Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Never Been Unloved

I wanted to share a post that a friend of mine posted on our blog group Bible study. (Thanks Jill!) I just love this! This is from Michael W. Smith's song "Never Been Unloved." I have posted the video of the song at the bottom of the post:

ALL week last week I had the lyrics from this Michael W Smith song in my head. Abbie did a wordle on this several months back...maybe she'll share it with us! I'm going to paraphrase it, but read all the words carefully.

I have been...
unfaithful
unworthy
unrighteous
unmerciful
unreachable
unteachable
undesirable
unwise
undone by what I'm unsure of
But because of you and all that you went through, I know that I have never been unloved.

I have been...
unbroken
unmended
uneasy
unapproachable
unemotional
unexceptional
undecided
unqualified
unaware
unfair
unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see the sacrifice you made for me to show that I have never been unloved. It's because of you and all that you went through, I know I have never been unloved.


Savor those words, ladies. Savor the promise of God's unfailing love!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Living Water

I have been doing a Bible study by Beth Moore with a blogger group. We are going through her workbook "Breaking Free" and I wanted to share what I posted earlier to the group:

I haven't posted in a while (my husband is still laid off and has been a total computer hog! :), and the last couple of weeks have been incredibly significant for me, so I have a lot to say. This covers a lot of topics so I may even break this up into a couple of posts if it gets too long!

Let me start from the beginning: A couple of week's ago I went to a women's conference at my church. While I was there they gave out door prizes, and I won one of them. No two prizes were alike, and my door prize was a Joyce Meyer book and dark chocolate with mint filling (yum!) During worship, God impressed upon me to share with everyone what had just happened. This is what I shared: "Yesterday I was talking with God about my spiritual walk. I feel like spiritually I've been going in circles. The stuff that God is telling me today is the same stuff that He's been telling me for years, since I was in high school. For 12 years He's been telling me this stuff! I was telling God, I don't know what else to do. I'm doing everything that I know to do, and I'm in the same place now that I was 12 years ago! I don't know what to do. I'm obviously not getting it. I just...I give up."

Then I showed everyone my door prize. The book that I had won by Joyce Meyer was called "Never Give Up."

Receiving that book meant so much to me because it meant two things: 1) God cared enough for me to make it so that whoever was in charge of buying the door prizes would buy that particular book AND He made it so that whenever that book came in line as a door prize MY name was pulled out of the hat. 2) It also meant, in a very real way, that although I had given up on myself, GOD hadn't given up on me! I had faith in God, but I had lost faith in myself. But it was ok, because He carried me. While I had faith in God, HE had faith in ME! How awesome is that?!! He's not disappointed in me--He still has HOPE that I can and will move forward, which means that I can have hope too.

OK, next thing. (FYI: I'm still about a week behind in the study, so this stuff may have been a while ago for you guys.) I really liked what Beth had to say in the audio for week 5. What she said about Living Water filling up every empty place made a lot of sense. Then when she talked about water finding it's way through the keyhole and underneath closed doors, I visualized God filling me with Living Water in every empty place, and filling in my closed rooms by going through the keyholes of my locked doors. Background story: Recently Jesus told me that He comes in from the inside and not the outside. He basically said that, frankly He didn't really care what my spiritual life looked like on the outside! He doesn't come from the outside, but what He saw on the inside was that I had "dark rooms" where I didn't allow Him access. These weren't rooms of sin, necessarily, just dark because they were hidden. To be completely honest, I didn't even know what they were! These were the rooms that I visualized being filled with Living Water. I guess it was my way of allowing Him access. Ironically, they were still closed to me, as I still had no clue what they were, but I did get to see (in my mind) the room flooded with a radiant light that shone through the cracks of the door and the keyhole, which is pretty amazing! My doors might still be closed, but they are no longer dark, because they have been flooded with Jesus' light!

(Living) Water has been a theme that has been coming back to me over and over. God showed me back in September of last year that instead of being empty/full, empty/full, empty/full (which is what I was doing), He wants us to be not only full, but overflowing all the time! This is why he referred to those who drink Living Water as having "a well of water" (John 4:14), and how we can be "like a spring of water whose waters do not fail" (Isaiah 5:11). He told me that He wants us to have "waters to swim in" (Ezekial 47:5). He desires to truly dwell within us, to set up His abode in us! At the same time, we are to abide in Him! (1 John 2:28). I think that this is what was meant by being in "constant communiion with Christ." I don't think it means being 'spiritual' all the time or constantly trying to commune with Him. It means walking in the Spirit, "for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). We are to live a life so surrendered to Christ, where we have so allowed Him to fill every empty place with His Living Water, that His glory will overflow, wether we are consciously communicating with Christ or not! If we truly allow Christ to abide in us, then when we are going about our daily tasks, making dinner and doing the dishes, Christ will radiate from our very beings! How awesome is that?!!

I have more to share, but it will have to wait for another day; hopefully soon.

"But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life." --John 4:14

"And you will be like a watered garden/And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." --Isaiah 5:11b

"Again he had measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded." --Ezekial 47:5

"And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." --1 John 2:28

"And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." --1 John 3:24

Friday, April 3, 2009

An old Myspace survey--Funny!

Here is a survey I took that I put on my myspace blog back when the twins were almost 4 months old. Reading back over it, parts of it are quite funny, so I wanted to share it here so you could also appreciate my comic genius! ;) (Or probably more likely delirium, as those were pretty sleep-deprived days for me!)

Monday, November 13, 2006
Getting to know you...
Current mood: tired
Category: Quiz/Survey
* . . About You . . *

Eye Color: hazel

Hair Color: brown

Height: very short

Favorite Color: Probably blue

Screen Name: girl of God

Favorite Band: Probably Third Day

Favorite Movie: Annie. I love that little orphan!

Favorite Show: House. He's so rude but at the same time so smart

Your Car: 05 Escape

Your Hometown: Oak Grove

Your Present Town: Bates City

Your Crushes First Name: My crush? Did this survey come from a seventeen magazine?

Your Style: lol that's funny. I'm a mom of infant twins so anything that doesn't have spitup that still fits

* . . Have You Ever . . *

Sat on your rooftop? Yup. Okay, so it's an earth contact and the roof is right by the ground so it was easy but still. Doesn't that mean that I can leap on buildings in a single bound?

Kissed someone in the rain? I don't think so

Danced in a public place? Yup

Smiled for no reason? It keeps us sane

Laughed so hard you cried? Of course. What are friends for?


Peed your pants after age 8? When I was pregnant and sneezed. (I didn't even have to change this answer! The person before me--who's name is also Autum but without an n--had written this and it's true for me too! I'm so glad I'm not the only one--Kyle made so much fun of me for that!)

Written a song? I've written 1/3 of one. That was about 7 years ago. I'm so good at finishing projects. It's one of my strong points.

Sang to someone for no reason? There is always a reason to sing! Especially if it's to Kyle and he'll do anything to get you to stop

Performed on a stage? Yup. I was a background singer for Grease in high school

Talked to someone you don't know? Just did at Wal-Mart

Gone out of your way to befriend someone? Yup. I didn't get voted "Most likely to help a friend" in high school for nothing

Made out in a theatre? Who hasn't?

Gone roller skating since 8th grade? I think so

Been in love? Madly

* . . Who was the last person to . . *

Say HI to you? Koltin, but it sounded more like "guh"

Tell you, I love you? my husband, Kyle

Kiss you? hubby

Hug you? my other half

Tell you BYE? Good Lord! I never should have gone to Wal-Mart earlier. Now I have to think of 50 ways to say Kyle just to keep this interesting

Write you a note? My dad asking me to tape the Chiefs game for him

Take your photo? Kyle of me and Kaylee

Call your cell phone? Sorry, I'm a landline girl.


Buy you something? Kyle bought me flowers for our anniversary. In the middle of the other flowers there were 5 roses, one for each year. (All together now, "Awww." I know you're thinkin it! :)


Go with you to the movies? my...life partner, his brother, and our two nephews. It was the last movie we went to before we had kids. And what did we see? Over the Hedge. Go figure.

Sing to you? I heard my dad singing earlier, does that count? And not well, I might add.

Write a poem about you? Kyle the day before we got married

Text message you? no idea

Touch you? Koltin when I was feeding him


* . . What's the last . . *

Time you laughed? about 15 minutes ago at Koltin

Time you cried? It's 4 am and Koltin is still not asleep which makes me want to cry

Movie you watched? All the way through? That'd probably have to be Over the Hedge (Remember, the one from before we had kids?)

Joke you told? No idea

Song you've sang? Jesus loves my Koltin...it's a little bedtime number. As you can tell, it's working like a charm...

Time you've looked at the clock? 3:55

Drink you've had? grape juice straight out of the container

Number you've dialed? the bank after they screwed up my account. (Don't worry, they fixed it)

Book you've read? I'm reading Somebody Else's Kids by Torey Hayden right now

Food you've eaten? Casey's pizza--it was supreme and it was loaded! I'm ordering from Casey's south every time now! It was so good

Flavor of gum chewed? probably spearmint which I chewed almost every day that I was pregnant because it helps with morning sickness

Shoes you've worn? tennies

Store you've been in? I know, I know, I'm cool. I get to shop at Wal-Mart for diapers.

Thing you've said?--- "For God's sake why aren't you asleep yet?"

* . . Can You . . *

Write with both hands? Writing with my left hand makes me realize why handwriting looks like that in kindergarten

Whistle? yup

Blow a bubble? Of course. Kaylee and Koltin are even blowing spit bubbles

Roll your tounge in a circle? Nope. Sorry to say I can't do anything cool with my tongue

Cross your eyes? Yes but it hurts

Touch your tounge to your nose? Nope. Like, I said, can't do anything cool.

Dance? Of course. When I'm at home by myself I'm great.

Gleek? Nope. It seems weird to me that spitting on people is considered a skill

Stay up a whole night without sleep? Of course! I've had a sleepover before. Now the goal is to actually sleep through the night

Speak a different language? Some Spanish and of course igpay atinlay

Impersonate someone? only when I'm making fun of them. I mean teasing

Prank call people? Is this considered a skill?


Make a card pyramid? Man, I'm really going to have to update the skill section of my resume. "Really good at making card pyramids..." I'll get the job for sure!

Cook anything? I can cook some things but without a recipe I am pretty paralyzed. I'm what I call an "exact cooker", which my friend Aubree, who never measures anything, finds hilarious

* . . Finish The Line . . *

If i were a ... pillow I'd be in bed right now

I wish ...Koltin would go to sleep

So many people don't know that ... Jesus loves them

I am ...very tired

My heart is ... actually not shaped like a heart at all. Where did they come up with that shape anyway?

New Generation of Children Praying