so it's a couple of days until i shed my fort mill, sc address. and i will have to shed my auburn address as well since my bank and credit card folks think i still live in sweet sweet sterling. those were the days. it's amazing how time flies and how the 'next step' comes regardless of if we are ready or not. yet here i am... packing up and heading out to embark... i think life is always embarking actually. it's a journey and you can never possibly know exactly where you're going. only God knows and everything could change in an instant. but you know what doesn't change? your position in Christ. That will always be the same. You will be resting in Christ at the right hand of the Father. It's true and it's now. That's why we can endure the journey and walk the path that we can hardly see but a couple feet in front of us. I might have said this before, but I still get such a picture of how God leads us through a lyric from Sarah Kelley's "faithful Father" where she says "i feel the heat of your lamp on my feet, guiding my way. why do i worry why do i worry about tomorrow, when you hold the future in your hands"
Psalm 43:3-5 is a prayer of mine (the implications are many):
Send out your light and your truth let them lead me;(Jesus IS the light and truth and he is already in us. When He brings light in our lives he exposed the darkness. and TRUTH sets you FREE! How else will we be free to live and be lead by Christ's life if we don't know the truth of who he is and who we are)
let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! (Yes! Praise Jesus - He is the ONE who leads us to the inner courts- he has torn the curtain to bring us into the Holy of Holies any time we want- anytime- we can focus in on our Spirit in Union with His in the core of our being- wow. we ARE the temple of God)
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy,(amen, this is the only place to receive and find joy: in your Union with Him)
and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul (Remember, your soul includes your mind will and emotions but you no longer live out of your own thoughts but they are TRANSFORMED by the live Spirit inside of you- Live out of your spirit and "rain on" those feelings!),
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation (WHOLENESS)
and my God.(He is only yours! Claim Him as Your God- your great need-meeter!)

Praise Jesus for Life that exists in Him. He loves you and me more than we'll ever ever know. Believe it and receive it moment my moment and your life will be transformed.

Psalm 8
1 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! 2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? (Other versions say care for..., I have heard it meant 'in an intimate way' in greek) 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! (picture from somewhere on the blue ridge parkway)

Let us not forsake what creation does: It leaves us in awe of God's greatness, His power, His creativity (we see that in creation and the different people we know!) But what about the heart issues? The unseen? Well looking at creation and then seeing that he made us for the heart issues: He made us to receive the side of Him that is not so much tangible but yet so very REAL. His grace expressed to us in Love. Truly - how can God who made (formed and fashioned by His own will) the universe relate intimately with us? What is man? Who am I that you would care for or VISIT me?? Who am I that you dwell inside of me (someone that big and powerful finds me significant enough to give Himself for me) and use all that you have made in creation to point to yourself so I can believe that you are God and you delight in me?! You want to know me!? Oh wait, you already to know all about me. You knew it all: That I would doubt, that I would worship idols, that I would fail and you still chose me so you could love me (Eph. 2:4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.), in big and little ways.

I like how You're a God details: thanks for the wildflowers and walking with me on the side of the mountain and making me feel pretty...and calling me beautiful. Thanks Dad. You're all I need.

The Lord has continued to solidify in me what He has been writing on my heart all along. I think a big key is realizing that the Spiritual Me is the real me. I know I am transformed for sure but it's hard to tell of a before and after. Why? Because I have been this person all along... ever since my day of salvation-before the foundations of time I was accepted in the beloved! It's who I am! Regardless of how I feel (which its been amazing to see the emotional healing He's brought me to) the Truth is what God says. When I stand on that and ask Him for His perspective (what do YOU think about this Lord) He tells me and I receive it. Even if it's too good to be true. So the truths of the Spirit are more real than anything here on earth. The things of the Lord are Eternal and we can participate in that now, seeing that we are truly seated at the right hand of the Father (RESTING) in Christ. You may feel like things are chaotic or confusing but then the devil has you: He's eating your lunch (stealing the joy that's yours in Christ) because he's got you wrapped up in the world and worldly things. God wants to give us HIS perspective. He wants us totally dependent on Him because HE made us for that! That's HIS design! Our purpose is to know Him intimately and how great is that when He does it (as always) by GIVING. Our job is only to RECEIVE, even if it's too good to be true we get to receive from an overflow of unconditional, no-matter-what-you-did/didn't-do LOVE!
amen and amen

<-- even this girl know's she's accepted in the beloved, buck teeth and everything, and secure and worth everything to Father. God love 'er...