2 days in a row...no way!!

Another great escape

My computer is not operating quite as perfectly as I would like it to, okay, so we have encountered numerous difficulties on this internet cafe visit, but we will struggle through!  That said, I would love to spend time catching up on all of your posts, but time and 'breakdowns' are not going to allow it.  So in a few days (oh, please only be a few days) when we get our internet hooked up in our house, you can expect to see thousands of footprints all over your sites from yours truly! Hey, a girl's gotta catch up  

In the mean time, I wanted to continue with my update:

2. Growing and Learning:

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I hope in Him!' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  It is good that one should hope and wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord.  It is good for man to bear the yoke in his youth." ~Lamentations 3:22-27

"So take heart, Kate. And wait on Him. Wait patiently on the Lord. And while you wait, seek His face, and strive to do everything for His glory and His kingdom.  He sees you; He sees your heart and he knows your dreams and desires. Wait on Him, seek Him, and He will be good to you. He loves you, Kate.  HE LOVES YOU!" ~from my journal as a response to the verse above on July 2, 2009

I have been claiming this verse since first I read it only a few days ago, but what a difference this promise makes!  I have found renewed energy to wake early in the morning (the sun comes in my window at 5 am, so this really isn't too hard ) and seek His face to start my day.  He has blessed me so richly with the perfect passages each morning, the Psalms are simply coming alive to me, as is the redemptive love found in Isaiah.  It has been a healing balm to my confused and impatient heart.  But slowly, God is teaching me patience, and the good that comes from waiting on Him.  He is teaching me about myself, and how I can love better, love more.  He is showing me wisdom - though I admit, I don't always accept it  - and showing me how to search for it.  He is training me in the values of learning, growing, serving.  And He is guiding me in cultivating deep and meaningful relationships.  Oh, it is so good! Hard, but so good. 

3. Reading!!!

I finally finished reading Little Women and absolutely loved it! I recommend it to everyone!

I am also continuing to read Gerald Sittser's The Will of God as a Way of Life.  Again, loving it:

"In our perspective we only see a small part of the bigger picture.  We can believe with confidence THAT God is in control, but we may not always know HOW.  Thus, we are called to trust his sovereignty, believing that he will accomplish his glorious purpose."

"That is why God, when he wants us to follow his declared will, entreats, encourages, impels, inpsires, aids and abets us; when he allows us to oppose his will, however, he simply leaves us to our own devices, free to pleasure ourselves."

When we choose to do God's revealed will - serving and glorifying him with every decision - we will take part in the 'mysterious' unfolding of His hidden will. It is our choice if we are on board or not, even when we cannot see, know or understand the outcome.  Choose to do the obvious instead of trying to figure out God's 2000+ year long symphony.  I am just one instrument in a few lines of that movement.  Let the director direct and play your part! Trust in Him - doing that, you will have nothing to lose.  Live in hope and live to honor God with your life.  He's got it all under control.  Choose to obey. ~from my journal in reflection to what I had just read from Sittser's book on July 5, 2009.

Time is up, until next time. Blessings, and thank you for reading! Your comments are such an encouragement to me!

~KathrynMichael

Okay, so I have been officially home now for about 3 weeks! Crazy how time flies.  I finally got my pictures loaded onto my compy, and will soon update. Thanks for holding in there!!

*Recieved this as a forwarded email, normally I would have not given it a second glance, but for some reason I read this one. And I was reminded once again of the awesomeness of Easter and His promised return.  Let it be always on our minds.*

You are in your car driving home. Thoughts wander to the game you want to see or meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever heard fills the air. The sound is high above you. A trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets? You don't know, but you want to know. So you pull over, get out of your car, and look up.

As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one. The roadside has become a parking lot. Car doors are open, and people are staring at the sky. Shoppers are racing out of the grocery store. The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt. Players and parents are searching the clouds.

And what they see, and what you see, has never before been seen.

As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part.

  

A brilliant light spills onto the earth.

There are no shadows. None.

From every hue ever seen and a million more never seen.

Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels.

They pass through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky. North. South. East. West. Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting,

Holy, holy, holy.

The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet.

The angels turn,

you turn,

the entire world turns

and there He is.

Jesus.

Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King.

He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud.

He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration: I am the Alpha and the Omega.

The angels bow their heads.

The elders remove their crowns.

And before you is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know:

Nothing else matters.

Forget stock markets and school reports. Sales meetings and football games. Nothing is newsworthy. All that mattered, matters no more....

For Christ has come.