Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The Challenge

So there have been so many of you who have challenged me to follow in Brian's footsteps. Now as many of you know if he misses a day EXCEPT for Mondays you can comment about it and he will bring you a Pop of your choice to the next service. Well many of you have asked if I would do this as well and I have decided that yes I will join the POP a day challenge. It starts today. Now remember the rules.

1) Never on Mondays
2) Never on the weekends becuase I am not here. (This means it will be Tuesday - Friday)
2) I have to have it posted by 12:00am
3) If I am sick or out of town I will let you know ahead of time
4) You have to comment on my blog about which day I missed.

Have a fantastic day... and look outside....it is snowing!!! I am praying for six feet!!!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Delighting in the Lord

"Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4

This verse has been speaking to my heart a lot lately. So often we come before God with our request, our desires, our wants, dreams, and hopes. It is not wrong to do this in fact Luke 11:9 says “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." But God has really been challenging me with delighting myself in the Lord. What does this mean, how can I delight myself in the Lord?

Delight:
a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy;


I want to have a high degree of pleasure in the Lord, I want to have enjoyment in the Lord, I want to have pure, amazing, never ending Joy in my Lord. When my heart is focused not on what my dreams, desires, hopes or wants are, when I stop focusing on me and start focusing on delighting myself in the Lord then and only then God can give me the desires of my heart. But once again I am challenged on "God will give you the desires of your heart." Most people take this as their dreams, desire, hopes and wants, so often that is how I read this verse. But I read it again and have mediated on this and realize that as I am seeking God, seeking his heart,and delighting myself in him then HE will place HIS desires in my heart, making them "the Desires of your heart", they will be HIS desires, HIS wants, HIS dreams, HIS hopes, HIS wants.

So my friends, start delighting yourself in the Lord, and allow Him to give you the desires of your heart!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Relaxing in Gods beauty

I have had such a relaxing weekend. Kevin and I headed up the mountains for a long weekend with some of our amazing friends. I am not a snowboarder or skier but of course Kevin is so he and his friend John headed to the mountains. Nicole (Johns Wife) and I played our scene well, drinking coffee at Starbucks, reading books, watching movies and eating lots of junk food...it has been amazing.

I missed all of you so much on Saturday night, thinking of you the whole time. I heard that it went well and that God was really moving in your hearts. Let me know what God taught you.

It is so beautiful here. We have a small little house that we are staying at with views of the mountains from every angle. It makes me praise God for all of the beauty he painted and created just for us. I realize that I don't stop often enough to relax and look around at where I am and what God has done and is doing. So much like life, we get so caught up in working, sports, school, and hanging out that we forget to lift our heads and see the beauty that is around us.


When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

Psalm 8:3



I hope I live my life considering the work of Gods fingers, the moon the stars, the heavens, the mountains, the people God has placed in our lives. May we see their beauty embracing them for who they are and seeing them as Gods beautiful creation. Lets start taking moments to embrace where God has brought us and what God is doing!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Unexpected Fun

So everyday is a new day here in the offices of Woodmen Valley Chapel. You never know what will happen or how it will happen. But I will tell you it always makes me excited to come in and see what God is going to do.

When I arrive in the office I always turn my computer and lamp on. Ahh...The nice lamp...Everyone here in our office has a red lamp and I think I am the only person in the whole office that actually uses their lamp. When I first started working here I would run around and turn everyone's lamps on but then I realized it was to much work and I was being to distracting, but that is beside the point. As my computer is loading and as I log on I try to take a few moments to silent my heart and pray for the day. Then my email pops up and usually there is many to read and reply too. I always look forward to seeing who has emailed and what is going on. Usually they are encouraging but you do have those days when you read the email and your heart sinks making you wish you had never opened that email. But the day continues...

One of my favorite parts of the week is Chapel, I think because everyone in the office gets together for a short time to pray, share and worship our God, I wish we could start everyday in chapel. What a blessing it would be.

But the best part of my days in the week is when the unexpected happens...an unexpected phone call, email, or card. An unexpected blessing or laugh you did not see coming. The unexpected war of marshmallows....or driving donuts in the parking lot of the church. Yes the unexpected fun of ministry.

And at the end of the day when I lay my head down I realized how blessed I am to work at a place where I get to experience so much fun!!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Snow

I just have to say I really enjoy snow!

It is amazing to me how much snow we have actually gotten. Now you have to understand I am from the good ol' south and we don't get much snow back home. In fact if it even was forecasted that the possibility of snow might happen they would cancel school, all the bread and milk would be bought out and we would turn up the heat in our home and wait for a snow flake. If that snow flake fell...it would be on the news, kids would have their sleds out and the snow plows would be out waiting to plow the one inch we might just get. I am not even joking.

So now I live in Colorado Springs, and when it snows I call the snow line because in my mind I am thinking, "who would drive in this? It is a national disaster we all need to stay in" and as that phone rings I anticipate the close of Woodmen Valley Chapel, but instead I am faced with a harsh reality "Good morning, the offices will open at there normal time!" What the Heck??? Normal Time???? Where is the delay? Why are we not staying in??? I do not understand... So I have learned to pray for at least 6 feet of snow, or snow with lots of wind, and then my dear friend, we might be able to have an amazing snow day!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Waiting

There are times in our lives where it seems like all we do is wait. Wait for the red light to change, wait for a phone call, wait for dinner. Sometimes it is bigger, wait for college acceptance letters, wait for a job interview, wait for our teacher to return our test... Whatever it may be we wait. What I am realizing is what I do during the periods of waiting that I have. Do I really make the most of every opportunity given to me. Do I pray for the specific opportunity that I am waiting on or do I allow myself to worry and obsessed?


2 Peter 3:14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

I want to be blameless, I want to be pure. I want to put all my trust into my Father who I know loves me and wait. I know that my God is a big God, and I know he cares for me deeply. So now my friends, I encourage you that whatever you are going through, whatever struggles, fears or anxious thoughts you might have about anything. Place your trust and faith in our father. Take time, sit back and pray over the situation, and then Wait. Wait for his mighty voice, his answer to prayer, his sweet and gentle nudge.