mountain tops

Last week we discussed in our small group the moments in our life when we "got it." By got it, we were talking about God's crazy love for us. I had been able to think about this for a few weeks and came to the realization that God has shown me this concept a number of times . . . don't know if I'm just dense or if that's normal for one's spiritual walk to be a continual flow of mountain top experiences. With each one . . . I get it a little more and my love for Jesus just increases. It was fun, though, to think back on these experiences and to express my gratitude to God for his amazing gift of his son Jesus.

*Numerous summers at Quaker Haven church camp where I experienced real Christian fellowship and God answered a prayer of mine for the first time.

*Experiencing true worship for the first time at the Aquire the Fire conference in high school.

*The Shane & Shane concert at Cornerstone my freshmen year when God showed up in a big way . . . impromptu worship like that was very new for me, but so incredible!

*A hike in South Africa meditating on Jesus' command to get out of the boat . . . another impromptu moment, which was huge for our group.

Reflecting on my spiritual journey is an awesome experience for me. My memory is fairly good, but long-term is not as strong. All of these memories are not always prevalent, but when I take the time to reflect and let God bring these experiences to me . . . it just fills my heart with gratitude for those times when God gave me a swift kick in the butt and said don't you get it . . . I love YOU! And he does and I feel it everyday. I'm grateful for this time of learning how to better love him back with my whole heart!

quick words

The craziness of life is upon me, but even in the midst of work, prep for housewarming, and club vb starting God has been speaking so loudly and clearly to me. I am so grateful for what he is doing in my life . . . the thing that is frustrating is that I don't have enough time to just sit and reflect on his words. I wanted to note a few quick reflections that I hope to expand on soon.

*I'm working on balancing a healthy fear of God with returning his unconditional love for me.

*I want to speak/respond to God like I would a friend and I want to respond to my friends like that . . . not just sharing about me even though that's all I want sometimes and no one asks.

*God's love for us is so incredibly awesome . . . and he wants us to love him in the same way . . . WOW!

*When I look at my to do list I find myself constantly saying "I can do this." I cannot do anything, though, God is in control of all things . . . not me.

*We cannot run from our history, it will forever be connected to our destiny. This is a hard one I am working through.

Ahhh, there's so much more. I'm just grateful that God wants to talk to me and wants my reciprocal love and has blessed me with incredible friends. Life is terribly hard at time, but God is good ALL THE TIME!