Special Prayers

I've been reading through a Max Lucado book, "And the Angels Were Silent." There was this story (true or not, I don't know...) about a bishop who was taking a journey.

"One of my favorite stories concerns a bishop who was traveling by ship to visit a church across the ocean. While en route, the ship stopped at an island for a day. He went for a walk on a beach. He came upon three fishermen mending their nets.

Curious about their trade he asked them some questions. curious about his ecclesiastical robes, they asked him some questions. When they found out he was a Christian leader, they got excited. "We Christians!" they said, proudly pointing to one another.

The bishop was impressed but cautious. Did they know the Lord's Prayer? They had never heard of it.

"What do you say, then, when you pray?"

"We pray, 'We are three, you are three, have mercy on us.'"

The bishop was appalled at the primitive nature of the prayer. "That will not do." so he spent the day teaching them the Lord's Prayer. The fishermen were poor but willing learners. And before the bishop sailed away the next day, they could recited the prayer with no mistakes.

The bishop was proud.

On the return trip the bishop's ship drew near the island again. When the island came into view the bishop came to the deck and recalled with pleasure the men he had taught and resolved to go see them again. As he was thinking a light appeared on the horizon near the island. It seemed to be getting nearer. As the bishop gazed in wonder he realized the three fishermen were walking toward him on the water. Soon all the passengers and crew were on the deck to see the sight.


It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out prayer... it just takes taking time to have a conversation with God... So take some time today... :)

When they were within speaking distance, the fisherman cried out, "Bishop, we come hurry to meet you."

"What is it you want?" asked the stunned bishop.

"We are so sorry. We forget lovely prayer. We say, 'Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name...' and then we forget. Please tell us prayer again."

The bishop was humbled. "go back to your homes, my friends, and when you pray say, 'We are three, you are three, have mercy on us.'" "

Can't Get Over You

I am falling in love with this song... I don't know what it is about it... I mean partly... they just sound GOOD... lol But there's just something there that won't let me go. I have literally listened to it on repeat since I downloaded it last night... (I like the acoustic version though... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5WRNGPgA0

I hope you enjoy as much as I do :)

Letting Go

The past couple of weeks have been rough...

School started... and then my grad classes started... and it just made things busy... lol

But in the middle of all that... my pastor's been going through the book of Colossians. We've been working through for a while now...

So the last few weeks have been about letting go of things. Making God center and allowing Him to have control of your life.

And then we had a girl come speak who's getting ready to go on a mission trip, and at one point, she was talking about letting go of things... but sometimes having to pray, "ok God... I know I need to give this up... but You gotta pry my fingers apart... cause I just can't seem to let go of it."

As pastor's been talking, God keeps putting His finger on different aspects of my life. He keeps asking for more of me. And when Sarah came to speak... it kinda brought everything together as a "ok... I've prepared you... I've waited for you... it's time that you move and let Me take control of these things."

So leading up to this week, that was the goal. And I spent a coupla days in prayer, just for that.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell...

So this week, we had a fiasco at the school... just huge issue came up again and I was in the middle... again... and I was frustrated with the situation and frustrated with how things were going, and by Wednesday... I was so tired and exhausted that I just wanted to give up. I just didn't care anymore... I was too tired to fight...

And so Thursday morning... everything was kind of culminating... and I was kinda freaking out... not gonna lie...

Normally, I plug my ipod into the car on my way to my second school... but for some reason, my radio was on... and I just left it on. (Gotta love KLOVE) Like 4 songs in a row were about letting God take over. The first was Steven Curtis Chapman... I can't remember all of it, but part anyway:

"I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I wanna be, the river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive, so sink or swim I'm diving in."

And I cried all the way through it... Cause that had become my prayer. Ok God... help me take the dive. Cause I don't do well with insecurity. I like to be in control. I like to know what step I'm taking next. But it doesn't always work that way... ya know?

So that was the first one... and 3 successive songs after that were just as heavy on my heart.

It was pouring the rain... like so heavy I could barely see... and I'm sobbing and still trying to drive to get ot my second school... all the while just gradually letting God take the reigns...

By the time I got to school... I was kinda drained... and the situation escalated... and at one point, I was so mad I was shaking... and so I went and called my pastor so he could have the church pray over the situation... and you know what... by the time everything came together... God took care of business.

And not just in that situation... but in a couple others as well that were just kinda smaller worries.

So I was reading Psalms this week for the bible study... and I got to 139 and wow... that just hit so hard... cause yeah... God does see us. He knows our every need. He knows exactly what we need and exactly WHEN we need it. It might seem like the last possible second... but He knows exactly what He's doing.

So... my prayer for this week are those last 2 verses...

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

You Can Have Me

This is a song by Sidewalk Prophets. It's had me for a coupla days now... so thought I'd share... lyrics and video below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpx40JJLQxw

YOU CAN HAVE ME

If I saw You on the street, and You said come and follow me

But I had to give up everything, all I once held dear, and all of my dreams

Would I love You enough to let go? Or would my love run dry, when You asked for my life

When did love become unmoving? When did love become, unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me,

Father of Love, You can have me

You can have me

If You're all You claim to be, then I'm not losing anything

So I will crawl upon my knees, just to know the joy of suffering

I will love You enough to let go. Lord, I give You my life, I give You my life

When did love become unmoving? When did love become, unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me,

Father of Love, You can have me

You can have me

I wanna be where You are.

I running into Your arms

And I will never look back

So Jesus here is my heart

When did love become unmoving? When did love become, unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me,

Father of Love, You can have me

You can have me

My Father, my love, You can have me.

Pastor on Sunday was talking about Peace being an umpire over our hearts. An umpire or referee in a ball game is there to keep track of the rules being broken. He's there to watch the game and make sure none of the players make an illegal move.

For instance... if a player hits another player, or moves the ball in an improper way... then the ref or ump will blow the whistle and stop the game until things can be sorted out. (basically...)

So in our hearts... peace is to rule. Well how does that work? Cause... I don't always feel peaceful... ya know? Christ may bring peace with Him... but... not always do I feel at peace... most of the time... I feel like I'm anything BUT peaceful...

However... There was another scripture about letting the message of Christ dwell in us richly.

The word "dwell" means to make into a home. Not just to stay there... but to LIVE. if you live in a house... you use it. you decorate it. you clean it. If you're just visiting... you don't change anything. You don't move anything around, or paint the walls... if you stay in a hotel... you don't do the laundry or make the bed... most of the time anyway...

to DWELL means you're taking care of it. You're actually living in it.

When Christ DWELLS in us... and we DWELL in Him... we change... we decorate... we learn about Him and He about us.

And we start to understand His peace. Now His peace... doesn't necessarily mean that the world isn't crazy... just means that in the middle of all the crazy... we still know Who's in charge... and even though we still might be a little worried about the outcome (we're human after all...) we know at the end of the day... everything's going to be ok.

Have you ever prayed about what you needed to do? what path you needed to take? Coulda been anything... a job... a spouse... a move to another place in the world... how about what car to buy? LOL been there... not gonna lie...

Have you ever been faced with a decision and just... not felt right about it? Something just seemed off... with that person, or with that job... or just... walked into a building of a possible job and just felt... off balance somehow?

When God's peace rules in our hearts... it helps us make decisions. It helps lead us into right things. When friends want to go party for the night... and that little thing in you just doesn't feel settled?

Or when you want to move but... it just doesn't seem to fit together? There just doesn't seem to be the right doors opening up... and... there's just something not letting you leave yet?

Or when you really want to get married... but... the person you're dating just doesn't fit quite right?

God's peace lets us know what to do and not do. When we're at peace... we are in the center of God's will...

Might still feel... scared. worried. a little apprehensive... but... we will KNOW that we are in the right. or wrong... as the case may be...

It's that little umpire in our hearts... telling us what rules to follow...

So if there is no peace... or you feel... too restless... maybe you need to review the play...

The Glue That Holds Us Together

Finally found the email... lol So this is the rest of the laminin thing. : ) It's an article from Louie Giglio called "The Glue that Holds us Together".

This is a pretty neat story and an interesting thing that few of us know. It's brief, so please read. (FROM A DOCTOR)

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY!  I want to share what I learned.... But I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.


He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is... How He spoke the universe into being... How He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire.. . Etc. Etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) .... And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking.... 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'


Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!  It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin. Here is how Wikipedia describes them: 'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see.... Laminins are what hold us together..... LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOKED LIKE.


But now I do.  And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....  Here is what the structure of laminin looks like.... AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it.... If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see....

Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!  Amazing..
The glue that holds us together..... ALL of us.... Is in the shape of the cross.
Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible
And invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
All things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him

All things HOLD TOGETHER.'
Colossians 1:15-17
Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool.
Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin,
Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together... One cell to another... By the cross.


You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything
Other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin
'glue' would look like long before Adam breathed his first breath!!

Mumsy... :)

WHEW! We've been planning a surprise bday party for my mom since January... we finally pulled it off yesterday... and it went REALLY well if I can brag about it for a sec... lol She was definitely surprised... which is not an easy thing to do... she's involved in absolutely everything all the time... and we talk about EVERYTHING... so to keep anything from her was torture... Although I think she may kill dad... it was all his idea... LOL She didn't want anybody to know how old she was... she threatened pain of death if we did anything... but that was after we'd already sent out invites... LOL oops...

But somehow we made it! She was shocked to say the least...


My mom is one awesome lady. Some of my earliest memories are of us baking cookies and going up and down the road to give plates of cookies to random neighbors.


She has a heart for other people... and she generally shows it by feeding them... lol We have had SO many people at our house for food.


When I was in about 6th grade, we started doing youth nights at our house. My brother wanted to have some of his friends come to the house... so they started coming EVERY weekend. Sometimes they'd only stay one night... sometimes... they'd stay a week... lol it just depended on what was going on.


At one point... we had 12-14 boys all my brother's age hanging out at the house... and me... joy... tormented much? lol

But you know... it was so much fun. They came, we fed them, they ran all over the farm doing all kinds of crazy stuff... and it was a type of ministry... we not only got to minister to all those boys... but we also got to minister to their families... (there were times some of the girls came over... but definitely not as often... and mom HATED those times... cause then we had the battle of the sexes going on... we were either fighting... or some of the girls were flirting... and that REALLY freaked mom out... so we didn't mix very often...)

Some of those boys still come back. They're grown up... some with families of their own... and my parents are like just another set of parents.

My friend Rob has a girlfriend who has a daughter about 3 years old... If she could... my mom would take that kid in a heartbeat... in her mind... she's like a granddaughter. (which takes some pressure off my brother and I to get married so she can have grandkids... lol)

Mom also makes a ton of quilts... last year, she put together like 20 something quilts to give away to some of the kids who were coming to youth nights still... most of them were college kids that we either go to church with or friends my brother and I met in college...

As we got older... so did the youth group... But nothing's really changed... my mom still feeds everyone who walks in the door... and we still have all kinds of people fill our house.

We live smack dab in the middle of nowhere... but we were talking about it one night... and we counted somewhere in the mid-20's I think... of different countries that have been represented in our house at different times. middle of nowhere! and people from all over the world have ended up in our living room or at our table. Is that not awesome!?

So yesterday... mom turned 50... and we celebrated her half-century by inviting people to come feed her for a change... it was one dinner that she didn't have to do any work for! lol It was a GREAT day... So many people!

Somebody told her yesterday that she truly is the embodiment of Proverbs 31. (She does do a little bit of everything around here... from cooking, to quilts, to clothes, to yard, to building furniture and laying concrete... LOL)

I am SO blessed to have this woman as mother... and I hope that in some way I can be at least half the woman she is in her ministry to other people...

Love you mom! :)