Monday, May 16, 2011

Moving Forward

Things have been pretty hectic/crazy/hard in our church the last several months. I was crying out to the Lord about all of it the other day and He spoke this to me. I got to share it at the annual business meeting at church yesterday and I pray it encouraged others there as it did me. I didn't blog last week and there isn't anything else more heavily on my heart right now so I figured I would share it here. Be blessed. Be encouraged.

Why chase after what is lost
and neglect what we still have?
What we have is not much, but
it is time we start taking care of it.
We are called to be good stewards and
not to long after what is not ours.
Yet we keep living in the rear-view mirror
wanting what was.

The Lord gives and He takes away.
If we keep longing after what's been taken
we are going to miss what's being given.
Let's look aroundus and be thankful
for what we have left.
And let's look ahead with hope and faith
that the Lord gives good gifts to His children

Let bye-gones be bye-gones.
We are not nothing without "them."
And if we are, we need a paradigm shift.
We are nothing without God
and His ways are higher than ours.

Pain is real.
Grief is natural.
Suffering is part of this life we've chosen.
But joy comes with the morning.
We cannot allow pain, grief or suffering
to overtake us or to keep us from His joy.

Renew our hope, O Lord, renew our faith, joy, strength.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
We are more than conquerers to Jesus.

We will lift our faces to You, O Lord
and walk boldly ahead in the path You have provided.
Even if it hurts and doesn't make sense.
We will carry on as good soldiers,
continuing in our good works.
Laying down our pride and differences.
We will collectively take up our cross
and pursue hard after You
with all we have left.
For all we need is You.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Blessed and Yearning

After a very blessed, joyful, intense weekend in Denver for ATF with Altared Youth Ministry, I find myself longing for a different life...

A life of ministry.

A life of family.

A life of music.

A life of crafts...

Here is an ideal idea of what I would love my life to look like:
Home with my kiddos, Tom would have time to work on writing scripts, lessons, plays, etc. for ministry. I would have time to spend with my amazing little ones who I love and miss so much. I would also have time to knit and crochet tons of adorable, fantastic things to give as gifts and to clothe my children in and to sell on Etsy. Between Tom's writing and my crafting and our ministry in the church, we would have enough income to live on and to give to others in need and to send missionaries overseas and to go overseas ourselves.

Yep. That would be fantastic!

For now, however, that is not the case. So I will continue to do my best in my job (which I really do enjoy) and take whatever time I can get with my kiddos and serve in ministry as much as I can and knit and crochet whenver I get a chance and give whenever we have opportunity and means and go whenver the Lord provides...

Sigh. This life I have is a gift from the Lord and I will choose to rest in His peace, knowing that He is in control and knows the desires of my heart.

How blessed I truly am!