Unapologetically and Honestly Loving Others with Reckless Abandon

How can you be 100% sure that you hear God all the time about everything? I am not always sure. I walk around in life knowing certain moments that I hear His voice more clearly and I know that I walk around and I can feel Him closer to me. I try and do the best I can to give him glory in all I do. I know that when I hear him and I give him the Glory even if I heard wrong, but he still gets the glory and all the praise, sometimes that is what it is about. He wants us to Glorify him in ALL we do. What does that look like? I am not sure but I can make a speculation. I think that no matter what we think or do, as long as in the end others see Jesus alittle more clearly and we are invisible. Then I think it is all worth it. I don't want the glory, there is too much pressure in that. I want God to have that because I know he will do a better job than me and He always has my best in mind anyways. Why not let him, at least then I can trust it WILL get done right! The point of faith is to ...

I catch myself drifting off in the secret corodors of my mind. I want to see change in BIG and little ways everyday. I imagine that I will be a mom and I laugh at the thought of my kids and how funny they will be. Then I move to work and how much I will love to be able to perfect my craft and get better at what God has destined me for, then I see ministry. I dreamt before about the ministry that I will be involved in and I know that there is going to be alot of peoples lives I will be allowed to touch by God's grace. Then I am jolted back to reality and see that I am sitting here in an office, waiting for it to be the time where I can leave this special place that the Lord has used to reform me. He has given me more vision here and more confidence that He is in control. Something in my life that I have wanted to happen for so long seemed as if it were going to be close and so amazing, then just like life usually happens, Things change. My plans are derailed and I move along with al...

Life is so funny how it twists and turns, brings life and death. Love and anger, jealousy and joy, grace and pain, mercy and suffering, and yet in all these emotions provoked or not is a God who loves you so much that He would experience all this and more just for your life in exchange. It is really amazing to think that someone would love me that much to surrender his life for mine. For someone to stand in the gap and be the bridge is such an amazing thing that I just can’t even take it. I know that this may seem childlike or simple minded to be amazed at this but in my life and even with the best examples I know to exemplify Christ’s love isn’t ever demonstrated this way. I know part of it is just because Christ had come to be the sacrificial Lamb for us all but at the same time, I wasn’t around and he knew that I would still mess up and sin A LOT, yet he died with me in mind. Maybe because Easter is still lingering in the air is this truth so sweet, maybe it is because spring is her...

As I know that change is inevitable there are very few times in my life that I actually desire it. The first time was when I wanted 20 stairs in my house. I remember being like 3, 4 and 5 years old telling my mom as I walked through my one story house kitchen, "I am going up stairs mom to my room. I have a lot to do." She just smiled and nodded at me as I pass her making cookies. The next time was when I wanted my best friend, who while I was growing up was my life, to near me and go to school with me. God answered the school prayer first, and then the moving situation. As I grew things in my life changed and I was the one holding on and fighting with all my might. I still tend to fight change but I know now the fight in me is for another reason. I was always afraid of the unknown before, then for a while I was all about change ALL the time. I got bored and wanted to just let change rule me. Now I have come to the middle ground. I am not all about it like I was when I would...

I was listening to an amazing podcast yesterday and I was really inspired to show the world more and more of who Jesus is. Ok, this may go against all the traditional beliefs and things that I know I was taught in Sunday school. This reality showed its face to me and I really want this to be my heart for people. He told this story of a Pastor who was visiting in Hawaii and couldn’t sleep. He was hungry at 3am Hawaii time and so he started to walk around in Honolulu. He came upon a diner that was the only place open. He went in and had a donut and coffee. The owner walked over and without a plate or napkin handed him the donut on the countertop. Now here in Orange County we would totally think about that and not eat it but he was hungry so he did. Well as he was sitting there in this dirty diner, 6 prostitutes walked in for some breakfast. Sitting around him they began to talk and then one of them said, “My birthday is tomorrow.” Another one said to her, “So, Agnes, why did you tell us...

Imagine walking down a crowded street with the smell of animals rising in your nostrils, the yells and screams of children, the pushing and shoving of everyone trying to get to the same place at the same time. Sounds a little like Christmas to me. This day though is more important than Christ’s birth, although important. This day makes Christ’s birth more significant. If it wasn’t for this time of the year. Christ’s birth would just be another day, admired by some but mostly forgotten. Today is where the rubber meets the road, if you will. “He was obedient unto death, even death on the cross.” I know that this is somewhat hard to conceive but I always want to get a better grasp on it as best I can. I am glad that as this time is here again we can refresh ourselves in the AMAZING GRACE that truly was poured out for each of us. My prayer is that for you this weekend, if you don’t know the Amazing Love that was given for you, that you come to know it. There was a man who came to this ear...

Today has been real eye opening day for me. I have been sitting here thinking and praying for my friends. I know that today has been a hard day for us all in different ways but I am glad to see in me what I never thought I would. I have been trying to be a support and a friend today as well as a counselor and a listening ear for those who need that from me. I have it in me to know that God is doing things in the world today that are causing some strife in lives around me. I can see it first hand. I know that I have had a hard time lately with the Sweet Sting of Loneliness coming over me but today I choose that instead of strife. That may seem weird or that may be something that you have chosen in the past but I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be in my life. If I had strife today as well I wouldn’t be able to be a listening ear and a counselor for the ones who needed me. I am very grateful that God has given me this burden to carry so that the ones I love can benefit. That...