Oh How He Loves Us!

Nonstop Newness! Healing, Hope, Heaven

Happy New Year!!!!!



I've been sporadic and less frequent with 'inspirations' .. because of traveling, working and celebrating!

This blog has 2 parts:  Recap + Revelation.
 
If you're reading this, I have prayed that God touches your life with His love, truth, mercy and grace ~
blessing you throughout 2011. 

RECAP!

2010 wrapped up with lots of good things in December. A couple of the events and blessings ..

*Tucson ~ I wasn't exactly sure how 4 days of sales presentations and role plays in Arizona would be since it was my first national meeting with my company .. It turned out to be not only informative! but we had some fun on the side ..The last night was a western-themed celebration dinner that took me back to my Tennessee roots as the live country band played some familiar songs .. and I joined my team for a black+white saloon photo ~ have always wanted to do that :).. Betsy & I snapped our own pic:





*Tennessee ~ I spent several days with my sister, Christy, bro n law, Michael, and 3 baby nieces! Marion, Macy, and Meryl -- the princesses :).  We played dress up, hide & seek, danced to Christmas music, sang lots of Dora songs, had tea parties .. the rest of the family and I watched movies, cooked, talked into the wee hours of the morning, sipped hot chocolate, shopped and laughed a lot.  They traded in Michael's 11 y/o college Malibu "Betsy" :'( .. for a new ride.  He also recently started a new job .. it was a blessing to spend Christmas and ring in 2011 with them in their new house in a new city!




the "new christy + hailey"

 

5 mths old already!





As I reflect on 2010, I can see how much things changed in my life.  And I cannot for a second give myself any glory.  I sought to know God more, I had a hunger to understand Him, His Word, and His Son on a newer level.  His Word is true ~ Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.  (James 4:8). What an awesome companion He is!

I moved into a new apartment, started a new job, made new friends, got a new baby niece!, reached a new level with running, traveled a new distance - abroad!

First full marathon - 2500th anniv of original race in Athens

started writing a new book .. and blog...

I greeted new days with sunrises with some of my sisters down here:)

and read some amazing new books - my top three:

The year ended with a new position in my company --  I got a promotion.

Thus, my theme for the year, a pair of verses:

Isaiah 43:19, "See, I am doing a new thing!" + Rev 21:5, "I am making everything new!"

The result of it all over time: a new heart and passion for my Savior - Jesus is the reason for it all.  I couldn't see where I was going or what was next .. I tried to live day by day as things kept changing and stood by faith on:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

**

REVELATION!

My favorite discovery in 2010:  connecting Healing, Hope, and Heaven

HEALING. The story.

It began at age 10 when I broke my right arm in gymnastics, undergoing 2 surgeries, fascinated by the whole experience (other than the initial pain..) -- Spending days in a hospital, making frequent visits to the orthopedic surgeon's office, getting a cast -- something stirred and inspired me.  I vividly remember turning to my mom in the waiting room asking what exactly was my doctor's specialty and when she told me, I confidently declared "that's what I'm going to be someday." 

That passion moved me every time I'd find myself in a hospital thereafter .. I felt at home somehow!  I shadowed physicians throughout high school and college.  I studied science in undergrad and felt as though 3-1/2 years flew by .. After graduating I registered for a Kaplan course which prepped me for three months for the MCAT.  I was ready that fall, moved to Nashville, got a job at a doctors office, and reviewed for the January '05 test.  When the time came for the test registration I couldn't do it.  I prayed, fretted, and waited for an answer on the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach.  I knew after some time it was not the Lord's will for me to go to med school.  I had never considered anything other than being a doctor.  I wondered what in the world I'd do with a biology degree and no career plan. 

Still working at the doctor's office, I considered medical sales and applied to a company that was one of our main vendors.  I sold supplies, medicines, and equipment for 3 years then took time off in 2008 to consider God's will for my life, and found myself relocating to Miami and getting back into the field. 

Eighteen years have passed since that day it all started when I was taken by ambulance to the hospital with a messed up ulna! ~ and what I discovered in 2010 as I spent many hours in the operating room observing surgery and selling devices, and still at times considering my pursuit of becoming a doctor, is: my true passion is for healing. 

When I think back to those days in the hospital + months of physical therapy I remember the cards, care, and comfort I received from family, friends and nurses.  Becoming a christian just the year before, I felt the Lord's presence in a new way during that time of pain and suffering .. this verse below (2 Cor 1:3-10) fits:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God .. It is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer .. this happened so that we may not rely on ourselves but on God .. who will deliver us .. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us ..

I developed patience, endurance and a sense of how to cope with suffering through that experience that since has allowed me to offer comfort to others in their times of need.

It came full circle this year when a miracle happened.  The dots connected!

I had only seen prayer over debilitated people a few times on TV growing up and was skeptical.  Maybe I was scared and didn't understand.  As I sought to know Jesus more last year I studied His life and miracles in depth.  I revisited the stories I had read before and saw that my faith needed a boost.  He healed people - a man with leprosy, Peter's mother-in-law, a paralyzed man, a woman with bleeding, a mute, demon-possessed man, a deaf mute man, a crippled woman, a sick man at the pool of Bethesda, a blind man* .. (references below).  Someone asked at church one Sunday if anyone needed prayer for a medical condition.  I had just left my doctor's office 4 days prior, having my blood drawn to check on a condition I was told I'd have the rest of my life.  I still asked for prayer and in faith believed I was healed.  When I returned to the office 3 days later to get the test results, the staff there were in a panic because no one could find my results - after checking with the lab, they learned my blood samples were lost 'somehow.' The office manager followed by the doctor came to apologize and I told her I was actually happy to have it drawn again.  When I returned the following week I was completely clear.  No trace.  She insisted to take a tissue sample.  I returned the next week to find the same result.  Clear. 

Luke 1:37  ~ For nothing is impossible with God.

Matt 21:22 ~ If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Praise God.

I then studied how Jesus healed in other ways ~ emotionally and spiritually.  During His life on earth He restored hope to the lost and broken-hearted, He released the oppressed, He cared for widows, orphans, the poor .. He drove out fear with perfect love, He protected the persecuted, He replaced confusion with peace, He gave strength to the weak and stripped guilt from the shamed.  That only scratches the surface of His 33 years here.  And because He laid His life down for us so that we may be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life in heaven with our Father when we believe in Him, He also offers freedom. 

A new life! New beginnings. When we believe.

I was healed physically, emotionally and spiritually in 2010 as I was reminded and learned more about the Man who I have laid my life down for .. to follow Him.  And now understand the Source of why I've always been drawn to healing. 

As the changes took place, my hope grew.  As I considered what I'm waiting for, I decided more than another trip, accomplishing goals, living out MY dreams, reunions with my family, or a spouse, I am waiting on the return of Christ (Rev 22:20).  I was reminded that what we're waiting for is what we're living for.  And I now connect healing, hope, and heaven ~ because as He healed me, my hope in Him grew, and my true hope is the amazing day when I enter a new life in a new world that is perfect and innocent -- eternity with my Heavenly Father.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

My favorite verse, John 3:16.

***

Cheers!

hailey

(miracles: Matthew 8:2-4, Luke 4:38-39, Mark 2:3-12, Matthew 9:20-22, 32-33, Mark 7:31-37, Luke 13:11-13, John 5:1-9)

If my people, who are called by my name, will
humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and
forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

The Day After

Merry Christmas Day After! :)

Watching "The Night in the Toy Store" for the tenth+ time with my baby nieces (3, 2, & 4mths) and trying to help my sister clean before round 4 of family comes through today! I laughed when the oldest, Marion, who I had just dressed up in her new Snow White costume .. stopped in her tracks in front of the TV when she heard them say Christmas is about Santa and gifts.  She shouted "No it's not!!  Christmas is about Jesus!"  (Before they got to the part of the story to correct the toys who were wrong about the reason for the season.. ) :)

It's easy to get distracted with all that the holiday grind entails and I read a couple of books this AM that helped me refocus.  Below are some excerpts from Jennifer Kennedy Dean and Sarah Young. 

Be blessed and enjoy the last six days of 2010!

Your gift comes in such creative wrapping.
Yesterday morning, Christmas day, beautifully wrapped gifts were piled around the Christmas tree.  With some of the gifts, as much thought had been given to the wrapping of the gift as to the selection of gift itself.  Sometimes the wrapping was meant to disguise the gift so the surprise would be all the greater.  A small gift being wrapped and hiding inside a big box.
Yesterday the artistry of the wrappings made the anticipation of the gifts greater.  The wrappings invited us into the gifts.
Today, the wrappings are gone and the gifts are the main focus.
You wrapped Your gift in flesh and blood.  The wrapping was such that it invited us into the Gift.  Had You sent Your Son unwrapped, we could not have seen Him because the brightness of His countenance would have blinded us.  Like the Israelites of old, we would have hidden our faces from Him in fear and shame.
The angels know Him wrapped in eternal glory and royal robes.  They saw Him before He took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.  The angels saw His triumphant return to the glory He had before the world began, and see Him now in His exalted form.
But we see Him in the flawless beauty of His humanity.  We see the grandeur of His Incarnation, when He demonstrated the enormity of His love for us by wrapping Himself in flesh and blood so that He could destroy that which held us captive.  Seeing Him, we are blinded by His beauty to anything other than Him.
We will someday see Your indescribable Gift as the angels see Him.  I know that sight will be a different beauty than I have ever known.  But I cannot imagine that it will be more breathtakingly beautiful to me than the King of kings wrapped in flesh and blood for my sake.

*Seeing You, I am blinded by Your beauty to anything other than You.*

("Pursuing the Christ")

~ I AM THE GIFT that continuously gives -- bounteously, with no strings attached.  Unconditional Love is such a radical concept that even My most devoted followers fail to grasp it fully.  Absolutely nothing in heaven or on earth can cause Me to stop loving you.  You may feel more loved when you are performing according to your expectations.  But My Love for you is perfect; therefore it is not subject to variation.  What does vary is your awareness of My loving Presence.

When you are dissatisfied with your behavior, you tend to feel unworthy of My Love.  You may unconsciously punish yourself by withdrawing from Me and attributing the distance between us to My displeasure.  Instead of returning to Me and receiving My Love, you attempt to earn my approval by trying harder.  All the while, I am aching to hold you in My everlasting arms, to enfold you in My Love.  When you are feeling unworthy or unloved, come to Me.  Then ask for receptivity of My unfailing Love.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on judgement day, because in this world we are like Him.  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:15-18

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:27

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me.
Psalm 13:5-6

("Jesus Calling")

***

love, hailey

Tucson Sunset

Perfect Timing!

What He Desires Most -- the Heart

Stay ever so close to Me, and you will not deviate from the path I have prepared for you.  This is the most efficient way to stay on track; it is also the most enjoyable way.  Men tend to multiply duties in observance of their religion.  This practices enables them to give Me money, time, and work without yielding up to Me what I desire the most -- their hearts.  Rules can be observed mechanically.  Once they become habitual, they can be followed with minimal effort and almost no thought.  These habit-forming rules provide a false sense of security, lulling the soul into a comatose condition.

What I search for in My children is an awakened soul that thrills to the Joy of My Presence!  I created mankind to glorify Me and enjoy Me forever.  I provide the Joy; your part is to glorify Me by living close to Me.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for men.

You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your

Presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

Deuteronomy 6:5, Colossians 3:23, Psalm 16:11

Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

Kyria Blog: Hope in Advent

Kyria Blog: Hope in Advent

The Winner's Circle .. and Your #1 Fan

Happy December! 

Catching up on a couple of Max Lucado reads as I am in between work cases ... These are from "Grace for the Moment" which my grandmother gave me .. it's a compilation of excerpts from books he's written. 

The first one comes from "When Christ Comes" which Carolyn Butler also gave me in high school! 
And the other from "In the Grip of Grace." 

I read from a variety of authors and like Max because several of his books have been gifts from Nannie!  And because I find his writing simple, inspirational, and applicable. 

Hope you're blessed today by these words.

The Lord will reward everyone

for whatever good he does, whether

he is slave or free.

Ephesians 6:8

For all we don't know about the next life, this much is certain.  The day Christ comes will be a day of reward.  Those who went unknown on earth will be known in heaven.  Those who never heard the cheers of men will hear the cheers of angels.  Those who missed the blessing of a father will hear the blessing of their heavenly Father. 
The small will be great.  The forgotten will be remembered. 
The unnoticed will be crowned and the faithful will be honored.

The winner's circle isn't reserved for a handful of the elite, but for a heaven full of God's children who "will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:12).

He will rejoice over you.

You will rest in His love; He will sing

and be joyful about you.

Zephaniah 3:17

God is for you. 
Turn to the sidelines; that's God cheering your run.  Look past the finish line; that's God applauding your steps.  Listen for Him in the bleachers, shouting your name. 
Too tired to continue?  He'll carry you.  Too discouraged to fight? He's picking you up.  God is for you.

God is for you. 
Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled.  If He drove a car, your name would be on His bumper.  If there's a tree in heaven, He's carved your name in the bark ..

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?" God asks in Isaiah 49:15.  What a bizarre question.  Can you mothers imagine feeding your infant and then later asking, "What was that baby's name?" No.  I've seen you care for your young.  You stroke the hair, you touch the face, you sing the name over and over.  Can a mother forget?  No way.  But "even if she could forget, ... I will not forget you" God pledges (Isaiah 49:15).

***