Loving Well

Hi went to a conference about Loving Well last weekend. It was a Beth Moore DVD conference where we watched her sessions and then a group of us talked about it. I went with a church I'd never been to, but with an amazing new friend. What a great time to put loving well in to practice! I didn't know anyone else, so I had a chance to just love them all for who they were without any background knowledge.

One of the main points of the weekend was about loving others from the overflow of God's love for us. If we don't allow God to love us, we can't love others. I was just reading in Matthew and came across a verse that really impacted me a few months ago, but I forgot about it.

Matthew 12:34 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Whatever is in our hearts is how we are going to speak to others. If we are low on our love from God and start thinking negatively about other people, we're going to say negative things to those people. If we are full of God and can then think and feel good things for people, positive love will come out of our mouths.

Just a thought. God is unbelievably amazing for loving us.

Life huh?

God has put me through an intense period of growth lately. That's how I am going to look at it. God is helping me to zoom in on the areas of my professional life that are lacking and wants me to improve them in 30 days!

One life lesson God has quickly pointed out to me is about judging. I was reading Matthew 7:3

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

I am so excited that God blessed me and is continuing to push me on toward the purpose He has for my life. I can't let life and circumstances hold me down. They will always point me away from this narrow path I'm on.

God is amazing.

Multiplication

I've recently been reading the book The Blessed Life by Robert Morris. What a great read! I highly recommend it. I've learned so much about managing my money and how God wants us to use His money!

I experienced something amazing recently though that I have to share. This book explains how your tithe is the first fruits of your labor. If we don't tithe, we are robbing God. Malachai 3. I don't want to do that! Also, it's the first fruits of our labor that we are to give to God. In Romans 11:16 it says that when we give our first fruits, the rest of the lump of money is blessed and holy. I was the rest of my money to be holy!

After this, I learned about my offerings being what I give away after I have tithed. Tithing is just returning to God what is His and then our offerings are in addition to the tithe. The offerings are the part God works with in our hearts. I had no idea how hard it would be to give just a little bit more away!! I did it though. I gave $20 over my tithe. That doesn't seem like a lot, but it sure was hard to let go of. After that, I gave a dollar and some change once and then a dollar and forty something cents another time. That's about $22.42 right? God works with our offerings right? Later that week, I got my tax refund. It was exactly 10 times that amount. $2,242. Amazing.

I love it! I'm growing so much. God is so good. I am excited.

Cherry Blossom 2010

The Cherry Blossom Festival!!!! I wait ALL year for it! I love it so much. There is so much diversity in one small compact spot. :) The traffic. The beautiful trees. Spring finally arriving. Tourists! Cameras. Paddle boats. Illegal crossings of the street. Bike riders. Dogs. Indians. Spanish speakers. Asians. African Americans. Caucasians. Strollers. Couples in love. Angry police officers. Yelling. Honking. Laughing. Frisbees. Kites.




Well, I just love it. In my opinion, hands down, the best time of the year in Washington, DC.




This year, I experienced the beautiful adventure with my friends Sherman and Samantha. What wonderful people!

While we were walking, avoiding branches hitting our heads and being snapped in an unavoidable picture, I had this overwhelming desire to become friends with every Indian person I saw!!!! There were so many of them! I was amazed! They were so beautiful with their sarees. The little children had pierced ears with gold jewelry. A lot of them had red and sparkly dots on their foreheads. Some younger women had red down the parts in their hair. The older men had a special way of walking with their hands behind their backs. The older women were serious and looked like they had been through a lot. They were definitely demanding of respect. The younger women dressed in Western clothing and looked happy and so pretty. I am inspired to seriously surround myself with Indians! The amount I saw today tells me there is a serious population in the city. I have to meet them!

How many Indian people can you spot in this photo?

How can they hear?

My life verses:

Romans 10:14-15

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Get this show on the road!

It has been a while since I've written on this blog. I have to admit that I lost my momentum for a little while. I was starting to doubt that going to India was what I was supposed to do. I didn't know what I was supposed to do next! I decided what I was doing with my life at the River School was not getting me closer to going to India.

Isn't God amazing in knowing exactly what we need when we need it? I went to a leader's meeting at my church. A man from the Virginia church was attending the meeting that day. Grace Covenant Church is part of a world wide church called Every Nation. My church in DC was started by the Virginia Grace Covenant Church. The man, Pastor Jim Critcher, is a prophet. He hears from God often! How amazing! Paul talks about prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14 if you would like to learn more.

Pastor Jim was walking around the room encouraging, comforting, and confirming events in people's lives. I was thinking, "Oh, I don't need a prophecy. I'm fine. Someone else needs it more than I do." All of a sudden, BOOM, he puts his hands on my shoulders. He told me that I feel like I have had to hurry, hurry, hurry the past few years while I was trying to graduate from Gallaudet University.

Read the full prophecy in my blog entry below.

He said I need to remember that the things in my heart are not dead.

From that day on, my mind has been racing to figure out what steps are ahead. I helped to plan a trip that some of the people in my church went on to South Africa. They helped with an orphanage called Baby Haven who take in homeless children from the suburbs of Johannesburg. I learned some of the behind the scenes steps for sending a group of people short term to a foreign country.

The next step is right around the corner! There is more to come on that step soon, as soon as I find out. Macau, China and Manila, Philippines may be in the future for my summer.

Isn't God amazing? :)

What am I doing??

Well, it's been quite a while since I've written anything! I'm very sorry about that. I have been trying to keep myself growing the past few months. My finances are starting to become under control. I have permanently pocketed the credit card and am purely living off of my income! What a crazy way to live! :) It's really awesome. I am hoping to become a better steward of the money I've been given and I am actually saving up for things now so I am prepared for future expenses. Isn't God great?

Valentine's Day right? Usually that is a day when single people like myself are not too happy or thinking about how long they have been single. Well, this year was not like that at all! How amazing? I've been working through the book Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris with my small group. It's really brought me to have a better understanding of how to date in a healthy way. At the same time, I have been growing more confident in who I am and depending on God instead of people for my affirmation and love. Last year at this time, I was very codependent and that was not a good way to be. I told myself I had to hang out with other people or else I wasn't loved. If people didn't invite me to places or to do things, they didn't like me or want to be around me because I was a bad person. Those were all lies. It took a pretty dramatic event to bring me to change how I was acting. I finally got it though. I am trying to be continually aware of things around me that take my focus off of God in the center of my life. It happens pretty easily it seems.

I just read this book called Going to School in India by Lisa Heydlauff. The book is about various schools around India and the children that go to them. It really is an eye opening book. These kids, they just break my heart. It makes me realize that what I'll be faced with in India is much larger than I can even conceive right now.

I have been really focusing on what I am supposed to be doing right now. I feel like I should just go!!! I am sick of just sitting around here in DC waiting. I was thinking and praying this morning. What if I just left and went to India next year to work at my church's sister church in Mumbai? It's always an option. I don't think it would be the wise thing to do though. I know I have a lot to learn and a lot of areas to grow in before I am ready to face what is there. God has all the time in the world. There are stories of people always waiting for years and years! Why do years seem like such a long time? I guess God likes to develop patience and faith over time. I can do that. I'll wait and grow.

I've recently taken over the small group I have been attending for a little over a year. I am co-leading it with a wonderful person. I am definitely learning a lot with this step in my life. The only downfall of this move is that I now don't have any one discipling me. The leader of the group is moving to the Democratic Republic of the Congo soon. How amazing is that? I'll be praying for someone as knowledgeable and wonderful as her to continue to push me on my journey. This small group is quite amazing though. I am learning how to care for and interact with women in a whole new way. Who would have thought someone super shy would be put in this situation?