I guess Im in a social networking mood today. So far, in the past hour I’ve posted on Facebook, Tumblr and Yelp. This is more than I have in a long time…and also probably bingeing mode since I’m probably gonna be away from social media for the summer.
Anyway, I’ve been meaning to post something about my house for a while now but never got around to it. Today we FINALLY took some official house pictures together in honor of Jenn’s going away to Smith for the summer and therefore gives me a reason to post! Where do I begin with this house? ….No joke: God is so good to us. From the beginning to the end, He has provided in every possible way and continues to shower abundant grace upon us. It’s already been close to a year since we’ve moved into this house, and it feels as though we’ve gone through SO much together within that one year; it’s ridiculous. From windows that wouldn’t open, dust, rats, Shulem, fleas, night stalkers, boisterous neighbors, to experiencing God’s presence in the prayer room, 3 hour long house meetings where we’d pray and worship and share about how God’s moving in our lives, set the ground rules for a “culture of honor” in our house, and honestly tackle the messy roommate issues that are bound to come up in a house full of girls. You’d think living in a house with 6 girls would be an estrogen-filled nightmare, but surprisingly, coming home has been the most relaxing and comforting part of my day on so many occasions. I’ve been super blessed to be able to commune with not just sisters from Livingwater but from other churches, and to get a tiny glimpse of what unity in the Body might possibly even look like. There were indeed times when we moved in in the beginning when I wanted to just give up on living there because it seemed too hard to fight for the promises that God had given us for this house. But we found that it was only a matter of driving out the problems before settling in. Through this house, I was able to see what it really looks like to live in community and not just for the sake of living together, but to really believe that God has us together for a reason beyond our own comfort and foresight. As cheesy as this sounds, it’s really so much more beautiful than anything I could’ve orchestrated on my own.
The narrow path doesn’t seem so narrow because I’m walking with you…
giggles :)
“A person who has wrong doctrine and humility can be corrected. A person with mostly right doctrines and no humility will be resisted by the Lord he professes to serve.”
Seeing eye dog, love.
this is for one of my disciples <3
(Source: thedailywhat)
Yesterday’s depth is feeling really shallow
-misty edwards
May this be the story of my life today.
I would probably put up an INSTAGRAM of my sad failed cookies to go along with this post. But I dont have an iphone so… just imagine some sad, formless blobs on a cookie sheet.
It was my first attempt at baking without a recipe. I foolishly got so pridefully confident in my own ability, that I threw out the wise counsel of allrecipes.com and went ahead on my own wisdom. “How hard could it be?” I thought, “I’ve baked enough times to know how to do it without a recipe.” The disastrous outcome humbled me. It was an amusing reminder that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. It doesn’t matter how good my discipleship is, how well my small group went, how on fire our prayer meetings are, if I don’t check my pride, the cookies will crumble. (kekeke)
But God is also the redeemer and works all things for the good of those who love Him. When I came home, most of the sad formless blobs were gone because my eager roommates who love eating me apparently thought they were still good and ate them regardless of the unsightly presentation. Thank you Abba, that I can always be a child even as I’m growing up :)
Love always looks like something. Love is conceptually simple but incredibly difficult to carry out. It is mostly subtle and therefore can easily be missed. But the opportunities are plentiful. Love looks like obedience. Love looks like smiling at strangers as they walk busily by and catching them off guard with a “hello!” or a “good morning!” Love looks like stopping for the one person to offer them a hand with their groceries. Love looks like giving up your seat for someone on the bus, even though they aren’t a senior citizen or disabled. Love looks like sacrificing precious and necessary sleep to show up for the 8am tabling shift, even though it’s below freezing outside and you might be the only one there. Love looks like offering your apartment as a place to store church stuff and willing to be woken up at 7:50 in the morning, and then coordinating being home at 3 so that you can open the door for them. Love looks like responding to a last minute facebook post at 7:30 am to help carry heavy stuff down three flights of stairs. Love looks like binding hundreds of pages of discipleship manuals late at night after a small group potluck and a long first day at school so that others can get theirs that much sooner. Love looks like buying a cup of coffee for the guy on the corner and hearing his story out, even though it might be completely made up. Love looks like spending time to write out a thoughtful letter to your Compassion child to go with that monthly donation. Love looks like getting on your knees and praying for your family, even though it seems like nothing is really changing. Love looks like picking your roommate up when she calls you for a ride, even though you were just about to hop in the shower. Love looks like taking the time to ask how your roommate is doing, even when everything seems normal. Love looks like attacking the sink full of dishes that aren’t yours. Love looks like picking up a piece of trash you see on the floor at church, because it’s your house too. Love looks like staying 2 extra hours after a weekend retreat of fasting to clean the bathrooms and floors. Love looks like asking the telemarketer how she’s doing even though she just woke you up. Love looks like tipping the barista even though he was rude. Love always looks like something. Love always looks like Someone.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. - 1 Cor 13:1-3
Testify! -
Thanks Christine Louie @ the Ark for featuring my story from Naos. PTL!
“The cost of disobedience is higher than the cost of obedience” — Mike Bickle