Genetics!

I was looking through some pictures from 2009. This one caught my attention.



Isn't genetics amazing?

The day of small things

Last night, I watched a little bit of IHOP's 10 year Anniversary Celebrations. It's so neat that they can celebrate 10 years of hard work, graced and enabled by God, of 24/7 prayer and worship. That is a huge accomplishment and one worth celebrating!

As one who is a part of a HOP another place on the globe, I celebrate with them because it feels like giving your big brother or big sister a high five on a job well done! When I first went to IHOP I longed to relocate because nothing like it was happening in my own city. I am so thankful that over the last few years, I don't get that feeling when I enter or leave Kansas City anymore. To me, Kansas City is a well of refreshment. I can take a break from pioneering our smaller HOP and just sit back and soak in the midst of like-minded people doing the same thing in another area of the world. I feel like IHOP is a big brother, different in many ways but with the same genetics.

Today, I am thankful for our little HOP. I am thankful that we are small and nobody knows us. I am so thankful we're not on tv, webstreamed or famous. I'm thankful that anybody and everybody can participate. Today, I'm thankful for hiddeness because I know it won't be this way forever and I don't know how long this smaller season will last. Back in the trailer days, IHOP had small beginnings too and that sure didn't last forever!

I know that life won't look like it does now, forever. Our HOP won't always be in a small building in the middle of the city, housed on a 1 day a week by a generous pastor. We won't always have prayer meetings in homes on a regular basis. Shane won't always work from home, therefore, we won't always have both the blessings and struggles that working from home brings. We won't always know most faces in our midst on a more personal basis. We won't always get to attend most meetings.

Shane and I won't always be in our 20s. We won't always have the time, space and freedom we do now in the same way. We won't always be without children and we probably won't always be in an apartment.

Life as we know it is going to change over the years in a personal and corporate way. Things won't always be the same for our little HOP. I generally comfort myself in the hard times with this truth, but it is also a little sad. So often I want to leave the small beginnings behind and yet how special they have been.

Zechariah 4:10 "For who has despised the day of small things?".

I want to cherish our small beginnings instead of despise the annoyances and frustrations that accompany them. There are so many very painful and frustrating parts to "building a ship while at sea", but there are so many treasures (even when I can't think of them). They may not be obvious but they are probably internal and eternal in nature.

I want to be thankful for the present. Thankful for the small things. I want to appropriately desire the things to come and yet love the present with a thankful heart.

September 20, 2009 will never take place again, along with any other day. I want to live it out well, without regrets, not wanting to stay in today forever but not always longing to get out of it as quickly as possible either.

Thank-you Lord for hot Sundays with no air-conditioning. We'll love retelling the story in 10 years. Thank-you Lord for the sound system. We'll have MANY stories in 5 years. Thank-you Lord for limiting our time and resources according to what you know we can handle. Thank-you Lord for leading and guiding us so well. Thank-you Lord for giving us all we need step by step. Thank-you for Your perfect leadership and your great wisdom in building this HOP. Thank-you for filling us time and time again with your presence.

Cheers to the days of small beginnings!

Praise the Lord!

Great news! My MRI is normal and I don't have anything wrong in my brain!! Woo!!! Hoo!!!

I'm so relieved to have a great report after today's neurologist appointment. They were staying the scary word "MS" over the past 2 months and I'm greatly relieved to find out that I don't have it!

Thank-you to all who covered me in prayer, directly and indirectly, with laying on of hands or from your home! Praise the Lord for being my Healer and Protector!

A Kiss Upon My Heart

I love those times when you are praying for something and God goes beyond what you prayed for, just to give you a kiss of love upon your heart!

I had one of those moments that spoke directly to my heart a few weeks ago. It may not sound like a big deal, but it definitely touched my heart and affirmed that He hears, cares and acts.

I was put on the long waiting list for an MRI around mid-August. I got my letter in the mail sent out August 12 with my appointment date on it. I was scheduled for a 5 month wait, which was discouraging. I would only have the test on January 12th.

I decided to pray to get that date moved! I stuck the appointment paper in a devotional book that I read each morning at the breakfast table so I had a good reminder to pray! I also gathered a few close friends to pray with me for this appointment to be moved! And then I did something active as well and got myself put on the cancellation list.

I prayed that God would expedite my MRI for September instead of January. I thought it was a stretch but I knew God can/could do it!

Well, 2 weeks ago today, I was sleeping after a night shift. Shane wakes me up, which he wouldn't do unless there is something very urgent happening! The MRI Department called and had an opening come up for 1 hour and 45 minutes later!

I was exhausted but absolutely thrilled and said a definite yes!

I am so pleased to have gotten my MRI so quickly! And what tickled my heart so? I got it done on August 30th. God surpassed my request for September and reinforced that He cares by making a point that it was even earlier...in August! I only actually waited 2 and a half weeks instead of 5 months!

Thank-you Lord for kisses on my heart!

Happy 9 Years Shane!

It's pretty neat.....Shane and I have been a couple in dating, engaged and married forms for 9 years today!

We officially started dating 9 years ago....September 8, 2000! That is a long time ago for only being 26 =)

We spent about 3 years and almost a month dating before getting engaged on October 3, 2003. We spent another 8 months engaged and enjoying the roles of fiance and financee =) Oh how I loved that season of time preparing for a wedding and being the bride! Then we tied the knot on June 12, 2004 and have thoroughly enjoyed 5 years and almost 3 months of marriage!

That's a pretty neat time line when I look at it that way!

I love that there are such highlights for every season. I loved those initial tinglings in my tummy when I was in some severe denial that I liked Shane, yet I enjoyed his friendship so much and was so sad to think of it ever not continuing so closely =) Then the dating years where you talk about everything under the sun, laugh and cry and hash through all kinds of topics that are relevant for the future. I LOVED the engaged part of the journey. I thought I'd want to take up wedding planning as a side job when I was finished planning my own. I loved being the bride and enjoying that special time in our lives that is over so quickly so you gotta love it while you can!

And there is so much to say about the honor of spending regular life, day in and day out, with the one you love. I am more certain I made the right choice today than I was when I married Shane. It's fun to talk late at night, to wake up for my morning hug, to make supper and do the dishes together, to have someone waiting for my phone call on my breaks at work, and to worship and pray together, being able to watch my husband in action in his work on a Sunday or Tuesday from across the room.

Happy 9 years together babe! I love you!