The River

There's something about water that brings peace to my soul. I don't know what it is but I am driven to water when my heart is downcast. And tonight I found myself there. I had a pretty discouraging beginning to my evening and was left wondering what in the world God is doing in me. I was driving home...aimlessly...and ended up at Water Works Park sitting at this spot on the river crying out (literally) to God.






But He sat with me in this place, directed me to Psalm 27, and brought peace to my soul.

As I was sitting there just watching the river, the thought came to me that a river never stops moving. It may move in large ripples or it may be moving so slowly that you can't see it moving unless you're paying close attention...but it's moving nonetheless. God reminded me that He is like that river. Constantly moving. In my life and all around me. And sometimes He moves in great ripples and other times it seems He's not moving at all, unless you're paying close attention. But He is moving nonetheless.

As time when on and we sat together, He began to replace my discouragement with peace and I surrendered my desire to "need to know" what He is up to in my life. That's a very difficult thing for me to do because "knowing" to me is comforting. But I am at peace simply "knowing" that He is up to something...

Devotions

I don't usually write here what God is teaching me in my devotions...but maybe I should. There are times when I read a devotional from a book by Amy Carmichael called "I Come Quietly To Meet You". Last night was one of those nights. The title of it was "He Allows Me To Hunger" and the passage is Psalm 61:1 & 5, "O God you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. My soul will be satisfied as with the riches of foods..." This is a Psalm that David wrote while in the Desert of Judah. David, (or me or you) found himself in a barren place. God said, "In this place (the barren place) I will give you the peace you are longing for. Here (the barren place) I will give you spiritual food that will nourish you. You are always with me - no matter what the circumstances - and all that I have is yours." Then the Father, with great gentleness, draws us to himself and quietly says, "I am the one who allowed you to come in these humbling circumstances and who allowed you to hunger. I did this so that I might feed you with manna - bread from heaven! Only in this way could I help you to know that you cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from My mouth."

Do you ever wonder why you, who is so richly fed and cared for at times, should at other times feel so poor and needy and thirsty? Listen as God replies by asking four questions:

"Can someone who has never thirsted know how precious is My living water?"

"Can someone who has never discovered rivers of these living waters flowing on barren heights - can he ever lead his thirsty friend to those rivers?"

"Can someone who has never walked the deep valleys of the spirit ever help a friend who is fainting - or lead this friend to the well-springs that will save the life of his soul?"

"Can someone who has never seen burning sands in the wilderness turn into a refreshing pool - can he speak the praise of My marvels, or My power?"

The next time you become frustrated because it has seemed that you feel Him one moment and then the next He is gone think of these questions and ask God what it is He is wanting to teach you from this time. I promise you He'll answer...

To Do List

Poor Choices

This morning when I got out of the shower I noticed out the bathroom window that the sky looked blue. So I wore capri pants and flip flops to work today. It was a little bit cool when I left for work but I figured it would turn out to be a gorgeous day. (It will soon become obvious that I need to watch the news...) I checked the temperature mid-morning and it was 54 degrees. Hmm, I started to worry. Then I went outside for lunch and the temperature had dropped to 45 degrees!! Wow...needless to say I chose my wardrobe poorly this morning. All because once I start wearing flip flops in the spring it's hard to put shoes back on! I love flip flops!!

Dinner and a Movie

I went to Julie's last night. We're fast making a habit of having a "dinner and a movie" night. Last night I made dinner (homeade pizza) and then we watched "Nacho Libre" because she and Ryan, her husband, hadn't seen it. I love that movie so I hope they really enjoyed it too! Our next two movies will be "Barnyard" (her choice) and "Flushed Away" (my choice).

It was hard to get up this morning after being out so late but I managed. And things are starting to fall into place with my prayer cards, tri-fold brochure, and presentation this week. God is so good!

I also want to start memorizing (again) Phil 4:8: "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." I started this once and then never got anywhere.......so I begin again. I'll memorize it first in English and then see if can also memorize it in Portuguese. I did that with Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" and it stuck!! Hopefully it will happen again......

Thai Food and American Idol

Last night I went over to see my friend, Teresa. Her and her husband and family are also going to Brazil and her husband is in California this week and next meeting with churches so she's "flying solo"...... She invited me over along with two other girls who will be doing short-term things in Brazil and we all had Thai take-out and watched American Idol. Here's what I had...can't remember what it was called but it was good. Spicy but good!



It's chicken, broccoli and snow peas in some kind of sauce. Only my 2nd time ever eating Thai food....but it won't be my last!

Music

I love music. It so easily draws me into worship. Last weekend at the "Just Give Me Jesus" conference I was introduced to the music of Fernando Ortega. Fernando Ortega is not a new name for me but I've never before listened to his music. But now there is one of his songs that I simply cannot get out of my head or my heart. It's called "Jesus, King of Angels" and the lyrics are below. It's a simple little song and an great song to have floating around your head all day and all night...

Jesus, King of angels, heaven's light,
Shine Your face upon this house tonight.
Let no evil come into my dreams;
Light of heaven, keep me in Your peace.

Remind me how You make dark spirits flee,
And spoke Your power to the raging sea.
And spoke Your mercy to a sinful man;
Remind me, Jesus, this is what I am.

The universe is vast beyond the stars,
But You are mindful when the sparrow falls,
And mindful of the anxious thoughts
That find me, surround me, and bind me . . . .

With all my heart I love You, Sovereign Lord.
Tomorrow, let me love You even more.
And rise to speak the goodness of Your name
Until I close my eyes in sleep again.

The universe is vast beyond the stars,
But You are mindful when the sparrow falls,
And mindful of the anxious thoughts
That find me, surround me, and bind me . . . .

Jesus, King of angels, heaven's light,
Hold my hand and keep me through this night.

Amen and amen...

Busy, Busy, Busy

Life is busy for me. Working 40-hours and trying to get everything ready to begin presenting my ministry to churches and individuals for support...it's crazy!! But God has been good and He has shown Himself faithful to me this week. I'm getting a huge (difficult) chunk of my presentation done thanks to the help of my pal, Sandy! She rocks!! And she is so patient with me. Plus she helped me polish off my tri-fold brochure last night. That's the first thing I've actually finished and what a great feeling that is! She has sacrificed a lot for me this week and I am humbled by it.

The rest of my week will be filled with some fun-filled evenings hanging out with several of my girlfriends...and that is much needed for me!! Thanks for all who are praying for me on this journey. It is very much appreciated and very much needed!!

Old and New

Do you remember learning this song as a kid?

"Make new friends, but keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold."

My weekend was reminiscent of that song. I went to the Anne Graham Lotz "Just Give Me Jesus" conference this weekend and the conference itself was amazing enough! But I got to experience it with a "new" friend and an "old" friend. Friday night I went with my friend, Julie. Now I probably need to stop referring to Julie as my "new" friend because we have shared enough time together to have plenty to blackmail each other with! Jules challenges me spiritually and she tells me that I do the same for her. We talk about scripture and our quiet time struggles but it doesn't stop there. Julie is the one who issued the "quiet time challenge" after one of these talks. There's a verse in Proverbs 27:17 that says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." That is my friendship with Julie. So, we had a great time at the conference and then went to Buzzard Billy's Flying Carp Cafe for dinner. It's in the basement of a historic building on Court Ave in downtown Des Moines. Very cool place, very good food and we laughed our heads off...hard to top and evening like that.

But Julie couldn't go to the conference today but that was ok because my friend, Christa, was coming down from the Twin Cities. Christa is friends with Stephanie Seefeldt, who lead worship today during the prayer portion of the conference. She spent most of the day with Stephanie but we did get to sit together and pray and sing together during one session. I met Christa way back in 1996 when we both toured with The Continental Singers. Our main program was the musical "Dreamer", the story of Joseph. (Which, I see, The Continentals are reviving this year.) Anyway...Christa and I became fast friends on that tour and have kept in touch over the years. Actually (and she didn't want me to tell you this) she is my "blog mother". She's the reason I have this blog. We had another laugh today about how that came to be...I love memories like that. My friendship with Christa is a gentle reminder to me of a time when I walked closer with the Lord. A time when I prayed more and worried less. I mean I prayed about EVERYTHING. If someone lost a pen or their bible on tour the first thing out of my mouth was "did you pray about it?" To which usually they said no so we would stop and pray about it. Man...I miss that part of me. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time today with her so I'm looking forward to when we can have a weekend long visit soon! (I meant that today, Christa! In the next 3 weeks so check your calendar!)

So, the old and the new. One is not better than the other and one is not more precious than the other. They both play very different God-given roles in my life and my life is richer for knowing them both. So, Jules and Christa, thanks for laughing with me and loving me. And thanks for what you bring to my life. You live your lives in such a way that I can see Jesus in you. I love you, both...

Off the top of my head

So, now my new friend, Julie, is scolding me for not blogging. Even though I was in bed with the flu the first part of this week. So here is something off the top of my head...dedicated to Julie.

I have a plastic cup that I keep at work for water and if I don't finish the water before I leave work I just leave it. Then the next day if I'm thirsty of need to take Advil or something I simply use the water I already have in the cup. One day I began to wonder about the film of dust that must have settled on the water overnight and, for a moment, was grossed out. But then I simply swirled the water around and all seemed well. It was almost as if the swirling motion was an automatic water purification system.

Here's a bonus thought....

I am listening to Veggie Tales on my iPod at work right now. I like that....