it is overwhelming...but please overwhelm me again and again.

God is opening my eyes to see Him at work and it is overwhelming to see such a confirmation of Him. Monday mornings I send out a threads of gratitude email to friends, co-workers, sisters, loved ones. Each time someone replies with their own list of gratitude I get to see it, see Him at work. Sometimes I'm reduced to a heap of tears, bawling with amazement, sometimes I chuckle at how amazing He is. But the best part is knowing that it's all Him.

This is a picture near the bottom of bridal veil Falls in Yosemite, and I could've sat there all day listening to the sounds, watching the movement of the water, the smells of nature like a tonic for my soul. Most pictures I share on this blog involve nature, because that is when I felt closest to God. More and more God is blessing me with the priviledge of feeling close to Him here at home, y'know in the city, around people and noise and lets face it some unpleasant smells. God is showing me His beauty can be seen everywhere. Its trully amazing for me to learn this, love this. I still long for days near a lake, or on a mountain, just a bit away from it all. But to have this when I'm not hiking or biking or "on vacation" is awesome.

Today God I am tickled to a point of side aches and tears that you continue to reveal your works to me, scratch that, that my eyes are now opened to see your works, they have never been hiding, just not seen by me. I love you Lord and am grateful for Your grace and mercy.

WOW !!!!!! I'm in love and it seems new everyday !!!

Here I am hiking up Yosemite Falls 3-4 years ago, before we moved to Texas. It was a challenge, and it hurt, made me all sweaty (I don't like that),but... Every view point was beautiful. Some view points just took your breath away. The smells were delightful, it was worth every blister and sore muscle. This picture was not even 1/2 way up, I just needed a rest and called it a photo op. I think today God uses these experiences to say "Lisa if it's hard and you get tired it's more than okay to stop for a moment, rest, and look around at everything else I'm doing, breathe it in, restore yourself, then get up and go on because each stop will blow you away, the beauty is there, just stop and look at it."

This threads of gratitude thing God started and God is doing is a treat for me to watch, as threads come back to me and I get to see God adding people I am just breathless. Smiles cross my face and I move on, restored in Him, seeing Him at work. What a blessing, a wonderful wonderful blessing. So after I sit for a moment and read these emails I move on, God has more to show me, and even the sweaty shirts don't bother me (so much), the blisters barely register as I move on towards the next place.

Today I am grateful that God knows when I may need to rest and is eager to show me the view of His work while I restore myself. Today I am gratefully blessed.

God is Good....amen

I am just so grateful today. Saturday was a great day, then Sunday's lesson from Bruce was great, God is talking to me and I'm just as excited as all get out that He is.
First I want to say that I'm so sorry for the good people that live in southern Texas right now, Ike came ashore and was destructive. I'm grateful Ike did not get as strong as the news people said it might, enough destruction was wreaked upon our coast. My prayers are with them.
I am grateful that most people took head and left when warned.

Now, I want to say that I'm grateful God is working my planner as opposed to me working God into my planner. Ever since I decided to really get into His word, study it so I can know Him more, He has provided me the time to do it. I don't know how. My day is still busy, I work, have kids and a husband, but it's all working out. God is allowing me to study more and more and still the shopping gets done, laundry is done, my house is clean, dog gets fed, I work. AND, yeah get this, I have time to enjoy my family. I mean its like I have time to get everything done, study Gods word, and hang out with the kids. Each Saturday morning we are just going bike riding, or I take them to the skatepark and they skate while I read my bible. Its amazing, I'm not stressed about "quality time" , I'm enjoying quality time. There's a big difference. I am excited, I mean thrilled to absolute delight that God handles all this and I'm not mad at all that He does it a gazillion times better than me. Do I have days that seem a bit full? Yes But I pray and peace is there, just knowing that I need to let go of the planner and let Him do His thing is HUGE.

thankful for the opportunity...

Have you ever woke up from a nightmare, a reminder of your own past and thought to yourself " not today satan, you are not bringing me down today by throwing that crud at me". Well I have, many many many a time. Or have you seen a child being loved thru an accident( spilt milk) as opposed to the reprimanding you might have done just yesterday?
This kinda stuff has been a tool of satans for far too long in my life. Recently in a study a revelation absolutely freed me. Not a verse from the book in the bible although that happens as often . But God showed me satan can only use the tools we leave unattended. Like mistakes, or poor choices and actions. So I've begun waking up from these with the ability to remove these tools, to dis-arm satan. The minute I wake up I am grateful for the reminder of things I need to seek forgiveness for. Quickly and earnestly I pray for forgiveness for that particular thing or action and quickly God assumes that tool for His purpose.
It is not a tool to bring me discouragement any longer, and if that crafty satan tries using it again I am quick to say oh silly serpent I am forgiven.
Today I am grateful to God for showing me the things I have long buried in the depths of me out of shame and guilt. Once they are brought up I can ask for forgiveness, I can beg for this to somehow be turned into a work of God, and I am freed from that stronghold. I am reminded that The Creator will Always claim victory over the crafty. amen. thank you Father.

such a geek :)

Are you ready to be a geek for God? Thats how I feel almost all the time, like a geek. But I gotta say it's awesome, beautiful, kinda like these flowers, just a joy to see.

Last night the fall semeter of womens bible study began and I was so giggly and hyper, just over-joyed to be back with my girls and meeting even more great ladies. A beautiful thing has begun and boy am I geeky about it. This study has a big book, kinda intimidating at first glance, but then I thought"wow, we got some learning about to happen here". Today Lord I am so grateful for more to learn, for the reality of knowing you want to spend more time with me( because I'm a simple girl this study is going to mean alot of time with Him just trying to wrap my noodle around it). Yes there are moments when my day is filled with other stuff, but to serve a Lord that has an increasing desire to spend MORE time with me, even though He knows my past and my present? I am tempted to feel unworthy but thats just satan trying to get thru on "call-waiting" as I talk to God. y'know what I mean? I am worthy if He wants this from me, and I am able to move that other stuff around a bit to make room for my Maker. Oh Lord I am grateful, face on the floor, filled with awe grateful for you and to you.

Grateful for the "Good News"

So many people tell me I should watch the news, read the papers, and I gotta tell ya I don't like to. More often than not I will avoid the paper. The news I watch just enough to get the weather and even then I am forced to see pictures that can stay with me all day if not longer.
I just don't get what is so unsensational about God at work that it doesn't make the papers? Why isn't there a missionary section to the paper? Why don't new believers grace our papers? I'm sure there are magazines I can subscribe to that would give me this info but why don't I see it in the Dallas news? My husband reads that paper front to back and shares with me the items he believes I would like to talk about without being offended. I gotta say there must be alot of offensive stuff in there because he shares only a little bit with me. Mostly I like to hear the "love is" cartoon.
I'm not naive, I've lived thru stories that people have read about. Child abuse, divorce, drugs, criminal activities and jail time. I could be on Montel exposing the reality of a past directed by satan.
What I am grateful for today is the very huge reality of the good news found in the bible, can you dig it? I mean I am thrilled to spend my morning reading His news. I know I have to stay current to be relavent, so says many and maybe I should. But just the weather is enough for me. Other than that you can find me in His word gleening an eduacation on His ways and happily avoiding the tragic pictures and words the world sends out daily. Is todays "news"paper so different from yesterday, or even tomorrows? It is all heart-breaking stuff that can fill you with a weight that makes your back bend with sorrow. I say if you want to be bent over start on your knees and you shall be lifted by His word and it will lift you daily.
This is my opinion and my thoughts. I know many who read several different prints to get the worldly news. I guess my prayer is that these same people are spending equal time in His news to really have a God perspective on their day. I have alot of learning to do alot of studying to understand more.

Grateful to be challenged

My son Anthony is a real treat. This is him after his graduation ceremony from Navy league Cadet Corp Boot Camp. This is a jr program the U.S.Navy has for kids that want to learn about the Navy. They drill the 3rd weekend of each month and yes go to bootcamp for a week during the summer. As a mom I handled this week as a complete wimp, I called officers daily with concern. Anthony however handled this week away from mom like a champ. They do this at a real base with real military people doing real military things (on a downsized scale). Anthony is fearless to challenge, he always raises his hand at any opportunity to try something new.
Well I am learning to accept challenges as blessings. We have a new study on Hebrews in our life group and this workbook taunts me it seems. I am just not getting it, I mean week 1 day 1 has me challenged. Our pastor is without a doubt blessed big time intellectually, and his writing shows it. Me, well I'm not so blessed and the language, while english is hard for me to wrap my noodle around. 3 times yesterday I tried and was defeated . This morning God says try again Lisa, I am expanding you to learn more, try harder. If God believes I can do this than by His will I will do it. The bible says God will never ask more of me than I can give even if I believe I am unable. So again today I will try and today I will receive the blessing of a challenge faced and conquered. Today I am grateful to my heavenly father that does not let me sit things out, but props me up till I can stand. As my son stands in this picture between 2 of his commanding officers I want to bow down before my father some day so He can smile at me and say " see that wasn't so tough eh Lisa"