From Babe in a Manger…to King in the Clouds!

My heart is in need of quiet…of stopping this moment and listening to the whisper.  The whisper of the Holy One.  He is near.  When I am still, I can hear Him.  I can feel His love as He wraps me tight in His heavenly embrace.  I read the words… (Luke 2:10-13)

“The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good
news that will be a great joy to all the people. Today your Savior was
born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord. This is how you will
know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box." Then a very large group of angels from heaven joined the first angel, praising God and saying: "Give glory to God in heaven, and on earth let there be peace among the people who please God."

My spirit stirs within me.  We celebrate the birth, but we prepare for His coming!  For He is coming again…but this time not in a manger, quiet and meek.  No.  For this time “He, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.”  (1 Thess.  4:16-17)

The story began quiet…just the soft cries of a newborn babe…but the end will erupt in the trumpeting of heaven’s mighty roar!  The thread of God’s grace spun down through all of time is something far greater than words can ever describe.  When I still, and empty all of me before the Almighty Himself, I can begin to feel the crescendo that awaits!  For the orchestra plays, the music builds, and all of history sings with voices in one accord!  And as we prepare our hearts…the thunderous beating of an army of angels wings beats in mighty anticipation…for He will not be delayed much longer! 

So this Christmas night my soul rejoices!  The Babe who came that quiet night so long ago, will come again!  AMEN!

LOVE Came Down

LOVE comes down, from Kingdom high to manger low.

LOVE, wrapped in soft flesh.

LOVE, leaving behind royalty for servant hood.

LOVE, in proactive form, came to give and empty and make Himself payment for crimes He could never do.

LOVE, led by example, is more than mere words of beauty.

LOVE is sacrifice…it is acting out the example that gave up all for the sinful, wicked, dirty, shameful soul.  

LOVE is God.

Do we love like Christ?  Do we leave behind comfort and lay low our rights to give and to serve?  Does our love take on verb tense?  Are we actively loving the unlovely?  For to speak love, words can flow without sacrifice and thought.  Words are easy…but love lived behind the words are what Jesus came to show, what Jesus came to give.  He offers true love…and we, His image-bearers, are to offer up that love just as He.  Are we?  Am I? 

The Church…

Church.  What is church really?  Is it something we do?  Is it somewhere we go?  Why was it designed?  What has it been morphed into throughout the ages? 

I believe in what it is suppose to stand for…what it is suppose to be.  It is a body of believers who can humbly come together in unity and lift our voices in one accord to bring our Creator glory and honor due His name.  It is a place where we can bring our gifts, that God has so graciously bestowed upon us, and use them jointly to serve and encourage the body as a whole. It is something that is meant to magnify Christ, not bring attention to ourselves. 

But I fear that church has become so many things it was never intended to be.  Church is suppose to be a place where we come to empty ourselves out in order to be filled and used of the Spirit.  Yet, we come to “church” in order to be filled…in order to feel good…to be loved on…to be cared for.  We search for a church that entertains us, keeps our attention, leaves us with elated emotions.  We like a church for their good music, the pastor’s ability to move us with his words, the programs it offers our children, the fellowship it offers us.  We are seeking a church that can give us the most, that can meet all of our needs, and never disappoint.  Church has become all about us.  We come, we soak up what we can get out of it, we complain about what it doesn’t offer us, or what we don’t like about it, and then we lift our noses in the air and walk away, seeking something grander, better, more to our liking.  God forbid that we step up and give!  Never should we try and change the things we don’t like, love on the ones who we don’t agree with, fill the positions that we feel are lacking.  B/c we are there to be SERVED, not SERVE!  It isn’t about God’s glory, it’s become about our wants and how we think things should be.  So we whine and cry and complain and blame everyone else…squawking about until people stop trying to appease us or please us…then we turn our backs piously and move on, never stopping to think that maybe, just maybe, God wants us to get our feet dirty.  Maybe God wants us to jump in blindly and love and give and show Christ by example! 

I think our churches could be changed if we as Christians gained this mentality.   If we would stop judging the petty, and started loving without stipulations.  If we could wildly and vulnerably “let go” of all of US, and grasp hold of JESUS…the blessing would pour forth and it wouldn’t stop!   

Just some things I have been thinking about lately.  My heart hurts for the church.  I want to see God’s glory!  I want to move out of the way and let Him have His way!  This is my prayer this night.

Dancing in the Rain…

Busy.  This season seems so busy.  I love Christmas, the holidays, all the fun of family and friends.  But I don’t like how fast it speeds by, as each day gets bombarded with a hundred things I just “have” to get done!  This week has begun just like all the rest, but I feel God placing His finger on my heart…and I hear His gentle whisper to my soul…and I know this day must be different. 

I do have a hundred excuses why THIS season is okay to be busier than all the rest.  I mean, we are moving across the country!  And with very little time to think or plan or anything that makes moving across the country any easier.  But, there will always be SOMETHING that will steal my moments of now if I let it.  I read something just yesterday and it spoke to my heart…it said:

“You can’t wait until the storm passes by…you have to learn to dance in the rain!” 

This season isn’t necessarily a “storm” in my life…but it is something that I am waiting to settle down, to get through, to pass by so that things can be “normal” again.  But what is “normal”?  I don’t have “normal”…I have a life that changes from day to day.  And if I am always waiting for this event to pass by… to hurry up and settle down…then I will be waiting until my whole life speeds right by me.  And I don’t want to do that!  I want to live!  I want to DANCE IN THAT RAINSTORM! 

So, His gentle whisper says, “Calm in the midst of the storm.”  Enjoy the giggles from my little ones, write that letter to a friend, take time to blog, sit down with coffee and bible in hand, cuddle with my 2yr old, be patient, be kind, in the midst of busy and crazy, revel in the glory of God this day! 

So, here I am, hunting down the beauty this morning…and I will see it…b/c He is here, and I am aware:)

I Am His

The snow falls so quietly.  Almost deafening.  The silence as flakes of heaven float down from the sky.  A fresh blanket.  It covers and it hides.  The dirt.  The muck.  The ugly.  The white so pure takes the place of all the mess and turns it into a winter wonderful land. 

Inside my heart stirs.  His Spirit speaks.  A smile escapes my lips and I turn a thankful soul to the Snow-Giver, the Mess-Cleaner, the Reminder Himself.

 

My heart fills with dirt and grime each and everyday.  My steps become muddy and my feet get stuck in the muck each corner I come across.  But He is constantly turning my ugly into something beautiful, something pure and white.  And He reminds that it is only b/c of His shed blood that the quiet can exists, that the fresh can blanket and cover and hide the sin that plays so heavily outside.  And I inhale big, and relish in the moment of wonder as the world stops but for a brief instance, and I feel the snowflakes as they rest softly on my eye-lashes, and I hear Him as He wipes away and forgives this mess of a heart I have.  And I feel the peace settle in and over and I am whole.  I am His. 

The Nutcracker

She spins.  Again and again.  Her smile captures my heart and steals my breath away!  I can’t contain this joy that springs up a fresh and anew!  Watching her gaze in wonder…catching the moment and soaking it up!  She LOVES this…the beauty, the frills, the music!  The Nutcracker Ballet.  Every year we come, we watch, she dances and twirls.  We talk about it for 364 days until the next time we dress up, and spend an evening pretending we are there, in the Sugarplum Forest, spinning and twirling our dreams away! 

In the aisles, she can’t stop dancing!  She feels apart!  She tells me she just can’t stop dancing!

She waits with excitement, she is going to meet these beautiful creatures, these ballerinas who have stolen her heart!

She stands transfixed, as they sign her autograph book!

She keeps whispering to me…”they are so beautiful!”

She exclaims that she too, will be the most beautiful ballerina on stage!

It was a day of fairytale dreaming and princess smiles! 

Every little girl’s dream…to dance and be beautiful and have the entire world see that beauty that you know is stored inside!  To twirl and spin and feel the beauty that God displayed in all His creations! 

Its so fun to be a little girl!  So fun to feel the excitement of the ballet, the lights and music and know, in the very depths of your heart, that when the lights dim and the music begins, You are on that stage, dancing your dreams and dazzling a world into beauty and splendor!  And so, until next year, we will count the sleeps until we can do it all over again!

Alaska Has Stolen My Heart…

Moving.  Just the thought of the word sends my pulse racing and my blood pressure through the roof!  It’s not that I don’t like the actual moving…I love change.  I love new places, new adventures, new people and new memories!  I love the road trips, the visiting family, the time in the car with just my sweet little family.  I love the scenery as we drive across the country that we love so very much!  All of it, I LOVE! 

But what I don’t like, is the thought of leaving Alaska.  I have grown to love this place and think of it as home.  Even in the negative temps, the long months of darkness, and the frozen EVERYTHING…there is so much that compensates for those things that I barely notice them anymore.  Everything here is so BIG…so open and so beautiful.  There are more species of animals than there are people…we can drive and drive for hours and hours without ever encountering another human being!  I feel so close to God here…life is simple and it is so easy to keep perspective on what really matters. 

You dress for warmth, not fashion…you live to survive, not impress.  There is no “keeping up with the Jone’s”.  No one cares what you drive, what you wear, where you live or what you do.  You are who you are, and people like you just that way.  Nobody is “weird” or “unusual”…or maybe we are ALL WEIRD AND UNUSUAL, I don’t know.  But not matter who you are, you fit!

There are no dress codes for Sunday mornings…no restaurant requires black ties, your Carharts will do just fine!  A seven hour drive to go shopping is normal…but if you can’t find it at Walmart or Fred Meyer, you probably don’t need it anyway.  You sleep in the winter b/c the summers are made for playing…and playing hard!  The only good excuse for missing church in the summer is b/c your fishing…in the fall,  hunting.  No one questions or judges… well only if you come back empty handed!  Salmon and moose are just as good currency as cash in your pocket.  Crime is low b/c EVERYONE packs!  You carry your Bible AND your gun to church on Sundays.  The guy in the checkout line at the grocery store openly wears his 357 on his hip, and no one gives it a second thought!  Stupid people don’t last long here, b/c someone WILL shoot them in the face!

I am sad to leave this place!  It is the most incredible place I have ever lived!  This is the place where you chase the Aurora’s in the middle of the night, you swim in hot springs in –40 degree weather, you hike in the woods filled with snow covered Christmas trees all winter long!  This is the place where the sun never sets for 3 months straight…where the moon is brighter and the stars feel like you can reach out and grab one, keeping in your pocket for a rainy day!  You watch bears catch salmon while fishing on the opposite shoreline…you loose count of eagles soaring high, moose meandering in nearby fields, or maybe taking walk down main street!  Life slows here…b/c the beauty is too magnificent to overlook.  I feel overwhelmed with God’s greatness each and every day!  

I am excited for the next chapter of our lives…but sad it will take us away from this place.  I pray with all my heart God directs our steps back here one day.  This is our home, the only place my babies have ever known. 

Some days fear grips my heart as I think of moving back to the South.  The busyness, the stress, the materialism, the “keeping-up”.  I pray that I can bring a bit of Alaska back with me…that I can keep this sense of quiet and slow and good and not get caught up in all the hustle and “go”.  God has begun a work in my life, and I pray it continues on no matter what this world brings my way. 

Being Here, Now.

Today dawns early…with a list of “to-do’s” already a mile long!  My pulse races just thinking about all that this girl needs to make happen…my mind jumping through the day and the quiet of THIS moment slips right past.  I stop.  I breathe.  I hear His faint whisper…His wind as it stirs my heart.

Oh precious Lord, thank You for the reminder to live wholly now, in this day, in this moment, in this beauty You have given.  The day is early, and the reminder sinking in deep.  I am so grateful for a God who loves me enough to stop my quickening heart and bring me to my face, so I can be in His presence. 

So, I hush…and I hear…HIM!  He says to capture the grace He pours THIS DAY!  Capture their smiles….

Lay in the snow and make the prettiest snow angels possible!

Laugh hard with your children!

See the color of beauty all around! 

He beckons me to look!  To see!  The DARE to live fully is ringing true in my heart!  It’s not so much, being as productive as possible…it isn’t even being the best, the first or the greatest!  It is being here.  Now.  Seeing His glory.  Letting His beauty overwhelm you, change you, mold you into more of Him. 

So today, I will pick up my list, but I will pick up my camera too.  And I will remember to slow, and to capture the moments and memories of today.  And I will thank Him, for today.  For their smiles, the snow angels,  the laughter, the color of beauty all around!

The Reality of God’s Promises

Proverbs 16:1- “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

vs.2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.

vs.3 Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

vs. 9 The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

These verses stand boldly on the pages of God’s Word…they speak softly to my heart.  I read them again and again, soaking up their truth.  They were a promise to this unsure girl only 6 months ago.  I have been clinging to these proverbs…trusting in my God to bring about only the perfect, beautiful, best plan for this little family. 

We had a dream, a plan that we desired.  Travis wanted to fly more than anything else!  He tried several times to change his job from the band field over to aviation.  He tried for the Air force, the Coastguard, and each time was told no.  It was discouraging…but we were trusting in the Lord for His perfect will for our family…we understood that He knew much better than we ever dreamed of knowing.  So, Travis went ahead in his free time and got his private pilot’s license.  He flew on his days off and kept trusting the Lord.  But about six months ago, God gave the man a new idea, one he had ruled out many times.  But for some reason, now it made sense.  Fly for the army, helicopters.  Even though helicopters weren’t his first choice, it was better than nothing.  HE needed experience in the sky, he needed hours flying…and what better way than get paid for that experience, those hours.  So, he put together his packet, prayerfully seeking God’s will, sent it in, and we waited. We had a plan…we made steps toward this plan, this desire.  But we knew that in order for it to become a reality, it had to be God’s will, His plan, His direction for our family.  And low and behold, He directed our steps into a YES answer!  Travis found out last week that he had been accepted to the program and that we leave Alaska for Alabama in 2 months. 

We are nervous…anxious for what the future holds.  We are leaving “comfortable” for “unknown” grounds.  But we hold tightly to these promises!  God has plans for our lives that we cannot see…so we walk ahead blindly but with faith!  We are excited for the future…and we are so thankful!  We have peace that we are where God wants us, b/c we couldn’t have come to this place unless it was totally of the Lord.  We had no control…we have no control really.  But we did all we could, and then it was resting solely in the Lord’s hands alone.  So, we walk forward…and we continue to TRUST!  B/c that is really all we can do!