OUR CHINA GOD STORY

Just about every day I think about some part of God's plan for getting us to China and each
time I think, "God, I still am in awe of what you have done!"  "How did all this happen"?  I think back to about five years or so ago when I slowly His plan began to unfold and smile in my heart.  Our church had a missionary preach one Sunday and Glenn and I both sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to us.  As we both shared with one another, neither one of us were quite sure what He meant yet.  Glenn knew, however, that he was to finish his schooling to get his undergrad and while he was doing that I began to search for missions availability for us.  God presented "The Finisher's Project" to us and we knew from researching them that God was clearly pointing us in this direction.  Over time, we began waiting until they would have a weekend conference in our area and in March 2011 we attended.  The conference was wonderful and we received God's confirmation that we were definitely on the path He was calling us to.  There were many mission agencies represented at the conference, but we were drawn repeatedly to English Language Institute China (ELIC).  When we returned and began to seek God on this, He led us to go on ELIC's annual vision trip in October 2011.  Previous to this trip, Glenn and I both shared that we seriously doubted that God was asking us to go there more long term, but we thought it would be great to see China.  When we arrived there, we were astounded!  God not only gave us a love for the Chinese, but confirmed over and over again that, yes, this is where He was calling us to.  We were sad to leave, but we knew that we would return.  Since then, God has confirmed so clearly His call for us to China.  He has raised our support to go, He has sold our home, He has given us Chinese friends, He has given us a love for learning the language and He has given us the supernatural ability to "let go" of things here.  We love our country and all of our family and friends here.  It will be hard to leave all that we are used to, but we love our Lord so much more and He is the one that deserves our all!  We are blessed and honored to go to China to join others in making Jesus famous!!  This is a window of an amazing opportunity for us and we are going to SNAG IT!

Fastened Face

As a follower of Jesus 

I have many privileges

I can scarcely take them all in.

Each one is my birthright

and the most delightful of all

is Beholding Jesus.

Being in God's Word

and cultivating the truest

riches of beholding and

knowing Jesus.

I come with a cry in my heart

to see Him and to know Him!

I come to gaze upon the majesty

and mystery of the altogether

Lovely One.

My heart cries out, 

"I want to know You, Lord!

I want to behold You in Your Scriptures.

I want to know You and the fullness of

Your power!

Manifest Yourself to me in Your Word"

To know more of Him requires revelation,

and revelation requires meditation in His Word.

2Cor.3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face,

beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, 

are being transformed into the same image from

glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord"

How I long to behold Him! I have a certain kind of envy of the living creatures who do not turn

from facing straight ahead no matter where they go. Whether they go up or down, left or right, forward or backwards, their faces are constantly facing straight forward at the throne! This is how I want to

live my life!  That no matter where I go and what I do, my face might be fastened upon the throne

and beholding the radiance of my beloved Lord.

I am forever fascinated with the adventure of growing in the knowledge of Him who died for me!

IN LOVE

I AM IN LOVE!

I am clinging to the Cross of my Beloved.

I am RANSOMED,

BOUGHT with a price.

The MOST PRECIOUS price of God's ONLY Son

who came to die the most horrible death

so that I may live

FOREVER!

HOW can anyone  NOT fall in love with the ONE

that not only is their creator,

but the ONE

who created LOVE!

SURREAL

Surreal Blessings from God's Hand!

Yesterday was one of those days that are hard to explain.

Maybe you've had one, I'm sure most everyone has.

You NEVER expect it, you don't ever think about it...

but when it happens you look back and say "Wow, the things

 that took place today, made me think God opened His hand and dropped these beautiful 

gifts into my day!"

Unbelievable.

Without any planning at all, my replacement for work was hired today!

(I will be leaving work mid-June to move to China)

Unbelievable!

Without me letting ANYONE know that I had been searching for a significant

way to be connected to my granddaughter.

With so much distance between us, I want her to know

that I am thinking of her so much and that I love her and pray for her.

So today, God used one of our patients to share with

me what she does to stay connected to her

long distance granddaughter!

This patient had no clue how I had been struggling to come up with some

way to share something special with my granddaughter over the years!

Unbelievable!

And the third sweet "SURREAL" thing that happened in the same day:

I went to the store to pick up a few things and a young man

that works there that is always full of joy was working.

I always run into him and we always chat for a moment.

Today was different.

He said to me in a somewhat 

louder voice,

"Praise Jesus, can I get an Amen!"

I said to him, "That's something I will always give!"

Praise JESUS!

Unbelievable!

Sensitivity to my idolatry

Almost everywhere at all times fasting has held a place of great importance since it is closely linked with the intimate sense of religion. Perhaps this is the explanation for the demise of fasting in our day. When the sense of God diminishes, fasting disappears.

-Edward Farrell

I am regularly asking my Father for a fierce and intense ever-increasing LOVE for Him!

There is nothing else in my life as important as this.

Not my hubby, my children, my granddaughter, my parents, my job, my money, my house, my stuff....

nothing.

absolutely nothing can compare to the love I want for my Savior!

I want to go into the depths and love Him as never before.

I will keep asking Him.

I will keep pursuing Him.

I want to keep being homesick for Him!

A visit to remember

The most special things to me this Easter:

Dan and Cara came in from CA for a week!

Glenn and I both took vacation time!

The weather was wonderful with some warmth and sun and
some beautiful snow that Cara and Dan had been longing to see!

Family and old friends in our home Easter Day to share love and laughter!

Playing Sequence and Po-Keeno with much laughter!

Dan and Glenn shooting out back at the shooting range!

Dan and Cara shooting out back at the shooting range!

Cara FINALLY getting diagnosed!

Going to The Strip and Station Square for the day!

Cara helping me "pretty up" my blog!

Skyping together with Brent, Christy and Madeline!

Stopping by to see Scout and loving on him a bit!

BUT THE BEST BY FAR:

My son-in-law, who by the way has such a tender heart, was led by the
Holy Spirit to prepare a wonderful Good Friday reflection study for us
to share together!

And, through issues that the evil one was attempting to orchestrate so
to damage our desire for wonderful relationships....GOD was victorious
and increased our communication and godly bond with one another!

HALLELUJAH!

Beautiful Reflecting

With Easter brings newness!

Even though I celebrate the idea of this beautiful season everyday, there is still 

something amazingly wonderful about having a day to actually have on the

calendar to share what Jesus did and to reflect what happened two thousand years ago.   

To also think deeply about possibly what Jesus went through that whole week leading

up to His crucifixion.

A sweet unexpected gift our family received this Good Friday was my son-in-law

having it on his heart to prepare a time of reflection from God's Word of what

Jesus endured during this time.  It was unforgettable and I will always remember

this Good Friday night for the Good Friday's to come in the future.

This time together really had I focus more on what Jesus must have felt about

what was going on at the time.  The loneliness He must have felt, the anguish,

the idea that He knew He had to endure the beatings, the floggings, the spitting,

the cruelty...for there was no other way that we could escape eternal separation

from God!  He was the only Way!  He loved us enough to take on all of this

for me.