Oh the Holidays!

Ohhhh the holidays! Where time moves at WARPED speed and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Add some crazy jetlag and a wicked cold and each day gets that much shorter. It gets harder to find the quiet time you need: Peaceful time with your Heavenly Father and slowing down to "smell the roses." It's easy for this season to be corrupted into something it was never meant to be. A time of closeness, love, joy, and thankfulness can easily be skewed into greed, discontentment, anger, and dissatisfaction. 

Think about it: This season is all about thanking God for sending his only Son, Jesus, to this earth to save us. What's even more fantastic is that God knew all along what he was doing when He sent His son as a baby born into poverty, laid in a mucky manger, and greeted by barn animals and shepards (who, in those days were crazy loners). He was wrapped in dirty clothes and was completely defenceless. Our glorious savior was placed in the most unlikely of situations so that no one could say, "God just couldn't understand what I'm going through." He knows. He lived it. That is the reason for the season: God so loved us that he gave us his only Son to be the savior of the whole world.

This is the kind of wonder I've been in constantly while in Thailand. Each child in the slums, each prostitute in the bar, each orphan, every human being there (and everywhere) is brilliantly and wonderfully loved by the great Creator of the universe.  There, it seems that the love is so much more tangible because so many have never felt real love before. As soon as you tell them how Jesus loves them, you can see it in their eyes that they have never known that kind of love and care.

I challenge everyone to try to imagine how tangible the Father's love is for His children this season. The same love is available and abundant all year round, but I challenge you to recognize it in THIS season where it's so easy to be distracted by basically everything else.

Here is the online Christmas service from my church (Overlake Christian Church). It's super short and talks a lot on what I have just discussed. Enjoy!


Home for Christmas from Overlake Christian Church on Vimeo.

Give Thanks Everyday! Especially for your Heart!

As some of you may remember, this past summer my dear friend's brother had sever heart failure and had only 10% function at one point in time. Most people don't live below 25% function, so the fact that he survived that time was purely by God's good Grace. He and his family have been through a roller-coaster of a year weighing out all the options ultimately leading to a heart transplant. Unfortunately, some things delayed him from being apart of the transplant list for a bit, but about two or three weeks ago, he got on!

Here is where it gets good: last night he and his family learned that there was a heart for him. A live and beating heart. Of course, we all know that this means that someone of similar build and age had to die for this to be possible. Its a bitter-sweet event.

The transplant went seamlessly last night and the heart began beating almost immediately in his chest. I'm sure someday he will contact the donor to thank the family for the sacrifice of their loved one so that he could live. It's the ultimate sacrifice. This makes me think about a lot of things. Where has this heart been? What has this heart accomplished? Has it loved? Did the previous owner have an appreciation for it beating in his chest like Cody and his family does?

Here is what I want to ask: how much do you appreciate your beating heart, breathing lungs, and thinking brain everyday? The fact that you have use of your hands, feet, arms, legs, and eyes is a blessing. How much do you thank God for your simple existence everyday? We are in a season of "WANT! WANT! WANT!" when it should be about giving to those in need.

I know Thanksgiving is over, but be sure to take some time to say thanks for the little things. Show the people you love you appreciate them. Thank God for every blessing because none of us DESERVE anything but death. God paved the way to life for us by bringing Jesus to earth as a little baby. Give thanks and praise for the good gifts that God loves to give.

I am so thankful these days :)  God is SOOO good!

Feeling SOOO Overwhelmingly Blessed!

I made I home safely to Seattle and was greeted warmly by my dear friend, Raquel (with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced latte in hand). One of our greatest friends (shout out to Andrea and Justin) is getting married TODAY so we went to see them on their last night as single people. As we were driving, I reflected on what a blessing it is that God made such a home for me here. For all intensive purposes, I have no family here and the reason I came in the first place four and a half years ago was because God said, "Go."

I moved here knowing no one. I didn't know where God was going to lead me and what the next steps were, but I felt immense peace about simply being here. I didn't know how to be alone and certainly didn't known how to be self-sufficient. I didn't know what God was preparing me for, but I knew I was on my way. When I think about it, moving from San Diego to Seattle was my first real act of complete obedience.

The first two years were a challenge, mainly because I tested my will over God's (trust me, I paid for it dearly). It took me two years before I found friends worth having. It was such a lonely time, but God knew what he was preparing me for, and it was good! This is precisely why that reflection back was so affirming. God has been so faithful to me!

God had made me a home here like nowhere else. It isn't home because I've always been here. It isn't home because I went to college here. It isn't home because I wanted to make it my home apart from God. It is my home because of the profoundly fantastic relationships that God has placed in my life. He has wooed me here with his lush greenery, majestic mountains, beautiful lakes, and a playground of His glorious creation. He has written a love-story here with every glorious mountain peak, quiet stream, peaceful green pasture, majestic creature, and sunset.

Really, it's funny that God has wooed me to this place because before this, I was a Southern California girl through and through. I didn't own close-toed shoes, always had a tan, surfed, skated, and I didn't own a rain coat. I didn't know what an ice scraper was, why someone would need chains for a car, how to dress in layers, or how to drive in the snow (the last part remains debatable). God is hysterical! He took me out of my element to make me into a woman after His own heart... the woman He created me to be.

Really, all of those things aren't what really make this place home for me. It's the wonderful blessing upon the relationships that I have here that are so breathtaking. I have a family here that is carefully crafted out of deep and meaningful relationships. Relationships that are sacrificial and satisfying at the same time. I have a spiritual support system that is so strong in the "most unchurched city in America." My friends think of me and pray for me often. Without these wonderful people, I wouldn't be able to financially be able to go to Thailand. I have a church that believes in living DANGEROUSLY for Christ, loving God, serving His people, and serving His creation with all our hearts and soul. I am SO blessed!

Friends, you have blessed me tremendously. You have been a significant part in God's love story to me, and that is such a beautiful thing. Thank you for loving me like you do. You help me be a better person. I love you with all my heart!

It feels good to be home :)