Living Above the Sun Ministries

"And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have." -2 Corinthians 8:10-12 I sat at the table, fumbling with emotions, words, thoughts, and a pencil that I wish could write what was so heavy on my heart. Right responses in circumstances...questions filled my mind. There is so much that scares me, what is my response supposed to be? Am I saying no to the flame that is molding and refining me? Dare my pen write these frights as thankfulness? But it does. That is the right response. I begin to write His promises and truths He says about my life. I write prayers. I cry out, I seek Him in His Word. Why am I here? I was headed for...

At the end of everyday I sit and I write in my book of blessings. The things that I am thankful for, that I found joy in, and the graces given to me. I sit and recount the day, and I thank Him. Not just for the good things, but for the things that got me a little in a tizzy. #127- The mistakes I made today at work. It means I learned. It means I need grace, and Jesus. #133- A lost debit card. I am finding myself more joyful in giving thanks in all things. God inhabits the praises of His people, and I cannot praise Him enough. Being thankful keeps me afloat and focused on the mission at hand, it opens my eyes to a bigger world, and broadens my view of what God wants me to see. So much to thank Him for. So many joys. So many graces to be had. How many have you counted today? We dream and dare to live fully, and do big things. But what if we are already living the dream and living fully? What are we missing that is right in front of us? A few posts ago I mentioned Zac...

Just a short post today. I really didn't intend for this to sound New Year soundish, but I guess it's okay if it does. This is something I've been encountering over and over in my time home from Portland, and even while being in Portland. I will find myself thinking, "I wish I had this from home, or could bring that." For instance over and over I had wanted a thousand times my notebook packed full of music that I used to do with my band. Or I've wanted to bring all my Indian Trail Christmas music and CD's. Things like that. However, as I pause and reflect on what He is taking me through right now, I realize these things can become a hindrance to growth. Sometimes this can be in the form of relationships too. Some are good to keep for a lifetime and from place to place, it depends on what the situation is. If they are sending you out and support you keep them! You need them, and the encouragement they will bring to your life as you go! However, ...

This Christmas I've been praying fervently for, and remembering missionaries. Until I really became a missionary and having been on the field I never knew or gave much thought to those who have left what they've known, and loved to spread the gospel. But this Christmas, that is all that has been on my heart. From India to Cambodia to Ecuador to Canada, I have missionary friends in all these places. One of the missionaries challenge is to learn the culture and what ministers deeply to the hearts there. It's a new way of thinking. We can't so much invade their culture with ours and expect to win them to Christ. That's the whole reason we go. To be about them. What do they need to hear, and see and experience in a fresh way that will lead them to Christ. While Jesus isn't American, we have Americanized Him no doubt, it puts walls up. I've been touched to think about the story a missionary friend who served in Korea for many years told me not long ...

In my quest and efforts to live above the sun and not for things under the sun, I have found today to challenge me in that respect. I'm still human and enjoy things. Since God called me to be a missionary; to sell all I have and follow Him, He has changed me a lot. I'm learning to embrace things that can't be wrapped. This has been one of the greatest Christmases ever. While I didn't find many things wrapped under the tree, I have received so much this season that will last forever. Things that I can take with me to Heaven, and treasure that is stored there as well. Before I left for Portland this summer a very precious and dear woman to me, she's a mother in the Lord, said she wanted to bring me home Christmas. So she and other sisters in the Lord worked to bring me home. What a gift! They are a gift to me. My family is a gift to me. Sweet tea! Mamas cooking! Everywhere I turn around I find a gift. The gift of music, and a song to write. I could not...

"...lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." -Hebrews 12:16-17 This morning in my quiet time I focused in on this one verse, and it has been with me all today. When we allow God to lead our quiet time with Him...the morning watch as Andrew Murray calls it...we find jewels of blessing. Often times we don't allow God to lead our time with Him, we have our countless books, and and are weighted down with what we HAVE to read. While that's cool and all, it is possible for our quiet times with God to become an idol, a burden, and a guilt trip, and just religious jargon. This is not what God intended for us in spending time with Him. The mornings when I finally die to myself and focus on Him I find His beauty and promise. I find my time ...

On the plane flying into Chicago from Portland I had a very close time with my Father. Though delirious, tired, and with a glazed look on my face I somehow was still able to hear what my Father was telling me as I opened His Word. Thousands of feet in the air I look down on His creation, and the wonder of getting to meet with its Creator was astounding. I've been churning the wise words in my heart and mind from a woman who has come along side of me in Portland, and has helped me in so many ways in this time of transition. God never ceases to place strong women of faith in my life, I'm so thankful. One of the things she reminded me of is that I'm just getting started in what God has laid out for me. That what is behind is behind, and what defines me is not what I've done, but what He has done, and done in me. As I chewed on her words, and allowed God to help me see and apply, and grasp the truths of my friends words He reminded me of a few things. I couldn'...