God, You're Such an Amazing God..

... is what I repeated out loud today while standing in my kitchen, crying my eyes out.
I pray daily and read my Bible, but its not every day that I am bawling my eyes out giving Him the praise He deserves. So what brought on this sudden wave of rejoicing? Back up a bit.
New Years (morning.. about 2 a.m.) I decided to start reading a book between books (a goal of mine this year is to read a lot more books). So I went to my shelf of books that have been loaned to me and picked out Max Lucado's It's Not About Me. Amazing book if any of you are looking to read something that will put you back in the place God made you to be in. It is a 150 page book and I figured if I read 50 pages at a time I would have it finished quickly. Well, I finished it today and it really helped shed light on some things that I had been hanging on to.
See exhibit A: in one of the last chapters titled "My struggles are about God" (This whole book is about everything being about God and not about me)
This was a verse that was in the chapter:
 "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:1-3 NIV)"

Many of you reading this know that I have a special needs child. I have never read this verse the way that I read it today. That is my story! Here I've been wondering why in the world Molli is like this and what did Ryan and I do that would have caused her to be this way? And then God said, "I made her for ME. Not YOU." Molli is such a joy to everyone who loves her and I know that God has an amazing plan for her future. I am so excited for her!
I dwelt on that passage all day and then, as I was standing at my countertop taking a drink of tea, I just started crying out to God and all I could say was "God, You're such an amazing God!!" Over and over.
It's NOT about Me
It's about God!
I love Jesus.. His Grace is amazing.

Godly Friends

I have really been praying that God put "Godly Friends" in my life so that I will have encouragement and fellowship in His sons name. I want to surround myself with people who are also seeking God's face the same as I am. Well, as I prayed my prayers last night and let God "have the floor" so I could be still and listen- He really put this on my heart:

In order to have Godly friendship- YOU must in fact GIVE Godly friendship.


Wow. He is so blunt! :-)

I need to demonstrate love, forgiveness, passion, and friendship to others so that they too will be encouraged to demonstrate it as well- That's when I will have those Godly friendships!

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

I am currently reading two Max Lucado books.. and one of them is Cast of Characters. He said that someone once challenged him to replace the word "love" with his name when reading 1 Corinthians 13. Instead of "Love is patient, love is kind.." "Mitzi is patient, Mitzi is kind.." and so on and so on. HA! Just as Max wasn't.. Mitzi isn't either! I need to work hard on making sure that MITZI is patient and kind and all the above before MITZI can expect the same from someone else! Jesus, however, IS all of those things.. and my main mission in life is to be like him.

Thank you FATHER for putting this revelation before me. You know my heart and you see my mind.. yet you STILL love me!