Bi-Lingual...linguel...liinnngueeezzrl!....

Last Sunday-crazy, which was a week ago..HEY! It's been a week since I've written a blog!! ..Anyways, last Sunday, my pastor, Curt (way awesome guy! Even awesomer than my spelling!!!) said something very intersting about speaking in toungues. I'll try to put it how he did, but I'm not guarenteeing anything. In fact, I'll probably have to come back later and edit this blog. "SHORT STORIES made LOOOOOOOONG!" ..AGAIN!

Curt said that it "could" be argued (probably not that important to really worry about, but worth giving some thought) that when the believers heard the crowd speaking in many different languages(toungues) after the Holy Spirit came down upon them (Acts 2:4-13), that the people weren't speaking in tongues, as in a foreign language, but that they were speaking in Tongues through the Holy Spirit and God gave the crowd "ears" to hear, translating the tongues into something they could understand--possibly into their own native tongue, for it says that there were Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem present who heard and understood the tongues.

I really like the possibility of that happening. I'm not exactly sure on why I think that's cooler than if the people were speaking in actual languages that already existed, except that it would mean a double miracle. Not only did the people recieve the gift of Tongues through the Holy Spirit, but God also touched those that were listening, giving them the Spirit to interpret what He was saying through the Spirit! How cool is that!?! Could you imagine being able to understand, even one time, what was being uttered through tongues--whether it was someone else speaking or you?

New Living Translation (NLT)

Acts 2

The Holy Spirit Comes
   1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection,[a] the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,[b] as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

    5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

    7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.

Peter Preaches to a Crowd
   14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:

    17 `In the last days, God said,
       I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
       your young men will see visions,
       and your old men will dream dreams.

    18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
       upon all my servants, men and women alike,
       and they will prophesy.

    19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above
       and signs on the earth below--
       blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

    20 The sun will be turned into darkness,
       and the moon will turn bloodred,
       before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.

    21 And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord
       will be saved.'[c]
    22"People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. 24However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25King David said this about him:

    `I know the Lord is always with me.
       I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

    26 No wonder my heart is filled with joy,
       and my mouth shouts his praises!
       My body rests in hope.

    27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead[d]
       or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.

    28 You have shown me the way of life,
       and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence.'[e]
    29"Dear brothers, think about this! David wasn't referring to himself when he spoke these words I have quoted, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. 30But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on David's throne as the Messiah. 31David was looking into the future and predicting the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that the Messiah would not be left among the dead and that his body would not rot in the grave.

    32"This prophecy was speaking of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and we all are witnesses of this. 33Now he sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God's right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 34For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,

    `The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in honor at my right hand
      35 until I humble your enemies,
       making them a footstool under your feet.'[f]
    36So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!"
    37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
    38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles[g]--all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"

    41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church--about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.

The Believers Meet Together
   43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. 45They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-- 47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.

Footnotes:
Acts 2:1 Greek When the day of Pentecost arrived. This annual celebration came 50 days after the Passover ceremonies. See Lev 23:16.

Acts 2:4 Or in other tongues.

Acts 2:21 Joel 2:28-32.

Acts 2:27 Greek in Hades; also in 2:31.

Acts 2:28 Ps 16:8-11.

Acts 2:35 Ps 110:1.

Acts 2:39 Greek to those far away.

I really, REALLY don't like to cry...

You ever want to cry, and yet, not really?

I really, REALLY don't like to cry--Perhaps you've heard? (haha->or like maybe you just read it in the title...My humor is so awesome...)

From the moment that I woke up, I had this terrible need to cry hanging over me Sunday morning. This overwhelming emotion cloud, thingy, hung over my head up until an hour after church let out, and I feared a down pour every second of the storm. I pretty much felt like I was about to have an enormous break down without my permission. YIKES!

So, instead of giving into the tears that lingered in the corner of my eyes, I ignored my dampened eyelashes and wrote the "heck" out of my journal. Man! I was a writing machine, let me tell ya! My plan worked. By keeping myself totally occupied writing, those annoying little tears never preceeded further than the edge of my eye. I had a breakdown in church once this last summer, and it was totally embarrassing. I burried my face in my hands and frantically left my seat and ran to the bathroom. My friend followed me and asked me what was wrong (I was actually sobbing). I took a deep breath in between my sobs and started to laugh, telling her I had no idea to why I was crying. So, this Sunday, I totally wanted to avoid re-living that moment.

I was trying to talk to my friend about hope Saturday night, but it wasn't coming out the way I wanted it-needless to say, in my opinion, my end of the conversation amounted to nothing more than jibberish.{wow! what a weird word to spell. You should try saying "weird word" a million times in a row and see if you can make it past saying it right after five times. Go ahead, try it. Here...I'll wait....No! Just kidding! I won't wait, cuz this is a blog. A glob, uh, blog is meant for writing and sharing. If I waited for you to say "weird word" a million times, then it would be "waiting"-not "blogging"}
Also, don't get any ideas that I only have one friend. I should have said, or wrote, "I was trying to talk to ONE of my friends..."

Anyways, here we go with the short stories made long thing. **refer to last blog entry**
So, the whole "hope" thing wasn't coming out right when I talked to him Saturday night, but yesterday in church, God told me that I failed to mention what He had told me about hope. So busy, busy, busy--I wrote and wrote and wrote some more. Then I wrote to a wonderful woman in my church about how much she blesses the people around her. But I still felt like I was going to burst into tears. What to do? Hmmm...WRITE MORE!

And so I did...

~A Love Forgotten~

Ahh!! They Just don’t believe, my Lord!...

You hear their cries;
You hear them asking-
How do You do it?
How do You reach your children?

They turn away from You,
And they miss Your touch.
They are deceived and
Believe that they are finally out of Your reach.

Why do they sigh in relief?
Because they think that
To be out of Your Presence
Will shield them from finding disappointment with You.

Lies! Lies! These lies are stealing them away!

Your flock is tired and
They won’t reach out to You,
For they themselves are
Falling away due to guilt—They fail to hope!

They aren’t believing anymore! Did they ever?

Renew us, my Dear Lord!
Help me to be on guard for Your beloved.
Put me on the front line of this war.
Keep me strong…

The world doesn’t believe in love.
Why?

Because Your own children don’t believe that they are loved.


Does anyone else think this to be true? I think this poem might be onto something here. Not that I am so perfect as to not have messed a message from God up, but I think God is concerned for His church. Why can't we see that He loves us? Why are we humans so resistant?...!!!

And then I wrote this poem about how frustrated I was that felt like I was going to break down into tears and didn't even know why. I, believe it or not, felt fine. No need for tears about my life.

~From Whom Do These Tears Fall?~

Put these emotions into good use, Lord!
I fear these tears-
I don’t even recognize their cause!

They are not free to fall!
I don’t want to give in!
But if I hold them back-Does it hinder You in my life?

Please speak to me about these strangers,
For these tears, I don’t believe, are my own.
To whom do these tears belong?

Whose are they, Lord?
Yours?
A brother’s?
A sister’s?

…Your children’s?

Are You hurting over Your children?

…Lord, I love You.


God bless.

He Grabbed For Me

It's pretty amazing to think that even as we lose hope, stop dreaming, and face some pretty devastating circumstances in our lives, He is still there.

Even as our dreams cease to exist, His existance still remains. We don't want to put hope in a God that we can't see, right? Even after being a Christian for as long as I have, there are many times that I haven't even wanted to look to God--I was tired of waiting on Him, on someOne who couldn't carry a conversation face to face with me and help me with His devine advice. Shoot, there are many times I longed for Him to just even SHOUT at me, telling what I'm doing wrong--I just needed something to know for sure that He was really listening.

Making a short story--REALLY long (the story was so much shorter in the shower this morning...hmmmm, what happened?) what I'm trying to say is that no matter how much hope we've lost, how many times we've failed to believe in His love, and no matter how many dreams we've feared to explore and ask of Him, He still exists. And I've seen it for my own eyes, not to mention that it has been shown time over time throughout the Bible, that when we have given up in this world, He Will come and find us.

He guarantees it.

I've been waiting for a long time to really know if I've been hearing God's voice or not. He's answered my prayers.

"HOW?" You might ask.

He told somebody else about me, and they couldn't wait to come and tell me what He said. God smiled as I realized that I had been hearing Him all along.

**Okay, time to go--no time for spell check, but between you and I, I really can't spell. Or keep short stories short.
Over.

A few moments ago-A lifetime ahead

God has already put into play everything we need. He's put together that answer that we have been begging to hear from Him, since the beginning of time. Remember when you asked for clarity? Ya, He's already had that from the first second of our world's existence.

I pray that God would open up our view to a FULL 360' so that we would see God, not neccessaarily in front of us--but ALL around us--to See where we need to go with all of our options in place. We need to chose Him over worldly opportunities.

Please, Lord, perfect me!
Define me in Your precious and unique plan for my life!
Who am I in You? Who do I want to be?
But more importantly, who have You created me to be?

You Are the All Consuming Fire, Lord...Consume my thoughts and my dreams.
Place passions and desires in my heart, sealed with Your Spirit-
Please give me dreams of something that I can truly see is from You.
I'm alone now. And it IS good! Thank You.

Have me!
As much as it may hurt, mold me into Your likeness.
I shutter at those words, and I admit that I am fearful of what those words mean.
Fearful of what I may have to give up.

But You Are my everything--so how is it possible that I will EVER be without?

You smile. That's the whole point of Your unconditional love, isn't it?

I heard Him say...

Psalm 91
1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 This I declare of the LORD:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him.
3 For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from the fatal plague.
4 He will shield you with his wings.
He will shelter you with his feathers.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor fear the dangers of the day,
6 nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8 But you will see it with your eyes;
you will see how the wicked are punished.
9 If you make the LORD your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your dwelling.
11 For he orders his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you with their hands
to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample down lions and poisonous snakes;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14 The LORD says, "I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue them and honor them.
16 I will satisfy them with a long life
and give them my salvation."

Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
12 Teach us to make the most of our time,
so that we may grow in wisdom.
13 O LORD, come back to us!
How long will you delay?
Take pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
15 Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
Replace the evil years with good.
16 Let us see your miracles again;
let our children see your glory at work.
17 And may the Lord our God show us his approval
and make our efforts successful.
Yes, make our efforts successful!

But it looked so Good!!

I wanted it. I got it. I questioned it. I got a "promotion." Was I enjoying it? I waited............Oh....I'm still waiting, hold on.

I'm thinking. Supervisor? I'm training. I'm still questioning. I pray. I'm thinking I just need an attitude adjustment. Attitude a bit better. I'm afraid that I'm still not enjoying it.

I'm still praying.

Unexpected phone call. A new offer. Answer to prayer? Really, God? I'm pondering. Confirmation. Confirmation, again. And then a "not" confirmation on Sunday. I don't trust someone's advice. I shrug it off. God, I'm listening to You. I'm dancing (swing dancing, in fact)...(But not very well). A stranger apologizes, saying he's sorry that he missed the pleasure of dancing with me. I wink at my friend. I chuckle. Friend tells stranger not to worry, becuase I'm unpleasurable to dance with. I laugh. (It's true).

Stranger doesn't believe my friend. Stranger talks about my 'thing' that I've been praying about. Confirmed, again.

ALRIGHT! I think I'm in. The new offer could be just perfect for me.

Still praying.

Wish me luck!