Tears of Thankfulness

Beloved friends,

I am sorry for my absence. Graduate school takes a lot of my time. However, God has been bombarding me with His goodness lately and for that, I am so thankful. Today, as I drove to work, I was listening to KLOVE and a reader shared the following story:

"I was working the counter for the vision center at Walmart and while I was waiting on a customer, I received a phone call from my husband notifying me he was getting deployed to Iraq very soon. He said he needed clothes, food, sunscreen, and a bunch of other supplies. I said, 'Okay, but we have $20 in our checking account.' I proceeded to cry unsure of how I was going to get him the supplies he needed in time. The customer I was assisting looked at me, reached out and inquired about my tears. I told her of my husband's departure and his urgent needs. She told me to wait here, she would be back. In thirty minutes, she returned with $300 of merchandise, enough to supply 10 soldiers with goods for their deployment. She also gave me money to mail the supplies to my husband. She would not stop rejoicing over the fact that she came to Walmart for glasses today and she was so glad she could help. We hugged and cried together."

My heart was moved to tears. It was too much to see God's amazing generosity and the joyfulness of the cheerful giver! How beautiful! How has God wowed you lately and met your needs?

Bieber Fever!

Bieber fever has hit. Renee is in love with Justin Bieber - they might look the same age but they are not. He is like 15 and she is 25 but sometimes you cannot help who you like! Anyway, I wanted to share his video on prayer. It is surprisingly simple yet surprisingly powerful. Who needs your prayers today?

Every Second of Every Day

God calls every second of every day. I wanted to feature Cari Devlin's beautiful video for FOCUS conference. I love that I was part of something bigger than myself and bringing student's to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. How can you answer His call today?

Being Needy

A woman struggled with hemorrhages for 12 years. She spent all of her money and had no hope left for a cure. Except, she knew of Jesus. She knew He could heal her, if only she could just touch His cloak. After touching his cloak, Jesus realizes power has come out from Him and He looks around to see who has touched Him. The woman becomes afraid to speak up.

Reflecting on this story while listening to my good 'ol favorite song, Known by Audrey Assad, a line in the song says, "You have always known my heart." So the question I beg to ask: If you always know my heart, why do I fear entrusting myself to you? Why do I not want to speak up and claim that I touched you? I reached out! I was in need! I touched you! I needed healing! I NEEDED YOU!

Why don't I do that? Do you entrust everything to Him? Do YOU speak up?

A Million Thank Yous!

First of all, readers, it is 11:16 PM and I have a full day tomorrow so you know it was a pretty blessed weekend for me to be blogging this late! I just have to give out a million thank yous for all the people and things that Jesus used to rock my world! First, thanks to mom and dad for a hilarious dinner on Friday night. I loved laughing about numb mouth after getting a filling at the dentist. Thanks, Father Matthew for reading my S-O-U-L! Seriously. You are the best spiritual director, EVER! (no offense to other great directors out there, Father Matthew and I just gel...we gel). Thanks, awesome Nike tight running pants that I have kept hidden since last winter. It was so good to put you on today and just wear you. I love wearing you and thanks for enhancing my legs! Thanks, orange leaf for providing some much needed late night tart ice cream. Thanks Laura for letting me talk...and talk...and talk. Thanks to Jana for suggesting I watch Italian Job. I liked it. I really liked it. Thanks Jesus for picking a sweet song to play on the radio about your love as I turned on my car. Thanks to Father Pat for telling his parish family that he will miss them because he loves them. Made me tear up. Thanks, Jeremy for playing an oldie but a goodie song during Mass tonight. It made me cry as well - just being immersed in the love of GOD! Alleluia! Thanks Catholic Church for including the Alleluia right before the Gospel. It helps me realize that someone awesome is about to happen! Thanks, Jesus, for loving me through so many things this weekend. How has He loved you lately?

Meet Hallie

This is Hallie. Hi, Hallie. It is Hallie with a long A. Like Hallie from the Parent Trap movies. Got it? Good. She is my counseling school classes. Sometimes I wonder how they let someone in who is so young...but she is cool. I guess she can stay. (Insert laughter here for recent joke). Every time Hallie sees me, she just looks at me and in this crazy high pitched voice says, "Thank You, Thank you, thank you, thank you very much" as fast as she can. Every time, I laugh. Really hard laughter, too. It never fails.

One time she would not stop using that voice, and of course, I could not stop laughing. Then my laughter turned into that silent laughter where you mouth is just open and you are barely getting oxygen and you are laughing so hard and you cannot stop that you are seriously considering that you might die due to lack of oxygen. It can be an incredibly joyful moment while at the same time being seriously terrifying.

All in all, it is funny and she has been a blessing to my counseling school experience. Jesus, thanks for giving me a fun companion on the journey to being a counseling. Hallie will probably be the one keeping me sane while working with clients! Get ready, girlfriend! Who has Jesus blessed your life with lately?

The Friend

Do you every just feel warm and cozy when you are with a friend? Just talking on the couch at a coffee shop? It just makes you feel good inside. It is a spot you want to frequent. Lately, my coffee shop couch companion has been my Theories book or the uncountable number of powerpoint slides from class (awesome yet gross at the same time). Even still I have had some wonderful people come and share coffee shop time with me and it has been a pure delight. They give me Jesus because they challenge my thinking or they remind me of why I love the Lord. They also remind me of why I am working toward a Masters in Counseling. They remind me of all the coffee shop discussions I had with friends and FOCUS students who were searching and I was able to join their search for answers. Thank you for being a reminder of what makes me feel purposeful! When do you truly feel at your best? What activity is life-giving for you?