Tuesday, September 29, 2009

O God of Mine!!

I love Pandora. :)

This song has been coming up a lot lately and has quickly become a favorite of mine. Oh how easy it is to forget that we are joined forever to Christ, to God Almighty. And He is wonderful! That's the understatement of the century. Anyway, here are the lyrics and a video with the song...I'm not as enraptured with the "dance" in the video as much as I am with the song. This has been one of my many blessings this week.

Rita Springer - Oh God Of Mine



Oh God of mine, I’ll have no idols
Oh God of mine, come lead the way
Oh God of mine, I’m greatly humbled
This sinner’s heart You came to save

Oh God of mine through storm and trial
Oh God of mine through death and grave
Oh God of mine in resurrection
Your scars display my soul’s refrain

Oh God of mine Who holds all nations
Oh God of mine Who saves the day
Oh God of mine, Your grace sufficient
And tender mercies new by morn

Oh God of mine, forever faithful
Oh God of mine, forever stay
Oh God of mine, forever after
These eyes upon Your face will gaze

Monday, September 28, 2009

Heaven.

So, it's been 7 years today since Uncle Jeffy went to be with Jesus. I've always known that he is in a much better place and that really, things could not get even remotely better for him. However, today the Lord reminded me of a radically phenomenal truth......one day, I'm gonna be there too. If that's not extremely exciting, I really don't know what is! Are you guys excited too? I mean, come on....HEAVEN! It's so easy to get so wrapped up with the ridiculousness of the present that we totally lose sight of the eternal. As Mike would always remind us, we've gotta live with an eternal perspective. Why focus on this little blip on the timeline of eternity? It'll be gone in a heartbeat and then....God Almighty. Yessss!!! I can't wait!


This is a song that many of you who read this thing probably already know. I wrote it on the flight home from Uncle Jeffy's funeral. As the plane turned across the sky, I got a view of the most spectacular sunrise I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen a red that was so pure and deep....hence the first line of the song....



Heaven (Uncle Jeff's song)

The sun it rises every morning spreading colors across the sky
We see the beauty of an eagle as it spreads its wings to fly
Our God created wondrous things on earth for us to see
If we see things now as beautiful, think how much more will heaven be!

Oh heaven is a wondrous place, so far beyond the sky
Where there's no more pain and no more sorrow, no tear shall dim the eye
The Creator of the universe is reigning there on high
If we see things now as beautiful, think how much more will heaven be

The mountains rise up to the clouds, standing full of majesty
The wind that wanders all around us we can hear but cannot see
Oh our kind and loving Father made these things for us to see
If we find it all amazing, think how much more will heaven be!

Oh heaven is a wondrous place, so far beyond the sky
Where there's no more pain and no more sorrow, no tear shall dim the eye
The Creator of the universe is reigning there on high
If we see things now as beautiful, think how much more will heaven be

It's a place of awe and beauty oh so far beyond my dreams
Where the Father waits in glory with open arms to welcome me
For Christ's salvation covers me, from sin I've been set free
And in my heart I hold a promise that one day heaven I will see!

Oh heaven is a wondrous place, so far beyond the sky
Where there's no more pain and no more sorrow, no tear shall dim the eye
The Creator of the universe is reigning there on high
If we see things now as beautiful, think how much more will heaven be!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Wonder of Wonders.....Miracle of Miracles!!!

For those that either don't believe that it will ever happen or refuse to believe that it HAS happened.....there really is an animal that I, not only tolerate, I truly love him.
Ladies and Gents...meet Pete!

This is a picture of Pete sharing my wonderful surprise birthday party with me!!! I couldn't walk at the time, so he snuggled up on my lap and kept me company.






This pic isn't as flattering...and it's not as good quality because it was taken on my phone...nevertheless it's still sooo sweet. :) Since I've been sick, Pete spends a large amount of his time up here, either sleeping on my lap, watching me work, or sitting outside the door making sure I stay in bed (well, that's what Joel says he's doing...).
Ah yes, boys and girls, it has happened.
I love Pete.

Friday, September 25, 2009

I am loved. :)

So I've been sick over the past few days. Today has been the worst. Sore throat...sneezing....pulsing head (yes..the entire thing pulses)...stuffy/runny nose....smokers cough...aching body (yes...the entire thing aches).....and to top it all off, I get random urges to sleep and I keep zonking completely out at the most random times. With all of the randomness that I've dealt with this semester, I couldn't afford to miss any more classes, so I made it through them today and then I was just planning on going to my dorm and sleeping all weekend.
Well, Bethany, we call her Mama B., told me to go ahead and come over for a few days and get out of the dorm. So here I sit in a comfy bed, all cozy and warm. She brought my supper up to me on a tray and now I have a nice pot of tea on the table next to me. Mom and Dad, if ever you were in doubt, fear not...I'm in good hands!!
If that isn't enough lovin' being poured upon me, my lovely friend Tori came over here tonight and dropped off some wonderful home-made chicken soup, some bread, juice, fruit popsicles..and all sorts of wonderfulness for me!
Yes, indeed, I am loved. I'm so grateful that God blessed me with these lovely people. :)
Being sick is quite bearable when you're surrounded by wonderful friends.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I'm taking a 5 min break from my homework....

....to tell you guys how fantastic the Potter family is. They let me come over whenever I want, if I need to do homework I know I will not be bothered...as a matter of fact, if I get distracted, Bethany will come in and put me back to work. It's like having a home all the way over here in Michigan. They even bought me my very own special Potter house coffee mug! See?
Thank you God for giving me such lovely and loving people to take such good care of me continually! Ah yes, I love the Potters. :)

Joel, Owen, Jack, Bethany, and tiny Kate Lael is bangin around in Bethany's tummy. :)

Back to homework.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Oh. My. COW.

This has been the craziest of all crazy semesters. If you haven't heard from me....fear not. I'm not ignoring you....I just feel the need to help God hold the world together. Stupid me. As if He needs it. Nevertheless....I still do it.
So.......beginning of the semester....if I can think back that far..........
-Eric had to go home. A few of you have asked me about it. He didn't end up raising enough money to come back to school, so he's takin' a semester off and working like crazy. Keep him in your prayers.

-I moved into The Dungeon. It's been a guys dorm for eternity past and I'm the privileged person who can now claim to be it's first female RA. The guys, both current students and past students, are not thrilled about it at all. Oh...fyi...it's in the basement. haha It's one of the biggest dorms. There are 8 of us down there...4 of them being freshmen. It's definitely been a learning process.

-First week of classes one of my legs swelled up really ginormous with a plethora of bites. The other leg was in bad shape too. Long story short, I was in the emergency room for a while....sent back to the hospital a few days later.....had a Dermatologist come see me at the school....was on crutches and in a wheelchair for a few weeks...had the grossest most enormous blister/boil things on my legs....much pain....etc. It was pretty intense. The final verdict was that I was bitten by a venomous bug (probably a spider) of some kind and had an allergic reaction to it as well. I also found out that I'm allergic to the mosquitoes out here...which made a large contribution as well. Fear not, I'm all healed up now. It provided some very extreme and unwanted excitement to kick the semester off! But as always, God showed Himself to be faithful.

-Aside from my trip to the ER, my roomie Callie was deathly ill for a while to the point where we almost had to bring her in as well. Then last week I was back in the ER with my roomie Kati who was having some intense chest pain and difficulty breathing. I've never been to the ER as many times in my entire life as I have been there in the last month. Fun times.

-With all of the drama, sickness, and quality hospital time, I've been a step behind in my studies from day one. THIS is the reason ya'll haven't heard from me. The teachers have been so gracious in working with me and giving me extra time. However I'm becoming a pro at pulling all-nighters. Not particularly healthy....but often necessary.

-I'm learning the joys of getting along with people of all personalities. Loving when it's hard to love. Being patient, truly patient, rather than simply tolerant. I see the faithfulness of God every day and am constantly amazed that He loves me as much as He does. I'm getting my daily dose of Romans, Hebrews, and Corinthians every day. I get slapped around and then embraced by it's truth. Love hurts. :) In everything (and I've only related the tip of the iceberg here) the most wonderful thing that the Lord has taught me is to choose to be joyful in everything. Once I realized that I was missing JOY in my life, my anger, bitterness, and frustration faded away. I can't declare that it's completely gone, but it's easier to rest in God's grace and His provision when I choose to walk through my day rejoicing in all that He gives me and does for me.
What a good God we serve!!


Before I sign off, I'll give you all a quick (very delayed) overview of my lovely birthday. I had been hearing about how fantastic it was going to be for months from Eric, Becky, Kaylee, Bethany....and others. Everyone seemed to know about it but me! haha
It started with Eric coming aaaaall the way down to school and taking me out to the park for a lovely, traditional picnic, complete with the checkered blanket and big picnic basket. He gave me the most fabulous Bible ever (real leather cover with wide-lined margins for notes!), we ate sandwiches that he made, and then he taught me how to play backgammon. I won. :)
Next, I had to go change into nice cloths and he took me to a small, privately owned Italian restaurant. Becky helped him plan my day, so he helped her by taking me out to dinner with the money she sent him. Teamwork at it's finest. ;) It was wonderful.
I figured the day would be over since it was almost 7, but no! He stuck me in my wheelchair and wheeled me downtown to our favorite coffee shop. We made it there 2 minutes before closing, so we got our coffee and sat by the creek that runs through town and drank our coffee and chatted.
He said that Bethany wanted us to stop by her house so they could give me a gift really quick. I REALLY had to go to the bathroom so I got there and bolted through the house, straight into a group of my five best friends at school who yelled SURPRISE! I almost wet my pants. lol It was the nicest gathering in the world. Eric, Kaylee, Callie, Michelle, Steven, and the Potters....aside from my own family, it couldn't have gotten any better. They gave me gifts including a harmonica, playdough, a whiskey flask lol, a bouncy ball, a sock monkey...and more. haha That's true love! Eric made the cake himself, which I though was pretty impressive.
After that he took me back over to the school where we played chinese checkers. The first time we went to coffee together, we played chinese checkers for 2 hours. lol It was fun to remember it.
My favorite part of God's creation is the stars, so to finish off the night we went to a big open soccer field and he set up his dad's telescope that they'd spent the whole week fixing up. Unfortunately, the sky was full of clouds. It was okay though. It's the thought that counts. So we ended up just hanging out and talking.
I almost forgot...when I was hobbling up the stairs to go to dinner with him, when I opened the door, he was standing there all dressed up with a huge bouquet of orange and yellow gerber daisies!!! It was phenomenal. All in all, Eric did a good job. And believe it or not...this is the super condensed version!!!!

Anyway, I'm still alive. I'm learning. I'm blessed. I'm choosing JOY!!!
I love you guys and I promise to be in some sort of contact soon.
I miss ya'll!