Just a Touch of Love

Here’s a new one. When i was receiving prayer for being sick i kept hearing the line “we were moving mountains long before we knew we could”
i thought, cool God is talking to me. (which he definitely was) But it kinda slipped out of my mind when the ladies prayig for me walked away. a little while later one woman came back out where i was to use the printer and i hear “we were moving mountains long before we knew we could… many nights we’ve prayed… there can be miracles..” it gradually faded as she left.
this happened twice more. It was so much louder when she would be by me and when she left it would fade off.
I can’t explain it other than her soul was simply singing out strong and steady to her love.

Today I was at working coughing horribly and feeling freezing. I was shaking when i coughed violently and shaking sitting still because of the cold.
God clearly said to me amidst my little “why Jesus” and  “fix me”: “Would you preach the gospel if you were dying”
I respond right away “yes, i would put pain aside and let every one know and would quit my job and school so i could reach more people!”

“my world is dying….”

Silence..
I pray God tells me what that conversation means for me to do..
I want to save his babies

have you ever been white water rafting? it’s pretty intense. really though, the worst part is the anticipation. The guides tell you how easily you could get hurt and the crazy danger of it all. Then you have to sit on this long bus ride as they give you all the safety guidelines and tell you what you will experience. Class 5 rapids, sharp rocks, etc. 

The past few months I have been asking God to show me my future. I mean I’ve been prophesied over and had words spoken to me all through my life that God had big plans, but i wanted God to start getting more specific- i wanted direction.

Backing up- right now i work a 40 hour week, have 16.5 credit hours at college and two of the classes are a 40 minute drive away, I am on a worship team, and go to another church that is an hour away. SO God has told me to live in the moment, totally dependant on him for what comes next. He said, don’t look forward 5 years, or a year, a month, a week, or even a day. Focus on directly right now. I learned very quickly I have no choice but to do this. after all my load is God-sized and was directed by him.

Well this Sunday the love of my life and i listened to God and started a college ministry. Three girls showed up and God was there the whole time. It was seriously so perfect and we know it was just the beginning. After the group my love’s best friend pulled on things. “Melody, when you pray you bring the presence of God…Stop fearing man…Speak out… Lead” and so on. Well if that wasn’t enough, after he went home my love started saying more. “you are the most spiritually sensitive person i know.. it’s time to stand up..stop letting other walk on you..” and theeen God started opening my spiritual eyes to what he has in store for me.

uhm..needless to say, i slowly began panicking. I didn’t even catch that’s what it was. as far as i knew i was focusing on the now. but my spirit had been opened to my entire future and God sized dreams and plans. i became Moses “you can’t use me God” “im not good enough” “im messed up” “i am NOT a leader” “i know nothing about your spirit” “im 100 years behind tons of other people in spiritual maturity” and so much more. Don’t get me wrong, it’s exciting, but it’s like we have gotten off the bus and reached the river and everything became very real.

God reached out His hand though to help me to continue to walk on water towards him, he gave me these verses:

Hebrews 10:35-36
“Do NOT throw away confident trust in the Lord. Remember the Great Reward it brings you! PATIENT ENDURANCE is what you need so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you’ll receive ALL that he has promised.” (emphasis added)

God became my guide. and i instantly found peace again.

White water rafting is a blast. I encourage you all to do it. It is not scary at all, as long as you listen to your guide. The Guide stays in your boat the whole time. He sits in back and does the toughest work, but lets you move the boat forward. going down the start of that river is so exhilarating, knowing the rapids are coming. ALL of your trust is in your guide, your life is in his hands. After my river rapiding experience i was like… is that it? i made way to big of a deal out of this.. it was too fun! let’s do it again! class five the whole time!

as im picking up speed down this river im getting excited. There are big plans and the are God’s, i have nothing to do with them. He just happened to pick me for this part of his story.

Little white lies are like smoking, you’re slowly destroying yourself, but hardly notice that you are hurting yourself… and those around you. You know there is the possibility of consequences, yet you still do it. In the end you bring yourself to your death bed… or you get treated to slowly try to fix things, but remember, things will never return to normal.

Life is the surface of an ocean: one drop starts ripples, there are waves and storms and sometimes hurricanes, but there is always a silver lining. If you want to stay afloat in the rough times you need a rock to cling to. It can be hard to keep your head above water and treding water can get tiring and at times you duck under. Carrying others on your own strength is impossible and people can easily take you down with them if you aren’t careful. The water can be murky but other times can be crystal clear. It can be full of life or dead and empty. Others can pollute it as much as it can tear others up. 

Philippians 2:5-8 talks about servants. its so much put into one passage i decided to take it line by line.

We need to have the same attitude that Jesus had: (self-explanatory: BE JESUS)
Even though he was God, he didn’t think of equality with God was something to be grasped. (Jesus IS God, but even he didn’t cling to equality with God. He knew that wasn’t what was important.)
Instead, he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, and was born as a human being (so much here:To make himself nothing, he became a man. That means exactly what you think it means: we are nothing next to God- this shouldn’t be a negative thing, just very humbling. The same is to be said about “taking on the nature of a servant”: humans are meant to be servants! It’s how we were created!)
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Jesus was so obedient to God that he was willing to die. Not only was he will to die, but on a cross- a criminals death, the last place Jesus belonged. But he humbled himself and chose to serve God fully.)

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” NLT

today at piano lessons we learned about mistakes.

if you start out learning the wrong way, that is what will stick with you.

You can practice again and again to learn the right way

but if you miss practice for a few days the next time you play the song you will play the wrong note that you learned the first time instead of the right way.

               ”i wish we could remember all the good things the same way we remember our mistakes”

When skin or organs are damaged, the body naturally wants to heal itself. Since the body cannot re-create healthy skin, it puts together new fibers that are not as functional as the original tissue, but that serve as a protective, useful barrier. When this barrier is completely healed, it is known as a scar.

Scar tissue is the connective tissue which forms a scar; it can be found on any tissue on the body where an injury has taken place and then healed. Although it takes the place of damaged or destroyed tissue, it is limited in function and sensation. Other than with minor cuts and scrapes, scarring is a common result of any bodily damage. 

Scar tissue in the skin is inferior to healthy, normal skin for several reasons. Skin scars are normally flat and pale, illustrating the history of the injury which caused them, yet often a body will produce too much fibrous tissue, resulting in an extra thick or raised scar.

Scars can never be completely removed. Surgeries are available to remove scars, but any surgery will always make a new scar: the former scar may be less obvious, but it will not go away completely.

My mom is probably my  hero. she raised six kids who were 0-10 years old, all 2 years apart. with my dad working twelve hour days (home for dinner). and going to back to college after the youngest was 4 years old. hooooowww. and she still paid enough attention to each of us. made each of us feel loved. took care of us, and still does. oh and she has always had a faith that was evident to me.

Every single one of us kids have turned out amazing. We all love Jesus a lot and are on our way to be doing great things.

my dad, as a doctor, could shave been making half a million dollars every year.. but he chose to come home everyday by dinner so he could have dinner with his family. he even decided friday would be a half day of work for him. JUST so he could be around his family more. My dad has had more problems with anger and things.. but there still has been so much he has done and poured into this family.

there should be no room for me in my house. God should fill the entire thing, leaving no room for me. not a room for me.

what is “me time” ? as a christian, i don’t think that phrase should be in our vocabulary. if by “me time” you mean being alone in your room on your face in front of God, then thats okay.. but you should probably call it something else. If you are finding time to sit and veg out in front of the tv or play video games, then you aren’t doing something right. you down time should be spent with God. take a nap before you go to the TV. I’m not trying to say television and movies are a horrible thing, they are great to bond over.. but really? why would you go to the TV rather than soak in God’s presence.

Its like putting a bright light in a dark room, you want it to fill every crack and crevasse. you want all to be exposed. I want that in my life too. i want God to be bursting out of my seams.

its funny how Peter asks for God to let him do great things, then doesn’t believe he can do it.

Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”
Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
“Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

Great faith is complete trust in God’s greatness.

when you are being oppressed by someone you are allowing them to chain you up. when you are being abused by someone they put you in a cage. getting out of the chains is the first step. the best way to do this is to remove your oppressor completely from your life. so often we think that is enough and don’t see that we are sitting in the cage of the abuse still. For me i never recognized it as abuse. i asked God for healing, he unlocked the chains and the door for me. i saw the oppression and not only took off the chains, but threw them out. however, i sat in the cage because i refused to see that i had been abused. i had a friend force me to talk about my past and it opened my eyes to the fact it was abuse. only then was i able to accept the healing God had for me and step out of the cage.

Galatian 5:22 (NLT) “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control.”

NLT is my favorite translation in the Bible i had never read this verse in that translation, but it has a key word not included in other versions and is precisely what i wanted to talk about! usually this verse says: “the fruit of the spirit is…” NLT has it right: “the holy spirit produces…”
so often we are taught: be these things and you will be like God. do these things if you want to be like Jesus. But that’s backward. these things are fruit that comes from the spirit. meaning the holy spirit manifests these things in us. What we should be doing is seeking the holy spirit more and more.

when you sit out in the bright sun a long time, you go inside everything is dim. no light seems bright enough. it’s all artificial, and not enough to satisfy your eyes. so should it be with us and God. we should be spending so much time with him, that when we are away we can recognize fakeness right away and nothing else is good enough compared to him.