"God has a great plan for me!"

"God has a great plan for me!"

I have said these words countless times.  And yet, just recently I felt convicted to stop saying them and replace them with... "I am in the middle of God's great plan for me!"

If it's true that God loves me, gives me what He believes is best for my life to draw me closer to Him and to bring Him the most glory.... the I must believe that this day, where I am in life, my current circumstances are all a part of His plan for me.

It's not always easy to swallow.  I want to be healthy.  I want to be able to eat and not wonder how it is going to affect me physically and emotionally.  I want to be married.  I want kids of my own.  I want to sleep through the night.  If I'm completely honest... my flesh wants an easy life.

But when I take my eyes off of easy, and dive into God's truth and keep my eyes fixed on Him... I have peace.  I have joy.  I have hope. I want my life to count for His Name! I want others to see Him and be drawn to Him.

I was blessed today to share the stage with countless stories of: "this is not how I planned or pictured my life to be today... BUT... God is faithful and He does give me what I need for this path He has me on... AND He is good... and I choose to follow Him and not give in to my flesh."

If you didn't get a chance to hear the stories: CLICK HERE!

And below are 2 great songs I hope will encourage you as well.

A Painful Reminder

Today I went to see a movie with a friend.  On the way there I realized I had an unused Studio Movie Grill groupon.  When I opened the app, 4 popped up.  Now I knew that I had only one unused, but when I got to the counter, I presented it like I had 2.  Yes, the Spirit was convicting me, and I politely shrugged Him off.  After receiving the discount, pondering it, sitting part way through the movie, I knew I had to confess and make it right.  Confessed to the Lord, community, and made it right with Studio Movie Grill.

But why... why am I tempted to not tell the truth and deceive to receive something that isn't mine? Why??? Then the same Spirit that brought the conviction politely reminded me of what today is... Good Friday... and that Sunday is coming!  

I HATE that I am still tempted to sin, I hate that I actually choose to fall to those temptations at times, but man am I thankful...

Thankful that Christ chose to sit under these trees and say... "Not my will but yours be done!"

Thankful that He chose to write Peter into the story, where Peter stood in this garden and denied Christ and yet Christ came back and said... "And be sure and tell Peter!"

And that He chose to go here and lay down His life and say... "It is finished!'

Thank you Jesus, for choosing death so that I might have life!
Thank you for Your forgiveness and freedom even when I choose what does not honor you.

Spring is Here

Well... at least technically!  I went to the arboretum on Friday for my yearly... "take another photo of a tulip" day.  Pretty sure I have more tulip photos than any one human could possibly need. But this doesn't stop me from spending some time outside, even if it is a little chilly.  I love, love, love color and flowers.  So here are my favorites.

You What???

This past weekend I spent time with a friend.  The entire time we were together she looked miserable.  Her body language said she wasn't having any fun.  She looked tense and stressed out. When we got in the car to head home she said, "thank you so much for taking me, I had a really good time!"
The first thing that went through my head was, "You what?" I was shocked! Nothing in her body language or our conversation would day that she was having a good time.
And this got me to thinking... how often does what I look like or do say something opposite of what I would say?  The very first thought that came to mind was my belief in the Lord's goodness and sovereignty.  I believe He is good.  I believe He is sovereign and in absolute control.  And yet, I think all too often, throughout a day, my body language and actions would say something different.  ARGH!  I don't like this.  So I am challenged to really look at my actions and life, what does it say about who God is.  I know it says something about what I believe, but I want it to say more about truth.  May my belief grow and my body language confirm it!

Our God... A Taunt??

Last Tuesday in staff prayer we sang "Our God."



Afterwards we discussed this is as close to a "taunting" song that we sing.  Then we starting sharing "taunts"... "my Dad is bigger than your dad". It really got me to thinking about who God is and what He has done. I'm not very good at bowing up and "throwing my weight around." But I do know that I serve a big God and His truth is worth putting out there. So here are some that were shared and some more that God reminded me of...

Our God is so great that He allows a righteous man to be thrown into a lion's den so that an entire nation will know that He is faithful.

Our God is so powerful that He allows a man to disobey Him, then uses a big fish to call Him back to obedience.

Our God is so good that He redeems sexual abuse for His glory and the survivors good.

Our God is so great that He covers us with His hand in the cleft of the rock when our enemies are out to get us.

Our God is so loving that He allows His only Son to be nailed to a cross to pay for our sins so that we can be intimate with a Holy God.

Our God is so big that He gives confidence to a little shepherd boy to stand against a foe and win with just a small stone.

Our God is so precise that He knocks down the walls of a fortified city after His people just walk around it and yell.

Our God is so compassionate that He waits to return so that all come to know Him and are saved from an eternity separated from Him.

Our God is so in control that that no one is put into power unless He allows it.

Our God is a healer of pain that the enemy thought would destroy us.

Our God is a Father to the fatherless.

Our God's love changes hearts where His people want to give of their time, talents and treasures for others above their own comfort.

Our God provides for single moms who need vehicles through the abundance He gave to others in His body.

Our God is so powerful that He moves a heart to trust when no trust should be there.

I feel like I could go on and on...

It really is such a fun exercise to go back and think about stories in the Bible as well as stories I see all around me where God is making His name more famous through His Word and His people. So grateful to get to watch and be counted in His stories!

Australia, Day 3: Daintree Rainforest

Last day is Australia!  This day was rainforest day.  Went with a tour group.  Went up through the rainforest, ate a great lunch, went to a river and had some tropical fruit.  

our cool guide... pure Australia!

can you see him?

this one tasted like chocolate!

and some crazy flavored ice creams!

That's it... the whole trip!  Thanks for reading!  Thankful and blessed to have had the chance to go!

Australia, Day 2: The Great Barrier Reef

This was an interesting day. Choosing which reef tour to go with was definitely the hardest choice of the whole trip.  There were so many pieces I wanted to do, quickly learning you can't have it all.  So I chose based on the helicopter ride and I am so glad I did.
We took a boat out, about an hour and 1/2 ride. It actually was a really fun ride, met some fun people and got pretty wet from the spray of the waves. Once arriving I was to go out on my "adventure snorkel!"  Reality... I looked like a dork.  I had on my life jacket and stayed on top of the water the whole time while the others were diving down looking at stuff.  Me... puttering along! The water was real choppy and I got tired quick.  Thankfully our guide let me hold onto the life ring.
At one point the guide said, "shark!".  I look up expecting everyone to be swimming toward the boat and no one was moving or panicking like I was!  I said, "could you please repeat that?" She said, "shark!" I then said, "then why aren't we going to the boat?" She said, "no, look down, it's a reef shark!"
I'm pretty sure you should never yell shark while you are out in the middle of the ocean with a rookie snorkeler like me!!
I also rode on the glass bottom boat and then took a helicopter out over the reef and back into land.  It was really amazing!!!  There are a ton of pics... I couldn't narrow down any smaller!!

here is the shark... top right!

this is a blue clam.  kind of middle to the right.

the "experienced" snorkelers!

my life ring!

above the reef...

the helicopter... NEMO!

Seriously amazing day!!!