Creator God

I reread the story of creation yesterday. It really struck me how much more complex and powerful God is than I am. I would say that I am a creative person. But on my best day, in my best moment, I cannot decide to create an entire universe and breathe life into it.

God's creativity is wild. No identical leaves, snowflakes, or blades of grass. An array of colors we can never duplicate. He created an people that are each unique in appearance, personality, and talents. Each grain of sand is a different color, size, and shape.

No wonder creation causes us to bow ourselves before God in worship. What an amazing God we serve. Unfathomable, and yet He desires to know us personally. Shocked and awed me all over again.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't remember if I made any New Year's Resolutions. Or if I kept them. It seems kind of pointless to me. I tend to try to change things in my life throughout the year. Trying to change all the things that are wrong with me all at once is a wee bit overwhelming. However, this year I do have two or three resolutions.

Here they are:

1. I will wake up 30 minutes earlier so that I can have time to read my Bible and pray before I start my day. I want to make sure that God does not get my tired leftover self at night.

2. I lost 10 pounds last year, and 10 pounds the year before that, so it would be nice to lose 10 more pounds this year. This one is not so much a resolution about my weight, but is instead a resolution that I will continue working out daily and let the pounds fall as they may.

That's it.

Monday morning update 1/4/10

I was exhausted this morning after our mission trip. There are occasional Sundays that I wish I could be a lazy heathen, sleep late, eat a big brunch, and wear my pjs all day. Getting up early to set up did not strike me as fun this morning. I hit snooze twice. However, being the pastor's wife means that there are never any days off.

By the time I got out of the shower, my grogginess wore off. I decided that I was looking forward to hearing the stories about how God had worked in Mexico. By the end of the service, I was blown away by God. I am so glad exhaustion did not win today.

I could talk about the worship, which was amazing. I could talk about the new families at The Crossroads for the first time this week. I could talk about the stories that people told about the trip. They were beautiful.

But tonight, instead, I want to talk about God breaking my 11 year old daughter, Grace's, heart today. Grace has long loved mission trips, but this year she absolutely bloomed. She did not tire as she worked long and hard. She loved every second, every moment of the trip. She worked as an adult, years beyond what I expected from her.

Today, she carefully planned out what she was going to say on the way to church. She started off bravely speaking into the microphone, but when she tried to tell about playing soccer with a coconut and how that made her understand how little eternal value stuff has, she lost it.

I walked to her on stage, and held her as she sobbed. She continued to quietly cry as everyone else shared. During invitation, Shawn began to talk about being available to God's call, and Grace just lost it all over again. As I knelt by her to pray over her, I understood that God was showing her just how much He loves the nations. He was allowing her to grasp how big the need is. And he was creating in her the desire to be available to His call.

I missed the night of her salvation many years ago. She accepted Christ with her daddy in the walmart parking lot. But I'm pretty darn sure that I got to pray over her today as God was beginning to give her a call for her future.

I am asking God to give me wisdom in discipling her and walking with her through the next few years as she seeks after God and tries to discover His specific plans for her. I was reminded about God talking to Samuel and Eli coaching him to say "yes, Lord". That's what I want to coach her to do.