Ramblings About My Churches and the Weekend

Last weekend I went home to MO. It was a lovely drive home as the trees were crystalized with ice and so was the ground. St. Louis had just received a blanket of snow the night before I came through. Fredericktown received a pop-up snow shower while I was there as well which cancelled church Sunday morning. Thankfully, I went to church Saturday night since I was planning on leaving Sunday morning (so that I could make it back in time for small group; we just started Piper's Don't Waste Your Life study and God is already using it powerfully in my life). I once again had a dream last week about church that came true. I dreamt that Mac brought forth the message and he did. Interesting...
God is doing some amazing things at Meadow Heights. Since the year started, 28 people have been baptized. That is 28 people that have come from death to life! What's more is that many of these people are coming to the Lord in families. Donald McGavran would be proud...

God is up to some great things at Rolling Fields as well. We recently adopted a people group in Central Asia. It exciting that God has called us and entrusted us with the task of strategizing to reach these unreached people. We are in a series right now about the glory of God. Please pray that this series would ignite a undying passion in the hearts of RF's members.
I am officially plugged in to serve at RF now. The Lord has actually thrown me into a leadership-type role as I am the leader of the Connection Team. This is a fairly new team and I look forward to just running away with it. This is the team that welcomes new guests at the church by giving them a call and delivering cookies. God used this team to lead one lady to attend the membership class! :)

While I was at home I beat the final level on Tomb Raider: Anniversay. I am still the queen. Yesss! :)

Also while I was at home, I noticed that my parents got our cat shaved. Hehe. You should see her, she looks ridiculous. The reason she was shaved was because she is so fat (16 pounds to be exact) that she cannot reach her backside to clean herself so her fur gets matted. The vet shaved her body but left her head, tail, and paws alone so now her furry head lookes huge compared to her naked body. Poor baby. I am pretty sure she was sitting back plotting all of our demises last weekend...

Switching gears: The Lord has really been ministering to me lately by refocusing my attention and affection on Christ. He has reminded of the infinite beauty and worth of Christ and how He is all I need. He is my Treasure and I long so much for my life to reflect that to those around me. "Who have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:25-26).

I mentioned above that my small group is doing a study over Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life. I just wanted to share how he made-or rather God through his book-the first few verses of 1 Corinthians come alive to me. These verses state that if you help people or even sacrifice your life for others but do not do it in love, then it is for nothing. I never completely "got" these verses. I always wondered why would you do these things if you weren't doing them out of a spirit of love? Piper helped clarify this for me when he wrote these words "not to aim to show God's love is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply." Wow. When I read those words, the meaning of those verses just sort of clicked. I have been meditating on them over the past several days. This is how/why we can help others but really be doing them a disservice if we refrain from sharing the Gospel, the Good News, of Christ. I can feed the hungry, comfort the morning, or do any number of things to relieve human suffering, but if I don't do it in the love of Christ and point explicitly to Christ, then I am not really showing them true love. Jesus is who they need and if I don't tell them about Him, then their hungry souls will starve and they will remain in darkness. The two must go hand in hand. Good works are good and necessary but they must be done as unto Christ, pointing to and proclaiming about Him the whole way through. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 5:14-16

True Love

• 1 John 3:1- See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
• 1 John 4:16- So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
• 1 John 4:10- In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
• John 15:13- Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
• John 3:16- For God so loved he world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
• 1 John 4:9- In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
• Ephesians 4:2-7- But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 8:35, 37-39- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Meditate...Savor...Rest in this Amazing Love.

SNOW!!!

Winter has once again reared its ugly head but this time it brought with it an unexpected snow day from school. What a delight! My roommate and I took full advantage of it by hitting a nearby slope with our newly purchashed sledding devices. Since I am sick it may not have been the wisest thing I have ever done but it sure was fun! (Though I am paying for it now...)

After our sledding escapade we found ourselves at IHOP for the National Pancake Day Celebration where we indulged in some delicious, made-to-perfection pancakes.

Since then, however, I have been laying in my bed trying to recuperate from my outdoor adventure. I have downing C-Boost, which has 1200% Vitamin C in every serving, like water in at attempt to build my immune system. I trust in the Lord that I will recover soon though...and I do not regret my time outside enjoying the beautiful snow. :)

Hope Renewed

What a blessing today has been! The Lord has ministered to me in such a powerful way from His Word:
1. My first class today let out early since the professor is out of town (he is at Union University where his daughter attends and where the tornado demolished the dorms, please pray for the Sills family) so I went to the cafe to read before chapel. While there I ran into two ladies the Lord has blessed me to know and they invited me to join their study of the "Psalm of the Day" which was Psalm 37. This Psalm is so powerful. We read through it together, discussed it, and each picked a verse or more to memorize. I chose verse 5: Commit your way unto the Lord; trust in Him and He will act.
2. Chapel today was about the "discipline of deprivation." What a blessing this message was! I had prayed last night as I was crying out to God that He would speak to my circumstances through chapel today and boy did He ever. Through it God reminded me that He is in control, He alone is my satisfaction, and that I am in His will despite the hardships. How faithful the Lord is in reassuring my soul as I had lost hope, and how vile I am for doubting Him. Furthermore, the benediction came from the first several verses of Psalm 37. How wise and sovereign He is!
3. After chapel, I poured out my heart to God in prayer and journaling and repented of my lack of trust in Him, reread Psalm 37, and read some of Ecclesiastes and Lamentations. During this time, the Lord strengthen me and restored my hope and joy in Him. He is so beautiful and worthy and I repent of ever taking my eyes of Him. My God is enough for me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope; the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:21-23)

When it Rains it Pours

The weather has been rather interesting and dangerous lately. The warm temperatures have indeed been a blessing but they haven't come without price as tornadoes and strong thunderstorm littered the area last night and earlier this afternoon. The warm weather can stay, as far as I am concerned though, until next winter. :)

Today, as I was walking into Friendship International in the rain, I couldn't help but notice the birds chirping away as if the sun was brightly shining. They were singing their praises to God despite the gloom. I could learn from them. This week has been gloomy for me. As most of you know, finances have been extremely tight since I moved to Louisville last August. The Lord has been stretching and testing my faith for many months now in that regard and I am becoming very weary. The latest situation that has added to the financial stress and pressure has come once again in the form of my car (I am almost sure that God is using my car for my sanctification). The fuel pump went out of Monday and until today it has been sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I know you won't believe this when I say it but my car really is a good and dependable car; just of late has it been acting up...of course, when I have no money. Anyway, the first mechanic I called wanted to charge $212 just for labor. I am told this is the going rate. I think it is outrageous, but I guess I am just spoiled by the fact that my dad and uncle always used to work on my car for free. My pastor's wife from Rolling Fields called me yesterday and referred me to a mechanic at our church. He looked at my car today, tapped the fuel tank to "jump" the fuel pump to get it running, and it now sitting in his garage. Although he is not going to charge the "normal" amount for labor, it is still more than I can afford, but I need my car so whatcha gonna do? In the meantime, I am sporting a gray Honda thanks to my wonderful roommate (who has the flu so please pray for her).

I know this all probably sounds so petty. There are lots of people in the world who are in way more difficult circumstances than I am...yet I feel such despair. The months of financial stress are wearing on me and I am beginning to lose hope. I am not one to cry much, but I have shed more tears through all this as I cry out to God than any other time in my life. "How long, o Lord? Will you forget me forever?" (Psalm 13:1).

Hear the words of Jesus: "O my servant true; Thou are very weary; I was weary too; But that toil shall make thee some day all mine own, and the end of sorrow shall be near my throne." -John Mason Neale from the hymn "Christian, Does Thou See Them?"

On a brighter note: the Lord has presented me with three potential opportunities to meet with international woman in the Louisville area who want to learn more about Jesus and the Bible and/or improve their English. One is a Hindu from India, another is a Catholic from Columbia, and the third is an atheist from China. Praise the Lord who is working in their hearts! I am so humbled and thankful for the opportunities. Please pray for each of these ladies, for these opportunties to bear fruit, and for me--that the Holy Spirit would guide and direct my interaction with each of them. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can open blind eyes to His infinite beauty and worth. Please pray that He will do just that.