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| Hey everyone! This guy from church helped us set up our own website---http://totheuttermost.com. We still have a lot of work to do on it, but we wanted to share it with you! This will be completely different from our newsletters...it's more for pics and what we are doing day-to-day kind of stuff. At least, I think it is--you'll have to check it out over the year to find out:) | | |
| Hmmm...blessings....so many, yet I wonder if I realize this. Your positive, non-believing friend hits home Amber--I feel the same way. How can I be so negative and say that I trust Him? Growing up in an "oh my goodness, what's wrong?" environment is no excuse. Current blessings:
1. time with God today ( I am ashamed to admit how long it has been since I've enjoyed this)
2. time alone (I haven't had a lot of this lately either, and I needed it)
3. getting to visit Dawn while Mike is in New York (I wish I could visit everyone I love--perhaps this would be a good reason to become a stewardess)
4. realizing that I am capable of becoming who I used to be without Him when I don't spend time with Him--perhaps this doesn't sound like a blessing, but I needed to be reminded of this. I get to this point where I think I will never be who I was, and I actually forget what He has done for me. I understand the Israelites more the older that I get. That constant cycle of becoming prideful and forgetting God--so easy to fall back into when I forget that the absolute main goal of my life is to know Him.
Has anyone heard that song, "Last Night in America"? I don't completely understand that song even though I've been trying to figure it out for some time now, but I do understand the struggle "Can I just live my life here and then move on?" The eternal struggle of flesh vs. spirit, me or Him, life or death. Well, my computer is dying and I can't find the power cord, so I guess I am finished for now:) | | |
| We are leaving for China for the next two years! Of course, we have lots more to say about this, but we are in MS until next Wed., so it's kind of hard to get connected to the internet....we don't know exactly where we will be in China, but we will be teaching English in a university. I will update much more when I get a chance!
Love you,
Steph | | |
| We are leaving for China for the next two years! Of course, we have lots more to say about this, but we are in MS until next Wed., so it's kind of hard to get connected to the internet....we don't know exactly where we will be in China, but we will be teaching English in a university. I will update much more when I get a chance!
Love you,
Steph | | |
| Saturday night I went to an ice skating exhibition with Mike's Mom, and I saw something I haven't seen in a long time--someone doing what they were created to do. I don't know quite how to explain this because it transcends something you can put into words, but I remember seeing this the first time I watched Ashley dance when we were in high school. I don't remember exactly how it went because that was a long time ago, but I remember seeing her on the stage at her recital, and it wasn't her anymore. She was doing something that was outside of herself--something that brought glory to God because He created her to do it and it spoke of Him in a way that I don't know how to express. And I was watching these ice skaters, who I'm not even sure know God at all, and some of them were able to do that very thing. It's kind of like when you are enjoying God's creation and You can see parts of Him in what is around you--and you can't quite explain why, but it takes your breath away and you know you are experiencing Him as you gaze upon the glory of His creation, which only begins to speak of His glory. And I was thinking while I was watching these skaters that it's so easy to miss out on this...to miss doing what we were created to do. And it might be something simple and it's probably more than one thing, but I don't know if I've found that thing yet...that thing that stops being about me and points directly to God. So I have continued to think on this all weekend because you can't stop thinking about it when you see something like that, and this morning I realized that of the many things that Satan will try to stop us from doing, this is definitely one of them--whatever gifts/talents that God has placed in us that we were created to do to bring Him glory. Mandy (some of you met her at our wedding) wrote about Christians being the Bible to others and how our lives are supposed to visibly show that there is a God, and perhaps this is one of the greatest ways that our lives do this. Because I have to believe that others see it too, that they see His glory reflected in people when they are doing what they are created to do. They may not understand what they are seeing, but I believe it makes them hungry for home, even if they don't understand what they are hungry for when they see these glimpses of God here on earth. Can you imagine if we were all doing these things that we were created to do? If we stopped being afraid or selfish or unbelieving....glory to God all over the place...the way it was meant to be. But I get too wrapped up in this world and I find I am living for the wrong goals, even though I don't notice this most of the time because I forget to remind myself why I am really here in the first place. For example, I find myself living each week to complete my to-do list rather than living on purpose and doing what really matters. I say that relationships are the most important thing, but I'm too busy going to the grocery store to actually sit down and write an email to let someone know I am thinking about them and that I love them. Misplaced energy...focusing on the wrong goals. Anyway, I hope this makes sense in some way and that it encourages you to think about the last time you watched someone do something for the glory of God...and that that inspires you to find what it is He created you to do for His glory. Be blessed today--and open your eyes....may you see Truth today and not the shadows... | | |
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