The Joy of the Lord is our stregth! Home from Belize

Hello everyone. I am now in the USA. Arriving in Belize was a culture shock and arriving back in the US was a culture shock. It is amazing how God can get you adjusted to something so new so quickly when you trust in him! Now that I am back I am looking back on the trip and seeing how AMAZING it was. I was there as a assistant trip leader with Praying Pelican. I went in with little idea of what it would be like.

It was interesting being on my first missions trip, first time out of the country, and learning about being a trip leader all at one time! Im going to give you a  look into my days in Belize :

6:50am

get up and get on the road

drop off trash from the day before
then go get water from the store

then off the the cute cooks to pick up breakfasts!

Then eat breakfast with the lovely team

pack up and head to the town for the day. We went to a different one everyday.

9:00 am

set up and start the clinic at the local community center.

nursing and pre-med students did all the vitals, then one American Dr. Greg and one Belizean Dr. and our pastor for the week saw many many people each day! And then 2 pharmacy students helping get meds out in both Spanish and English. Also lots of playing, bubbles, and coloring with the kids.

Then lunch around 12

then off to the local school for some health education about coughing, sneezing, teeth brushing, hand washing
then lots of play time, packed with games

Then VBS prep, some prayer walking, Fanta runs
around 3:30 VBS lots of kiddos about 60 + each day Lots and Lots of kids. All filled with smiles! :)
Then dinner, some days at the sea with the cooks.

And then night time was different every night depending on if we had church or not.

That is a VERY quick look into the week. So many highlights that I could type about! So so many!

God has JOY for all of his children, and that really hit me today! If joy is what God has for us to strengthen us how much does Satan hate that joy?!
There are many many verses that talk about JOY!
Take some time to look at psalm 45 <3 the whole thing is great. See how joy is uses in verse 7 and 15. Jesus will one day come back for his Bride. Are you ready?
"They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king." Verse 15 What a beautiful visual this creates!

have a blessed day, I pray the joy of the Lord hits you today like it hit me. Remember you were made for HIM and you were made by HIM. It is not about what you do but what God does. It is about his love, his joy, his sacrifice, his ideas! This makes me happy because when I don’t know what I am doing, God always knows what he is doing! We get to trust him. Thank you Lord! So thankful that we are The Lords, no longer our own.

Spring Ahead into Belize! :)

Ok so it is a bit late and daylight savings isn't helping. I will be up in the air at 6:10 am and off to Belize. I am so excited to go, to see what the Lords plan has been. I am so glad that He is with us where ever we go. I am so thankful that he has let me go on this trip with him. It will be bigger then I think.
I cant wait to tell you all about it! My hope is in the LORD!  I was thinking about hope and the saying "gave up all hope" or "give up all hope" and I was thinking about how sad it sounds but then I was thinking about our HOPE BEING IN THE LORD when we are children of the most high king and ruler of everything. Then giving "UP" are hope is such a lovely thought. Placing that high up there with our king in his chambers. Our hope is found in God!
This makes me think of a great lyric "our hope is found in the God we trust, any other identity will self destruct."
think on these things, think on wondeful God things :) <3  I pray you find your hope has been given up to our God!

I don't really know what to say for this post.

the verse of the day on my facebook was this:

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands." Acts 17:24

This is a beautiful reality. And I am so glad it is what we get to live out!

I pray you are all blessed, and grow in the fullness of the Lord, who He is and who you are. I am going to miss many people while on this trip :) have a wonderful 10 days! YOU are loved by a perfect God!

He is faithful, he is just.

<--- this is Emily Porter, life long gift from the Lord I am thankful to call friend! her and i will be working together on this trip starting tomorrow!!! God is good! all the time! God is good!

Trust the Lord, lean not on your own understanding. he was and is and is to come

In less than a week I will be leaving the country and heading to Belize with the Lord, my lifelong friend Emily, a group of students from both Uof M and Bethel, and others. To go be with this team I have yet to meet and all the people in Belize I have yet to meet. What is SO cool is that the Lord who knows me perfectly also knows all of them.


and the Lord knows what every day has in store for us there. He goes ahead of us and behind us. God talks about this in Isaiah 52, (btw it seems that I cannot get enough of Isaiah, I don’t even try to go there it just happens) but anyway Isaiah 52:12 "But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard."
Go take a look at chapter 52. The Lord is calling the captives free, free in him and by him. He says awake and put on strength and splendor, shake off dust, stand up and sit enthroned! wow those are just bits of the first 2 verses. The LORD calls us out of chains to a place enthroned! lets keep going....

verse 6, we will know his name! Then we come to verse 7 oh how lovely of a picture is this???
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring the good news... verse 9 burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people....
Keep reading it on your own, it is amazing
bare his holy arm in the sight of all nations
the ends if the earth will see the salvation of our God
The he is calling Zion to depart and to know that he is before them and their rear gua
what a wonderful chapter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH 19!
<--- could she be cuter?
Ok hope you all have a blessed day, call on the name of the Lord, learn who you are, created by him and for him. What does that mean today? Be encouraged, stand in the Love of the Father, and pass it out to others <3

The God of all things is Holy, He is love

God is love. This earth constantly gives us a fake love, they feed us a lie and say to us, "doesn't this taste like love?"
NO! For we have tasted and seen that the LORD is good. He is true love, the true love only comes from and through our father. He is the definition of love! Do you know him? Compare him to the world. The world does not measure up.
So I was listening to some worship and the lines said --> He always knew me, the earth could never hold this love that burns my soul
God knows you! All of you, he knows the words that you are about to speak before you say them, the thoughts you have before you think them psalm 139

waves can't quench the Love that God has for his children, it won't be washed away. This is not a petty love of roses and chocolate. This is HARD CORE love. Described in Song of Songs as as STRONG AS DEATH, JEALOUS LIKE A GRAVE, BURNING LIKE A BLAZING FIRE this is not just love like the world tells you love is. this is a love from a HOLY God!

you and me created to know the Lord, the pure love of the father, made by him, made for him, not a mistake, but for the purpose and GLORY of a worthy God!

p.s. I am blessed so blessed to be living in answered prayer, i am off to Belize March 14-22 and get to continue to work with Praying Pelican Missions this summer! Thank you Jesus <3 

Writing on your hand does help you remember

hello lovely people :)
Ok so I have some very exciting things to share with you tonight. The Lord is faithful!
We will be looking in Isaiah tonight.

Isaiah 49, the whole thing, but zooming in on vs. 15-16.
    HERE IT IS: "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

The Lord remembers you, everything about you, he sees your walls, you are engraved on his hand!

Isaiah 44, zooming in on vs. 1-5
     HERE IT IS: "But now listen, O Jacob, my servent, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says- he who made you, who formed you in the womb and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servent, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour out water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your decendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, 'I belong to the Lord', another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's', and will take the name Israel."

We are to remember that we are the LORDS! it is not good to forget this. How powerful is it that we belong to the Lord!

I pray that these verses and there connection hit you deep on the inside. That you can grasp it better then I think I get it at this moment.

Be encouraged for the Lord has not forgotton you, you are ever before him!

God is good! His way is perfect!

Ok dear friends, so BIG things are happening, and I will get around to sharing them when I have a clearer picture and possibly a plane ticket! My friend just told me to read psalm 19 and wow is it powerful.

take time and look it up :)
I read it and then was looking at the other things on this page, for me it is page 302 and 303
and wow found many great things! Take a look at things around 19. For me psalm 18:30-36 just jumped out.

Lets take a look here: "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. you give me you shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."

How great is the picture of him stooping down and making us great. I don't think I even can understand this at the moment.
Only God can make our ways perfect, and make us be able to stand on heights! He calls us on to those hills. Like in Song of Songs 2:8-14 he calls us out of a rest time onto moutains and hills. THE SEASON OF SINGING HAS COME :)

Have a blessed day, be encouraged in heart and united in Love, the Love of the LORD!

A quick night of typing about wonderful things

I'm starting a blog, I have read many cute ones. I really like cute things and I like writing. Writing seems to be a way, for me at least, of learning deep on the inside what I seem to be learning. Do you get what I mean? Some times things hit us and don't really sink in. I pray for things of the Lord to sink in, and things of the world to bounce right off! True that!

So my blog name comes from Colossians 1:15-16 how amazing is it to see that we are made by Christ and for Christ! I can get lost in this thought because it shows the love God has. I didn't just make myself and now he has to "deal" with me. He made me! and I was not made for myself or for this world, but Praise be to God, I was made for HIM, a holy, just, perfect in love, God! and the same goes for everything in heaven and on earth, which means you too, by him and for him.

SO Colossians is a letter writen by Paul. I was just taking a look and read the start of Colossians 2:1-3 and LOVE it.

Lets read shall we:  "I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

How lovely is his purpose? For me it is lovely, and I am defining lovely as powerful and beautiful. I know that there are many times I find myself needing to be encouraged in heart, and united in love.  And why is that? SO I can know Christ, even all the hidden things.

Ok, I think I could type all night. So this will be all for now. Be encouraged in heart and united in love, by Christ and his living and active word!

<--- here is a picture of some fun peeps, I needed to see if I could figure out how to add pictures :) haha