love

Today in TLC, we had the opportunity to talk about prayer. We were able to teach people how to pray with ACTS - (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). There really is something special about adoring God. After we discussed through ACTS, we practiced what we learned though we only had seven minutes. I loveee listening to people adore God. There's something special. I believe we move God's heart when we declare who God is. I believe declaring who God is helps us really believe who God is; listening to others declare who God is reflects how they view our Father. Try listening to someone's prayers one day. When you do, you can really see what's on their heart and mind.

My God can move mountains. Nothing is too big for him. Nothing is impossible with God. (:

This weekend, I started reading a book called One.Life. Nowadays, it seems that whenever I read or hear something, I keep stumbling over this verse -- "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27). Jesus summed all the 613 commandments with these two. Love God, and love others. He didn't give us an option; it was a command. This past week I've been learning more about loving others. As the book One.Life emphasizes over and over, Jesus didn't come for us to just have a relationship with Him. Yes, that is extremely important in Christianity, but he came to restore his Kingdom. That lays a responsibility on Christians to give to the needy, help the brokenhearted, and on and on. How can I claim to love God and not help someone in their need?

Then I stumbled on http://thedoveseyes.com/the-doves-eyes/ (read it!). I want dove eyes. I was also listening to Misty Edward's "Dove Eyes" and it was really really good. It was the first time I heard it today and I think I can hit replay 100 times.

I've been thinking about missions lately. Think about this quote -- "I have a question for you to ponder, and what I hope happens is that you take this question to some of your friends and chat about it and chew on it and work it over until you have sense of resolution. The question is: Why do so many today want to wander off to South Africa or Kenya or India or Russia or Honduras or Costa Rica or Peru to help with justice issues but not spend the same effort in their own neighborhood or community or state?" Let's "chew" on it. I can't lie. I'm part of the "many" because I'm going to Mexico over the summer for missions.  It made me wonder -- what if God calls me to missions just here in my backyard? Will I be okay with that? Then I won't be off in Africa or South America doing crazy things, but if God calls me right here in Maryland, would I be okay? Then would I be okay if God calls me to go to Africa or South America or wherever he wants me to go? I hope I would be able to say "yes" wherever God calls me because I know his plans are perfect. I guess I didn't answer the question at all. Well, that can be saved for a conversation. What do you think about the question? (:

I see annoying, dirty, weird, clingy, too-touchy, ignorant, too-proud, too-shy, unlovable. God sees beauty. God sees his beautiful creations lost and longing to be loved, to be filled by Him. I want to see people the way God sees them. I want to see deeper than the appearance. I want to have God's perspective. I don't even want the individual's opinions of himself/herself to matter. I want to see people the way God sees them. God has been showing me that there's more to a person than you think there is. Someone may look like they have the perfect life but deep inside, they may be suffering from loneliness or whatever they may be lacking. Because only Jesus can satisfy the emptiness in our hearts.

One day my friend kept telling me "Humility is attractive." Ahaha. I was thinking something along those lines before she told me, but her repetition made me think about Jesus because Jesus was humble. Does that make us attractive to Him?

Speaking of humility, I need to keep reminding myself to be humble. "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). So true.

God, I say that all the glory goes to you. I know that everything I do is not because of my strength or because it's from me, but it's you working through me.

One more thought. There's so much more.

I lied. I have another thought - everything goes back to love.

If you're reading this straight through, I guess you should consider each paragraph as a separate blog post because some of these things don't really relate to each other at all. I mean, they do relate to each other, but not directly.