Blessed.

I'm running dry of deep thoughts. If you know me well then you probably just gasped so deep you coughed. I have summer fever... I can't think straight anymore. Once schools out I'm jumping into some inspirational books, and trust me the fountain will once again be overflowing.

As I sit down eating some food, and a little later some more food, and very soon after that even some more food. I realize how incredibly blessed I am. I have a roof over my head, a bed beneath my body, food in my fridge, friends in my heart, books on my shelf, clothes in my closet, a beaming sun in the sky, and trust me I could go on. PLEASE don't get me wrong though these things aren't what only make me blessed though. I could have NONE of these above things and still be abundantly blessed. Even without ALL these things without food, drink, house, a bed, ANY materialistic thing, you would have EVERYTHING, because even without those things you have GOD.

God your Friend.
God your Provider.
God your Counselor.
God your Healer.
God your Strength.
God your Deliverer.
God your Father.
God your Restorer.
God your Love.
God your Helper.
God your Shield.
God your Comfort.
God your Hope.
God your EVERYTHING. (Yes, caps was very necessary.)

As I worked on some deep thoughts to support these prevoius thoughts I figured why need I when I have EVERYTHING laying in the words below sitting in my lap, the Bible! Who better to get some support from then, the Giver of Life, Himself?

-Deuteronomy 8:11-18
(11) “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. (12) For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, (13) and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! (14) Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. (15) Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! (16) He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. (17) He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ (18) Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.

-1 Chronicles 29:10-17
(10) Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly:
“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel,[a] may you be praised forever and ever! (11) Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. (12) Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.(13) “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! (14) But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! (15) We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.(16) “O Lord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! (17) I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there.

God is truly all we will ever need. Don't forget to acknowledge Him, and thank Him for being the wonderful provider of EVERYTHING you have, and all your abilities.

Mission.

A follow up from the previous post. This post will request a mission. A part of your mission as a disciple of God.

Mission: This week your challenge for each day is to pray for three people. ANY three people of your choice. You may see them driving in a car, walking down the hallway, talking on the phone at work, or standing in front of your very eyes teaching you at school. Their emotions may range from a pocket full of sunshine, to Mr. Johnny raincloud. Your mission is to pray for them. Pray for God's blessings on them, and that their walk with God would grow! Any three people, anything on your heart, send your requests to our Almighty God! :)

Let's go rock those gates of heaven!

Prayer...

A new approach to blogging for today, a little more light-hearted. :)

Prayer - (noun)

1.To talk with God.
2.A devout petition to God or an object of worship.
3.A spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession.

I will never be to grasp what a privilege it is to be able to speak at any moment, any hour, any minute to our Maker, our Savior, our Father.

Prayer offers a coversation with God, a way to communicate any feeling at any time, and be guarenteed that He will hear it. Although God knows every single thought on your mind He wants to hear what's important to you, and he wants you to come running to Him with anything, and everything. Prayer shows God you want to have an intimate relationship with Him. Lately I've been getting in depth with prayer in a book called 'The Power Of Prayer'. It offers me a chapter of knowledge and why that specific kind of prayer is important, then it offers a written out prayer to pray, and then asks me to write out three individual prayers that apply to my life. I look forward to coming home and reading it everyday out in the sun, because although I am often to tired to do a lot of thinking, it offers such great spiritual rest, and a filling satisfaction for my soul after a long day. It's been my 15 minutes a day of JUST God and I. No cellular device, no music, no other people, no distractions.

I'm shy when it comes to praying in front of other people. I'm so use to it being such a deep personal time, your prayer doesn't have to consist of fancy words, be organized by any means, or be a certain length. It just has to be an honest out pour of thoughts, or words from your heart. God takes it all. Your burdens, your pain, anything you confess. You can thank Him for the beautiful day, you can tell him all your mushy love stories, you can tell him why you are struggling with your walk with Him. Most importantly you can "Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Talked to God lately? He never gets tired of listening.

A New Grasp On His Love...

God. What a guy! Alpha. Omega. Redeemer. Friend. His love stretches from sea to sea, from sunrise to sunset, to I don't even know! As I've been thinking over this week, I was trying to come up with a recap of blessings. I could talk about given strength, joy, family, friends, hope, but the one that sticks out to me is unconditional love. I expected in a week of sadness a lot of dark would lay, but as always the unexpected came to be. The light I'd seen had been much brighter then thought.

Warning: This post will be kind of long. A update. Some stories. Thoughts.

As the week went by I'd say the beginning was the easiest. I can't really say I understood, whether it was denial or shock, that she left this earth until Wednesday morning, then it started sinking in big time. I couldn't decide whether attending the wake (viewing) or the funeral would be a wise idea or not. I didn't want my last memories of her at such a young age to be of her lying in a casket. None the less, I decided to go. No regrets. It was for sure a part of the healing process to be with family feeling the same things.

As I walked into the wake more realization was forced to set in. As I stood in the middle of the funeral home I looked in all directions. I counted four Kleenex boxes. JUST from one position of standing. FOUR KLEENEX BOXES. Talk about a lot of two-ply tissues! Not only that it looked to be there was already a box or two worth laying in the garbage can I passed by previous to seeing Kortni. As I walked up to the entrance of the gathering room I understood the reason for the Kleenex's...

Approaching her I looked at the cards made for her by her classmates, donated flowers and trees, and at last there her body laid. Lifeless. I stood there emotionless for a while trying to remember as much as I possibly could of her facial features, her long blonde hair, and her closed (bright blue) eyes. Nextly, it was time to walk over to my cousins (her parents) share our sorrows and hope with them. I prayed for some calming words to say and moved along with my family. I was confident I had left the sadness behind for a little bit, I didn't want to see them until I did so I could share some hope with them. By the time I was two people away, I turned into a fountain! I walked up to him with NO words to say, all I could do was look up at him, and say sorry. He leaned down, gave me a hug, while reminding me over and over that it'll be ok, that she's happy, and that it was ok to cry. I stepped back returned his smile, and walked ahead to Nicole, I gave her a hug, and said sorry. She smiled, and on I moved to the prayer service. Over and over in my head all I could think was "You dummy you're suppose to be here to help them feel better, and share hope!" Ugh...

After a while of thinking God shed some light. Maybe God was using Jim (my cousin, Kortni's father) to share in words what God wouldn't speak directly in voice to me. God's ALWAYS there to pat us on the back, give us a big hug, and tell us it'll be ok. He's always there too wipe away our tears, and flash us a hopeful smile just like Jim had to me even though he was hurting probably much worse then I was.

Each time we hurt our neighbor (which is equivalent to everyone) we hurt God. We're his children. Each time we abandon, gossip about, insult, abuse our friends, and anyone, we are doing that to our Creator. He hurts for us, he hurts with us, yet he still accepts us into his loving arms, smiles at us, and tells us it'll all be ok!

Go serve our LOVING God and His people!

All in a moment, all in a minute, all in a short amount of time.

Only last October had I walked along side her, after a small get together for my Grandma's birthday...we all gathered at her house only a very short distance from my little six year old cousin Kortni's house. As she sat at a table coloring next to me, her parents used the typical threat most parents would use if their child wouldn't budge an inch. "We'll leave you here if you don't come over here and get your shoes on now." "Mom, I just want to finish this picture" she said. After a few more minutes of talk I promised I would walk her home when she was done. Her parents agreed, and it was all settled. Shortly after her parents left she was done with her picture, and asked me to walk her home. Before we even walked fifteen feet out the door, I looked down at her and saw her reach up her hand to hold mine. I put my hand out and together we walked. I asked her about school, her favorite color, and how dance was going, before I knew it our conversation had lead us to the familiar steps of her front door. She rang the door bell with her hand still in mine, and waited for her parents to arrive at the door. As she saw her Mom open the door, she looked up at me, smiled big, thanked me for walking her home, released my hand and walked in the door with her brilliantly colored picture. Her mom smiled at me and thanked me, and I walked back to my Grandma's house. Never would I think that would be the last time we'd walk along this earth together...

Now I sit here in disbelief, with a blank look, and a numb feeling inside...
"Kortni drowned." my Mom said..
"She died?" I asked.
"Yes." She replied.

She's gone. All in a moment, all in a minute, all in a short amount of time. She's with God now. He's called her home. She's coloring pictures in God's lap as he looks over her shoulder in complete awe and satisfaction of her beautiful creation. She's at rest. She's at ease. She's in God's arms.

Rest in peace Kortni Botzet.

Treat each day like it's your last. Share the gospel. Share your hope. Love until you can't anymore. Never take advantage of a friendship, or relationship. Each is precious, unique, and given to you as a blessing for a reason.