7 days=one week

People always say that a lot can happen in a year....I've recently said it many times because I am realizing that it is so true. However, I have realized that a lot can happen in a week as well. 7 days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes....when you think of it that way it definitely gives you a different perspective on how much time you really have in a week. Anyway, I'm a bit off track. The focus of my post isn't about the breakdown of time, but how this last week has looked for me.

My last post was last Thursday and I was getting ready to leave on a trip to help with tornado cleanup in Harrisburg, IL. Those who know me, know that I definitely don't have your "typical" life. I'm not content to do the normal 9-5 day in and day out. I'm not saying the 9-5 is a bad thing, it's just not who I am. Honestly I like being "in the trenches". I like working with those who have no hope, because I know, on a personal level, the One who does!!! I daily desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I desire to point others to the Light in a world filled with darkness. All that being said, I've had the opportunity to go and serve after many natural "disasters". Tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes......God's given me opportunities to go and serve and Harrisburg is the most recent place.

We arrived in Harrisburg on Friday morning, and wouldn't you know it was at the same time as the St.Louis Rams. While they were there to "help" and for photo ops, me and my girls were there to serve.....however and wherever we were needed. The next 3 days were filled with raking up leaf piles, picking up debris on a golf course, sifting through rubble looking for photos and anything else we could find to give back to their owners, mending fences, but most importantly hearing the stories of those who had been affected. Harrisburg is not a big town, and it was clear that everyone we talked to had in some way been affected. 7 people lost their lives, and it seemed as if everyone we talked to were somehow connected to one of the ones who had passed. It was a bit eery, but also continued to remind us that we were dealing with human lives, not just homes that were destroyed, but people just like me and you. Your heart would have to have been made of stone for your heart to not be broken by the stories of those we talked to.

I think when things like this happen our first question is to God. We ask why Lord? You know what? These people weren't asking why? they were speaking with confidence that they knew they had been spared for a reason! They knew that the Lord had a purpose for them and they wanted to know what it was! There is a sense of guilt for some, one of them men we worked with was so broken because he found that his roof had landed on an apartment building and had crushed the apartments. This man, knowing that he could have done nothing to stop it yet still feeling guilty, was so convinced he was saved for a reason. I saw his house, there was no way that he should have been alive, standing in front of me talking. God's hand of protection was on this man and he recognized it!

Stories of hope and God's hand were plentiful. In times of devastation it's easy to dwell on how much is gone rather than on how much has actually been spared, but the people of Harrisburg were quick to share how they were protected and their stories speak of a supernatural protection. How many of you can say that you not only survived a tornado, but when you woke up you were lying on your couch and your home was gone. Yes, you read that correctly....the mobile home that this woman lived in was completely gone! The only thing left was the couch that the woman had fallen asleep on! Tell me that she didn't have God's hand on her holding her down to that couch?!?!? This is just ONE of the stories we can share! Even now, as I type this, I am reminded of God's power and I am in awe!

So now I go back to the period of one week. Last week I was going to Illinois to serve, this week I am back in my "comfortable" life. Last week I was listening to stories of God's power and faithfulness. This week I am complaining because it is a dreary day in the NY. My God is the same God this week as He was last week. I may not be in a tornado ravaged area, but I still serve the same God. He still works and I still have opportunities to hear stories about his power and faithfulness. Sometimes I forget that, but in this past week I have been reminded that God works in the normal day to day just as much as He works in the devastation. So my prayer is that the Lord would help me to be open to what He has for me here in my day to day and that He would open my eyes to see His power in a real way.

Leaving on a.....well, in a car

So I'm leaving tonight to go with 3 other girls to help in Illinois. I'm super excited about the girls who are going with me. Amy, my mucking buddy from Iowa, so glad she was able to get out of work! Vanessa, one of my girls from Pleasant Vineyard and my Alabama cleanup girl. And lastly, Nichole, one of Vanessa's friends, who I'm super stoked to meet and work with. I'm so thankful that I work for such amazing people, AND they went through some stuff so they could send towels and sheets down with me! I'm so blessed!

I was driving to work today and Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Beauty Will Rise" came on the radio. As I was singing along to the lyrics I began to think about the work we are about to do and just really felt that this was a song for the people of Harrisburg. Some lost everything, but through it all something beautiful will come. We may not see it right now, but God is working! What an encouragement!

Yes, it is great to be able to have the opportunity to help cleanup, but more importantly I truly hope that we are able to talk with people, encourage them, love on them! Show them that there are people around the U.S. thinking and praying for them. Who knows what we'll be doing this weekend, we may be out cleaning up or maybe we'll be handing out donations....whatever we do though I pray that we will be the hands and feet of Jesus to ALL we come in contact with.

prayer-original post 2007

i've been reading and listening to quite a few things on prayer. i listened to an awesome message by andy stanley the other day...it was actually the 3rd part of a 3 part series. and it was amazing! if i were you, i'd totally subscribe to the podcast through itunes. i'm pretty sure you can get the old podcasts...it's only a few weeks old.

anyways, sometimes i question why God lays things on my heart to pray for. i wonder why sometimes there is such a burden on me that all i can do is pray. it's crazy at times...and in the past year i have felt that burden many times. a burden that is so heavy on my shoulders that i just continually go to the cross and have to lay it down cause it's way too much for me to bear.

i've been thinking a lot about the things we pray for...the things i pray for. there are things that i have been praying about for years, i'm not even exaggerating, years! i hear so often, "well i prayed about it for a long time..." what's a long time? a day? a week? a month? a year? 10 years? i know God's concept of time is way different than ours, so perhaps He is just calling for our obedience and not a deadline?

one of the things that really stuck out to me while i've been learning about prayer is this fact: God is not annoyed when we continue to come to Him time after time with the same thing. He is honored. He is honored because you realize that this thing that you are bringing to His feet is so big, so out of your hands, so not doable by you own doing, that it will take His intervention to make it possible. you realize this and continue to come to Him because you know that He is the only way that it will happen. 

 

that is so true on the things that i have been praying for. i'm not talking about the "i pray i had a brand new 2007 escalade", no i'm talking about prayers about people getting saved, eyes being opened, people being healed, hearts to be broken, lives to be changed. all these things can only be done with God! one of the other things i've learned, and totally realized in my life is that as i'm praying for God to move or change other people, i in turn am changed and moved. God promises that if we seek we will find, if we ask we will be answered, if we knock the door will be open. God hears our cries! He will respond. we need just need to be faithful and obedient.

i feel like right now these are words that i myself need to be reminded of, and that people all around me need to hear. so many people in my sphere of influence are dealing with changes, and just having to FULLY trust the Lord. it's new territory, but good territory. more and more i realize that God is working, speaking, moving, and i'm just to caught up in trying to figure everything out to notice. i pray that i'm willing to stop and just be. be still. be silent. and seek. i know God will answer...now i just have to wait.

1st post....you'll be disappointed

I'm not gonna lie.....I'm going to repost old blogs from myspace. not because I'm lazy, and not because I'm vain, but I honestly think i have some good stuff in them. Since this is my blog and I can do what I want.....I'm gonna do it. It's actually kind of cool to see the things I was learning a few years ago and reflect on where I've been and what the Lord has done. Soooo, that being said...I'm reposting!