Thursday, April 23, 2009

thank You

Lord, I just have to give You praise this very minute. I try to thank you at all times because You are amazing and You love me no matter what but I have to give a special prayer right now.

Lord I thank You for your promise. I am so amazed at how you are working in my life and I pray for Your guidance and wisdom in navigating this wonderful and amazing experience.

I knew Your promise.

I believed when You said you would not forsake me.

I understood that You have perfect timing.

I guess I just never imagined!

How can You love me so much?

Lord, I just thank You so much for filling my life and for adding the icing to the cake. I thank You for the friendship you have given me in John. I want to be filled with Your love and I am so thankful that I am. I want Godly conversation and relationships and You bless me with that. You are truly faithful and I know that. What a silly little human I am. I could never imagine it would be like this... ever. You are amazing. I am so blessed. Thank You! It sounds so simple and so silly, I don't know how to express this in words but I felt the need to say something. It seems like it isn't enough just to say thank You. I know You know my heart and what I am feeling. I know You are at work and all of it is because of You. I praise You for the gift of my life, of Your only Son and for all of the blessings you have bestowed on me. Help me to live for Your glory and to build my relationships to honor You.

In Jesus' precious name.

Amen

These are some "oh so thankful" words...

By Nicole

Monday, April 13, 2009

God's blessings for obedience

My last post was on March 9th. This is a follow up to that post...

I broke things off with Michael the following week. He was out of town for a week and I was unable to see him until St. Patties day. It was easier than I expected. I didn't cry until he said "If you knew you were going to break up with me, I wish you wouldn't have made me pay for dinner." He was joking of course and said he was trying to lighten the mood but it made me sad anyhow. Overall, it went really well. Michael said he understood and that he didn't hate me. (a concern of mine) We parted ways and haven't talked since.

I think that this is where God's blessings for obedience come in.

I haven't looked back and have not once felt like I made a mistake after we ended things. I think that is one of the blessings God has bestowed on me for my obedience to His will. People keep asking if I miss Michael, if we are back together, or even talking. I tell them no on all accounts. I don't miss him. I have nothing bad to say about him, he is a great guy, but I really don't miss him and I don't feel the need to talk to him or get back together. I don't know if that sounds kind of callous, but I don't think it is. I think God has blessed me with the peace of knowing he wasn't the one and that is why I feel that way.

Here is where other blessings from God come in.

The day after I broke things off with Michael, I received a text from my friend CJ. He said that another friend of mine, Tonya, had told him that I had asked for a meeting with the Momentum pastor, Jeff. I didn't recall ever talking to Tonya about that but I figured meeting with Jeff couldn't hurt. He is a great leader and I knew we would pray together and I love doing that so I set up a meeting for the following Wednesday.

The weekend before my meeting with Jeff I was blessed to have Erynn and Doug to hang out with. We went out for a nice dinner and then out to a movie. On top of that, a friend of mine from Camber who I hadn't talked to in months, Vanessa, also invited me out to a movie. I already had the plans with Erynn and Doug but it was nice to know Vanessa was thinking about me and wanted to hang out. :) We had a great time that night and actually ran into Vanessa and her friends at the theater. I think it was a message from God letting me know that Vanessa and I would soon be hanging out together.

My meeting with Jeff started like this... Jeff: "So, what's up?" Nicole: "I don't know, I didn't really ask for a meeting, CJ just said Tonya said I did, so I'm not sure." Jeff: "Yeah, there are some people who were concerned about you." :) Apparently, people were concerned about me dating Michael. I had no idea that there were people at Momentum who cared so much about me, enough to talk to Jeff and ask for guidance on how to help me. We talked about how I got into the situation and how to avoid it in the future. It was a good talk and I feel stronger in my conviction to be found by a Godly man who will provide the kind of marriage that puts God in the center of it. The people who went to Jeff were my co-leader Dana and one of the male leaders, John. Dana is a great lady who has been a wonderful support in my growth with God. John is someone who I didn’t really know until this all happened.

Last weekend, the 4th, I was able to hang out with Vanessa, John, Jude and the rest of their “group.” We went to Golfland and played miniature golf. Then we went over to Jude’s house and watched a movie. The night was so much fun! I had such a good time and it was so nice to hang out with such wonderful people. Poor John and Jude had to experience first hand the annoyance of my food allergy but they took it in stride and were actually very sweet about it. It was really nice because they were so concerned about me. :)

This past Friday we all went hiking in the Superstition Mountains. It was a beautiful, perfect day. I had a great time with my new “group.” It is so much fun to be included in such a cool group of people and to be accepted there. We went to a movie that evening and diner after that. It was the best day I have had to date. Great God talk, good clean fun and the growth of some amazing friendships. I am having so much fun getting to know John in particular. He is such a Godly man and we have had some really great God conversations! I am really enjoying having people like him in my life and I am looking forward to growing those relationships.

So all of these things I feel, are the ways God is blessing me for my obedience. I thank Him every day for my new relationships and for blessing me with people in my life who really care. I know God is going to continue to bless me for being obedient to His will. I already have so much to look forward to! I have great people to hang out with now, I’m going to Hawaii with all of them at the end of May, and I am totally stoked about all of it!


These are some "blessed for obedience" words...

By Nicole