So, in my life for the past few years, there has been a calling toward stillness. I had been a busy bee before Selah came, in ministry, missions, friends, music…And lately, even though I have this relationship with the Lord that is my absolute source of wisdom and my deepest root of truth, I’ve let the confusion and opinion of man seep in. Eventually after dealing with it for a few months now, I’ve been reminded that it doesn’t matter what the common or popular teaching is right now…I am under the Lord’s authority and cannot let my simple calling in life be replaced by these opinions and these things people are saying we should put first. It’s like I keep hearing all about these outward things a Christian is supposed to do, but rarely about the inward things. My word from the Lord is that my inward secret place with Him must be thriving, and if I focus on that, any outward thing He wants for me to do will happen by His power and to His glory. I cannot put my focus on the external outward list of deeds I am doing for Him, the list of ways I am being used; God-forbid that I would ever be so focused on myself again! When I am focused on Him and our connection in the unseen, I can trust He is at work in me and through me, without trying to quantify it. There is freedom in putting first things first, and there is not room for more firsts! There is only One.
The Joy of the Lord
This will be quick today…
The Picture
Last night, the Lord spoke to me once again through Selah.
Abortion
This may or may not make sense, but for me, this tragedy in Haiti has made me think and pray more about abortion. These are certainly not new thoughts, but the abortion issue is about so much more than the 2 sides debating between it being a woman’s choice to decide what happens to her body and feeling that taking away life in the womb is indeed murder. I’ve just been struck lately with what happens when a person, or a group, or a country decrees something to be good or at the least acceptable, though this something takes away a life.
Tragic
This week, our hearts have been heavy and our minds have been in turmoil over the earthquake in Haiti. It’s something I can’t watch on television, because I already have enough mental images in my mind to make me weep and pray as often as I have a moment to do so. I’m praying for the orphans with waiting families, that they would be united, and I’m so excited that in several U.S. cities, this has happened! I’m praying for orphans; that the Haitian government, and the U.S. government would make quick and wise decisions toward their well-being, possibly making the U.S. a place for fostering and adopting in a fewer-step, less-money process. I’m praying for the people who are homeless, lost from their families, mourning loved ones; I’m praying for the people who are seeing so much death, such as in Rwanda’s holocaust, that they will need to be taught once again that we are all precious human beings, created in the image of God, made for better than this. I’m praying for God to rise and show compassion, for miracles, for His hands and feet on mission there, and most of all, for His Presence to be there.
Sacked by the Quarterback
This is a song I wrote last month about learning some humility. I cannot even explain how slow and thick my brain (and I guess my heart as well) seems to be! It’s hard for me to sit back and accept whatever challenges come my way; I want to figure them out, fix them, and quickly move on. God is teaching me this: My place is not up, fighting. My place is down, trusting. So opposite of how I thought I’d live my life; I may not have even obeyed if I wasn’t simply forced to the ground!
This Week
There are so many things I’d like to blog about. Like ten different subjects! But I am just going to talk about my week. And I am going to try to keep my blogs to 3 paragraphs. Can I do it? Is it possible?
God’s Faithfulness to Yemi
So, in this next to last chapter of our marriage journey I am going to talk about our adoption. I felt blessed the entire time we were in the adoption process, because we were actually doing it! We were done discussing or praying for the right time, and that was an awesome feeling. After getting Yemi’s referral in Dec. 08, we had a court date set in February, and we hoped to bring her home in March or early April! But we had some more testing of our faith to endure…of course!
Bringing Home Yemi 2009
Oh my goodness, yesterday’s post was so depressing! There actually are good things that God has taught me that
Our Marriage Journey; D.C. & Adoption Years
This last bit has been hard to write! I’ve shared really honestly about the difficulties and surprises of several periods of our lives, and this last segment (2007-2009) has probably topped them all (in regard to difficulties and surprises).