lamentations 3: 22-26

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion, " says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.


.today's mercies.
*best friend date. coffee, breakfast, talking for hours in person! :)
*sunshine and a swimming pool. California, you are good to me.
*celebrating spontaneity with the last of the roommates by going to the city in the middle of the night (hence the late update).
*Jesus being sweeter to me today than he was yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that.




right now there are 15 days until i will be home to: have coffee dates, struggle to hold my dogs and kiss them, spend hours with grandma, sing along to bieber and eminem with cousins, go to a real beach, see my favorite teenagers, and enjoy the art of doing nothing.

Jesus take the wheel.

LUKE 5: 27-28

After this he (Jesus) went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

passion.

The other day I was asked by a friend how he could be praying for me and I said 'to have more compassion.' Following that I experienced something awesome. I was waiting in the lobby of an SRO for my group to come down from delivering meals and right as they went upstairs, the man they were delivering it to came into the lobby. He decided to wait for them to return. As he waited I was able to make conversation with him which eventually led to him showing me a bag full of beads and gems that he makes into bracelets. He told me all about the beads and how he uses a bowl to help string them on because his left hand doesn't work, his girlfriend showed him how to make bracelets before she passed away, and how he's doing it now as his passion.

He told me a story of him making a bracelet and no one wanting to buy them because people thought he stole them. He told me how you heat treat topaz to make it blue. He even suggested that next time I bring a group he could show us how to make bracelets. He was a sweetheart. I was able to get the same route the next day so I told him I would stop by with my group and see his bracelets. When I arrived to that specific SRO, he was in the lobby waiting! With three bracelets to show me! He let me pick one out for free. It was the sweetest thing ever, such a precious head.

I love getting to see people be passionate about what they do.

FAITHFUL

God is so faithful and good. I am abounding in "God moments" this week. Those times when you feel the presence of God so strongly, teaching me and encouraging me by using those around me. Lord keep it coming.

How can I not trust in Him as sole provider for me? There are too many ways He's proved Himself worthy of affection, glory, honor, etc.

My heart needs more compassion and He provides.

My heart needs a wake up call in trusting Him alone with my future, and He provides.

My heart needs to remember my passions, and He provides.

My heart needs the heaviness lifted and some ridiculous humor/joy, and He definitely provides.

This week is great.

20 days until I'm home and August is turning out to be the best month yet.

prayer.

hey Jesus, take the things that keep my heart from running after You.

I DID IT

I did it. I have successfully completed my first surprise week as a full-time City Director. I say surprise because my boss went into labor and birthed her child (a beautiful baby girl) one month sooner than expected. This meant that my longer term position here (as her stand in for maternity leave) happened one month faster than expected.

This means I pretty much wore the same thing 3 days straight, used Starbucks French Roast to stay awake, kept my hair as manageable as possible (braids braids braids), and have large bags under my eyes for the first time (ain't no under eye concealer going to cover these bad boys). All while blasting worship music as I figured things out. Typical.

Luckily God is SO GOOD ALL THE TIME and I was showered with mercy this week.

Sites cancelled, but better ones became available.
The people I emailed, emailed me back (this is a big deal).
The baby, mom, and dad are all healthy and well!
I have great roommates and friends who are willing to help out.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28



Today I was able to be in the Tenderloin to deliver meals. As I waited for my group in the lobby, I started people watching. I put my phone away (which unfortunately is usually my way of getting out of making eye contact) and noticed a blind man walking out from the lobby onto the sidewalk. He just stood there with that white and red stick and called out to people as they walked by because he thought he knew them. They looked at him like he was crazy and just kept walking. These weren't white rich people, they were neighbors in the TL like him. I don't know why it affected me so much, or what God was trying to show me through this, but I just felt the weight of depravity SO much in that one situation.


I'm glad God isn't done working on me. I'm glad that my heart still beats and breaks.

Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller

"What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give."

"The most painful times in our lives are times in which our idols are being threatened or removed....Something is safe for us to maintain in our lives only if it has really stopped being an idol. That can happen only when we are truly willing to live without it, when we truly say from the heart: 'Because I have God, I can live without you.'"

"When people say, "I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself," they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important to them than God's."

"Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God. This cannot be remedied only by repenting that you have an idol, or using willpower to try to live differently. Turning from idols is not less than those two things, but it is also far more. Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace your counterfeit god. "