Dry Sockets and Empty Pockets

What a week! Last week flew by.. and so did the weekend. I had my wisdom teeth taken out last weekend (Friday morning) which has not been my favorite surgery, that's for sure! I was still in so much pain yesterday that I went into the doctor's office to have him take a look at the incision to see why it was hurting so bad only on one side. He told me it was dry sockets so packed both sides down. I woke up this morning with even more severe pain though, so I went in again and the doctor discovered that an entire bean had made it's way into my incision. How does that even happen?? At least I'm on the road to recovery now! I am thankful though, because I have had tons of time to get stuff done at home (since I wasn't able to go to work on pain meds.. and yes I tried but got sent home). My heart is so happy, because I have so much joy! I wanted to blog mainly just to share my radiating joy that comes completely and solely from the Lord! Even on rougher days, I still have a happy heart, and I am praying the same is true for all of my blog-readers :) I have spent the last several hours reflecting on the many things that I am truly thankful for, and have been giving thanks for those specific things. The list literally goes on and on but here are some of the ones I really want to share

I am thankful for a loving mom, who is a cancer survivor. She has raised me to fear the Lord yet embrace His everlasting love. Mom and I have started a new challenge to memorize scripture weekly. I am thankful that I can have such a relationship with her!

I am thankful for the cross. How AMAZING His grace is! I have experienced His overflowing love and comfort this week! Thank you Lord for forgiving my darkened heart and bringing me to my knees!

I am thankful for my siblings.. Trent, Chelsea, Terah and Beaux. I got to talk to every one of them last week and got to see all except for Chelsea (I miss you Chels!). Terah got baptized at church last Sunday and Beaux and I got to spend all Saturday together. My little sisters and brother bless my heart more than anything in the WORLD!

I am thankful for a job. Maybe it's not my job of choice, since I still don't have my own classroom, but I am getting a paycheck, and for that I am thankful! I have also had the opportunity to minister to the students I have been working with in ways that I wouldn't have been able to had I been their permanent teacher for the semester.

My sockets are dry, as well as my pockets, but still I have job and happiness. Praying the same for you this week!! God is good, and He is faithful! Have a blessed week y'all!

When it rains, it drizzles

Last week was rough.. one of the weeks you wish you could just skip over. Maybe some other people feel that way too? Well I was reminded (by Rick), in a loving kind of way, how good I have it. Even on the rough days, or the rough weeks, I am still better off than many. Here is the conclusion I have come to (granted, it has taken me several days to get here):

I am not terminally ill

I am not hungry

I am not cold

I am not motherless/fatherless

I am not mourning over the death of a close family member

I am not hopeless

I am not held in captivity and being tortured for the sake of the gospel

I am not a child bought into the sex slave industry -this one brings tears to my eyes. Lord please free these sweet little innocent and precious children.

this list can go ON and ON and ON..

I am fortunate. Even in the hard times, how can I complain about my life? That's nothing. Life is BEAUTIFUL! On the bad days, life is STILL BEAUTIFUL! Thank you Lord for changing my perspective. It is the Lord's will for me to endure hardships, whatever they may be. I need to consider them joy, because these are the growing times. I have found myself on my knees more this week than I have in the past several months. Why? Because it's when you're at the lowest of the low when the only place you can look is up. Job's story is an amazing example. satan thought he could turn Job away from the Lord by taking pretty much everything away from him, including his children (imagine that.. I don't even have children so I can't, but I know how much I love my two-year-old bubba and I can't IMAGINE losing him..), yet Job continued to exalt and honor the Lord through His trials. Honestly, that goes to show how Christ can send supernatural comfort to those who are hurting. I am praying this for every hurting person tonight because I know what it's like to hurt- we all do. If anyone has any specific prayer request, please email me or text or call or something! I want to pray very specifically. The Lord has blown me away this week with the comfort and shield of protection and security He has placed on my heart! It's supernatural, and He can do the very same for every other hurting person. I will beseech on your behalf.

Lord, I am small and you are huge. Thank you for who You are. Your grace truly is amazing, and it's something that I will never be able to fully grasp. I pray specifically for every hurting person, please mend every broken heart! Lord, let us come to know you greater through these troubled times though, because you have allowed us to face these trying times for a reason, whether it be to relate to others, or just to grow us in You. We LOVE you Lord.

Easy to say, hard (as heck) to pray!

First things first, please listen to this song!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx5Ne60CbBw

SO much truth to these lyrics!

... at the sound of His Great NAME.

Some of the overwhelming thoughts I have had lately include not knowing where I am going.. ( I am mostly referring to work). I really don't know where the Lord is going to lead me, but I have learned to respond "I will follow.." Job security STINKS right now, so if the Lord leads me elsewhere, I will follow. If I am called to go overseas with orphans this summer (this has been heavy on my heart lately) and have to miss out on some summer bonus money, I will follow. If the Lord takes keeps me at the middle school I am working in now, I will follow. It's so easy to say, but so hard to pray! I like knowing where I'm going at all times, because I like to follow a list, an organized schedule for my life, but when we decided to follow Jesus, we made a life-long commitment to follow wherever he leads. In our weakest times, He carries us.

The bottom line is that he has blessed my beyond MEASURE! I have an overwhelming joy and peace about everything in my life right now, just knowing that I am resting in Him!

"..our Savior, defender, You are my King"

Nacho Libro

pre-blog reading, please listen to Yearn by Shane & Shane.. the song is incredible.

I am eternally GRATEFUL that the Lord drew me to Himself at such a young age, 7. I am eternally grateful that my parents woke me up every single Sunday morning that I can remember. I am eternally grateful that my God is so good to look upon me, regardless of my mistakes and entirely imperfect living. I am also overwhelmingly burdened. I am so burdened for the family members of mine who don't know Jesus (I don't want to say names but those close to me know that I am praying for one specific person daily). My heart hurts for the children in my school, the precious 6th, 7th and 8th graders that I have absolutely fallen in love with, who don't know Jesus. I am burdened for people who will hear the gospel for the first time this year, but will still reject it. But I am so so burdened for people who will never even hear the name of Jesus in their lifetime. wow. Just typing this makes me cry.

My God is so big, and I am so small. Incomparably small. Insignificant. Cursed and damned apart from His amazing grace. How am I making a difference for His kingdom? My heart hurts for people who don't know Jesus, and we have got to get the gospel, the LIVING Word of God, to all of the people that He created. Not just those in the Bible belt, or those in my neighborhood, but everywhere. By rejecting this task, I would pretty much be saying this is my book, not yours, or nacho libro (spanish for book, hah).

I want this book (that I'm holding.. NIV translation), to belong to more than just me. I want to get it out as fast and far as I can. Continue praying with me this week about where the Lord will send us. We are His vessels.

How can they call on him unless they believe in him? How can they believe in him unless thy hear about him? How can they hear about him unless someone preaches to them? And how can anyone preach without being sent?

Romans 10:14-15

I'm with Paul on this one.. Let's pray, in faith, just like Paul- Romans 10:1:

"...the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel [and Peruvian villagers and Mali, Africans...etc] to be saved."

This is my prayer this week. Let it be yours too. Let's see what God will do when we pray in faith and beg Him to come save this lost world!

Thank you Lord for being more consistent than Texas weather :)

Well, today is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! How in the world do we go from 20's to 70's to 20's to 60's all in a four-day span? Well, it's beyond me as well (and don't say global warming.. Gore is a nutcase.. sorry if you like him)

I was doing some reading this morning (before my first day of work.. WHOOP) and came across this:

"I am the LORD (Yahweh), and I do not change..." Malachi 4:6

That's so awesome, is it not?

EVERYTHING about our world changes.. weather changes, culture changes, world powers change, (unfortunately) economy changes, ... etc, etc. EVERY single thing changes, but the one thing, the greatest thing ever, is that our God is NEVER-changing. He is constant and steady.

This makes me think about my poor Joseph The Second.. my car. My first vehicle was Joseph, so this one is the second. Anyways, Joseph II is having some real issues.. and home girl isn't able to fix them until paycheck number one comes in.. hopefully not too much longer. But we'll be on the freeway (Joseph II and I) and all of a sudden, the car starts shaking. Not just a little shake, but my hands tickle from holding the steering wheel because my alignment is off. It just stinks, but it's a great analogy for the point I'm trying to make :) Everything unexpectedly changes in the blink of an eye but we have a GOD ALMIGHTY who is NEVER EVER going to change. He will always love us abundantly, regardless of what life brings. He will always have his arms wide open, just like the story of the Prodigal Son (refer to Luke 15:11-32). That is just the most amazing thing to me. God created me (and you), and two. that He will love me the same, forever. His love is constant, so our hope should be abundant!! :D It's so easy to get distracted by day-to-day situations, but I (and maybe you) need to constantly remind myself of the ABUNDANT and EXTRAVAGANT love that my Father has for ME!

I am blessed; why me?

I just have to share these thoughts this morning..

I woke up literally sweating because my mind was running with all of these thoughts about how much I have, and how blessed I am, but why me?

I have:

a loving family: a mom, dad and entire slew of siblings whom I absolutely adore!

a home- not just one that just gets me by, but one that holds the tons and tons of clothes that I have, one that holds all of my furniture, which holds my macbook that I'm typing on at this very moment.

food- not just food, but food of my choice, as much of it as I could ever want. I have enough for seconds, and thirds.

good health- I am not sick, nor is anyone in my family at this time, thank you Lord.

...the list goes on and on and on...

I have SO much; I am SO blessed; but why me? Why was I born in the US, where I could have everything I could ever want, way more than I could ever need, while there are other people across the world who barely even have the bare necessities; in fact there are millions who won't even be eating today. That makes my heart so sad.

The conclusion I've come to this morning, is that the Lord has blessed me with this life so that I can GO and TELL and bring resources with me. What I mean by that is that resources are my segway into foreign countries. If we go to other countries where Christianity is forbidden with the Good News, and no resources, heck they're not going to let us in, but the Lord has blessed us with more than we could ever imagine.

Now what? I am praying about where the Lord is going to send me next. Join me in a 7 day journey of prayer to see where the Lord is calling you to go. My prayer is this: "Lord help me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am"-- David Platt. :D God is good, just and worthy of our hearts, souls and minds.

Matthew 28:18

"Make disciples of all nations..."

Deity, not diety (unless you're on the Taco Bell menu)

Well, it's a new Sunday morning, and I'm loving it this morning because a cold front it officially on it's little way to College Station, Texas! Although Texas is my favorite place in the whole wide world, it is stinkin' hot here! '

This morning I've been thinking about the divine nature of God, his deity: love and righteousness. He is so good. Without the cross, we would have a much different concept of God's love because of His wrath, which is actually really sad. Sad in that I don't get the severe punishment that I deserve when I sin against an infinitely Holy God, because Jesus did it for me. How could a man allow every bit of sin to enter himself, for my sake? And for yours? I think for a really long time I viewed the cross as a really physically painful situation: the whips, the thorny crown, the heavy wooden cross He had to carry, the nails that struck each wrist, the bloody sweat that seeped from His pores because he was undergoing so much physical pain... etc. What about the fact that our Jesus endured the divine wrath for all that His people ought to have suffered, and He had to be seen before the Creator of the Universe, HIS DAD, with this dirty, ugly, nasty, grotesque FILTH, that was caused not by He, but by me. My Jesus cared enough about me, and you and everyone, that He not only died for us, because that would be empty. People die for people all the time. He didn't just die.. he endured divine wrath. We nailed Him to that cross. That is love. Even worship isn't enough for what He endured on the cross. Worship is honestly the least we can do. The very least!

So at some point in time, we have all been on some type of diet, correct? For me as a runner, I had certain foods I could eat, some that I couldn't but did anyway. Starting a diet is when we make the decision to restrict certain foods from entering our mouth. It's essential eating less for the sake of health. Taco Bell. Taco Bell claims that they have a diet menu. That is about as bogus as a doctor prescribing cotton candy to a diabetic. The point I'm trying to make here is that our relationship with the Lord should never be a diet. We should never limit His presence in our lives. We should be so overly-morbidly-ridiculously obese when is comes to our relationship with the Lord! He should fill us and consume us until we can't fit any more of Him in! His divine nature should have us absorbing every bit of Him that we can. He is so worthy of all of our everything. There is nothing of ours that He is not worthy of.