Waking up feeling ALIVE

I woke up this morning after a wonderful rest and just felt amazing! Probably for one of the first times in my life do I really appreciate the blessing of waking up and not feeling a heaviness on me. I feel so blessed to just be feeling good. Over the last week, I have been trying to pray the ACTS prayer. Adore the Lord in His attributes, Confess or name out your sins, Thank the Lord for things in your life and Supplication...praying for pple, yourself, etc. I have realized just how good the Lord is and how much I should be thankful for in my life.
Yesterday my husband and I were in LA doing an appraisal and we accidentally ran into a puddle of wet, white paint on the road. We get out and the paint is all splashed up on the car and yada yada. Bummer! My first fleshly reaction is to get mad and let this ruin my day. But then, I believe it was the Lord, touched my heart and kinda hit me on the head. I thought that if this was the worst thing that happens to us today, we are doin pretty good! Also, we had just listened to a teaching an hour earlier talking about being tied to the world with our earthly possessions. If some paint really upsets me that much, am I truly acting like a citizen of heaven or a citizen of earth, wrapped up in my "material blessings?" ouch!
So, I woke up this morning feeling ALIVE...alive in the Lord and blessed! Paint-ah, no biggie! :)

Go get them!

Today my husband got a you tube video over his email and he had me watch it. It was a group of buffalo walking around with a baby right along with them. The camera caught that they were headed straight towards some lions hiding out, waiting for them. By time the buffalo saw the lions they were too close. The buffalo ran and the lions ran right after the little baby. The baby was caught. The lions were thrashing the baby around and it partly landed in some water. Before you know it a crocodile grabs hold of the baby...it's tug of war. The lions win over the baby. In the corner of the camera you begin to see this massive herd of buffalo coming back for the baby. They surround the lions, charging them. In the midst of all the commotion, you see the little baby get up and head straight in the middle of the buffalo herd to safety.
I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched this. Those buffalo cared so much about that one little baby. I automatically thought about our brothers and sisters...even the babies in Christ that we know. If they are headed towards danger or even if they are already there, let's not forget about them, let's go in the POWER of the Holy Spirit and win them back! Isn't that love?

Here am I

I have had a certain song in my head over the last couple of days. Here are a some of the words...
I see the Lord seated on the throne, exalted
And the train of His robe fills the temple with glory
And the whole earth is filled with His glory

I can completely picture all the words of this song in my head. The mighty Lord, my Savior, sitting on the throne, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Majestic!
So, this morning I decided to read the chapter in the Bible that this song comes out of. It is Isaiah 6. As I began to read, I was in awe of the whole chapter. I had read it before but it was fresh and new to me this morning. Isaiah sees the Lord on the throne...the angels are singing holy is the Lord.
Isaiah said, "Woe is me, for I am UNDONE!" Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts."
An angel took live coal and touched his lips with it to make him clean. The Lord said, "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?"
"HERE AM I! SEND ME." Isaiah said.
I don't know about you but I'm ready to be undone! There's a song by David Crowder that says "He has set me on fire, I am burnin alive, with His breath in my lungs I am coming undone...I am letting myself go" How many times do we go before God seeing how perfect and holy He is and are ashamed enough of how unclean our hearts and lives are to change? How willing are we to raise our hands up to the Lord and be the first to say, "Here I am, Here I am, Lord...Send me, please send me!"
I have been awakened today. May I be the first to raise my hand.

What's it gonna take?

Well, I'm back from the retreat and it was full of laughter (of course), prayer, being in the word, fellowship, bears, busted pipes...heehee...and eating! Of all the things that I felt like God was tugging at my heart, I thought I would share one.
There is a family at our church who had a daughter who was in her 30's. She had cancer for 6 years and died last week. This weekend I saw an interview that her and her husband did about 3-6 months ago. Wow...what she said touched me in the deepest part of my heart. She began to tell that the only way that she has survived is by the word of God. The word was true life for her. Medically she should have been dead years ago, but the word was her life. She was saying that she reall y couldn't live without being in the word everyday. I believe she truly felt that...that the word was her sustenance. There was such an intimacy in her eyes and her voice..she KNEW God and she walked with Him.
Her mom started telling us a couple of stories. Jessica had surgery on the cancerous tumor years ago and the doctors said that it was all gone, she was cancer free. Later that night or the next day she called her mom crying. Her mom asked what was wrong and she said, "my witness is gone." She had been able to witness to so many people while having cancer...her life was all about sharing Jesus with others...and now she was sad b/c it was gone. It came back. The family prayed for her to be healed and when she died they still had peace knowing that if God wanted to heal her, He could have. Well, Jessica's husband called her mom the other day and told her that he had been reading Jessica's journal. Secretly, over the past couple of months, she had been praying to God that He would take her. She was suffering so much, she was ready to go and be with Him. God was ready for her to be with Him. What an intimate relationship. She loved the Lord with everything, and He was her whole life. She loved Him, served Him, shared Him, knew Him...
What's it gonna take for us to get there?

Off for the weekend...

I'm very excited because today I get to go away for the weekend with some girlfriends. I love times like this because all the hustle and flow of life has to go away and I can focus completetly on the Lord. God always reveals so much to me on retreats like this...not because of Him, but because I am seeking Him with my whole heart. This is definitely something I need to adopt in my life, having a retreat each day with the Lord...letting life's cares and pressures go away and drawing in to Him. Sometimes daily reading can become a habit, a "chore," a mark it off my to-do list...but from now on I want it to be a retreat.
If you think of me, pray for me and the other women this weekend...especially for safety cause i'm driving! Have a blessed weekend to you all!

Experiencing Joy

I have had a wonderful day today. Nothing big, nothing really exciting happened, yet i felt so joyful. It seemed as if everything I did today just made me smile...even running 5 miles for the first time...ugh!
For the past two months I have gone through a bit of depression/spiritual attack...not sure which one was more, but know a mixture of both. It seemed as if everyday was a struggle for me. Some days would be better than others but it really drained me each day dealing with all this stuff/lies going on inside my head and then fighting to not react to them. The Lord is faithful and His word is true and He wants to use us to spread His truth to others...so I have learned from all of this.
Anyways, since I have kinda come out of that, each day that is good seems like a huge blessing. Even being able to do the little things without this "fight" is a blessing to me. God is showing me how good my life really is, how special the people I have in my life are, and what a blessing it is to be healthy.
I spent this weekend back in WV with family and friends. I seriously couldn't have dreamed of a better weekend...and I always set my expectations high so that is really something. To see my whole family love God and serve Him is amazing to me. So many pple have never experienced that and some never will but for some reason, God has chosen me to be a part of a family that loves Him...and I'm so grateful for that. God has also blessed me with amazing friends...friends that encourage me, pray for me, love me, and accept me for my quirks..I think they even like some of them:) And God has seriously given me a huge blessing by giving me my husband. Marriage is hard, but if you do it God's way, the blessings that come out of it are more than you have ever thought. Marriage is way different than I ever expected yet so much better..so much deeper. I am married to my best friend...and it really does keep getting better. I have a partner to live with who makes me laugh, who prays for me, loves me, uplifts me with his words, carries me through my rough times in my walk with the Lord...and once again...lives with my quirks and likes some of them...and has even taken on some of them:)
My father, brother and I ran in a 2 mile race on Saturday. My dad and brother did amazing, both placing in their age groups. For me, I was just happy to be able to run. I would have never dreamed I would be able to run for 2 miles without passing out, yet by God's strength I have accomplished a goal. That feeling for me was just like getting a big trophy.
Finally, God has given me His word...even though I ignore it sometimes, don't dive in it like I should...He's still given it to me. ...this is experiencing joy...