Snow Storm 2009

Louisville got hammered by quite a serious winter storm. As of right now most of the major roads are clear but side roads are still treacherous and due to the large amount of ice that has covered most of the trees, many limbs are down and thousands of people are without power. Half of our apartment complex has no power but thankfully our section has power and heat. I seriously am not sure how we would have managed without that. Here are a few pictures of the areas around our apartment.

Jon and I took Paisley out for her first romp in snow. She didn't know what to do with herself!!

Snow day...but not for me

It has been snowing/sleeting almost all night and we now have a good couple of inches covering the ground. JCPS County Schools have today off but my girls still attend school on campus. They, unfortunately for them, only get an hour delay. However the delay means I have to stay at work an hour or so later than usual. We'll see how the roads look when I leave Maryhurst. This weather is supposed to continue on until Thursday. One of the frustrating things is that I have to be back at work tonight around 11:00pm for a meeting and then a partial shift. I seriously hate driving in snow and ice.

Resting in Him

This post may not make a lot of sense and I apologize for that. I'm still working through what I've been struggling with lately so hang in there with me.

Lately I have been feeling less at peace with the journey and more restless to arrive at some destination. It has been difficult for me to reign in my thoughts as they wonder and dream about what is or could be to come. I am quick to talk about the next step when my feet aren't already firmly planted in their current place. This restless feeling has led me to look into other jobs and possible volunteer opportunities but nothing has resonated with me. I think I'm more interested in something new than in any one specific thing. A change of pace sounds nice right about now but this restless feeling has been overwhelming and I can't seem to pin down what exactly I'm yearning for. I guess my yearning could be for a number of valid things but the problem is that I feel pulled in so many different directions I really have no specific leading in any way at all, so that leaves me wandering around. Ugh.

Some of the random yearnings I feel in my heart:
- adoption/starting our family
- a new job
- missions
- India
- ministry (intercultural, working with young women, evangelism, spurring the church on to involvement with missions)
- deep friendships (sharing, trust, growth, openness)
- true and gospel centered fellowship
...to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.

As I was browsing the internet for a new and improved job (which I didn't find) I became somewhat discouraged and decided to stop looking all together. Instead I was drawn to spend some time reading and praying. I came across this particular sentence and it stood out to me.

"It is better to wait upon God with patience, than to put confidence in anything in this lower world."
- The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (p. 103)

Like St. Augustine once said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." So tonight I am asking God to give me the strength to trust Him enough that I can rest in Him. That's not an easy thing for me to do; my feet are very prone to wander and I have a hard time letting go of the reigns. We'll see how this "resting" goes. I have a lot of questions clouding my mind specifically related to what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. I guess thoughts regarding those questions will have to be saved for another post.

Learning to rest
- Kristen

A good article on Restlessness and Worry:
http://www.elisabethelliot.org/newsletters/2003-09-10.pdf

Burdened

http://www.kytemple.org/Forms/TempleDetails.aspx

http://www.kytemple.org/Forms/Resources/Resources.aspx

Photo Challenge: God

My heart is stirred

My thoughts have been consumed with myself lately but tonight the Lord has revived a part of my heart that is often stifled by the business of work and hectic schedule of life. Tonight my heart is once again burdened for the unreached. Although my husband and I do not feel called to full-time missions my heart remains heavy. Here are some of my favorite quotes that spur me to pray for those risking their lives to share with others the amazing salvation and hope that is found in Jesus Christ.

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"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light" -- John Keith Falconer

"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" -- Hudson Taylor

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliot

"The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible" -- Ralph Winter

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." -- C.T. Studd

"If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king" -- Jordan Grooms

"If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death." -- Dave Davidson

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart" -- Bob Pierce

"The command has been to 'go,' but we have stayed -- in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth ... but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland." -- Robert Savage

"Believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story." -- K.P. Yohannan

"'Not called!' did you say?'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth

"Expect great things from God. Attempt great thing for God." - William Carey

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." - John Piper

“I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls to Christ.” - David Brainerd

Words of Encouragement

Life continues to be hectic, sadly enough I don't think it will ever really slow down. To be honest I think I am beginning to enjoy the journey ore than ever before. I'm learning each day to take those fleeting moments of solitude and silence to spend with the Lord even if they are my short car rides to work or even times when I am doing laundry and cleaning. It's encouraging how God chooses to show his face in the midst of the mundane. I was having a rough day last week and when I woke up to get ready for work this is what I saw...

As I looked at the flowers the pressure of life and work subsided and I once again realized the beauty of God's grace shown in the relationship I have with my husband. I have my days when I am grumpy, irritable and no fun to be around. But God's love and grace is often showered on me through the selfless love of my husband. I'm blessed. These past few weeks have been refreshing with Jon out of school we have had more time to devote to our marriage and more time to spend growing in our relationship with the Lord. We have really enjoyed life without the pressures of school and I'm beginning to see a little more of what things will be like when school is out of the picture.

However the roller coaster of life starts up again on Tuesday when Jon begins classes. This is officially his last full semester leaving him with one easy clean up semester in the fall. Soon Jon will get back to the busy life of classes, studying, and papers resulting in less time with me. We will once again face many struggles to keep our marriage focused on the Lord and live life selflessly for each other. It's easy for me to start feeling sorry for myself and how hard things may get but right now...I'm thankful. This time is precious and fleeting. Before we know it we will have a house full of kids and a ministry at a church filled with challenges of its own. Life is messy and will get even more chaotic but right now I find myself at a place of contentment. There are still very strong desires on my heart to start a family, work towards adoption, be involved in church ministry, and get a house but I feel a deep yearning in my spirit to take in this time and learn all I can while I wait patiently for the Lord to direct our steps.

Lately I've been blessed reading through The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, who was a missionary to the Native Americans in the 1700s I believe. His writing has been a huge source of encouragement for me. As I have read his honest journal entries I am reminded of how life ebbs and flows with seasons of drought and seasons of harvest and sweet times of fellowship with the Lord. As I have read through this man’s story I am beginning to appreciate more of the journey his life took. He struggled with depression but the grace of our Lord sustained him just like it does for all of us who put our trust in the God of our salvation. This recent section I read left me feeling blessed and encouraged. I was reminded that we can cling to God in the midst of this roller coaster of life, during the dry spells and during the triumphs because we know that we serve the God of Moses, the God who brought down the fire on Mount Carmel during Elijah’s day and the same God who powerfully moved in the 1^st century church. This is our God! May this be an encouragement to you as it was to me.

“Thursday, Oct. 20. Had but little sense of divine things this day. Alas, that so much of my precious time is spent with so little of God! Those are tedious days, wherein I have no spirituality.

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“Thursday, Nov. 3. Spent this day in secret fasting and prayer, from morning till night. Early in the morning I had some small degree of assistance in prayer. Afterwards read the story of Elijah the prophet, 1 Kings, xvii. xviii. and xix. chapters, and also 2 Kings, ii. and iv. chapters. My soul was much moved, observing the faith, zeal, and power of that holy man; how he wrestled with God in prayer, &c. My soul then cried with Elisha, ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah!' Oh, I longed for more faith! My soul breathed after God, and pleaded with him, that a ‘double portion of that spirit,' which was given to Elijah, might ‘rest on me.' And that which was divinely refreshing and strengthening to my soul was, I saw that God is the same that he was in the days of Elijah.--Was enabled to wrestle with God by prayer, in a more affectionate, fervent, humble, intense, and importunate manner, than I have for many months past. Nothing seemed too hard for God to perform; nothing too great for me to hope for from him.--I had for many months entirely lost all hopes of being made instrumental of doing any special service for God in the world; it has appeared entirely impossible, that one so black and vile should be thus employed for God. But at this time God was pleased to revive this hope.--Afterwards read the 3rd chapter of Exodus and on to the 20th, and saw more of the glory and majesty of God discovered in those chapters, than ever I had seen before; frequently in the mean time falling on my knees, and crying to God for the faith of Moses, and for a manifestation of the divine glory. Especially the 3rd and 4th, and part of the 14th and 15th chapters, were unspeakably sweet to my soul: my soul blessed God, that he had shown himself so gracious to his servants of old. The 15th chapter seemed to be the very language which my soul uttered to God in the season of my first spiritual comfort, when I had just got through the Red sea, by a way that I had no expectation of. O how my soul then rejoiced in God!way to deliver me from the fear of the Egyptians, when I almost despaired of life.--Afterwards read the story of Abraham's pilgrimage in the land of Canaan: my soul was melted, in observing his faith, how he leaned on God; how he communed with God, and what a stranger he was here in the world. After that, read the story of Joseph's sufferings, and God's goodness to him: blessed God for these examples of faith and patience. My soul was ardent in prayer, was enabled to wrestle ardently for myself, for christian friends, and for the church of God. And felt more desire to see the power of God in the conversion of souls, than I have done for a long season. Blessed be God for this season of fasting and prayer! May his goodness always abide with me, and draw my soul to him!"