'No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us' - 1 John 4:12
That connects with 1 Peter 1:8 that we memorized yesterday. The love for God when we don't see hi. This 1 John opens up that idea of glimpses of heaven, glimpses of God. We all so desperately want to see him and that is a godly, biblical desire but let us not miss out on what God has for us in the mean time. His love is made complete in us. He has given us each other not so much as a substitute but as a part of him. God is here with us, we in a sense can see, touch, hear...His love is around us, in us, and with us. Awe...It is like when my dad us to bake cakes and to make sure the layers were the same and everything was smooth he would cut of pieces of cake. And of course we could eat these pieces. We enjoyed them very much, we still got cake later and the cake later was the best because there was more and icing. But those scrapes were so good. It's like God's love, its not time for us to go home yet and enjoy all of God face to face. But he cuts off those pieces of himself to let us enjoy until we get to the full thing. He wants us to enjoy all of him. Let us not throw those scraps away. We can enjoy both, aka all of Him...'God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.'
Monday, July 31, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
God Love, Love God
What do cotton balls, snow, cotton candy and flour have in common?
It's not a joke, its the only way I can explain the beauty that God just blessed me with. I have been praying and striving so much to love God and see his love for me. So on my flight from Denver to Salt Lake I was half concious but I know it wasn't a dream. The plane flew through a cloud and not just one little one, a mass of cloud, a city/ kingdom of clouds. I thought I was in Heaven or atleast on the way. It was dark in spots at first but then we would break through and you could see the sun and the light stretched forever. THe city of clouds was just like those four things above. Imagine a hill land covered in snow (covered to the point where you can't see anything else). Now cover that with the shape of a million giant cotton balls. Imagine seeing parts of the city look like mounds of flour like when you pile it up for baking(or playing!) Toss into the sky of this city strips of white stuff like when you pull of chunks of cotton candy. It is all the purest white you can imagine and the light of the sun touches it all with that warm heavenly light. It was a gift from God that I hope I never forget. On top of that he gave a glimpse of a sunset from above, think about it because I can't even explain it.
Witnessing this brought so much joy and peace to my heart. I sat and thought about his love for us, for me. The verse that John and I talked about and then memorized came to mind. "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." - 1 Peter 1:8 He gave me this gift but yet I still have yet to see him. I thought about some of the best gifts I've gotten and how I know which gift was given by whom. The best gifts aren't as important as the person that gave it to me. It's my love for them that I cerish most. So stop and imagine and think about how much we enjoy and delight in the gifts God gives us. Clouds, sunsets, stars, mountains, grass, breezes, lighting, rain, etc. See it, we cherish God more! Do you see it? I love all these things so much and have spent so much time just looking and staring and aweing over them. "...let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'" - Heb 12:28-29 I love this God of mine, I REALLY DO!
It's not a joke, its the only way I can explain the beauty that God just blessed me with. I have been praying and striving so much to love God and see his love for me. So on my flight from Denver to Salt Lake I was half concious but I know it wasn't a dream. The plane flew through a cloud and not just one little one, a mass of cloud, a city/ kingdom of clouds. I thought I was in Heaven or atleast on the way. It was dark in spots at first but then we would break through and you could see the sun and the light stretched forever. THe city of clouds was just like those four things above. Imagine a hill land covered in snow (covered to the point where you can't see anything else). Now cover that with the shape of a million giant cotton balls. Imagine seeing parts of the city look like mounds of flour like when you pile it up for baking(or playing!) Toss into the sky of this city strips of white stuff like when you pull of chunks of cotton candy. It is all the purest white you can imagine and the light of the sun touches it all with that warm heavenly light. It was a gift from God that I hope I never forget. On top of that he gave a glimpse of a sunset from above, think about it because I can't even explain it.
Witnessing this brought so much joy and peace to my heart. I sat and thought about his love for us, for me. The verse that John and I talked about and then memorized came to mind. "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." - 1 Peter 1:8 He gave me this gift but yet I still have yet to see him. I thought about some of the best gifts I've gotten and how I know which gift was given by whom. The best gifts aren't as important as the person that gave it to me. It's my love for them that I cerish most. So stop and imagine and think about how much we enjoy and delight in the gifts God gives us. Clouds, sunsets, stars, mountains, grass, breezes, lighting, rain, etc. See it, we cherish God more! Do you see it? I love all these things so much and have spent so much time just looking and staring and aweing over them. "...let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'" - Heb 12:28-29 I love this God of mine, I REALLY DO!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
An older male version of myself 2 years ago
We went out sharing for the 4th of July last night.
The first and only man we talked to was me! Yes?
He was this nice man, about 50's I would guess, from California but he had sort of an Irish accent. I asked him who Jesus Christ is to him and he replied that he didn’t believe in God. He said he wasn’t a religious man and has never been to church. More questions later found out that his mom was very religious and made him pray, he never liked it. His beliefs are only in what he sees in the since that you can’t see God so he doesn’t exist. He believed that when we die we die just like the trees and just go back into the dirt. There seemed to be a lot of hurt and anger. Because he asked how a loving God could allow the hurricane to happen and allow all the deaths in Iraq. But when we asked what he thought about a just God he didn’t respond. He mentioned that this world was hell and so we asked him where was heaven then and he instantly stopped talking to us. So we said goodbye and wished him the best.
He reminded me of myself because I use to think that the idea of a God was silly and that people devoted so much time to something that you couldn’t see. I also thought that there was no afterlife and like this man said we just die like a tree dies. My heart just really went out to this man. And our God is a faithful and loving God so I know this man will be in heaven! God changed my heart and so I know he will change this man’s heart.
The first and only man we talked to was me! Yes?
He was this nice man, about 50's I would guess, from California but he had sort of an Irish accent. I asked him who Jesus Christ is to him and he replied that he didn’t believe in God. He said he wasn’t a religious man and has never been to church. More questions later found out that his mom was very religious and made him pray, he never liked it. His beliefs are only in what he sees in the since that you can’t see God so he doesn’t exist. He believed that when we die we die just like the trees and just go back into the dirt. There seemed to be a lot of hurt and anger. Because he asked how a loving God could allow the hurricane to happen and allow all the deaths in Iraq. But when we asked what he thought about a just God he didn’t respond. He mentioned that this world was hell and so we asked him where was heaven then and he instantly stopped talking to us. So we said goodbye and wished him the best.
He reminded me of myself because I use to think that the idea of a God was silly and that people devoted so much time to something that you couldn’t see. I also thought that there was no afterlife and like this man said we just die like a tree dies. My heart just really went out to this man. And our God is a faithful and loving God so I know this man will be in heaven! God changed my heart and so I know he will change this man’s heart.
Our faithful God
Yesterday was a wonderful day. I gave it to God in the morning and made it a point to keep him in my day and sure enough he did, showing himself to me when I asked. THe first answer to prayer was when a few of us prayed in the morning one of the girls here prayed that her family's tv would break so that when she would go home at the end of summer, she would beable to talk to her parents. Sure enough her dad talked to her an hour later and his tv broke. I jumped a foot when I heard because God showed us that he is faithful!
So before I left for work I prayed that I would be done by 5:30 because that is when our shift ends, but lately we have had work loads that keep us later and it is my first day back from being sick. It was a request that could only happen by God's hand. I got my board, all checkouts and vacants!(=hard) But I gave it to God. It started as a discouraging day because I didn't seem to be getting much done. But I knew God would be faithful to me. Lunch didn't sit to well in my stomach but I knew God wanted me to work the whole day because I prayed for that the night before and so I prayed for the pain to go away, he was faithful.
Around 2:30 a suprivisor came and told me Amy was sick and so for some of her occupies they crossed out some of my vacants! Yes because occupies take less time. But they were on different floors so I thought it would be more of a hassle. I didn't have keys to them so I called down and had to wait a few minutes for somebody to tell me to go to security to get them, only for them to direct me to my suprivisors. There I couldn't find anybody but The keys were there. It was discouraging but I knew what seemed like a waste of time was going to work out in the end. Sure enough God was faithful. The first occupy was a do not disturb, the next one all they wanted was bed made and more towels (oh and that was a suite which are bigger and so normally take longer!) I went to the next floor for the last of the rooms I got from Amy. On the landing GOd blessed me with face towels that I needed all day! and that room was an easy clean and had left a tip (a little gift from God) So I got back to my floor and worked by faith.
About 5:00 I started my second to last room. I prayed to God that he was a faithful God and I trust him that I will be done by 5:30 I don't know how but I know he is faithful (it normally takes an half hour a room) I went to drop off the laundry from that room and 2 of my sisters appeared, what a blessing from God) So the 3 of us cranked out those 2 rooms and I was done by 5:30! God worked in other little ways but I just had to share that story because all praises go to him and we all need to be reminded that our God is a faithful God!
So before I left for work I prayed that I would be done by 5:30 because that is when our shift ends, but lately we have had work loads that keep us later and it is my first day back from being sick. It was a request that could only happen by God's hand. I got my board, all checkouts and vacants!(=hard) But I gave it to God. It started as a discouraging day because I didn't seem to be getting much done. But I knew God would be faithful to me. Lunch didn't sit to well in my stomach but I knew God wanted me to work the whole day because I prayed for that the night before and so I prayed for the pain to go away, he was faithful.
Around 2:30 a suprivisor came and told me Amy was sick and so for some of her occupies they crossed out some of my vacants! Yes because occupies take less time. But they were on different floors so I thought it would be more of a hassle. I didn't have keys to them so I called down and had to wait a few minutes for somebody to tell me to go to security to get them, only for them to direct me to my suprivisors. There I couldn't find anybody but The keys were there. It was discouraging but I knew what seemed like a waste of time was going to work out in the end. Sure enough God was faithful. The first occupy was a do not disturb, the next one all they wanted was bed made and more towels (oh and that was a suite which are bigger and so normally take longer!) I went to the next floor for the last of the rooms I got from Amy. On the landing GOd blessed me with face towels that I needed all day! and that room was an easy clean and had left a tip (a little gift from God) So I got back to my floor and worked by faith.
About 5:00 I started my second to last room. I prayed to God that he was a faithful God and I trust him that I will be done by 5:30 I don't know how but I know he is faithful (it normally takes an half hour a room) I went to drop off the laundry from that room and 2 of my sisters appeared, what a blessing from God) So the 3 of us cranked out those 2 rooms and I was done by 5:30! God worked in other little ways but I just had to share that story because all praises go to him and we all need to be reminded that our God is a faithful God!
Monday, July 03, 2006
A Letter to my fellow Saints
I'm writing to you an update on how we are doing in New Orleans. Physically we are on a rise after a major fall here. The neuro virus, at least that is what we have decided it is, hit us pretty bad. It started with one girl bringing it back from her workplace and it quickly spread in a matter of days half of us that is 30 people were sick with stomach pains and diarrhea! Now there are only about 15 or so that just have minor aches but are unable to eat other foods then what is on the BRAT diet, mmmm!!! Pray that the sicknesses completely die and we regain complete strength.
Emotionally it was way exciting for the Smith D-Team here because Chris, Eddie and Liz arrived. Great fun has been had but Liz only stayed for a little more than a week but being honoring to your parents was calling her back to Wyoming. She was actually very lucky because the next week was the sick week! And just 2 nights ago Lesley arrived for the week. It's like a Dream! That is what I said because her walking around here is like one of those dreams where somethings just don't seem to fit, but wait all dreams are like that! Anyway it is way encouraging for her to be here along with a bunch of folks from Brandon Pullen's small group.
Spiritually we need a blast of Holy Spirit to reunite us and an get us back on track on what God has planned for us here. There are many conversations to come, BBQs to put on, houses to gut, workplaces to outreach to, teachings to come, and many prayers to go out. With all of them we need from God the faith to believe that they will all be glorifying to God.
Keep us in your prayers, for you are in ours.
Emotionally it was way exciting for the Smith D-Team here because Chris, Eddie and Liz arrived. Great fun has been had but Liz only stayed for a little more than a week but being honoring to your parents was calling her back to Wyoming. She was actually very lucky because the next week was the sick week! And just 2 nights ago Lesley arrived for the week. It's like a Dream! That is what I said because her walking around here is like one of those dreams where somethings just don't seem to fit, but wait all dreams are like that! Anyway it is way encouraging for her to be here along with a bunch of folks from Brandon Pullen's small group.
Spiritually we need a blast of Holy Spirit to reunite us and an get us back on track on what God has planned for us here. There are many conversations to come, BBQs to put on, houses to gut, workplaces to outreach to, teachings to come, and many prayers to go out. With all of them we need from God the faith to believe that they will all be glorifying to God.
Keep us in your prayers, for you are in ours.
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