Crushed and Loved

Oh man.  My heart is full.  I hardly know how to put in words all that God is doing FOR us. Yep for us. I just responded to a dear friend back home in Michigan while here in Seattle on text that  "I really think He is just loving us!"  When asked if God is talking to us.  I do , I think He's LOVING us.  I sense a season coming and upon us that is giving us freedom to be okay with just being loved.  Restored. Poured into. Rejuvenated for the next and the new. 

Talking about being loved , yet another dear friend sent affirming words today of POSSIBILITY & PURSUAL ... again just felt like a hug from Jesus himself.

THEN.....we went to a chapel service today where they sang No Longer Slaves and yep you guessed it How He Loves!  Tears flowed as I felt warmth within and new breath in my lungs. These 2 songs just happened to be on my last set at Naz on Sunday with amazing , unforgettable friends...my heart soared in worship.  

And the kicker was really this morning as Tim and I compared notes of our quiet time together.  We both read about being CRUSHED.  Tim read Oswald Chambers today .... here is a little bit:

If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

While I read that an olive must go through a lengthy process which includes washing, breaking, soaking and waiting to be prepared for usefulness. Recognizing that it's in the crushing that the most value comes, the oil. 

Embracing being loved and crushed today. Wow.  I'm exhausted and it's only 2pm here.  Lol.  ❤️ 

 

Hope in waiting

Our last Sunday with our church family at The Naz has come and gone.  Packed up the office and turned in the keys on  Tuesday. Wow. Loved that place.  Lived and breathed that place.  Never thought we'd leave that place. We will always love the people deeply...  

But now, here today - after the stir / the interruption early spring 2016 we feel differently. We feel called.  We feel excited. We feel scared.   We are grieving for sure and will for sometime,  but we have affirmation after affirmation that there are people "in waiting" for the hope we have in Christ and there's more.  

True - we are still in the unknown of where and how and who or what.....however...today  we are in Seattle , WA - talking with amazing and beautiful people who love Jesus with all their heart and just want to make a difference in this world. They have already been so life giving and empowering. There's a whole world out here guys!!!  

On the plane I read the prayer of St. Patrick ( who has nothing to do with green beer and leprechauns, but everything to do with a revolution to share Jesus) ..that ends with this ...

Let it be our prayer everyday of our lives. 

Love you all....
 

Wherever you go!!!

9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lordyour God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

 "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go ." Gen 28:15

"My presence will go with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go." Ex. 33:14

We love this "WHEREVER YOU GO " statement right now.  So many people are saying it to us, so many songs we are singing say it and the word of God nails it!!!

God does not require us to go alone.  He goes before us and is with us.  With such a big decision ahead of us for what is next we rest in the truth that no matter what we choose HE IS WITH US.  He does not abandon us , he is not moved by the unknown , he sees us, he knows us and he is intimate with us.  

Rest in his certainty in the midst of your own uncertainty.  He's bigger!!!!

 

Christ in me

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:4-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We received many words of encouragement from the church yesterday and then many more as we read the cards from those who wanted to share a few words through a card.  One note in the card referenced this verse and it was a good gauge of what we want everyone to always see in us wherever we go.  

 

To sum it up it says ....

 

“I thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus” 

“In Him you have been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all kinds of knowledge”

“God is confirming our testimony in Christ among you”

“You do not lack any spiritual gift”

“He will keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”

“God is faithful”

 

It was so encouraging to hear  that they saw Jesus in us ... in our gifts, in our faith, in our passion for Jesus.  The things they said they saw and that  they would miss were all about our relationship with Christ. Wow. Eye opening. We want our legacy everywhere we go to be exactly that.  We want people to see Jesus in us and not us, we want them to thank God for us because of Jesus in us, we want to be a light to this world.  What a beautiful day of hearing from our brothers and sisters - affirming God's work in us.  Thank you.  

 

Take it captive - by Kadin

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he- Proberbs 23:7

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We have a tendnacy to be victims of our thoughts and emotions. 

We will say we are in a "bad mood"  as if it's like a cold or the flu.  Don't we have a choice over our thoughts and emotions? 

2 Corinthians 10:5 says TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE and make it obey Christ.  We need to know our power in Jesus name to fight those thoughts that bring division and pain and to rise up and say NO this heart belongs to God and that thought is not allowed here!!!

How we speak , how we act comes from the abundance of what is going on in our heart and minds. Let Jesus rule there.  

 

Hope and Inheritance - by Livia

“and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Whatever God does becomes a means toward something else that He is planning to do.   God doesn't save us to sit down and enjoy life with our feet up!!   No!!!

His provision and what is before us is always greater than that which is behind us.  We are saved to be a light and to build His kingdom.  This is NOT a figure of speech.  This is truth from the word of God. 

He gives us hope and an inheritance to be shared by loving people with our lives.  

 

Garbage Day - by Tim

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:7-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Let's pay attention to Paul's (the writer)  life a little bit.  He considers everything , everything garbage in comparison to knowing Christ.  Really knowing.  

All the great things we have done and may do are all rubbish if we don't KNOW Jesus in it.  If we don't point to Him as the reason.  We can get so caught up on the busy-ness of doing God's work and truly not even know Christ.  

Let's get back to some basics of just knowing Jesus intimately.  

 

Blame Someone Else - by Devin

“The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.””

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3:12‬ ‭NIV‬

Our human nature is to blame, blame, blame.  See how quickly Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent??

We do not want to accept guilt of our sin. It's easier and less painful to blame someone else. 

We all testified this morning to times in our lives when we have blamed others and times when we "owned our own crap". ( ya that's how we said it!!). 

We all agreed that it's much better to just own it because if you play the blame game eventually there is even more mess to clean up.  

We pray to embrace humility and to quickly acknowledge our wrong.  To forgive quickly, apologize quickly and love unconditionally. ( one of our family creeds). 

 

I Never Knew you

http://youtu.be/3jYYLx4HUmg

So this video  has messed us up a bit , in a good way.  It's a little less than 4 mins and it's worth watching to the end.

We want to be challenged and transformed. We don't want to stay the same !  We don't want to become numb and go through the motions of what "church people" do. The Bible tells us God is love and light. 

So if God is in you how can you walk in darkness?  If God is in you how can you hate?  

None of our thinking about God is important if it doesn't not make God an active, transforming power in our lives.  

Do you have God in you?  True faith. binds you to God - you just can't stay the same!!!  

 

 

Close to Him

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭16:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Staying close and aware of His presence is a matter of life and death!   One can so easily follow "the rules", write the check and volunteer their time and not truly know Jesus.  It's a matter of the heart. 

We challenged the kids this morning that they are in danger of this kind of living since they have been raised to make good choices, to show respect and honor and to follow the rules given.  They easily could fall into habits and make minimal effort with no thought on these matters.  However this type of daily living will give you a false sense of security, killing your soul into a comatose condition.  Yikes!!!

Let us become more aware of His presence and let us keep our hearts centered on Him by living close to Him. 

 

He knows !

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 34:17-18 NIV

Sometimes all we can think about is the pain we are going through and yet when we cry out to God he brings deliverance. He truly can and will replace those thoughts with His truth and move you toward victory.  I read recently that you "can't hold the VICTIM card up at the same time you hold the VICTOR card."  It's one or the other !!!!  Good word. 

Life breaks our heart.  We are never promised we won't have trouble,  but we are told to take heart that He is close to the broken hearted and that he saves those who are crushed in Spirit.  

Closing our eyes this morning ... Pausing in His presence to capture His great love and kindness for us. Receiving His love.  

Let's live loved.  Let's live in the fullness of God everyday of our lives no matter what our circumstance.  

Back at it!!!

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!””

 Luke 11:13 NIV

2016 come on!??? 

Our first week back to school was amazing.   First of all, mom grabbed a jet plane right after everyone got to school on the first day to attend a worship conference in Orlando. Ah...Mazing! I am so full of Jesus right now and that's a good thing for our family!!!  The family handled EVERYTHING without a glitch - I had no doubts.   Tim killed it all week with interviews and networking and soon we will be sharing our plans for what is next and new in our family !!!

Second, Kadin went "back to Brighton" after being at CSPA for 2 years. These 2 years have been the best for Kadin.  We watched him move from a shy guy to a confident young man.  Now off to a big school and lots of potential. 

Devin has been driving for almost a year now and while at first it was nerve racking, now he's a great taxi service for the other two!  Lol!  He's kicking it at his studies and excited to embrace his junior year and all that means for college planning!!!

Liv is a gem!  10th grade this year and handling it like a boss.  She's gonna visit ONU this weekend and start thinking more seriously about her future and career. 

Finally - and certainly not last - our Jesus, has been faithful and true to us.   He is our source , our light , our provider, our healer - nothing is impossible with Him.  

We are on a journey , stepping out in faith, putting our feet where He tells us and we refuse to do this in fear. Refuse.    We will trust Him and see Him through it all.   

Glad to be back blogging for another school year - this one is bound to be a great, most amazing season eva'!!!