What a happy Resurrection Day we had this year. With the presence of God filling the room and our hearts as we remembered our Lord and His Sacrifice, I was reminded of how blessed we are to be a part of such an awesome church family. And I was even more blessed to have my own family in church with me as well. It is my earnest prayer that my heart and my mind would come to fully know all the Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and arose 3 days later. May I get a true revelation of His Sacrifice and never forget, but always, always remember.
Spiritual
All-time favorite Larry Coker quotes
“You’re not gonna find all kinds of good stuff about you; you’re supposed to look at Jesus — that’s freedom.”
“You change because you come face to face with the truth.”
“If you know what you’re doing wrong, confess it. Don’t waste time punishing yourself — that’s not what Jesus paid for.”
“We are always producing fruit.”
“The only sin we can defeat is a forgiven sin!”
“Repentance is a gift, not a right.”
“If your brain is thinking the Truth, then it is working better than any other mind that’s not thinking the Truth.”
“This is not a comfortable process, but you can have joy as you go through it.”
“He pursued you until you think you caught Him.”
“What comes out of your mouth steers your life.”
Walk for LIFE
Every year we participate in the Walk for Life to raise funds for CrossWay Pregnancy Resource Center in Radcliff, KY. CrossWay Pregnancy Resource Center exists for the sole purpose to put Jesus Christ on display by demonstrating His unconditional love to girls and women who are faced with an unwanted pregnancy, and to let them know that they do have a choice, and abortion isn’t their only option. Founded in 2001, CrossWay offers many services that are all free and confidential. They provide pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, clothes and diapers, counseling, and bible studies.
The Walk for Life is 2 miles around the city of Radcliff, and all sponsors give a set amount, not a per mile pledge. All donations will be collected after the Walk is done on May 14 through the mail, so there is no money needed up front, and you don’t even have to live in our local area. We just simply need your mailing information and your pledge amount, and you will receive a mailer letting you know where to send the money after May 14. Last year our family was able to raise $500 for CrossWay, and this year we’ve decided to make our goal $1,000. The Lord has really been teaching us about giving this year and how it truly is a blessing on many levels. I came across the teaching by Mike Bickle, Giving Extravagantly, one of the best teacings I have ever heard – no exaggeration – it changed my life. It is a real joy to us every time we give, and we ask that you would consider pledging our family in this Walk. To reach our goal of $1,000, we would just need 50 people to donate $20 each, or 100 people to donate $10. There is no minimum amount required; we welcome all pledges of any amount and know that the Lord will bless your gift.
Walk for Life 2010
Morning Watch
I want to share about Morning Watch and the joy it is to me. Morning Watch is prophetic worship and prayer every Wednesday morning from 7-8 at our church. Yes…prayer that early in the morning. And it’s at the perfect time – right in the middle of the week, the perfect pick-me-up time. I have attended Morning Watch in the past, occasionally, but was never able to make a regular practice of it. However, at the beginning of the year, the Lord began to grace me with a renewed fervor for the first things (Revelation 2:5, Matthew 22:37-38), and early one Wednesday morning, after getting Justice settled back in his bed, I decided not to go back to bed, but to go to prayer instead.
I started that Wednesday morning praying for some things that were on my mind, but right in the middle of all my asking and seeking and knocking, I felt compelled to just stop, and kneel before the Lord. And as I bowed down and laid my face on the floor, I heard Jesus say, “There you are.” I was immediately taken back to the time we had our first ultrasound of our first baby. I was staring at that little monitor, straining to make something out the images and, all of a sudden, he moved and peeked his little face out at us. My breath caught in my chest as I said, “There you are!” Jesus responded to me the same way I responded to seeing my baby for the first time, reminding me of the way He feels when we turn our face to Him. It had been such a long time since I had just placed myself at Jesus’s feet that I had forgotten. But there, laying on the floor of our church, I remembered how it feels to hear Him call my name, how good it feels to just sit and cry in His presence. As I left the church that morning and headed back home I thought, “This is going to be good.”
I can’t express how much I look forward to Wednesday mornings now. It is not a duty or a burden, but a joy. It is such a sweet time when I feel the Lord so near. “The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” ~Psalm 145:18 The Lord has begun to stir my affections for Him again, and I have returned to the things I use to do.
Spring
The Lord keeps speaking to me about Spring. I say speaking to me, and what I mean by that is that I keep feeling this internal energy and liveliness surrounding the thoughts of Spring. I woke up one morning to a quiet Spring rain, and I can’t really explain why, but it gave me a sweet joy. It just felt like exactly what I needed. The overcast, grey sky; the puddles of water gathering in all the low places in the ground; it all just seemed to bring me peace. And then a few days later while we were eating breakfast, Judah looked out the window and exclaimed, “Mommy, our doves our back!” Judah has grown a fondness of the doves that come and make their nests around our home. We have always had a family of doves that make their home close to ours, and it touches my heart that even our children take note of their presence among us…I believe they are here with us for a reason. So as Judah proclaimed the return of the doves I heard “The winter is past [...] Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land” ~Song of Solomon 2:11-12. And there’s a song by Jessie Rogers Goodman, Seasons, that keeps playing in my heart. It says:
Summer skies, heaven’s opened wide, You make Your face to shine through the morning light
Autumn rain is crying out Your name, and though the colors change, Lord you will remain
Winter snow, bringing you so close, I know you’ll be here through the end
Lover’s spring, life to all You bring, and I can hear you sing the song of You and me
Such a beautiful song, and it has brought such a lovely peace to my soul. Everything in creation, even creation itself, goes through seasons of change — it’s the way of life — and through every season God remains faithful. He’s the same; he never changes. He is holy and righteous, and good, and true, and we can always rely on him. In the good times and the bad, He is here. He has always been, and He will always be. But the season of Spring has come. Winter is over, and the Lord is near. His love is in the air, so close, you can breathe it in. Read Ecclesiastes 3.
Rain
I woke up this morning to quietness, and as I walked through the house and pulled open the curtains, I discovered that it was raining a quiet little rain. So I smiled to myself and thought, “How perfect.” I love the rain; it’s so necessary. It’s just what I needed today. Because, though the sky is grey with no sign of the sun, and everything is drooping under the weight of wetness, I sense the beauty and nearness of spring. Winter is making way for the beauty to come, and I can already feel the warmth of the sun.
Rain is beautiful; rain is clean.
Rain is refreshing; rain means Spring.
Flowers blooming; the grass is green.
Leaves returning; birds will sing.
The sun will shine on everything;
It’s life-giving light conquering.
Rain precedes things foreseen;
A picture of peace, so serene.
Revelation
I have never been a fan of the Book of Revelation — you know, the one in the Bible — I’ve never been a fan of it. I’ve always found it confusing, violent, frightening, and depressing. I mean it’s full of plagues, and death, and pain, and beasts, and dragons, and it all just sounded like a big nightmare to me. I did not like reading the Book of Revelation. And it bothered me that I had these feelings about God’s Holy Word, but not enough for me to really engage in it. So every time I came to the book of Revelation, I would simply rush through it, merely reading the words off the page so that I could mark off that section in my bible reading plan.
However, I recently started tuning into ihop.org and listening to a lot of their teachings. It was after the OneThing Conference 2010 in Kansas City (that we were not able to attend) when I decided to make use of their online resources. I listened to several messages that gave out advice to forerunners in particular (those who go before, or step out first in the works of the Holy Spirit), and it being confirmed in me that I am a forerunner, I thought I would take their advice. So I began listening to Mike Bickle’s series The Seven Commitments of a Forerunner…reading through the Book of Revelation once a week was a part of the sacred charge that he gave.
So I’ve been reading Revelation every week for about a month now, and while it’s led to an increased prayer life (the normal reaction to reading the Word), I’ve not gotten further insight than what I’ve always had, and that just simply won’t suffice, not anymore. I can feel the importance and urgency to understand what God is saying to His church about the greatest of Times. So I keep reading and praying that God will give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of my understanding will be enlightened, that I may know the hope of His calling and the riches of His glorious inheritance.
Thankfully, I have found that Mike Bickle has a teaching series on the Book of Revelation, and it has been most helpful. I am sharing the link to the page where you can find all the sessions’ mp3s, videos, notes, and even transcripts.
http://mikebickle.org/resources/series/the-book-of-revelation
In Your Presence
This week has been full of frustration and disappointment, and I have been the victim of one big pathetic pity party. And for what? Just to arrive here at the end of the week with nothing accomplished and feeling like a failure, and still dealing with all the feelings of disappointment and hurt…and yet all I can think about is “In Your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” ~Psalm 16:11
So, Father come to me. Run to me. Sweep me up into Your arms where I can feel Your love for me.
Blogging Debut
This is my blogging debut. There are a plethora of reasons why one might blog, and I guess mine stems from my deep need for impact, from the internal realization that to just live for oneself isn’t really living at all. I have a need for others and for others to need me, and we all need God. So this is my feeble attempt to reach out into the world and give a little bit of me, and hopefully more of God. And in the words of Steven Curtis Chapman:
Today I watched in silence as people passed me by,
And I strained to see if there was something hidden in their eyes;
But they all looked at me as if to say
Life just goes on.The old familiar story told in different ways,
Make the most of your own journey from the cradle to the grave;
Dream your dreams tomorrow because today
Life must go on.But there’s more to this life than living and dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day;
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see,
And there’s more than this life alone can be.Tonight he lies in silence staring into space,
And looks for ways to make tomorrow better than today,
But in the morning light it looks the same;
Life just goes on.He takes care of his family, he takes care of his work,
And every Sunday morning he takes his place at the church;
And somehow he still feels a need to search,
But life just goes on.But there’s more to this life than living and dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day;
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see,
And there’s more than this life alone can be.