Slovene Snapshot...

Hello!
Its coming fast and I am just over a week of when I will be flying back to Slovenia!!

There are just a few things that need to fall into place so that I can go. According to my records I only need $305 a month for my monthly support. Josiah Venture however is saying that I need $805 of monthly support. Why is this?! Well unfortunately Josiah Venture can’t go on promised pledges. I’ve spoken with many of you about sending in your support and you have been so incredible gracious. Thank you!

If you are considering sending support, now is a Great time to do it!! Josiah Venture won’t let me go until I am at 100% of my monthly support, and like I said promised pledges aren’t good enough for them.

Thanks so much for your participation and prayers!

Please Direct Support to:
Josiah Venture
PO Box 4317
Wheaton, IL 60189

Prayers…
• Please pray that the rest of my monthly support will not only be pledged but also come in!
• Also please pray for added dental and health expenses that I have incurred since I’ve been in the states to be covered as well!

White Shirts and Truly Living...

I recently read this story... of a woman recalling an incident of when she was little girl. She talked about how she would watch her sister hang up their Dad’s shirts to dry and how one day she wanted to show her Dad love by helping. In her innocence this young girl hung up his nice white shirts on an old rusty weel barrel. Dad came home and was so angry at her for completely ruining his nice shirts and she was humiliated. Well as an adult she recalled this story to a friend and shared that her image of God was often shaped by that of her angry Father. That he was a God angry at her mistakes. But now she recognized that in reality God was not like her Father. The true God would not even look at the destroyed shirt but would run to her and love Her regardless of what she had done. This woman’s friend stopped her and then corrected her.

He said, I actually I don’t think that is what God would do. God as the Father would notice the shirt, then he would take it, and he would put it on, and he would wear it to work the next day. And when people asked, he would say, “yes, let me tell you about my beautiful daughter and how much she loves me.”

I think there is a false idea of religiosity that says that its not ok, to not be not ok. In that book Im reading by Stasi and John Eldridge they talk about inviting God into your pain. I liked that idea, because although I probably would never admit this, I think I like to clean up before I go to God. I don’t like to come to God angry or come to God hurt or bored. I try to come into his presence with a continued attitude of joy, always rejoicing, worshiping or praising him. As though the God of the Universe isn’t going to notice that my lips are saying one thing and my heart is feeling another? But what if my heart needs to walk through a bunch of junk before I can shout out my praises? Don’t we serve a God that would want to walk through this junk with us in order that we may more properly and fully worship him?

And infact wouldn't he, like the loving God and Father that he is take joy in the cross and take joy in my vulnerability and welcome me unto himself so proud that I infact offered myself without trying to make myself perfect?

I read this verse this morning....You who seek God may your hearts Live! Psalm 69:32

I think truly living is living not just the joy but the difficult things as well, and how much much more exciting then to do this in the presence of the God who gave His all for me--imperfect as I am. My hearts prayer today is that I will truly live.

All shall be well...

"Think of what it is like to be caught in traffic for more than an hour. Horns blaring, people shouting obscenities. Exhaust pouring in your windows, suffocating you. Then remember what its like to come into a beautiful place, a garden or a meadow or a quiet beach. There is room for your soul. It expands. You can breathe again. You can rest. It is good. All is well.

I sit outside on a summer evening and just listen, and behold, and drink it all in, and my heart begins to quiet and peace begins to come into my soul. My heart tells me that 'All will be well,' as Julian of Norwich concluded. 'And all manner of things will be well.' That is what beauty says, All shall be well.

And this is whats its like to be with a woman at rest, a woman comforable in her feminine beauty. She is enjoyable to be with. She is lovely. In her presence your heart stops, holding its beath. You relax and believe once again that all will be well.

And this is also why a woman who is striving is so disturbing, for a woman who is not at rest in her heart says to the world, 'All is not well. Things are not going to turn out all right.' 'Like a fountain toubled,' as Shakespeare said, 'muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty.' We need what Beauty speaks. What it says is hard to put into words. But part of its message is that all is well. All will be well." (Captivating by John & Stasi Eldridge)

I ended up pushing back my plane ticket to Slovenia and am living on the Central Coast of CA until I raise up enough support to go back. Since realizing this would be the case there have been three words that have been floating around in my heart and mind. Beauty, Rest, and Worship.

The word beauty has emerged from the book Captivating that I recently picked up and have been reading. Sitting on the beach this afternoon I read the above excerpt and the words resonated in my soul. To be at rest is to be beautiful. And to be beautiful is to be at rest.

Realizing that the Lord has me on the Central Coast right now has caused me to westle and ask, "Why!?" His answer to me has been twofold. Worship and Rest.

I don't have many friends down here anymore. Im housesitting for my best friend who is in Hawaii on her honeymoon. So, my days seem very quiet and at times, lonely. Its so easy for me to seek to fill my time with meaningless activities--but deep in my spirit I hear the words, Beauty, Worship, and Rest. I believe that The Lord is telling me that as I cease striving, All shall be well.