My awesome little brother is raising funds for diabetes.
Please consider helping him out.
It is for a really great cause!
Thanks!

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?px=6632978&fr_id=7575&pg=personal

Let Faith Arise

This song has been on my mind and in my heart today. Let it bless you.

Be still, there is a healer
His love is deeper than the sea
His mercy, it is unfailing
His arms are a fortress for the weak

Let faith arise
Let faith arise

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever

Be still, there is a river
That flows from Calvary's tree
A fountain for the thirsty
Pure grace that washes over me

So let faith arise
Let faith arise
Open my eyes
Open my eyes

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God

You are faithful, God, forever

Let Faith Arise
By Chris Tomlin

Jesus in my psychology class...

I am taking a psychology class on child development this year. My professor, though slightly crazy, is pretty awesome. But oh man, seems like most days I just sit through class and the only thing going through my mind is "wow, God. It is amazing that you created us this way!" I have learned so many things that make scripture where God calls us His children even more amazing! For example...

1. Did you know that you should sleep in the same bed as your baby until the little booger is about 18 months (or has reached a concrete level of thinking)? Putting babies in a separate room as mom before they are thinking concretely is basically making that baby believe mom is no more.

2. If you sleep in the same bed as your baby, mom and baby's heart rate will become in sync with one another.

3. Mom's milk is the best stuff on the planet for baby. Via their madre, the baby will receive the perfect amount of calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, etc.

4. To most of us a room full of crying babies just sounds like screams and tears, but to mom she can pick out which cry is her baby.

These are just a few of the awesome things I'm learning. And through these things I saw lots of parallels...

1. In the beginning of walking with Jesus, He shows Himself. He gives you the foundation you need before that trial or hardship. He teaches you that He is there.

2. (This one is SO cool!) If we walk with Jesus. We go where He goes. We do what He does. We follow Him. Our heart will begin to look like His heart. Our heart will sync with His.

3. Jesus is all we need. period. He is the sum of the Father's love for us. He is perfect. We chase after other things, but all they do is make us sick. He knows how to fill us, we just have to be open to it.

4. God hears your cries. He knows each of your tears. Isn't that amazing? The God of all creation hears it when you cry. Sometimes I feel guilty when I go to God about things that are "small" in comparison to the rest of the world. I mean, after all, I'm just one voice in a sea of pain. I am only one rain drop in a rainstorm that fills our world. But, God still hears me. He can recognize my cry, just like a mother in a room full of crying babies. And the coolest thing is, He can recognize your cry to. It is a crazy thing for me to wrap my head around, but God can see, hear, and attend to all of us at one time.

I have been praying for sometime that God would break my heart for what breaks His. That I would love humanity the way He does. That my hands and feet would go where He goes. Well, in my psy class we have also talked about the importance of physical touch for babies. For a child who is not touched, their brain will not develop. They will not grow. They die. This broke my heart so deeply! I cried out to God "here I am Lord! Send me!" To love the unwanted, untouched children of the world! This is my passion and my heart's deepest desire. But, God came with a response just this morning to my constant pleas. "I have children around you right now who need to be touched. It is MY touch that saves them. Not yours." If we as a church body, do not raise up and touch the lost and the hurting they will perish. Not that it is us that saves them. But that is our calling! That is our mission! To reach out and touch! To be Jesus' hands to the ones who are so desperate for Him and may not even know it. We call ourselves His body. Let it be so.

My heart is still broken over the orphans in the world who will not develop because no one will ever touch them. I am still eager and desperate to go to them. But, until He gives the word, I will stay where I am and touch those I am around. Won't you do the same?

God said "go!" and I was never the same...

I saw Jesus in their smiles.
I heard Him in their laughs.
These precious children,
have left their fingerprints on my heart,
forever.
I long for the day
when I am reunited with them.
God bless you, sweet ones,
whom are the beloved of the King.

The Call of Christ - Danita Estrella

Watch this video.
Let your heart be stirred for God's babies.
You won't regret it.
Promise.

God's Chest

One of my brother's has pneumonia right now. If you have never been around a little guy with pneumonia, let my try to sum it up for you: never ending hack-like coughing, intense and labored breathing, loss of appetite, and crying in their sleep. Needless to say, it is not fun. It kinda reminds me of when a baby has the croup. Mostly because of the difficulty breathing part. My mom told me that she has only been half-way sleeping since he has been sick. She partly stays awake to listen and make sure he keeps breathing. She did this when all us kids would get sick. This conversation with her got me thinking...

I have not had very many seasons in my life that I would say were like suffocating. I have been through hard things, yes. But there has really only been a handful of seasons where I felt like life was literally being sucked out of me. There was one in particular that is still fresh on my mind. It was what I not-so-lovingly-call my "dark season." If that sounds grotesque or emo, it isn't. It was just what it sounds like, dark. It was an intense season of deep sorrow, pain, and anger. I recently discovered an old journal (don't you love it when that happens!) and I read through just about all of it last night. Many of the prayers/rantings/cryings were for a breath of God, because I felt like I was suffocating.

Then, it hit me like a cool wave hits your hot sticky feet on the beach.

In seasons of pain, of doubt, of struggle, of suffocation...God scoops us up, lays our weary head on His chest and lets us breathe. He breathes in and out, in and out. He breathes over us.

"He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart..." -Isaiah 40:11

If you are in a "dark season" right now, if you feel like you are suffocating, if you are thinking you won't make it, run to Him. Let Him hold you. He is paying close attention. He will not take His ears or eyes off of you. If your breathing is labored right now, He knows it. He sees your affliction. He is not going to let it overpower you.

"After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, 'ephphatha!' (which means, 'be opened!'). -Mark 7:33-34

If you are suffocating right now, then this is my challenge:

Be raw with Jesus. Ask Him to open you up. Ask Him to be so intimate with you that you can feel Him on your tongue. Feel His hands cupped around your face. Feel Him sigh over you, and whisper words of healing.

I love you, friend. Be blessed this day.

Embrace

I found this poem randomly today. I wrote it a while back. Just thought I'd share. May it encourage you today :)

you know that feeling...

the one where the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

where nothing is going the right way.

where you don't know how you are going to survive the next day.

it is the feeling that makes your heart pound.

the feeling of being forgotten, insignificant, a failure.

escaping it is a goal that not many attain.

that is the feeling that makes you go numb inside.

numb to the evil around you.

numb to the kindness someone tries to offer you.

numb to the world.

numb toward God.

and if you ask God to fix it.

He whispers one simple word.

embrace.

embrace the task set before you.

embrace what I have called you to do.

embrace, Me, and remember I am not your feelings.

He doesn't force us.

we have to choose Him daily.

everything screams inside you: NO!

you don't like it.

you almost despise it.

and yet He keeps telling you, embrace.