In Christ Alone

A woman at work asked me "Did you ever think you would be the wife of a pastor?"

My response: "Hahaha no! I never thought my life would be anything that it is now. I never thought I would be a born again believer, or listen to contemporary Christian music, or raise my hands in joyous praise. Or spend my days teaching the gospel to pre-schoolers. Let alone marry a man who may one day be a pastor."

On further reflection, I never thought my life would be many more things. I never thought I would finish college, now here I am in my last semester. I never thought I would have a tattoo, and now I have one that proclaims Christ's power to set us free.

I never thought I would declare myself a sinner. Or openly discuss the things I tried to keep hidden for so long.

Now here I am. Set free. "Sins curse has lost its grip on me." I am still a sinner. But as my tattoo proclaims: "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death" (Roman 8:2)

This is the power of Christ. He has changed me and my life.

yeah, I married this guy

My husband is so great. That is all.

http://onetallgent.blogspot.com/2013/09/furthering-kingdom.html

Weariness Wednesday, except It's Friday

Life makes me weary. The constant worship of things unGodly and absolutely disgusting wears me out. This week, I have been disgusted and distraught over the Miley Cyrus business, while people are being fumigated to death in Syria. Children I know are crying and fighting because they didn't get the newest iPhone for their birthday. While other children I recently met are serving children on the Thai/ Burma border, quoting scripture from memory and carrying backpacks packed full of supplies for those Burma children. 13, 10, and 7 year old are being raised to serve others or to serve themselves. The most frustrating part of all of this is to know that I am on the list of people who serve themselves. The majority of the time, I seek after my own pleasure before I seek to further the Kingdom of God.

Lord forgive us and turn to strengths our weaknesses.

Leader, Friend, and Lover aka My Man

I would just like to take a moment to make you all barf at how in love I am with my man. And thus I commence in publicly boasting about the man I call husband:

This morning, on my walk/run, God reminded me of all the things I am blessed with and they are all wrapped up in one very tall man. This man is the fearless leader of our home. He is trustworthy and trusting. He is endlessly patient and forgiving of me. He loves God and lives to serve God. He is the hardest working man I have ever met. He is honest in all of his doings, my best friend and confidant and a complete hunk. I wrong him daily and he always forgives me. He loves me better than any man ever has and he deserves more respect than I could ever give.

I think of the ways that I have sinned; demanding respect but giving none, forcing a fake love in relationships that valued worldly things above God, begging men who had no feelings for me to love me (and I mean literally begging). And then some.

I did this all in the pursuit of a love no man can give. God has shown me that love Himself and still does (His love never fails, in case you didn't know) and continues to show me that type of love through the love of my husband.

I know that my man is not perfect but I can say (or write rather) that Nathan Scott Lemke is the most honorable man I have ever met and I am endlessly blessed to call him the leader of my home, my best friend, and my lover.

"Jesus Wants the Rose:" Jesus wants You

Recently I watched this video: I was sitting on the bed. The ex-bf (the abusive one) was standing over me. He was drunk, and probably high on something, and kept repeating over and over again "NOBODY WANTS YOU!" and again "why would anyone want you?" "you deserve me treating you this way" "you will never find anyone who will want you." This went on for almost 3 hours that night. Finally, he left and I was alone. That is when I heard "I want you" "I have always wanted you." I responded "then take me." That night I gave my life to Christ, a few weeks later, He delivered me from my abuser. And a few more weeks later, He brought me to my husband. Broken and lost, He saved me.

Summer Time Snooze

I have got the summer time blues or what I like to call the summer time snooze. I'll explain: It is summer time, normally summer is my time. I am never unhappy in the summer. How could I be? I mean the sun is hot, the lemonade cold, and the fun never ends. Only this year, the fun seems to have ended. All I do now is think about Nazi Germany, technical writing, and dumb psychology 1010. The only ray of sunshine in my week is public speaking, who would have thought? I only like it because it requires little to no prep work. So, summer school has got me in the dumps, but why call it summer time snooze? Because those dumps translate to me being a lump...on the bed, or couch, or ground...sleeping in an effort to avoid Nazi fascism. I firmly believe in the "come all ye who are heavy laden and I will give thee rest" thing. I only wish it said "come all thee who are heavy laden with summer school and I will take that test." I just need to remember that in 5 more weeks, I will be 12 credits closer to being done, AND only have 12 credits left of my college career. Lord help me get through the summer though.

Happy Holy Week

In less than a week, we celebrate Christ's victory, His victory over death, and over sin. He said in the temple at Nazareth “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”(Luke 4). He came to heal your heart and set you free! And It is Finished! Praise be to our Gracious King! Forever and ever.