Just love. Don't fix.

I have been challenged this week to simply love people and not try to fix them. It is hard for me to step aside and let the Lord do his work and to just love people right where they are, just as they are! It has brought me to my knees like never before. How do you love a person who has never received love before? My heart hurts because I want to learn to love this person well. My heart soars because I know the Lord is challenging me to better learn to love people, specifically those who aren't easy to love, those who don't let people in.

I love how the Lord brings people across our path to teach us and to draw us closer to Himself. How many times do we miss out on that opportunity? I realized this week with the entrance of this new friend into my world that the majority of the people in my world are easy to love. But I think because of that I have become too comfortable, too prideful in thinking that I'm doing a pretty job at this whole loving people thing when in reality what is important is figuring out how to love those people who are hard to love. Am I willing to step out of my comfort zone and love them with the love of Jesus and not my own agenda?



My friend Meaghan ended her most recent post with these three questions.

1. What do you want to excel at?
2. What are your priorities?
3. Are you practicing what you actually want to be good at?

Those questions go right along with what I've been learing this week, now I have to actually do something about it. I want to excel at loving people who have never received love, those people who are hard to love, those people who don't let people in, who need to be loved the most. My relationship with Jesus and the relaionships I have with people are my top priorities. My prayer is that the Lord will continue to give me opportunities to love those who are hard to love.

I'm it....

Meaghan tagged me, so here goes!

1.Link to the person’s blog who tagged you: Meaghan

2. Post these rules on your blog.

3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
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A. I LOVE my JOB!
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B. By the end of 2008, I will have been in 8 weddings. (Regina, Sara, Carmen, Heidi, Emily, Holly, Amy, Jill)
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C. If I could, I would wear flip flops everyday.
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D. I don't like olives.
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E. I love feet!
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F. I have turned into a tea snob. (thanks zoomdweebies!)
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G. I am excited for spring! (baseball games, playing outside, this school year ending...)
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4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

Tag, you're it!
Amy
Carmen
Anna
Kelli
Emily
Meredith

kindness and gratitude

Last night at our Frontline staff meeting this quote was shared.

"Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle"
- Philo of Alexandria

I have been thinking about kindness a lot lately, especially everytime my thoughts drift back to the 6 weeks that I spent in Zambia. Sue shared this with me,

"Mandy, it is always right to be kind."

There aren't too many people that would argue with that statement. Even if you dont' agree with someone, you can still be kind. The conversation I had with Sue stemed from various interactions we had with some Zambian students about how simply being nice (kind) to people is showing them Jesus. It was such a joy to be around these students because of the kindness that they sought to show the people around them, it was just part of who they were.

With thinking about kindness, I can't help but think about gratitude. I am grateful for so many things but do I take the time to express my gratitude? I ran across this article at desiringgod.org I just posted the first part of it, but the whole article is great!

Endings Are for Gratitude, Beginnings Are for Faith

The embrace may be only with the heart, or sometimes with physical arms, depending on proximity and the degree of the emotion. But in either case . . . Gratitude embraces a person with glad affections for past good-will aimed at helping us. and Faith embraces a person with glad affections for future promises aimed at helping us. Since every moment is the beginning of the rest of your life, and every moment is the end of the past, every moment should be governed by the glad affections of gratitude and faith.

Thank you John Piper.

Speaking of Piper, I am trying once again to read through Desiring God. It is my goal to finish the book sometime during 2008! So we'll see....

I will post again when spring comes....

awake...

She's awake. Keep praying for Megan. She has a long road ahead of her. The therapists have her up and moving, which is so great especially since she has been in bed in a coma for the past 12 days.

Continue to pray for the Harris/Ridge family. The funeral was Friday and that always seems to be when the healing process can finally begin. Pray that Robert's death would serve as a wake up call for this area. Violence is never the answer and I pray that through his death people would realize that it is not the answer. I look forward to seeing how the Lord will bring glory to himself through this terrible situation.

I have been so encouraged by the people who don't know Megan or Riccardo and his family that are praying for them. Yet again I am reminded that we are not to live this life in isolation, we need the body around us. We were created for relationship. Ultimately a relationship with Jesus but definitely for relationship with people.

my heart hurts...

Its been a tough few days back to work as one of my students and former cheerleaders was in a pretty serious car wreck over break. She's still in a coma and right now we are just waiting on her to wake up... When I forget why it is that I do what I do, I am quickly reminded when tears stream down my face because of the scary thought that one of my kids might not make it.

And what a difference a few minutes can make....Saturday night in front of a packed house at WSU in a game that went into overtime Southeast beat East in what could possibly be the most incredible high school basketball I will ever witness in my lifetime. About a hour after the game ended the unthinkable happened. One of our coaches, lost his son.

A coach, a teacher, a pastor, a friend...is now dealing with not only the death of his son but the outrageous fact that his son's life was cut shot by an act of violence. My heart hurts...

a new year....

2007 was a great year, lots of fun things happened. There ware some challenging times and even a few sad moments. I took thousands of pictures of the incredible people in my world. Here are some of my most cherished pictures from 2007.

I spent a lot of time at baseball games in the spring.

It was time well spent watching one of my most favorite guys do what he loves!

I am blessed with the greatest Bible study.

One of my best friends got married to a great British man.

Time with heart sisters is priceless.

Meeting up with Nkem. Seeing Nathan run in the Olympic Trials.
Spending a weekend in New York was definitely a highlight of 07.

The chance to start over, start fresh is always exciting. As much as I dread going back to work, I can't help but be excited about a new semester, new faces sitting in my classroom, new lives to be a part of...I'm not really one for new years resolutions however I am making one and it applies to this small little corner of cyberspace.... I resolve to post to this new blog much more frequently.

A new blog...

I don't even remember the last time that I posted on my other blog, so after being inspired by a dear friend from reading hers I decided to start up another one.

I love this time of year. I have been praying since shortly after Thanksgiving that my eyes would be opened and that I would continually be reminded of the true reason of Christmas. I don't know how many years have passed that I have been so caught up in the "hustle and bustle" of the season that I forget to stop and focus on Jesus.

After arriving at my aunt & uncle's house shortly before the blizzard set-in on Saturday I was reminded once again how blessed I am with the family that God placed me in. I forget how much I enjoy being around my aunts and uncles and cousins. A personal highlight was getting to talk to my dear cousin Caleb for a few brief moments. He's spending Christmas on the other side of the world and I was reminded that it is truly moments like these that remind me that the God we serve is big enough. He's big enough to hold us.