God must be doing something HUGE behind the scenes right now, because I feel like everyone around me is getting attacked. One friend’s father went to the hospital unexpectedly and later in the day she found out she was losing her job. Today, her father is having emergency heart surgery. Another friend of mine’s sister is five months pregnant and essentially her water “ruptured” early, now she is waiting and on bed rest to keep the baby safe. Lord willing, she will be transferred to a hospital that specializes in preemies, as the chances of the baby being dangerously premature are huge. Please pray for these ladies and their families.
1 Peter 5:10-11
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
I truly feel privileged that these women would ask me to come along side them and fight, through prayer, for them and their situations. It also helps me put the battles I face into perspective. I read in my devotions (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest) today:
“God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings.”
“Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to ‘walk by faith’ (2 Corinthians 5:7).”
“Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation.”
In unbroken isolation, we are so much more willing to come before the Lord, on our knees, and acknowledge, we can’t face anything in this world by our own strength. It is only by His power, His grace that He imparts on us - that is what makes us strong. So “I will boast the ever more gladly in my weakness for His power is made perfect in my weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Day 292
ummm, yeah. didn't have anything worthwhile to take a picture of today... that's my HOT dinner.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Day 291
a friend wrote this in an email she sent me today:
"never put a period where God has put a comma..."
"never put a period where God has put a comma..."
simple wisdom i had to share :)
i finally bought some fresh eucalyptus :)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Day 290
today, tracy and i caught up over lunch after church. she loves her coffee :) this could be a stock photo for a coffee company, hmmm.... side job?
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Day 289
tonight i had some friends over. they are all students at moody, and have such amazing hearts for God. i made chicken stuffed with garlic and herb goat cheese, asparagus and polenta. for dessert i made homemade brownies and susie was kind enough to bring the vanilla ice cream - yum!
susie, kate, jamie, alexis
Friday, October 26, 2007
Day 288
Last night I caught up with my Senior Pastor and told him about a lesson I had heard a few months ago. Then, today I was speaking with a friend and I thought about it some more – I tried to condense it, but it’s just too good and totally worth the read, I promise! The lesson, from Nancy Leigh DeMoss (I know, go figure), goes as follows:
Now, I want to talk for a few moments about the process of seeking God, the process of revival. Hosea chapter 10, verse 12 is a verse that will be familiar to many of you, but it speaks of the process of revival.
Hosea 10:12 says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness." S-O-W, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed" or your fallow "ground." It's a farming analogy here—sowing, reaping, and breaking up, plowing up, the unplowed ground. "For it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you" (NIV).
You say, "How long are we supposed to seek? This week, next week, twelve weeks? That seems like a long time in today's way of thinking. "Seek the LORD until he comes and showers" or rains "righteousness on you."
Obviously, it takes time to get a harvest. A process is required. You can't just throw seed on the ground and expect to wake up the next morning and have a harvest. There's a process involved. You can't bypass any step and expect to have the end result that you're looking for, and what's the first part of the process?
Now, they're not listed in order in this verse. The first part of the process is that breaking up your unplowed ground—the plowing process, the most time-consuming part of the process.
You don't see the fruit, you don't see the reward while you're plowing, but you've got to do it. You can't miss this step. What is the process of plowing? It's the process of preparing the soil to receive the seed, a picture of preparing our hearts.
Plowing—preparing the soil of our hearts. Our hearts get so hardened by just living out in this world as we do, pursuing everything we pursue other than the Lord, that we need time, and it takes time to prepare our hearts, the soil of our hearts, to seek the Lord.
There are two stages of preparing the soil for the seed before the seed can be sown. The plowing—the first part of the process is the actual plowing, and that's when they're turning over the soil. They bring this tractor out with this big plow attached to it, and the plow goes down into the ground. This is the deepest part of the work. The plow has to go eight to ten inches down into the soil.
Now, if that soil's been packed down, it's tough work, and it takes a hard, strong instrument. You can feel the tractor pulling this plow as it's getting deep enough down into the soil to turn over the soil. All that hard soil on the top is turned over, and that good, fresh soil that's underneath the surface is brought up to the top.
The plowing time of year feels like you get a fresh start—fresh soil. Wouldn't you like to have fresh soil in your heart, a heart that's receptive and tender toward the Lord? That requires plowing up the soil, and it's so important that the plow go deep enough into the earth. If it just skims across the surface, you're not going to get the best soil.
We tend to want God to revive us, but do it quick. Get this over with. Get the hard part over with quickly. We don't want God to go down to deep into our hearts. What might He uncover there? Yuck!
What might come to the surface? That can be scary, and can't you imagine that if the soil eight to ten inches deep there had feelings, it could say, "Ow! This hurts! Why don't you leave me alone? I was comfortable down here. Things were just fine till this plow came along and turned everything upside down in my life."
There will be times in the process of revival when you will think, "Why did I ever get into this? Why don't we just leave well enough alone? Why do we have to dig all this up? Why this plowing process? This hurts!"
You want a harvest of righteousness? You want to experience the joy of personal revival? You've got to let the plow do its work.
Now, that's just the first part of breaking up the fallow or the unplowed ground. The second part is the harrowing process, and that's where they come back with another instrument that goes across the newly plowed up soil and breaks up all the clods. It's the refining part of the process and breaks that soil up into fine particles so that it will be just ready for the seed to come into it. It makes the soil smooth, and again, this process can be painful.
You've got those clods that are being broken up, and there are clods in our lives. There are tough places. There are hard places. There are thorny places.
There are stony places that need to be broken up, and I'll just tell you, it hurts when the Spirit of God starts to do His plowing and harrowing work in our lives. We feel exposed. We're not sure we want to go through this, but if you resist the plowing process, you'll never reach a harvest of righteousness.
Now this process requires patience—plowing, then planting, then waiting, cultivating, keeping the weeds out, the whole process of waiting for a harvest. There's a whole season, most of a year involved. You have to wait, and at times, it seems like nothing's happening. There'll be times that you're seeking the Lord when you'll say, "I tried it. It just doesn't work."
Wait. The plowing part's going to be long, and at times, it will be hard. I'm just warning you, not so that you'll get scared away, but so that you can anticipate—this is normal. This is okay. This is a good part of the process. It's a necessary part of the process.
Let me ask if you would just be willing to trust God with your life. Say, "Lord, I trust that You know what You're doing, that Your Spirit knows how deep to go and how refined those clods need to be and what needs to be brought to the surface," and say, "Lord, I will let you do whatever You know is needed in my life."
I want to tell you, if you will be patient, if you'll wait on the Lord, if you'll let Him do that work—and by the way, you can't do it yourself. It's God who has to do this. The farmer can do everything right, but ultimately it's dependent on God to send the rain and the sun and to bring about the harvest. It's supernatural, but as you wait on the Lord, as you let Him plow up the unplowed places of your heart and sow the seed of His Word in the soil of your heart, you have the promise that there will be a harvest of righteousness.
i'm torn as to which part of the process i am in right now... hmm... i think the soils been turned multiple times and now i'm letting the roots take hold, it's the cultivating point, i think? or maybe refining the clods? hmm... not sure, but i do know that when this harvest is complete it will look awesome :)
Now, I want to talk for a few moments about the process of seeking God, the process of revival. Hosea chapter 10, verse 12 is a verse that will be familiar to many of you, but it speaks of the process of revival.
Hosea 10:12 says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness." S-O-W, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed" or your fallow "ground." It's a farming analogy here—sowing, reaping, and breaking up, plowing up, the unplowed ground. "For it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you" (NIV).
You say, "How long are we supposed to seek? This week, next week, twelve weeks? That seems like a long time in today's way of thinking. "Seek the LORD until he comes and showers" or rains "righteousness on you."
Obviously, it takes time to get a harvest. A process is required. You can't just throw seed on the ground and expect to wake up the next morning and have a harvest. There's a process involved. You can't bypass any step and expect to have the end result that you're looking for, and what's the first part of the process?
Now, they're not listed in order in this verse. The first part of the process is that breaking up your unplowed ground—the plowing process, the most time-consuming part of the process.
You don't see the fruit, you don't see the reward while you're plowing, but you've got to do it. You can't miss this step. What is the process of plowing? It's the process of preparing the soil to receive the seed, a picture of preparing our hearts.
Plowing—preparing the soil of our hearts. Our hearts get so hardened by just living out in this world as we do, pursuing everything we pursue other than the Lord, that we need time, and it takes time to prepare our hearts, the soil of our hearts, to seek the Lord.
There are two stages of preparing the soil for the seed before the seed can be sown. The plowing—the first part of the process is the actual plowing, and that's when they're turning over the soil. They bring this tractor out with this big plow attached to it, and the plow goes down into the ground. This is the deepest part of the work. The plow has to go eight to ten inches down into the soil.
Now, if that soil's been packed down, it's tough work, and it takes a hard, strong instrument. You can feel the tractor pulling this plow as it's getting deep enough down into the soil to turn over the soil. All that hard soil on the top is turned over, and that good, fresh soil that's underneath the surface is brought up to the top.
The plowing time of year feels like you get a fresh start—fresh soil. Wouldn't you like to have fresh soil in your heart, a heart that's receptive and tender toward the Lord? That requires plowing up the soil, and it's so important that the plow go deep enough into the earth. If it just skims across the surface, you're not going to get the best soil.
We tend to want God to revive us, but do it quick. Get this over with. Get the hard part over with quickly. We don't want God to go down to deep into our hearts. What might He uncover there? Yuck!
What might come to the surface? That can be scary, and can't you imagine that if the soil eight to ten inches deep there had feelings, it could say, "Ow! This hurts! Why don't you leave me alone? I was comfortable down here. Things were just fine till this plow came along and turned everything upside down in my life."
There will be times in the process of revival when you will think, "Why did I ever get into this? Why don't we just leave well enough alone? Why do we have to dig all this up? Why this plowing process? This hurts!"
You want a harvest of righteousness? You want to experience the joy of personal revival? You've got to let the plow do its work.
Now, that's just the first part of breaking up the fallow or the unplowed ground. The second part is the harrowing process, and that's where they come back with another instrument that goes across the newly plowed up soil and breaks up all the clods. It's the refining part of the process and breaks that soil up into fine particles so that it will be just ready for the seed to come into it. It makes the soil smooth, and again, this process can be painful.
You've got those clods that are being broken up, and there are clods in our lives. There are tough places. There are hard places. There are thorny places.
There are stony places that need to be broken up, and I'll just tell you, it hurts when the Spirit of God starts to do His plowing and harrowing work in our lives. We feel exposed. We're not sure we want to go through this, but if you resist the plowing process, you'll never reach a harvest of righteousness.
Now this process requires patience—plowing, then planting, then waiting, cultivating, keeping the weeds out, the whole process of waiting for a harvest. There's a whole season, most of a year involved. You have to wait, and at times, it seems like nothing's happening. There'll be times that you're seeking the Lord when you'll say, "I tried it. It just doesn't work."
Wait. The plowing part's going to be long, and at times, it will be hard. I'm just warning you, not so that you'll get scared away, but so that you can anticipate—this is normal. This is okay. This is a good part of the process. It's a necessary part of the process.
Let me ask if you would just be willing to trust God with your life. Say, "Lord, I trust that You know what You're doing, that Your Spirit knows how deep to go and how refined those clods need to be and what needs to be brought to the surface," and say, "Lord, I will let you do whatever You know is needed in my life."
I want to tell you, if you will be patient, if you'll wait on the Lord, if you'll let Him do that work—and by the way, you can't do it yourself. It's God who has to do this. The farmer can do everything right, but ultimately it's dependent on God to send the rain and the sun and to bring about the harvest. It's supernatural, but as you wait on the Lord, as you let Him plow up the unplowed places of your heart and sow the seed of His Word in the soil of your heart, you have the promise that there will be a harvest of righteousness.
i'm torn as to which part of the process i am in right now... hmm... i think the soils been turned multiple times and now i'm letting the roots take hold, it's the cultivating point, i think? or maybe refining the clods? hmm... not sure, but i do know that when this harvest is complete it will look awesome :)
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Day 287
typically we have prayer meeting tonight but since the power went out, for no apparent reason (the weather was perfect tonight) we weren't able to have it. this is a pic of jenn, jake and johnathan before we left the church and went to DQ :)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Day 286
i went to the dentist tonight, i HATE the dentist. i would rather run two marathons in a row, that is over 50 miles, than go to the dentist. alas, i gave in to the fact that clean, healthy teeth are important for a healthy lifestyle and went. it was awful!! but, this was the view from the parking garage, not bad.
i'll post a picture later today, but i read this devotion when i got into work this morning and had to post it. it is from one of my most favorite christian authors and women's ministry leaders, nancy leigh demoss.
But then I look at Jesus. Mark's Gospel tells us, "The Spirit drove Him into the desert." Jesus hadn't sinned. He was right with God and full of the Holy Spirit, yet He faced forty uncomfortable, lonely days in the desert undergoing intense temptation.
Sometimes we find ourselves in a desert because of our own sin, but that's not always the case. Like Jesus, we may enter a dry, difficult time so that God's good purposes can be fulfilled.
Don't get discouraged. Even though He may seem a million miles away, He's with you. The next time you experience the desert, remember this: You're only following the footsteps of our Savior.
You can find Bible teachers these days who'll tell you that if you're walking with God you'll be healthy, you'll have money in the bank, your husband will be crazy about you, and you won't have any dry times spiritually.
But then I look at Jesus. Mark's Gospel tells us, "The Spirit drove Him into the desert." Jesus hadn't sinned. He was right with God and full of the Holy Spirit, yet He faced forty uncomfortable, lonely days in the desert undergoing intense temptation.
Sometimes we find ourselves in a desert because of our own sin, but that's not always the case. Like Jesus, we may enter a dry, difficult time so that God's good purposes can be fulfilled.
Don't get discouraged. Even though He may seem a million miles away, He's with you. The next time you experience the desert, remember this: You're only following the footsteps of our Savior.
praise the Lord :)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Day 285
this is me trying to get a picture for this evening. i couldn't seem to master it tonight so this will have to do. i went for a run before i cleaned my bathroom - yuck!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Day 283
Galatians 6:9 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
this is me roping myself in, a very humbling experience.Saturday, October 20, 2007
Day 282
pia and i went to evanston athletic club today to talk with the trainer we will be using come february. his name is brian and he rocks! he totally knows his stuff and seems to be just as psyched for us to summit mt. ranier as we are :)Friday, October 19, 2007
Day 281
tonight ashley came over and we ate pizza and ice cream and watched a movie, oh and last night's grey's anatomy. quality girl time :)
i had to include the you tube clip below of the priceless backpack commercial 'cause i LOVE it! these little boys are way too cute!!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Day 280
it's thursday, that means prayer meeting. jenn and jamie agreed to be my "subjects" tonight. such good sports :)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Day 278
i am having some girls over for dinner next weekend so i thought i would start looking for some good recipes. this is an entire menu... think i might try it :)
Monday, October 15, 2007
Day 277
i flew back to chicago this morning. left for the airport before the sun was up, 6:35 am flight. this is the sunrise from the tiny 8 seater i was in.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Day 276
today was the wedding. it was such an elegant and charming wedding. one of the nicest i think i have been to.
kelly and her brother brian on their way to the ceremony
kelly and justin cutting the cake. justin is in the coast guard so they used his sword. loved it!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Day 275
today i flew to cape cod for my cousin kelly's wedding. had to get a pic of my nephew. he is so going to be walking soon!!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Day 274
today they painted my new office for me. i got to pick the color, its called ozark mountain... i didn't think it would be quite as purple as it is, but i like it. way better than the off-white it used to be :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Day 273
i got home from prayer meeting tonight and my fundraising packet for summit for someone was waiting for me!! yippee! i am so stinkin' excited about this :) Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Day 272
i tried to capture the color of the sky tonight and then had some fun playing with the saturation levels and such :)
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Day 271
while i was driving home this evening and to meet my friend anne for some DQ, i saw these plates and had to get pics of them. i am totally fascinated with how many vanity pates there are in illinois.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Day 270
tracy came over tonight and we had some good catch-up time. she commented on the very old eucalyptus in this pic. the funny thing is, i go to the store and i've looked at buying new flowers, new eucalyptus and yet every time, i'm like, nah, i don't want to spend my money on it. seriously linds, fork over the 5 to 10 bucks, it's old!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Day 269
i finally took care of part of my to-do list that has been around since i moved in, i bought a TV stand and i put it together all by myself this afternoon. tracy and tojy also came by and took all her left over things. my living room looks a whole lot bigger without tracy's arm chair in it. so amazing how such a small change can make such a big difference.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Day 268
after a day of running errands it was time to have fun. pia came to pick me up so we could go see the movie, into the wild. i had to get a picture of her driving a minivan, you have to know pia to know that when she showed up, all i could think, was something just doesn't look right here :)
by the way, into the wild was a good movie and i definitely recommend it.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Day 267
when i forget to take a picture during the day it is pretty much guaranteed my dinner will get a picture. tonight i decided to treat myself like a 5 year old and made good old mac & cheese. i haven't had this in so long - yum! i don't think i will ever grow out of mac & cheese :)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Day 266
today, my friend pia and i took the plunge and signed-up for no-doubt, the hardest physical challenge of our lives, summitting Mt. Ranier in Washington State!! we are going with a group through the program summit for someone and will be fundraising for a group called big city mountaineers. the photos below give a good idea of what we will be doing - are we insane? yes! but we love it!!
we have about 10 months to train and raise the funds ($3800/each) and we will definitely need all that time to train, as we have to be able to carry a 40 lb. pack up the mountain in very high altitude (Mt. Ranier is 14,410 ft. high).
please pray for us as we embark on this HUGE adventure :)
view of mt. hood from camp muir
that's gonna be us!! holy smokes!!!
photos taken from whittaker's bunkhouse web site
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Day 265
my chalk-filled nail beds from climbing tonight. i went to an indoor gym and it was great, but so intimidating. the people that were there tonight are hard core, and totally know what they are doing - me, not so much. i enjoyed watching them as much i enjoyed climbing. they totally intimidate me, but i know by watching them i'll learn so many techniques that i wouldn't otherwise. very cool :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Day 264
And this is my new office. i must say, this one is a little nicer, its bigger, doesn't make weird strange noises through the vents and things, and i have to say, i like the fact that the furniture doesn't match the wall color. although, we are looking into painting it - yippee! fun project :)
Monday, October 1, 2007
Day 263
today was my last day in this office, tomorrow i move into one just down the hall as we are growing our department
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