Everlasting Love

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

We talked about this verse (and others) in our small group yesterday morning (also known as “Sunday School”- but I don’t like that term).  First thing that comes to mind is the song we are familiar with and sing regularly.  Second thing is love!  The kind of love God has for us…for me…is unimaginable.  Really…I can’t imagine how much he loves me.  As humans, it’s too big of a concept for us to wrap our heads around.  This is what I think of when I think of love:

-          The lover of who I am.  My Lord.

-          My soul mate Joseph

-          My families

-          Cuddling with Zoe and Ren when they’re sleepy

-          My true friends and their families

-          Consoling friends/students when they are upset

-          Valley Schools

-          A clean house that is organized

-          Camping

-          Finances/Money (I’m weird…sometimes it’s a downfall)

What about the bad things?  What about the deep things inside of my heart/mind that are ugly.  God STILL loves me?  I don’t think any of us will every comprehend that, in spite of all the terrible things I’ve thought and said and did, God still genuinely loves me. 

I find myself often wandering with my thoughts and loving/focusing on things that are so worldly- like a new car or home improvements.  I honestly don’t feel those are bad things or that God doesn’t bless us with the opportunities to have those things to use for His glory, but I’ve got to constantly keep myself in check. 

God’s changing me.  Spiritually, physically, emotionally.  I couldn’t be more excited for a new season of life that He’s allowing me to embark on.  Of course, fear is always lingering in my mind as the journey of my life continues.  Fear of satan interfering with my journey in any way he sees possible.  Fear that someday my parents won’t be here anymore.  Fear that I’ll be a forgetful friend that is constantly having to be reminded of things.  Fear that my past, my history will not be a legacy in our family.  And then my Lord sweetly whispers to me the words of Isaiah 41:10 and more…

Fear not, Steph, for I am with you.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will uphold you with my righteous hand.  I will see you through this journey.  Until the end, I will be by your side.  Holding you up when you fall and letting you lean on me when you’re weak.  I will guide you through the scary parts of life that will be endlessly sad.  I will help you remember things that are important to others, when you can’t.  I WILL continue my legacy through you.  The legacy that your parents continued and that your children will carry on.  I love you.

I love those moments.  When God whispers ever so gently.  I pray that I never get to a point ever again where I can’t/won’t hear Him.  It’s something I’m now dependent on.  Co-dependent on my Savior. Lately, my prayer is to love others with this love that I can’t wrap my head around.  This love that I can only glean from Him and overflow onto others.  A love I don’t have in me naturally.  The ability to see others through His loving eyes and not my judgmental ones. 

I like this quote by Eleanor Powell:

“What we are is God’s gift to us.  Who we become is our gift to Him.”

Yes, Lord, I want to be the best present you have ever received!

CMO

2011 Goals

I came across these verses in my devotion this morning:
 " Commit to the Lord whatever you do- and your plans will succeed" -Proverbs 16:3
"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty" -Proverbs 21:5

There's always that inner dilemma for me of finding the balance of faith and planning.  On extreme may say that to live by faith is not to have set plans, because our timeline isn't God's.  The other extreme may plan too much down to the very minute of each day.  Depending on where you fall on this continuum, your theory will transfer over into every aspect of your life (in my opinion). 

I'm a "beaver" in so many aspects.  I love to be methodical about things.  Routine, scheduling and organizing gets me motivated.  I'm a very particular person in so many respects.  However, over the years of discovering this about myself- I'm realizing that it can be a bad thing to.  I was reminded of this when we set our goals for 2011 at the river on Saturday. 

We found a perfect place at a picnic table right on the river.  The water was extremely high, I'm guessing due to all the rain we have had lately. 

(Sidebar)  I love going there with Joseph.  It's the place he took me on our first date, and has been special ever since.  We have no usual routine when we go, but God always meets us there.  There's something about nature that brings peace and openness to our marriage.  Sometimes we will sit around and have the greatest conversations, and sometimes we will just sit and look at the sky- in awe of the creator's majesty that surrounds us.  Like I said, its a special place for us. 

(Anyway) I found myself preparing for this upcoming visit by making a list in my phone of all the things I wanted to contribute to our goal setting for this year.  If you have ever been in our home, you may have seen our blackboard above our garage door that has our list of goals on it for the year.  We usually categorize it into: Spiritual, Social, Financial- but this year we have added a Career category.  After rattling off my compiled list, I realized that most of them went into our "financial/investment" category.  Typical "beaver".  After our list was all done, we realized that our smallest category was Spiritual.  Typical humans.  Convicted?  Absolutely.  Here was our list before categorizing:

1. Joseph- graduate with MA in Education
2. Maintaining a healthy weight
3. Sell Camry/Buy new car
4. Put new flooring/carpet in home
5. Finish painting kitchen/master bedroom
6. Cut back on/re-evaluate one bill a month
7. Organize a Crisostomo camping reunion trip this summer
8. Go on a family trip with Steph and Jen
9. Joseph target goals for possible career change
10. Family vacation with White/Crisostomo clan
11. Go to a marriage retreat/couple's seminar
12.  Make first contact with a Connection Point couple within one week of receiving info
13. Up our offering
14. Make contact with oneneighbor once a month
15. Three trips to visit our brother
16. Visit San Diego right before Christmas this year
17. Send monthly card to two friends
18. Pay off 3 cards and pay Kern Fed down
19. Reconnect with accountability to restart practical evangelism
20. Maintain quiet time area for Steph

Our theme verse that we decided on this year is Romans 15:13:
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by he power of the Holy Spirit."

After realizing where most of our goals were focused, Joseph made a practical point in that we need to live with "Today" as our focus.  We talked more about it and decided that "This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it" will be another theme for us this year. 

It is our prayer that no matter what comes this year, our focus will be on God and God alone.  That we will truly overflow with hope, peace and joy as we trust that He will provide for us spiritually, socially and financially all year long.  All that to say, often I've got to push that "beaver" aside and be spirit-led.  Even if it means breaking routine or going off schedule- my ultimate schedule is a kingdom one.  Is it bad to plan?  I believe those verses, from my devotion today, say no..it's not.  I know God values a woman of wisdom, and that part of being a "woman of noble character" is being self disciplined. 

So...I look forward to the days that lie ahead in 2011!
CMO