I love the fragrance of your name <3
Toward the Unseen
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
If I could turn back time, there is no affliction in my life I would ask God to reclaim. Each situation was strategically placed in order for me to come out more faithful, more joyful, and to draw closer to Him. I am who I am, a giddy lovestuck daughter, because of His intervention during my best and worst times. Every circumstance has only illuminated my understanding of God’s goodness and so I cherish every suffering along with His favors. For “our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” My desire is not to live a life of first-world comfort. I don’t wish my children to live sheltered and hardship-free lives. I want to persevere forward and have my family running with me. If God requires my kids to endure tribulation for the sake of His kingdom, I will gladly accede and watch Him work in their lives. I don’t ever want to wish for luxury and complacency when I know physical gratification holds no eternal inheritance. We fix our eyes on what is unseen in order to advance towards our goal and I pray I will NEVER forget how my trials have blessed me.
Perfect Match
Adding on to my Ruth entry:
“A man must be a believer.
He must be able and willing to provide for his family.
He must love sacrificially.
He must be honest, have a good reputation and strive for the qualities of a spiritual leader.
EVEN if he is shorter than you. Or younger. Or bald. Failing to meet our worldly expectations - our romantic shopping list - is no liability if he meets biblical ones. That’s the only list that matters. And marriage to a man could hardly be called settling. In another day, it went by the much more pleasant and desired description: settling down.” -Boundless
mm very humbling to alotta Christian women out there, especially to me =__=. Not that I have a long worldly list of expectations but even spiritual expectations that I may hold on to may not exactly be what God believes I need.
God help me to renew my mind, let go of my own expectations in all aspects of my life including what I am looking for in a husband. I want what you have planned for me.
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sidenote:
I am excited for this week. What I will see as I walk with him. I will be more dependent on His strength now more than ever and I am curious to know what I will encounter. ^^
Valentine’s Day
To: My first love.
You have won me over and I have given you all of my heart. You have pursued me time and time again where I no longer have the power nor the will to resist your overwhelming love. I trust and believe in you when at times I do not have the courage to even trust in myself and you always tell me exactly what I need to hear to be secure in myself as a woman. You offer me more than the world, you offer me all of you. You have given me everything I need and blessed me with more. I’m the luckiest girl in the world. I thank you everyday and you already know I love you. Happy Valentin’es Day, Jesus.
Yours Always,
Janice.
Confidante
“You can’t be David until you find your Jonathan. You need your confidante then, confidantes are those few people that come along in your life that are for you. They are with you, they are intimately intertwined in your life, they are there to make sure that you reach your destiny. They will confront you, they will get in your face, they will get in your business, they will tell you when you are wrong. Because they are your confidantes, if you have two or three of them in a lifetime you are a blessed person. Without them you will never be who God called you to be.” -TDJ
I thank God so much for blessing me with amazing mentors and spiritual sisters who keep me accountable. They have challenged me to go further, humbled me, fed me, comforted me, covered me in blessings and prayer, and loved me so that I may draw near the Lord just a little closer. Thank you for being my Jonathan.
(P.S. Random Fact: Jonathan is my favorite bible character, MHMM.)
His Beautiful Melody
Ephesians 5:15-20
“Be very careful, then how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Playing the piano is one of my favorite outlets of expression when speaking to God. Many times when I feel I can’t fully articulate the words I want to say in prayer, I’ll sit in front of the piano and let the music speak for me. Yesterday after church cleanup, I played random melodies that came to mind in the main sanctuary and one of the church member’s little 4yr old girl came up to me to listen. As I played more for her she became more and more intrigued and wanted to play it for herself. In the midst of her eagerness and curiosity she climbed on top my lap, pushed away my hands and started to pound on the piano. I saw her heart and sincerity in want of presenting a beautiful melody, however, her frustration started to grow as she lacked the ability, discernment, and knowledge of how to play. I looked at her and asked myself, “Jesus, is this what I look like when I try to imitate you?” Right when I was about to feel disheartened I saw a picture of him taking my hands, putting them on top of his and he played away. I must understand his will, let my hands rest on his, and watch him compose my life beautifully. I just need to rest on his lap and enjoy as it unfolds in front of me.
Twilight Is Out; Ruth Is In.
I read Ruth today and I don’t know why I didn’t take more interest in this original love story before.
I’m about to state an obvious truth but women (including me) are such suckers for romantic love stories. Any story of a man falling in love and coming to the woman’s rescue is ever alluring because of every female’s need for both physical and emotional security. Jane Austen’s novels thrived for centuries because of this factor and even with our younger generation, the Twilight series banks on this. But as Women of God, we see no need to turn to secular expositions when there are plenty of wonderful love stories in the bible waiting to be uncovered. Jacob worked hard for fourteen years just to be with beautiful Rachel. Ruth was a faithful widow and worked hard to keep herself and her mother-in-law alive during a famine; Boaz saw her noble character and took her as his wife. - Which reminds me I read a hilarious comment on Boaz for all the ladies out there waiting for their man: “Some Biblical advice for all of you single ladies…Ruth patiently waited for her mate, Boaz. So, ladies, while you wait for your Boaz, let’s not settle for his relatives known as Brokeaz, Poaz, Cheapaz, Lyinaz, Cheatinaz, Dumbaz, Lockedupaz, Goodfornothinaz, Lazyaz, or Marriedaz, & especially his third cousin, Beatinyoaz. Please wait on your Boaz & make sure he respects Yoaz” MMM YES - And who could forget the ultimate love story of our hero Jesus. The world tells us to settle for prideful men or vampires with no souls who are filthy rich and put women on a pedestal. But we say NO! WE WANT OUR JACOB, BOAZ, JESUS. We will settle for no less than the humble whose sole purpose in life is to run after our Heavenly Father’s heart. <3
Furnish Your Heart
In my QT today I read 2 Chronicles 4: Solomon furnishes the temple he has built so that the ark of the covenant could be brought in and God’s presence could reside. He beautifully ornaments the temple with lavish amounts of bronze, silver and gold. Finally, after all is built, the ark is brought in and set in the Most Holy Place and 2 Chronicles 5 and 1 Kings 8 both depict God’s glory cloud filling the temple of the Lord. Solomon built with the best he had and created a beautiful dwelling place for the Lord. If now our own bodies are God’s temple are our hearts furnished and filled with the purest of desires in which it is pleasing for God’s glory to reside? God, you always humble me to strive for a righteous and honest heart, please keep filling me with that ambition to delight you in all that I do.
Essence
When you pray,
(and I mean REALLLYYYY pray in the Spirit and you can feel the excitement growing inside of you, your heart feels as if it’ll burst,and your soul releases a freedom of expression that has been trapped in your controlled body for so long),
isn’t it interesting that all that comes out is praise?
There are so many things in this world that needs to be prayed for: in our own lives, for others, the injustices of this world, yet when I get rid of all distractions in my mind and zone into just me and Him, I can’t do anything but praise. Sometimes, I would get frustrated and almost feel as if my prayer time was unproductive because all I did was praise Him. But afterwards I’m filled with a peace; these prayers I didn’t have to bring up because my spirit was busy praising Him, already with the peace of them being answered. When we go into that secret place with Him, he already knows the desires of our heart, he knows our needs better than we do, he does not need us telling him what to do, and all he wants is just me and him.
I was at prayer mountain today with one of my jdsn’s and we prayed together in agreement. She has the gift of interpretation and received word of knowledge over what I was saying in tongues. I kept saying the same thing over and over, just praising God again and again and again. She eventually had to stop me (if she didn’t I would be there still right now lol) and she let me know what I was saying. It’s funny how God doesn’t even need us to ask, or talk about our prayer requests, but when you step into his presence, all you can do is praise.
We don’t need to worry, we don’t need to even concern ourselves with the next step, when you go into that secret place with him you already know that IT’S ALL GOOD. It’s all taken care of so all you CAN do is thank him.
And afterwards, when you come out of prayer, even if you hadn’t uttered a single word of what you wanted to ask for, it. is. already. done. No worries. Hakuna Matata. God is GOOD. ALL THE TIME.
Basic
“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” John 13:14,17
My verse of the year and so befitting. I will be off on missions after I graduate, but my commission to love and serve is now and always.
Who’s feet need washing today?? :)
