Little One

I met a girl six days ago.
She is tiny. She is adorable.

We sat next to each other. She was drawing a picture, I was telling her how pretty it was. That turned into making faces at each other. Then we began making noises. Any noise we could make with our mouth or throat was made...then repeated by the other. She scrunched up her nose and snuffed. Of course I copied her.
We moved on, holding up a marker she would pause until I said the colour. Then I asked her the colour. She would roll her big brown eyes and say it before throwing it back in the bin.

Her smile made you stop. And there was no possible way you could see it and not smile back. I did crazy, silly things just to see those eyes light up and that smile.
For thirty minutes we played with each other before I had to leave. I didn't want to. I didn't want to leave that smile, that precious loved girl.

Four days ago I saw her again.
She is tiny. She is adorable.

She was sitting on a stage with a hundred other children. They were waiting to sing before the audience. She was there on the front row. Our eyes met. She scrunched up her nose and snuffed. She remembered....
Throughout the night she would glance over and shrug her shoulders or raise her eyebrows. Of course I copied her and her smile melted my heart. I know every time she glanced over because I couldn't stop looking at those precious eyes, hoping for that smile, one more time...

You Is Important

Encouragement is crucial. To build up a people, they must know that they matter; that they have purpose. A people without purpose is a people who lack motivation, drive, and energy. When they have a purpose, they need to know how well they are fulfilling it. 

We compare. It is our nature. We look to people we respect and vie for response. Am I doing well? Did  I make a difference? Was I needed? Could you have done it without me?...

Questions flood our minds when we complete something we were designed to accomplish.

They only dissipate when we hear: "Well done." "Thank you." "You did great."

Because deep down, we were designed to do great things. We were designed to do them well. We were designed to be loved and encouraged.

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NOW IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE...YOUR RESCUE -Part I

Thank you for saving me. For coming to my rescue.

The people of the earth plead and wail. They are desperate for a being who can save them. They realize their plight and the limits of their own abilities. They have been defeated-beaten, unable to get up. When they cry, he comes, always. Some might ignore him, holding our for something "better" or more convenient. But others reach their arms out to the one who will beat their capturer and deliver them.

And he will. And he did.

As one who had been beaten down to the earth, one who had been abandoned and left for dead, one who let you walk by me with no desire for true help. I wanted your help, but not you. Until one day I saw your eyes. Warm and beckoning, you came to my rescue.

"In my anguish I cried to the Lord,

and he answered by setting me free."

Ps 118:5

As one who was rescued, it's time to celebrate...

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Talk to Me

"Talk to me, little one."

"But Father, I don't speak well."
I get caught up in the things I will say next, then I ramble, piecing together sentences that make sense to no one...


Then he smiled and said, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."


So with his breath in my lungs and his words in my mouth, I began. At first there was silence. My heart spoke to him from the depths of my being. What my mouth could not put into words, my soul cried and shouted. It spoke of wonderful things. It spoke of thankfulness, awe, mercy, grace, hurts, feelings of fear and doubt. Anything I felt was laid out for him to see.
Every time my heart and soul burst forth, my tongue was loosened. My mouth would spit forth a sentence. Not a paragraph, not a complete thought...just a sentence. He was helping me. He was teaching me what to say.
Maybe one day I will fearlessly speak from my mouth.

Maybe one day when he says, "Talk to me, little one."

I will.

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People of the Second Chance

I BELIEVE THIS IS TRUE WITH ALL MY HEART....

http://www.potsc.com/#!prettyPhoto/0/

PEOPLE OF THE SECOND CHANCE IS A SCANDALOUS AWAKENING OF RADICAL GRACE IN LIFE AND LEADERSHIP. WE EXIST TO OVERTHROW JUDGMENT, LIBERATE LOVE AND LIVE A LIFE THAT REBELS WITH GRACE FOR EVERYONE. 

                      -POTSC mission

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Why I Write

In school I hated writing.


It's true. I was the math and science inclined girl who would use as many quotes as possible on a page to increase my word count. If I could create a graph to illustrate, you better believe it was nestled into the sentence fragments that made up my paper.

While I leaned toward the right side of the brain, I have always loved to read. I would fly through biographies, study encyclopedias, read poems, and soak up mysteries.
I loved reading words; but not writing them.
Middle school and high school ended.
And a couple years went by....
Then one day I made a decision: I would write every day for a year.

It began with my terrible memory. I have the worst. I can remember what happened last week, if I'm lucky, maybe two. But ask me about something that happened a month ago and I will be grasping for a calendar. So my decision was to serve as an aid. I would write the highlights of the day, one day at a time. In the beginning, my entries were painful fragments about the monotony of life. I knew they were pitiful. But it would help later, right? A month or two in, and my ramblings were bearable; not good, but bearable. Fast forward a bit and I loved to write. Was I good? No. Not at all, but I was able to put my thoughts and observations down on paper. It was a huge step.
Now I have my own style. Now I write all the time. I'm still not any good, my grammar is atrocious, I still write in fragments...but I love it.
I write a friend every week about what's happening in my life.
I write letters to friends who live out of state.
I write to my sponsor child in India.
I write when something wonderful happens, something that I never want to forget.
I write when something tragic happens, something I want to look back on and find the blessings in.
I write down ideas, plans, encouraging words, song lyrics, verses....

Because I want to remember.

I want to look back over the years and be amazed.

I want to be amazed of how God used my situation, 

my friends, my decisions, my life.

I want to be reminded that all of God's promises have been fulfilled, 

not one of them has failed.

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I Will be Grateful

Gratitude is never INVISIBLE or SILENT.
    Luke 6:45 "For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

Gratitude begins where your SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT ends.
    What do you feel entitled to? Sin creeps into our hearts when we fail to see life as a gift.

Grateful people can find a BLESSING or create a BLESSING in almost any situation.
    Gratitude is not based on how good your situation is but on how good you see your situation to be.

-Compiled from Pete Wilson and Steven Furtick's teachings

Gratitude isn't just throwing down a "thanks" to someone. It's recognizing an effort, a commitment, a decision.

We need to take notice. 

When someone genuinely asks how you're doing, when they simply smile at you, it means the world. Yet we become accustomed to these formalities. We accept them as normal, expected acts. As such, we begin to ignore them. They become less beautiful because they are expected. It's no longer real-it's synthetic.

Smiles and general inquiries have lost their passion. They have become ignored-sometimes dropped altogether. 

We've lost it.

Genuine inquiries are seen intrusive to personal life, we are skeptical of their intentions.

We are no longer grateful for other's concern.

We are no longer grateful.

We thank God for the day, for our food, family, blessings. For the things we experience and see. We are appreciative of the physical. We understand he gives us things we can't see. Peace, patience, hope...

But who is he? Are we thankful for his character? His efforts, commitments, and decisions? His decision to love us? Or do we take that for granted? Once again, it becomes a common thing-like a smile. No longer treasured and marveled at.

Yet he does not stop loving us. It stretches farther to him displaying and proving his love. But we all know that.....

We are no longer grateful for things we know and have heard for years-it's nothing new.

We are no longer grateful.

So this year it begins: 

I'm going to notice what others do. I'm going to actively search them out. The little things, the big ones. Their sacrifices, decisions, and I'm going to be grateful for them. I will not be silent. To do so would be to ignore their efforts. And to ignore them as beautifully loved people. 

It begins today. I will not be silent.

I WILL GIVE THANKS AND GRATEFUL BE.

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Undeserving

"I need God to help me love God."

 Francis Chan

Crazy Love

"Come near to God and he will come near to you."

 James 4:8

I'm a perfectionist. I like things that are complete. If it's not finished, I'm ashamed.

Then God said he wanted me. And joy filled my heart-for a moment. How could I give him my life? It's broken, imperfect, not finished... There is so much that needs to be done. I felt shame.

I held him at arms length and rushed to get everything in order. But my hand fumbled, everything I touched gave way and shattered. Now my shame turned to panic. What would I do? Everything that had looked good in my life lay in rubble at my feet.

Suddenly I had nothing.

Nothing to give.

And yet I had nothing to lose.

I swallowed hard and lowered my arm, holding him back. I took a step, just a small one. My head lowered, dreading the unknown. Nothing. Now another step, head raising. I saw a face. This face didn't mock my failure, it didn't stare at my broken pieces, it didn't back up in horror, it didn't show judgment, surprise or anger. It showed acceptance, compassion and comfort; everything I had worked hard to earn. I looked back at my life, surely there was something redeemable I had done to experience the gaze. But looking back I had nothing, not even rubble. Everything had been swept away.

A feeling flooded over me, not shame, not panic, but peace. 

I hadn't fooled the face, he had accepted me despite my failure.

I needed him to love him.

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Hurt People, Hurt People

I love people. I love watching them.

Sometimes I see people loving others-a smile, a moment spent solely on another, going out of their way for someone they have never met-it's beautiful.

Other times I see people in pain-lashing out in anger, indifferent to the hurt they have caused, selfishly bypassing the cares of others-it's heartbreaking.

These people:
Lash out in anger when they feel threatened or hurt.
Hurt others when desperate for attention.
Don't know how to manage their pain.
Respond the way they have been treated.

Most people aren't mean. They are hurting so bad that they can't communicate the pain they're in.

I have decided, I have resolved:
I am not going to shun, ignore, or belittle those who have been deprived of love. Those who have warped views of themselves and of the world.

I will love those He loves.

Because He's crazy about them.

Because it breaks His heart when they're in pain.

Because He desires them to know His crazy love.

His crazy, undeserving, unconditional LOVE.

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You Are Making Me New

"You make beautiful things

                                                                         You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, 

You are making me new"

                                                 -Gungor

A brand new year was always exciting, but it wasn't until recently that I began to grasp the meaning.


New Year's resolutions were never made in my house. If we wanted/needed to change an aspect in our life, it should happen immediately or as soon as possible. The only time I heard about people's resolutions were excuses of why they wouldn't continue. Not enough time, not enough money, not enough support....All I heard was, "Resolutions are meant to be spoken, not fulfilled." 
So why continue? Because it makes us feel good. It's an effort without the excursion. 


I used to think resolutions were stupid. 


But I don't think that anymore. 


I think resolutions are fabulous. I think they're an important step to accomplishing a dream. But I have to remember that it's going to be hard. I won't want to do it some days. I'll choose to give up. I'll choose the wide, comfortable path.  And once I do it will be even more difficult to get back on the right path. But will it be worth it? Oh, yes. A resolution should be something you believe in so completely that pain and hardship are mere trifles to attaining the greater good.
Yes, I thing resolutions are fabulous.


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