Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Do you know beautiful?

Sometimes the sunsets are too much for me to take. I get lost in sentimentality and all the troubles melt away. Nature does that. Not just sunsets, but green meadows and forests and the smell of pine. They're God's little reminders that he knows what we like and wants to give it to us.

Simple thoughts today. For a simple day.

I was going to leave it at that. But I reread my writing. And the statement "nature does that." Makes me think about that word in its many forms. Nature. What's natural. What's created. All I know is "it comes from you." And that includes everything pure and lovely and true...

i'm so sappy! who wants to watch an action film tonight? hahaha. kidding. i'd go for a chick flick, obviously.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Faith

It's a writing kind of day. Deary outside...took a 90 minute walk. But I've got so many, many thoughts inside my head that have to find an outlet. So...now we move onto faith. Faith, hope and love right? I suppose later I'll get inspiration on the second later today? Bzzzzz. Forgive me, as I know I'm preaching to the choir...but I'm kind of in teacher mode as well, right now.

Okay...so sometimes the Word of God just comes alive to you. Have you had this experience? Sometimes you'll just be walking along. My experience is you have to try to meditate on the Word cause certainly our world is not living it. So you've got to will it into your life, invite it in. So once you decide..."I'm going to think about God's principles"...I've found that at times, something will just strike you and it's like a secret is revealed to you. Miraculously, you've got clarity on the thing you've been struggling with or you're instantly at peace because you found the key! You know how to get yourself out of the prison or the chains and locks that have kept you confused or bound or just made you plain exhausted from fighting against them. But you've been fighting so much because you instinctively know this is not how it is supposed to be. You've sensed that deep inside something is missing and you've been longing and searching for that truth that will unlock the gate from which peace flows.

So simply...the Bible holds ALL those truths. Life as a follower of Christ is a continual truth excavation. You get restless, don't know what you're longing for...but one day God opens the skies of mercy and shows you what that verse means. You've read it 90 times or maybe you've even meditated on it and mantra-ed it every day. But there comes a day when you get it and that makes all the difference to your journey.

About 30 minutes ago. I laid my head down on my desk (my awesome God-gift desk) and was just like, "Why don't I get this?" And I remembered this verse:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
That's a particular translation and is, in fact, not the translation I own. I knew it was Hebrews 11 that God was speaking to me from...but my Bible doesn't say it like this. So I had to look online. And it was exactly written as I had heard it in my head. (No, I am not hearing voices.) Okay...there it is. What struck me funny is...the word evidence. Do you know how many sermons I have sat through in my life about this verse? And it never once clicked with me until just now.
Things not seen. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I've been teaching on it some too. About how there are spiritual realities that exist and that are waiting to manifest in the physical realm. Prayer is what makes those things manifest. But...how are we to know what God wants to happen in this physical world when we can't see the spiritual? I have felt so lost on this subject. How do I know what to pray for? How do I know I am not praying outside of God's will? How do I know that I am not wasting my time in my thought life?
Evidence. There IS evidence of spiritual realities, which we cannot see. That evidence is faith. If faith exists (and lasts) then it is evidence. The Bible says so. And I take God at his word. This is a great revelation.
So I ask myself: Do I honestly have faith about the things I've been praying about? If not, why am I praying that way? Is it my will or God's will that is trying to set things in motion? If it's God's will, then it already exists in the spiritual realm. As in God has already thought of it, is in favor of it and desires to see it happen here in our physical realm.
Okay perfect example: My dad. I've got this overwhelming peace that he is going to be okay. In fact, there have been days and continue to be days where I will think they won't even need to take his bladder. These passing thoughts have so given me peace that I believe them to be true and working themselves out right now. My anxiety about his health has passed. My worries are gone. I have faith he is going to be fine. The Bible says that is evidence of things not seen. And that, my friends, is AMAZING!
Now...to walk this out in everything. To ask myself, do I have honest faith? If so, pray into it until the peace comes. And then wait for God to make physical what he created. What a beautiful Savior! What a wonderful God!

More

I think I'm still on the subject of love. It makes us do crazy things, don't you think? But what I'm noticing is that the number one thing love seems to do is sacrifice. That's how you know it's love. If there isn't sacrifice, there isn't love. And I think if we look at our example, this ultimately proves to be true about his life as well.

He sacrificed more than any created thing could possibly ever sacrifice for love. He did it daily. It wasn't just the death on the cross that was sacrifice. It was his daily death that proved his love. His sacrifice reached its peak on the cross and that might be the most memorable part...but it's not the only part.

Christ left perfect comfort and peace and harmony. He left the very presence of God. He came to a place that was dirty and put himself in the mix. He felt the absence, the desperation, the way we have to cry out for God the Father in order to accomplish things. He decided to feel what we feel. Can you even imagine? I know pain...but I know it because I know peace. I continue to contend that we know nothing but by contrast. Can you imagine the contrast Christ felt in coming to this earth? He knew a different reality. I imagine he was a man of many tears. In prayer, I've had my gut wrenched with pain over grief and thought my very chest was going to collapse, but I imagine daily he knew a reality of sacrifice that we cannot even begin to imagine.

Isn't it interesting what happens to us when we know someone is sacrificing for us? We know that means they love us. It's almost always like, "You didn't have to do that. You shouldn't have gone out of your way for me." Why do we say things like that? If they didn't we'd contend that they never do anything for us...no, love is known for it's sacrifice. We almost expect it though we shy away from it.

I have no clue why these thoughts are on my mind today. Maybe it was something my dad said last night...maybe it was my dreams...maybe it was the love of my roommate. It's definitely got something to do with "Start the Machine." (wow.) I don't know...just thoughts from a random me.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Bit O' Love

I think that my mom is the unsung hero(ine) of my dad's whole story.

It's my mom who changes the bag that drains his left kidney.
It is she who also cleans the tube that comes out his back and attaches to that bag.
She does this nightly.
It is Paula who takes care of the problem with his feet. Puts the lotion on him and wraps the foot with plastic.
It is she who monitors all his many pills. For without her, he would overdose because of the pain.

It's my mom who is washing the linens and towels every day so that he has no risk of infection.
It is she who kicks their last cat off the bed at night.
And listens to her cry.
It is Paula who drives him 3 hours to chemo and 3 hours back back every week.
It is she who must give all the updates and be responsible for all the information.

What a woman! I've never been so proud of her in all my life. I didn't know she had it in her. But her love pouring out into and on my dad is a sweet offering. My friend, Jenny, told me tonight she saw my mom breaking an alabaster jar over Christ when she is helping my dad. How precious. And praise be to the Lord, Gayle tonight heard God say that HE is going to heal my father and work a miracle! I accept that! I believe! I can't wait to see how big it is!

Okay to the love part. Oh, did you think that I already addressed that? No...what I'm about to tell you is something I might just cherish for the rest of my life. Long after my parents pass away (in God's appointed time), I will remember something my mom said last night. She said she couldn't talk long because dad was in the shower and she doesn't get much of a break lately. But she had a few minutes to talk. When he gets out he needs assistance right away. So we talked a few. And then she said, "Oh, I hear him getting out of the shower. I better go get my little man."

That may not sound odd to you, but to me...those were words of grace and healing to my soul. I have never heard my mom use a term of endearment or affection towards my father. That would be the first! 29 years...PRAISE GOD for the changes happening in them both! I love how through this they are becoming one and softening to each other. I know there is so much I do not see because I am not there...but I know God is with them and even though it is painfully tough...they are being changed through God's grace and love.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Happy, Shiny

It's only my misperception that sometimes God rocks. There is no sometimes with God. That's my pure opinion, of course. But I think the word points to God's consistency. It's only our human perception that God is sometimes this or that.

Anyways...I'm super happy today cause I feel like the tides are changing. Which way is supposed to be the negative energy of a tide anyways? I suppose I should not use analogies I do not fully understand. In any case, I am starting to feel like the events of my life are turning out positive again. Which is also another misstatement...because in that I have apparently believed a lie. Nothing turns out for bad for those who love Christ Jesus. So...my misconception stands corrected by reason. I love it when I'm tired like this. Seems I think more clearly.

Okay...so I just want to count my blessings today. Cause there are many. There always are...sometimes we just seem them more clearly.

1. Spiritual warfare over my life and especially car continue to be strong. My car died in traffic this morning within two minutes of me putting on the Christian radio station. Then it proceeded to do its reving thing which scares the cripees out of me, usually. I laid hands on my vehicle and prayed. Warfare means God is active. What a blessing.
2. My lovely family and the circumstances which have brought us closer. It almost saddens me that I missed them all these years. But elates me that I finally see.
3. My kooky roommate...who hangs PARTY things on my door for when I get home at 12:30am. What the heck, Marce. What the heck!
4. Jesse! You're back. That's a huge blessing...cause who else can I talk about all the crazy stuff we talk about with? And even though I'm rusty, I still work...and it's nice to be using my mind and energy to its potential. hmm...blessing or curse? Also, it's hard to be down around jj. jj--hahaha!
5. DeBeBe's owner. You are such an amazing friend. What blessing bomb dropped on me last year? You are grace flowing over.
6. Stacey....hold on. I'm saving you for number 7. Number 6 is then...Maguy, my psycho dog...who is now potentially a serial killer who then dies from the pack of Tavis's black bitches. But seriously, who else takes hour long walks with me every day? I bet she'll even hike near the ocean with me, if I took her!
7. Stacey! Mom of 2. I love you cause you're you. (Poet, know it.)
8. Shout out to Metro staff. Thanks for welcoming me! You're awesome and you're fulfilling the prophecies that God's given so that's a supa praise!
9. Metro Church. Seriously, God's spirit doesn't show up to a bunch of hard-hearted, prideful pinheads. Corporately, we are surrendered and it's beautiful to be a part.
10. I'd like to thank the Creator for California. and for sushi. and for sunsets. and for color. also, i'd like to thank Him for the iPod and my nose. (no one said this was a normal list.)
11. Oh wait...Also, thank you Creator for musical giftings in friends. Like Tav and Kenny and Tony. And people being able to smile.
12. lastly, thank you God for being timeless and boundless and all the lesses and all the mores we can never fully understand in this life.

Friday, January 12, 2007

The Tragedy of Space & Thought

I woke up today and my thoughts saddened me. I realised that since my move to Los Angeles, I have become very distant from one of my closest friends in Iowa. She recently got engaged and I have never met her fiance. That saddens me. I was reading Chambers yesterday and the passage of the day talked about the sacrifice others must give for our ministry. That we must know and accept that it will cost others something in order for us to do what God has called us to do. I hadn't thought of it like that before. I've only thought it was costing me. But that's a pretty grevious oversight given how connected and dependent the human race is as a species. Heck, more grevious in the context of ecosystems and checks and balances. So...I'm sure that even though my moment with Oswald yesterday was brief, the thoughts were there working themselves out, under the surface. So by the time I woke today, the first thoughts in my mind were of a friend I used to call best and the sadness that comes with not being able to say that anymore.

I've had this thought in the last couple months as well in a different sort. Because I have known since July that my Job phase had begun, I knew things had the potential for getting pretty bad. And in fact, getting bad for the people around me. Because Job did not suffer for his own personal injuries. He suffered first because those he loved most suffered. It cost his family and servants their lives in order for Job to go where God was taking them. I don't want to get into a theological debate about this. But, God did allow those people to be taken from this earth in a manner that was tragic and in a time that seemed too early to Job. Did Job grieve because of his loss or was his deepest pain the loss those closest to him went through? Probably both. But it there, both components. The interconnectivity of life.

And so it is with my dad. He suffers, we suffer. God is allowing me to be tested and tried. My question has been: how far will this go? And my plea has been: please don't touch my family. Please don't get me wrong. I don't have illusions of grandeur. I simply looked at the Biblical example a while ago and saw where it could be headed. And we are there now. Is my dad's cancer because God is working something out in me? I'm sure it is. Will he also use it for an infinite number of other purposes? Sure, he will. He already is. But there in my mind is the question of "first mover." Who caused this? Can we trace this back? And if we can, does it land on me? I am sure I will not have the answers to these questions in my lifetime. And if I do, I am sure they will be human rationalisation, which will be nothing less than incomplete.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Absentee Blogger

So it's been a while. I imagine I will need to email the two of you who are faithful to read this...and tell you I wrote again. It's been almost a month since I've wrote.

Once I got home though, as you can see by my absenteeism, things changed for me. I wasn't as stressed, just coping. Then I got through that and the announcement of Stage 4...and then the change back to LA occurred. Which entailed a persistent and haunting pain in my chest for over a week. I couldn't cry but I ached. I hurt. It was such a horrible feeling to be walking around like that, never resting. Just hurting. Aching in some 4th dimensional way.

So I got prayer last Sunday from faithful Gayle. And her prophecy came true and I've been released from that horrible, persistent collapsing feeling. But I have to keep laying it down. Laying my fears down. They amount to nothing. That's what the Lord told me through Gayle. My fears...all of them...equal a big ZERO.

That's nice. No really. It is. I have an entire sheet of unlined paper, front and back, full of fears I wrote out. No wonder I was collapsing. Imprisoned to my own mind, which is frankly obviously operating above the 10% line because it's capable of my own physical torture. I'd say I am genetically advanced. Okay...getting back to the point. Fear of getting kicked out of my house because of Maguy. Zero. Fear of saying something wrong. Zero. Being fat. Zero. I could go on, but you'd be here all night. And by then end, you'd know me more than I want you to. Somethings are just me and God. And since this is still a public blog...there are somethings you already know. So I don't have to tell you what I am afraid of. Especially if your name is Stacey. You know the most important ones, don't you? So...you get the point, right? I've had a really freeing experience this week and it's been amazing!

And the second part of her prophecy also came true as I am now working for the missions branch of my church! This also is fulfilling a prophecy from months ago Gayle had for me. So...things are finally moving. Things are FINALLY in motion. RESTORATION! I can feel it coming. I know it's not far off now. Maybe a few more dooseys and this Job stuff will be over.

I just can't get over it, though. All my fears amount to nothing. They are a zero in God's eyes. WOW. Double WOW. Nothing. Dad dying. There needs to be no fear. Ministry not happening. No fear. What a great revelation. I'm fairly sure I've been at this place before, but it's never felt this good. No, I've never stood in this spot before with the turmoil around me and decided to step out of it and into peace. I've never been up against this much at once. So...really I never have been here before.

It's like a little Welcome Home, Kristin party. Welcome Home. Welcome to where Jesus's Spirit lives. Evidence #1: Peace. Now, where's the love? (wink, wink....we all know where...now don't we? weather forecast sunny tomorrow.)

Night!