The Weekend

I'm back in Texas after my time in Alabama and just thought I'd share a quick update on my weekend. I am tired, but it was a nice time of getting to catch up with wonderful friends and supporters from my college church. I also enjoyed getting to share a little of my heart with them as I shared an encouraging story of the Lord working in Asia!

Friday night was my presentation ... and amazingly I wasn't very nervous at all! (Thank You, Lord!) I enjoyed the dessert social that evening, and chatting with the people sitting by me at the table. :)

On Saturday we had ... a women's breakfast, a beautiful wedding and reception, and a missions banquet at the church, at 6 that evening. Some of us joked whenever we ran into each other at the various events throughout the day that we were pretty much eating all day ... and it really wasn't all that much of an exaggeration. :-)

Sunday I shared in the children's and youth Sunday school classes. Then, after church, a few of us ladies went to Applebees. You can see pictures here, including a bonus "just for fun" picture from a visit to the Mississippi welcome center on the way back to my hometown! :o)

On the flight back today, I was seated next to a young guy about my age who's in the air force. In fact, he is stationed in my hometown area. My heart was really burdened for him as I could sense that he needed Jesus. I prayed that the Lord would open up an opportunity for me to share with him. I wasn't sure what form that could take though ... he had opened up to me quit a bit about his life, but hadn't really asked me much about mine. But then he asked where I work, and the Lord gave me an opportunity! I shared with him the same story I had shared at my college church, about the people in North India who used to have many superstitutions but now know Jesus. Through that story I was able to share the Gospel - that I could never be good enough to get to heaven, but that Jesus paid the price for me. That He is changing lives as people turn from their ways and turn to HIM, trusting in what He did on the Cross.

It is hard to share with someone and have a burden for them, but know that, more than likely, you will never see them again in this life. Yet I know I can trust him to the Lord's hands, and that He is able to bring Christians into his daily sphere, to speak into His life. Praise the Lord!

Would you join with me in praying for him to know Jesus?

His Ways Are Not Our Ways

This week, as I look forward to and "prepare" for being part of my college church's missions conference, I have to say that's one thing I've really been powerfully reminded of. Isaiah 55 talks about how His ways are higher than ours ... infinitely so!

I put "prepare" in quotations because along the way there have been various circumstances beyond my control ... such as not knowing certain details yet ... yet I see how the Lord is powerfully using that in my life to remind me of His sufficiency. To remind me that if He is going to use me and what He is doing through Gospel for Asia to touch hearts, it must be ALL Him. He must flow through me, for my words are empty! It is His words that will touch hearts. Praise the Lord for that! I am finding myself brought to the end of myself, pleading with Him to rid me of me and simply take over and speak His heart through me.

And I think that is the best place to be. For then He can truly work! I would, of course, appreciate your prayers as I go into this weekend ... especially for the event at 7:30 this Friday night as that is when I am to give a 10-minute presentation. :)

More than anything, I want to bring Jesus glory through this time ... to bring a smile to His dear face. And, too, to let Him use me to encourage and minister back to these precious people in my college area who have invested in me through their support and prayers. :)

Cookout, Sunshine and Good Times with Friends

You could not have asked for a more beautiful day outside. Great weather for a cookout! Today my Bible fellowship group from church had a big cookout in a nearby apartment complex. Good times! I enjoyed visiting with friends, walking around, and taking pictures. Then I went walking at the nature preserve ... a little over 4 miles. :o)

I am so grateful for friends. And for this beautiful weather. And for this nice, three-day weekend. The thing that gives me greatest reason for thanks is Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. Because He lives and is my risen Savior, life has meaning. :)

Last night my friend Michele and I went to an Easter play put on by a small local church. Watching some of the scenes, I was reminded again in an amazing way of Jesus' love. He loves all of us so much ... so much that He gave His life to save us. If you know Jesus, I know you share in this wonderful hope. I pray that you will soon know Jesus if you don't yet! (I am happy to answer any questions you have ... also you can read about Him in His Word, the Bible. The book of John is a good place to start. :o)

Trip to the Coast!

So my sister Becky and I took a trip down to the Gulf Coast to see my parents. It was a good trip! We took my niece and two nephews, too, and were gone about a week.

Some highlights of our trip:

-- Going to this fun children's museum right across from the beach

-- Driving an hour away to see my aunt and uncle who live out in the country

-- Eating at a really good Mexican restaurant that recently opened right down the road from where we grew up

-- Having our cousin over for an early birthday celebration for my dad

-- Playing with the kids at the park

-- Walking over to see the new neighborhood not far from my parents' house

I Love the Snow

It's snowing outside! Can you tell I'm excited? :-D It's been so few times in my life that I've really seen snow, so I get pretty thrilled about it!! One of my earliest recollections of ever seeing snow was as a kid, and we all were so excited that we got out there with my cousin and made a snowman ... although there was grass and dirt mixed in with our snowman (not enough snow!!!) we were still pretty proud of it. :o)

I'm so happy about the snow!!! Hope you all are enjoying it, too.

A Full, Good Saturday

It has been a full, good day.

This morning I went downtown to Adopt a Block. It was my first time getting to go down there, and I enjoyed chatting with people in my group as we picked up trash in the neighborhood, and meeting these two really great women who live in that area. Again I was struck by the joy in the Lord of people who don't have all that much, as far as earthly things. It's an incredible thing ... and something I love to see manifested in people's lives! I also got the opportunity to pray for another woman, Audrey, whom we met while picking up trash on this one lot.

I got in a really nice walk at the nature preserve late this afternoon. The weather was so nice, and it felt great! I saw a beautiful hawk and enjoyed being out there around sunset. Good times. As I was walking down one path and saw a dove flutter by, I thought about how gracious God is to us, to leave the animals here for us to enjoy! I mean, after the Fall, he could have just taken away all those things that are so special about His creation. Yet He showed such mercy and love for us, in leaving them here for us to enjoy.

Another highlight of today was going to my Saturday night Bible study and fellowshipping with friends there. I am so thankful for that group! And for my Sunday morning Bible fellowship group, too! I thank the Lord so much for leading me to this church. :-)

It's been a really great day.

Fridays

It's Friday! I like Fridays. :-D Yesterday we all went out to lunch as a department for Shelly's birthday! (The four pictures I took are on my Facebook ...) The first place we were going to had about a 30-minute wait so we ran (literally .. quite fun! :-)) across the street to the Olive Garden.

Well I think I'm heading out soon ... it should be a beautiful weekend. :o) Hope you all are doing well!

A Great Bible Study ... and Volleyball, Too! :O)

After my Experiencing God Bible study at church this evening, I played volleyball with a bunch of friends in the gym. There were also people playing basketball in the next room over! I love volleyball and could probably play it every day. :-) I hadn't gotten to play in a while, so it was so much fun to get out there and play a bit. And people were so nice and encouraging ... they would cheer for me whenever I hit the ball over! Yay for good times with friends ... and volleyball! :o)

Oh yeah ... the Bible study earlier tonight was good. Challenging and good. I feel like one area the Lord has really been challenging me in lately is the whole overall area of surrender ... one of the lessons in the study talks about having no will of one's own in regard to a given (insert anything that comes to mind) matter ... I have so far to go in this area but am amazed and grateful for God's patience with me. BTW, I would highly recommend Experiencing God for any believer in Jesus ... and even if you don't know Jesus yet, read the first lesson and I hope you soon will ... awesome salvation message on the first pages, and you won't regret knowing Him!

Today I got to go with some friends from church to the downtown Dallas area to feed the homeless. We brought them sandwiches and got to talk to them and reach out to them. It was ... just as when I got to go before ... a pretty amazing experience.

I am really struck by how incredibly grateful they are for even something as small as a sandwich. It is a privilege to get to reach out to them in that small way ... and I pray the Lord uses our small, caring gestures to show them His love.

We got to talk to the sweetest man who is already a believer in Christ, but just mainly needing our encouragement, challenges from the Scripture and prayers. I so much enjoyed getting to talk to him ... and have been touched by the joy that I see in those believers that I meet in the homeless areas. Even in their incredible poverty, they are so often full of gratitude and joy in the Lord. Wow.

It reminds me of Gretcha, the dear woman I met in a North Indian slum. She lived in utter squalor ... in a cluster of makeshift "tents" made of sticks, tarp or whatever else people could find ... and surrounded by garbage and filth. Yet she bubbled over with uncontainable joy as she ran to us, grabbed each of our hands in both of hers and said, "Jai Ma Siki". (Praise to Christ in her language!)

And to think that my life ... and the lives of GFA donors and supporters here in the West ... has made a difference in HER life all the way on the other side of the world. She is a believer in a GFA church that meets in her slum area. It boggles my mind ... and I feel so unworthy in a way ... yet so grateful.

Wow ... how refreshing and encouraging to be reminded ... whether through Gretcha or the people of downtown Dallas ... of the joy we can always have in Jesus.

It is beautiful outside ... although a little chilly ... which is why I'm pretty thankful to be inside as I post this much overdue update. (Has it really been three weeks since I last posted?!) Let's see ... where I do begin ...

Okay. Last week the guys in my S.S. class at church had dinner for the girls at one of their houses for Valentine's Day. They had beef and chicken fajitas ... and they made sure we all had drinks (sodas) before they prayed for our meal ... then they served us this great ice cream for desert. They are so sweet! :-D

I had such a good Friday evening and Saturday ... it was relaxing yet also very productive, too. I made (and loosely went by?) a schedule and it went great! Saturday morning I first had a little bit of time with the Lord, and I think it kind of set the tone for the day. I also enjoyed my Saturday night Bible study and eating with them afterwards.

My Experiencing God Bible study starts at the church this Wednesday and I've been very excited. I am really struggling for some reason in the area of consistent times with the Lord, and I really believe this Bible study will help. Jesus is so worthy of my adoration and devotion ... and I love Him so much. Why is it so hard lately ... and for a while now ... to spend that quality time with Him? Oh, Jesus, help me! You know I love you!

Life has been pretty busy ... and full of its ups and downs? But overall I am doing well at the moment. :)

I had a great time the weekend before last, going on a retreat with a group from my church to Tyler, Texas. Good times!

I have been thinking some lately about the subject of contentment ... I was reading a good article today during lunch (while eating at Chick-fil-a ... not surprising, huh? :o)) about the subject, that had insights from Nancy Leigh DeMoss, a godly woman with Revive our Hearts ministry.

Before I head off to embark on my evening ... praying with a friend and catching up on some stuff around the apartment and hopefully doing some more good Christian reading ... here are some of her quotes that stood out to me ... enjoy! :)

If I have essentially a contented heart, there is not any circumstance or any person that can make me unhappy. If I have a discontented heart and I live in a palace, I'm not going to be happy. But if I have a contented heart, I can live, as the apostle Paul did, in a prison and nothing can strip me or rob me of that joy.

She talks about how the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4 that he "learned" contentment. Then she says the following:
If we're going to learn contentment, that means we're going to have to experience some circumstances where our natural response would be to grumble, to be discontent. So expect it. If you want to develop this beautiful rare jewel of a contented spirit, expect that God will take you to school on this subject and provide in your life circumstances that are not easy to embrace.

Contentment is based in a faithful, loving God who never changes.

I am back in sunny Dallas after my trip to the Coast for the holidays. It's good to be back. I also had a wonderful trip back home, visiting with friends, family and supporters. Good times!

Just a few highlights of my time there ...

Catching up with a couple of long-time friends as we traveled an hour away to "window shop" (at least mostly that for me, with the exception of two great thrift store finds - see below :)) and eat at Cracker Barrel (kids' meal chicken 'n dumplings ... yum! :O))

Finding, at two different thrift stores, a pretty black sweater with embroidered blue flowers for 89 cents and a light blue casual "jacket" for just over two bucks!

Attending, along with my parents, our church's Christmas Eve service and enjoying the fellowship afterwards

Getting a paper shredder from my cousin that I'm already immensely enjoying using to go through papers in my apartment :)

Enjoying some Christmas movies with my parents ... and another movie with popcorn :)

Getting out for a while with my mom and enjoying ice cream cones at Chick-fila

Catching up with my good friend Stace at the mall and Chick-fila, and running into some more people I knew there, too!

Getting to ride over the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge. [Okay, this may not seem like a big deal, but to us Gulf Coast people or even those of us who have ever lived there, like me, it's a VERY big deal. :) See, it was just recently rebuilt and reopened after being largely destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.]

All in all, I am doing well and grateful for the things God is teaching me and how He has been encouraging me thus far in this New Year. Thinking of 2008, I like to think of this Scripture passage:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
-Isaiah 43:18,19

Well, I'm back again to the world of blogging, after a several-day hiatus. :-) Good to be back! So how is everyone?

I am having a nice time at my parents'. The drive Saturday went quite well, and yesterday I drove an hour over to my college church to catch up with friends and supporters there. Last night my parents and I watched a movie together, and I popped popcorn for us. Well, my dad ate some ... my mom had started dozing off. :)

Today I helped my mom a bit with baking/wrapping presents and later walked with my dad. Now we're fixing to go to a Christmas Eve service at our church in a bit ... and afterwards come back here and eat chili. (Yum!) It will be nice to see supporters and friends there, and I remember being so blessed by the message at last year's Christmas Eve service.

The only big bummer of today is being unable thus far to successfully log on to my Facebook account. I personally think it's a combination of everyone and their uncle (or aunt? just pick one ... :)) being on Facebook today with it being the holidays and people being off work, and my parents' kind of slow dial-up connection. Oh well ... :) Definitely not anything to complain about, really. :))

In case I don't get on here before then ... which I probably won't ... MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone! Praise God for the Savior's birth.

I have been having a wonderful Christmas season so far! It has been great! Thinking back over this year as a whole, it has surely had its challenges for my family and me ... but I know the Lord has used those things in our lives ... I was really impacted by my parents' great example of holding firmly to the truth of Romans 8:28 throughout the time we went through my dad having cancer! It definitely encouraged me and strengthened me in my own faith.

The associate pastor at my church has been going through this special Christmas series titled "Looking unto Jesus," based on Hebrews 12:1,2.**The past two Sundays have been great, and I can hardly wait for this Sunday's message! He has brought out the wonder of Jesus and encouraged us to rekindle our love for Him ... our wonder at His presence and who He is and what He has done for us. He has talked about the wonderful joy that is ours because of Jesus ... a joy that can be constant in our lives, for it is not based on earthly things or temporal comforts. Praise the Lord for this! :)

[Listen at http://www.prestonwood.org/services/media/weekend_media.php
Click on "Everything We Believe Begins with Him" and "Everything We Hope For is Fulfilled in Him." Those are the first two messages in the series, and the third will probably be there within this next week!]

I have also been enjoying the "festivities" of the Christmas season with wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ ... several great Christmas parties, the most recent one being our GFA staff Christmas party this past Friday evening. :) It was such a special time, from the time when I received "valet parking" thanks to our teenagers (a first for me! :)), to when I discovered that because there was a cute Christmas sticker under my plate, I would get to keep the beautiful red roses at the table, to the great fellowship and laughter I got to share with others, to running into some more of my dear friends/co-workers as I went out to my car, looking for where it had been valet-parked. :-D

We also got to sing Christmas carols and eat yummy food, and be reminded of people in Asia who are celebrating the Christ of Christmas through our partnership with the work on the field ... wow ... that just boggles my mind ... praise the Lord! :o)

Then on Sunday, I thoroughly enjoyed the final message in the "Looking unto Jesus" Christmas series. It was also great catching up with dear friends and hearing the great teaching during adult Bible fellowship, too. Afterwards we all went to Chuck's for lunch--and then some of us went and gave sandwiches--and the Gospel--to the homeless in downtown Dallas!

It was an incredible experience on so many levels for me ... and I ultimately came back renewed, refreshed and encouraged. My heart was full of joy. Now? I'm doing pretty well overall I think ... trying to finish up all my projects before I drive toward the Deep South on Saturday morning to see my parents for the holidays! Looking forward to that time ... and hopefully will be able to not pull too much of my hair out in the meantime, as I try to finish projects. :) Seriously, I have been able to get quite a bit done this evening already and am feeling quite hopeful. :-)

I have been enjoying the Christmas season so much this year.

Is it already almost "next Friday" from when I posted? Whoa ... how does a whole week go by so fast?!! :-) I hope you all are doing well.

Some highlights of my past week:

- Two Christmas parties over the weekend, one with some fellow staff members and one with my S.S. class from church. Both were great fun! :-D

- Somewhat inadvertently giving myself Peppermint bark on Facebook and then having a good laugh at myself over it!

- Enjoying, along with my fellow writers, some "real-life", yummy fudge a co-worker's wife made for us. :-D

- Making lunch plans for this week and next with a couple of good friends from work

- Hearing in prayer meeting and being greatly encouraged by knowing that a radio campaign that I had the opportunity to help with text copy for has seen tremendous results for the Kingdom.

Yay - another post! : ) Hope you all are doing well! I am going to try to be more faithful in posting! All in all, I'm doing pretty well I think ... when I went home for lunch today, I was suddenly overcome with feelings of loneliness! When I mentioned it to a friend (who had kindly jabbered me to tell me she had a Reece's on her desk for me!), she thought it was interesting that it happened on the day of all-night prayer. (Good point!!! It really helped and encouraged me to remember that such feelings are not necessarily "isolated incidents" ... they could very well be part of the very real spiritual battle we all face here as people are being reached in Asia!)

Speaking of prayer tonight, I am looking forward to it - even though I probably won't be staying the entire time (still recovering from last week's sinus infection, and slept 12 hours last night! ;), I hope to stay for quite a while. :) IT will be good to worship, hear how God is working, and enjoy community and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ here.

Well, it's a beautiful day and I think I'm going to go grocery shop for cookie ingredients (since I'm making some for next week for our ministry vendors) and hopefully relax around the apartment a bit and also take a nice walk in this gorgeous weather. :-D

Wow. I don't really feel discouraged anymore. It's as if the Lord came in and just lifted my discouragement ... it sure feels that way! I am so glad. Thank you to all of you who prayed for me! :o)

It's beautiful outside! I love the fall season. In a few minutes I am going to lunch with several friends from work ... several fellow bloggers. :-D

Looking forward to spending this time with y'all.

This afternoon I found out some wonderful news about my dad, that many of you reading this blog probably already know: After a diagnosis of cancer on July 18, a follow-up CAT scan showed my dad to have no sign of cancer now! This is a huge praise, nearly four months after his initial diagnosis.

Even as I greatly rejoice and praise God for this incredible news, I somehow find myself in general battling feelings of discouragement at times ... and today was one of those times. I have experienced many moments lately in which my life feels in some respects pretty "ordinary".

I know the life of no believer should seem ordinary really, when God is always doing incredible things in and around us no matter what -- and in some ways that feels especially true when I have the wonderful privilege to serve Him in full-time ministry to reach people in Asia -- but there have been moments lately when it's still a struggle to not feel that things in my life are "ordinary" ... but if I am in the Lord's will, ultimately I am complete in Him and not lacking in any good thing regardless of how I may sometimes "feel" ... and He is all that ultimately matters.

Deep down I so much want to know Him more and grow deeper in Him. Oh Lord, give me a heart to always REJOICE in the cup You give me ... to rejoice in hardship and even feelings of "ordinary-ness" if it means Your name is hallowed in me and Your likeness becomes a little bit more noticeable in me. Oh, Lord, thank you!

I read this verse today and was encouraged and felt God had pointed me to it for a purpose ... I highlighted the part that especially encouraged me today.

"There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you."
- Deuteronomy 12:7

It's been two weeks since I've posted! Yikes! What a goober I am. :-D Hope all of you are doing well ... and that I haven't lost my wonderful, devoted audience? :)

So I had a few pretty funny things happen to me all within this last week ... definitely served me well for some comic relief ... so I thought I would share them with you my Blogger buddies in the hopes that perhaps they would brighten your day, too, with a good laugh or two. :-) [For those of you who are also Facebook users, this is also on my Facebook!]

#1
You may have seen my "Baskin Robbins" blooper hinted at in my status update ... well, here's the full story for your enjoyment! : )

I had a coupon for "buy one, get one free" for a 4 ounce cone at Baskin Robbins . . . and saw that it expired that day (this past Sunday). After already trying to draft a friend who especially loves ice cream (she wished that she could!) I thought I would go down there myself and grab, for a great price, two small cones. After all, who would want such a great coupon to go to waste? :=)

I figured I could transport the cones over the short trip home by putting them in a cup. So here I was, driving with this wide (but not too tall unfortunately!) cup in my lap, only to have ice cream land all over my lap when I made a turn! :=D (I think my ice cream would have remained more intact if I had the ice cream part facing down in the cup actually ... oh well, hindsight is always better than foresight, and I sure enjoyed some good laughs about the whole thing!

#2
My friend Sally gave me a jacket she thought I might be able to use. Since her cubicle is right next to mine in the office, I was holding the jacket up a few feet from me, asking her what she thought would go with it.

Well, in the meantime, a co-worker, Brad, was making a delivery from downstairs. The way our cubicles are set up, he couldn't see Sally! So he grinned really big and was like, "Oh! I couldn't see Sally. It looked like you were talking to a jacket back there." (When he sais that, I think I laughed so hard I nearly couldn't breathe. :o) Sally was laughing, too!)

#3
Last night I noticed I was a bit low on gasoline in my car and had better go get some. Since I was near a Valero gas station, I went ahead and went there. I wanted to pay cash for a couple of gallons, and knew I needed to pre-pay inside. Well, it looked like the part of the store closest to me was closed. So I went next door. When I told the guy what I wanted to do, he looked at me with a really puzzled look ... and I could tell there was a bit of a language barrier. Then as I continued to try to explain it finally dawned on him: "OH! You must mean next door."
I looked around the store for the first time and realized I was surrounded by these huge bottles of every kind of liquor you could probably imagine ... so I kind of giggled and said, "Oh! OH!" and darted out the door. I think my face probably looked pretty flushed at that point!

Tonight around 8:00 found me sitting at Panera Bread Company, enjoying a yummy orchard harvest salad and potato soup. (Thanks to Heather H. for the Panera gift card ... a much-enjoyed present. :-D) As I enjoyed my meal, I had open a book I had checked out from the library, Randy Alcorn's Heaven.

Just thought I'd share a few quotes from that book that really refreshed and encouraged me. :o)
[Oh yeah - I also mixed in C.S. Lewis and some others. :o)]

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
-- C.S. Lewis

"Desire is a signpost pointing to Heaven. Every longing for better health is a longing for the New Earth. Every longing for romance is a longing for the ultimate romance with Christ. Every desire for intimacy is a desire for Christ. Every thirst for beauty is a thirst for Christ. Every taste of joy is but a foretaste of a greater and more vibrant joy than can be found on Earth as it is now."
--Randy Alcorn, from his book "Heaven"

"If we build our lives on the redemptive work of Christ, we should all be optimists. Why? Because even our most painful experience in life is but a temporary setback. Our pain and suffering may or may not be relieved in this life, but they will certainly be relieved in the next. Anticipating Heaven doesn't eliminate pain, but it lessens it and puts it into perspective. Meditating on Heaven is a great pain reliever. It reminds us that suffering and death are temporary conditions. Our existence will not end in suffering and death--they are but a gateway to our eternal life of unending joy.
Don't place your hope in favorable circumstances, which cannot and will not last. Place your hope in Christ and His promises. He will return, and we will be resurrected to life on the New Earth, where we will behold God's face and joyfully serve Him forever."
--Randy Alcorn, from his book "Heaven"

"This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country; this world of woe is but the stepping stone to a world of bliss."
--Charles Spurgeon

"I take it to be a biblical truth that the more earnest we are about fulfilling our mission ... reaching unreached peoples ... exposing the darkness ... loosing the bonds of Satan and of sin ... the more earnest and zealous we are in being the Church, being Christ to this world, the more we will suffer like He did."
--John Piper

"Your purse is not a good place for BUGS."
--David B. (my four-year-old nephew)