6 girls, one bathroom, 500 spiders

Day 2- Cambodia 

All of my roommates are undeniably cool.  Most of the foreigner students are 19-21 yrs old, and the other girl here is 26 like me.  I feel a bit childish at times compared to everyone, due to a mixture of my awkward joviality with overly animated expressions, but even in that I must lay down daily myself and take in Christ's likeness.  It's about 5am, breaky starts at 7, but I still have indigestion from yesterday.  After 4 hours of the bumpiest bus ride from siem reap to Battambang my body is still adjusting to the differences in time, weather, food and water.  Not to mention I've had an unceasing wave of lower abdominal cramps from that time of the month.  All this in mind I am still not convinced this is the hard part of my being here.  

Day 3, 4, 5

We start our program tomorrow.  I have a massive headache, 12 bug bites, dirt everywhere, stomach pains, a gash on my knee and so much fear...but God is with me.  I know I'm in His hands, and that brings me immense comfort.  We bought bikes yesterday, I got a red one.  Ok so I can't write much more bc I'm getting nauseous, but if you're reading this please keep me in prayer.  

Au revoir ....or more appropriately: chum reap lee!

J

First night in Cambodia, no bugs..yet.

Well for all who are curious, my hotel in siem reap does provide toilet paper along with the customary spray hose (have not tried it yet, but I'm sure I'll come around).  God is good, haha.

It's 5:11am, and I am scheduled to meet my staff in the lobby (aka the front door, haha) in about an hour and a half.  After about 10 minutes of trying to see if the shower would kindly turn warm, knob turning this way and that, I dropped a pretty steep level of comfort and let the icy stream sting my entire body from head to toe.  After the first few seconds it was hardly even noticeable.  All that fuss for nothing.  Sigh.  Once more I see how fragile I am in every sense; physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, logically, irrationally, and all the other -ly's.  By faith alone can I be brave, and by faith along I will bear fruit here in Cambodia.

I don't really know what to expect, so I'm expecting the unexpected.  Most of my team are families and most that are my age are women (daughters).  I still don't know if this is exactly where God was leading me, but if not I pray that I be shown grace and more grace to still be used and taught with this experience.  I know that there will be so many obstacles to my growth here (big bugs and their bites, cold showers in the early mornings, big bugs as meals, no toilet paper, humidity, did I mention bugs? Haha just to name a few), and so I pray that as I begin to peel off those things I consider mine (comfort, food, clothes, air, water, health, etc) I will replace it with an utterly naked surrender to Christ my Lord to supply all my needs the way He sees fit and not my way.  I pray to know Jesus and form a deep and serious relationship with Him, trusting Him with my very life, and walking into any situation with the confidence that my God is for me and with me so there's nothing to fear.

May the God of peace and joy fill your hearts on this day, all glory be to God, amen! 

Jamie 

Rest in the storm

Do we all, at one point, discover the deep depravity and desperation within us and then continue to see evidence of it throughout our lives once we discover just how much we need Christ?  Or does it become less evident after we surrender to Him our daily desires, our guilt, and even our sins?  I find it difficult to be ok with all that is in me in my darkest moments...so much so I wonder if I am even a Christian.  Or if I am, if my heart is almost there...the motive trying and trying to become right, what more could I do to help myself even more?  I guess my question is what must I do after Christ has given me the power to do something?  The answer is work hard, because although He has saved me, that I am no longer condemned, I will be a wiser steward to walk in ways that lead to obedience and a dying to myself.  That means working hard to do those things that are constantly in conflict with my body.  How much, though, can I do?  If in Christ I can do all, then I am beginning to think I may not be in Christ, and if not I am depraved and desperate to be in Christ.  So much fear...

When there is little I can do to change my circumstances or my "feelings/mood" I always reach for the illusion that sin will remedy things.  That's a lie, and it's rooted in fear, fear that makes sin my master.  Sin is not my master, and in Christ I am set free from such enslavement.  Though right now it feels hard to believe I will be still, and know that Jesus loves me, saved me, and that He is my Lord and Savior.  

I used to want to be a cream puff

We all have our ideas about everything, who God is, who we are, who they are, and even who we are not that are surprisingly incorrect upon closer inspection (usually).  We view things from a perspective of personal distance, meaning that we hardly find it necessary/comfortable/desiring to step out of ourselves and examine closely the tiny molecules of our characteristics.  For in such close inspection we see what we think is unimportant since it is so small, things like smirking, twitching, or yawning.  Even a slight veer of attention that reaps forgetfulness can resound significantly under the microscope.  My point is that we have only such a capacity to hold up and present to ourselves the "me" or "God" or "them" or "it", and that's not to discredit the means by which we reach such definitions.  We may read books, observe situations and people, think analytically and objectively, research and teach subjects (since teaching is a form of learning), play devil's advocate for opposing ideas, learn mathematics, science, astrology, psychology, exercise, hibernate, take medications, and earnestly seek out the truth.  We may do all or one of these things to formulate what we believe is true, but does that make it true?  Certainly not.  Logically speaking, truth is an absolute, one can not will water to be wood no matter how strongly the will to think in such a way is or becomes.  A better example, closer to home, would be that you may say the murderer is bad because they killed a man for his money, but upon closer inspection, what is bad about murder?  Is murder bad because a life is stolen?  Is murder bad because that person no longer exists in this world?  If so, then you would side on the idea that life is precious.  What you are trying to protect is this idea that life is precious.  So the murderer is bad because he defiles your idea by stealing a life that is not his.  Therefore we punish the man who breaks our rules that protect the precious life.  Consider now a mother and her child.  To her the child is more precious than life.  She has her rules as well for protecting the precious child.  Her child is dying from leukemia and requires extensive medical attention to prolong life, even if just for a few more months.  The mother has an idea that, to her, is so vehemently correct, the idea that her child is precious, more precious than her life, and subsequently (though not obviously aware of its being) even more precious than the life of the rich person she will murder in order to follow the rules that protect her precious child.  You may think now that I'm beginning to sound foolish or ludicrous.  And that is my point, I am foolish and ludicrous.  We all have our ideas and our perspectives, built up by whatever resources we get our hands on (for me those are books, people- both old and young, experienced and naive), but how much do we really know if each of us is trying to protect something that we think is precious, be that life, a child, our status, our credibility, our beauty, etc.  We then become colliding molecules raising pressure in our lives, as we clash and bounce from or to one idea to the next.  Now, there is a seemingly enlightening idea that pushes its way out of the cylinder and beyond our clashing puffed up ideas, and that is to have hope that there is something, someone that is there outside of the cylinder, seeing things from an infinite perspective where nothing clashes.  That hope is God.  Before you start dismissing God as a silly idea for weak minds, I ask you to define a weak mind.  By all definitions, I have a weak mind.  Sometimes I think strange things that don't make sense, I want things that are bad for me, I avoid things that are good for me, I get confused and unsure about very intricate issues such as ethics and philosophy, so to me, my mind on its own is weak; weak in that I need a stronger source to confirm things or teach me things that I could not do for myself.  God's word teaches me how to live, and how to see things more clearly from a perspective outside of myself.  This opens my mind up by miles.

       I want to live a life that is good and meaningful, but I can't seem to do that on my own accord because I'm pretty lazy and selfish, so perhaps I need some help....or lots of help.



       Historically speaking our ideas about right and wrong, good and bad have shifted and continue to move with abstract viscosity.  At one time we thought a king had every right to dispose of a man regardless of his reasons, because we had the idea that royalty was precious and our rules for protecting that outweighed our current idea that life is more precious than mere royalty or status. 100 years down the line we may find that life is more precious than one man's rash decision or dictatorship.  Point being, humans are fickle.

       All that to say, I recognize that what I wrote earlier could very well be flawed in more ways than one...maybe all of it is erroneous.  However, I do know that I could be wrong, and that I need God to help me see things more rightly.  

       When I was a child, I thought like a child, walked like a child, acted like a child, and said that I wanted to be a mermaid or a cream puff when I got "older".  I wanted that with every fiber in my being, thinking I was certain that, First off, it was possible, Secondly, that it was a respectable goal, and Thirdly, that I'd be happy as either.  Shall I emphasize my point even more?  haha.  If God has been around since AD 500, even if God has been around since 1892, He's still got so much more experience about things than I do.  I am still just a "child" if I view my position by God.  My desire to want to be a writer or my desire for health or even for all the hungry people in the world to be fed may not make the most sense in a view much wiser than mine.  Perhaps, PERHAPS (don't jump to conclusions when I say this, or be quick to judge what I say prefaced by a PERHAPS), but perhaps suffering in varying degrees gives some people the capacity to have what everyone in life wants at the end, a life of love and goodness and meaning.  If everyone got everything they wanted, health, wealth, and admiration or (insert current desire here), would that be enough?  Would that mean life was fulfilled?  Or do we not witness countless suicides by the very people who have what we spend so much of our lives trying to grab?  I don't know, I'm using one example, but there are so many things we avoid thinking about because it's convenient or easier for us.  We don't want to think that having very little makes us more grateful for things, or that being in tremendous pain allows us to feel tremendously loved when a friend is there to hold us, and so much more.  

       I am aware that even what I am writing could be false, and if you debated with me, I might try to defend my stance, not because I'm so sure that I'm right, but because I don't want you to make me feel inferior.  However, I'm not sure about a lot of things, and I am trying to learn how to listen without fear of inferiority, to love fearlessly, trust fearlessly, live my life fearlessly.  I used to want to be a cream puff, then I wanted to be a writer, and now I know that I don't know what I want, so I'm going to empty myself to be filled with God.

God's Word is a guideline for living, read it and see for yourself if life becomes more when you live by those guidelines.  Otherwise, keep living the way you're living if that's enough for you.

J

Peering into the well

I just returned from a brief week long trip to Beijing and Seoul where I got to spend consecutive days with my parents.  The time I spent with them showed me once again how little control we, as mere humans, have over others and even over ourselves apart from what our spirit enables us with.  In other words, without the spirit we are ravenous pigs trying to grab what we want when we want it and we want it constantly.  That want can be comfort, love, attention, recognition, affirmation, jealousy, admiration, confirmation, and perhaps for some that want can be anger or frustration, worry and doubt.  I fall into it like one upon looking down a deep well, I fall by example and by speculation.  Both land me in a puddle of despair from which I cry out for the only one who has the capacity to save me.  My mother and father may try to, my friends may make attempts, skilled professionals with ropes and ladders may give their all, but the big promlem is not that I am at the bottom of the well, but that upon being retrieved I always fall back in.  So, it is a repetitive, daily, hourly, secondly reliance on having a Savior who at at given moment will kindly have mercy upon me and retrieve me from the depths of the well again and again without hesitation or frustration.  Such a Savior has all my love, and when my love fails me or falls apart in a sea of entitlement, forgetfulness, vanity, or laziness, the well reminds me that I am saved by grace and not by my love.  Nothing I do, whether good or bad, will change my Savior's mind in saving me again and again, but for this reason I desire to fall less into the well, for perhaps what I am seeking down there was my Savior's attention.  However, if depravity is how He saves me, than joy in abundance must be where He desires me.  If I love His saving grace, how unfathomably will I be immersed in ecstasy when I feel his gladness in me!  Therefore, there is no more condemnation in me, but a hope that firms itself as I take steps away from the well and into Christ Jesus.  Looking up rather than down.  

I got a little carried away (as usual) with that analogy, but the time I spent observing my parents and their treatment of one another has just showed me that what we need, what I need, is not a good husband or obedient children or the affirmation that I will be a good mother, but it is simply that I need Jesus.  The more I see things the more I see how broken things are and that all along I was not alone in the brokenness, which made it all the more clear to me.  My parents are broken, they have a beautiful and strong marriage but it is not their security.  In fact, both of them probably fight their natural inclination to peer down the wells of their hearts, to want to grab from the other person what they feel belongs to them (ie: comfort, love, affirmation, admiration, etc) but the durability lies not in those things (though those are often products of their sacrifice of those very things), the strength of their marriage, to me, is found only in Jesus, through Jesus, all because of Jesus.  It may sound absurd to most people, the things I just wrote, but to me it could not be more clear.  I am broken and prone to wreck myself and the people around me, but when I love through Jesus, live through Jesus, speak through Jesus, respond through Jesus, forgive through Jesus, even make jokes through Jesus (as some jokes are sugar coated ways of being condescending) do all things through Jesus, then and only then will good things like joy come forth back to me.  As I live through Jesus it also becomes evident that there is nothing that can stand to threaten me, neither life nor death, for both belong in authority of Jesus.  

On the way back home from the airport a sister in Christ said to me that I reminded her of a girl named Katie Davis.  Katie is 21 years old and lives in Uganda fighting to adopt and save girls from poverty and loneliness.  She is from Nashville, tn and pretty much gave up her comfortable life, boyfriend, and any sort of American dream to live in a place all alone serving God by serving people.  She is nothing like me.  Yet I must have gave off some illusion of that, and if so I need to make it clear that there is nothing good in me aside from Jesus.  I can bet almost everything that there is also probably nothing good in Katie Davis apart from the grace and goodness God gave her to have such a heart and capacity to do what she is doing now.  So in that sense we may be alike, though in that same sense I am also like Hitler, a New York socialite, and the drunk guy at the bar. 

What we all share is that we all need Jesus lest we fall into our wells of despair.

Thank You Jesus for saving me again and again so that I could have the mind and hope to do Your good works.

J

Quick update.

       November 25, one month before Christmas, is everyone's overly excited attempt at milking the holidays for all it's worth.  Red cup sleeves, cheerful slogans, the color RED and sometimes green, sparkles, lights, happy music, and the crazy hands of spenders reaching in front of the crazy eyes of sellers.  I was watching something online the other day, and a commercial about the keurig (coffee maker) came on.  I was in another world, it felt like.  I was watching this commercial feeling really sad and acutely aware of just how comfortable and easy I have it in life.  Strange how the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" rings so true in my life.  I have written before about the misery that creeps up on me when I begin to feel the meaninglessness of my life on days where nothing productive or beneficial gets done.  So most days.  I can distract myself with things like movies, drinks, lunch dates, dinner parties, books, and even writing...but the root of my happiness always seems to lie outside of myself.  Distractions just blind my mind to the ever deep and gnawing desire in me to work for something meaningful.  Work can be a distraction as well.  Anything that focuses on pleasing myself (and only myself, for the most part) is an effective distraction, however, I can find meaning in almost anything when I shift that focus from me to the people around me.  This, however, takes great and repetitive and mindful effort, and I'm quite lazy when it comes to jogging psychologically.  I'm trying out something new now.  I have decided to put myself in situations where control over selfishness is weakened, and selflessness takes on a stronger contingency.  For example, the factors that I take into consideration are the people around me, my environment, and money.  I must put myself with people who I don't know very well (so as not to disappoint them...using a bad habit in a beneficial way) and they should also be people who aim for the same kind of selflessness (so as to give an air of competition, another bad habit of mine strained for better purposes).  My environment should be somewhat difficult so as to increase my efforts for trying to remain comfortable (again, another bad habit of mine reused for an effortful pull towards work).  By comfortable I merely mean that I must need to NEED.  And that needing will only be met by God, because the environment will call for such a strength as I do not possess myself.  My environment should also constrain my control over how I use my time.  In other words there must be some sort of structured schedule that I am to follow, because if I am in control of my time I will likely let the time waste away doing something that is really nothing.  Money.  I must have used money to provide myself with the above...to fuel my natural inclination toward greediness that says I should get my money's worth.  haha.  So pretty much, I am manipulating my bad habits to form good things.  Is that not genius?  And no, I am not joining a cult.  haha.  I'm going to a third world country with a team and we will be serving that area.  I'll be with people I don't know, but who are volunteering to serve, in an environment that will be culturally, climatically, and provisionally difficult, and I'll be paying good money to fly there and also for room and board.  I need them, the people I will be "serving", to serve me by allowing me to serve them.  This is my idea on trial.


       Sorry, I'm so lazy right now I can't even edit this let alone write with some sort of fluidity.  It's a stream of my maddening consciousness.  This is probably why I am not a writer...yet.

cheers,
J

Do's and don'ts

Do your good deeds in secret.

(Matthew 6)

Don't worry.

(Philippians 4)

A Prayer

Lord,

You see me.  I ask for courage, for wisdom and for Your leading.  I am so forgetful, so worrisome, and weak.  I know You see me, and I know Your hand is upon me because every night You meet me in my biggest fears, my most awful regrets, and You wipe away every tear that falls.  I see now how far You've led me to get to this point, and it is evidence that You are molding me as clay in the potters hands.  But Lord, once again I ask for bigger faith, I ask for more strength, I ask for courage, and I confess the sins of today and ask for Your forgiveness.  Thank You for Your grace.  Thank You for speaking words of Life into me, and for lighting every dark thought in my mind.  You see me, and I ask for perseverance.  I know I'm asking for a lot, but I know You have a lot :)  Thank You Jesus for Your comfort, please comfort my friends who are hurting and reach them where they are.  You use our weaknesses to bring You glory, use my weaknesses for Your glory.  Help me to trust in You completely, with everything.  I am here now, and You see me.  You see me.  I am not afraid.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

Really Real

       What do you really think.  If you woke up, stretched out your sleeping muscles and allowed the flow of energy to surge through you as you yawned to an early morning, would that suffice?  After you rubbed the tired from your eyes, sauntered to the bathroom and washed up with the sunlight trickling in and the birds singing conversationally outside the partially open window.  You'd make your soft steps over to the kitchen, turn on the coffee pot and grab a few freshly washed and cut fruits from the fridge as you sat down to read the bible with coffee in hand.  Isn't it lovely, you'd say to yourself.  Isn't loving God so glorious, you'd think as you finished the deliciously juicy grapes and pears. Then you'd pray, rinse your coffee mug out, and pull back your hair into a neat ponytail (or if you're me, a high knotted bun).  You'd quickly change into your gym clothes, lace up your sneakers, grab your iPod and put on something upbeat and inspiring as you ran through the park, winds cascading over your face.  An hour or so would fly by, and your heart would be racing, face glowing, and steps determined.  As you walked back into the house your phone would ring, a dear friend on the other line would be calling to get coffee and/or lunch and talk about Jesus.  You'd set up a time, say bye, and hop in the shower.  Now you're singing, because the acoustics in your bathroom are amazing, you feel like you've got a band behind you (or not, since you're naked).  As you got dressed and ready, clothes just right, make-up to a minimal amount but bright, and hair all full and shiny, you'd check the time.  10 minutes left to spare, so you'd wash up the dishes, make your bed, tidy the house (of course there wouldn't be much to clean since you always keep it in good order), and grab your purse and keys and head out the door to a productive day loving Jesus.  Type A? Maybe.  

       Reality check.  Most days you feel wretched when it's too early and you hardly got enough rest.  The bathroom is occupied, you don't own a coffee pot (but you do have instant coffee), and there's major construction work going on right outside your window) which is why you were hardly able to sleep.  The fruit you washed has browned around the edges, but you eat it anyway because the strainer you use to wash fruit is in the dirty dishes pile.  You down your coffee, get into the shower, and quickly do your best to look presentable as you rush out the door still hungry, but very late for work.  On your way to work you realize you forgot your purse, all you have are your keys.  Dilemma.  Do you turn around and risk your employer getting upset, or worse, disappointed in you? Or do you just go, without money, phone, or even your drivers license and hope that you don't get caught speeding, which of course you are because now you really don't want to be late.  Sirens.  Of course.  You make your eyes water hoping the cop will show some pity, but to no avail.  Now you're so late you may as well make up some crap and call in sick, which would be a lie, and lies make you feel terribly guilt-ridden.  You're a hot mess.  Let's just throw in that you're bloated from last nights dinner, and you've got a toothache, which of course brings to mind more money that you don't have needed on getting that checked.  Along with your speeding ticket.  Breathe.  Life gets difficult.  No doubt about that.  

       Real reality check.  The bed you felt so wretched waking up in is a luxury.  There are countless adults, children and people your age that have to sleep on dirty floor or beds that carry all kinds of diseases and bugs.  The fruit you ate is a kings breakfast to a number of families who don't even get to eat, but oftentimes have to watch the faces of their children shrink and become malnourished.  There are millions of people who don't have access to clean water, let alone a single shower with actual soap.  The car you sped to work, that's a rich mans way of transportation.  The ticket you got?  You're fortunate to have police around to keep things in semi-order, saying that the justice system in most other countries (including ours) is corrupted would be an understatement.  You sped, you got what you deserved so your cop is actually a good one.  Bloated?  Toothache?  Please.  People are literally suffering all around you, whether by diseases threatening their very lives or by the incriminating environments they are exposed to.  I did a one minute glance at the bbc world news website and found these articles.

Gang rape in Kenya 

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24755318

92 bodies (mostly children) found of migrants trying to cross the Sahara

"They are basically economic migrants. They are in search of work. They are so impoverished that they have to make these hazardous journeys,"

Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and frequently suffers from drought and food crises.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24753100

(10 year old boy shoots neo nazi dad and is sentenced to 7-10 years of prison)

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24767061

I mean, come on.  Is this for real?  It sure doesn't feel real, it's just a website, it's just the news, it's so far removed from where we live, it could be fake.  Or it could be real, as we all know it is.  Real as in there are real devastations going on in the world, but your toothache and browned fruits oddly and hauntingly take precedence and make you feel.....entitled to something better.  Something like perfection.  I mean, I just think it's ridiculous how so many of us live like we deserve better.  It's making me nauseous.  I just don't want my life to get wasted on living for myself, because that seems so small and insignificant.  I want to be grateful for everything, and in turn share what God gives me with others.  I want to see a need and fill it instead of allowing the little things in my life upset me.  Ain't nobody got time for dat! 

We all have our convictions, this is just one that's been on my mind lately....and the more I read what Christ did and taught the louder mine gets. 

-j

A Good Tree

this is Katie

       Ever since I've moved to Nashville, I've found that there have been so many little lessons I've learned that have changed me in a big way.  Katie is one of those people that I have met who have really helped me continue walking the road less traveled (a rare attribute among friends).  Hearing me out on the little things, and offering her pearls of insight where I may have been blind-sighted.  I remember being in jr. high and praying to God that he would send me at least one friend whom I could lean on in times of need and struggle, if you know me you know that I went through a horrible experience in the seventh grade.  An experience of rejection, embarrassment, harassment, bullying, and even threatening phone calls from the gangster kids. haha.  The gangster kids who were actually just other korean kids like me, lived in frilly homes and watched Saved by the Bell like me.  It all sounds ridiculous now, but at the time it was all about your reputation, outside of your comfortable home.  School was a world of its own.  Today, those experiences have led me to some of the best people with whom I am daily encouraged by and filled with trust in to protect me.  Not only has Christ answered my prayer, but I have multiple friends who I know I need in order to continue walking on the road toward Heaven.  Their words, their affirmations of love are all guiding lights that help me take each step.  Katie is definitely a fellow light that does not stay hidden under a box, but she shines forth and her light sheds on the path I'm on.

       Every week or so, I text and ask Katie if she wants to get coffee with me.  I plan 7am coffee dates with her at the Starbucks between both our houses.  We do 7am, because Katie has work at 9am and her evenings are spent with nourishing her relationship with her husband and her ministry.  She's a leader at the church we attend, and I first met her when I showed up at one of her home group meetings, which her and her husband hold every other wednesday at their home.  They are amazing.  However, the most incredible part of all of this is the way my relationship with Katie has bloomed.  I never expected to become so close with her, but God knew I needed her.  I guess what I'm trying to say in this post is simply that I am thankful that God knew and blessed me with something I had no idea would be so crucial for me.  The people we surround ourselves with are a huge influence over the people we become through the decisions we make.  You may think that the person you spend so much time with isn't going to affect who you are, especially if that person is a bad influence, or does things you find less than appealing, but sooner or later it'll creep up on you like a dandelion's seed floating up in the air and gently finding a spot on your shoulder.  You don't feel it, you may not even see it, but it's there.  You've got something that wasn't there on you now, and although this metaphor is lame, since one can argue that a mere brush off the shoulder would do the trick, it's as subtle as a dandelion, but as deadly as shrapnel embedded in the flesh.  The point being, it's not obvious, it's gradual and oftentimes unsuspecting.

       However, the same goes for when you surround yourself with people who illuminate the things you strive to work towards.  Things like patience, love, thankfulness, and all those pretty words.  We become susceptible to good things when we surround ourselves with good people, because good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit.  Katie is a good tree, and her friendship has produced such a beautiful fruit in my life.  I need more good trees in my life, trees that let the light shine on me, provide shade when I am weary and good fruit for when I am hungry.  So how do you find good trees in life?  The answer is simple.  Become sought after.  Become a good tree, hang out with the good trees long enough for you to become one.  Sometimes it will take a lot of effort on your part to stay and spend time with someone who produces good fruit, or maybe those good trees will just come to you out of their goodness, either way, find a good tree and plant yourself near them until you see the fruit of your own tree begin bearing, then the good trees start flocking to you.

       Okay, I have to add and clarify that Jesus is the goodest tree of them all (yes, goodest- haha) and He is who we attain to be like.  Our fruit represents His glory, and we flourish when we give Him everything we are with what we produce.

-J

When it feels like death

It just occurred to me that the moment I begin to let go of control and to trust in God, I had previously described it as feeling like death or that I was going to die, and I realize it's not just a feeling.  Surrender is a death.  

Philippians 1:21

21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

It feels like death, because it is death.  A spiritual death.  But I believe in Jesus whom Death could not hold down.  Perhaps dying is just another step, like tithing and giving food to the hungry, that we do because Christ did it.  His death was literal, but so was His resurrection.  Be it spiritual or physical death, If what you feel in the moment of surrender resonates a kind of death, then I'd say you were on the right track.  

The War is Now

I'm reading "Anything" by Jennie Allen and she writes:

"It should not surprise us if life is hard, especially if we love Jesus.  We are at war-- not in heaven.  And yet it always does surprise us."

I keep finding myself at the front of the battle, seeing the opposition, and cowering back into fear, forgetting that I fight on the side of the Almoghty God.  I keep thinking God is more like a magical genie, or someone to smooth out all the rocky parts in my path so I can clearly step into the place He is leading me, but what if I'm going about this all wrong?  What if it isn't always so black and white, but it's a weed-whacking process to get to where God tells me to go?  Why do I think everything must fall into place for it to be from God?  That sounds so reversed to Matthew 7:14 

"14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Only a few find it.  That seems to mean that obedience to God is something we do with great effort and sacrifice.  It's not just some open door, (although it might be for you) I'm not going to say my convictions have to be your convictions in terms of how God is leading us, since we each have our purposes and unique functions, but I feel compelled that my idea of Gods "voice" has been wrong for quite some time.  And I'm still not quite sure, but I'm certain that the difficulty I feel inside of me when I face the opposition (to my obedience to Christ at a precise moment, usually in the night) is there because this is War, and so long as I am on this earth I can only choose one of two sides.  If I'm not on the side of Light then I am on the side of darkness.  

I can't keep expecting God to make my life easy, but I do.  I expect him to give me a writing career, an amazing husband, 4 kids, the ability to cook, and the motivation to exercise.  Ha.  It's crazy to write that and see how self-glorifying that is.  That's probably why God has not given me those things up until this point; perhaps His love is in showing me that the only thing that matters is that I learn to give Him all the glory first, and with that as the fulcrum I could glean the most pleasure from any blessing He could give me.  

But this is war, and wars are never easy. 

However...

Genesis 50:20 reminds me that

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."

-J

What if...

I wanted perfection.

I spend so much time, concern, and pride in accumulating and grasping at perfection, and it took me several failed attempts, to recognize that the more I tried to attain perfection in the worldly sense the more I began to decay, fail, and lose my grip on good opportunities.  I was a sinking ship, with nothing but bubbling anxiety to show for as I sank further down.  I need to change, I kept thinking.  I can't keep doing this, this futile straining with destruction on the horizon.  If anything, I also hoped that'd I be shown grace enough to change before a major calamity.  I am at least wise enough to know that I'm not invincible, and the longer I pretended to be the more I put myself in harms way.  It would only be a matter of time, and I don't want to sit around waiting for a bad thing.  

To let go of the one and only thing I presume to have a hand in...that being myself, and let God mold me is a scary and joyful thought.

What if I fail?

What if I die?

What if nobody loves me?

What if I am not really one of His?

What if I never get passed this?

What if I lose everything?

What if I am swallowed up by suffering?

What if I never find happiness?

What if it just gets worse?

Or conversely...

What if I taste and get real freedom?

What if letting go was when I was able to be loved? 

What if I do great things with meaning?

What if I get Heaven?

What if I touch and help bring lost lives to Jesus?

What if I can love others better?

What if everything is provided for by God?

Then as I thought more about actually risking it and letting go....

What if I have to start over?

What if my friends stop admiring me?

What if people make fun of me?

What if it takes me years before I taste this freedom? (40 years in the desert sounds really long)

What if I make a ton of wrong moves the first few times because of my inability to truly hear from God?

What if I fail.

What if....

What if....

Before I even thought about what exactly it would be that God would call me to do, I had to be certain that I would be willing to do that.  This means understanding just what exactly "letting go" means.  The fears I would be facing, the sufferings I would be enduring, but most of all the free fall.  That panicky moment when you realize that everything you're afraid of happening might just actually happen, but you jump anyway.  You jump because it just has to be better than than where you are now.  

These are the thoughts I'm beginning to untangle around my imperfect heart, so that I can have it ready to be taken out and completely swapped for a new heart. 

I want to help people fully see Jesus, but I have to see Him fully myself before I can help others to do so. 

I will share about what I read in the bible later as well.  It's always pertinent to hold your convictions to the standard of God's Word. 

-J

Having nice hair

The other day I went to Calypso (a hippie-esque Caribbean style fast food joint), one of my favorite places to eat, and as the girl was ringing up my order to-go she looked at me very thoughtfully and paused and then said, "I really like your hair, it's so pretty."  That's not the first time I had heard someone say that, in fact because I heard it so often I took quite some time and pride in styling my hair before going out.  My hair did look great, even on days where I just effortlessly let it air dry straight from the shower.  But most of the time, I MADE sure it looked great, I waved it and put Moroccan oil on it for that matted silky shine, and kept it smelling like sweet vanilla spices (my favorite scent).  My hair along with my teeth, my stomach, and my skin were all very well maintained with a routine.  A rigid routine that said "ok God, I'm ready to give you everything and do whatever you tell me to, so long as it doesn't interfere with me having nice hair."  Ridiculous, I know.   But that's essentially what my actions were saying. I wanted to follow Christ, to take up my cross, and bleed the way He bled for me, all the while maintaining my beautiful mane.  

       Horses are one of the most magical creatures I have ever seen and touched.  They have a wild essence about them that stirs a childlike wonder in me.  I see their eyes and it's like they are staring into me, past my hair and teeth and stomach and skin and right into the beating, hurting heart of mine that desires freedom.  Horses seem like they understand freedom, though the ones I've come across are fenced in, they still carry an air of carelessness about them that drives me to joy when I see one.  They are the epitome of beautiful, effortless and wondrous beauty.  They remind me that God knows what beauty is.  He created everything we find to be awe-strikingly beautiful; the waves at the end of a horizon, the embrace of two lovers at an airport, wildflowers in the hands of a child, and the bright coruscating sky of an early morning.  Do you know what's not beautiful?  Botox induced faces, disproportional lip injections, girls that are so calorie strict they become malnourished, and guys that need sex and affection from girls they don't intend to love back.  All of these end emotionally and physically ugly.   Things may appear beautiful for a while, but when the grasp for beauty lies outside the hands of Him who illustrates every beautiful masterpiece, it inevitably crumbles and turns to dust.  It is like trying to operate a very intricate machine without the manual, we press buttons we think are right when they actually lead to further complications.  Our efforts at maintaining our shiny selves shatters in our very hands because we were designed to be beautiful only in our continual pointing to the author of design.  We are like sunflowers thriving as we turn our gaze upon the Sun and receive the nourishment and enjoyment of brilliance.  

       Yet beauty is so appealing to us.  Whether it is the sight of a beautiful woman to a man, a beautiful man to a woman, a lustrous vanilla-scented mane, flawless symmetrical facial features, or washboard abs.  In essence these are not bad things to want or have, but when they wrap around our hearts as things we MUST have (and this includes anything: a career, a title, or any goal, even having children) they cross over into that which will eventually crush us. They take our gaze away from the very thing that makes us beautiful; the Son.  When a sunflower does not receive Light, it eventually withers and dies no matter how beautiful it is, it's beauty and very life DEPEND on having light (and compost and water).  However no sunflower can create their own pseudo light.  They can't produce water for themselves, and they certainly have no access to their own compost.  A sunflower requires care that is given apart from themselves.  Who better to take care of them than a person who wants to grow and harvest beautiful sunflowers?  God desires to see his children grow and bloom.  (Jeremiah 29:11- 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.) 

Isaiah 58:11

11 And the Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.

       I have struggled for so long with doubting that God desires to take care of me.  I hadn't actually viewed it like that, because the words of trust would flow out of my prayers and even in my thoughts, but my actions subtly revealed a deep rooted distrust in Him.  It wasn't until I thought about having bad hair, splotchy skin, 20 more pounds or an ugly husband that I realized I was in deep and desperate need for the Son.  I wanted to love God so long as I could avoid these things, which meant that I didn't trust that God would give me what was best for me.  I knew what was best, and if I didn't have them than God was certainly not my friend.  In fact He was my enemy if He wouldn't let me hold on to what I wanted, like a child that tells his or her mother "I hate you" when they are no longer allowed to divulge in endless amounts of candy.  We don't know what's good for us compared the One who created us and knows the stretch of eternity.  I don't know what's good for me, and trusting that God does will require me to hand him everything.  To place before Him my wants and desires, my dreams and ambitions, all if it.  To give up "having nice hair" for a beauty rooted in the hands that artfully create the very eyes that behold it.  It only makes perfect sense if you truly believe that He is real.  I don't want to serve a dead god anymore. 

Facing the Son,

-J

PMS: Pre-Mended Soul

       When that time of the month rolls around, the week before it strikes my body is a time where all the physiological reactions that fuel my thoughts are heightened.  I have this theory, (I came up with today haha) that every woman is given the gift of intuition and insight because of their cycle.  It weakens your body, and thus brings out the the real you, the broken, fearful, and vulnerable you.  The walls we use to protect ourselves and the masks we wear seem to get crumbly, and all those things we try so hard to keep contained just start leaking out through the cracks (and that is why we feel so feeble and emotional at this time).  If you hold anger or hatred then those things show (ever been around an angry woman on her period?), if you hold sorrow and pain then the tears flow at the simplest of words, or if shame and regret then the feelings of guilt are exacerbated.  Now I don't know how and when men have similar moments, but I know they experience the same emotions that must be triggered by different things.  As for my theory, I see now that even these broken moments are a blessing to thank God for.  I am grateful to be shown what's truly in my heart, as painful and overwhelming as it is to see, it brings me down from the high foggy places to the ground where I see more clearly.  To see even if just for a few days where the root of my fears are stemming from so that I can evaluate them with better clarity, pray, and give them to God, is a tremendous act of kindness on Gods part.  Sometimes it feels like those moments are the only real pockets of sincerity, in my busy body life, that I truly repent; a sobbing wreck before a loving Father.  The walls I built out of sand are blown down by the fierce winds, and the real me behind them is exposed.  I used to hate it, dreaded the days before my cycle because I knew I'd be an emotional wreck, and I would make plans to stay away from anyone so that no one would see me cry.  I had an image to protect, one that made people think I was confident, strong, and determined.  So when it came time for the winds to break me, I'd make sure I was alone.  And then I'd cry like a storm over the ocean.  Perhaps this is a silly theory, to make such a strange connection, but as I sit here on my bed the morning after a night of crying (and repenting haha) I feel so grateful.  I used to wonder what true repentance would look like, and was afraid because I thought that surely I would not be able to stop crying if I ever decided to truly repent.  How could I live like that?  The shame and guilt I had in me felt too heavy to just be thrown away, to give them to Jesus, just like that, felt too easy and undeserving.  The grace and love of such an act would crush me. But here I am, the morning after repentance, and I am lighter than yesterday, but most of all I sense in me a bubbling hope.  Hope is freeing.  Hope sets me back on the right path, dusts off my clothes and nudges me to start walking again.  So I'm walking, no longer carrying that load that weighed me down, but I know there will be more objects along the way that I will greedily try to take with me, accumulating another load, but my hope, this hope I have right now, says that Christ walks with me, and He will be the wind that breaks my stride before the load kills me.  He will not leave me or abandon me, but will do what is necessary to save me, even and especially from myself.  So whether my life appears to be going well or to be struggling under a painful load, I can be grateful.  My Jesus walks with me.  

-J

A letter to the body

Dear brother,

There is a tangible ache in my heart.  I realized that I did not truly know God, and that I can't stand to be still because it scares me.  I know God is showing Himself to me, because I long for Him despite how I also long to cling to all the idols that line my heart like countless seeds.  Each one is dug into me, and must come out until there is only pure fruit.  The thought of surrendering myself to God scares me.  I start to panic, and I feel pulled at both ends.  One end is saying that God may not deliver what I want, while the other is screaming at me to face the truth!  To see myself as I am, tied and bound to something that will eventually destroy me, how can a slave to sin taste the joys of freedom if they do not first remove the chains?  I keep trying to walk into freedom with my chains on, just in case....in case of what?  Nothing.  It is such an illogical fear, this business of real trust.  To risk the reigns of control, pay the cost of no longer being my own master, and all those tiny bursts and moments of instant gratification.  I keep thinking: what if this is as good as it will get, but deep down my spirit groans at such foolish thinking.  But here I am, once again approaching God as I truly see Him, a stranger who does not have time for a foolish girl like me, but I still ask Him to help me.  I'm desperate, even if these minutes of sincerity will only last a breath, I use the seconds to cry before Him.  Knowing my heart will harden tomorrow, I still speak laced with sorrow.  Oh that Jesus would meet me in this moment, to wipe away my tears and take away these chains for good.  I want for Him to be everything, but it is as if He is waiting for all the idols in my life to crumble and fade, and as they do, each one, feels scary, but He just keeps saying "Jamie, my beautiful and precious daughter, trust in me."

A piece of cake

There is one thing we hold on to more tightly than anything else.  That one thing is often the very thing God asks of us to let go and give to Him.  It is the one thing we try so hard to hide away so that no one will see it and make us give it up.  But God sees it, and He wants us to let it go because the longer we hold on to it, the more we hurt God and arouse his jealousy.  Whatever we feel we cannot give to God is the very thing we need to give up in order follow God.  This one thing is intense.  Clearly if we think it's something worth more than God that we can't give it up, than it's got to be the opposite of good for us.  In fact it's probably destructive to us.  Yet if we have already dug our souls fingernails into it, letting it go will feel tragic.  Letting it go will feel outrageously costly, ridiculously crazy, and insanely risky.  This one thing.  The one thing that stands between you and God.  

There is one thing I hold on to, I cling on to it with a fierceness, and will not let it leave my grip.  Or if I do let it go, it's only to set it down at a safe distance in order for me to be able to grab it again if I deem it necessary to do so.  I can not let this go, because my grip on it feels crucial to my very life. Did I count the cost?  Did I weigh the measures right?  When I said I'd love You God, did I actually know what I was really giving up?  I saw what I could gain, but I didn't realize how much I'd have to give up. I thought I could have my cake and eat it too, and then have some more because I know your resources are endless.  I didn't realize to have your cake I'd have to give up mine...this one that I baked and decorated.  How do I know Yours will taste better than mine?  What if I give You my cake only to find that I don't like Yours?  Sure, I know I'm not a great baker, everything I make usually turns out bland, and I'm aware that you created every flavor so Yours will probably taste divine, but still...how do I know for sure?  I have this one thing, this one cake, and actually I've been eating it and it's pretty nasty :(  but still, what if I give it up for Yours and I miss my old cake?  The nasty one that I don't like at all... :/. What's wrong with me? Well sometimes I like it, because I made it, and when I get really famished it kind if tastes good, but not after a couple bites.  It's got the worst aftertaste ever.  Really bitter and sour.  Lord, I want Yours.  Real good cake.  The kind that's beautiful to look at as well as amazingly delicious.  I've heard about it, I've even read up on it, in fact I know pretty much everything about it.  But still...I have mine.  What if I give up mine and never receive Yours? Then I'd be left with no cake at all!  I would starve?!  Will You let me starve?!! I am afraid, but I long for Yours everyday.  My heart races at the thought of Yours because I know so much about it, and now it's only a matter of having it.  Your cake of glory.  Sounds silly because this is a metaphor, but that is what it is.  I must give up my moldy piece of self glorification in order to walk in Your glory.  Please help me trust in You, and give me the strength to give up the one thing I have yet to yield to You.  So that I will have nothing standing in the way between You and me, Lord.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

-j

Simplicity of Heart

       That has been a recurrent reminder in my life lately.  I have these expectations of long and short term situations from relationships that begin or end to the meals I plan to eat that don't get eaten, or the places I go toward to the places I leave behind.  I have a natural inclination to want to control everything in my life, but God has continuously showed me that I have no control of anything, but rather only an illusion of it.  Control is power, and there is no other power that will rule aside from that which belongs to God.  The more I try to be my own god and control things, or hold on to expectations, the more worry and anxiety I just add to my soul since I can't truly control even my waking and sleeping.  It is unwise because the load is too heavy, and I cannot lean on myself if myself is falling.  So that leaves me with one solution, the same solution that solves every problem I ever have.  Simply this:

Acts 2: 44-47  

“Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.  So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved”

It is simple: Jesus.  The early church loved Jesus, and showed their love by living with such a simplicity of heart.  Praising God together, eating together, and giving everything to support one another for the sake of the gospel.  

Fear is difficult.  Fear adds worry before things to be worried about even happen.  Crazy!  

       So it starts with trust.  Real, raw, blindfolded trust.  The kind that makes you fall for a time long enough to let Him catch you.  Let me repeat that:  Real trust is the kind that makes you fall for a time long enough to let Him catch you.  You don't catch yourself, you don't let someone else try and catch you, but you keep falling long enough until He catches you.  The falling is scary, but the catching is glorious!  To be caught in the hands of God is like coming across the wardrobe to Narnia (I've heard this metaphor used twice in the past week so it's really stuck with me), once you have seen and been in what His glory is like you will never be the same.  It completely changes you, and rightly so.  If you stepped into a world completely contrasting to the one you were from would you not be amazed?  Especially if that world was filled with unimaginable adventure and wildly bold friends that lived passionately?  

       I relinquish my rights, and in doing so I pick up all of my responsibilities.  What does that mean? That is trust.  To let go of the idea that I have a right to anything, but rather live with the intention of living out all of my responsibilities given to me by that which I put my trust in.  When I trust in God I pick up every responsibility He gives me: every dollar, every word, every relationship, and every meal is a responsibility of mine to diligently live out for His glory and not my own.

      God's desires for us are going to be utterly creative, because His very nature is artistically intentional.  What he hands to You will likely be awesomely different from what He hands to me, but both will end in His name being glorified.  So I strive to let go of trying to control things, take up my responsibilities, and know that it will begin with the small stuff; a daily surrender as I fall fast into the hands of Him who I trust will catch me.  

Falling and still falling,

-J

WHOOO it's been a while, I know.

So,  perhaps I let myself let time slip by without writing much of my thoughts on here.  It's not that I haven't been thinking, Lord knows that would be near impossible, but that I have been accidentally expressing myself through other avenues, so writing here would feel repetitive.  I always make fun of my mother for being repetitive, so I'll justify my absence with that.

       The definition of letting go and trusting in God becomes very physically, emotionally, and mentally apparent when you find yourself in the precise moment of uncomfortableness.  For example, I have a particular way of ordering my days, and when things, especially people, disrupt that order I tend to make sure that such rudimentary order is reinstated whether or not they need to be.  Because lets face it, nobody is going to die if they don't get to go where they want to go when they want to ...(in most cases).  If you're going to nit-pick at the meaning of that and argue about hospitalizations or abductions, go right ahead.  For everyone else who gets my point, let me continue by saying that I had the most awful headache (migraine?) today after my early morning bible study.  I had made plans, which by the way give me heaps of anxiety, with a very dear friend of mine after the study.  I tend to steer away from plan, but find them necessary as well in order to keep my anxieties at bay.  However, I am learning that regardless of my plans, anxiety itself must be done away with at it's root.  So, whether I  make plans or not, I am relying on God to bring me freedom from such illusory panic attacks.  It doesn't make sense (to me, at least) why one would have anxiety over meeting someone, but I do, and I don't want to.  So I'm riding the uncomfortable boat that makes me seasick (literally) towards the unknown, hoping and praying that I don't get eaten up by sharks along the way, which is how it feels like even when the boat I'm in is actually a rubber tube in my backyard swimming pool.  Talk about irrational fears.


       So here I am, post migraine, and grateful for the time I got to spend with my dear friend.  Of course for the first 10 minutes I was in physical agony, not showing it externally, but I prayed in my mind that the headache would subside, and that I would stop thinking about wanting to get away.  Somewhere along the conversation, which at first felt forced and obsolete due to throbbing in my head, I felt better and even stimulated by what she had to say.  Of course I did, she's a brilliant mind, and I admire her, so really it was more about me getting over myself and asking God to give me peace about the situation, in essence to give Him control of my time.  I probably only wanted to get out of there as soon as I could because that would mean I was doing what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, versus respecting the fact that she had made time to see me making it a mutual exchange.  I can be so selfish a lot of the times, and if I don't write about it I usually will not recognize it.

       This laying down of oneself and trusting in God is quite the process.  Uncomfortable like airplane seats or using a bathroom stall with a broken lock.  But when I relinquish my fears about control, I find a genuine freedom so peculiar in it's nature of logic.  I no longer fear that I will not have enough time, because time is not mine to have in the first place.  Therefore the time I am given, with whomever I am with is a gift to be thankful for.  It is only when I become selfish into thinking I must get mine with the time I have that I begin to panic and have a difficult time enjoying what is so clearly a blessing (ie: friends, food, places, etc).  Oh how I desire to make Jesus all that I need, so that in every situation I can praise Him and be thankful, trusting that whether the immediate present feels good or not that in the end it will be exactly what I needed to produce a genuine joy for my life.

       This becomes especially difficult when it involves other people, and that's why I feel inclined to be a hermit.  It's easier on a surface level, but detrimental to my overall well being because I need love as much as I need food and water, where one nourishes my physical body the other nourishes my soul, and are we not made of both soul and body?  I would even go so far as to say that nourishment of the soul is more important than the other since it is eternal.  Firstly, I must lay down any expectations of others in order to love them the way I am loved by Christ.  The reason I love Christ is because He loves me the way He does (continuously regardless of my reciprocation), so would it not also go that if I love others the way He loves me then that same veracity would uphold those relationships as well?  Indeed, to love someone regardless of how they love you in return is the first step to a real relationship.  Then to have wisdom in the actions that follow such love is what follows.  You can love someone and not spend time or see them if that is what will benefit the both of you, but these decisions must stem from genuine concern for the other person, and not because you yourself feel gypped in the exchange.

       My stomach is all twisty from this morning's migraine incident.  However, I am grateful for the peace God gave me through that.  The less I let the struggle bother me, the more I can lean on Jesus to be my strength...and His strength defies death itself.  So ...that pretty much makes me, in Jesus, indestructible.

-J
     

Letter to God

Dear God,

    Hello from earth.  I am writing You because I'd like to get to know You more.  There are a few things I wanted to tell You, even though I'm sure You know them already...which is crazy, but I will write them out anyway because it helps me to be able to write things down.  Anyway, I sense that lately I am slightly fuzzy about what I could do to bring You glory.  I know what I shouldn't do, so perhaps I should start there, but I'm very weak, and even the things I shouldn't do need to be replaced with things I should do, so once again I need to know what to do. Haha.  I hope I will be able to hear what You are telling me, whether in my prayers or through another person or during the quiet thoughtful moments while I read your Word.  I'd really like to know, though, regardless of how...well, hopefully how I find out will not be some painful way either, but if it is please give me the wisdom and perseverance to hear and obey You.  I get confused when I think it's You guiding me to go somewhere or do something and when it's just me trying to create some sort of drastic change in scenery.  I'd like to go where You guide me, so please make it apparent to me that it's You and not me.
       Also, if I may ask, please guide me where I will have a ton of adventure and freedom from myself.  Teach me to put others well being before my own (or as much as my own), and to find joy in the work that I do that pivots on my love for You.  Help me not to be lazy, self-deprecating, selfish, greedy, or apathetic.  Please make me compassionate, generous, honest, and gentle.  Please answer my prayer before the week ends, if that's not too much to ask.  There are a few deadlines I need to act on, and I know You can extend or miraculously change things like that, so if that's the case then please ease my mind in that regard.

       I hope we can start to get to know each other more, although You already know me perfectly, I think it helps me to think that we are both in this process together.  So, I guess it's more like help me to get to know You better in a transactional way...like You talk, I listen, I talk You listen, and so forth.  Cool.  Ok, thanks for hearing me out.  I'll write You again soon.  :)  Love You

awkwardly in anticipation,
Jamie

From the Mountain View.

There is fear again, 

but hope takes a stand,

in the midst of my lost eyes,

I close them tightly and reach,

my hands quick to find His,

without too much hesitation,

against what my mind threatens me with,

hands firmly laced He guides me,

at first the terrain feels rough,

all I see are the splotches behind closed lids

I am terrified by the unknown.

We go a few more steps 

and suddenly we are climbing,

I begin to cry and tell Him I can't go up,

afraid that He might let go,

and that I'll fall to a terrible low.

But His grip tightens,

He asks me to trust Him,

and I do, because He brought me this far,

we go further up and I feel faint,

weak with exhaustion,

He lifts me by my arms into His,

carries me up the highest part,

and I can feel the air pressurize

into that cool crisp mountain top,

eyes still closed I feel the wind,

our hands glow in the still,

He whispers to me gently:

"open your eyes"

I feel my body shake with relief,

not realizing we have stopped.

At first the movement stings,

but I slowly peek out from the darkness,

and the light is blinding,

but soon I adjust to the bright.

I see how far we have come,

the things we left behind,

the broken pieces are far beneath us,

and they look so insignificant,

I almost laugh.

But I see they led me to Him.

So I'm even grateful for the pain,

that made me desperate,

made me more trusting,

made me close my eyes,

and hold on to Jesus til I reached the top.

The Inferior Interior

What's vying for your heart?

At this very moment, what do you want? 

 A cookie?  

maybe a friend?

That new game? 

 A pair of shoes? 

 Brand new car?  

A lover? 

 A specific career?

More money?

       Something is vying for your heart right now, and I just want you to focus in on that thing.  When I say vying for your heart I don't mean a mere temporary desire, but something that is always there gnawing at your mind, and making you believe that if you had this thing or person or attribute, it would be like opening up a can of bliss.  Perhaps for a while it would, but with time it would get moldy, old, smelly, boring.  Ask the person who has what you want if that thing or person is still as shiny as it was before they had it.  For me that would be...well a few things, but I'll name a few, and here's what is being said after much reflection:

1.  If I become a published and famous writer, I will be so happy to do what I love while getting well-paid, and all the recognition and admiration would mean that I was a great writer, which means I'm a great person.  So what's not being said is that I think money, fame, and admiration will make me more of a person because I'll be happy, I'll be comfortable, and/or I'll be liked.  First of all, happiness is not contingent upon any one thing in this life, our happiness fluctuates depending a variety of things from our oscillating emotions to the weather.  So that boots out the notion of "happiness" because it will, if anything, be short-lived, and I'll soon start seeking it out from other things.  Comfort.  Security.  Money, mo money.  Even the world knows that money does more harm than good (ie: Scrooge, Cruella DeVil, and pretty much every bad guy in any movie is after more wealth, and because of their greed they become villains.)  I'm not saying that money itself is bad, but the love of money is the root of all evil.

1 Timothy 6:10

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

       It says that a love of (or a strong desire for) money have caused many to err from their faith (or their trust in God to supply their needs (financially, emotionally, physically) and that by doing so they pierced themselves through with many sorrows, not just one, not just a few, but MANY.  Your hopes of happiness through more money will eventually pierce you like a dagger, because we all know that in the end money cannot buy us happiness.  Real joy comes from a peace in our hearts and our minds, which comes from God.

Philippians 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

     If you're not a naturally generous person, then if you got a lot of money it would more than likely magnify your greed.  Money cannot make you into a different person, but it can magnify the kind of person you already are.  So whatever thing you struggle with will become even more of a struggle if you had more resources to fund it.  Perhaps you should be grateful if at this time your heart needs to be healed before you begin to make more money.

       Well, what if I struggle with poverty and being poor? You might be thinking that, and thus completely bypassing anything I just said above.  And to that I say, if you're on a computer, smart phone or even just the internet you're not poor.  You probably just want bigger and better things as validation for your worth.  To want bigger and better things is not bad, but when you want them for things they cannot provide (validation) then the searing disappointment will rob you of the joy you thought it would bring you.  Not only that, but it will sting even more when you've gotten what you've wanted, but nothing has changed internally.  

Corrie ten boom said it wisely:

"The most miserable person in the world, is not the person who doesn't have what he wants, but the person who has what he wants and has found out that it doesn't make any difference."

That applies to any desire that exceeds our love for Christ whether it's marriage, children, careers, flat abs, or an unending traveling ticket around the world.  (In case you haven't noticed I'm speaking from a personal perspective, but for you it might be something lame like a car or jewelry)

Your heart may think it needs something aside from Jesus to fulfill you, but know that the heart is very potently deceptive.  

Jeremiah 17:9

  " The heart is deceitful above all things

    and beyond cure.

    Who can understand it?"

Trust the Word of God, don't just "follow your heart".  Have higher standards for the way you live; what's higher than God?  You? ha.  ... -_- sadly, this is what I've deluded myself into thinking countless times.

       When my value would be deceptively based on recognition of my achievements, or when that recognition was slow in coming (or realistically not coming at all)  I developed bad habits to have some sort of control over the unmet desire (again, sometimes I did get the admiration or accomplishment I wanted--a job I interviewed for, a guy I had a huge crush on, a physical appearance, and it never made a lasting difference.)  At the end of getting what I wanted, I was still left wanting.  I may start to wonder if perhaps my wants were not big enough, and that's why they didn't provide what I had hoped for-- maybe if I became a millionaire writer, got a Pulitzer Prize, married a hot, rich Christian guy, or whatever else seems most relevant to right now, maybe then I'd be content.  Maybe, but highly unlikely.  The thing I want is something to fill my heart, and nothing of material can even touch my heart, and as for a guy, well, we all know that real marriage takes work, and that's why they call it the "honeymoon" stage, because it ends...before you have to make an effort to sustain the relationship.  Work.  haha.

       Conclusion:  

Matthew 6:33

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Proverbs 3:5,6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

    in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight."

Isaiah 41:10

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Matthew 6:25

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?"

Joy to The Lord,

Amen.