Naming Baby #3

I am just over 28 weeks in my pregnancy with our third child and at my 20 week ultrasound, I greatly anticipated the possibility of finding out our baby’s gender, as we had with our first two children. However, I was sent to a different hospital this time where they have a different policy about this and they would not tell me the gender at the appointment, though they would put it in the report that they sent to my obstetrician. I was totally bummed, because I really wanted to know right then and now I’d have to wait a couple more weeks to find out!

However, I believe the Lord designed it this way, because a few days later, Joe and I went on a trip to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and I had the opportunity to pray for our baby and listen to the Lord speak to me about him/her without any preconceived ideas about the baby based on gender. I really wanted the Lord to speak to me about our baby’s identity and possibly about their name and He was faithful to show me some things.

Now, you’ll have to forgive me, but this is going to be a slightly lengthy story of how our baby’s name came to be chosen…

As I was praying, I recalled how many times in the Bible, babies were named based upon something that the Lord was doing personally in the life of the mother or even what He was saying corporately to His people. So I began to think about what the Lord had been speaking to us and putting on our hearts and He led me to Psalm 132:1-9…

¹ LORD, remember David…
² How he swore to the LORD,
And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³ “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,
Or go up to the comfort of my bed;
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes
Or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ Until I find a place for the LORD,
A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob”…
⁷ Let us go into His tabernacle;
Let us worship at His footstool.
⁸ Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
⁹ Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
And let Your saints shout for joy.

Something we have been longing for in this season is for a greater realization of the reality of God dwelling with us. There are multiple facets and levels to the dwelling place of God, the first being the incredible truth that God desires to dwell and abide in us (John 15:4-11; John 14:16, 23; 1 John 4:13-14; 2 Cor. 4:6-7). We are carriers of His presence through the indwelling of His Spirit – jars of clay containing the infinite treasure of Jesus within us!

Secondly, we desire for God to have a dwelling place in our city, that there would be a literal, physical place where He could come and rest and manifest His presence and receive worship and adoration from His people. We long to see a house of prayer established in our city where we could go to worship and pray at any time of the day or night. We long to have His presence in our city, to enjoy being with Him and feeling Him in a tangible way, and so that our city could be transformed by His power to save, heal and deliver the people who live here.

Thirdly, we are eagerly anticipating the day when Jesus returns to the earth and we get to see Him face to face! When He comes, He is going to purge the earth from all sin and wickedness and He is going to make all things new so that He can once again reconcile heaven and earth, that God the Father may come and make His dwelling place on the earth permanently, bringing the New Jerusalem to earth so that we can dwell with God for eternity! (Revelation 21:1-7; Revelation 22:1-5)

As I was praying, I also kept hearing the word “joy”, but didn’t know how it fit in with the idea of God’s dwelling place. But as I read these various passages I mentioned above, I began to notice a common thread of joy throughout them all. When we abide in Jesus and He abides in us, we experience the fullness of His joy in us (John 15:11), when we are in His tabernacle and in His house of prayer, we shout aloud for joy (Psalm 132:9, 16; Isaiah 56:7), and when He comes to dwell on the earth, there will never be sorrow or crying every again – only the sweet, inexpressible joy of being with our God forever (Revelation 21:4)!

My prayer for our baby became that he/she would know the joy of God dwelling in their inner man, but who would also long for the dwelling place of God here on earth, and who would experience joy in the house of prayer as a priest who ministers before Him, as one who simply loves His presence.

A couple weeks later we finally did get to find out the gender of our baby, which is “inconclusively” a BOY!! While the ultrasound technician’s confidence in their opinion leaves something to be desired, we are thrilled and our son Justice is very excited to be getting a baby brother! However, this news presented somewhat of a dilemma in the naming department. We had a name that we liked for a girl, but nothing for a boy. Joe kept trying to convince me that the name could be used for a boy as well, but I was not budging. I was stubbornly insisting that it was strictly a girl’s name and I simply could not imagine naming our son this. Finally he gave up and threw up a prayer to God to speak to me if this was the name for our baby.

The very next day after he prayed that prayer (without me knowing it), I sat down during my morning devotions and I specifically set out to talk to the Lord about this name and ask Him to show me if this was the name He had chosen for our baby. I decided to look up the meaning of the name in the Hebrew, since it comes from the Bible. The name actually means “delight” or “pleasure”, which certainly seemed to fit with what the Lord had spoken to me about the word joy.

I then began to look at all the scriptures in the Bible where this name appears, and since it is actually the name of a place, I only discovered one person in the Bible who had been given this name. It just so happens that it was a man (a point for Joe’s argument), but also a priest who served in the temple! When I went to read the scripture in context, I found myself in 2 Chronicles 29, which is the story of King Hezekiah, who ushered in a season of revival, especially regarding the restoration of the priestly service. The temple was in disrepair and ministry to the Lord had been neglected, so King Hezekiah reopened and repaired the temple and then issued a call to all of the priests to consecrate themselves and the temple and return to the Lord. His charge to them was this,

“My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”

Coincidentally (I think not), this verse has been a prominent one that the Lord has given to us corporately at Sanctuary House of Prayer, where we attend. We have prayed this verse countless times, asking God to raise up men and women who would love Him wholeheartedly and who would be called to stand, serve, minister and burn before Him. I was stunned when in the very next verse it lists the priest with this name – Eden. He was one of the very first to respond to the call and to consecrate himself to God and who was among those who worshiped the Lord with the instruments of King David’s tabernacle. They worshiped, played music and presented offerings to God, praising Him with gladness and calling the entire nation to return to God as well.

Wow!! I was blown away that the one person in the entire Bible who is named Eden was a priest who also longed for the dwelling place of God to be established in his nation and who desired to minister to Him there. It quickly became obvious to me that this was in fact the name that God had chosen for our child and it also confirmed all the things He had spoken to me earlier.

Not only this, but the Garden of Eden also happens to be the original dwelling place of God where He first lived and walked with mankind before sin entered the world. Eden was truly a place of delight and pleasure, where man walked with God in unhindered, unbroken, perfect communion and this is exactly what Jesus is returning to the earth to restore!

If our baby had been a girl, I may have never searched out the name so thoroughly and discovered these things! But, an added bonus is that if the ultrasound technician’s prediction is wrong, our baby will still be named Eden.

The name is continually growing on me and I am falling in love with my little boy Eden and can’t wait to meet him! Another fun little tidbit is that my initials are JRE and the first initial of my three children – Justice, Rayah, and Eden – match my initials! So, that’s just a special little gift from my Father to me.

My First Advent Calendar

I’ve never had an advent calendar before or celebrated it, besides perhaps one of those cardboard boxes with the punch out holes with chocolates inside as a kid. However, when I got the chance to review Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands, I got really excited about counting down the days to Christmas with scriptures and crafts with my kids. Amanda, the author of Truth in the Tinsel, included clues that could either be chained together or ones that could be placed in an existing advent calendar. When Amanda posted several great ideas for advent calendars, I was drawn to one that required a bit of work, but looked like fun!

I chose to make the Recycle Bin Advent Calendar, though I modified the materials slightly based on what I could find. I didn’t have any large paper bags, so when I was at my local dollar store, I managed to finagle a large box for free that was being used to hold big Christmas gift bags and I cut it up to use as my backdrop – score!

I also don’t buy magazines or get flyers, so I had nothing to cut up for creating the pockets. When my mom’s place didn’t turn out to be a good source of material, we went to the thrift store in her smaller town, which is actually a very large and busy place, and I managed to snag some old Christmas themed magazines and Christmas cards for 25 cents a piece – another score! While I was there, I also found these large rolls of paper that are actually donated by the local newspaper and they are so perfect for doing crafts with the kids – this is what I used for creating the pockets themselves.

After much cutting, folding, gluing and taping, I am very happy with the final product and can’t wait to begin using it. Each pocket contains the clues from Truth in the Tinsel, as well as some green and red gummy bears for the kids. I even managed to match a few of the pockets’ pictures to the clue for that day. We also set up the small artificial tree that we borrowed from a friend today (we’ve been afraid to have a tree past Christmases with the little ones) and we are all set to begin our advent experience!

I am praying that this will be a memorable month of learning the story of how Jesus came to the earth to save us and to show us His love. If you want to join with the many other moms and dads who are going through Truth in the Tinsel, grab Amanda’s ebook for just $4.99 and join her Facebook page, where we’ll all be encouraging each other and sharing pictures and stories along the way!

**Note: Because I think Truth in the Tinsel is so great, I decided to become an affiliate, so if you buy the eBook after clicking one of the links in this post or by clicking the button in my sidebar, I will receive a percentage from the sale. If you buy it and love it as much as I do, consider becoming an affiliate too!**

eBook Review: Truth in the Tinsel

This is probably the most excited I’ve been to do a book review on a my blog! I got the opportunity to review Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands by Amanda White from ImpressYourKids.com (a great blog, by the way!), which is a 24-day eBook that counts you and your kids down to Christmas Day with an interactive telling of the Christmas story through crafts and scriptures and ideas for talking with your kids about Jesus’ birth.

This book is designed for preschool to early elementary school kids with a scripture passage, a Christmas tree decoration craft, and a simple guide for discussing it with them for each day. There’s also some resources for creating a simple Advent Calendar with clues that go with the story you’re reading. Amanda even blogged recently about some great advent calendar ideas, if you don’t have one already, but the advent calendar is totally optional.

Now, I’ll be the first to say that I’m not a super-crafty mom and only recently have I begun to stock up on some crafty supplies. My 3 1/2 year old son just began attending the children’s program at our church a few months ago, since we’re small and only just started having a children’s program. Well, usually each class has a craft for the kids and he got bit with the craft bug and now all he wants to do is color and cut and glue things ALL THE TIME, so I know he’s going to LOVE these activities! The book has a master list of all the supplies you’ll need & I found I had the majority of them at home and will only need to buy a few things (most of which I could find at the dollar store or the local thrift store) and I was even able to borrow or get many of the items by scavenging from my mom. There are also many ways to improvise and make these crafts your own if you don’t have all the supplies at hand.

Of course, the real goal is not to make perfect Christmas tree decorations, but to engage your kids in the Christmas story in a way that causes them to love Jesus more! I really enjoyed the simple explanations that Amanda wrote in the “Talk about it together” section, as well as the ideas she provided for ways to go deeper into the story, other scriptures to read, or other fun activities to do to help your child apply the story to their own life.

Now, if the idea of doing 24 crafts in 24 days overwhelms you, don’t worry! There are also alternate schedules for ways you can incorporate certain themes or days into the month that will touch on the key ideas, characters, etc. Regardless of how you choose to use the book, it is a fantastic tool for helping you to teach your child about how Jesus came to the earth for them, about His love, and the gift of eternal life.

So, not only do I want to highly recommend this eBook to you, but I want to let you know that for TODAY ONLY (November 25th – Black Friday in the States – just a regular day for us here in Canada), Amanda is selling Truth in the Tinsel for only $2.99 (regular price $4.99)!! Let me tell you it is more than worth the price and you and your kids will love it!

I am so excited to get started on this and if you get the eBook now, you’ll still have 6 days to get your craft supplies together in time for December 1st! However, I don’t just want you to buy it – I want to invite you moms and dads out there to join the Truth in the Tinsel Challenge! If you go and “Like” Truth in the Tinsel on Facebook, we want to come together to encourage each other to give our kids these first 24 days in December by posting pictures of the crafts we’ve made, sharing tips and ideas, sharing stories of funny or touching things our kids have said, etc.

I really want my kids to understand the true meaning of Christmas and that it isn’t all about Santa Claus or getting presents. I want them to know Jesus and to have the Word of God impressed upon their hearts and I think this is a great tool to accomplish that!

I’m joining the challenge – will you come along with me??

**Note: Because I think Truth in the Tinsel is so great, I decided to become an affiliate, so if you buy the eBook after clicking one of the links in this post or by clicking the button in my sidebar, I will receive a percentage from the sale. If you buy it and love it as much as I do, consider becoming an affiliate too!**

Compassion Highlight: The Philippines

It’s been a while since I’ve written about Compassion on my blog, but if you know me, you know that I love this ministry and I love supporting them in what they’re doing for kids in poverty around the world! Our three Compassion kids are growing up so fast and it’s such a joy to see their hearts growing in love for Jesus and knowing that we get to play a small role in providing for their educations and their futures.

I recently found out about a new organization called Missions in Action which has created an interactive video series highlighting areas of need around the world, the ministries who are working there and how you can join in to help. Their first episode features Compassion International’s work in the Philippines, where they are seeking to bring hope and aid to those suffering the effects of the annual flooding in Northern Manila.

It’s moving and heart-wrenching to watch these clips of the living conditions of these families, yet joyful to see the hope that Compassion does give them for their children. I watched the video with my 3 1/2 year old son Justice and it was a great opportunity to talk to him about the needs of kids around the world who don’t have all of the comforts that we do.

I encourage you to watch this video and the others as they air and to consider how you can help children in poverty this holiday season. Whether it’s sponsoring a child or giving a Christmas gift or helping out poor families in your own city, this is an area that is close to the heart of Jesus and which is therefore one that I want to hold dear as well.

The Essential Jesus – Colossians 1:15-23

You can read about the origins of this blog series on The Essential Jesus here and catch up on previous posts here.

Colossians 1:15-23

I am the express image of my Father – I look just like Him! Though He is invisible, I became a visible likeness of Him for you to behold. Not so much in my physical appearance, but in my nature and character, I came to portray His heart to you. When you look at me, see Him! I am a perfect reflection of all that He is. I am His firstborn Son – though uncreated, I hold the position of firstborn over all creation and stand to inherit it all, since I am His image and one with Him.

As His very Word, it was by me that all things were created – everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. I created every angelic and heavenly creature from the highest to the lowest and every thing on the earth from the mightiest king to the seemingly most insignificant insect. All things were created through me and for me and it is by me that all things are held together.

As I created and brought forth all of the universe and everything in it, I made it all for my pleasure and enjoyment. It all exists for me – you exist for me! I formed you and brought you into existence because I delight in you and enjoy you! You are for me! You are my Bride, my Church, and I am your Husband, the Head of my body.

Yet even as your Creator and as Head over you, I do not treat you as an overbearing master treats a slave beneath him. You do not need to fear my leadership, for though I am powerful, I am also meek. Though I fashioned the stars and planets, I am tender and kind and I care about your heart.

Not only am I firstborn over all my creation, but I am the firstborn from the dead – the first one to experience the resurrection of my human body to its eternal, glorified state! I am the firstfruits of those who have died, for this same new life is in store for you! I experienced death for your sakes, but I did not stay in the grave as every other man before and after me – I am fully alive by the resurrection power of my own Spirit and clothed in my glorified body, that in all things I may have the preeminence.

In every area, I am superior and outstanding in my position, my power, my authority, my purity, my beauty, my perfection and my nature. For it pleased my Father that all the fullness should dwell in me – that being fully man, I would also contain the fullness of deity. There is nothing lacking in me!

My Father was also pleased to reconcile all things to Himself through me – whether things on earth or things in heaven – having made peace through my blood that I shed on the cross. Heaven and earth will be brought back together into unity in me – all that was lost will be restored! And though you were once alienated and separated from us, our enemy in your mind by your wicked works, I have now reconciled you to my Father and to myself in the body of my flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in my sight.

Truly, my death was such a glorious thing in the power of what it accomplished! By my blood, I restored the relationship with us that was lost through sin in the garden. I snatched you from the kingdom of darkness, rescued you from the punishment of eternal suffering and separation from God, brought you into my very own family, and then purified and sanctified you, cleansing you from all your sin and every compromise that taints your love! No wonder my Father was so pleased, so overjoyed to reconcile you to Himself through me – it was a fantastic and wonderful work that we did!

And all you need to do is believe it and receive it by faith – it’s yours!

** This post was influenced by Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Colossians 1 and the following scriptures: Hebrews 1:2-4; John 14:7-11; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Ephesians 1:7-10 **

365 Project – September & October

Again, since I sort of fell of the wagon with my picture-taking, here is my update for both the months of September and October. Admittedly, there are several pictures in this bunch not actually taken by myself (mostly by my mom), but I included them anyway, because this 365 Photography Project has been more about capturing daily memories for me than about honing my own photography skills – which should be obvious, considering the majority of them were taken with my iPhone. This fall included memorable moments such as making homemade tomato soup with my mom, a visit from Joe’s parents and sister, a trip to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, seeing the ultrasound of our baby, a weekend family gathering in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and celebrating Rayah’s 2nd birthday!

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture simply has to be one of the many I took in my photo shoot of my daughter Rayah, but I couldn’t possibly choose just one – I love them all! However, I do also love the one of me reading a Bible story to both my kids in bed.

Do you have a favorite?

365 Project – July & August

As I mentioned in my last post on my 365 Photography Project, I fell off the wagon in the month of July, which turned into the months of August, September, October and you guessed it – November. I’ve still been taking pictures, but definitely not every day. However, I decided to still give you an update on the pictures that I did end up taking and here are the ones from July and August. It was a great summer playing outside with my kids, announcing to our friends and family our new pregnancy, celebrating my 30th birthday and feeling baby’s first movements!

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture is the one of Rayah’s bedhead or the one of me and Justice having Starbucks.

Do you have a favorite?

My Prince Charming

After doing a photo shoot for my daughter’s second birthday, I just couldn’t resist doing one with my son as well. Since he’ll be turning four in March, the weather at that time isn’t exactly the nicest for taking pictures outside, so even though we got our first snow, I managed to sneak in a photo shoot on what may have been the last really nice day of the year. I took 110 pictures, which I narrowed down to my favorite 30, which I was then able to cut in half once more for this post.

I love my son! He is handsome, silly, full of life, joyful, adventurous, mischievious and oh-so-charming! I think I was able to capture many of these traits in these pictures…

Homemade Tomato Soup

Homemade Tomato Soup is something I grew up with and which has always been a family favorite that my mom learned from her mom. When I moved out, I would always try and get a stash from my mom for my cupboard, but as I started my own family, I finally learned how to make it myself and now it’s a tradition for myself and my sisters to spend a day of making soup with my mom each fall to stock our pantry for the year ahead.

There is a lot of work that goes into this recipe, but it is well worth it to have those beautiful jars on my shelf for a quick and easy meal throughout the year! I love this meal so much, as do my husband and kids, and I want to share it with you, because I always feel compelled to share the things I love in the hopes that others will come to enjoy it as much as I do.

Homemade Tomato Soup

14 pounds of tomatoes (about 2 heaping 4 L. ice cream pails)
5-7 large onions
2 green peppers
1 bunch of celery
1 bunch of parsley
1 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 cup canning salt

Yields: 7-8 quart jars.
To serve: Add 1/2 quart jar of milk to 1 quart of soup and serve with thin egg noodles (optional).

1. Cut up and steam vegetables and herbs.
Cut up onions, green peppers, celery and parsley into large pieces and steam in a large pot with a bit of water (a couple cups or so) for an hour.

2. Scald, peel, mush and cook tomatoes.
While your vegetables are cooking, put tomatoes in sink full of boiling water until you see the skin start to crack. Carefully use tongs or some other instrument to drain the water. Peel the skin of the tomatoes and mush them up in your hand into a very large pot. Cook until tomatoes are completely soft (about 20-30 minutes).

3. Put it all through the blender and strainer.
Blend and strain the tomatoes, getting out all the seeds. Blend and strain your cooked vegetables. Combine together. When blending, it’s easier to do it while the ingredients are still hot, but you have to use great caution with trying to close the lid on your blender, since the steam will make it want to fly off and your mixtures go flying as well. It works best to hold the lid lightly over the blender so the steam can still escape and to only fill your blender half full or less.

4. Heat jars and boil lids.
Heat your oven to 200F and place your canning jars (without lids) inside to heat up. If using new canning lids, follow the directions on the box for boiling them. If you’re reusing lids, you might want to boil them for up to 10 minutes so that the rubber portion is nice and soft.

5. Create thickening agent.
Melt margarine or butter in a medium sized pot. Add sugar, flour and canning salt and combine until smooth. Add some of your tomato/vegetable juice mixture (about 4 cups) to thin it out, blending well with a whisk and bring to a boil. Pour this mixture back into your original tomato/vegetable juice mixture and stir until well combined. Bring the entire large pot of soup to a boil and whisk often.

6. Pour into canning jars.
Using oven mitts, take one canning jar at a time from the oven and place on a towel. Carefully pour your soup into the jar using a ladle or glass measuring cup or small pot to scoop it out of your large pot. This step can sometimes get messy! When full, make sure the top of the jar is clean and dry and then tightly screw on the lid (dry it off too when you take it out of the water).

7. Pray!
Time to let the jars sit and pray that you hear that magical popping sound as the lids seal tight! After letting them sit for a few hours, gently test the lids to see if they are sealed (don’t try too hard to remove them & end up breaking a good seal!). If any of them fails, you can take it as a sign that you’re supposed to eat that jar for supper tonight or you can dump out the soup back into a pot & bring it to a boil again, clean the jar & heat it in the oven again, boil the lid again & try the whole sealing process over.

8. Enjoy!
When you’re ready to partake of some of this delightful soup, simply heat on the stove with half a quart jar of milk (about 2 cups). We like it best served with thin egg noodles – yummmm! And since we love this soup so much, we usually make two batches of this recipe so that we have enough in our pantry to have it at least once a month.

The Essential Jesus – Philippians 2:1-11

You can read about the origins of this blog series on The Essential Jesus here and catch up on previous posts here.

Philippians 2:1-11

I never have nor ever will do anything from selfish ambition or conceit. I am lowly of mind and I esteem others as better than myself. I am not primarily concerned with looking out for my own interests, but I am always thinking of others and how I can serve them. I am so consumed with love for people, so joyful in my communion with my Father and the Holy Spirit, and so full of affection and mercy, that I am compelled to lay myself down for the sake of others, even when it is painful to do so.

Though I enjoyed the majesty and splendor and glory I shared with my Father for eternity past, I did not by any means feel robbed or cheated to lay all of that down in order to become like a lowly servant. This is because I was already humble in heart and I loved to serve my Father and the Holy Spirit, and they love to serve me! I didn’t need to become a man in order to become humble, for I have always been lowly and selfless in all that I do.

Yet, it was my delight to reveal my heart for you and my character by making myself of no reputation and taking on the form of a bondservant and coming in your likeness. I came to show you the depths to which the High and Lofty One was willing to go for the sake of winning your heart. And I chose it willingly and voluntarily! It was not forced upon me, but I embraced it and chose obedience to my Father’s will and plan, even to the point of death on a cross.

Can you see it? Can you see my heart as I gave it all up? Can you see the delight my Father took in me as I joyfully received this honor of portraying His heart to you? Can you sense our excitement that you would finally see all that was burning within us towards humanity? Yes, there was an excruciating price to pay and real pain and anguish to endure, but we had full assurance in our plan and that the final result was worth the cost.

I realize that sometimes you are called to serve and to choose lowliness and meekness without the vision of the end result or even any guarantee of an earthly reward for your sacrifice, but if you can tap into our joy as we chose humility and if you learn from me, even that won’t matter and you will do it simply for feeling the delight we take in you!

Oh and my Father loved how I showed His love for the world! He could barely contain Himself, for as I humbled myself, He turned it around and exalted me and gave me gifts and lavished me with glory and honor. It makes me smile just to think of His joyful extravagance. He gave me the name which is above every name that at my name, every knee would bow – in heaven, on earth and under the earth – and that every tongue would confess that I am Lord, all for the glory of my Father. I did it all for Him anyways and my reward is that I receive you as my inheritance – which is a greater treasure than you realize!

And it will be the same for you. As you humble yourself and serve and put others before yourself in this life, your reward in the age to come will blow your mind with its extravagance! We love to give good gifts and to lavish you with all the treasures that are laying up in heaven. I promise you it will be worth the price you pay now, which will seem so small in comparison.

But I pray that you will also know and experience the reward of our love and rejoicing over you in this age and that it will more than satisfy your heart! I really, really like you and enjoy you as I see the heart of my Father becoming more and more evident in you! We truly love this journey of being joined and united with you in heart and spirit and we trust our Spirit as He works in you in partnership with us. You can trust Him – He really likes you too!

** This post was influenced by the following scriptures: Isaiah 57:15; John 13:12-17; Matthew 11:28-29; Psalm 2:8; Ephesians 1:18; Matthew 7:11; James 1:17; Zephaniah 3:17 **