Life Cycles

It is strange and wonderful how life runs in cycles. We are born helpless naked and needing help for every basic task, and then strangely, after a lifetime of self sufficiency, we often end up right back where we started from.

In autumn, we witness the end of the warm season and the death or hibernation of nature. Plants go dormant or die. Animals crawl into their burrows to wait for spring. And then, after winter has done its worst...everything wakes up again! It is an ordinary miracle - just like many others- that we take for granted.

We were made in the image of God, perfect and whole. Humans are His crowning creation. And then we fell. Adam and Eve rebelled, deciding they knew better than God. But they didn't, and we don't still.

Which is the reason why Jesus had to come, to show us the way back to God and to return us to what God had in mind all along: saints perfectly loving and serving a perfect, loving God.
So now, even though our outward shells are dying slowly day by day, inwardly we are being renewed by the grace of God.*

 And there is nothing more pleasing or satisfying than coming full circle, back to where you need to be.

*"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
" 2Cor. 4:15

{These are Blessings Indeed!}

I must say, I've been blessed. Truly, truly blessed. You all have blessed me! God has smiled on me.
And I don't say that in a cliche "ohymgoodness" sort of way....I really mean it.

The fact that I'm even alive today is a miracle.
The fact that I have a supporting circle of loving people is a true, real gift.
That fact that I have a loving family, and a beautiful, safe home to live in is worth celebrating too!

But today, what I'm thinking of the most is the hearts of the those.....my friends and family....who decided that the dream God gave me of going to Romania, and loving on those lovely, needy people was worth sponsoring.
Worth praying for.
Worth believing in me for.

It's amazing to me!
Because, really, even if I told everything I know and feel about Romania, and what God has said so far to me about it....and even if I admitted that I don't know exactly why I'm going or what will come of it.....it doesn't seem matter to you all!

I'm not talking just about monetary giving for my trip here. (No, but in that respect, I've been extremely blessed as well! Everything has been provided for! Many, many thanks...) I'm thinking of the love, the kind words, the prayers that these folks have given me....each was special!

And I think I'm just standing in awe of God right now.
How He works things out and, how he worked this out for me.
I feel so special! and yet so little, and unworthy of this trip, at the same time!
I promise I will try not to worry about my abilities because "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and I promise to carry myself well in Romania, and serve with all my heart, soul, mind & strength! As would befit someone who has been so, so blessed....

I must thank you, my friends, my family & my church.
Love in Jesus,
~Hannah

Spent Time.

Life is made up of tiny things. 
Little events.
Small words here & there.
Every move, heart-beat, thought, and action adds up to our life, and what we make it.

I wish I could say that every little piece of my life has been well-spent or even, meaningful.
It hasn't.
Many times, I've tried very hard (ironically) to just 'exist'. Not do anything bad, but not do anything very good either. Unfortunately, there have been whole chapters of my short life spent that way...and it's definitely been a waste.

Breaking out of that safe 'slowed time' cocoon is indeed the hardest part of growing up, and moving forward in my life. As a kid, time was sort of a secondary thing to my day. The important points on the clock (lunchtime, dinnertime, playtime, nap time) were all that mattered...and that was okay, for a small child.

However, now I see that something should shape my day and give meaning to it. Now that I am well old enough to understand passage & importance of time, it also falls upon me to understand the responsibility that comes with living within it. It is not enough anymore for me to say to myself, "Well, as long as it doesn't hurt or hinder anyone directly, and as long as no one notices either...then I'm going go ahead to do such & such for X number of hours." That's a child's mentality, and hardly acceptable for an adult!

It's like this:
Whenever I hear someone mentioning the scripture about "redeeming the time"... I think of holding a check in my hand and going to the bank. Imagine if instead of being paid by a set hourly rate, we were paid based on how we used the time we worked. If you worked hard and well, you got paid well. If you slacked off, you got little or nothing. It would be a fair, but indeed harsh system!

I think that's how I should look at my days from now onwards; less as just 'putting in hours' and more as working as unto the Lord. Because really, He is the only one who always:

• sees what I am trying to do (all of it)
• knows what I could or should be doing
• and understands the whys behind all of it

Giving an account for my day....might just be a more sobering prospect than I thought.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.  (Colossians 4:5)

"I Will Wait for You" by Poet Janette Ikz

She's a woman and a poet and she's a Christian with a voice she's not afraid to use.
I have never been affected by a spoken-word poem like I have by this one.
You've just got to listen to it.