My heart tonight...

I wish I could explain the place that God has put me in for you, but because of who He has me interceding for, it is important that I don't speak of my mission field. I do say, though, that it has become evident that He is calling me to greater spiritual warfare that will effect my personal life as well as my ministry time. God is calling me to speak truth into an area where His word is misunderstood. I am so blessed that He has put me in this place because I can tangibly see that through the testing of my faith my heart will develop endurance. It is such a blessing for my place of ministry to also be a place of fruitful trial. I do want to say that although this theme seems annoyingly repetitive in my thoughts, there is still something that feels empty in my heart. I am continually learning to know my heavenly Father better, but as He gives me places in my life to intercede and minister to people, I find myself more strongly desiring a husband to share my heart with. I suppose it is a part of character development to learn to solely rely on Him, but it seems that to share what He is doing in my heart with parents, sister, and close friends just is not the same as it would be to share it with a life partner. There is something about the role of a husband as a protector of my heart that I wish I had, and I guess that means I need to just continually trust my heart to God. I know He has me in this place for specific purposes, and I don't (or try not to) doubt His will. My heart is so assured of the perfection of His purpose right now. It's just on my heart to express that even as I desire Him more, I still desire that lifelong purpose of marriage. I don't even know how to express what my heart is feeling. I can only say that my faith and trust is in the Lord, but my heart is frail and weak. I can't accomplish this purpose without Him, and He quietly whispers that He will always be there, but something in my heart wishes I was also ready for the earthly "other half" He has prepared for me. I feel like now that I'm kind of grown up I've realised that I'm missing part of myself..I think I'm just rambling now. Thank you for listening and I hope that somehow the trials of my heart have encouraged you in your life.

Fun stuff :)

There are a few things that especially bless my heart and lift me up and a few others that are just fun. I would like to share them with you so here they are, in no particular order:

1. Panoramic views of Germany
2. Music from the heart of an artist
3. A writer who has an inspiring gift with words
4. Nemo, with a twist (click here, then click on trailer)
5. Explore and listen..I think you can hear parts of the sound track here

The great division of doctrine

There are many things that we consider to be so important in our spiritual lives. These things are what define us when someone wants to know who we really are. They are how we pray, how we spend time with our creator, what our walk with Him really looks like, how our friends are involved in our Christianity, or how they're not. Sometimes we place too great an amout of importance on what we will hear on Sunday morning, and not enough on what it means to know Jesus. We bicker about what the pastor said or didn't say, or sometimes, knowing myself, we sit for hours and discuss doctrines of predestination, election, closed and open covenant, faith, grace, the list goes on and on and on... But what is it that we really need to know in order to walk with God? This question has been on my mind for quite some time. Each time I return from one of those hour-long discussions I find that there is one thing that never changes. He never ceases to use those times of thought and reflection to draw me closer to Himself, even if they only push me further from the answer to my specific question.
It is so important to me to really know what I believe. I find myself in moments of fear wondering how I can ever get married because what are the chances of me agreeing about the "important things" with anyone? But there is one thing that my Savior keeps bringing me back to. He is always reminding me that His grace will never run out, that his provision is everlasting, and that if I don't know the answer, He does. This doesn't take away from the wondering and the pondering. I struggle even now with the issue of closed covenant. I don't believe it. The church I'm called to attend teaches it. What do you say when you've seen a miracle and someone tells you they don't happen? What do you say when you've heard the voice of God and someone tells you that He doesn't speak? But in the end God continually shows me how amazing it is that we all love Him. We all see him a little differently through the lenses of our experience and upbringing, but we all love Him. Some of us find grace easier to grasp, others understand the law more readily but struggle with grace. Through these discussions and times of questioning I have learned this one thing: He has taught me a greater love for His Church. Maybe it seems odd that doctrinal discussion has brought me to that conclusion, and I don't want to sound like I'm saying that doctrine is not important, but we must know first our love for and relationship with Christ, and second, through that relationship we must allow Him to teach us the Truth, because when we come to the end of ourselves, we realize that He's the only one who really knows it anyway.