parable of being a whore

it is STUPID crazy to think of just how different a year ago  was.
it's stupid crazy to think of what i've walked through this year with Jesus...and even some without Him...


I've spent some time as a whore, and whether you recognize it or not...so have YOU.

let me explain...

did you know that the Dictionary defines a whore or prostitute as two things: (besides the definition we already know)

1. a person who willingly uses his or her 

talent or ability in abase and unworthy way,

 usually for money.

2.to put to any base or unworthy use: 

to prostitute one's talents.

another version of this definition says

"to put oneself to an unworthy use"

do you hear that?

 when we don't see ourselves as God sees us,

when we put ourselves to an unworthy use,

when we don't use our gifts to the fullest ability,

we are being a whore.

but you know what? the Lord is the ultimate builder and restorer. 

but in order to restore something, it must first be in pieces.

" I will pour her stones into the valley

and lay bare her foundations.

all her idols will be broken to pieces

all her temple gifts will be burned with fire.

i will destroy all her images.

Since she gathered her 

gifts [possessions] from the wages of prostitution .."

(micah 1:6-7)

i don't know where you are but here is where I am:

I feel like I've been stripped

 of everything I've known

the past year.

But the desire of the heart of the Father 

is that we be used to our fullest potential.

He is a dreamer, a BIG one ,

who wants to see those come to past in His loves.

so sometimes we find ourselves stripped.

sometimes we feel naked and like we've lost everything we had;

relationships, finances, job security, vehicles, independence.

what have you lost?

take heart, God is wiping out all reminders of your former life in which you didn't live up to your full potential. So that He can start fresh with you. It hurts but the gain will blow your mind and cause you to not think twice about what you think you've lost.  

wait and see what you are about to gain.

what seems like wreckage now,

will one day be know as a new beginning...

parable of pruning

I'm tired.
Chritsmas Eve night I sat on the front porch and wept as my sweet car drove away, no longer belonging to me. As an isolated incident this would have been emotionally taxing but manageable...but it wasn't isolated, I was losing everything. 

you see, as my Mom has said, God can't fill your hands if they are already full & occupied. So as of currently, my hands have been emptied of all security, possessions, relationships...even my hair! (I'm a girl, we love our hair!)

Ever felt stripped? 
I'm sure you have, but in case you haven't had the pleasure let me assure you that it is painful. so very painful.

the size of the blessing and favor approaching us is

 directly related to the amount of sacrifice we are experiencing.

(my Dad)

"for before the harvest, when the blossom is over,

and the flower becomes a ripening grape. He will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks,

and then spreading branches He will remove and cut" 

isaiah 18:5

God's strategy to get more grapes out of his branches is to cut off some. You see, His secret for more is less. As the grape-vines grow fast they are so thick that the sun can't reach the area where the fruit grows. If you don't do anything to the grape-vines they will just grow lots of leaves. From a distance they look real beautiful. But only a little fruit. That's why the gardener trims-to produce more grapes.

i know it hurts.

i know it does.

remember that before the harvest, there is pruning.

remember that before great favor is great sacrifice.

we will make it through this , you and i.

here's to moving to Dallas, TX

in less than two weeks with an

unfurnished apartment,

no car

and Jesus.

http://www.gofundme.com/MOVE-to-DALLAS

DALLAS!

this will be short entry (followed by a longer and more in depth one soon I promise!)

THE LORD IS SO FAITHFUL and after months of rejections, lack of direction and anxiety the Lord has opened an AMAZING door working full time for Christ for the Nations in DALLAS, TX!!!

the plan is to board a one-way-plane on January 4th and begin this

scary

exciting

nerve-racking

amazing

new

poop-in-my-pants

ADVENTURE!!!!!!!

now i need to catch up on the episodes of 'New Girl' that i've missed to get tips on relocating your life.... :)

http://www.gofundme.com/MOVE-to-DALLAS

the parable of doors

You ever asked God for something and when He delivers you are shocked? Oh come on, we've all been there, like myself for instance... in asking God for direction to close doors that are to be closed and open those that are to be open. I had the opportunity to either work the holidays here Myrtle Beach or Columbia.

Monday I was laid off from my current bartending gig.

So this time in a week I will be packing up my little suzuki with myself and Muffy and heading to work in Columbia for the holidays. Having a work opportunity is great, but I'm not going to lie, this is a little quick to be leaving friends/family/church without knowing when I will return again. (considering I will have no job or place to live to return to)

I asked God for direction,

 I asked God for His best, I asked for this.

 And yet I find myself drowning in moments of weeping

 for thought of leaving here uncertain

 of what/when/where I will return back.

At the beginning of the nativity story, the first part of Luke focuses on the birth of John the Baptist being fore-told to the priest Zechariah. Now Zechariah and his wife were both considered to some past the age of child-bearing and in my humble opinion probably had a desire for children.

Yet when the angel of the Lord appeared to him,

 not only was Zechariah gripped with fear,

 he also was overcome with doubt.

 DO YOU HEAR WHAT I'M SAYING????

the Lord answered the prayer of this man and

 his FIRST reaction was fear and doubt concering the very thing he prayed for!

“When Zechariah saw him [the angel of the Lord], he was startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, ' do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard”
(Luke 1:12-13)

We can't ask God to close doors that are to be closed and not expect Him to do so. We can't ask things of the Lord flippantly because He is a God who moves and answers. (sometimes in the way we'd like and sometimes not)

Next stop you ask something of the Lord, be careful what you ask for; because the Lord desires to give us His best and when we open ourselves up to Him moving, He WILL move in our circumstance.

Don't look like an idiot and be shocked when the Lord hears and answers.

The Parable of John F Kennedy

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

John F. Kennedy

knowing God is not enough.

I spent today sitting in a coffee shop listening to worship music and simly being. And during my frequent attention-deficit-disorder-scannings-of-the-people-places-and-things around me, I noticed a display with books about the Kennedys. One book about the life was open to a page that had the phrase “An Unfinished Life”. I kept staring back at this phrase transfixed by the idea of living an unfinished life when we aren't dead yet.

Hear me out.

Knowing God isn't enough. I could know God, go to a weekly worship service, spend time in the word and it would be living an unfinished life.

Hear me out.

I saw a coffee cup quote while sitting here (I get distracted easily, this I know) that said “just when the catepillar thought it was all over,it became a butterfly”.

I know you're thinking what in the *&$^%&$ does this have to do with the price of an egg in China?!

Hear me out.

Romans 1:21 says:

“for although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him because they became futile in their thinking...”

We know of God but are we congnisant of Him around us? Would we hear if He asked us to pay for the car behind us in a drive thru line? Or if He prodded our heart to pray with a person in the other aisle in Walmart? Are we like the catepillar and become so distraught with how things look at the moment that we don't trust that He won't leave us a catepillar. You haven't reached your full potential. God won't leave you where you are if you are acting in full obedience to His word.

Let me translate that scripture into the MCWversion:

“even though they knew God, they weren't aware of Him in everything. They lived an unfinished life; thus encountering God only at certain times rather than in everything; and their mindset became stagnant, without growth, stunted and unfruitful”

When we limit God to an encounter in morning quiet time or a weekly worship service, we miss all that He has to say and wants to do in and through us throughout the day. Thus, we are walking around living an unfinished life.

Recently a friend and I were discussing how we feel like we are so busy that every time we have time with the Lord we are just delivering a laundry list. You know what I think? I need to SHUT UP sometimes.

God doesn't live in your morning quiet times. God doesn't live in a church a building. He lives in you and in me.

If the catepillar would have thought God only lived in a certain time 

or certain circumstance or certain moment then

 he never would have held on to see the transformation

 that God did in HIS OWN time.

The Parable of Captain America

Was anyone else weirded out by Captain America's tiny-little-scrawny-body before he was transformed? Oh you weren't? Oh yeah me neither...


so yesterday afternoon I watched the latest Avengers film (isn't it the latest one? oh i don't know!) and I was really struck by the character of Dr Abraham Erskine. A couple of things he said hit me and caused me to make a connection with some spiritual principles that I will come back to after a short anecdote...


Yesterday morning after worship rehearsal, I propped up my barefeet in the sanctuary and proceeded to play words with friends until our pre-service-meeting began. Within a few minutes two of the Pastors had decided they didn't want name tags on each chair on this particular Sunday and asked if I'd help remove them from the BAJILLION seats in the auditorium. I happily helped because not only was it a simple task, but these two Pastors were right in the thicke of the actions helping. As we were removing the said name tags, I noticed an elder come into the sanctuary. He took note of the rather large task we were tackling and instead of helping, chose to stand in the aisle and read his bulletin.


I'm not going to lie, I gave this man the stink eye.


I'm not sure why, but this really struck a chord in me that he was a man with a position/title/responsibility and yet even when noticing what we were all doing (even Pastors!), didn't automatically jump in or even offer his help.

Back to Captain America... the soon to be super hero asked Dr Erskine, 'why me?' and Dr Erskine explained that the power of the serum was that the good inside a person would be magnified into greatness and the bad in a person would turn into the worst. 


This made me think about leadership. When we are given a role of leadership, the humility and servanthood inside us will become greatness and the entitlement within us will also be magnified. I'm not angry with that elder, I just found it interesting his choice to not jump in and help when he saw the magnitude of the task. 


My mom has said that it may be your charisma that gets you into a position but it is your character that keeps you there.

"Whatever happens, 

stay who you are.

 Not just a soldier,

 but a good man."

(Dr Erskine, Captain America)

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. 

Man looks at the outward appearance, 

but the Lord looks at the heart"

(1 Samuel 16:7)

the parable of the lemonade stand

This past Sunday, Pastor Craig told a story of running a lemonade stand when he was growing up. And guess what? My sister and I had one too! In fact, we were very ambitious-minded-little-girls because we also had our own personal "yard sale" in addition to coming up with the latest snack ("GORP") and offering samples in bathroom cups door to door. 


There is only one problem, we didn't live in a busy subdivision or even a busy street; we lived on a cul de sac.

A cul-de-sac (literally "bottom of bag" in Catalan) is a word of Catalan

 origin coming to the English via French referring to a dead end, close, 

no through road (British English) or court (American,Canadian and Australian English)

meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet. 

While historically built for other reasons, one of its modern uses is to calm vehicle traffic.

In thinking about our business venture as little girls, the Lord took a moment to speak to my heart.

Many times we have amazing

gifts

abilities

ideas

dreams

visions

but if we aren't in the best position, they won't reach full potential or maximize effect.

If i'm not walking in full obedience in every area of my life;

if my ear is not pressed against the heartbeat of the Father,

I will easily get frustrated that my gifts, abilities, ideas aren't reaching their full potential.

The lemonade stand was a GREAT idea, but the location LIMITED it's effectiveness.

Ruth knew the need (food) so she began to serve (her mother in law) by going to where she knew was food (a rich man's field) and picking up what was leftover. She was in position to not only exceed her familys' need but also to meet her husband.

Where's your lemonade stand?