...hunger...

...stay with me if you will....
                   yesterday morning, i was getting dressed and realized i was way past the point of hunger, to where my stomach was hurting and i felt sick. with having a child and from the busyness of the day, there are times i hardly stop to eat and easily look over the little groaning in my stomach. before i know it, there's a huge craving in me that i would literally put anything in my mouth just to satisfy the discomfort and hunger in my belly...whether it be healthy for me or not. i'm normally a pretty healthy eater but in those moments, i tend not to care because i just want to be filled again... satisfied. as i was thinking on this, i thought- if i would just take the time to pause from the non stop lifestyle and refuel- how much better off i would be... when i feed myself with the right nutrients; i'm full, satisfied, not aching for something more.
                  and then it hit me, i reflected on how at times that mirrored my spiritual walk. there are times i get so caught up in life, i ignore my spiritual hunger. at times, i'll get so deprived of that filling that can only come from time in the presence of our sweet Jesus, and my heart aches for something more. when our soul gets to the point of starvation, we are so anxious to be satisfied again, that we're willing to reach to anyone or anything to fill it. and then we end up reaching for more and more because of the dissatisfaction it leaves us with and it literally drains life from that person or things we're reaching to and even still, we're left lifeless. hungry. dry. aching for something more.


luke  4:13-15...."...everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water i give him will never thirst. indeed the water i give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. then the woman said to him,'' Sir give me this water so that i won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water..."


                   i'm challenged to stay filled, to listen to my heart cry and go to the only one who can satisfy. there is something about the Spirit of God that fills and satisfies every part of my being. the Creator meeting with the created. it's a oneness and closeness that can hardly be put to words. the sweet presence of Jesus. the Comforter. Counselor. Friend. there's nothing like Him.

song recommendation: Audra Lynn "Wellspring"

LOVE!

Kristy

I just read this. WOW .. I'm just shaken, convicted and challenged by it.

Galatians 5:16-25 (The Message)
16-18My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.


22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

25-26Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

a man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

                                                                                  proverbs 19:11

in your presence

in the midst of your presence, suddenly i'm released from all my worry, doubt, striving and hiding. in a moment here with you, my heart overflows with trust and a deep sense of security. in the light of your glory, i stand humbled and in awe, that your goodness and strength is so great, that i'm at peace with being so small. it's when i draw near to you and all you are, that i become okay and unaware of all i am not, and more sure of who you've made me (uniquely) to be. and in the gaze of your faithful love, hope arises and fills every part of me, knowing-oneday- it'll all be worth it.

that there will be a day when all the pieces come together... the unknown, become known. the why's, answered. every tear, wiped away. all confusion, at peace. when the Faithful one comes and covers all. joy restored and all redeemed. the One all my hope's in and forever had faith in, right before me, is now my sight. ah... for that day, i await.

"though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious Joy! for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul."

1 peter 1:8

-kristy

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" (doubt) are like wind-whipped waves..(being tossed about at sea). Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

.................................

Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

~James 1 message

..the woman with a past...

Luke 7:36-50

....the woman with a past who wept at the feet of Jesus with such adoration and love.. the woman who knew where she had come from, tried everything the world had to offer, and was left exhausted by everything she had for so long chased after...the woman who then finally met and fell in love with her Savior, the One who truly free'd her from it all.

i'm taken back to the familiar feeling of being so tired of everything i tried clinging to letting me down and not filling the deep need of my heart.. to the point of frustration and disgust with myself- that i was done.. falling to the feet of Jesus and surrendering it all. i relate to this woman so much.. when i read her story, i easily picture myself. being that woman with a past, and knowing the depth of my bondage and all the struggles within myself, brought me to Jesus... and with one touch from Him, i was forever changed. my life of guilt, shame and sin was completely forgiven and washed clean when i met Him. this Man that i had heard of since i was a child but could never understand.. until i desired to know Him, and when i searched, i found Him. the power of knowing the fullness of Him, His love for me and experiencing His presence fully engaged to every part of me- knowing me to my core- and still loving and wanting me. this man, Jesus, who lived a completely perfect, blameless walk, died a death so brutal... all for me, because He loves me and longs for my freedom. when i was so disobedient, chasing after things of this world and my own desires-- He lived obediently, even to the point of death, so i (we) could be free and once again with our Father..so that Nothing could seperate us from His love. a love like this i've never known.

i was once bound to a self destructive lifestyle, trapped and enslaved to the hurt within myself and now, i walk in freedom bc of the love of my Jesus. much love and passion flows from this heart that knows Him. i now live my life, in complete surrender, passionately in love with the One who saved me.

".....she who has been forgiven of much, will love much." Luke 7:47

...some oldies...