7 Days and Counting

It seems like each year I pick one Christmas song that I absolutely wear out.  Last year it was this one, which will remain one of my FAVORITES. 

Here is my new favorite for this year: 

Table of Delight

" When the present is difficult, we too easily forget past experience of God's bounty, the tables spread with blessing when we were most conscious of our poverty and need.  If we choose to remember the grace of God toward us in the past, the present is transformed by hope, and dry placed become rich with the soul food for which we long.  The gift of memory keeps us on the path.  The wilderness of silence and solitude beckons us to discover once again that God loves and yearns for us.  We are lured again and again by the Lover of our souls, whose unconditional love always waits to take us back, to forgive all our unfaithfulness."  - Elizabeth Canham,  Feasting with God in the Wilderness p. 17-18

Encouragement for Your Saturday

I loved Watermark, and I still love Christy Nockels, and I LOVE this song!  :) 



I felt compelled to share this today. 

Black and White

In my Bible, the third chapter of Colossians is entitled, "Rules for Holy Living."

God does still give us rules.  This is something that has been on my heart lately.  As a whole, we (by "we" I am referring to Christians) have become so lax about right and wrong.  We have become so liberal in our thinking.  We have the mentality that God loves us; therefore, He exists for the purpose of blessing us.  I do believe that God wants to bless us, but I also believe that there are stipulations.  There are rules we must follow.  We seem to leave this part of the puzzle out of our lives.  We have adapted the Word of God to fit into our lives and our world.  It DOES NOT fit into our lives or our world.  And WE should adapt to IT. I recently posted about Ruth.  Ruth had to die to her own desires, and be willing to change.  She had to leave Moab, her homeland, her comfort zone, in order to receive all that God had in store for her.  Once we have encountered Christ, we should change to adapt to HIS world, and HIS standards. Scripture says that we USED to walk in the ways of the world but now we must GET RID of those ways. We were not created for this world, but for another; therefore, our lives should not look like the lives of those around us.  Even in this day and age, there are things that are NOT okay for Christians to participate in; there are things it is okay for us to disagree with.  There are things we SHOULD disagree with.  And there are things we SHOULD stand for. 

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God... Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.  But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips....

As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity... Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts... Let the world of Christ dwell in you richly..." 

Now, those things... compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness... Those things are NOT of this world.  They do not come naturally in our busy paced world, where we are focused on productivity instead of people, and instead of Christ.  Patience is not in our natural vocabulary.  And neither is forgiveness.  It is natural, in our own power, for us to walk around bitter and angry rather than as children who forgive, and therefore can forgive others in return.

Christ's standards are not of this world.  They look unfamiliar to those who are of this world.  But let us familiarize ourselves with them, as we are children of a powerful God, a God of love, but also a God of wrath.   We have been called to live as His children.

My prayer for myself today is that I will live as His child, focused on Him and on nothing else.  When our focus is on Him, everything else somehow works itself out.

I heard this song, by DC talk on the radio while I was driving to work this morning.  And it ties in perfectly to what I read in Colossians today. 



Philippians 2:15,16- "...So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a wharped and crooked generation.  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the Word of Live." 

My Own Little World

In the same way that it is inappropriate for teachers to have favorite students, it is inappropriate for social worker to have favorite clients. But, just as it it next to impossible (I would assume) for teachers to NOT have favorite students, it is next to impossible for social workers to NOT have favorite clients. Well, maybe that isn't fair to say. It is fair, and accurate, to say that THIS social worker definitely has her favorites. And... my least favorites.


I think this is important to acknowledge. These feelings must be recognized so that they can be handled correctly. Otherwise, both positive and negative feelings toward clients will negatively impact the way in which I serve each client. I must own up to the draw I have to certain people and the aversion I have to certain others in order to sensor those feelings.

Now that we have that settled, one of my favorite clients died very recently. I found out nt through a phone call from one of her friends or family members, but through my regular reading of the local obituaries, which made the pill even harder to swallow. Since meeting this client about seven months ago, she has truly touched my heart. She was a wonderful woman with a profoundly interesting story. She loved animals, but especially dogs, as much as I do... times about a million! She also loved history. She enjoyed American history, but she relished her family history. She devoted incredible amounts of time to the study of her geneology. To her, nothing was more important than knowing where you come from. And knowing this should affect the way you live, and the value you put on your own life.

Since I began working in the field, I have invested a lot of time, energy, and heart, into a lot of people. Sometimes, when it is all said and done, I feel like my effots have been wasted. But just as often, I realize that the people I set out to help have truly helped me in return, without even knowing it. Yes, it is cliche, but it is so true that when you help others, you get so much back in return.

Investing seven months of my life into this client was so worth it. And I am honored to have been able to share some of her last days with her.

Bottom line: Opening up our hearts and sharing in the lives of others is worth the dissapointments and frustrations we may encounter along the way! And no matter how much I give, it will always pale in comparisson to what Christ gave to me, and what He continues to give to me each day. 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - James 1:27

"Be kind and compassionate to one another; forgiving each other just as I have forgiven you." - Ephesians 4:32

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and  patience." - Colossians 3:12

Adore Him

This is my favorite Christmas song this season.

He's Got the Whole World

I almost never listen to the radio in the mornings. It seems like, on every station, there is an extra- lot of talking in the mornings: news, weather, traffic updates, commercials. Usually when I turn on the radio, I want to hear music. A lack thereof deters me from listening to the radio most mornings. Instead, I am more prone to pop in a CD.

God had a special treat in store for me this morning though.

I started off my trek to work by listening to a CD. I was listening to Kari Jobe, and praying... trying to get in a good frame of mind (which seems particularly hard some Mondays, and today was one of those Mondays) before starting the day.

Something told me to turn the radio on.

Random.

But I did it; I turned the radio on.

I reached right up and pressed the "FM 2" button...

Come to think of it, I am not quite sure why I pressed 2 instead of 1.

Anyway, not five seconds after I turned the radio on, this song came on. Being slightly out of the Christian music loop, this was the first time I had ever heard this song. It brought me to tears.

And that was before seeing the video. :)

So get your tissues out.

This song could literally go on forever. Because that is as long as God is with us: forever. God is with us in every circumstance and situation; in every season of life, at every time of day. There is never a moment when God is not for me. As a child of God, He tells me there is never a moment when He is not with me. This is not because of anything I have done to earn His unending faithfulness and presence; it is because He is God, and He is Love, and that is what Love does.

Love does not get tired or bored. He does not take naps, or vacations, or breaks. He does not change His mind when I do something wrong. Love does not get His feelings hurt and, in return, disappear or retaliate, because Love is not self-seeking. Love does not abandon for another, whose hurts or needs are bigger than our own. He does not overlook our circumstances in favor of someone who has earned His attention more than us, or of someone whose needs may appear greater than our own. Love is constant. Its endurance does not end.

For these reasons, this song could go on and on; limited only by each person's own story or experiences.

Here is my part of the song for today, based upon what was on my heart as I drove to work this morning. My issues, concerns, joys, and happinesses may be minuscule in comparison to those of others, but Love keeps no comparison, because Love does not keep score. Love cares about every detail... good, bad, big, small.

He's with you when you're overwhelmed
With your new job and wedding plans
And when you're feeling so afraid
That you second-guessing choices you've made.

He's with you in that client's house
When you feel trapped with no way out.
When you don't know which direction to turn
And you wonder if you'll ever learn

He's with you when your own strength fails
When the plans you've made don't work out well
And when you feel completely inept
And real life is just too hard to accept.

When you feel all alone.

He's with you.

Matthew 28:20 - "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Hebrews 13:5 - "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."