Love sacrifices..

again you decide to "take one for the team," you decide to do something you would rather not, tearing down your selfish nature, you decide to think of the other person, even though it may inconvenience you a little, make you feel uncomfortable, or force you to SACRIFICE something else. you decide to be selfless. to put the other person and their feelings above your own. but you get no thanks at all..hurts a little don't it?

now it's your turn to call upon your friends. you are in need of some support, but you turn to your left and to your right and find that nobody is there. the friends which you have selflessly given all that you could possibly give to them have fled to fulfill their own selfish desires. it was too inconvenient for them. all you need was a simple favor, one you would have done for them in a snap of the fingers. all you are asking is for a few minutes of their time. but they are nowhere to be found. they bail on you. excuses. after all the sacrifices you made, nobody seems to care enough to put their own agendas aside for a minute to give you a little something in return.. gets kinda old doesn't it? doesn't it make you want to give them a taste of their own medicine?

but here's the thing..Christ became the perfect Sacrifice, the greatest Sacrifice..He laid down His life for His friends. and yet we hardly ever give Him near enough in return. (so for all of us who get worn out of endlessly giving and giving with no receiving, just imagine how the Lord feels! and take comfort in the fact that He is right beside you in that..even though His sacrifice was much greater than yours ever was..)we find it so hard for us to sacrifice even a little of our lives, time, thoughts, heart, money..and ironically none of that we really own. and despite our hesitancy to sacrifice in return, our Father just continues to sacrifice and pour out more and more upon us, lavishing us with Love of many forms, when we selfishly hold onto things that don't matter, staying in our comfort zones. DON'T HOLD ON..SURRENDER..the Lord begs for us to sacrifice our lives. He already holds them. but until we surrender fully to Him, His work cannot fully manifest in us. lay it all down at His feet..true sacrifice leads to more abundant, meaningful receiving, sometimes maybe not in the way we would have planned, but in an even greater way. that's just the way Love works..

so if we really want to grasp what Love really is, it is time to start laying down our lives for our friends. no, that is not me giving you a license to go kill yourself in honor of your friend. it is not me saying that you have to always do whatever it is that your friend asks of you. it is just me advising that when you are in a circumstance where you must make a decision about sacrificing or being selfish, it is never wrong to choose sacrifice, even for people that are not even your friends! forgo your agenda for the day, let go of your selfishness, give up something. you may never know how much that friend, that person needed you that day. look at the motives behind your decision. don't make excuses. be real. we all know when we are doing something out of our own interest. if you find that the motives of your decision are selfish, maybe it's time to ask the Lord to help you rethink that choice. ask Him to give you a sacrificial kind of love, the love that He showed to us as He reached out His arms and selflessly laid down His life..


[i just want to write a little note of thanks to my parents who have sacrificed EVERYTHING for me at times..they have ALWAYS been there through the years for me..all i have had to do is just call and they would come running just as fast as they could, helping in anyway possible..they are prime examples of sacrificial love.]

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." -John 15:13

thank God for the friends who give up their entire day, just to make sure you get through yours okay..

Love never lets go..so when do we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIAdgLR1ZGw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx5Y9DhoLJQ&feature=related

go watch those and then come back to my post..

now, i sometimes have trouble with writting stuff like this just because sometimes it's so hard to put experiences into words..you want to capture your thoughts, the moment..well here's my attempt..both of these songs have meant alot to me through the past year of my walk with the Lord. but it wasn't until last night that i realized why.

coming to college was a turning point, running away from to running back into the arms of my Great Love. i guess back then i had thought that my Father was disappointed in me and had wanted nothing to do with me. i had let Him go, grasping onto other things. so it would make no sense that He would still be holding onto me. last night was one of those nights where you find yourself crying at the feet of Jesus and it is sometimes at those times where the Lord speaks to us the most, when we're broken..and this time He did. through one of these songs He spoke loud and clear. He never let go of me, He always held on..even when i didn't want to be in the palm of His hand, even when i was unaware. i realized at that moment that when i decided to reach out my hand and hold onto Him again, that it was no shock to Him, because all along He had been holding on, He never changes, He is always the same. my Father was holding my hand through it all..happy moments. difficult moments. every moment. now i understand why these songs mean so much to me, they tell my story..of a Love that never let goes..a Love that has pretty long arms that continue to reach us no matter how high or low we find ourselves..

but i also learned something else last night as i was trying to take control and get things done my way. as humans we are always trying to hold onto something. there are things we never want to let go of..situations, plans, people, places, possessions..and the list goes on. i came to the realization that if we really want to see the power of a Love that never lets go, we have to let go so that Love can do its part. we have to let go of situations and plans so that Love's will shall be done. we must let go of people so that we don't interfere with what Love's work in their hearts and lives, and so that we don't find ourselves holding onto them, loving them more than Love. we must let go of places so that we can go where Love leads, where our love is needed. we must let go of possessions because they are meaningless and will slip through our fingers like sand. we must let go of all of these things because we find ourselves slipping away from His grasp when our hands are occupied holding onto these.

but one thing i know for sure..the only thing that matters is holding onto Love. get a firm grasp on Love, hold tight, and never let go..

He'll show you when it's time to hold on, time to let go..

Love looks beneath, Love has a greater purpose..

today one of my coworkers placed something on my desk and said "amy, read this.." to him i replied.."this is my kinda stuff.." little did he know that it was something i needed to hear at the time. can you say Godwink?! (if you don't know what that means i will explain at a later date) so here it goes..

"God calls us to be faithful, not successful. He calls us to follow those dreams that are in our hearts and to pursue them with all our might. Sometimes they will proceed in ways that make them a 'success' in world terms, but other times it may feel more like futility. Sometimes we'll be able to witness changed lives, and sometimes the only life we can see changed is our own.

God's scorecard is different from ours. He does want to bless us, but His scorecard doesn't use money or material possessions or fame or status. He judges by the state of our hearts and our desire to serve Him.

But the LORD said to Samuel, " Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."1 Samuel 16:7

Don't ever sell yourself short. God's purposes are greater than man's purposes. There is much to do and much that you are capable of doing. What kind of world do you want? Think anything. Just be careful what you wish for.

Start now to be uncommon."

can i get an amen?

Jesus loves the little children..

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." -Luke 18:16-17

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight..Jesus loves the little children of the world.

i choose to love..

the Lord blessed me with the amazing experience of getting to fill in with the DBU rec team for the past two weeks at a preteen camp. there i met a brother in Christ, an illusionist, Drew Worsham. there i found out about a great movement/story of some of his friends. here is their story..

"When Jana and I first got married, we talked about adoption and how that might be something we’d like to do someday. Something we should do someday. I filed it in the back of my mind along with things like running a marathon, traveling the world, and living in our dream home. We would talk about it ever so often, and I would daydream for a moment, and then file it again, as if it was this distant place that I would never actually visit.

A few months ago, we daydreamed about it again. In the midst of trying for our second child, Jana and I imagined what our lives would be like with a kid who didn’t look like us. I’m the careful one. I always choose wisely. I calculate risk. That makes it hard for me to live the adventure sometimes. But Jana is the dreamer. So carefree and ready to drink life up no matter what it tastes like. So outside my comfort zone. I always thought that if we were supposed to actually do it, I’d have this Moses and the burning bush experience that told me to adopt. Jana is my burning bush sometimes.

After me being gone for a few days with the band, I came home, and she said “I’ve decided that it’s never wrong to choose to love someone”. If I’ve learned anything in our eight years together, I’ve learned to give pause to Jana’s seemingly “off the wall” insights. Believe it or not, I think that she and I are together for good reason. God has been teaching us a lot about loving people. I think it’s easier to love God than to love people. People are hard to love sometimes. A lot of the time. I realized early on that love isn’t a feeling, it’s a decision. A selfless commitment that requires much from it’s giver, and she was right.

We have the resources, the ability, the time, the desire. There’s no reason not to that’s greater than the reasons for choosing to love. We’ll be the first to confess that we don’t have everything figured out. First cars, college education, Weddings, and everything in between. I don’t think as humans we were meant to have it all figured out. If we did, what purpose would faith have? There are so many unknowns in the adventure we call life. So many choices to make along the way. But Jana and I resolve to live in the here and now. To not worry about tomorrow. And for this day, this hour, this time, we choose to love."

http://ichoosetolove.wordpress.com/


i hope that today and everyday you will choose to love.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." -Luke 6:32-35

no greater love..

a famous philosopher, miley cyrus, once concluded that life isn't about where you end up, not about the destination, but about the journey, the climb.

so i figured that as i go through my life, my journey, my climb, i wanted to document pieces of it..so here i am..blogging.

this blog is one about of a life committed to living in Love. no, not the romantic oo la la type. but about a greater kind of Love. One that laid down His life for His friends. one that never fails. one that never ends. the love of Christ, no greater love than that.

lately, i have just been more in awe and captivated with the love Christ so freely pours out on us. so many times people take our love forgranted, they take part of us that they don't deserve. they abuse our love. but the Lord never takes from us. His love is like a never ceasing fountain that showers us. i think the best way to love the Lord is to love His people. therefore, His love is the one that inspires me to take action. i have come to the conclusion that the best way to show Christ to others is to simply love. love takes all kind of forms..and as i continue to discover them..i wanted to share.

may you everyday, in everyway, live in Love..