in my last post, i talked about how i need a more passionate relationship with God. it was true that i realized this, but it was still all in my head. my heart wasn't convinced.

last week, this revelation made it the 13.5" down to my heart. God doesn't want to be someone who i walk by in the hallway and say hello to. he wants to walk along-side me in everything i do! putting it in words doesn't sound near as exciting as it felt to realize, but you get the idea.

i've often wondered how to force my heart to understand something. all i did this time was to make time each day to spend time with God. there's nothing genius there, though i realize it may not always be that simple.

in other news, we're doing a sermon series at church about the basics of Christianity. today's sermon was about the devil and how to defeat him. satan's strategy is to keep people from knowing Christ, to cause Christians to stumble and fall (by telling lies that God is bad and sin is better), and to encourage compromise. he will use anything to bait our compromise -- church, Christian friends, etc. the solution is simple: know Christ! by getting to know God through the Bible and prayer, we will be able to decifer the lies of satan from the truth of God.

as a conclusion to the message, our pastor read parts of Josh Hamilton's story from this month's ESPN the magazine. he was a baseball phenom who was kicked out of the game because of a drug problem. after awhile, he surrendered to Jesus who brought him out of addiction and back into baseball, where he now plays for the cincinnati reds. an exerpt from the article:

[In my dream] I would hit [the devil] and he would bounce back up, the ugliest and most hideous creature you could imagine. This devil seemed unbeatable; I couldn't knock him out. But just when I felt like giving up, I felt a presence by my side. I turned my head and saw Jesus, battling alongside me. We kept fighting, and I was filled with strength. The devil didn't stand a chance.

You can doubt me, but I swear to you I dreamed it. When I woke up, I felt at peace. I wasn't scared. To me, the lesson was obvious: Alone, I couldn't win this battle. With Jesus, I couldn't lose.

what an encouragement!

God is so amazing! He's been teaching me so much lately. i want to put it into words for you all, but i don't think i can.

to sum it up, God is showing me that i need to become more passionate about my relationship with Him. in an apparantly separate set of revelations, He's showing me how to cut my monthly bills, something i couldn't figure out on my own (i tried). He tied it all together tonight for me. i can't wait to see how He's going to use these revelations tomorrow and next week and next month and into the years to come!

in other news, i got a much-needed haircut tonight (i almost had a mullet) and now i weigh 3 lbs less than i did 24 hours ago.

God reminded me last week how wonderful my friends are! they've landed throughout the country, but He still allows me to see some of them frequently -- something i never dreamt of! last week i had the opportunity to paint at Becky's condo, along with Aduma, Kendra, Mrs. C, and a few of Becky's other friends. we worked and played hard -- it was so wonderful!

we definitely had our fun, but more than that, i came away inspired by them (once again). about living with less. about the importance of spending time with God. about ways to help the poor out of poverty. about learning. about eating better. about capturing the energy from lightning. :) and about the majesty of God (actually He showed that to me Himself).

oh, and my siblings are absolutely amazing!!

i am truly blessed!