Check It Out!!!

http://iamsecond.com/

It's worth your time to check out this site ...the testimonies are so neat. Very very encouraging!!!!

Nap Time.....

I am currently hanging out at my brother's house....awaiting the arrival of niece or nephew number 4. It has been so so so sweet to be loved on by them and to play! I have already been so incredibly blessed to know and love them!
There is much anticipation in the air right now! This was most definitely apparent at nap time today.
Yes...I was actually talked into laying down for nap time...can't remember the last time I took a real nap! It was the sweetest thing ever to cuddle with little Lenci and Zoe...who of course weren't tired at all...and who mostly wanted to play with me or the teddy bear. There was a CD playing with really sweet worship/hymns on it....and as it finally got still...and quiet.....I could hear the words of an old and dear song. For me...it's a song I've heard numerous times growing up in a christian home...but pretty much just the first verse. As I listened to the other verses....as if for the first time. They caught my attention and I was overwhelmed once again with God's love for each of us. I was so thankful that my little nieces and nephew are getting to fall asleep to words they can rest in...words of truth...that NEVER change. No matter how the world does. This one truth...that God... the ONE and ONLY... TRUE and LIVING God....sent His only Son...to be born in a manger...to grow up in love....and to lay His life down for love...that He might win our very hearts....our souls...for the glory of His name. Oh that we might not just hear....but to truly know.......

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong

Chorus:

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, Let them come to Me

Jesus loves me when I'm good,
When I do the things I should,
Jesus loves me when I'm bad,
Though it makes Him very sad.

Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live


Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven's gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in

Jesus loves me! Loves me still
Tho' I'm weak and ill;
That I might from sin be free
Bled and died upon the tree

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee

~ Anna Warner

If.....

If I say," Yes I forgive, but I cannot forget," as though the God, who twice washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world, could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know nothing of Calvary love."
~Amy Carmichael

Sonnet 29....

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

~Shakespeare

A Lesson to be Learned......

I am sitting here so overwhelmed with thankfulness to the Lord. I don't even really know where to begin. So much has happened since I wrote last. I have changed jobs and taken an interpreting job once again for deaf/hard of hearing students at a local high school...while I am working on my speech pathology assistant's license. I can't even express to you how much I love what I am doing. There is something about signing that just moves me....I truly feel it is a skill God has given me...to be someone's ears..to help someone to truly understand and to be able to better communciate. I don't want take it for granted again. I love this field and I pray that I truly make a difference in the lives I come in contact with....
The really bummer part of all this is on Friday, I got my first paycheck.... to find out I was told the wrong information regarding my pay. Therefore my pay check is significantly less that it should be...as in I can't pay my bills on this salary...let alone buy Christmas present's. Even though I had the pay information in writing...there is nothing the district will do to make it right. Initially I felt very shocked...like someone pulled the bottom out from under me...I am finally doing something I love...why does this have to happen? I am so worn out. It hurt...then I felt anger and frustration. As I spoke with each of my bosses regarding this...they admited the error was their's...it was an "honest" mistake...but there was nothing they could do. It was as if no one cared...they had their paycheck for the month....they had their Christmas taken care of...it was my problem.
I walked away from this just a bit stunned. It's amazing to me...how very little we truly care for one another. How so very selfish we truly are. Myself fully included.
It became clear... that this is the place God wants me...to feel once again what it's like to not have....to be in need....to know that apart from Him doing one thing...I have nothing. It doesn't matter what job I have...or what I am told by someone. There is no security apart from my Father in heaven.
I can't make it...survive....live...eat...ultimately breathe apart from Him. I have been reminded in a huge way of what Christmas is...it is about recieving the greatest gift ever given... Jesus Christ. I have nothing to give.
He is my provider...He will have to show Himself just that...I am praying about what to do.....look for another job....or maybe get a third job...the thought of not interpreting for the deaf students makes me sad.
Ok...so God is really working on my heart...making me sensitive to those who don't have....in a sense giving me a very small taste of this....
On Sunday I went to hang out with a very dear friend in Dallas... He shared with me about a special friend of his who is very very sick. His name is Scrap Iron. He is a street musician who lives in Dallas. He currently is in Parkland Hosptial fighting for his life because he got pneumonia from sleeping in the cold. It doesn't matter the details...I was floored. I sat outside in the cold today just trying to wrap my mind around the fact that people sleep in this. I really couldn't...but I did realize if not for this family I live with...I would have rent money due that I couldn't pay. If my story were just a bit different....less characters in it. I too could be in the street. My heart has been so impacted by all of this. All I can think about is.... there has to be a way to help this precious man. I just hate it that in our day....with all we have....how can any one have to sleep in the cold?????????????
My heart is broken...and I am determined...to make a difference. I have no idea how....but if God is so gracious to heal this man...I want to make a difference...I have to make a diffference. Christmas is not about stuff...it's about people...about loving....it is about giving and receiving...it's about amazing grace....done right. Please say a prayer for Scrap Iron...that God would heal him and make him well....