NEXT Surprises

NEXT 2010 is now over, and it had it's high and low points. While I did not meet with the Lord exactly how I wanted, I was able to participate in some rich fellowship with some of my awesome friends. The messages were good; I think my favorite was Jeff Purswell's. His message was on Eschatology. I don't think we hear too many messages about this particular doctrine, and not presented the way Jeff presented it. At times messages like this are hard for me to hear because of the current state of my family's souls, but it does remind me of how good my God is: "Jesus came as a lamb but will return as a lion." I don't want a heart that's tied to this world, but one that anxiously awaits my Savior's coming.
This weekend there were also two amazing things that happened. First, I got to feel Colby kick (first time I ever felt a baby kick). And......GEN IS ENGAGED!

Here's a picture of the bling...

And one of the happy couple, soon after their engagement

Here's one last picture of the happy couple. Gen is one of my best friends and it is a pure joy to see her with Aaron. I remember spending nights on end talking about who each of us will marry, and me telling her I didn't think her husband was at our Church yet (maybe I have a gift in prophecy :)...) Aaron and Gen have walked out their entire courtship honoring the Lord and displaying an example of what pursuing the Lord through a pure, biblical relationship looks like. I love them both and am so happy for my dear friend :)

NEXT

So I leave for NEXT tomorrow and I'm so excited! This may be the last time I am able to room with Gen and Maureen, and this conference is what really first sparked such an incredible friendship between the three of us. We'll also have Kristie Witter this time :) I'm really excited and pray that God will really meet me there and allow everyone just to see his Holy Spirit working through all those attending. Here's a video promoting NEXT that I thought was kinda cool:


All I Have Is Christ from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Laughter

So one of my favorite things to do is laugh. Lately, I haven't been doing a lot of that. I read this quote today from Terry Lindvall and now I am vowing to find at least three things today to laugh about, esp. if it's laughing at myself:

"Laughter is a divine gift to the human who is humble. A proud man cannot laugh because he must watch his dignity; he cannot give himself over to the rocking and rolling of his belly. But a poor and happy man laughs heartily because he gives no serious attention to his ego."

Feel free to laugh today, and to send any jokes my way if you have any good ones :)

God Rejoicing!

So today I had a meeting at the church with Jim Donohue, to talk to him about what's going on with me and how my family is liking the Bridge Course. He recommended a sermon from this year's Leadership Conference by Aaron Osborne titled: God Rejoices Over Us. This message highlights Zephaniah 3. In the message he says how the Lord sings and rejoices over us. At church this past Sunday I felt the Lord saying to me how that day he was singing over me. I was moved to tears by this realization, and so convicted by how I was viewing the Lord. I feel like he only loves me because he promised to, not that he desires to. Aaron said this in his message which made me cry:

"In light of who I was, in light of who I sometimes still seem to be, how can I be loved like this? Or to wade into the theological deep end of the pool, how can God be pleased with a sinning Christian? We know people, but we ourselves feel it is just easier to believe I'm loved because it's His duty, because He made a promise and He keeps them, then to rejoice to be loved like we're truly loved. Friends, we're loved like this because of a substitute. Don't lose sight of our substitute.... You and I are loved by our Father like Jesus is loved by our Father. His love for us is not different, it is the same! How is that so? Because we're in Him, clothed in Him, we stand with Him. Jesus is why and Jesus is how God sings over us loudly. "

Aaron also said this quote from John Piper:

"We must banish from our minds forever. any thought that God admits us begrudgingly into His kingdom. As though Christ found a loophole in the law, did some fancy plea bargaining, and squeaked us by the judge. No way! God himself, the judge, put Christ forward as our substitutionary sacrifice and when we trust Him, God welcomes us with bells on, He puts a ring on our finger, kills the fattened calf, and throws a party; Shouts a shout that shakes the end of creation, and He himself leads the festival dance. This is how He loves!"

This message was so applicable to me and the walk I am currently in. It even touched on how a woman should feel heading into a marriage, which is how I one day want to feel going into a marriage if that's what God has for me. He related it to how God loves us and this is what he said about young brides who have been married:

"There's something right about our hearts, about the desire to be delighted in....don't most young ladies? Leading up to your wedding, wasn't there a delight in your heart to know that you occupied the thoughts, the affections, the feelings of your groom to be? That you were carried on his heart?....That's the kind of relationship we were created for."


I encourage every person to hear this message, given at Grace Community Church.