princess

"Every girl is somebody's princess."

 ~ me

This is what I said to a friend of mine tonight. A group of us went to see the new Disney movie "Tangled." (ps. It is a fantastic movie!) As we were leaving my friend told me that he wanted a princess, so this is where I came in with my line above.


I was actually thinking about this earlier in the day before even thoughts of seeing the movie were born.
We are all princesses waiting for the day a prince will rescue us. I don't know any girl who hasn't had that dream. I don't know any man who hasn't had the dream to rescue a princess either.

I was once rescued. I had forgotten that I am a princess and I am special to God. I was putting up with mediocre. I was settling because I thought that was all I deserved. But then God blessed me. He brought some amazing men into my life. Men who know how to be a prince. I was reminded how special and unique I am. They reminded me that I am one of God's princesses. I learned a lot from them. 


I am very blessed with the men I have as my good friends. They hold doors open and pull seats out. They open car doors and carry bags. They genuinely care for people around them and treat all girls with respect. They honestly are some of the greatest gentlemen around, and I am very proud of each of them. I know they will treat their future wives amazingly. 


Just because a guy is not interested in dating a girl, it does not mean he should not treat her with the same respect and courtesies. Men are gentlemen to all women, not just to the ones they are interested in. He would not want to fall in love with a girl only to find out she had been treated poorly by some other guy. In the same way, he should treat all girls in a fantastic gentlemanly manner so as to keep them knowing they are princesses.

If only girls would be reminded and know that we are all God's princesses. We are all special and unique in our very own ways. We should not let guys bring us down. None of us deserve to be treated as anything less than princesses. And we need to remember to act as God's princesses. No man will want to be a gentleman to a gril who does not know how to live as a lady after God. If we would all just remember who we are in God and how we are to treat each other, this world would be a much better place.

crazy texan

"It is a sad moment in the life of a dreamer when it is realized that the world kills dreamers. But it is ultimately the outcome of that moment that leads to either the tragically mundane or the gloriously inspired life."
~ Cody Lidster

I love this quote. I love even more that the person who said this quote lives the life of a dreamer. Too many times people just talk and don't live it out. About a year ago, I was just getting home from a trip with my work to Kenya and Uganda. There were a lot of experiences on that trip that I will never forget. One said experience was eating dinner with a Texan.

We had just endured a 40 minute drive with 9 people in a 7 seater land rover, true African style (and of course I was the one voted to have to sit on top of everyone. such an awkward place to be). Because of being crammed into the middle I couldn't actually see who were in the seats behind me. I knew it was the parents of one of the missionaries as well as some random guy with crazy curly hair and a bandana, never would have assumed he was Texan - I thought they were all clean cut with cowboy hats! We get to the restaurant which was actually just an outdoor food court where about 10 different Indian places compete for our business. I conveniently place myself at the other end of the table from my boss (Love her but sometimes people need a break in a 3 week trip) which put an empty seat across the table from me where the Texan sat down.

We talked coffee mostly. He tested my Starbucks coffee knowledge and we did a coffee tasting which almost made me lose my dinner. He was prepared and knew how horrible Indian coffee was, I was unaware...Love the food, hate the coffee. We also talked about what he was doing in Uganda, how he almost died trying to cross the border from Uganda to Kenya (to think of the things people do just for Indian food...), he showed pictures of his recent bungee jump over the Nile in Jinja, and he shared so many other stories. The food was delicious but the star that night was Cody. He was the most captivating story teller out of Texas I have ever met. He is the type of guy that just lives life and loves every second of it. He understands that life is so precious and he does not waste any moment.

I met Cody at a time in my life when I had almost forgotten about living. It was as though I had hit pause on everything. I was always a big dreamer growing up but through circumstances, I was allowing the world to crush me. I was in a spot of choosing the mundane of life instead of the gloriously inspired. It was just one evening, but it reminded me of the dreamer inside and I haven't looked back since. I aspire to be one like Cody, someone who reminds people of the dreamer inside them and encourages it.

I do not know if Cody and I will ever meet up again this side of Heaven, but he has impacted my life. I thank God for bringing people into my life who remind me what living is all about.

"I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."

~ Matthew 7:23

What does Jesus mean when He says this? Never is such a definite word. He didn't just say "I don't know you." He said "I never knew you." That one word change makes a dramatic difference in the meaning of the sentence. If I saw a stranger walking down the street then days later he tries to tell me he is my friend, I would say I don't know him. Because I had seen him, I can't say that I never knew him. The never would imply I had no idea of his existence or anything. Can Jesus really never know someone?

The Scriptures say that God knows the very number of hair on our heads. He knew us before we were even formed in our mothers' wombs. How can Jesus say He never knew someone yet at the same time know them before they were formed?

I have thought about this verse before. I actually had a conversation about this verse not too long ago. We were discussing Jesus on the cross and how He died for us. If He never knew those who do not choose to follow Him, does that mean He did not die for them? We all have sinned yet our sins our unique to us. If Jesus had all the sins of the world placed on Him on the cross, then I would presume He would know everyone He was on that cross for. The Bible says the sins of the world, not just of the ones who choose to follow Him. Therefore He must have died for everyone and He must know those who do not choose to follow Him! So does this mean Jesus was not being truthful when He said He never knew them? But Jesus cannot lie, so where do we go from there?


This seemed to be a never ending circle...until tonight. It might have been an unsure comment in passing when first spoken but the more I thought about what I had just heard, the more Jesus' character came true. When God created man, He created him in His image. When sin entered the equation, it destroyed that image. When we choose to follow Christ and allow God to make us new, our lives are restored and we live a new life. We are a new creation. Those who do not choose to follow Christ are not reborn. They never become who they were supposed to be had they followed Christ. Therefore when Jesus says "I never knew you", the most sensible explanation to me right now is that He never knew who these people were meant to be in His fullness. They decided not to follow Him, so they never became that new creation.


Christ has made us new. Let us embrace our new creation and live it so in love with Jesus so when our day comes He will say He knew us.

 

green tomorrow

Back in the green apron tomorrow. Worked at Starbucks for a year, took a month to do whatever, worked at what I thought was going to be my dream job for a year, stayed unemployed for over two months, and now I am back in the green barista position. When I quit the first itme, my regulars thought I was going off to save the world. They thought by working at a mission organization that meant I was moving to Africa to feed starving children (they barely ever asked what I was actually going to be doing.) I thought I was going to my dream job. But I have already talked about that enough. This is about tomorrow. I know people would talk about my job at AIM as a real job, the responsible route, the grownup life. I feel as though the year I spent at AIM, even though it was an amazing opportunity, I got to meet new people and even go to Africa again, I feel as though it was a break in my life. I feel the year was a sort of time out of living. I am so excited to be back in the green apron making those coffees for my regulars again. Being a part of those people's lives even if it is only for 5 minutes, it is still an opportunity to make someone's day a little brighter. I get to be a shining light in someone's life. I cannot wait to be back in that job. I loved being a testimony and a friend to the people I worked with. I loved connecting with the customers. I might not have liked how cold the drive-through window can get but I loved asking those customers how their days were going. I cannot wait to be able to fall even more in love with Jesus by loving my job and loving the people I will get to make coffee for every day. So happy to be living again.

so amazing!!!!!!!

"For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God...He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow...He is your praise. He is your God."

~ Deuteronomy 10:17,18, & 21

If that doesn't excite you more than any battle cry, there must be something wrong.