Goals and Plans: January Recap

Well, January 31st has arrived!  Wow, did that go by quickly!  So my grand goal of blogging once a week didn't quite pan out, but how many of my goals and plans did survive the first 31 days of 2012?

To be honest, most of them did survive.  I have been faithfully getting up at 5:30 almost every morning and only allowing myself to sleep in if I did something late the night before that was beyond (or semi-beyond) my control.  I wasn't going to leave early from my birthday dinner, for instance, neither was I going to leave at intermission when I went to go see my younger sister in 'Hello, Dolly!'  But for the most part, up I got!

I was able to stay on top of the Bible reading I wanted to do, the prayer time, the exercise and finished reading the books I wanted to before the deadlines I had set.  Without having to take anything out of my schedule, I was able to crochet three scarves, a baby blanket and get going on the next blanket.  All of the bigger goals I had put down on paper were complete and I was feeling great about that, but I started letting regular things that needed to be done (dishes, trash, bathroom cleaning, dusting, laundry, vacuuming, etc.) fall by the wayside or at least procrastinate a few days.  The first two weeks I didn't have a problem and really kept to my schedule.  But the next two weeks proved to be a bit difficult and I couldn't figure out why.  Until it came to me yesterday after the whole thing blew up in my face.

I ended the year last year with a lot of prayer.  I made my new schedule and goals with a lot of prayer and my focus was totally on God.  I knew some things were going to be difficult (not watching movies during the week except for under special circumstances, waking up at 5:30 every morning...), but I knew it was what God was calling me to do and He was going to get me through it.  That's why those first two weeks went so well - I was relying on the strength of my Lord to help me achieve all the things I wanted to each day and that made everything pretty easy!  I had joy in my heart when I was taking care of the dishes and cleaning up after myself every step of the way.  It wasn't drudgery, it wasn't something I was doing to just check off my list (although that was an incentive, to be sure!), I was doing things that needed to be done and enjoying the feeling of completion and the satisfaction it gave me.

The next week hit and started out really well with my first time on a full day water fast.  However, that Tuesday turned into a pretty bad day health-wise and then things got a little bit scary the following two days (it had absolutely nothing to do with the fast and everything is perfectly fine now) and I lost my focus.  The 'ease' with which I has been able to accomplish everything the past two weeks had disappeared and instead of being able to get everything done that I needed to with a joyful attitude that naturally flowed from my reliance on my Heavenly Father, I started trying to be joyful and cheerful in my own strength to just cope with what I was dealing with on the health level (that's a whole other story for a whole other post).  And it doesn't work like that!


Charles Spurgeon said it well, “Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up."


And that's the lesson I'm going to take into February - if I am to get anything done, be it for myself or others, I have to stay focused on God and allow Him to work through me continually.  I can get things done in and of myself (sometimes), but if I want peace and joy to be manifest in my life despite my circumstances or extra stresses that I may have that day, I have to be abiding in Him, allowing Him to give me the strength to accomplish what He has set before me or what He has allowed me to set before myself.  And if I want to do anything that is worthy of the kingdom of God, I must, must, must allow Him to work through me and not try to do things on my own.  And, seriously, why would you want to do something with your feeble, finite brain and body when the God who created your brain and body as well as the entire universe wants to give you the strength and and desires you to allow Him to work through you??  


"Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." 
   ~Isaiah 41:10


Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
  ~I Chronicles 16:11


The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
  ~Exodus 15:2


I know that February will bring its own challenges, its own struggles, its own lessons, but in the words of Moses, "The Lord is my strength and my song." So I desire to start February off with a song in my heart, knowing 'the joy of the Lord is my strength!' (Nehemiah 8:10)  And as long as I am finding joy in Him, joy and strength will flow into my life in ways I cannot even imagine!

Blessings in Christ,

Are You a Violet?

I read this story in my devotional, Steams in the Desert, this morning and just loved it too much not to share!


"A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying.  He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was.  The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree.  The pine was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine.  The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches.  The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.


And so it went throughout the garden.  Yet coming to a violet, the kind found its face as bright and happy as ever and said, 'Well, violet, I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement.  You don't seem the least bit disheartened.'  The violet responded, 'No, I'm not.  I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one.  Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be.' "

Are you being the best large oak, tall pine, fruitful grapevine or peach tree, fragrant lilac or brave little violet you can be?


"...for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:  I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  ~ Philippians 4:11-13


Blessings in Christ,

The Beginning of the Adventure Called 2012

Wow!  Okay, you've probably heard a million and a half people say this, but seriously, where on earth did 2011 go?!?  I feel like it was just the other day that we were ringing in 2011 and now it's over.  Totally weird!  However, I don't think I've ever been as excited for a year to start as I am for the beginning of 2012.

I'm not a person who's big into New Year's Resolutions because, in all honestly, it seems like they're made to be broken.  I am, however, a person who LOVES new beginnings - Mondays are pretty much my favorite.  You have a whole brand new week laid out in front of you with all kinds of possibilities!  So, when I get an entire new year laid out in front of me, coupled with the fact I have been working on setting more goals in my life, you'd better believe I'm pretty excited!

The big thing I'm going to  try to do  begin doing (my CP! co-workers understand that...) this year is focus oh, so much more on time management.  Time management is such a buzz word, but it really is something that everyone wants and needs to work on.  How many times do you look at the clock and wonder what on earth you did for the past two hours?  How annoying is that?  Personally, I hate it!  I have a hard enough time getting everything I want to done in 24 hours and wasting two of them on who know what is not a wise thing!  And, in all honesty, I'm starting to get a bit convicted about it.  I mean, we know all about being wise stewards of our money and resources, but how often do we really think about being wise stewards of our time?  We state with our lips that every day is a gift from God, but are we acting like it?  If each day is truly a gift and we don't know if we are going to get another one, would it not be wise to actually use the gift and not fritter it away aimlessly?!

So, in light of all this thinking I have been doing, I decided to set some goals for myself, schedule more things, take out some things and, overall, start using my time more effectively.  I made a list of things I want to accomplish this year, from go on a missions trip to write my own recipes.  But those kinds of goals can be a bit ambiguous.  Write my own recipes.  That's a good enough goal, but how do I know if I've achieved that?  If I make one?  If I write my own cookbook?  There needs to be something more concrete to measure.  So, I pulled out my Life Purpose Planning book that I haven't looked at since Jan/Feb 2009 and took a look at the one year plan.  There's a five year plan in it, too, but that's a bit extreme for me right now.  I need to make sure my laundry is getting done on a regular basis before I can think about where I want to be in five years!  Instead of squishing everything into my workbook, I created a master spreadsheet in Excel with all the blanks per month just like in the book.  However, I took it one step further and created monthly sheets, too.  That way I can get even more specific in my goal setting.  For example, I want to attempt to make (or adapt so I can have it) a new recipe once a month.  It took a bit of work lining everything out, but I have every expectation it is going to be completely worth it!  I didn't plan everything out for the entire year because there are quite a bit of unknowns (I can't be planning a girls' Bible Study for over the summer if I end up being in Europe travelling and doing some missions work like I'm hoping to!), but I was at least able to set some things for January and February with some larger goals for a few months down the road.

I then took a look at my schedule: work, family, friends, church, etc. and asked myself where everything was going to fit in and what rules I was going to need to establish for myself.  I realized that if I am going to be able to read the books I want to and do the learning I desire, the TV is going to have to be completely off during the weekdays.  There's no two ways about it.  I had to ask myself, is that trade off going to be worth it?  After thinking about the content of the books I want to be reading and the TV and movies I would be watching, I decided that it would be.  Desiring to be a good steward of my time made that decision a no-brainer, even if I do like watching TV and movies a lot!  After some tweaks and cuts, my schedule looks very nice, both figuratively (everything fit in nicely and I didn't have to plan out every second to get it all done) and literally (the colors I chose to create the spreadsheet look very nice together! :P )

Then I started getting practical and took the time I had while on vacation from work to clean everything up, so I can start fresh and just maintain.  I went through drawers, closets, my desk, bins, even my pen and pencil cup!  I tossed things that I didn't need or use or was just plain clutter (those stickers I've had since first grade: I think it's pretty safe to say I will never use them!) and put things where they belonged.  I organized my file folders so I would actually start using them and not just pile everything on top of them until I have a chance to organize and label the files.  I organized my bin of yarn that has numerous projects going in it and wrote them all done and prioritized them.  I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to watch a movie with my family and wanted to work on a project at the same time but didn't have time to figure out what start with.  Now I have a list of ones in progress so I know what to grab and am going to work to consolidating that bit to just a bin, not a bin and a large Michael's bag, a smaller travel bag and another large Michael's bag... (Let's just say that I'm a little bit better at the money stewardship part and like sales on yarn that I will eventually use!)  I actually worked on one of those projects last night while watching a movie with some friends and finished it!  One checked off the list!

The beauty of all of this is I'm sitting on my computer on New Year's Eve without anything hanging over my head - I have gotten everything done that I need to and can enjoy my evening tonight and my last day of vacation tomorrow.  Monday will start the catch up and organization of my work things, but I don't think that will take long and, hey, I get paid for that!  I'm planning on blogging more about how all my plans and goals are going and I am hoping to be able to share some more things I've learned as I go along (the plan right now is to do a review at the end of every month).  I know that tweaking will occur and that's okay.  The goal is to have everything lined up and if God redirects, He redirects.  I've heard the saying, 'God can't drive a parked car' and although I don't entirely agree with that statement, there is some truth in the sentiment.  God wants us to get busy and if we are dedicated on getting busy serving Him, learning more about Him and wisely using the time He has given to us, I believe He will bless that and steer us in the right direction if His plan looks different than ours.  And if our heart is truly in the right place, we'll be excited for that change in direction and glory in the knowledge of feeling God's guiding hand on our life!  Plus, His plans are always better in the long run!

I strongly encourage you to, if nothing else, look back over 2011 with it's good and bad, identify what you have learned, how you have grown and write it down.  Then look forward to 2012 and write down what you would like to write down on this same day next year.  You will be amazed how you will be able to grow if you have a vision for the future!

Happy New Year!!!

Blessings in Christ,

The Things I Learned From Godspell

This started out as a simple thought and Facebook status update, but it started getting pretty long, so I switched to a full on blog post!

In my Bible reading this morning (yes, I seem to get blog ideas from my Bible reading!), I read about the resurrection of Christ in the book of Luke and I couldn't help but notice how real, tangible and emotion-laden the story has become to me since performing in Godspell.  It may have been almost four years ago now (gasp!), but the lessons I learned and the emotions I felt as I participated in acting out events in the life of Jesus will stay with me for the rest of my life.  Some of them cause me to giggle in the middle of sermons, some cause me to cry when most eyes around me are dry.

I will never be able to hear the song 'Day By Day' without thinking about how close I can be to my Savior on a daily basis and longing for the day when I will be able to smile up into His face, embrace Him and feel the warmth of His love and arms around me.

I will never be able to hear the story of sower with a straight face!  The entire time I will be thinking about pretending to be a Kindergartner not paying attention to the lesson and having a make-believe tea party with my two friends instead and yet somehow being able to be honored to play the part of the 'good soil!'

I will never be able to read the story of The Prodigal Son without thinking about the devotions we had for several weeks reading through Henri Nouwen's book "The Return of the Prodigal Son."  The insight I received as we read through that book and discussed it afterward is something I will always remember.  Thinking about the aspects of myself that are 'prodigal-like' but also recognizing the 'older brother' tendencies I have gave me some valuable insight into my life.  Of course, there's also the part about the Father's love for BOTH sons, which is always a good reminder of how awesome our Heavenly Father is.  I will also not be able to think about that story without thinking about "Chariots of Fire"...

I will never be able to read the story of Jesus separating the sheep and the goats without thinking about wearing sheep ears, baa-ing at the goats who were trying to get on the sheep's side and dancing on my hands and knees like a sheep!

I will never be able to hear about Jesus washing the disciples feet without feeling the embarrassment of having the Creator of the Universe stoop down to wash me.  And then, of course, I will always think of Peter - "Not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!"

I will never be able to read the story of the Last Supper without feeling the love of Christ for His disciples and the confusion the disciples must have felt when the Man they loved so dearly tried to explain that He was going to be betrayed and die.  That 'goodbye' scene and the tears that would well up will forever be ingrained in my memory.

I will never be able to hear the story of the crucifixion again without feeling the agony of the betrayal of the disciples and what my sin caused Jesus to do for me.  And yet, how many times do I betray Him like this every single day when I continue to sin and not do what He desires me to?

I will never be able to think about those three days Jesus was in the grave without thinking of the excruciating mental state the disciples were in, knowing they fled from Him in His darkest hour and now the Man they had spent every waking moment with for the past three years was dead.  In a grave.  I will also always think about the confusion they felt - is this what He was trying to tell us about?  Why didn't we understand?  Why didn't we listen?  What are we supposed to do know?  What's going to happen to us?  I will forever remember the clinging to each other in utter grief, pain and bewilderment.  I will also never forget looking at what held Him to that cross and thinking, "What a small thing to hold Him to that cross.  That's not what kept Him up there - His love for me and for all those standing around me and for every person who has lived on this planet down through the centuries is what kept Him up there and NOTHING else."

And I will never, ever, ever forget the moment that started me on this blog post - the resurrection of Christ.  We've heard about it, we believe it, we know all about it, but I don't believe I truly 'experienced' it until I was standing on that stage, clinging to the other disciples standing around me, crying and trying to sing, then hearing the strains of "Prepare Ye" floating into the room, looking up and seeing a man in white coming down the aisle.  He died as a sacrifice, but He rose from the dead - He conquered sin and death so that all might live forever with Him!!  I will forever remember the relief and utter joy and peace that flooded me!  The knowledge that things may get rough, but everything is going to be alright.  The joy of knowing of my Savior's love for me became fresh, new and tangible.

Now I know some of this may sound funny to some people because it was 'just' acting in a show, but let me tell you, when you're acting out something that you know in your heart and soul to be real, it becomes very real and you learn so much about yourself and the people and story you are acting out.

There are many more things that I learned, but two last things I want to share don't have so much to do with the play itself, but with the people.  The first was sitting around in a circle on stage, acting out what we were supposed to do during the song, but also praying the entire time for the girl who was leading the song who was sick and who's voice had been going in and out.  You could palpably feel the prayers that were going up on her behalf and you could also feel the love we all had for her and how we were all coming together to lift her up.  The bond we all had in that moment was so tight and it was truly an amazing feeling.  Of course, she sang the song beautifully and I remember all of us secretly glancing at each other with a smile and maybe a few tears after she sang the highest note with ease.  That day I learned the power of corporate prayer and the camaraderie that comes from a group of believers praying together and loving on each other together and the bond that is formed.  Unfortunately, that's my best effort of trying to describe a scene that is truly beyond words - you really had to be apart of it to know exactly what happened on that stage that night.

This last thing I learned is probably one of my favorite and most memorable stories from all the plays I've been in.  We were all standing in a circle praying about 10 minutes before we were supposed to start the show.  We finished the prayer and looked up, only to see one of the 9 disciples (another one, not the same one mentioned in the other story) sitting on the floor, white as a ghost and suddenly feeling very sick.  I remember someone grabbing her something to eat and drink while the rest of us gathered around her, laid our hands on her and prayed.  There was someone else in the building who could play her part and play it well, but it wouldn't be the same - we needed HER.  After eating and drinking a little bit, she felt well enough to go on, but we were all on alert, making sure she was okay the entire time on stage, prepared to help her if she needed it, grabbing her some water on stage if she needed it (we never left except at intermission) and praying for her every chance we got.  It wasn't just those of us on stage who were praying for her - everyone working backstage was praying for her and everyone else in the cast not on stage and everyone was ready to assist at a moment's notice if anything went wrong.  That show was our best one.  We all flew across the stage and the one who was sick - she was AMAZING!!  No one who saw the show would have believed that she had been barely able to stand up just 10 minutes before the show started!  Again, words can't quite describe the emotions that were felt during that performance.  Yet another example of what I learned about prayer during that show.

I learned oh, so many other things - I gained more insight in the story of the woman caught in adultery, the Good Samaritan, Jesus crying over Jerusalem, the log and the speck, the list goes on, but I won't bore you in a very long trip down memory lane.  To sum up, being in Godspell was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and I am still building on the things I learned during it.  So, for all of you who cringe at the mention of Godspell, let me tell you: when it's done well and for the glory of God, it can be a most powerful tool!

Jesus and the disciples in my cast.  Love you all!!

Blessings in Christ,

RUN!

Oh, my poor, dear, neglected blog!  It's been over 3 months, but here's something! :)  I didn't have a whole ton of time and I'm not the best writer, but I had something that was on my heart that I felt needed to be shared to anyone who was interested in listening.


Let me just start out by saying, what a wonderful God we serve!  When I sat down to read my Bible this morning, I prayed and asked God to use His word to speak into my life this day and show me something I had never seen before.  Wow, did He deliver!  Not only did He do that, but I also got an idea for a blog post in the bargain! :)


Anyway, after I prayed, I started reading my Bible and found myself in the book of Acts (amazing book!) reading about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.  Now, I've heard this story tons of times and it's one that I really enjoy, but I got to see it with new eyes today.


Acts 8:26-31


²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. ²⁷ So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 
³⁰ So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² The place in the Scripture which he read was this: 


“ He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
      And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
       So He opened not His mouth.
       ³³ In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
      And who will declare His generation?
      For His life is taken from the earth.”<sup>[Isaiah 53:7,8]

34</sup> So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 
³⁷ Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” 
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”^[c]
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹ Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.


Now, the coolest part of this story is probably the fact that Philip was caught away and 'transported' about 20 miles away after he baptized the eunuch and the eunuch went away rejoicing!  But that's not the part that stuck out at me (and convicted me) today.  No, it's much deeper than that.


Verse 29 says, "Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near and overtake this chariot.' "  And what's the very next thing that is said?  "So Philip ran to him"  He didn't walk, he didn't ask God for confirmation this is what He wanted him to do, he didn't pull out his Bible to check if this was the right thing to do, he RAN.  The Spirit spoke and he ran.  No questions asked.  And Philip, the eunuch, every person who knew either one of them and every person who has read the Bible since then has been blessed.  All because of one simple act - the Spirit spoke and Philip ran.


How many times have we asked for God to reveal something to us or use us in a mighty way or start a revival?  How many times have we sought Him and asked what we were supposed to do in a situation or asked Him what He wanted us to do with our lives?  How many times?  If you're anything like me, a lot!  How many times has He whispered the answer and we delayed?  How many times has He shown us something and we decided we needed to pray more about it or asked for more confirmation?  Gideon and his fleeces come to mind - what would have happened in this situation if Philip went home to 'lay out some fleeces'  The eunuch would have been home in Ethiopia by the time Philip learned this was what he was supposed to do!  How many times have we hesitated saying something to someone because 'we weren't sure we are going to say the right thing'?  How many times?  How many times has God told us to do something and we ran after it?  Hopefully at least a few times!  And how amazing and rewarding and encouraging and blessing-filled were those times?!?!


As Dr. Jeff Myers says in his book 'Handoff' (call-out to Jeff Reid for posting this on Facebook last night - God's timing is amazing!) "When you're doing what God designed you to do, your Master can guide you in a whisper."  This is what happened to Philip.  His heart was focused on his Heavenly Father and what he could be doing to serve Him.  And an angel came and woke him up in the morning: “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (v.26) and Philip went.  That's all it took and nations were blessed because of it.


Now, you're probably thinking, "God has never spoken to me like that.  If He had, I would certainly have done what He asked me to do!  He just doesn't talk to people like that anymore."  And I say, "have you ever listened?"  I'm speaking to myself, too.  We get so lost in day-to-day life, all the things we have to accomplish and all the information we have to sort through on a daily basis, we don't take the time to sit down and listen.  And I mean really listen.  We have lost that art.  We all have something we need to say, some point we need to get across it to another person or even to God, that we don't sit down and listen. 


Brothers and sisters, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."  The way He operates and who He is never changes!  He didn't just speak to people in the Old and New Testaments and then stop.  We just stopped listening.  Granted, they didn't have the Bible like we do and needed some more 'speaking to,' but I submit that God speaks to people today and not as many as He would if more people were listening.


Again I ask, how often do you ask God for wisdom and guidance?  How often do you run after it once you ask?  You have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and as long as you are focused on your Master, you will be able to run and do incredible things for His kingdom!


Again, I say what a wonderful God we serve!  What are we going to do about it?  Where are you going to run??


Blessings in Christ,

Amy Carmichael Prayer

Once again, I don't have time for a decent post, but I was reading A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael today while I was waiting for my sister at the chiropractor and came across this poem that she wrote during a very hard, confusing time in her life.  I had to share!

And shall I pray Thee change Thy will, my Father,

Until it be according unto mine?

But, no, Lord, no, that never shall be, rather

I pray Thee blend my human will with Thine.

I pray Thee hush the hurrying, eager longing,

I pray Thee soothe the pangs of keen desire--

See in my quiet places, wishes thronging--

Forbid them, Lord, purge, though it be with fire.

And work in me to will and do Thy pleasure

Let all within me, peaceful, reconciled,

Tarry content my Well-Beloved's leisure,

At last, at last, even as a weaned child.

Blessings in Christ,

The Gospel

I had every intention of doing a nice sized post today, but after staring at my computer screen all day long for work, I just need to get up, turn off the computer and go something constructive with myself!  However, I will leave you this to chew on.  And, trust me, it's a full on meal packed into it's 11 minute size!

Have an awe-filled rest of your day remembering what He came to do for you and how you are going to share that with the world!

Blessings in Christ,