babysitting again...

These are from this past spring... Kate and I enjoy spending time playing on Photo Booth! :)

We're on a roller coaster! hahaha

So glad God's called me back to spend extra time with this precious girl!

Since I have a few extra weeks in Birmingham to spend me time, God has led me back to invest and pour into the girl who I have babysat for a year now, Kate. I spent all year last year picking up Kate from school and hanging out with her 3 days a week. And I spent all summer with Kate (10) and her twin little brother and sister Ella (6) and Vaughn (6). Spending so much time with them, I got really close and attached to these kids and they became an important part of my life. I am thankful that the Lord has led me back to be a part of their lives and to share these days with them.

So, what do my days look like now? What am I doing with this unexpected time?

6:30 Wake up... go for a run or exercise and do physical therapy exercises (for back pain)

7:30 breakfast with Turners :)

8:30 time alone with God

9:30 get ready for day and either help out with One Way Ministries stuff or go to Birmimgham to meet up with friends for lunch or spend time with families the Lord has put in my life

2:45 pick up Kate and hang out with her until 5!

So... this time looks a lot different than I thought it would, but it is quite purposeful. It is good because God is in it, and He is good. I am enjoying the extra time to deepen relationships and let the Lord pour me out and fill me up each day again with Himself. :)

Rest

playing in the ocean with Jett! :)

dinner at Red Bar... best crab cakes ever!

enjoying the beach

Sheryl and I on the pontoon boat... so much fun!

my little Jetty!

“Take time to rest by the wayside, for I am not in a hurry. A leisurely pace accomplishes more than hurried striving. When you rush, you forget who you are and Whose you are.” -Jesus Calling.

God has been calling me to REST- to stop trying to figure everything out and just rest in who He is and that I am His. I was SO blessed with the opportunity to get away and rest. I've had a lot to take in the past few weeks- change, emotions, big decisions. It has been overwhelming to say the least. The Turners took me on family vacation with them, which was the biggest blessing because it allowed me to get away and let the Lord refresh my spirit.

I can so easily feel insecure and get caught up in not having a place in this world. Yet as I rest and spend more time in His presence, He reminds me that I am not meant to ever feel completely satisfied because I was made for another world. Romans 8:23-25 says we are longing for what is eternal, for heaven, when there will be no more longing.

"And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we a wait for it with patience."

So God continues to remind me to rest in Him. Ultimately all my doubt, insecurity, and fear is a result of a distorted view of Him. I have to come back to a place where I gaze on His face and see that He is good. He is in control. He is sovereign. His plans are better. He is so much bigger. He is not a bigger, better version of myself. He is the creator of the universe, the Holy One. I'm loving this song lately by Addison Road. It's such good reminder of how small I really am in comparison with God...

I made You promises a thousand times

I tried to hear from Heaven

But I talked the whole time

I think I made You too small

I never feared You at all No

If You touched my face would I know You?

Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You

Who spoke me into motion?

Where have I even stood

But the shore along Your ocean?

Are You fire? Are You fury?

Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out

I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about

How You were mighty to save

Those were only empty words on a page

Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be

The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of You

Who spoke me into motion?

Where have I even stood

But the shore along Your ocean?

Are You fire? Are You fury?

Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?

And a God who gave life "its" name?

What do I know of Holy?

Of the One who the angels praise?

All creation knows Your name

On earth and heaven above

What do I know of this love?

May we all take the time to rest in His holiness.

thankful :)

First, my sincere apologies to those of you who get bogged down by the length of my e-mails and blogs. I'm writing this one, and I literally just wrote another pretty long one. There's just a lot on my heart that I want to share while it is fresh (and I have time). So, I would encourage you, don't get stressed. Just go, find the blog (or e-mail) that I recently sent. Read that. And save this one for tomorrow or another day! ;)

As I am sitting here in a coffee shop in Birmingham, Alabama I am not at all where I thought I would be or expected to be. My plans have change and I have been faced with the unexpected what seems like again and again lately. I know I quote “Jesus Calling” every time I write, but God seems to speak to me so often through this little book. This one seemed to capture where my heart is right now:

“You are blessed to hear from me so directly. Never take this privilege for granted. The best response is a heart overflowing with gratitude. I am training you to cultivate a thankful mind-set. This is like building your house on a firm rock, where life’s storms cannot shake you. As you learn these lessons, you are to teach them to others. I will open up the way before you, one step at a time.”

My heart is truly overflowing with thanksgiving and gratitude. Even in unexpected times and uncertain times, the Lord is leading me. He has provided above and beyond for my needs right now. A family very close to my heart has opened their home to me, and I’m overwhelmed beyond words with the blessing it is. This house is such a haven for me. It is somewhere I know I will go and be encouraged and find evidences of God all around. It is a place of solidarity in the midst of uncertainty. For me, it is such a testimony and picture of God’s character. Even when things are hard and there is uncertainty, God is a refuge. We can find solidarity, peace, comfort, safety and love in the midst of all things that are shaking. What a beautiful picture.

Matthew 7:24-25

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them, they will be compared to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the wind blue and slammed against the house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.”

The Lord, in His goodness, has brought me to the place where my house is not built upon YWAM Wollongong. My house in not built upon being overseas. My house is not built upon my church. My house is not built upon my relationships. My house is not built upon a job. My house is not built upon having what society says about me right now. My house is not built upon ______. My house is built upon the LORD, my Rock, who stands forever. And the rains have fallen, and the wind is blowing and slamming, yet I am not shaken. I am not falling. Because He is a strong Rock to those who build their foundations upon Him.

Look at this Scripture God gave me this morning. It’s long, but it is SO rich!

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

God is speaking a lot to me personally in this. Almost more than words can say at the moment. I feel right now like I am in a place where everything I put my hope in is being stripped thin. And that God is being glorified and exalted- my ultimate aim. My circumstances are hard, but they are showing that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to me. Suffering and hardship (“carrying the death of Jesus") is serving to make God’s faithfulness, goodness, and provision known (the life of Jesus is being manifested)! And I feel like thanksgiving to God is increasing to His glory and my spirit inside is being renewed more and more every day! Because what He is doing is unseen, but it is eternal!

That is some weighty stuff, but as it weighs heavily, my heart is filled with peace. I hope this encourages some of you today who are suffering and that His presence meets you where you are.

Grace and Peace,

Christy

Understading

I'm kind of behind on blogging (not really), but this is from yesterday...

Again, I read this in Jesus Calling...

"Understanding will never bring you Peace. That’s why I have instructed you to trust in Me, not in your understanding. Human beings have a voracious appetite for trying to figure things out, in order to gain a sense of mastery over their lives.”

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

Understanding doesn’t bring peace. I don’t understand anything going on around me. I don’t understand why I’m not in Australia. I don’t understand why God has ordained certain things in my life that involve watching people I’m close to hurting and me hurting. But I do know God. I know He is good, and the things He does are good. I know He is in control. I trust His character because He is unfailing.

I go back to last August. I didn’t understand why I was back at Samford and Birmingham for one more year. I couldn’t possibly see the whole picture and ever even imagine how that would have turned out. And at first, I didn’t trust it. How I wish I would have! The things He has done in my life in this past year have been absolutely phenomenal and better than I could have ever dreamed. I didn’t understand, but God did. He led me here. He is good. His ways are good.

So, now I don’t understand. But I’ve learned from watching His goodness and His kindness to me in the past year that the things He does are good and the whole picture is so much bigger! My viewpoint is so finite and small. I only see a fragmented piece of the picture. God sees the whole thing.

I can’t remember where I heard the story... but it’s about this man who is looking at a tapestry with God. He sees pulled out threads and absolute chaos. “How is that a picture? How is that beautiful? It’s chaos. It’s disorder. I don’t see anything.” Then God takes him and walks him around to the other side of the tapestry, the front, and he shows the man that he was looking at the tapestry from a different perspective. He beholds a beautiful work of art, majestic in size and complete to the tiniest detail. I, too, find myself asking how these chaotic threads make a picture. The Lord beckons me to Himself and gives me just a glimpse into His perspective, the whole picture, a woven tapestry. I can’t see the majesty and beauty from where I am standing. But He does.

God has been speaking to me about faith. What is faith? The word itself implies that we have faith IN something. What is our faith in? Is it faith in faith itself? No. It is faith in the unchanging character and nature of God. It is choosing to believe that He is who He says He is. He is good, and the things He does are good. His is kind. He is sovereign, and He is in complete control. It is choosing to believe, despite our own lack of understanding. He has been showing me that I don’t have to understand in order to choose to believe. And that is faith.

I’ve always read this verse, but I opened my Bible just now, and literally, it was right there:

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Del Tackett of the Focus Institute said, “Our faith is not a feeling. Our faith overcomes our feelings.” Even though everything within you contests it and says no, faith is rooted in the truth claims of God, because of a deep conviction that He is greater.

This has been my prayer in all this:

So, God, every day, wake me up and increase my faith. Faith- not in myself, not in my circumstances, not in my family- faith in you alone- your unfailing character and your truth claims that never change! Build me up and strengthen that faith in YOU. All my hope and all my trust is in you! Amen!

Unshakable Kingdom

There is so much stirring within me this morning as I write this. The Lord has been revealing to me His consistency and His unchanging nature in a world that changes all the time. This quote is something I posted last week, but is something God is continuing to speak to my heart...

“In a world of unrelenting change, I am the One who never changes. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Find in me the stability for which you have yearned” (Sarah Young).

Hallelujah. He is unchanging. Circumstances change. People change. Seasons change. But the Lord’s goodness, kindness, patience, love, constant working in our lives and His presence remain continually faithful and unshaken. He is unshakeable!

Isaiah 54:10 “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord who has compassion on you.”

Hebrews 12:27-29 “This expression, 'Yet once more,' denoted the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable sacrifice with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”

His kingdom cannot be shaken! His love for us cannot be shaken! His consistency and truth cannot be shaken. When circumstances change, He remains.

For the past year, God has been speaking to me about where I put all my hope and all my trust. He said that if I put my hope in organizations, people, relationships, a job, success... all those things are created things- things that can be shaken. But if I put all my hope and all my trust in Him, when those things change or fail or break down or take an unexpected turn, my world will not fall apart. Because my hope is no longer in those things, in the little kingdoms of this world- my hope is in the Lord of Hosts and His eternal kingdom, which is unshakable.

I read this in Jesus Calling the other day...

“My goal is for you to become so convinced of my goodness that nothing can shake your trust in Me. Then, your soul will be deeply satisfied- as with the richest of foods.”

He is good. His direction and His purposes are for His glory and our good. They are. When we are entirely convinced of that and our hope is in Him, we too will not be shaken. We will stand with Him in His truth and the certainty of His promises, a hope enduring no matter what.

Hebrews 11:9-10 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was going to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Abraham’s hope was not in his family, his home, or his possessions. His eyes were fixed on God, and he carried in him continually an eternal perspective.

1 John 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

On Christ the solid rock I stand. Indeed. Let's fix out eyes on Jesus and receive a kingdom which is unshakable.