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June 18: 3 gifts from your Heavenly Father

  • Wonderful time to drink in His presence and feast on His word. This was a day where I had extra time to devote to the LORD. I spent several sweet hours with Him.
  • His nearness which was my good, my comfort and my delight.
  • Perseverance to stay dependent on Him for strength and wisdom over the course of my whole day. I was feeling tired and unsure of what to offer my clients, but He sustained me and directed my words.

June 19: 3 gifts you became today in serving

  • A Barnabas. A son of encouragement.
  • A listening ear.
  • A heart of compassion.

June 20: A gift bent, beautiful, loved

  • A gift bent down was exchanging a kiss and a hug with Ava, Noah AND Kingston before I even left for work. What a great start to my day!
  • A gift beautiful was celebrating progress and healing with a client who has known deep pain. Hearing that person talk in a way that made God's transformation within them become visible on the outside. Seeing the seed of hope begin to grow up in a place that has only grown despair for many years.
  • A gift loved was knowing that my parents took themselves to Magic Waters just to hang out in the Lazy River for an hour before dinner.

June 21: 3 gifts found in light

  • Forgiveness. When I chose to bring my sins and failures into the light, then Jesus can forgive them. For as long as I choose to pretend that they do not exist, that I am justified in my feelings or actions or that they are not a big deal, I make the darkness my home and remove myself from God's cleansing and loving light.
  • Safety. Sometimes I fear the dark. Sometimes I fear what I cannot see or understand; that which is just beyond the light of my vision. In the same way that I appreciate how the natural and artificial lights remove the physical darkness around me, I appreciate how God's light removes the spiritual darkness around me and delivers me from sin.
  • Sunlight dancing across my car. It reflects off almost everything as I drive and the small points of light race across every surface. They warm everything they touch and I like to watch them glitter here and there.

June 22: 3 gifts that are difficult

  • Living far away from some of my favorite people
  • When other people have what I want
  • Small beginnings

It's been "all hands on deck" in our house to help Patrick with his statistics class. As a result, I haven't been to the House of Prayer as much as I usually am. It was weird. It was also disconcerting in the sense that I felt more vulnerable than I usually do. I realize that investing regular time in prayer, both at the HOP and away, creates a sort of insulation around me. Temptations are a little less appealing, offenses are a little less outrageous and my worries don't get as much air-time in my brain. I continued praying while away from the HOP, but I missed praying in community and the peaceful atmosphere of that little room in the basement of the Hallstrom Center. I'm thankful, in a way, because I believe that serving in this house is part of my mandate from God and a lot of times it feels hard. So, it was nice to be away and really miss it. And, it's been delightful to come back. Like a huge sigh of relief or taking off uncomfortable shoes when you get home. It just feels right to come to this place, to wait on the Lord, to sing, to pray, to read, to listen, and to love.

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