Greatly Loved

Today has been an absolutely beautiful day...(off of school!!).
I woke up to the sight of bright white powdery snow fallen on top of everything, and some still gently falling onto the ground. But it wasn't super thick....the "snow storm" cancelled all the events and classes in my district. My sister and mom and I all walked to Starbucks down the road, had some yummy Carmel Machiatto's (mine was as much as possible sugar free), then walked back. So here we are at home again, chilling out and enjoying the "snow day" that is melting away the snow...

I have had the day to just process a lot of sudden things that have been happening in my life as of late, and process what the Lord has been teaching me through them. I have been realizing and continue to realize that God is always, always speaking to me, and it just depends on if I receive His grace to open my ears and eyes to what He is saying and doing.
I am teachable when I want to keep learning, when I don't stop the search, and don't stop hungering after Him and hearing His voice. And it's so cool because His voice isn't just this corporate, radio announcer voice. God's voice speaks to each one of us in special and specific ways. We were created to have real conversations with Him, to live face to face with Him.
I experience this more and more as I simply start talking to Him, and pouring out my heart to Him. By simply saying, "I am open to you right now, what are you saying, what are you doing, what's on your heart God?" the situation changes and/or my perspective on the situation changes as God downloads His perspective into me and I experience something greater and more powerful than where I was at before.

I am also feeling so impressed in me that because He loved me first, I am now able to love Him. But I can only love Him as much as I have received His love. In order to be a great lover of God, one has to be greatly loved by God. One has to experience Him and actually be loved. There is no greater comfort than knowing the Comforter. There is no greater love than Love Himself. I am just really feeling this hitting me: God Is Everything I Need, Want and Truly Desire.

I had this vision of all of these walls just breaking down around me, and everything I had built up around me, or things that I had allowed to be built up around me, were just shattering. God's wind was blowing in clearing the ground for a new work to be done, a new foundation to be laid. "Foundation" - that's another word God's been giving to me. He's been telling me how He is going to completely restructure my foundation so He can build up new things in me. A word that one girl got and posted on the BSSM page on Facebook was “undivided heart.” I feel like this is totally for me. An undivided heart doesn’t look for anything except what the Father is doing. An undivided heart is completely taken over (I have this image in my head of a big piece of land) by God. But everything has been submitted to Him - everything. I feel like there are parts of me – this land – that are in ruins, so to speak, and desperately need the Lord’s healing. Those parts of me that I have grappled to keep heavily guarded are so ready to be handed over to the Lord. Those guards that keep me in and keep God out are falling down as I receive His perfect love.

Every day, He just says to me, "I am rejoicing over you, smiling over you, I am joyous over you. I LOVE YOU!" Haha, it's sooo easy to say "yes" to True Love. And that is what this life is really about: love. Just loving to no end. Having no boundaries and limits, total freedom to explore what love really means.

Small Begninngs

I took this picture today as I was going on a walk with the King of kings in the magnificent garden of my neighborhood. He spoke to me, "Don't despise small beginnings. I make all things grow." This flower reminds me of small beginnings. But it is going to grow. It is a sign that springtime is here, and that after the coldest winter (literally... it JUST snowed two days ago), there is always a promise of new things, growth, and hope :)

Today Is The Day

We are relational beings. When our relationship with Jesus is the strongest thing in our lives, the strongest bond, then that is what affects other relationships the most.

I realize in my life that my mood and thoughts can often be affected by the other people around me. That is normal I suppose, but it's not good if it is dominating over my relationship with Jesus first.

I think I am just really realizing what it means and how important it is that Jesus Himself, not His principles but His presence, is what I live for. When Jesus is the strongest relationship in my life, I am obviously spending the most time with Him and am more aware of His presence than anything else.

I am thinking of it like the "third" in a chord. The third determines whether the chord is a major or minor. So if the third is either sharp or flat, the whole entire chord changes and the sound and mood of everything shifts. Literally every other note can stay the same, but if the third changes, so does the entire mood and atmosphere. I really feel like this is how our relationship with Jesus is. Our relationship with Jesus is like the third in a chord. If it is sharped or flatted from its Major position, it becomes a minor, dark sounding key. Everything sounds sad, gloomy, depressing, and dark. But if it is in it’s right Major position, it makes everything sound very happy! If you are a musician, you know exactly what I am talking about. If you are not, research thirds and you’ll see what I mean! 

As I write about this, another thought is intertwined. Every day that I live is such a precious gift from Papa. I am not here long, and I want to make every moment of every day count for Him. How am I using my days, and how am I spending my time? Do I waste time on just me or am I actually doing something to usher in His Kingdom? I want to make an impact, I want to stop for the one. I just don't want to slip into the "waiting" mindset of "Hmmm...tomorrow, maybe that is a better time to have God encounters." No! Today is the day!

Today is the day to move on and walk in the love and power of God. Today is the day to TASTE AND SEE that the Lord is good! Today is the day to live in the fullness of God. The less I look at myself and the more I look at Jesus, the more I become like Him. What a perfect, beauatiful, amazing plan. He is soo good and so gracious! We become what we behold, and He is so beautiful that how can anyone once tasting and seeing that He is good go back to what they had before? Doesn’t even compare!

We are a world craving for love, attention, and beauty. Just look at a magazine cover! We’re so desperate for Jesus! Let Him come and totally invade our hearts, minds, bodies, everything in us with His beauty so that we can overflow His beautiful presence onto the world. Let our intimate relationship w/ Him become the music that changes the atmosphere everywhere we go. Make us carriers of your weighty presence Father, unafraid, unashamed, untouched, undignified, fully satisfied yet ravenously hungry for more of your Kingdom, totally convinced of “Christ in me, the Hope of Glory,” and completely in abandoned love with You!