The lord gives and the lord takes away

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

I was watching swamp loggers (of all shows) and there is this hardworking log cutter man named simetrio or something like that.  There was a fire near his home and he had to go evacuate his family in case it got closer.  When he got there, he wasn't like "ahhh why is this happening"  he was calm and collected and at ease.  As he drove out of his driveway with his family and some clothing and personal items, he said "hopefully the fire will not destroy our home.  Just as the Lord blessed us with the house, we pray he will keep it safe."

I forget this simple lesson.  "just as the Lord gave."  I get caught up in this life a lot.  I get caught up in the fact that I am trying to be a reasonably stable adult.  I am trying to pay my bills and school loans while keeping my job and being a decent member of society.  I pay my taxes and vote.  its all about me.  I forget that it is the LORD who gives me breath and health and intelligence to claim these things.  I forget that if the LORD willed me to lose my job, I would.  If the LORD willed me to get sick, I could.  I mean, look at Job.  The Lord allowed what happened to him to happen to him.  God blesses my life.  Even though I like to think that I have done everything to get where I am, I cannot say that with absolute certainty.

Just as the Lord has blessed me with life, and allowed my marriage to be civil, keeps my car running - he has not promised it. The Lord gives and he can take it away and because he is infinitely pure and holy [blessed BE his name].  God is not a vending machine.  I treat him like one.  I only visit when I want something from the third row.  shame on me.  I need to remember this lesson.

the lord gives and the lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the lord.

- his beloved

There is a dark spot in my otherwise bright heart

It wasn't meant to be planned.. Not really. But it happened and we were ready for it. Being pregnant changed my worldview. Things that didn't seem important were now important And things that were once important were not so important. The morning sickness sucked but I took it in stride. Then September 13th happened and we found out the baby had died. Grief. Grief is a dark spot in my heart. Not just the loss of our baby but the loss of my mom, the loss of my first real love. Those types of things cut from your soul with a butchers knife only to leave behind scars where the soul mended around the holes.
Grief is a ride. You can't just decide things are okay and they become Okay. You cannot replace, renew or research your way out of it. You must board the bus and sit along for the ride. It's a personal process. When someone else who has met Grief comes along, sure- there is commoradarie in the fact that they know your pain but again, it isn't YOUR pain they know, it's pain they know of.
grief leaves you missing what is lost and changed forever. The things you think are important are no longer important, the things you hadn't thought of are now on your mind. Grief is a lonely teacher. It's a hard emotion to deal with and although I never met my baby, I grieve the loss of is or her life. It has left me changed in ways I haven't fully discovered and I haven't fully understood. Grief leaves a dark spot in an otherwise bright heart. I don't think grief ever leaves, I think grief stays with you and adds to who you are. I think grief comes and goes but never fully leaves. Grief becomes a part of you. And I'm not saying it's all bad, just that it stays with you, changes you, creates those dark spots in your heart from time to time. Tonight, I miss little Jameson or Ava. Grief.

Pain wrung from my soul

The way I grew up- the baggage I carry from dramatic events in my life, the pain scarred in my soul from words, deeds, actions and consequences, the bitter walls I built to protect my heart as well as so so many more things I know but cannot possibly understand created me. It defined me-- no. I defined me by it. But that isn't the me I was created to be.

Before I met Christ, I allowed these things to define me. The Jackie that I was, was wrapped up in this identity that the world had created. I allowed the hurts from my childhood build on top of each other like scar tissue. Layer upon layer. Brick by brick I built my wall. The ability to not cry because it belayed weakness, the cold insensitive heart that showed no empathy, the hatred that twisted In my heart, poisoning my soul.

There was a time- a climax, where this scar tissue, those bricks, those feelings became too much for me and I broke. February 25th 2004 was the day I met Jesus- for real and began my journey with him.

Layer after layer, piece by broken piece he dissected me. Stripped my heart of things I held onto to keep myself safe. He showed me better ways to do things, showed me feelings this earth had yet to show. Loving Jesus, changed me into a person who loved people. It was like he wrung the sin out of me along with my tears. There was healing like nothing in this world that took place in those earlier years. I remember the youth pastor that invested their lives into mine, the people who had patience with my jagged edges,, the person who discipled me, who built faith into me. All this happened while Jesus dived into my heart and rebuilt it.

I remember crying a lot. Not always negatively, but crying a lot. There was much in my soul that needed reversing. I know I have a plan and a purpose. I know for a long time, I have been running from those things. Cowardly, I admit. I am a coward. I am selfish because I want to live my life for myself. I want to live for me despite all he has done for me.

Jesus has made me stronger. I can overcome much because of his loving touch. I am me more now than I ever was then and he used a lot of people to accomplish this work. I'm turning. My heart is turning to him. I am remembering. However, I am also remembering those who invested something deep. I am humbled tonight remembering the tears from my first years. I am humbled while I remember the growing pains, the blossoming in my heart and the joy despite measured sorrow.

If I am the prodigal, I have found myself in slop and begun to remember my fathers house. I am spent.

-his beloved despite so so much

The riches of your love will always be enough

Ironically, many people backslide. Yours truly is included in that statement. If you really read through the entire bible, you see the story generation after generation - we slip, he picks us up. But why?

I am quick to suggest that it may possibly be because Jesus is not present in our lives. However, Judas worked right next to him and his selfishness made him betray Jesus- not just walk away from him but betray him.
The bible lays it out very logically, the fall of man and the effects of sin in our lives and the lives all around us. The bible also lets us know that when one sins, we all feel the effect of said sin. This is why, in a world created by a pure and good God, can be full of so much heartache. Why the balance of logic is off- why bad things happen to good people. Why children get cancer. Why people get rapped. Sin runs rampant in this world we live in. We are run by our desires - be it greed, selfishness, lust, power, money, even the high from doing the right thing etc..
However, meeting Jesus is in theory supposed to change all that.

Because the bible says we are made in his image, made to love, made to be loved - I believe things only fit quite 100% when we truly embrace that relationship. But once that relationship is captured, why do we abandon it? You would think that tasting something so pure would keep us there.

For myself, I think I let the relationship between Jesus and I become stagnant. I did not make any time for him. James 4:1 says draw near to god and he will draw near to you. Well how the heck does that get accomplished when you've had your head turned away for so long?

I think sin tastes good but it leaves us empty. In the story of Hosea, the people ate rice cakes that were sweet but wouldn't fill them up- sin. It's a perfect analogy. Sin tastes good. It's easy to stick to a diet of good tasting yet empty filing rice cakes.
I am by no means speaking in authority of fact on this topic, and my logic makes sense to me right now so this is my reality. However, I am young and ignorant of many things and I know, that one piece of information may make this all make sense. Until then, I do believe I will continue dissecting my strained relationship with God without actually doing something to fix it. But I do want to fix it. Apathy.

I believe apathy is the biggest killer if the Christian church.

- even still, his beloved

how long can I walk the fence before I fall on either side?

I am a christian.  I love Jesus.  I am a sinner.  I love sin. I am these things simultaneously.  I have been these things together for far too long, I think.  Some days, I think - I will rise up and change, live the life I feel I should and then other days I lay down and think, it's pretty comfortable here. I have been passionate, jaded, cynical, and excited about the christian religion.  I LOVE Jesus but despair of the verse that clearly says that if you love him, you will keep his commands - which I do not. I talked to a couple last week, their actually pastors in a church I think I really like, and I was just really honest about my heart's condition.  its pretty bleak if you look at things with christian goggles on. But refreshingly, I was not met with some judgmental sigh and "ill pray for you" answers.  I wasn't looking for answers. I wont listen right now -and they didn't offer me any.  The healing in my heart from that action alone is phenomenal.

                     Sometimes I just want to throw up my middle finger to the entire christian church.  I do not feel like it carries genuine people and I hate that.  I hate when I am honest about my sin, I am looked down upon when sin is carried on the back of every believer.  I understand why Christians keep sins hidden and thus enslave themselves to it for fear of opening up.  I know I am being harsh. Not every Christian is like that, but I do not have the patience to look around for the genuine ones.  It is so much easier to get away from the judgmental attitudes and work my salvation out, and figure my sins out by myself than work with an 'accountability partner.'  I mean, what if, I never get over this sin, what if my 'accountability partner' puts me on the 'prayer' list and everyone knows I am struggling.  See, sin is something that will always come back. the temptation will always be there  - I have never seen it miraculously taken from my soul.  Maybe I wasn't holy enough, or I didn't pray hard enough. Maybe God wants me to have this sin. Maybe, maybe, maybe. who the hell knows??  I really struggle with being a Christian.  Not because Jesus is hard to grasp.  He has never done the wrongs. its his body. I want to be apart of but am disgusted and ashamed of.

I walk the fence.  I cant ever let Christ go, because he has made himself very real to me.  I am a very broken believer.  I am not one that really wants to bear my cross. It's pretty selfish of me, I think.  But I miss my relationship with God.  I MISS struggling with God.  But I don't want the BS that I've spent three paragraphs complaining about.  So here is the deal, even in a perfect world, there is political BS that has to be dealt with.  In my job, my personal life, my mental world, I deal with BS.  Is the juice worth the squeeze?  is picking sides despite the BS worth it?  Dare I try to be the difference I want to see in the world?  I fear my validity is shot. I don't know.  But I do know, that the sins of the flesh look less and less desirable and the desires of my heart are becoming brighter.  I just don't know where to go from here.

pass me by the crowds of people

Take me past the outer courts
Into the Holy Place
Past the brazen altar
Lord I want to see your face
Pass me by the crowds of people
And the Priests who sing your praise
I hunger and thirst for your righteousness
But it's only found in one place

Take me into the holy of holies
Take me in by the blood of the lamb
Take me into the holy of holies
Take the coal, touch my lips, here I am

I never wanted to do things halfway.  I didn't know that when I first found Jesus, I would take a four year hiatus to find myself.  I never imagined I would become cynical of religion and jaded by Christians. But I am and I have.  Thing is, I don't regret it.  I did find myself, and I like who I am (for the most part).  I do not like who I am outside of Christ though.  I think I am a better, stronger, braver, more compassionate, more patient, more loving, generally all around better person when I am side by side with Jesus.  

Here's the thing I discovered though; I do not want something fake.  If I am going to love Jesus, I want JESUS.  I do not want some cheap cardboard copy example from a church, christian or tv preacher.  I want something real.  The song I was listening to, and currently am listening to right now (i posted the lyrics up there) is about that feeling.  He doesn't want the surface stuff, he doesn't want the holy alter, he doesn't care about the priests - he wants the Holy of Holies, the real deal, nothing less. 

I want Jesus, and I realize that the people that I have let effect me -  the Christians who have disappointed me, the pastors who I feel have forgotten me, the hypocrisy I have witnessed by the body of Christ, the judgmental attitudes, the wayward friendships of "love" and the double standards when presented with sin - cannot be what I am willing to settle on.  I cannot let people be Christ for me, because we all need our savior, not just me.  Bad things will happen in churches because people are involved, not everyone will disappoint but a lot will and it will be okay, because I will disappoint people too.  I have hurt people too.  

Take me into the holy of Holies.  The holy of holies was an area in the Temple that was like the most sacred of areas.  No one was allowed to go back there except the high priest, once a year. It was covered with a veil and just really really special.  sacred. the song is saying, get me past EVERYTHING and let me be with Jesus in that HOLY place. no bs, just being with him.  The last part of the song says take the coal touch my lips, here I am - its referencing Isiah 6 when the prophet has a vision of sorts.  He just says he sees the Lord sitting on the throne and he is so overwhelmed by how holy and pure God is, that he is in a state of sorrow at how filthy with sin he is.  A seraph (pretty sure its like an angel) came to him with a piece of coal from the alter and cleansed him by touching his lips with it.  God then asks who he can send to go speak to his people for him - Isaiah volunteers and the biggest book of the prophets was born. 

take me into the holy of holies - I do not want the courtyard, I dont care about the priests that sing his praise, I want Jesus, in the holy place because I do not want a tainted idea of him, I just want him. 

- his beloved

  

Running away, time for a u-turn

I run from God because he expects me to live up to the potential he designed me to live up to. Expects might be a strong word, but he definitely knows I can be more than who I am and is always showing me how to be better than who i am.

Did you ever see avatar, the last airbender? He runs from his responsibilities.. He feels a loss of personal rights, a loss of freedom, loss. I can relate to that.

I've spent the majority of three years or so just telling God to shove it, unless I need him.. But as I've grown, sitting here telling God to shove it, I have begun to think that it may quite possibly be time to put my childish ways behind me...

I've recently stepped into a larger leadership role in my life.. One that means more to me than the others that I've been involved with. I try really hard to become and stay an effective lead Cna, it's really important to me.. But it's teaching me. It's teaching me something I have long fought God on.. Being a leader means your standards are different, more people watch you, your ethics must be on top, your game has to be on top, you have to be the best you so when people look up, there is something to look up to. I don't think I'm quite there yet, I'm actually a long ways off but I need to get there because to me, being a leader means being the one who does the right thing, has vision, has goals and actually follows through with those goals. Being a leader is a serious thing to me.. Because when you are leading people, they are willing to follow and that isn't something to play around with. I want to give people a reason to stick around and hear me out.

Obviously, I am no longer talking about just being a lead CNA - I'm talking about the plans that God has laid out for my life, something big and something scary but it's time to accept it and stop running. It's time to get up and get my act together, fix my character, lift my chin.. Cuz its time to become a leader.

When I was just five months into being 17, I sat down on an old tattered rug in a dilapidated old chapel at little beaver camp and demanded, more whined, that God tell me please what I was supposed to do with my life. The caressing, resounding voice inside my being that answered me was familiar and the answer was known to the pit of my soul - "you will go to Africa and be a missionary." my life has never been the same. My goals have always been to complete this desire that smolders inside my heart. Even when I have been running, the passion for Africa remained.

I need to be there, I cannot explain it, but I've been running fromIt- out of fear, from selfishness, from pride. It's time to raise my head and become a leader, cuz I am no longer a child and it's time to grow up and accept this...gift that I've thrown away so spoiled-ly.

It's going to be hard, but something has awaken inside me - I'm sure it was God, a lot of it has to do with recovering from burnout, getting over grief and loss, and working too much. spiritually, Something is blowing fresh air on my coaled up heart and making my embers glow. Could I be lucky enough one day to feel a fire? I'll let you know.His beloved :)