A Heart for God

There are some things you just can't teach. You can't teach someone to love. You can teach ways to express love. You can teach characteristics that love should have, such as gentleness, patience, forgiveness, etc. But you will never be able to teach a person to love. 

In the same way that you cannot teach a person to love, you cannot teach someone to have a heart for the Lord. You can show them what a heart for the Lord looks like. You can show the characteristics of a heart for God. No matter how much we may want to teach someone to love the Lord, we cannot. 

It's easy to fall in love with someone. How does it usually happen? Well, let's be honest! Usually the first thing is a physical attraction. You notice the person, you're attracted to the person, you spend time with the person. You get to know their likes, dislikes, views on certain areas, and you continue to learn who they are. During the process of learning that person, you begin to connect to them emotionally. You begin to love them. And as long as you are connecting with them, your love for that person grows. Now, of course there are exceptions, but in a normal, honest relationship, this is usually how it goes. 

So why is it so difficult to fall in love with the Lord? I believe there are two major reasons why falling in love with the Lord is difficult and frankly, very uncommon. The first reason is that it is unattractive to some. The first look at God and Christianity is unpleasant to some, so why would they want to pursue it any further? Now there are those who will never have an interest in God or religion. They hate the thought of it. But some would be open to God, except what they have seen of others who call themselves Christians. This is a problem. There are those who loudly proclaim they are Christian, but are full of hatred, hypocrisy, and doctrinally are blind. Anyone who truly is a follower of Christ can see the evil that is within them. The sad thing is, they get attention. More and more the lost world is seeing a false image of what Christianity is. Those of us who love the Lord MUST show it. And we must share the love that God has given to us with others. We must share it through the gospel, yes, but also through patience, kindness, forgiveness, and genuine compassion. We must become friends to the lost, just as Jesus was a friend to the sinners in his day. 

Many people will come to Christ, and still never develop a heart for God. They may develop a heart for church, or for religion, or for people, but not a heart for God. This is because they are investing their time in church, or religious practices, or people. But they are not investing their time in a personal walk with God. Sure, they will learn more about God, but their relationship with God will not deepen until they spend time with God. It is so rare to find a Christian who consistently spends time in Bible reading and prayer. We live in a busy world. And sadly, the most important things are often pushed aside. 

I sincerely hope that if you have a heart for the Lord, you will show it boldly. I pray that if you do not have a heart for the Lord, that you will develop one. I pray that if you do not know the Lord, you will accept him. He loves you individually, and desires to have an individual relationship with you!

Missing Family

Life is tough. Life is beautiful. It takes you places you never imagined you could go. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see for myself the giant redwoods and sequoias of California. Last year, we lived in a place literally down the street from

some of those magnificent beauties. As a child, I wanted to be a Canadian mounted police. (random, I know!) I have not been able to fulfill that dream, nor do I believe I ever will, but I was able to visit Canada! I never thought there would be any reason for me to visit Canada, but I was able to go while my sister lived there, to meet my newborn nephew and his sleep deprived parents! I've seen ghost towns, remnants from the days of the gold rush, historical sights from the "Wild West", the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and so many things that many people only hope to see. I have been all over the southern and eastern United States. I have been to Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, and was able to spend a little over 3 months in Brazil. I have been blessed to be able to travel. Today I am really missing my family.

My family is spread out all over the states, and I miss every single one of them! Some of them I have not seen in years, and some I saw only a couple weeks ago. Most of the time, I can distract myself so I don't think about missing them as much. But recently I began a new writing venture, which has caused me to have to really dig deep into my thoughts and memories, and I have all sorts of memories flooding my mind involving my family, and I really miss them! 

So today, I want to shout out to all of my family, semi-near and far away with a big, I LOVE YOU!! 

Morning Thought

Beautiful Weeds

A Momentous Day

Yes, this is MY tire on MY car! How could something like this happen to me?! I was just trying to enjoy my day, doing my laundry at the laundromat down the street, and the nice lady next door informed me that my tire was flat! OH! and on top of that, I found my first gray hair this morning! UGH!! Anyway, back to my flat tire. I tried to call my husband, who was at work, but I am in the mountains right now with terrible cell signal. I think my phone just knew I was in desperate need of help and decided not to cooperate. I finally decided to try and call my brother on the other side of the country who answered and advised me to go to the nearest gas station to put air in the tire. So, I did. I drove back to the laundromat, and as soon as I got out of my car, I could HEAR the air leaking out of my tire. GRRR!! I called my brother back who told me I needed to put my spare tire on. I said, "Ok where do I put the jack?" 

He laughed. He said he would have to see the car to know where to put the jack, and since he was in the middle of a youth activity at his church (and he's on the other side of the country) he could not come help me. So I drove to a place where they do oil changes and asked them to please show me where to put my jack?! They were so nice. They did the whole thing for me! And they showed me where to put the jack if I ever find myself in that situation again. They told me not to worry about paying them, but I told them I would bake them a cake. I am so thankful for nice people! And I am super stoked that I now know how to change my own tire! (I learned how to change a tire a long time ago, but have never actually had to do it. But now I know how to do it on my car!) And I'm not gonna worry too much about my gray hair. I have highlights right now, so it blends in pretty well!

Be Still