Weddings Morning, Noon, and Night.

This past weekend I had the privilege of flying home for a quick weekend FILLED with weddings. (Two in one day!) My mum and I did the flowers for the first wedding which proved to quite the adventure. I may be a lot of things in life but I am not a florist...we had a blast, stumbled through and in the end made it happen. Here are a few pics of before and after.

All of the wedding festivities were filled with rejoicing, pretty dresses,
flowers, yummy food, cakes galore, and general merriment. As took in all of the weddingness, I began to imagine my wedding day but more than that, I got lost in the thoughts of THE wedding that will occur when Christ returns.

Revelations 19:7 says,
Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

The Wedding of the Bride of Christ (the Church) and the Bridegroom (Christ) coming together on those Heavenly shores. I can't wait! I imagined all of the preparations that my sweet friends Emily and Becca had prior to their Big Days. The planning, inviting, sacrificing tons to make this day all that it should be. Then their is the preparations of the bride. This is no small thing. The bride prepares herself inside and out for the moment that her grinning groom stands at the end of the aisle waiting to receive the gift that His bride is to him.

My dear friends looked beautiful and their weddings were such a precious celebration of their new lives together. However, I couldn't help thinking about how quickly the Big Days pass after all of that preparation. Here's the best thing. The Wedding of Christ and His Bride ushers in a new life together that will last for all eternity!

As I think of that Wedding day, I feel an ache in my spirit to be ready. We the church must be ready! We will be preparing to spend all of eternity worshiping, magnifying, and lifting up our Groom in intimacy that we cannot imagine. What a delight the wedding of the Ages will be!
Oh, Hasten the day!







Congratulations to my sweet friends...
Emily & Jason
Becca & Ryan

Forgiveness and a flat tire.

I started the day with a flat tire. Again.

After dealing with the tire, I sat down to check blogs and was taken back by a comment that an anonymous person posted on a recent blog of mine.

Recently, I posted a picture that was meant to be funny however it was at the expense of somebody else; setting a poor example for those around me particularly the students that are watching the way I live my life. This anonymous person loved me enough to call me out on it, which they were 100% right on. I instantly felt the sting of conviction and the sickness of sin. I know that I am a sinner but in this seemingly small circumstance I was flooded with the weight of my own uncleanliness. Of course I removed the pic but more than that I ran to the Lord in repentance. In this place of remorse, I found GRACE and FORGIVENESS.

Forgiveness from this and many sins and grace to not stay sick in sin but to be free and clean. Of course God arranged for the 1 John 1:8-9 to be in today's reading.

"If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness."

Today I have been overwhelmed with a new sense of the grace, mercy, and love of God. I am a Sinner saved by grace. I do not deserve to be forgiven but Jesus declared it so. I am sorry for the foolishness of my sins and SO thankful for His forgiveness.

Short and Sweet.

Jesus asked her. " Who are you looking for?"
-John 20:15

Simply put, Jesus asked me this same question.
With my life, my pursuit, my purpose...
Who is it I am looking for?

It's got to be Him.
If it is Him, then all I have to do is to come.

The simplicity of His beckoning call. He is actually looking for me.
What a breath of fresh air.

I kayak.

I Kayak.
After a long awaited kayaking debut, here it is.

The rapids were clearly ngarly...
and I am hard core.

This is reality.

My co-kayaker, dear, sweet Elisa.

Why I Love the Fair.

Reasons Why I Love the Fair:

(I recently had the privilege of Fair'n' it up and was reminded of the sights, smells, and horrible, yet familiar nauseating feeling from my childhood. Here's a little sampling. Enjoy!)

1. Prizes

2. Goats: Who does not love goats?
(I want names)

3. Rediscovering my childhood obsession with PIGS!
Oh Yes, I LOVED them and they LOVED me!
I bet you didn't have a puffy-painted sweatshirt that said,
"I love Pigs!" I sure did.

4. Small children wearing darling, full-on suits in 90 degree heat.
Muy guapo, si?

5. Rides that make you scream!

6. Pretending to NOT be afraid on the Ferris Wheel.

7. Friends
I know them, I love them!

I need to See His Face.

I sense the presence of the Living of God today...sweet like cinnamon in the air. It roles around my head, stirs in my heart, and seems so thick at times that I could reach out and touch Him. Oh I need Him, the more I sense Him I am overwhelmed with this insatiable ache within to lay hold of my Sweet Saviour. Oh, He is good.

I read Exodus 33 where Moses boldly asks not only for the Presence of God to go with him, mark his life, but even more-he cries out to see the face of God. Here I am sitting at Backporch and want to weep with this overwhelming desire to have more of this Presence and to SEE HIS FACE.

I sense the Spirit showing me the many places where the face of God has been present in my life in just the past few days. I have seen Him...

In the deep sincerity of Jocelyn, a 7th grade who just accepted the Lord. After hearing the brief gospel story, she looked me in the face and said that she just wished she knew the rest of the story. That was the Spirit at work. I saw Him in that longing. He put that within her. He will meet that desire by showing her His face. Oh how sweet that is.

I saw Him in the faces of my dear friends who send me encouraging notes, speak words of life, confirm God's call on my life, get behind my passions, and believe in me. God is there. He is living and acting in the lives of my friends to minister to my thirsty soul.

God is there in the quiet moments when first wake up in the morning. He satisfies me by letting me see His likeness. He renews me each morning with His mercy, breath of life, grace, and love.

Oh, the love of God. I see Him amazingly coming out of me as I am struck again and again with His heart for the lost around me. He stops me in my tracks to break my heart. To say, "Jenna, this is my heart of love for the world."

I sense His Sovereignty and then in that deep place in my soul I feel the intimacy of the Living God. He is all around us. His face is present where you least expect it. If we are willing to seek the face of God and not just His hands, we will be changed. For no one can see His face and live. (Exodus 33:20) As I encounter the majesty of the face of God around me, I want to be refined, that parts of me may die, and I may more clearly reflect the beauty of His face.