We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.

-Woodrow Wilson

Light

Light Shining Out of Darkness

William Cowper (1731–1800)

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.

LOVE

Pride- C.S. Lewis

From the C.S. Lewis book “Mere Christianity” This jumped off the page at me:

“Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy’s Pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity-that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride-just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains (similar to frostbite) cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”

There is a Redeemer

What crazy JOY I have in knowing the unshakable love my Lord has for me! I can see it daily. He places heart-shaped leaves all over my car windshield.

His love notes to me.

I can’t help but be captivated by Him. I am so in love with my Savior- my Redeemer. He loved me when I was so sick with sin that I couldn’t even walk, when my face was so disfigured by bitterness, apathy, and selfishness.

He saw my potential. He gently watered this dying flower, nurished me back to health and made me beautiful.

My heart is eternally His and eternally home.

His words to me:

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken…” Isaiah 54:10

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” Isaiah 49:16

I have your name written on my hands.

I have your name graven on my heart.

And it beats for you.

And it bleeds for you.

I love you.

love gives me hope.

I found this site lovegivesmehope.com . The stories are so amazing- so real and sweet. I spend the past 30 minutes bawling my eyes out. There is such thing as true love. Wait for it, and it will find you.

Here are my favorites:

Today, I was walking in a dog park.

I reached this really steep hill, and noticed someone rolling down it, laughing the whole way. At first I passed it off as a just a kid. Then I noticed that it was a woman at least 60 years old, and that her husband was waiting at the bottom of the hill to catch her.

I was at the mall the other day when I saw an old couple sitting together. The man looked over at the woman and said, 

”Jane, we did it. We grew old together.”

The look in her eyes GMH.

Several years back, I passed by an elderly man with crutches hobbling onto an interstate on-ramp. I stopped and asked the man if I could give him a ride. He said “Yes, I’m just going to the next exit to visit my wife.” When I get to the next exit, I dropped him off at the cemetery. His neverending LGMH.

Today at the supermarket I saw a middle-aged man looking at tampons.

He had a box of chocolates in the other hand. 

Guys like that GMH.

I am battling cancer. I was transferred to an out-of-state hospital for a liver resection. When I woke, I found my fiance beside me, 17 hours from home. I asked him why he had come, he said “The day we get married I want to be able to look you in the eye and have you know that when I say ‘in sickness and in health,’ I mean it.”

My grandma is sick and can’t control her body. While mentally alert, she is often treated like a child. My grandpa and I were running to the grocery store when suddenly he turned around and drove all the way back home. When I asked him why he said 

”I forgot to Kiss your grandma goodbye”.

I was going to the hospital for a check up with my cardiologist.

I saw an elderly couple walking to a car. The man was having a lot more trouble walking than his wife, but sped up in front of her, so he could open the car door for her and help her inside.

Love like that GMH.

A few months ago, my family and I went to have dim sum when we sat by an old couple. 

The elderly man was sitting across his wheelchair -bound wife feeding her. He silently fed and talked to his wife, ignoring all the people and teary-eyed waitress staring. 

This man showing me what “In sickness and in health” really means GMH.

While my mother was in a three year battle with cancer, my father handed her a ring and said 

”This is our 25th anniversary ring. I am giving it to you now so you don’t lose sight. 

I can’t wait to celebrate with you.” 

This was 15 years ago, my parents will make 27 years this April

I work in aged care, and every day at morning tea time, 2 residents sit together and share a slice of cake. They met 2 years ago when they came to live in the Nursing home, and today they shared their first kiss. A room full of 70+ year old people clapped. True love, no matter how old we are, is still magical.

Love is patient.

and kind.

love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

love bears all things.

believes all things.

hopes all things.

endures all things.

LOVE NEVER ENDS.

1ST cor 13:4-8

soon.

Soon and very soon
My King is coming
Robed in righteousness
And crowned with love
When I see Him, I shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
I’ll be going to the place He has prepared for me
Then my sin erased, my shameful garden
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
See the procession
The angels and the elders round the thrown
At His feet I lay
My grant, my wishing
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ the Lamb, the Lord of heaven

-Brooke Fraser

1-10-10

Yesterday was amazing. I need to record the awesome things God has done. We had our much anticipated multi-campus worship service. Because the building of  Oasis Church at Pembroke Pines only holds about 600 people, we had to move to Hollywood Community Church for the afternoon. Many people had been praying and fasting for this day, and we all were so filled with anticipation and excitement for what God had in store for us.

I woke up in the morning praying and seeking God for His guidance and presence. He spoke to my heart and encouraged me to delight in Him that day- especially during worship. We arrived early to warm up, and the practice went off without a hitch. Before the service, the worship team and pastors had a prayer time and instead of our usual holding hands to pray, Pastor Guy asked that we all kneel. This was such a powerful picture of humility and it really set the tone for the rest of the day.

I planned on reading Psalm 34 during service, but on stage I happened to glance at Psalm 33. I felt like that’s what God wanted to communicate to us. It’s a beautiful Psalm about worship and the faithfulness of God’s plans:

¹ Let the godly sing for joy to the Lord;
it is fitting for the pure to praise him.
² Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre;
make music for him on the ten-stringed harp.
³ Sing a new song of praise to him;
play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.
⁴ For the word of the Lord holds true,
and we can trust everything he does.
⁵ He loves whatever is just and good;
the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.

⁶ The Lord merely spoke,
and the heavens were created.
He breathed the word,
and all the stars were born.
⁷ He assigned the sea its boundaries
and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.
⁸ Let the whole world fear the Lord,
and let everyone stand in awe of him.
⁹ For when he spoke, the world began!
It appeared at his command.

¹⁰ The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations
and thwarts all their schemes.
¹¹ But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever;
his intentions can never be shaken.

¹² What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord,
whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.

From there, the Holy Spirit took over. God stirred in all of us hearts of repentance and awe for who He is. God is so faithful, He answers prayers. I saw people respond to Him in a way I can’t describe. Throughout  worship, my prayer was that, as a church, our heart cry would be a prayer for salvation, repentance, and a deep hunger for pure hearts and clean hands.

I learned that God LOVES when His people seek after Him with everything they have. He is always there, we just have to invite Him to take over. The amount of prayer and energy that went into this service really inspires me to step things up in my own life. Prayer is powerful! God hears and is moved to work powerfully.

Moments like that I cannot capture, they are too precious. No video, picture, or story can ever tell those moments to the fullest. It was an experience of 2,000 peope lifting their hands to Heaven and touching God’s glory. I know He heard our fervent prayers and fulfilled His promise:

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8

Praise and glory to Him forever! I have seen God and what He can do and I will never be the same.

Promise.

Promises. What do you think of when you hear that word? Joy? Anticipation? Brokenness? Grief? Faithfulness? I’ve felt all these things at one point or another in my life. But, no matter how jaded my view might be, there is one thing I know: God’s promises are always fulfilled. No matter how difficult the circumstances of life and the accusations I may have against others for causing me pain, I am silenced when I try to blame God. There are no grounds for that. His track record is impeccable.

“…Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of His glory.” Eph. 1: 13-14

We have a promise. There will be a day when we will be whole, spotless, and satisfied. No longer will we be beaten up, battered, or bruised by the world. “…And we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” (1 Peter 1:4) Such anticipation of glory should captivate our hearts with wonder and excitement for the future prepared for us before the beginning of time!

He’s sent us a guide, a sign of the promise to come- the Holy Spirit. How thankful I am that I don’t have to try to navigate my own life and wander around aimlessly in a dark room. God sent His light into the world- Jesus Christ as a model of how we should live. But not only did He give us a perfect person to seek after, He gave us a build in compass! God’s really trying to help us out here. The Holy Spirit lives in us! Because of Him, we are able to live in “His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength” (Eph 1:18-19)

Thank the Lord for His guidance and direction in your life, and live in HIS power today and always.

Wait.

Here’s a part of a song I’ve been working on the past few days…

 

Make me pure and holy with eyes for you only- a spotless bride

Pursuing you with passion, with reckless abandon- my one desire

And I know that only you can fill the deepest longings of my heart

 

So I’ll wait for you, Lord, I’ll wait on you

Come and be everything I need

I will trust in you, place my hope in you

For your ways are higher and your thoughts are wiser

So I’ll wait, I’ll wait on you