Oh- one update

Tom and I are getting married on July 1, 2006. (Just 38 short days away) Glory to God!! This is HIS story!!! :-)

For HIS Glory alone!

Angela

People will marvel at what they see of God in us!

The title of today's blog is accredited to something I am learning by reading (for the third time over the course of several years) a book by E. George A Woman After God's Own Heart. On page 25 she writes

"We want what other people see of our life- the public portion- to stir up this kind of awe and wonder. We want our strength in public to be explained by what goes on in private between us and God. If we faithfully nurture what is beneath the surface of our life, people will marvel at what they see of God in us!"

Jn 10:10
Psalm 1:3
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Psalm 84:7
Phillipians 4:7

All of these scriptures can help us think about nurturing the life God wants us to have with him and will automatically transform our lives and relationships with all others we encounter in our days of living on this earth, our temporary dwelling.

Other additional thoughts I have gained this morning through Mrs. George's book:

You cannot be with people all of the time and have a ministry to people.

Our effectiveness to the Lord requires wise decisions regarding time.

C.A. Stoddard said, "We [must] say 'no' not only to things which are wrong and sinful, bu to the things pleasant, profitable, and good which would hinger and clog our grand duties and our chief work."

Have a marvelous day!!!

Angela

Glory to God

The past few days (since March 21st) have been the most amazing of my life so far. I have learned more about the Lord in these past six days than I would have ever thought possible... he is possibly the man I have been praying for for 13 years... I am in a courtship; it has only just begun. As we take ONE day at a time God seems to be offering back very full days :) We aren't this smart; I couldn't have planned for this; so I know this is ALL from the Lord and I am just excited to be along and around to see what the NEXT day has to offer.

Jesus is the sweet lover of my soul and my reason for being. I am so amazed to be living one day at a time for him and pray that he continually uses ME and my life to show his glory. All glory, honor and praise be given to Christ alone!!!

Big Wedding day tomorrow

My little cousin is getting married tomorrow. I am so excited for her and I truly pray that her marriage will be blessed! Guess I better go wrap the present :)

HOME

There's no place like home... or at least there's no place like home after you have been stuck in an airport for many hours!! :)

I was delayed a bit on my journey back home Sunday from OC... (Orange County, CA). We had a 23 hour delay in OHARE. Note to self-- try to avoid travel though there again if at all possible, esp. on United because it seems they are notorious for delays of some sort out of there.

Anyway, it was great to make it home last night after a truly wonderful weekend (a bit chilly, but still great to be there-- I now understand the beauty of Southern CA-- it is truly beautiful and breath taking to be on the beach there; esp. in San Clemente and also Laguna Beach). The Birthday party was a smashing success and the time with some good friends as well as new friends :) was wonderful; just what I needed for sure!

On another note, I am now a Mary Kay Consultant!! I can't even believe it. I'd been thinking about it for a while, but I made the official "commitment" tonight. So if anyone out there needs product, let me know and I'll see what I can do! :) I give great discounts for anyone who wants the product :)

If I Had One Chance To Tell You Something

Rebecca St. James and Co. (Barlow Girl and Jadon Lavik) came to Fort Leonard Wood last night! It was an excellent concert. They have such a great opportunity for ministry and I was really impressed at how they use the event to usher people into worship.

At the end Rebecca encouraged those who made decisions of any sort to take this advice she had learned from people that passed on good solid advice to her and cling to it as they step forward (and I think it was a good reminder to all of us, whether we made "new" decisions or reaffirmed decisions in our hearts last night)

1. Get in the WORD (The Bible is our roadmap)
2. Get in PRAYER (Prayer is our connection to listen and talk to the Father through Jesus)
3. Meet some Christian friends and get ACCOUNTABLE
4. Get out the JUNK (Let the Holy Spirit do it's convicting work)
5. Get involved in a local CHRISTIAN ( and I would add Bible preaching, believing, etc.) church

Very simple yet profound things, if you think about it- Five key ingredients to follow hard after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I also wanted to share on the blog some scripture Rebecca shared with us from the Message version of the Bible.

http://www.biblegateway.com

Ephesians 3:14-21

14My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, 15this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. 16I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit--not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength-- 17that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 18you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! 19Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
20God can do anything, you know--far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
21Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

Yes, God, Glory to you through all millennia- May this generation rise up to give you Glory in all of our lives!!

Rainy Day in the Ozarks

It has been a beautiful rainy day here in the Ozarks today. We have desperately needed the rain!

Makes me think of how often we desperately need God's grace; even more than we need rain. Grace like rain, falls down on me... all my stains are washed away... Todd Agnew sings of this grace in his song Grace Like Rain.

A new day has begun

OK, So I am going to through my perfectionistic side out the window right now, simply because I do not have the time to really commit to doing this "blog thing" the way I would like... But knowing me the way I know me I don't think I would EVER be truly satisfied with a post and just go ahead and post it... So this is going to be a huge exercise in restraint to just "post" things and not overanalyze if I should be saying what I put out there or if I have said it correctly or.. yadda yadda yadda

Today is a new day for me... I just thought of my friend Wakiel, in Central Asia. He was saying last week that it is a new day for this country we were in and we are very excited. Well I haven't been through over 25 years of war and been completely demolished, but it is still a new day for me. Yesterday, after three and a half and three days of service at the bank I worked for, I worked my last day as Assistant Operations Officer. I don't think it has had time enough to sink in because if you had asked me at the start of this week (my first day back from my trip to Central Asia) I would never have dreamed I would be telling you that this was my first day in three and a half years of NOT being associated with the bank... but this is what has happened. God has totally blown me away this week in his soverignty and great love he has shown for me in providing for my EVERY need this week.

OK, So since I really just started this blog today so I could go post on my friend David's little sisters website (and I know in the long run joining the ranks of the bloggers will help make my posting comments easier) I should go ahead and get back to that.

Until later,

For HIS glory,

Angela