Picture Perfect Love

The word "Love" is thrown around in our society as a word to describe both the shallow and the built-up marriages. It also is tossed around in dating relationships that may fall apart. It's used by parents when they hug their children; parents who may leave and abandon their children thinking "it's the right thing to do for their kids at the moment." I can tell you right now, that is not the love God has for us. His love is sacrificial and self-denying. It endures, forgives, and fully satisfies.

In the Old Testament the hebrew word used to describe Gods love is Hesed. It means: faithful commitment, chosen, and without regard for the lovableness of the object loved. That seems "unfailing" to me. In the New Testament the Greek word is Agape. It is best described by John 15:13.
It's a love that will stop at nothing to express itself to the other. The dictionary states it as: unselfish love of one person for another without sexual implications; brotherly love; a love feast. It involves loving people who are lovable, but also people who are unlovable. God planted in everyone a longing for that love.

Our relationships are supposed to mirror that love, especially our marriage. We can't express that love all by ourselves though. We will need to ask God for help.  So, with Gods help let us all show the world what true, unfailing love is!
(I thought "Stolen" from Brandon Heath summed up God's love quite well)

Heartland..a place of healing

      For the past two weeks I've been watching a tv series regularly. I just finished the sixth season, which is the most recent. The tv show is called Heartland, and it's based on a book series by Lauren Brooke.
      The one thing that drew me toward the books were the horses. Every cover had a horse on it and at that time they were my favorite
things to read about. Maybe I went a bit overboard when I was younger, but it was an easy way to escape to a world that I wished I could be part of. Don't get me wrong though...I still love horses and wish I could be a part of that make-believe world I dreamed of as a young girl. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll own a horse..haha..in my dreams.

      Anyway, I was overjoyed when I found out about it airing on tv. Then I saw it was on CBC, which means it only airs in Canada. But, that isn't totally true-it airs on GMC. I looked it up on google and found a website where I could watch all the episodes for free, which made me happy.
      There are themes that wind themselves through the episodes. Trust is the biggest one, along with compassion, patience, and love. The actors fit the roles very well. Amy is forgiving and patient. Ty is protective, but troubled. Jack is caring, but stern. Mallory is opinionated and impulsive.  Lou is organized and creative. The variety of characters and traits combine to make a drama series that I will never forget.
      Ty and Amy are the two main characters and by the end of the sixth season are engaged. Their relationship goes through a lot of bumps and at one point they even break up. One of my favorite episodes is when they finally realize that they can't live without each other just after Ty almost dies from a motorcycle accident. I believe that their relationship has taught me that every relationship is built on trust and that forgiveness can wipe all the past away and help us look toward a brighter future.
      The main point of this show is to show the healing of horses and humans. Heartland is a ranch for horses that need some sort of healing, either physical or behavioral. Marion, the mother of Amy and Lou, who dies in the first episode also would help to heal humans. She had signed Ty's probation papers so he could serve it on the ranch, not in a prison. Ty eventually does heal and with Amy's help, learns to trust and love again.
      I recommend this show to anyone old enough to watch PG. Some of the scenes are a bit gory because of the physical damage to a horse or person. There are some episodes with mild language. Otherwise the show is great for families or individuals. It'll make you laugh, cry, and maybe you'll even yell at the screen as if the actors can hear you.

Some Striking Songs...

1. Worn by Tenth Avenue North (lyrics)
This song has been such a blessing to me. When I first heard it I was driving in my car and I started to tear up. I know that everyone, at one point in their life, feels worn and tired. This "worn" they talk about in the song is more than just physical weariness though. It takes on a spiritual meaning. Our souls get crushed under the influence of the world's' temptations. sometimes it feels like you won't be able to get past this temptation, but God can help you. He is always there to help us rebuild our relationship with him. He alone, can lift us up to create a song of redemption. He is our rest and redemption, no matter how torn and tattered we are.

2. Hello My Name Is and Forgiveness by Matthew West (lyrics for Hello.. and Lyrics for Forgiveness)

Just look at that smile..

Hello My Name Is is a great song. It reminds us whose child we are. Regret and defeat are very real things that can consume us and block out Jesus from our hearts. But, they are lies that we believe. With a strong chorus, we become God's child. A child of the ONE true king.
Forgiveness is a song with a most stirring message. This excerpt is taken from something written by a mother who was involved in the sad, but touching story: "May 11, 2002, 24-year-old drunk driver, Eric, killed one of my twins, Meagan, and one of her friends, Lisa, both girls 20 years old. This was devastating for all three families involved, and countless friends that mourned the loss of these precious girls. But this is also a story of forgiveness and healing. My family and Lisa’s family chose to forgive Eric. We even appealed to have his 22 year prison sentence reduced to 11 years."
A little side note: During the Klove Fan Awards I heard Matthew West host, sing, and talk live a few times. He is by far the funniest artist that I know and was always making me laugh and smile. He could be a stand up comedian, I think. 

3. Words by Hawk Nelson (lyrics)
The words we say can have different effects and this song goes through them. They can bring us or others down and they can bring us back up, higher than we've ever been. So, in the chorus, we ask God to help us have words that heal and are always truthful. We should only want to say words that bring the world back to God. We should always speak words of love and life, bringing light to a dark world. 

4. Strangely Dim by Francesca Battistelli (lyrics)

The first time I heard this song I didn't really like it, but boy has that changed. I absolutely love it and I know all the lyrics by heart. It talks about how we, as humans, have our life planned out. We are gonna get married, have kids, graduate college, have a great career. But, God has the reins, not us. He may change our plans in a few seconds and make us wait for our purpose to be fulfilled. When we fix our eyes on Jesus alone, everything grows dim: our plans, our worries, our doubts.

5. Every Good Thing by The Afters (lyrics)
I was listening to the radio and when this song came on, the young lady broadcasting said "Want might to watch your speed on the road..this song may cause you to go faster." I laughed as I looked self consciously at my speedometer. I don't think it made me go any faster, but I did roll down the windows and turn up the volume. God is the reason for everything good. The lyrics are pretty much self explanatory. The second verse talks about how God is in control of the bad times, and will always be there to make them better and comfort us. The family we have is a gift from God, and so are the troubles, because he is always there to turn trials into gold.

6. We Won't Be Shaken by Building 429 (lyrics)
This song was written right after the school shooting in Newtown, CT last December 14th. I remember hearing about it all over the news, such a devastating piece of news. Surrounded by tragedy, the town pulled together and just a few days later Building 429 wrote this song. This song will always remind me of that tragic event, but it's for every day. This song is a call out to all christians that we should not be shaken by the devil's schemes or the worlds prejudices. We should stand strong in Christ, and not be shaken. 

7, Me Without You by TobyMac (lyrics)

Always wearing an awesome hat!

I thought this song was a bit too upbeat for me, but it wasn't. I learned the lyrics and now I sing it all the time as I listen on the radio. The strong and fast beat, well..that explains the jumping sometimes upstairs..LOL. Where would we be without God in our lives? We would just aimlessly be walking around without any purpose. All our dreams would fade, and we would be chasing anything that looked appealing. As TobyMac states it "You rescued me/ You are mine, I am yours/ You rescued me/ And I am yours forever /You saved me, remade me/ And where would I be/ Without You."

8. All This Time by Britt Nicole (lyrics)
God's been with us every day of our lives and sometimes its just amazing to stop and think about that. This is a true song of thankfulness and worship. It talks about the day when Britt gave herself to the Lord, how she felt love and peace. He's been there through every heartache and every dream come true.  I will never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). 

Klove Fan Awards!

     

     This morning I was driving to the hospital to get three hours of volunteering done. I switched the radio to 96.7 FM, which is Klove. The fan awards started today and will go on till June 2nd. The two people in lobby were broadcasting with Hawk Nelson aka "Johnny". The laughter of them made me smile. When I came out after three hours of volunteering I turned it on again and this time it was the Rhett Walker Band. This whole day they've been talking with artists, and it has been great listening and laughing along with them. So, come on! Join me as I listen to Klove the next few days...to their concerts..and the red-carpet event, which is tomorrow night,. The link below goes to the the Fan Awards page and you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Fan Awards Page: http://www.klove.com/events/fan-awards/

Facebook: (you can vote here till tonight) https://www.facebook.com/KLoveFanAwards?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/klovefanawards

A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! - Psalm 100:1-2

Thoughts...on protection!

     This afternoon I was checking my emails...and one caught my eye. It was from the blog Lies Young Women Believe, a blog written by a group of women, mostly for an audience of young ladies (such as myself). This past week they have been writing the posts all on guys. The author of the posts is actually Dannah Gresh, who wrote get lost (the book which my last post was written on). Today's post struck me the most...

     It is based on the question: Does He Protect Your Purity? I can't answer the question right now, because I haven't met my prince yet, but in the future I'd like to think that the answer would be YES. Dannah talks about sex trafficking and rape in this post and at first I wondered what she was getting at.   

     Dannah then writes something that explains where she is going with all this sad talk about the disrespect of men who rape girls. "God's very definition of sex transcends the physical act and emphasizes the emotional knowing and exchange of respect that is the essence of His intended design." Real men respect women. Some men don't like the idea of protecting women and frankly, I don't know why. As a christian brother, you are supposed to step up and protect and respect your sisters. No matter what girl/woman you face you're supposed to act in integrity. But, we can't leave women out either. As christian sisters, we are to respect our brothers and future husbands with modest clothes and a modest attitude, which includes how you present yourself. If you would like to view this post please follow this link: http://www.liesyoungwomenbelieve.com/index.php?id=2023.
     So sisters, next time you think about the young man you gave your heart to...ask yourself if he protects your purity. And brothers, remember "Real men don't buy girls...they protect them." "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." - Romans 12:10 (NLT)  

     A part of my personal life does tie in: Currently my family supports a young girl named Sabani, who is from Odisha. She resides in a place called House of Refuge, which is run by a missionary family. House of Refuge  is a place for girls only, who are poor and unable to get an education through their families. Since they are poor they are also in danger of being sold into sexual slavery or prostitution. One of the saddest things is temple prostitution (to read an article about this click here). 

get lost.

     I recently received a copy of a get lost: Your Guide to Finding True Love by Dannah Gresh. When I picked it up off the bookshelf I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into.

     I had gone into the hospital to volunteer that day and I had just finished signing out to head back home. The lady at the front desk saw me and called me over. She told me there was a book vender just down the hall. (I later found out that she thought I would like it because she always saw me carrying around a book with me..haha..that's definitely true!). So, without any hesitation I walked down the short hall to where she was. She smiled when I walked over to look at some of the books she had on the shelves near her...of course, I smiled back. 

     Her name was Lucy and she started telling me why she was here. Her parents had lost their house in the tornado that just ravished a part of Oklahoma that past week. She was raising money to send down there for her parents and other various families that she had met. She was charging just five dollars for any book on the shelves she had there. Most of the books were fantasy, non-fiction, and modern-day love stories, but there was a small part of the christian genre and I was drawn there immediately. 

     I had already given five dollars to her and whether or not I was actually going to take a book was dependent on the books she had that I would actually read. I'm not a fantasy person, and the non-fiction books looked boring, and the modern-day love stories are too graphic, so I only looked at the christian books really. There were about fifteen christian books and I scanned the names. The title get lost popped out right away. I smiled as I pulled it out, it was such a weird and unique title. I read the first sentence, which is:                    

                                     This is a book about God...

                                                   ...and guys...

                                                               ...and how we get them mixed up. 

     I smiled, I couldn't resist. It was certainly gripping...haha. I scanned the summary on the back cover. One sentence (in green) stuck out:

Discover how to get so lost in God 
that a guy has to seek HIM to find you. 

     That did it for me! Without hesitation I walked over and told her I had found the book I was taking. She put my name in her notebook along with the book I was taking, and then thanked me. I smiled one last time...and walked away. 

     Two good things came out of that meeting: I had given money to the families in Oklahoma and I had a chance to get lost in God. I haven't finished the book, but it has been such a blessing so far. I'm getting lost and I love it! 

God Still Performs Miracles..

I was driving to the hospital this morning, on my way to volunteer. The radio was on 96.7 (Klove here in West Hempstead). The "morning show" was playing with the three regular announcers. This morning there was a guest singer, his name was Aaron Shust. I was so happy and excited to hear what he was going to talk about. Then one of the announcers asked him about his oldest son and what came next was a complete surprise to me.

Sometimes it can be a bit hard to think of famous people living a normal life, not that Aaron has a normal life. Far from it actually. Aaron has a wonderful wife and three young boys who he loves very much. The eldest son was miraculously healed the other day from esophagitis, a disease in which the child could no longer swallow food and was on a feeding tube. They were in the hospital and nurses came into the room just because they felt peace inside the little boys room. Aaron was so thankful for the healing and all his wife could do was smile in utter joy.

There 18 month old son was born with Down Syndrome and almost full deafness in both ears. Just a few months ago Aaron's wife took a trip to New York to attend a prayer conference and took the little boy with her. She brought the boy up to the front to be prayed with. The next morning she called Aaron, and while crying told him that she had just called to the little boy from across the room and he had turned his head in response to his name. I missed the ending of the second boys recovery, but the story of this singer was truly a blessing. God can still perform miracles today. It can be easy to see it in this post, but everyday he performs a miracle in your life. That miracle is life. 

God Bless you all! 

Motherhood..

This past sunday was Mother's Day, as all of you know (or I hope so). 

I know a lot of friends (mostly from college) that don't want to be mothers..at all! 

I can't believe it...and I don't understand...

So, I'm going to write a bit about the subject, even though I myself am not a mother. 

Have you ever looked at a Mother who holds her newborn baby? 

A look of pure joy and love envelopes her face, as tears of happiness swim down her face. 

Relief floods the room...

I myself can not wait till I hold a child of my own in my hands...

It's been a hope of mine since I was a child, holding baby dolls...

I can not wait to cradle a crying baby who is part of me...even if the cries pierce the silence.

I want to laugh and cry with my children...

I want to sit on the floor and pray with them...

I want to hold them in my arms and cherish them...

Most of all I want to tell all about my wonderful saviour..

And maybe it isn't God's plan for me to be a mother one day, but

it hasn't dampened my hopes and dreams yet..and it never will (there is always adoption..).

So, motherhood may not be an easy job, but it has the best reward possible. 

Children are a GIFT from God, don't ever forget that!