More Living Water

What a day! We started our food give-away back up today---after the holiday break. It was a bit overwhelming. We start all over the first week in January---everyone gets a new card which means we have to get everyone's information all over again. It takes a long time. And there were just lots of questions for me today from every direction. The exciting thing is that about 5 or 6 people had praises that they wanted to share during our prayer time! They're seeing God at work in their own lives. It's just amazing. Incredible things are happening!! Gib preached today and 3 people prayed to receive Christ. God is good.
When the dust cleared, our office volunteer decided to look at the past 2 years and to see how many people we'd had the 1st week of January. (I love statistics!!) In 2007, we had 16 people. In 2008, we had 40 people. And today, we had 64 people!! Is that not amazing? I think it's a sign of things to come.
Another exciting thing is that 3 women came up to me after they got their groceries and asked when they could come volunteer at Living Water. I'm telling you...lives are being changed.

A Living Water Beauty

A Day at Living Water

I think everyone in Borger made a New Year's Resolution to clean out their closets!

Don't you LOVE blogging??

I do!! I can't imagine life without blogging now. I've always been a "writer." I've written letters forever. In fact, I remember sending Andy a STACK of letters at one time when we were dating. He was on a 3 month tour with the Royalheirs. (Really! How much can you say???) I began journalling 15 years ago. I still have all of my journals and have left instructions for Amy to come collect them if I die! ha! And now...why do I care? I put all of my thoughts out there for the whole world to read!!
But I love reading other people's blogs. I have "sisters" all over the country that I may never meet face-to-face, but I'm getting to know them through their blogs. And I have friends that I've lost touch with and am getting reacquainted with them through blogging. I also have some young preachers that I check out---I love their spiritual insight. I don't know how I'd be handling have a daughter thousands of miles from me (it is thousands, right? It feels like thousands!) if I couldn't read her blog every day and see pictures of those grandkids just as often!! (I may have more grandkids living further away in the near future, too!)
So...Marcy Faye. Thank you. Thank you for convincing me that I would love this. Thank you for dragging me into the blogging world when I wasn't sure how to set it up or make it cute. It's enlarged my world and given me insight into other people's lives. It's helped me focus my own thoughts. It's stretched me spiritually as younger women/men challenge me. I love blogging!!

Be holy

I can't give up this thought process about holiness yet. It seems we have some of the same problems that were going on in the Roman & Corinthian church in Paul's day. In Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8, Paul is addressing eating food offered to idols. He tells the people it's ok to eat food offered to idols, but if eating that food causes a brother to stumble, you aren't walking in love. He also says that if you eat and you have any doubts about eating, you stand condemned before the Lord because you're not being true to your convictions and you don't act out of faith. He instructs the people to walk in love towards their brothers. I Corinthians 8:9 says, "Only be careful that this power of choice (this permission and liberty to do as you please) which is yours, does not (somehow) become a hindrance (cause of stumbling) to the weak or overscrupulous (giving them an impulse to sin)."
My point is that we should live holy lives. We should love our Christian brothers and sisters more than ourselves---and especially more than food offered to idols!! Actually, that's what Paul says in Romans 14:17, "[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
I'm learning that I'm a very selfish person. I think about myself more than I do others. This year, I want to live a holy life--a life set apart for Christ. I want to love others more than I do myself. As I see the day of the Lord approaching, I want to be looking up and I want to be a pure bride ready to receive my bridegroom! I want to be holy as He is holy.
I Corinthians 6:12
"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Holiness

II Peter 3:11-14
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight."

I've been thinking on holiness lately. What is it? From the study I've done, here are some words that are synonymous with holiness: set apart, righteousness, purity, godliness, devoted, consecrated.
Am I living a holy life? A life set apart to God? Am I pure in thought and action? Am I patterning myself after God? Am I righteous--not just positionally, but practically?
God instructs us in these verses that we are to live holy lives as we see the day of the Lord approaching. You know what I think? I think we're more concerned about our freedoms in Christ than we are about the holiness that God has called us to in these days.

Romans 12: 1-2
"I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]."

Holidays Gone & Randomness

Does it make you a little sad when the holidays are over? There's so much adrenaline leading up to the holidays for me---all of the cooking, shopping, planning, visiting, parties, etc. And then....it's over! Don't get me wrong. I'm always ready to get my Christmas tree down and get things cleaned up. It feels good to do that. In fact, this year, I had a few days off between Christmas and New Years that gave me even more time to clean and reflect. Maybe that's what has me a little contemplative. Or maybe it's the fact that my house has been so full and now it isn't. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm just really tired. I just wondered if it's just me or if it's a woman-thing.

We kind of have a contest in our neighborhood. Ralph is always telling the neighbors that we have to have 100% participation in getting lights on our houses---and we usually do! This year, Ralph & Andy gave Jimmy a hard time over the lights on his trees. Actually, he hired it done. But the guys that did it looped lights from tree to tree. It really did look goofy. So Jimmy took it down and only left lights on the trunks. There's still peer pressure when you're 40-60! ha! Andy went out and bought all new lights for our house after Christmas---we had 1/2 of our strands going out. And he was inspired by the houses on Lipscomb Street in Amarillo that had every branch covered on the trees. We'll see if that really happens next year!!

We had another miracle take place right here in Borger. Cindy Boyer was taken to the hospital in Amarillo with chest pains. They were sure she'd had a heart attack. We all began praying. They took her in for a heart cath---and were prepared to do surgery---but could find nothing wrong!! Awesome!

Andy is preaching tomorrow at our church. (I know he'd appreciate prayer!) Then next Sunday, Steve Taylor from Las Vegas, NM is coming in view of a call to our church as pastor. We're very excited about that. Then the next Sunday, Andy's twin brother, Phil, is coming to preach. Steve sandwiched in between the Dietz Brothers. ha!

Ryan & Addie are here this weekend, (Well, their parents came along, too) They are so funny! They got doctor's kits from Nana & Papa (Donna & Ron Maxwell) and absolutely love them! Dr. Ryan was treating us all night. He was a little giddy giving us shots--a little troubling. He set up an office behind my chair in the living room and would go there occassionally to work on his computer. (I wonder how he knew dr.'s worked on their computer?) Then he would go to the dr. store behind Pop's chair to get us medicine.
Addie is going to ballet classes and spent her evening dancing for us and doing her 3-year-old plia's. I wish I had a video camera to show you. (You have to have quick eyes or you might miss it!)

Well...those are my random thoughts this evening. Maybe my brain has just shut down and needs a jumpstart! Maybe it's just not good for me to have time off. I have to tell you this: A lady called me at Living Water yesterday (my first day back and it was only a 1/2 day) and was very upset that I'd been gone all week. She had clothes to deliver and let me know that she'd been trying to call me all week long. WOW! How do people clean closets during the holidays? It never stopped!!! (People delivering clothes during the holidays, that is.)

MAJOR Miscommunication!!

Last night, as Andy & I were having our serious discussion about what we wanted to see happen in 2009, somehow we got on the subject of love languages. That's when Andy threw out his bombshell!! He disclosed that his love language was "touch." (Banging myself on the forehead!!) ARE YOU KIDDING ME????
When Andy & I started dating, he let me know that he did NOT like PDA. In fact, if we had been holding hands and someone came around the corner, he dropped my hand. Soon, we just quit holding hands or touching in public. That was 34 years ago!!!
And NOW he tells me that "touch" is his love language? I was so blown away. How could we have lived 34 years with this kind of miscommunication?!? Unbelievable. (And we've even taught classes on this--love languages & communication!)
I wonder how many hugs it will take to make up for that many years?

Hugs are good.