Camp Manhattan, revisited.

We serve a powerful and amazing God! Lately I have been really seeking His will and seriously asking for Him to be evident in my life and to use me to touch and bless other people's lives... And you know God, when you ask to be used, He will use you. When you ask to be challenged and stretched, taken out of your comfort zone, pushed, He will do those things. It wont always be easy, and it wont always be fun, but God will use you and bless others because of your willingness to love and be a servant.

Its funny, I suppose. I started the summer, and spent the first month or so kind of wishing I was in another state, perhaps a foreign country, gosh at least outside of Manhattan somewhere, doing something new and different, something that's not comfortable, easy, and what I do on any regular [non-summer] days. I was jealous of friends in China and Arizona [and every place in between] and wished I could be outside my easy little box being challenge, doing real ministry, serving God somewhere else.. [It's just so much easier for me to see needs when they aren't the norm, as in not my everyday. I guess I walk by the same people and needs here each day and eventually stop seeing them. It's all so new and obvious when I'm somewhere else.]

Here's the thing though. There is hurt, pain, challenge and need all around me. There are broken people crying out for someone to hear them, just to listen. There are so many opportunities under my nose and I have become numb to their affect.

Today I asked God for an opportunity. I asked God to show me. I asked God to use me, to bless another. I asked God to challenge me to be more. I asked God to convict me and not let me turn my eyes from need. It's funny, ya know, when you seek God and actually pay attention and look for those opportunities, and recognize the need all around. God is doing so much, so many great and powerful things all around me, and too often I have grown complacent and comfortable in my surroundings and miss Him completely.

God is so good and I am constantly amazed by his amazing power and grace displayed all around me.


"Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!" -Psalm 68:34-35

bedbugs, literally.

So if you have ever been to our house you know it is not the newest, nor the most bug-proof. I just saw a bug, in my bed, sitting next to me. SICK! My sheets are already off and down in the laundry room awaiting the completion of the load I started earlier. I am folding all the clothes that have been sitting, crumpled, clean, at the end of my bed for at least a week. It feels like real finals week (just took a final tonight for one of my summer classes) and I have class again at 8:30 tomorrow morning, then work after that, and what am I doing, sleeping? Nope, cleaning. I suppose it is good I have found the inspiration to clean; for which I am grateful, as I am officially worried about bugs and cleaning my whole room now. Tomorrow morning I will likely not be as grateful for said inspiration... oh well! :) If you are in the area in the next, ohh, hour, come on by and bring a mop, I should really mop my room, the bathroom, and our kitchen.

A good day today, yesterday was just an off one. Praise God for his new mercies and the love he shows all day everyday no matter what my mood is. Thank goodness he never gets so annoyed with me that he ceases to love. Uncompromising, never ending, unconditional, real love. So beautiful.

iLove love. and I love God.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." 1 John 3:1

gross.

i can't see my floor.
i have like, three things clean to wear.
i ate like, six brownies tonight.
i have piles all over my desk at work.
did i mention i cannot see my floor?
when was the last time i washed my sheets?
or cooked?
or went to the rec?
gross.

i am disgusted with myself and i feel like i am running my fastest, only to be barely keeping up with the rest of the runners. i go to bed tired and wake up exhausted. summer school is for the birds. i hate birds. eight more days. then a week and moving out. then vacation. then moving in and back to work. then school. then Christmas.

i'm losing speed.

"The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:2

"God is my strength and power: and he makes my way perfect." 2 Samuel 22:33