Jesus loves me, this I know. This category is about Jesus, the Living Word, my prayers to Him, my worship of Him, His relentless pursuit of my heart and His invitation to me to come to Him in Sabbath, my Savior, my Rest.
The question is: can God fix what I have messed up? Can He redeem what I have squandered? Will He?
Sanctify
Here I am in that old place again
Down on my face again
Crying out I want you to hear my plea
Come down and rescue me
How long will it take
How long will I have to wait?
And all I want is all you have
Come to me, rescue me,
Fall on me with your love
And all you want is all I have
Come to me, rescue me,
fall on me with your love
Sanctify I want to be set apart
Right to the very heart
Prophesy to the four winds
And breathe life to this very place
How long will it take?
How long will I have to wait?
And all I want is all you have
Come to me rescue me,
Fall on me with your love
And all you want is all I have
Come to me rescue me,
Fall on me with your love
Lifted up I’ve climbed with the strength I have
Right to this mountain top
Looking out the cloud’s getting bigger now
It’s time to get ready now
…He saw your mistakes before you ever made them. So He’s not surprised by them. Nor did they prevent Him from choosing you to be His before you penetrated the womb of your mother. In fact, distancing yourself from the Lord due to a
guilt headache and a condemnation hangover
hurts Him far more than the sin that created those feelings. (Ponder that last sentance for a moment.)…Hiding from the Lord is a
spiritually-transmitted disease.
It’s in our bloodstream and the marrow of our bones. It began with the first man who hid Himself from God in shame (Gen. 3.8-10). But just as He did with Adam, God clothed your nakedness. Not with skins of animals, but with the righteousness of His own Son. For this reason, the Lord invites you to love Him despite your fallenness.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5.21 NASV
You can chisel it in stone: the Lord’s love is given to you without strings or conditions…your good works (or lack thereof) do not affect His love for you…God loves you simpley because He chose you in His Son and He loves His Son without condition.
He loves you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31.3).
So take heart: you are some one that God so loves. He has drawn you to Himself. Whenever you turn to Him, you are ushered before the smiling face of a God whose heart beats with unfailing kindness.
Are you overtaken with a sense of unworthiness?
Are you humbled with your own sinfulness? Let me remind you. When your Lord hung on that bloody cross, He was in far worse condition than you or I could ever be in. He was made to be sin (Isaiah 53.4, 2 Cor. 5.21)…the sins of the the worls – past, present, and future – were all laid upon Him, and He became sin personified. And yet, the Father still loved Him.
All that to say, in the moment when you feel the most unworthy, you are the most welcome.
Consequently, if the “accuser of the brethern” accuses you or me of some sin, the Lord’s response is, ‘It’s too late! I’ve already fallen in love with them. It’s too late! I’ve already graced them out of…my merciful nature. It’s too late! They are acquitted. They are forgiven. They are cleansed by My Son’s blood.’
This ought to move you. This ought to impress you. This ought to baffle and overwhelm you.
Oh, the unimaginable depth of the love of Christ.
What amazing love. What flawless love. What unshakeable love. What irrevocable love. This is the love with which your God loves you…”
It started on July 7th. And we will be meeting EVERY NIGHT at Northern Hills Church (location of Heaven Fest) for 2 hours of prayer and worship through August 15th.
Most nights will be live worship with a band or artist. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU to come out at least once. When we did this last year, it was amazing! Every single night great things happened!!
July 7 – August 15
7-9 pm nightly at
Northern Hills Church
5061 E. 16oth Ave (highway 7, 3 miles east of I-25) in Brighton, CO MAP
Now-here is why I think you should come~
I got to attend the very first night this past Tuesday and actually co-lead with my daughter, Tara. And it was awesome! About 20 people ended up attending, along with a few small children, and it was informal and sweet and there was scripture reading and praying for one another and grandmother types (me) and teen-agers (who read about it on Facebook and came. -I love this generation!) and we were all just one, happy family.
I know. I know. You are busy. You had a long day at work, preceded by one and to be followed by many. And I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep, but I attended a lot last year and this year started, at least, exacly the same: peace, joy, excitement about Heaven Fest and sunsets more beautiful than Maui (and I LOVE Maui)!
Kick-off night had rays beaming in all directions in blazing hot pink and mimosa and orange. We got a double dose as it reflected off the lake where the horses gazed while large birds sailed effortlessly overhead. Little songbirds on the lightposts in the church parking lot answered our praises to heaven with their own. Small children played and ran and laughed and also cried and tattled a little, but all kids should enjoy church so much!
The sanctuary? Outside, on the westside of the building, the veranda outside the Cafe. The worship leader and/or staff member leading? It varies. The song? Something to please the Lord and welcome Him here. The purpose? To worship Him and pray for our communities and this region and for Heaven Fest and for whatever God wants to do around here.
If I’d have been home, I may have missed the sweetness of the still waters, the glory of the Lord in the clouds, the green pastures of friendship with God’s like-hearted people. I may have missed a glorious summer night and watched re-runs.
Un-plug. Breathe in some air. Worship the Lord. And bring the fam. You’re welcomed to help us welcome Him.
Not just trying to fill your hours, but to enrich them…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Summer of ’09, a return to the song of the joy of the Lord in my life…
THINK ABOUT IT: Bring your small group each week for the next few! Oh-and bug spray (they swarm suddenly just as the most raptuous moment of sunset is occurring)…hey it IS the country, sort of, after all!
I painted white numbers, 1 – 5, on the black breakfast bar stools the kids painted for me for Mother’s Day. I used 5 different fonts and blew them up to about 250 points, but then I decided to make them all about 4″ high and that seemed to actually disappate some of the uniqueness of the variety of fonts, but I still like ’em. I waxed them for protection (Minwax for Furniture – the old-fashioned way women used to do their furniture).
You’d think the grandkids would want to sit on them in the order of their birth, but you’d be wrong. Everyone wants the big numbers now.
All 5 of the little bebes came over Saturday night and filled the house with happy chaos. Averi had to go home at 10 o’clock, but the other four spent the night.
At exactly 6:03 a.m., they jumped on to the bed, surrounding me (maybe “swarming” is more accurate) and started saying “Wake up, Nonna! Wake up!” And, “It’s gonna be a great day! Wake up!” Hunter demonstrated for me how to wipe the sleep from my eyes by twisting my fists over them. They jumped and jumped until I agreed to get up.
We started with cereal as an appetizer, followed by cheesy scrambled eggs as the main dish. Poppa chose the cereal, but my grandbebes all love my eggs.
Somehow we were able to get them all presentable for church (almost had a disaster when Gemma, in her pretty pink polka-dot dress, got into a jar of Vicks…yikes!) and actually arrived on time!
“But from everlasting to everlasting, the LORD’S love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children…” Psalm 103.17 NIV
Counting my blessings (as well as my breakfast-bar stools)…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Re-surface that blasted breakfast bar!!!
I’ve heard the real me is who I am “in the dark,” who and what I become when I think no one sees.
This morning the opening line of a poem came to me*,one that impacted my thinking way back in the day, probably almost 30 years ago now. You gotta love Google. I typed in what I remembered and there it was. It’s about serving. It’s about the exuberance of our faith being translated into true love, Jesus-love. It’s about letting the enthusiastic God-talk line up with the daily walk. It is about serving like Jesus did. It is who I wanna be when I grow up, even when, especially when, no one else sees…
You know, Lord, how I serve You
With great emotional fervor
In the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You
At women’s groups.
You know how I effervesce when I
Promote a fellowship group.
You know my genuine enthusiasm
With my Bible study group.
But how would I react, I wonder
If You pointed to a basin of water
And asked me to wash the calloused feet
Of a bent and wrinkled old woman
Day after day
Month after month
In a room where nobody saw
And nobody knew.
-unknown
It’s time to live the life…Jeanie
*The remembrance of this piece may have been triggered by Confluence’s block party this past Saturday in the City. Some very busy HF leadership team gave their entire day to doing pedicures for people who could never afford it. They truly washed feet all day long.
Gen. 2.15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend [cultivate] and keep it.
This is what happens to your radishes when you leave them for 4 or 5 days too long during an unusually weird rainy spell. It is the size of a large plum or a beet. Unattended, they try to overthrow the garden. I must tend.
I have read through the Bible in a year, but not that many times, frankly. For 3 years in a row I read the OT through once and the NT through twice. I enjoyed getting more New Testament during that plan. But I have also taken a lot longer and though I don’t get the mark on my scoreboard, I really enjoy the Word. Time in the Word is time with the Word…
Some people keep track of how many times they have read the entire Bible through in a year like they are gathering up Super Bowl rings or something. My preference would be to relish the Word, study deep and meander through it. And sometimes I just don’t read it often enough. Let’s be honest.
But here I am – attempting this marathon read-through. I started a couple of days late and totally lost control while I was in Kentucky. I am in Numbers. I should be reading the end of Joshua.
Will she make it? Will she know Him more by the end?
Lord, I don’t just want to do this to say I have done it, but I want to hear You and know more of You and learn to be like You. May Your Word do a work in my heart this summer. Help me to hide Your Word in my heart, to meditate on Your precepts and laws. Your Word is eternal and established and is my delight. This summer as I feast on this living Word, I will also obey it, Lord. Teach me, change me…
Dave and I picked up some cathedral prints in these 27″ square, very traditional frames from a hotel liquidator’s store. They were nice enough and fit with my “sanctuary” art, but I had an idea.
I have wanted to have a part of the Lord’s Prayer in my living room/sanctuary since I moved in. I have really come to understand and appreciate the beauty of how Jesus taught us to pray and am bowled over by the simple power of the words “on earth – as it is – in heaven.” I sometimes wonder if I should quit praying anything else but “The Lord’s Prayer” until I really get it, that it is THE prayer.
Anyway – I decided to paint over the cathedrals. I forgot to do a “before” picture. :[
So, I watered down some black acrylic to give it more of an “inky” consistency and just sort of wiped it over the prints in a pretty casual manner. Because I am hanging them near my religious iconic art (which are really pretty primitive), I figured the sort of “folk-style” lettering would work well.
I traced the lettering on using graphite paper (from a Publisher document I’d made) and then just painted the letters with quick swipes, not worrying about coverage or staying in the lines.
I wish I’d been more courageous and made my letters bigger and bolder. As is, I probably could have had the entire prayer, but I was afraid it wasn’t all going to fit.
I had been thinking about painting or replacing the mats, which were very faded, but after they were done, they seemed right.
On earth. As it is. In heaven.
I am praying that with You, Jesus. Keep teaching me…J
Warning: loooooooong post :} But it’s only the second half of the month-I promise!
Family Dinner on a Monday night~
For Steph’s birthday we just sorta decided to “take over” this itty-bitty family-owned hole-in-the-wall spot in Brighton: Marisco’s Mazatlan. Steph simply adores their chicken fajitas so we warned them and we showed up…bunches and bunches of us, using about 89% of their total table space.
It was THE hottest day of the year so far and their air conditioning, combined with a zillion skillets of steaming fajitas, plates of chimis and enchiladas and mounds of steamy beans and rice couldn’t quite keep up with all of us.
Then it was back to the house for strawberry shortcake and presents and stories and letters about and to Stephanie. The predominant theme seemd to be tied to the meaning of her name: a crown or garland, a festooning. So we celebrated the woman she is and we festooned her with praises (Yes, we had just had strawberry shortcake for Tara’s birthday, but once is never enough!)
Celebrating Stephanie was such an honor. She really is, without at all being a soccer-mom-typical-suburbia-type-woman, a virtuous woman/wife/mommy in the Proverbs 31 sense. She is anything but cliche, but she is a woman to be praised. I love and admire her with all my heart. She is the family festooning! Good times.
Zoo Day and Farewell to Kindergarten~
Gavin and his whole class got to ride the big yellow school bus to the zoo for an end-of-the-school-year celebration. Riding a big yellow bus was one of the main reasons Gavin wanted to go to school in the first place. Imagine his surprise at the bait-and-switch when we loaded him up with school supplies and then – he had to ride in the car. Bummer.
But for his patience, he was rewarded when they went to the Denver Zoo. He was assigned a group with his 3 best friends and their mommies chaperoned. The mommies beamed, I hear, when told they had the “rowdy bunch.” I am so glad they can appreciate youthful joy and delight – even if it does get a little loud and crazy, at times. Steph said the boys shared their lunches and watched out for each other, holding hands when the crowd was thick.
Who knew you could have such true friends in Kindergarten?? Gavin will be attending a school closer to his house than mine next year, but I hope he will always remember the great friends and the running and jumping playtime they have enjoyed together. Good times.
Estes Park for writers
Dave and I got to go spend some time in Estes Park where Christian writers annually gather for inspiration and opportunity. I just go for the scenery and the food. Even though we’re only an hour from home, being in the mountains is an important hour!
It is refreshing and simple and lovely. I get to meet all sorts of interesting people and be with Dave, besides all that (he is pictured here with critters and with Robert Liparulo). Lots of walking (all uphill), holding hands and talking dreams like you can only do when you’re “away.” Good times.
Hang-out Time with Hunter
This is an amazing kid. When his mommy and daddy travel for ministry, they try to take him along. He is a globetrottter! But sometimes he has to stay – like the days DP and Tara went in to Mexico to do ministry this month. And I cherish the moments I get to be with him. Hunter told Stormie “I love school with Nonna because it’s all about letters and grass. And I love those things.” These are good times.
Memorial Day and a red-headed boy and a red-headed girl on another Monday~
Gemma turned 2 on May 23rd. Gavin will be 6 on June 2. With traveling schedules and all that summer brings, we decided to celebrate them on Memorial Day Monday, early in the day.
I wanted to do a 7-tier Fancy-Nancy cake full of boas and streamers and bejeweled to the hilt for Gemma, but her mommy said, “Let’s go simple…maybe do a ‘Gemma-face’.” So for her I just did an oreo-cookie, strawberry and real whipped cream ice cream cake. I tried to replicate Gemma’s very zealous full-face-and-eyes-all-squinchy smile, as that is the one she flashes at any hint of fun. I don’t think her exuberance can actually be captured in ice cream, but there it was, nonetheless. My attempt.
Gavin has asked for a Batman cake pretty much once a week ever since his Transformer party last year. I think he may have been thinking that I’d do some full-fledged, standing-upright-cape-blowing-in-the-breeze Batman like the Optimus Prime from last year (read more about that scary experience here). But with 2 cakes on one day, again with the simple. I just cut a man with bat ears out of a chocolate half sheet and covered it in fondant. Black fondant. A great icing for the grandsons. They relished baring their black teeth and tongue after the eating. Good times.
Friends and family far and wide
May is one of those months. Anniversaries and weddings, graduations and school year’s ending. Everytime I turn around, there seems something to celebrate, to rejoice in, to recount the faithfulness of God and His favor on lives. So happy dancing-and-joy to all celebrants! Congratulations and best wishes for you! Despite the economy and bad news we get bombarded with, these are, indeed, good times.
“You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.” Psalm 65.11 NKJV
God is great, God is good…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Develop a much, much, much more grateful heart and awareness of the abiding love of God in my life. My times are His hands…
I did not keep the broccoli well. I may have forgotten to water it. Ever. Half of it is going to flower already – meaning trying to seed itself for posterity. Must brush up on my keeping skills.
But it is raining this perfectly fine Sunday afternoon. So, it will have to wait – the keeping, I mean.
