Love

A few hours ago I had the pleasure of watching my beautiful, amazing cousin marry the man of her dreams. In celebration of their love I wanted to post one of the most famous passages in the Bible on love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

His Hand

Think about this for a moment. How many times in your life has God been working and you didn't even know it?

Think back and view your life from someone else's perspective. How many times did a life changing moment happen in a way that can only be explained by the hand of God? How many times were you protected from a situation in a totally supernatural way? How often have you said something or had someone say something to you that was just so perfect it could only have been prompted by the Holy Spirit?

Okay let me back up and see if I can explain this a little better.

When I was twelve, actually on my twelfth birthday my parents were taking me to the Oregon Coast to spend some time with family. On the spur of the moment they decided to take a side trip to see where my Granddad had grown up. Driving through the town we saw a store for sale and they joked about how funny it would be if we bought it, changed our whole lives, moved four teenagers (well three and an almost teenager) and all of our animals to another state, six hours away!
Flash forward four months and God had lined everything up perfectly and we began the process of moving and starting a whole new, crazy chapter in our lives.
It was hard at first but we adjusted and it ended up being a great blessing in our lives.

Here's another example. The other day I was talking to a friend and she said something that was the perfect encouragement for the moment, when I thanked her for it she said, "I have no idea where that came from".
But I did, I know that her words came straight from the Holy Spirit to encourage me at just the right moment.

So many times in both small ways and huge ways I can look back and see God's hand at work in my life and I bet if you thought about it you'd be able to see Him working in your life too.

Celebrating People

Earlier this week was my big brother's birthday (well one of three big brother's actually) and then in a few days is his wife's birthday, after that my sister's birthday and so on all through the summer, with our birthday marathon ending in September with my mom's birthday.

Remember when you were a kid and birthday's were so exciting? You planned out your party, decided on cake, invited all your friends and maybe had a piñata to bash. Then you started to get older and things changed. Maybe you stopped having parties and just went to hang out with your friends, or have a quiet dinner with your family. Then a little more time goes by and, like so may people, you stopped celebrating your birthday. After all it's just another day right? But is it?

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I talked about enjoying the little moments? Cherishing those precious times even when it means you're up in the middle of the night with a little one. Will this goes along those lines.

Instead of dreading your birthday because it means you're another day older, celebrate it! Celebrate that God has gotten you through another year, celebrate that He has given you a chance to make the next year wonderful by glorifying God!

And if you're celebrating someone else's birthday then take time to celebrate them, to thank God that they're in your life and even to pray for them.

One of the things I'm learning is to pray through Scripture. So on my brother's birthday when I had my devotional time, I prayed for my brother as I read through Psalms 119. I used those verses as prayers for him.

Celebrate the people in your life, celebrate the life God has given you and use this time and whatever time He gives you to make a difference for Him.

God's Gifts

Recently I started attending a Bible study with a few friends and this week as I met with one of my dear friends before study I was telling her about my week. As I told her of the events I began to realize how clearly God has been working in my life this week.

An opportunity that on the surface was great but wasn't in God's timing and when I turned it down I knew I'd taken a step forward on learning to trust God and measure my success by His standards.

A burden to call a friend that I hadn't talked to in a while, instead I called someone else and when I got that person's voicemail I did what God was impressing on me to do and had a great opportunity to pray for my loved one.

A phone call talking to a friend and the perfect timing of getting off work so I could be there for her when she needed to share her struggles with me.

God's words of encouragement right when people needed to hear them.

Affirmation and encouragement for me right when I needed it.

It's been a great week to see God working in my life and I'm so grateful because weeks like this are like a remembrance memorial for me. These weeks are what get me through those weeks I feel alone; on those weeks I can look back and see God's hand in my life and know that He has never abandoned me and He never will.