GOD’S GREAT INTENTION FOR HIS PEOPLE

I got this e-mail from my mom this morning.. something to make us all think. I love the challenge of being more like Christ, reflecting who he really is and living authentically. Be blessed and challenged by these thoughtful words. David Wilkerson Today THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 I believe God has had but one great intention for his people ever since the cross and it will not change until Christ returns in glory. God's intention has to do with understanding the mystery of the gospel, revealed first to Paul the apostle. It is a mystery no longer. Paul said, "By revelation [God] made known to me the mystery...which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed...by the Spirit…. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery..." (Ephesians 3:3-9). The mystery revealed is simply this: Christ's body is still here on earth! The head is in heaven but the rest of his body is right here on earth. We who love and serve him are his body, the visible part, which men see of Christ on earth. "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Ephesians 5:30). "And he is the head of the body, the church..." (Colossians 1:18). God's full intention for these last days can be summed up in this one sentence: Being that we are Christ's body on earth, God's intention is that every member become a true expression of who Christ is! God intends for us to express such a complete fullness of Christ that any sinner can see in us the Lord Jesus Christ as surely as if he once again walked here in the flesh. We are to appropriate so much of his fullness, his glory, his completeness that the world will see in us the hope and answers to their needs. It is not enough to know Christ. We must be a full expression of who he is! We must look at everything we say and do and ask: "Does this represent who Christ is? Is this what I want the sinner to see of him, through me?" Would Christ, in his physical body, walk into an X-rated theater? Would he linger around a pornography counter? Would Christ abuse his body in any way? Would he indulge in adultery, fornication, drinking? Would he cheat, gossip, tell dirty stories, or lie? Would Christ live a lie, then attempt to preach the truth? Would he try to spread the light with a pocket of darkness in his own heart? Would he tell others not to commit adultery, then do it in secret himself? We must continually keep before our eyes this one great intention of God—that we his body reflect honestly and purely who he is! Set your heart on being a true expression of who Jesus Christ is.

Smile for the day

I can't get enough of the cutesy/cheesy animal pics!! My sweet mother in law sent these to me earlier and they totally brought a smile to my face.. i hope they do the same for you!

A Thankful Heart

I just want to take a moment to praise God for his many blessings. God has been nothing but faithful to me and it's so exciting to see his faithfulness extended to the WE. It's a whole new realm of blessings and I get emotional just anticipating the thought of God's blessings to come. I have no doubt in my hear that they will come. I fall more in love with my wonderful husband daily. And in the process.. more in love with God. It's hard to explain, but sometimes I don't even realize where the "deeper" comes from. Jason and I joke about little silly things that make us go "deeper" Last night we were watching our fav. shows that we've dvr'd and he proclaimed to me that I would go deeper when I watched the recorded show "Stargate Atlantis" that featured a special guest star- the Chairman from Iron Chef!! haha!! Jason and I get a kick out of his over-dramatic kung foo moves on the show... it's really just one of the many reasons he is my Bff. Love it!! =) So anyway.. I just want to praise you Lord for your many blessings.. the big and the small.. the crazy/silly/ serious things that make me go deeper with this man you have blessed me with and for blessing us.. for providing.. for loving for always being there. I love you Lord!

being a woman

Jason and I were doing our morning devos this morning from 1 Peter 3. (We are following a plan in our bibles that takes us through the bible in a year). 1 Peter 3 says this:

1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

I am by no means suggesting here that Jason doesn't obey the word.. I think that behaving in a pure and gentle and obedient spirit, following God's word, can be an example to your husband, your family, your friends. God made man and woman and he created us to fill certain roles within a marriage and as man and woman. I believe the inside should shine through and as women, we should always be striving to please the Lord, submit to him and then submitting to our husbands will be just as rewarding. My husband serves the Lord. There is another portion of scripture that talks about husbands submitting to the Lord and wives submitting to their husbands as unto the Lord. Wow!! What a cool thing to think about. I pray that I would be this woman. That I would submit to God first in all that I do. Jason and I are spiritually bonded as well and we both strive to be obedient to the Lord and to his word. (I love it when that man pulls out the highlighter during our bible studies- makes me looooove him so much) I want to be this submissive woman.. not in a meek and timid way, but in a biblical way. Lord, show me how to be this woman. Continue to grow me in this area.. i want to obey your word and become more and more the woman you created me to be. Thank you Lord. Let it be so!!

Stuff I like (some I love)

Tuesday's thoughts- that's all.

Hi! Another windy day here in Springfield Mo. Gotta love it! I know that Spring is coming... the trees are starting to bloom and i'm seeing some flowers pop in here and there. I will say, winter seems to be hanging on a little longer here than in Memphis. I'm suprised i'm not seeing more green. Anyway...

Things are picking up in our life. Jason and I are both involved in the Passion Play at church. Jason is playing the role of Jesus which I must brag: he takes quite seriously. He's been making sure to be in good shape for the part where he has to be half dressed on the cross. He also watches DVD's about the life of Jesus that are totally filled with scripture. I woke up Sunday morning and he was sitting on the couch with his notebook intently watching the "beatitudes" scene. I love his passion and intensity to put all he has in everything he does. He played the role last year (I could literally say "Jesus is my boyfriend"- that was fun! =) He was amazing at it! He's got the look.. dark curly hair, bright blue eyes.. (yummy). The only thing he lacks is his ability to grow out a full fledged beard. Thanks to his native american heritage- he's never been able to grow much facial hair. (i'm not complaining!)

I also have a part as a crowdsperson, and possibly a really powerful solo during the scene where Mary washes Jesus' feet. (our directors have been a little indecisive).

We are also going to both be involved in leadership on an intensive weekend retreat focusing on God and his love. The preparation for this retreat will involved weekly meetings. Jason and Christa will be busy! yaay! =) God is so faithful and I always love being a messenger of his love. I pray that I can do this to the best of my ability and grow in my own walk in the process. We should always be growing in our christian walk. If we should stop, there's trouble. I praise God for the privelage of being his child and being brought up in a home that honors him and taught me to live according to his commands.

Jason and I are privelaged to have the time and desire to build our strong foundation, together in Christ, to have a strong, God-fearing family some day. I know i've jumped all over, but isn't that what blogging is all about.. sharing? Thanks for letting me share here. I hope I can be an encouragement to someone today.

MY MAN

ALWAYS HAVING A GOOD TIME-HAMMIN IT UP! =)

My man comes home today!! He's been gone for a whole week, which makes it the longest we've been apart since we've been married!! ahh!! At first it was kinda nice to have extra "me" time, but after about a day, i was ready for him to come home!! This man brings me so much joy!! God knew exactly what I needed.

He's been in Chicago for the week.. taking time to fix up Grandpa's house- making some much needed repairs. Grandpa was diagnosed in December with Alzheimers. He wandered outside one bitterly cold night and decided to make the front yard his bed for a few hours. He ended up with frostbite and was taken to a nursing home where he is getting much better care. So, Jason is helping my family fix his house to be sell-worthy. It will take multiple trips and it's definately a blessing. I am thrilled that Jason had the change to not only help my family out, but also to bond with my dad, aunt and uncle and even grandpa. He and dad went to the nursing home a couple of times to visit and Jason was able to pray with him. It was definately a moment I would have loved to be a part of. Jason is one of those guys that melds in with everyone he meets and makes the atmosphere a littl e more fun. He has such a great way with people. Everyone warms up to him right away and he has such a great spirit about him.. never a dull moment! I love that!!

I am so so blessed by this wonderful man! He was worth ALL the waiting. I am so glad that I didn't settle!! Thank you Lord for my wonderful husband.

Above are some pictures from Jason, Dad, and family friend Ed's trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Jason was a true tourist and took lots of great pics! I can just imagine him wandering the museum with his camera around his neck! =) He's gonna be that kind of dad someday.. always taking pics/ videos.. with that camera around his neck. Makes me smile.

Thank you Lord! I am so very blessed!!

Gotta Catch up...

Jason Loves Kids

This is he and his niece Madison- they were wrestling! Sooo cute!

This picture was taken

the day after we got engaged-

Jason carved our names on THE SPOT-

shhhhh!! don't tell the Germantown park people!

Let the madness begin.. i've decided to join a very elite group of women. It's called "Scrapbooking Divas" (totally made that up, but you get what i'm trying to say, right? ) I had some Christa time on Saturday afternoon and decided to start down the great path that many picture/craft lovers go down. I went to a recent scrapbook night and won a little kit to get me started. My first project will envolved preserving the memories of dating and getting engaged to my handsome hubby, Jason. I've had a great time so far.. re-living the memories and digging deep into my creative abilities (not too deep) This is just the warm up for the much anticipated Wedding Album! I want to do it right, I want to make it beautiful and have every cool scrapbooking gadget possible for this great endeavor. Wish me luck!!

I'm baaaaaaaack!!!!!

Ok.. i've been reminded by my blogger extrodinaire friend, Jennifer Goodwin, that a blogging world even exists... wow! It's been FOREVER!! I will have to blame my life in general.. particularly a certain man named Jason Nicholas Waln, my new husband, best friend and love of my life. Wow!! How to even start... Jason and I got married Oct. 2, 2010. And had a wonderful beautiful wedding full of God and friends and family that love us. I am not living in Springfield, Mo. and working at a local asphalt striping, paving, etc. etc. company. Great place to work.. great people.. God has provided yet again.

I can't say enough about how i absolutely loooove being married and loving and serving my husband Jason and running our home together. We live about 20 min. outside of town, Rogersville, to be exact. Yes, this city girl lives in the country and loves it!! We park right up next to the house in the grass. We have a lovely burn pile, an old worn out pig farm and a garden. It's wonderful! I love having land, quiet, and no neighbors peering in the windows. Springfield is such a wholesome, safe place.. nothing like Memphis!

I also have a whole new family.. a new mom, dad, older sister, brother, a niece, a nephew, a new mimi and a pops, uncle and aunt and new cousins. Wow!! Lots of new huh? I believe the best way to catch up would be through pictures.. gotta get on that! For now.. I"m baaaaack!! I will do my very best to keep you posted... pictures to come!!!