I {heart} my Familia!

I am so very blessed!

I never really realized how important or how special my family was until I came to HQ. I mean, they've always been special and we're all really close, but you seriously don't realize it until you're away from them for a while. Thankfully I only live about an hour and half away, so if I get REALLY missing them I could possibly just go home for the weekend or something.

This past weekend going home was sooo good. I can't even describe it. Pulling up our driveway just made me smile and anticipation was at its max! I couldn't wait to see everyone again. To see our house, to see my horse, to see our wood stove, our dining room table, our living room...... everything. My insides were running  in the house before my feet ever stepped foot onto the porch! I love my family and our home. There's nothing better than eating a meal with them, talking with them. And it's sad, but I now have to "catch up" with them! But even that was fun.

I never noticed how much I took for granted when I was still at home. I took talking to my parents for granted, talking with my siblings, having our meals with everyone around the table. Even the little things, like saying goodnight to mom and dad. And the funny thing is, that even waiting in line for the shower wasn't bad, it was like....aww, I remember doing this every morning! Everything,.... was special. And then on the car ride back here, I started thinking about it all. Why am I so blessed? There's only one reason.....

                                          Because God is Good.

Ahh the life at home.....

Since a picture is worth 1 thousand words, tonight I've decided to say 12 thousand words....=]

There's no order to them. They're pretty random, actually. But.... they're pictures of what I miss...

This weekend I'm going home....!  {big, happy grin}

{...Count it ALL joy...}

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” –James 1:2-3


Well…. If there was ever a week that God has worked on my heart the most, it would definitely be now. The Journey to the Heart week was intense, but this one…… pretty much blows it out of the water. It was that quiet wrestling match that goes on in your heart. –For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.-- God is doing a work in my heart and that is the best thing for me at this time. This “incident” didn’t just happen, God has brought me to this for a reason… to draw me closer to Himself!

At first I was thinking, “why”?! Why did this have to happen now? Couldn’t it wait for a different time? =P I mean, I was already “going through” something else, why another on top of that?! Every time I think I’ve “overcome” something, or I think I’ve “graduated” from that certain something, God shows me that I am in a continual learning stage.  You never graduate from the Lord’s school. He will always be teaching me… humbling me…. breaking me…. making me more like Him. And for that, I am truly thankful. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” {Rom. 8:29}

“We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.” {2 Cor. 4:8}



It is good for us to go through trials. It means we must die to self, empty out completely of our own desires so that God can fill us with Himself.{2 Cor. 3:15} And by His grace and mercy, His desires will then soon become our desires.

If you are not--(and this is another thing God has shown me lately)—learning something new, having to dig deeper in the Scriptures, having to wait on the Lord and rest in Him, holding onto and claiming His Truths…… then you are not where you should be Spiritually. If you are not shaken up a bit every once in a while, if you feel like you’re at a “stand still” in your walk with Him, then be afraid. It means that you have forgotten Him. It means you have allowed the petty things of this world to come in between your relationship with your Heavenly Father. {Rom. 12:2} God is always there. It is we who stray from Him. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Don’t Give Up! Fight the good fight of Faith! {1 Tim. 6:12a} Endure the hardships as a good soldier of the Cross! {2 Tim. 2:3}

God is Faithful. No matter what He brings you to, no matter what the trial, He will always carry out His promise, His Truths, His Word, His love… “even to the very end.” And that is a guarantee! =]


So in short…. God’s been workin’ on me! I hope that in some small way this was an encouragement to you. Somehow in some way. If not, and you didn’t really read the whole post (I know, it’s kind of long), and you’re just now scrolling down to the bottom to see the “bottom line”, just know this…..



God works everything out for good! ……..no matter what it is! =]

 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,

to those who are called according to His purpose.” {Rom. 8:28}

....The God Of Our Salvation....

“If salvation indeed comes from God, and is entirely His work, just as creation was, it follows, as a matter of course, that our first and highest duty is to wait on Him to do the work that pleases Him. Waiting becomes then the only way to the experience of a full salvation, the only way, truly, to know God as the God of our salvation…..”

 --Andrew Murray

“My soul waiteth only upon God; from Him cometh my salvation.”

 

Ps. 62:1

So... what are you wearing today?

"On any “High Street” on a Saturday, you can see ‘children’ wearing make-up, children who obviously spent ages straightening their hair, wearing t-shirts with provocative slogans; hardly any sign of self-esteem and happiness at all…."


In our generation today we have a “cult of conformity” all around us. The Scripture tells us to “come out from among the world and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” {2 Cor. 2:15} I know people use the verse, “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart,” {1 Sam. 16:7} to condone anything they wish to wear. This is one of the most misused/used out-of-context verses in the Bible. The fact of the matter is, if your heart is pure, your outward appearance will be pure and modest. I didn’t say should be, I said will be. It will be because your heart is pure, wanting to please God in everything. Even in the way you dress. In some cases, especially in the way you dress. Your outward appearance is a reflection of your heart. What’s on the inside, comes out…… on the outside.

Our bodies are the temple, the sanctuary, the place where the Holy Spirit lives and makes His home. The still, small voice of the Holy Spirit speaks to you and nudges you when it is too tight, too short, too low or too revealing. For the Scripture says, “Quench not the Spirit.” {1 Thess. 5:19} Will you not listen to that Voice... ?        "Choose you this day whom you will serve..." Are you a servant to your flesh or to the all Powerful Mighty God?

Look at what you are wearing......... is it pleasing to God? Would you be comfortable with Him walking in right now and seeing you dressed the way you are?  "Examine yourselves...do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?" Eph. 13:5  "Abstain from all appearance of evil." 1 Thess. 5:22

"In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing. But, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.  .....pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness." 1 Tim. 2:9-10, 6:11b

In Christ Alone,

~Gianna~

{ .W. .a. .i. .t. .O. .n. .T. .h. .e. .L. .O. .R. .D.}

 It's so easy for us to just come before God with our whole lists of "things to do", our problems, our worries... and then ask Him to please just fix this one little thing so we can be happy again! We come before His Holy Presence and we talk... and talk and talk. God wants us to be silent before Him. Basking in His Holy Presence! He is always there ready to be with us... but we are rarely ready to just wait and listen to Him..... to be silent, still, and quiet before our Heavenly Father.

Something God has been teaching me lately, is to just be silent before Him and wait on Him. He's given me verse after verse with a common theme.... WAIT.


"Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage.... ....Wait I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:147

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him..." "Wait on the Lord ..." Psalm 37:7,34

"My soul, wait silently for God alone..." Psalm 62:5


...why? "Why?" is always my question. It's so hard for me to just wait patiently for Him. I'm not so good at the waiting part!! ...{no wonder why He's been giving me these verses!}... It all started a few nights ago. I couldn't sleep, so I began to pray for God to give me a verse. Anything. I just needed something to hang on to, to meditate on while I tried to sleep. Well, what He gave me didn't exactly "lull" me to sleep... in fact, it kept me up a lot longer than planned and made me think. What did it mean? What was He trying to say to me? I wish I knew. And besides that... I "randomly" went to Habakkuk... who ever randomly goes to Habakkuk?....{!}

"I will stand my watch, and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me... ....For the vision is yet for an appointed time: but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Habakkuk 1:1,3

Why do I need to stand watch? What will He say to me? What vision?!! So I'm to wait until the end for it to speak? When is the end....? Ya see what I mean? I'm not very good at the waiting part. 
But He Who is faithful is teaching me....

"He is teaching me to follow Him —

 joyfully,

expectantly,

hopefully, and

faithfully."