Freeeeeee Fallin'

Today was magical. I don't know why, but my expectations were way lower than they should have been... And the Lord once again... BLEW MY MIND! Today I went and handed out clothing to some homeless people. Since Wednesday, I have been fighting off fevers, coughing up lungs (it feels like I have more than 2 lungs that I can cough up!), trying to catch boogers from running out of my nose (sorry if that is tmi), and just overall being in kind of a funk! This morning when I woke up I thought, "oh no, I'm gonna have to let people know that we can't go hand out clothes today." and then I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me, "Why not? I've prepared this day for you. You've asked me to prepare hearts and that's exactly what I've done, trust that it will turn out the way it's supposed to. Snap out of it child! This is my work that is waiting to be done... Go and tend to the seeds of love. You can do it." Ummm... Okay! Thanks Holy Spirit! How's that for a morning pep-talk?! Lol I immediately felt a burst of energy when I decided that I was gonna go through with it, no matter how I felt! As time went by and the hours got closer and closer to 1pm, I felt a cloud of doubt come over me... I started thinking, "What if I can't find anybody? What if the location I thought God was showing me, is supposed to be somewhere else? Will I have enough to give everyone?" I was STRESSING OUT! I tried to have quiet time with Jesus, but I just couldn't seem to focus! Until... BAM! 1pm! Dun. Dunn. Dunnnn! It was time to go. No turning back now (or could I just pretend that I completely forgot), I had to go through with it. We arrived in downtown Pomona (I was feeling clammy, could we go home now?!) My mother and I were parked waiting for my grandparents and cousin to join us... Tick-tock... They were taking FOREVER!!! I had to pray, I asked God to forgive me for the way I had been acting towards this... I should have really just been thankful that He assigned that to me! That He trusts me! Then I felt the Holy Spirit asking me to trust in Him! I felt myself repeating, "I trust You. I trust You. I trust You..." until I felt this beautiful peace and confidence about the situation. I felt relieved and realized that I had just COMPLETELY given the ENTIRE situation to Him to handle. At that point I felt what Lou Engle calls, "Free Fall Moment" the moment where you've taken that leap of faith and have absolutely no idea what is coming next, but you're believing for Poppa to catch you! Yup. FREE FALL! But sure enough, He is faithful and He showed up! We got to pray for two women and hand out clothes to about 10 people! The one person that stuck out to me was Debbie. She has a heart of gold! She knows the Lord and trusts that He looks out for her. WOW! This woman that lives on the streets... TRUSTS GOD. Its that simple, Trust in Him, Know that He IS God! No matter what situation! Tomorrow I'm hoping to speak more about what happened today... I'm sorry to leave you hanging off a cliff, but this servant of God is EXHAUSTED! goodnight :)

Christmas Gifts Don't Validate My Love, Nor Do They Compare to the Beauty of the Little Things

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet... Am I stressed? No. I know that the people in my life don't need a gift from me to validate my love for them and vice versa. This is by far the best Christmas season in my life; because it is not revolving around gifts and all that other mumbo jumbo lol. I've been focusing more on the little things, and let me tell you: I'm in awe of all that I've been provided with! I mean every single one of my five sense are functioning! Oh and my spiritual senses, well I'm learning to discern those right now... I feel like a kid again! Think about how amazing it is that our brain can communicate with our body to do things. Even as I'm typing this... I'm blown away that I am able to memorize the keys so that I can type my thoughts without looking. CRAZY! I'm so glad that each and every day I have the privilege to function properly! In this day and age, we as a people love to inflate the superficial. We make unimportant things such a big part if our lives that they start to overshadow the vital areas of our life. Take some time to meditate on the teeny tiny things... Your mind will be blown!

A Radical Shift to Agape Love.

Since becoming a daughter of Christ, my perspective has shifted greatly. Before, it was always about, "How can I make MYSELF look good?" "What can I do that will help ME seem like a better person... and maybe help somebody else out along the way?" Many things that I did were coming from a "ME FIRST" mentality. Since the day that I encountered Jesus' pure, all-consuming, and complete love my perspective changed to: "How can my actions glorify my Abba Father?" "How can others experience this same love?!" It's a drastic shift; if you ask me... I wouldn't have it any other way.

 Many people believe that Christianity means a bunch of Bible thumping, conservative people that love to recite random verses and condemn anybody that is different, to hell. That has not been my experience, AT ALL. Yes, I love the Bible and the revelation that I receive from the Holy Spirit and I love to share it with others, but I'm not going to force-feed The Word to anyone that does not want it. Where in the Bible do you read that Jesus was forcing the people to believe that He was the Messiah?  My love for Jesus is RADICAL. Because of that, I love everybody. In the book of John, Jesus says,

 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21 NKJV). 

In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples the greatest commandments,

 “Teacher, which  is  the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him,  ‘You shall love the   Lord   your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is  the  first and great commandment. And  the  second  is  like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:36-39 NKJV)

 I take these commandments to heart. I want to love the people with the same agape love that Jesus did, can you imagine how the world would change if everyone's motives for love were completely unconditional? This leads me to something that the Lord has placed on my heart for over a year now. Some of you may remember last year when I was going to collect blankets to hand out to the homeless; that idea fell through, I see now that I was still worried about how I was going to be perceived. I was brainstorming and planning on trying it again this past November, but I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. Boy, have I felt the conviction! It seems like everywhere I go, I see  homeless people freezing! Yesterday, I was reading an article about a pastor that saw Christmas as an opportunity to share the love of Immanuel, not only to those who know Christ but also to those that have never experienced it. To take action to spread PURE love. No strings attached, no underlying agenda, no surprise attack. Just to simply love on people. After reading the article, I felt the Holy Spirit assuring me that it's not too late to take action.  Let me get to the point, I need your help (if you're willing). I would like to collect: Blankets Jackets Thermals Gloves Beanies Rain Ponchos Umbrellas Many of us have these items at home that we don't use or need anymore or we like to shop and find these on clearance for really cheap ;) I would like to hand these out by the 23rd of December (where they will be handed out is still tbd). I would also need help with keeping this in prayer. Also, from anyone that would like to assist me with handing these items out (We can never have too much love!). 

Thank you very much, May the Lord bless you!