More letters!

Tonight I am busy again sending out more and more letters to friends that I haven't shared all of the details about my return to Greece with yet! :)
I've determined today that my departure date will be January 15, give or take a day or two... :)
I'm still busy trying to get all of the details in line, and I'm getting more and more excited!! :)
There's just so much I want to accomplish before I leave! Keep giving me the grace, strength, and wisdom to complete your tasks for me, God! :D

PRAISE the LORD for providing for all of my needs. The money I need to live and work in Athens for a year keeps steadily flowing in, and I am very humbled and grateful. :) And have I not yet mentioned how much of a privilege it is for me to have this "excuse" to stay in contact with so many people who have had such a positive role in my life, be able to share what the Lord is doing through my life, and then be a mutual encouragement for each other. Ah, I am truly loving it and soaking it all in with lots of giddy joy!! :D God, you're awesome. :)

Communicating...

Communication...
It can be so challenging sometimes.
Trying to understand the complexity of thought in your own mind...
and then express it with words - audible or written; pictures - real or abstract; song - traditional or new... or some other creative communication...
AND THEN try to make another complex mind understand the expression of thought you've made...
Yeah, I could say more about this, but my communication skills are failing me tonight...

STUDYING!

Wow...
I am absolutely loving this chance to study before I go back to Greece. :)
I've been reading about Greek history and the Orthodox church.
I've been learning the Greek language... :)
This is all so fun and interesting to me! Yet it's also so overwhelming, because there is so much I want to know and understand, but not enough time to learn it all.

I have so many goals it's ridiculous, lol... This is one thing I both love and hate myself. God, please give me the wisdom and strength to accomplish what of our goals together should be a priority... daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and indeed, for my entire life. :) HELP me, God. :D
Thanks! :)

More sharing!! :)

This week has already brought me two very special opportunities to share more of what God has taught me...

On Monday night at the end of my "extreme makeover - Body by God" class, I felt compelled to share the words I had memorized from Philippians 3. :) It fit perfectly with the encouragement we'd already heard that night. Thanks for prompting me God... This was the most antsy and tingly I'd felt about the need to share it yet, hehe. I love how you work and move through me, Holy Spirit. :)

Tonight, I got to share my summer story with a special group of high school students in my town. :) I went through 90 pictures to share my stories and experiences and life lessons... and I even taught them a song, and they sang! Yeah, seriously, they did! And they sounded pretty good too! ;) It was a great time... and I'm thankful for their leaders' encouragement and invitation to share.

Thanks for using me, God! :) Let the opportunities keep coming!!!!...

Stuff...

I have more STUFF than I need...
so why is it that when I sift through the stuff in my room... I'm so reluctant to let go of a lot of it?
Well, I know one main reason why...
I tend over-analyze everything to death... like, what if I could use this again one day, or what if my grandkids would stumble across this one day and be able to use it for their history project, or what if I'm just too darn stubborn to "throw away" the special memory I have attached to this object...
Blah, I'm silly...
I so deeply want to purge myself of excess "stuff, clutter, clothes, etc..." and even give a bunch of it away to bless someone else who may really need it! God, help me, please!!!! Help me throw off everything that hinders and distracts... so that I can run more freely and fully after all that you have in store for me. HELP, HELP, HELP! Thanks... :D You already are helping, I know...

Full of life!

I find myself constantly full of life and thought... but unfortunately lately I have been having trouble reigning it all in! I have all these new ideas and goals and dreams and pleasures in learning and new insights and blessed moments... but I'm feeling inadequate at communicating it all to what it fully deserves.

The moments when I feel like this... which are seeming to happen more and more frequently, I find complete comfort and peace in the fact that God knows and understands me way more intimately than I know myself. God cherishes my every thought and experience way more abundantly than I do. I mean, wow, God CREATED me and takes DELIGHT in me... God loves overwhelming me with love... :) Loves loving me so I can share love... :) :) :) and again and again I'm brought back to the glorious, beautiful truth that God IS LOVE... God.. IS!!

...and now, yet again... I'm feeling paralyzed to say more even though I feel like I have soooo much to say. :) God's also overwhelming me with understanding - revealing more and more of who He is as I long to know more. :) :) And that reminds me that it's actually good and perfect that I'm having a bit of trouble trying to contain God with my words alone, hehe. How about... Praise the Lamb, Jesus, my Savior, God... thank you for smothering me with your love, taking my breath away so that all that's left is you breathing your life in me... :) :) :)

:) LOL... :) :) Have I convinced you yet that I have a beaming smile on my face? :) I made my teachers so frustrated with all the smiley faces I tried - no wait, I succeeded! - in peppering my "serious academic" papers with... I didn't mean it as disrespect against conventions, appropriateness or authority... I guess it's just simply hard to contain myself... hehe ;)

Ah, I know what I want to do... sing. I need to sing. I need to play the piano and sing... :) Yup. :D Too bad it's really late, my family is asleep, and the church building starts to feel a bit too creepy at night alone if I didn't atleast enter while it was still light, haha. Believe me, I know... been trying to conquer that fear in my frequent visits recently. :) I hope the janitor doesn't think I'm crazy yet, sorry Rod, lol. ;)

So... by the grace and help of the Holy Spirit living in me... I'm hoping to reign in my focus and goals and thoughts soon so I can be the most effective witness possible to the amazing love, grace, joy, and peace that I keep being filled to the brim and uncontrollably bubbling OVER with as I walk through each moment - from the most mundane to the most unique - of my life. :) There's still hope that eventually I'll establish a regular routine of blogging and figure out (or, I guess the challenge is more: sticking to!...) a clear purpose for each of my blogs. :) For now, thanks for patiently traveling with me through the randomness!

Now to go appreciate the beautiful gift of sleep... :D

The Great Wedding...

So... I've had a couple of re-accuring dreams off and on for the past several years...
and it involves a wedding and a large celebration gathering...
:) I'm just now starting to cherish this dream as the beautiful picture of Jesus Christ and His bride, the Church. :)
I am at the celebration in my dream... on the most beautiful beach in the world (after I visited Tulum in Mexico, it has usually been that beach...until now that I've been to some gorgeous beaches in Greece, hmm... hehe) and we're having the best party ever. :) And what's so special about it for me is everyone is there... everyone that I have ever known or who has ever been a part of my life in some way, is there. And I just spend all day reminiscing with amazing friends and experiences... and making new special memories at the same time.
I wonder if "heaven" will be like that... :)
Well, as I am sending out support letters to nearly everyone that I can think of who I care about and want them to partner with me in an amazing work of God... I count it a privilege to already be entertaining that piece of heaven - encouraging and loving all of the friends and people God has blessed me with as a part of my life! :)

God, wow, you're so good. :) I'm so excited to continue knowing more and more of your awesomeness! :) :) :)