself getting stuck in these patterns of thinking starting to believe the lies he spins for us. "No one will understand you" "you'll never be good enough" "Everyone thinks you're crazy" "God loves them more than you" "If you tell them how you feel, they will leave you"

Ever heard those lines before?

My heart just aches for these loved ones and for the wake of destruction this kind of thinking is doing in their lives.  I have tried to talk with them but they still seem so stuck.  

So this last couple weeks I have just cried and cried over it. I long for God to step in and wake up their hearts to see His love and a way out.  But it seems that things just get worse and more people are getting hurt.  It seems as if all my prayers are in vain and nothing breaks through. 

It is hard in times like these for me to keep the faith.  I feel God saying to me just keep trusting me. I just want to say like David saying "How long oh Lord!"  But you know what I love about David... He was so honest about his feelings to God and just laid them at God's feet.  In the end he always found hope in His loving God. Psalms 13 is one of my favorites.

"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
 I will sing the Lord ’s praise,
for he has been good to me" NIV

In some way God speaks to David and reminds him of all He had done  for David and says "Trust Me, Remember all the times I have been good to you, just trust me"  David remembers and says. Despite what I see and feel "I will trust in your unfailing love......for he has been good to me"

Psalms has a way of soothing my soul in rough times. It helps me to see I can be totally honest with God and tell Him how I feel.  I don't have to pretend with Him.   When I lay these burdens at His feet, He will lift me up and remind me to hang on and trust Him because of all He has done and His unfailing love.

Now my heart still hurts and I will keep longing for these loved ones,  but God reminds me that He has unfailing love not just for me but for my loved ones as well. That He has not forgotten my prayers or missed one tear I've cried. He gently whispers "Trust Me" " Remember what I've done in the past for you and trust me"

Many of you, I know struggle with much harder things than this. God see's everything we go through and His heart breaks too for the things sin does to us in this world. He longs for us to reach out to Him in everything with total honesty of heart. He knows He is the only one that can save us from this world of sin and pain.  He holds out His hand and says "trust me, I know it seems unbearable but trust me" "I am your hope and your salvation. My love is unfailing! I will lift you up!"

God knows that if we will chose to trust Him, we will have peace. If we chose to believe what He promises and has shown us over and over again in His actions of sacrifice and love, we can have peace!  It may not change the longing but now it can be cradled in hope in our loving God!

So this morning I'm reminded to lay this pain and fear for my loved ones down at God's feet. Reminded of my God's love for me i relax a little. I chose to trust Him, even as I type this entry and make this decision to believe in my God over what I feel and see, peace is washing over me. 

It is an interesting thing choice. Choice must come first sometimes before the peace.

So lay your heart out to God in your struggles, whatever they might be.  He sees you and hears you and so longs to draw close. He wants to give you hope in the midst of your suffering.  Reach to Him and know His unfailing love!  He has not forgotten you or hidden His face. Choose to trust Him and you will find peace.

So Worth Waiting For!!!

Do you ever struggle with waiting?  LOL :) silly question right? 

We wait a lot in our day don't we? We wait in traffic, we wait for the bus, we wait in line at the grocery store, we wait in the drive thru.  There really is no end to the waiting we do.

Some things are easier to wait for than others. So for me waiting for the small things are sometimes harder than for the big things.  Like I nearly go bonkers over the slow lady in traffic, but I wait with bated breath for a trip to go see my friend.  The waiting is almost as fun as the trip because I think of all the fun we will have and every time we talk on the phone we are planning the cool things we will do together. 

Lets be honest though.... Sometimes waiting gets incredibly hard. Waiting for an answer from a doctor about the prognosis of a loved one, waiting to hear if family is okay after a car accident, waiting for the body to heal after an injury, for a single person, waiting for a spouse. Even more painful can be waiting for answers from God about broken relationships, loss of a job, or purpose and direction when everything in your life seems to be going wrong. 

The Bible has so much about waiting.  So many promises and hope!  I love this one in Isaiah.

• Isaiah 40:31 -  "but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
  they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
  they shall run and not be weary;
  they shall walk and not faint"  ESV

What we deal with in this world can be truly down right horrible and nearly what seems impossible to bear, but it is all temporary.  We have such a hope beyond all the pain and sorrow and yes.....even the waiting that we must do in this world. 

My small group at church has been studying Hebrews and yesterday a verse just leaped out of the page at me. 

• Hebrews 9:28 - "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." NIV

For the first time this verse brought such encouragement.  Jesus came first to wipe away sin and He will come again to bring Salvation to all those who are waiting for Him.  The English Standard Version says "Eagerly waiting for Him"

We have such a loving Savior that has wiped the slate clean for us and continues to do it for us every day as we turn our hearts toward Him. But He did not die and rise again to wipe the slate clean and then leave us.  He is COMING BACK to bring us SALVATION from this sinful planet!  Isn't that SO worth waiting for?

I think the interesting thing is the verse says for those who are waiting.  When we wait we look for something or someone.  So it is an action a state of the heart, waiting.  We don't wait without some expectation, what's the point?  The beautiful thing is God does not abandon us in this waiting. He gives us strength to go on even when others around us may fall because we put our hope in Him and trust Him in everything!

So the next time you wait somewhere or for something.... Remember..... God will give you strength..... and your waiting is not in vain.  He is coming back to save us and be with us forever!  Something TOTALLY worth waiting for Eagerly! 

My Father and Your Father!

Happy Easter! I guess a little late for some and I'm sorry.  It has been a busy weekend with all the events and special gatherings. It was a weekend full of God, good times with family, and friends for me.  I hope it was for you too.

This year was a little more special for me because of one of my dear friends pointing me more to Jesus.  She is super musical and has such a great heart for music and the message of music.  She also has had a burden to show more of Jesus sacrifice and His great love by His death and resurrection this Easter.  More than usual for her.  It has pushed me to consider more deeply Jesus personal care and love for each one of us.

I was reading this morning in John about Jesus death and resurrection.  Honestly I think it is cool that Mary Magdalen is the first to see Him.

• John 20:15-17 - "He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
  Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
   Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
   Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" NIV

Can you imagine how He must have spoken to her?  Reading it this morning, I imagined He said her name with such tenderness and love yet with such a heart of excitement to have her see that He was really alive and savior to the world! That as He asked her why she was crying, He was just waiting, with a smile on His face, to see Mary recognize His voice and go from utter sorrow to pure joy!  What a tender beautiful personal encounter with Jesus!

The next part just hit me between the eyes this morning! Jesus says "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God".   My Father AND your Father! My God AND your God!  I wonder how amazing it must have felt to Jesus to know that sin and death was conquered and that now each and every person could now say "My Father, My God!"  We could all now become His kids full fledged papers and all :) Adopted into God's Family because of Jesus sacrifice! He had just erased over 4 thousand years of sin before the cross and 2+ thousand years to forever in the future for all who believe in Him!

Oh how I wish every person could grasp even a small glimpse of this Amazing Love for each one of us! Oh dear reader, whoever you may be, whatever brought you to this page..... let this really sink into your heart, the knowledge of Jesus dying for you and the joy He has seeing you realize He really isn't dead.... He is Alive with more love than you could ever imagine! So that you can be free from sin and call Him Dad!

It Doesn't get any better than that!

Salted by Fire

Happy Wednesday!  :)  My worship lately has been reading through first 4 Gospels and trying to glean more about Jesus life and really focus on His messages to His disciples.  I especially love John.  Mainly due to more description and details about Jesus life and it feels more chronological.  I'm no Bible scholar so unsure how chronological it is, that is just the feeling I get when I read John.  However, a verse in Mark jumped out at me the other day.  It was if I had never seen it before.  

• Mark 9:49-50 - "Everyone will be salted with fire.
   “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” NIV 

I heard this passage about being salty hundreds of times, but never heard the salted with fire!  Pretty cool hu?!

The thing about salt is you don't need very much to make a dish taste better.  A little salt goes a long way.  Fire is kind of the same in the sense all you need a little spark to start a fire and that small fire can set a forest ablaze.

So this verse immediately made me think of when the disciples were given the Holy Spirit.

•  Acts 2:3-4 - " They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit...." NIV

What a awesome connection!  So Jesus talks about salt but not about literal salt or even just general figurative version of salt.  He is almost if not predicting the gift of the Holy Spirit to His disciples and believers!  

• Hebrews 12:29 - "for our “God is a consuming fire.” NIV

So this is God imparting a little part of Himself, the Holy Spirit, on each one of us to light the world on fire for Him!  Even the smallest flame makes a difference and spread far beyond what we think.

So lets pray today...."Help me be salted with fire of Your Holy Spirit"  So we can help set this world on fire for our Loving Savior!  May you be encouraged and blessed this day! And most importantly set on FIRE!  Amen!

Kori :)

Changed For Change

Have you as a Christian wondered how to relate to your non-Christian friends?  This has been a battle for me for the longest time.  I always felt that I never could really show that I was a Christian to my non-Christian friends, and honestly up until a certain age I really didn't even have but 1 or 2 non-Christian friends because of it.  I felt they wouldn't understand me and judge me.   I was scared.  

As I got older I began to feel bitter about my Christian upbringing and felt that the church was too strict and legalistic.  I began to more and more mold myself around the idea I needed to be more like the world for non-Christians to want to be a Christian, or honestly for them to like me.  Out of college I even decided it was more about being a good person and not about any do's and don'ts.  

My thought was that being a good Christian was about being "Culturally Relevant" so I formed myself even more so to the world. Dressing more like my non-Christian friends, I picked up drinking with them, listening to the same music even if it didn't have a good message, going places I knew were not good, going to shows that I knew were just filled with cussing and all kinds of graphic jokes or material that was totally making light or entertainment of sinful things. 

Up until only recently in the last couple years has God been slowly turning my heart around to see things differently.  Now that I am spending more and more time in worship and reading the Bible, it is becoming more and more clear to me that Jesus did not at all command His disciples to conform to the world.  

• John 15:18-19 - " “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." NIV

Then after Jesus warns His disciples the world with hate them, He then prays for them and defines more they are not of the world and asks God the Father to protect them.

• John 17:14-16 - "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." NIV

So these kind of passages have been cutting to the heart for me lately. Mainly because I have changed so much over the last couple years with my decision to surrender to God even my greatest dreams to Him.  I have turned almost a total 180.  There is a list of things that in the last year I have given up or done that I would never in a million years been able to do.  It has only happened by the strength of God in my life, because I could never will myself or even have the desire to change them before, and believe me I've tried.

But these things make me more and more different than my non-Christian friends.  I am feeling the separation and I notice that they notice that I don't do the things I used to with them. No one has written me off or anything, but I notice they look at me a little different, and I see the question in their eyes why is she not doing that?  No one has asked me yet, but I'm sure in the near future it may come up.

So interestingly yesterday the sermon was talking about this. The point being made was of this very thing. The example given by the pastor was one of his own experience.  He stated that he ran into old friends and they got together to eat and drink.  He went with them to hang out and He was the only one in the group that did not drink.  He said it was awkward but it opened up conversation about God and what God had done in his life since they had seen each other last.

This was really encouraging to me and reinforced to me what I think God has been trying to get across to me over the last couple years.  My job as a born again Christian is not to conform to the world, looking more like the world, doing things more like the world.  My job is to focus on God and be renewed my mind in Christ, bathing myself over and over again in worship with Him and His word so He will transform the world around me for His glory!

Did you hear that?  Our job as disciples is NOT to change ourselves to be like the world, but to focus on God so HE can change the world around us for HIS GLORY!

•  Romans 12:2 -  "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will" NIV

I never could get this before.  I always thought the Christian message is too hard and my church is too legalistic.  Now, churches can be legalistic and my church is no exception.  But the message of Christ stands true ALWAYS and will draw hearts by the power of Jesus and His love.  So the idea of don't throw the baby  out with the bath water.  I'm also Not saying we should hate and banish all our non-Christian friends, just that we should keep to what we know to be right even when we are with them.

Jesus message, the word of God, and His example of reaching the world, by being different, being love to the world and standing for what is right and true, should be our compass! What does the verse above say? " Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is"  We do not have to be more like the world to reach the world.  It is Jesus job to save it, is our job to be like Him, vessels full of Him, so HE can Save through us!

Contemplating this is such a relief isn't it?  Takes the pressure off. But also comes the understanding that the world will not like us either sometimes and treat us badly.  But the Savior Himself has prayed for us so we can endure and be protected from the devil and his evil schemes.  What a Loving Awesome God we serve!

So as I was looking for a picture for this post I also ran into this picture too.  I thought It was so beautifully symbolic for this message as well.

Even me going to Church since a baby, I looked like my friends, like these matches.  But when God touch me and with the flame of the Holy Spirit I became a new creation!  I became Changed!  Guess what happens to all the matches standing next to the one touched?  They catch fire!  

So don't worry about what the matches around you are doing.  Your job as a Christian is to let the Holy Spirit's fire in you, set the rest of the world around you on fire, For Our Loving Savior and His sacrifice for Us!  Isn't that So COOL!!!! 

So Take Courage My Friend!  When the world around you tries to pressure you to change to be the same, remember let the change in you be your witness!  You might be surprised what God can and will do!  

Amen!

Kori

 

ALL IN! not a fan

I just finished this book called not a fan by Kyle Idleman.  This book has totally blown out of the water some of my thoughts about being a follower of God.  The idea that Jesus has lots of fans but few true followers.  Being a fan is easy, but being a follower is way harder and demands much more than some of us are willing to give. It has really made me re-evaluate what I'm really willing to surrender and do for my Savior and my Love. How serious am I? 

On this weekend focused on human love, there are all kinds of overtures people make to show love.  Some of them are cards, candy, nice dinners, and romantic get-a-ways. But you don't see people selling all they have to following their love around the city or to then ends of the earth very often.  Oh people love to sing about how they would run 500 miles, and 500 more, just to be the person that walks a 1000 miles to fall down at their door.  :D (yes I'm a little silly blame it on me being a late gen X 'er) LOL
But not many are truly serious about it.  If we were, the divorce rate probably wouldn't be so high.

Kyle tells a story about a person that comes up to him and complains about their family member being to crazy about God and talking too much about good sermons and giving too much of his hard earned money away to the church.  The person asks him to tell the family member that the Bible says "everything in moderation" and it doesn't have to be all or nothing. I paraphrased a little there... but basically, what was said.  Kyle as nicely as possible quotes part of Revelation 3 and tells them God asks us to go ALL IN.

• Revelation 3:14-22 - "  “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
  These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
   So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
   You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. ’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
   I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
   Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
   To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches" NIV

So I have a tendency to want to be a fan.  Don't we all! Our sinful natures want the benefits but not the hardships and the trials that come with being a true follower of Christ.  We think we look like the picture above.  Cool collected fashionable with a little bit of the world and God mixed together in one so the non-believer can swallow Christianity easier.  We look in the mirror and say secretly to ourselves and say "I don't look half bad today, someone out there is going to want to be a Christian like me" I confess I have had this thought sometimes.  "Thanks God looking pretty good now"  But really the times we think that, are the times we look like this.

The minute I'm thinking I'm all fly and strutting my stuff, I'm looking in the mirror the devil threw up.  I really traded my gold and my white robe for wretched, pitiful, and blind.

Now this said I don't think we need to wander around thinking we are garbage and get stuck in guilt. But we have to keep things in perspective and remember that, wretched, pitiful, and blind is where we come from and if we want to be more than lukewarm.... We have to go ALL IN.  We have to give up Everything to experience the full measure of His love.  He gave EVERYTHING for ours!  He walked more than a 1000 miles in the dust for us to knock at our hearts door!

Won't we let Him in?! Won't you let Him in?! Don't settle for lukewarm.  Don't just be a fan.  Lets go ALL IN! What does He promise?  Jesus promises He will come in and eat with us! Personal and real, giving us gold refined by fire (riches this world cannot buy), white robes to cover us, and salve for our eyes so we can REALLY see.

Oh Great the Fathers Love For Us! How Vast Beyond All Measure! That He should give His ONLY Son. To make a wretch His Treasure!

The best Love EVER!

Not a fan......  Follower!

Praise to you God!

all my <3 ....kori

Straight To The Heart

As some of you know I work in healthcare.  My job is to help fix peoples bodies.  To get them stronger so they can get out of the hospital and get back home, or play a sport, or play with their grandkids again after illness or injury.  I enjoy my job but sometimes I feel I wish I could help heal a persons heart more than their body.  

See there is thing that happens when you start spending more time with Jesus...... You start seeing beyond the exterior to their hearts.  This is an absolutely beautiful thing and a horribly saddening thing.  Some days I feel like I see so much sorrow and pain I can't take it anymore, but then a small God wink and I find a jolly soul with a joyful heart; I'm revived! 

I've been praying God helps me hear him better and be more present with my patients to REALLY See them, not just focused on my own agenda.  To look them in the eyes.  It may seem a little silly to say that, but how many times in the day do we look right through people focused on our own tasks?  

Each one of my patients needs love, needs to be cared for, needs healing, needs God.  No matter how cranky or mean they are to me, they all need someone to care enough to look past that to their heart.  It is amazing what happens when I take the time to do this.  

This week, I had one patient that was really cranky when I saw them, complaining and refusing certain things.  At first I bristled, but then I stopped and took a deep breath and asked God to help me.   I changed my way of doing things a little and the pt. suddenly burst into tears and revealed a very sad personal story to me. The next day I came to see them, half way through treatment they asked me to come near and they gave me a big hug.  If I had not taken the time to breath and ask God what He wanted me to see I would have missed the brokenness in this patient's heart and potentially done more damage. Instead some healing happened :)

• 1 Samuel 16:7 "....People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” NIV

Thank goodness Right?!  On any given day if you caught me at the right moment you might catch my crabby cranky side and say to yourself "Holy Cow that girl's got issues!" But you know in those circumstances when I am that way, are the times I need love the most.  I am probably acting like that because I forgot my connection with God and someone else said something mean to me, or I woke up with bad hair, or my cat wouldn't let me sleep last night. :)  Crazy Cat!  LOL   But honestly if someone really stopped to look at me..... In my eyes.... into my heart.... they would see I just really needed a kind word and a loving smile to turn things around.  

Trying to keep this in mind when someone is chewing you out over something you didn't do is really hard.  Sometimes it is even hard when people are just thoughtless and cut you off on the freeway or cut in line in front of you at the grocery store and you were clearly standing there.  Oh believe me I've been there! :)  But each one of us act like this because we are hurting inside.  Sin has broken us and damage our hearts. 

This week was a good reminder for me to keep daring to look beyond the exterior and pray that God helps me see the heart.  That way maybe through helping people heal their bodies, I can help heal a little part of their heart by the love God pours into mine.  

So I dare you to pray this prayer and see what happens.  Dare to look beyond the rough, mean, cranky exteriors that rub you and look to the heart.  See what God really wants you to see and be prepared to be inspired to give love to another hurting one out there.  The blessing you will receive are far beyond measure! And another heart, maybe even yours, closer to being whole. 

Blessings,

Kori

"Choose Me"

Greetings!  I have new assignment right now for my job that is requiring longer drive and it is taking up more time than I'm used to.  So apologies for lack of posts lately.  One good thing about the long drives is it means I can pray more on the way to work, talk with God, and I love this.  I have been longing to hear God more in my life and these long drives help because there is little else to do when you have nearly 3 hours on the road.

John 15 has been stuck in my mind lately.  It is easy for me to get frustrated with where I am at in my life and feel like I'm not doing enough.  I think this is why God keeps pushing John 15 into my head.  It is all about abiding in Him.  Just being with Jesus and letting go of everything else in our lives. 

This is so hard for me and probably for many of us.  I'm a people pleaser, control freak, DYI'er :)  Being single for so long kinda makes you that way, but I have major genetic disposition to be this way as well along with my sinful selfish nature to boot.  I seek the praise of others and get caught up in that sometimes rather than just sitting at the feet of Jesus and looking to Him for His thoughts and connection.

One of the verses that has been sticking out to me is this one, the last part of John 15:5.

• ".......apart from me you can do nothing" NIV

God has given me gifts and talents like He does all of us.  Sometimes He gives us a glimpse of what those talents and gifts could be in the long haul.  I think He does this to help grow our desire for Him and to grow our passion to reach others. Which are all good things.  Being that I want to impress deep down in the selfish part of me, I sometimes take these glimpses and become so excited I'm like a wild horse at the races.  I just want to run!

Do you know what a wild horse at the races will do? Probably destroy a lot of things and maybe cause some injuries.  Why? Because it isn't disciplined to run the race.  Oh no question it can run, but it has no idea how to do it effectively to win the race. I forget that in order to get from point A-Z there is a whole lot of other steps that need to happen.  Hence the fact I think God keeps putting these verses in my face.

John 15 draws me, because I want to bare fruit, be a light for Him.  But the 2 key points is that I can do NOTHING by myself....And I have to ABIDE in Him. Overall the concept is simple, but the doing it is hard.  Not because God makes it hard.  I make it hard! This whole thing is about choosing to look to Jesus in every moment of our day.  This is literally the only thing we have... choice. 

What do I mean?.... Choosing to look at Jesus in every situation and every task of the day and struggle we face. There is a spiritual battle going on around us, a fight for our heart.  And the one thing we have is choice. We can choose to get caught up in what things are going on around us, the praise we seek, the things we think are right..... or we can choose to look to Jesus in everything. 

This may seem a little cliche to some.  And we may even think to ourselves  "Of course I choose Jesus!" We may even feel we are on fire for Him and running with all our might. But are we really focused on Him or our own plans?  This is definitely me more times than not.  But God keeps reminding me "you can do nothing apart from me"  "Abide in Me.... Look to Me... Chose Me... in every moment of the day" "I will show you every step to Z" "focus on me every minute you are with your patients" "Look to me when you get frustrated with your day" "Turn to me when your heart hurts over disappointments" "Abide and chose Me before everything." 

And with all of that what does He promise us?..... Read the list in John 15.  Anything you ask He will grant, you will bare much fruit, friendship, Love, and Joy complete. Everything our hearts could long for!

So I guess in my long drives with the long stretch of road a head of me, He is teaching me. He is whispering to my heart these things to choose and look to Him every moment of everyday.  What a Loving Savior! He says "Quit making it so hard! Rest in me! And you will produce more fruit than you can even imagine! Just choose Me."

How is God calling your heart to abide and choose Him lately? Every minute of everyday He has things to share with us if we just choose and look to Him.  What burdens would you be free of? What freedom could you find letting go of everything and just focusing on Him? Lets do it together! It's going to be amazing!

Tree By The Water

Jeremiah 17:7-8

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.” NIV

This verse really hit me this last week.  I long for it to be the theme for the year.  To stay focused trusting God so that my life is a constant witness to His Glory, Power, And Great Love.  Amen

God bless you this year!

Kori

Mrs. Almighty

My best friend had her baby on the 23rd!  I'm very happy for her! Her little guy is super cute and her husband is beaming with pride! I look at the picture of her little one and there is a little ache in the back of my heart, because I long for a little one too to call my own and husband that beams with pride.  But instead of this feeling overwhelming me this time and loosing myself in sorrow for a couple days.....Which normally happens..... I weathered it well thanks to God!  

Feeling sad and taking some time to grieve disappointment on my own would be normal and fine.  It is understandable that a woman almost 40 that has not found these things and wanted them since she was old enough to dream it, would be sad and struggle watching all her friends get them.  It's not that I don't struggle.  But my God is lifting me up, and that is becoming more and more outweighing the disappointment of not getting my dreams in this world.  

One time my friend from church texted me. "Aren't you so glad God is your husband"  I very nicely said to her that this was I hard thing to swallow as a single and I didn't know how to answer that question.  She is married with kids and was, I'm sure just trying to be encouraging.  She doesn't really have a concept of the pain that a single woman my age goes through.  I love her dearly and grateful she was trying to help, but I just couldn't swallow that text.

Sometimes the Holiday's can be hard for singles.  At least maybe ones like me that aren't very extroverted.  Mainly because everyone draws close to family an their significant others and belong to someone.  Of course there is parents and brother's and sisters, but this age (almost 40) most people have their own families (husband kids etc)  This can make it feel lonely for those of us that haven't gotten there yet.  

This year has been a little different, for the despite the ache in the back of my heart, I read these verses the very next day.

Isaiah 54:1-5

"“Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
 For your Maker is your husband —
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth."  NIV

My heart was so moved....... And for once I realized for the first time that I could truly say with my whole heart "Amen" to the fact my Maker was my husband.  I have begun to realize through this journey with God, over the last 2 years, that God blesses me with many kids around me and not just literal kids (nieces and nephews) but other kids of faith to shower love on.  

So OF COURSE enlarge my tent and lengthen the cords and strengthen my stakes!  Multiply community and grow the kids of God in faith!  

I'm sure there are many ways these verses could speak to this and many other things, but for me this day, it gave me comfort and spoke directly to my heart.   

So I texted my friend that had less than a year ago texted me about God being my husband and told her that I finally could say "Amen".   My dear sweet friend texted me back "Then according to Isaiah you are Mrs. Almighty!" Tears streamed down my face and my heart filled with the warmth of love from My Husband, savior, and redeemer.  How right she is.  How special it is!

I hope in some way that this encourages those of you out there that can relate to these feelings.  We may be barren, according to the world, left with nothing of our own as per this earth standards.  The reality is we can be more fruitful and have more kids than we could ever give birth to, and have a husband so proud of us we get to be Mrs. Almighty!  Almighty in Him! Our Redeemer the God of All the Earth!.  

So hang in there my sisters and look to Him! Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. He will make you His pride and joy and multiple your gifts and kids over and over!  So Sing, Burst into Song, Shout for Joy, and do not hold back!  The Lord will bless!  

Love to you!

Kori

Every Good Gift is for You!

This season is soooooooo busy, and for me,  this year is even more so because I'm driving farther to work than usual.  So this is  why I haven't blogged for a week or so.  But along with that, I have had a big storm in my life as well. 

Those of you that have read my blog from the beginning, know that there is a big rift in my family.  Two sides that, over something small, have been at odds for almost 2 years.  This makes the Holiday's harder for me being in the middle trying to be family to both sides.  This combined with a huge communication problem at work has consumed my thinking over the last week and a half.  

Sometimes when I get my head wrapped around some things, it is so hard to let go of them.  I'm a problem solver by nature and long for harmony, so I get trapped sometimes in circular thinking of conversations and words that could be said or things to do to bring back balance.  Sometimes they are good ideas and sometimes they are not because they come out of a place of anger and frustration. 

Both work and family things, I brought before God and asked for answers of what I should say or if I should say anything.  I desperately wanted God to write in the sky for me.  Now in saying this, whether I want to admit it or not at the moment, there is another part of me that secretly hopes God doesn't answer so I can do what I want to do.  However, in the past I have made that mistake and had everything blow up severely in my face and destroy relationships.  So I'm learning but the waiting is miserable sometimes and I start feeling that God has forgotten me.

I was feeling so much this way.  I wanted God's answer and to hear Him telling me the best way to go.  The work situation I kind of waited and then took over some. Part way through, I begged God to help.  It worked out but went rough.  And the family one,  God never gave me the green light to speak and I waited in agony feeling awful, trying to not loose faith in His love and desire to speak to me.  

Sometimes in situations like these I am so blinded!  He was speaking to me all along trying to show me He was there.  Someone that I rarely talk to texted me and told me they missed me, one of my pt.'s looked right at me and told me I was so pretty, others at church that I normally don't talk with that often, came to talk with me.  All these things, signs, God mobilizing the world around me to reach me in my pain.  Then last night, I learned the very family member I wanted to talk to was already making an effort to mend fences in the family!  Without any word or effort on my part, God working.

How easily I forget..... but I'm learning..... Every Good and Perfect Gift is from God!

•  James 1:17 - " Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" NIV

Everyone that opens the door for you, everyone that smiles at you, everyone that lets you merge in crazy traffic, every flower, every hug, every warm bed and cup of coffee, heartwarming tune.....ALL of it!  Is God taking a moment to whisper He loves you and has not forgotten you!  

He does not say to us "I love you today..... but don't know about tomorrow"  He does not change in His affection for us!  The devil tries to make us believe those lies, with the struggles on this earth, but God does not change.  And Every Good Thing is a direct message of Love to YOU from Him!  He is Always Faithful! Even when answers don't seem clear, there are signs He is there.

So I hope this Christmas you will look around you and see with your heart how much God loves you and is telling YOU, through Every Good and Perfect Gift He gives you this season and always! 

God Bless :) 

And God Be Forever Praised for all He gives and has given!

Kori

Awesomeness!

Psalms 107:14-16

"He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
and broke away their chains.
 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
 for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron" NIV

Sounds Like Super Hero Awesomeness to me!!!!! :)

Definitely Something To Be Thankful for!

Go God!

Look, Ask, Believe!

Do you believe in the mighty power of God? I'm not talking about just the little things in the day like all the lights turn green on your way to work.  Although... those things are awesome! :)  I'm talking about the big stuff like healing the sick, stopping the sun, or a small pot of soup that feeds a thousand people.

This idea of God's power has been rolling around in my head lately.  I have been asking myself..."Do you really believe in the power of God?"  "Like part the waters, power of God?"  There is also this song on the radio that has been grabbing my attention lately.... Greater by Mercy Me.  There is one line that jumps out at me every time.

"And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world"

Now the song mainly talks about the battle to believe that God loves us and is bigger than our sin that tries to pull us down. It is a great message!  It stirred up more in me the question of something greater than just our sin.  I think it is easier for us as Christians to believe the message that God is greater in our internal world than our external world.  I know I fall into this thinking.  However, the Bible is full of story after story of how God showed His mighty power and intervened in real tangible external ways. 

I think as much as it is important to remember how God works in  our hearts, it is just as important to remember that God performs REAL LIFE miracles too.  It is easy to think to ourselves "That was in Bible times" " Or that happens only out in the mission field".  

There is so much pain in the world.  Sometimes things don't seem to work out for even the truly righteous God fearing people.   We start to lose faith in the mighty God we serve forgetting that He see's a bigger picture.  David talks about this in Psalms when he was struggling to believe.

•   Psalms 77:11-15 - " I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
  yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
   I will consider all your works
  and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
   Your ways, God, are holy.
  What god is as great as our God?
   You are the God who performs miracles;
  you display your power among the peoples.
   With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
  the descendants of Jacob and Joseph" NIV

 This whole chapter in Psalms is a beautiful reminder of what to do when we struggle to believe that God is more powerful than anything we are facing and can Literally move mountains, part waters, and heal anyone of His choosing. 

I wonder sometimes why we don't see God's power more in our lives or in others lives? Maybe the real question is are we looking for it? Or have we become apathetic.  I know I am guilty of this a thousand times over.  

Now I know God isn't just some Jennie in a bottle to make all our wishes come true and we live in a sinful world. But I do believe that we miss out a lot more on God's power in our lives and all around us because we aren't looking.  We forget how truly and literally powerful our God is.  And some of us have given up all together asking God to do anything of real tangible nature because we struggle to believe. 

What would our lives and churches look like if we really asked and believed in the greatest power ever revealed to man and the universe?  What awesomeness would we see if we really with every fiber of our being believed in God's unsurpassed, supreme, matchless power?  Those words also apply to His love as well.  

Okay... So do you hear me?  Are you listening?  Do you understand the gravity of what this means?  

We have the greatest Hero of the Universe who is not only on our side, but loves us with a unfathomable unfailing love, AND has the power to extinguish or bring to life a solar system with one breath!!!!  He ALWAYS works for our good NO MATTER WHAT!!!! 

Are we looking, asking, or believing? Lets do what David did and remember what mighty amazing things God has done AND is DOING!  Lets see what looking, asking, and believing in our God can really do!

Out of the Mud, Onto the Rock, Given a New Song!

Psalms 40:1-3

"I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him" NIV

Is this picture in Psalms not unbelievably beautiful! 

May your day be Blessed with a song in your mouth for the Amazing Loving Father who saved you! 

Amen!

Instructs Even the Sinner

God never waits for us to be perfect

to lead us.

Such a beautiful verse!

Psalms 25:8-9 

"Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way" NIV

Trees, Dirt, and Eternal Glory

The great outdoors.... Ah yes I love the woods and going camping.  So Fun!  This has been the reason I haven't blogged for over a week. I signed up to go camping with the church school's Senior Survival.  It is where the school takes the senior class out into the woods for 5 days and teaches them survival skills as well as ties them to life skills and spiritual skills to reach the world for God.  

So I was super stressed before the trip.  Not because of the woods, but because of the teenagers.  :)  I don't know why I volunteered, they caught me on a super good day or something. :)  Because normally I'm terrified of youth work especially teenagers.  For some reason I'm scared they won't like me or will rebel and i won't have the guts to keep them out of trouble.  But this must be the year that God feels like stretching me by getting me to volunteer for things I never would before (thinking of the Triathlon running thing as well) :)

So the whole car ride there my heart was pounding and I was starting to panic a little.  I road with another women I know from church that has been through many a camping trip with these girls and assured me the whole way that things would go fine and I had no need to worry.  That helped some and it was nice to know she was along too in case things got crazy :)

Long story short, 2 days in I started my monthly friend 2 weeks early, my hormones were a little wonky, and I was getting emotional about reading a simple Bible verse.  The girls were starting to complain about everything and I was feeling way inadequate.  After a good talk with the other woman on the trip and few shed tears, God showed me that He was with me and I needed to focus on what He thought of me and not what the girls thought. 

By the last day, I finally realized that God had a plan for not only the girls but for me too.  We were all physically and emotionally spent, but most everyone was glad they made it through and overall had a good time.  

The last morning I got up the courage to do a worship a short worship with the girls, sharing a verse close to my heart. So I shared that my best friend in junior high was terminally ill with leukemia. One night before she died she wanted her mom to read her a verse.  Her mom opened the Bible to this verse, but couldn't bear to read it so she searched for other verses till my friend begged her to read the first one she opened to. 

•  1 Corinthians 4:16-18 - "   Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" NIV

I compared this to our experience of the days in the woods and life.  And as I said these words to the girls I was realizing myself how true they are.  We cannot control life.  It will give us whatever it gives us.  The difference between Christians and others in the world is that we have hope in Jesus, that inwardly we can be renewed and we have eternal life.

It's not about what goes on around us that matters it is what goes on within us in our hearts with Jesus that makes all the difference.  I realized that my beautiful friend had realized this before she died and found comfort in these verses.  And I realized at that moment that God had worked in my heart as well as these girls.

Whether these verses had impact on them I don't know, but I hope in a small way one day it will come back in their memory and give them strength when they face some of the hard times of growing up and what life will throw at them.  Fixing our eyes is the key to peace and change within. Focusing on Jesus and what is unseen is what gives us life from within despite what goes on around us externally that we see.

The girls decided I was okay at the end, and I decided it was a good thing for me to go despite my fear.   So the woods was fun, hard, and wonderful all at the same time. This momentary trouble a step closer to the eternal glory God has in store for us. Trees, Dirt, and Eternal Glory AMEN!