tell me what you love

Your love is a symphony all around me.

I have never in my life heard a better description for love. A symphony consists of hundreds of instruments all playing a slightly different tune in order to produce one beautiful whole. The sound becomes incredible when all of the instruments are played together. That’s totally how we operate as a church family! We all love in different ways to produce one whole, perfect picture of love. It’s the girl in worship. The guy that’s encouraging his friend. The person that’s on their knees for you in the difficult times. The student who smiles at you after a long day. The people who come early to set chairs and the ones who stay late to put them away. It’s moving boxes together and eating dinner together. It’s days at skid row and nights at the beach. It’s giving everything so everyone can have something. It’s all love. It’s different but it’s everywhere. And together its a beautiful sound, a symphony written for streets of heaven.

It doesn’t come naturally…

Love is patient, love is kind, love is harder than you’d think.

BUT… It still never fails :) there’s always that!

I [am learning to] put my hope in the One.

Last year was a great year. I learned what it really means to have a relationship with Jesus. I learned how to lean on Him each step of the way. I learned what true intimacy felt like…It was awesome.

Great thing #2: I have been blessed with an incredible man. Sebastian is wonderful and he is more than I deserve.

But here’s the problem. No matter how much Sebastian may love me, he will never know my heart the way that my Jesus does. He just can’t. He isn’t a mind reader. He can’t heal my heart. He is certainly not the creator of the universe. He’s a person. And while I know all that, when I’m broken, I turn to him. He’s tangible. He is physically in front of my face and so I look for him long before I ever look to Jesus for the solution. Not only that, but I expect an equally great answer from him!

I set us both up for failure by placing unfair expectations on him and leaving myself frustrated and broken.

…praying that God changes my heart and helps me to seek Him first. Maybe then that poor boy can have a chance against my unruly emotions. :)

“My grace is sufficient for you”

Regardless of what I’ve done. Regardless of what I’m going through. No strings attached. His grace is enough. Its sufficient.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

It doesn’t matter,

but it does.

I hate being a girl.

To Damoh we go!!

Hey family! This is a little difficult because there really is no way to write what we’re experiencing right now, but here goes… We’ve been so blessed today, so much so that I feel that I speak for all of us when I say it has changed everything. We arrived at the “Children’s Palace” somewhere around 4 this morning. We haven’t really slept since, but there is so much excitement that nobody wants to rest.

We were able to attend a chapel service with the staff here at CICM (Central India Christian Mission) this morning. David addressed our hosts and spoke a brief message that shared our hearts with them. They were truly grateful and blessed by it. He explained that through them, we have been able to understand what it means to see hope rise and darkness tremble. In the past few days, we have been in and out of hotels, cities, and temples in a country that is spiritually oppressed. It has been a struggle to just see the darkness through the glass windows of a bus without ever living in it. Walking onto the campus though was like nothing I personally have ever experienced. The presence of God is so heavy…We’ve been able to see first hand the fruits of work done here at the bible school, food ministries, and nursing school and have heard so much more. It’s overwhelming.

The kids though…the kids are to die for. There are no words to explain what we see in them or what happens to your heart simply by being around them. It’s like you want to explode with delight and tears at the same time. My heart is broken to know that by the age of 5 they have suffered what I will never know in a lifetime. It destroys me to think about the persecution and poverty that they will experience as adults. But their faith is HUGE and their joy overflows in laughter and singing. In their beautiful eyes, you see the hope that they find in their Jesus. I can’t describe it, but I just keep thinking, if this is how we feel in the brief moment we get to spend with them, how much more does their Father love them? He is taking such good care of his children. Gahhh!! No words.

Pastor Joel says that I can’t pack them in my suitcase, but if we can’t take them I don’t know how any of us are ever going to leave…

FYI

1. 15 days until Inda
2. Sebastian is the best
3. I ate too many pumpkin seeds today
4. Praying through Proverbs 31. Yikes!
5. GENERATE jr high tonight :))

What the world needs now

is a little more acoustic and voices to match.

Soon and very soon
My King is coming
Robed in righteousness
And crowned with love
When I see Him
I shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon I’ll be going
To the place He has prepared for me
There my sin erased
My shame forgotten
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon