"Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus"

"Born thy people to deliver, 
 born a child and yet a King, 
 born to reign in us forever, 
 now thy gracious kingdom bring." 

He reigns in us. It's crazy! Right now I have a two-fold prayer: I'm praying that through us, through the work of the Holy Spirit in us, God would bring His Kingdom to Earth. I'm also praying that He would come back and restore things soon. There is so much hurt in the world, we all know that. But we are His servants, chosen to bring His kingdom here. Let's bring it!

He has done great things

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

I want this to be the anthem of my life. God is so faithful. He has done great things. He does great things. And He will do great things. When I am paying attention, I see this to be true every single day.

tid bits

I just discovered that I really like honey roasted peanuts. In the same instant, I also discovered that my fiance doesn't like any kind of nut. Does this mean that when I go all domestic I can't make that homemade snickers bar I just recently pinned? Should I make it a priority to get my future husband to like nuts or should I just accept him the way he is?!

Along these lines, I had someone remind me the other day not to wish away our time of engagement. I'm pretty ready to be Erick's wife. But this comment grounded me once again, and I realize the importance of being satisfied with being his fiance right now. But I'm still pretty freaking excited.

In other news: two of my housemates are down stairs sleeping on the couches. I went down to share with them my delicious honey roasted peanuts, but they were unresponsive to my efforts. More peanuts for me I suppose... My other dedicated housemate is slaving away with her students, but should retreat back home soon. And that leaves Kayla, who is devotedly planning for small group tonight. (And hopefully soon fixin' muh dinner!)

Which leaves me. I'm going to be productive now. The real kind of productive where I actually do my homework.

Content

Nothing like sweet Egyptian Licorice tea and some love from my Father. Heart = Content.

He's at it again!

God has been revealing a lot this week. At small group we talked about seeing the Word through creation prayer and prophetic prayer. It was great. God is so good, and He speaks to us all the time!
God has been pointing out to me the importance of appreciating the people in my life: My family, my fiance, my beautiful friends. I want Him to continue showing me more of His love for these wonderful people I am so blessed to know.

Goals for this weekend:
1. Start a gratitude journal
2. Spend some quality time with my housemates
3. Relax
4. Knit
5. Catch up on homework... I suppose.

Little Joys

As of tonight, I have discovered some more little joys in my life. These include: late night shopping excursions with my hot housemates, buying new undies, long walks that end at Mcconn with a caramel macchiato freeze in my hand (counter-productive, yes, but who's counting, really?).

These things made putting off my homework SO worth it.

Something else I have to look forward to... taking engagement pictures with the love of my life on Saturday!

Tuesday Mornings

Once again, I'm thankful for my Tuesday morning with Kayla time. We have established:

1. Our God is like a warrior!
2. Jealousy is from Satan
3. We must take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ
4. Puzzles are fun.

Prune-y hands, Warm Heart

Today, as I was finishing up the remnants of the dishes (it has really been a community effort!), I realized that my hands were starting to get prune-y. I really dislike the feeling of prune-y hands, but this didn't matter so much, because I was in the midst of thinking about all the good things that God is doing.

After a good conversation with Kayla this morning, I was thinking about the fact that God always works things out for good. When I'm reminded of the good things He has in store for this year, I get so excited! Also, after a short conversation with Anne, not long after that, I was reminded, again, of how God is working. In every area of life, God is working! Through relationships, through quiet moments and times of rest.

I just feel very content in this fact.

Fall

Let's see...

1. Thanks to my Intro to Linguistics class, I can now write using the International Phonetic Alphabet, so I feel quite accomplished.

2. The air finally feels like fall.

3. I get to see the handsome, Erick Javier Ramirez this weekend.

4. I am a little bit sad to leave the Harmon house in a few hours. Thankfully, I'll be back on Sunday.

Marriage

“The #1 evangelistic tool in America (the world) today is a successful marriage, because it’s a living miracle!” – Dr. Joe Aldrich, former president of Multnomah Bible College.

Through God's love and grace, we are going to get it right! I cannot wait to marry Erick Javier Ramirez on May 25th, 2013.

Truth

I am in a battle. I realize there is a war among the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Satan has never tried so hard to attack and discourage me as he has this summer.

But I will NOT LOSE HEART, because I know the battle has already been won. I am already walking in victory, because I am living in the wake of the resurrection. The same power that conquered death lives in me.

I will not give up. I will run this race with perseverance. I may be in a dark season, but I will never dwell in darkness. I have the Hope of Christ, the Hope of Glory. I will not be moved.

Though the sorrow may last for the night, Joy comes in the morning. I will learn from this season. I will grow. I will take this opportunity to say, "Jesus, You must become greater, I must become less."

I have taken up my cross. I am following. I am looking to You, Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Teach me Your ways so that I might walk in Your truth.

The Heart of God

I decided to start reading in Isaiah. This is only because I felt led to do so. I had no particular reason other than I believed this is where God wanted me to read today. What I found, just in the first chapter, was a beautiful prophecy depicting God's heart for His chosen people.

Throughout the passage, we see God's wrath and His righteous judgement. Which is, as we often like to forget, part of God's character, part of His heart. But as I read on and approached the end of the chapter, a few verses stuck out to me, verses 16 through 18. God says,

"Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'"

How beautiful that God, in the midst of rebuking His people for their sin, would remind them of His forgiveness. He even tells them, yet again, what He expects of them. He offers to reason with them. This is crazy to me. What a loving God we have, that He would discipline His children, remind them of what is right and what they should be doing, reason with them, and offer His forgiveness. How humbling to be in the presence of such a God.

Boyfriend!

This video shows you what kind of boyfriend I have. Just one of the many reasons I love Erick Javier Ramirez very much!

Free Food

Everything seems better when someone gives you free food.

A Daily Dose of Dependency

Every time I try to handle something solely on my own, I am reminded, without fail, that it never works. Instead of valuing independence, I need to value dependency on my Father. When I am dependent upon His strength, that is when things fall into place.

I am in need of my daily dose of His mercy and His peace. I vow to become more dependent today, starting now.

On to Completion

Paul was confident that when God began a good work in the Philippians He would carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Reflecting upon this season of Lent that has just passed, I am feeling a piece of this completion. But I also feel the anticipation of what is to come. God is not finished purging me of my sin, but he has begun a good work in me.

I am thankful for how He worked in me during Lent. I am looking forward to seeing what He does with this next season of Easter, of resurrection. Most of all, I am confident that He is faithful; what He begins He will carry on to completion.

For the Mouth of the Lord has Spoken.

When the Lord speaks, you listen. He did speak, He does speak, and He will speak. All we have to do is listen. It's easier than we think.

When He spoke to Isaiah on behalf of the Israelites, this is what He said:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice 

and untie the chords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call and the Lord will answer;

You will cry for help, and He will say:

Here am I."

Who Woulda Thought...

You only live once, so why not document it? I'm still afraid of haters, but I'm pretty sure the haters won't care. And I figure if they don't care then they won't read, and if they don't read then they can't hate.

I never thought I would expose my thoughts via blogging, but here goes nothing...