Living Above the Sun Ministries

A few weeks ago I was faced with a temptation I have struggled with for a while. I share this story because God is really teaching me that He can be trusted and that He is faithful, and I have opportunity to glorify Him in my actions. I was feeling really bad when I started to get sick, major headache, I was tired, not thinking straight. I had gone to Target to get some medicine and all of a sudden out of nowhere Satan attacked! Spiritual battle engaged, immediately I resisted the temptation and walked away. I'm thankful for the verse that reminds me Jesus gets temptation and doesn't leave us without a way out of it. He is so faithful. In resisting Satan, Jesus got the glory. That's been really powerful for me to experience. He gave me a way out. The difference is that I took it. James 1:12-18 is really powerful in explaining the power when we overcome temptation: 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown...

"Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You." -Jeremiah 32:17 This week in the mail I got a really sweet note from one of my Grandmothers. At the end of her letter she included a Bible reference to Jeremiah 32:17. I have to admit I was really glad she didn't quote Jeremiah 29:11 at me. This morning I sat down and really studied this chapter. I have found in my walk with Jesus that He has me focus in on a particular word or topic and He will keep me there and teach me. Lately He has been teaching me about the mystery of Himself, and how to trust Him even when I don't fully know what's going on. Not only is there is a mystery to God and His power, but there is a mystery in our limiting power. God desires to pour out blessing in our lives even in deep firey trials. Psalm 78:41 states that the children of Israel limited the Holy One. Limited in Hebrew means horizo...

"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...