.a love offering.

therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. forgive as the Lord forgave you, and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. and be thankful. let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

colossians 3:12-17

"life has seemed to slow down in the fast paced city leaving me wanting to hold on to every moment, every word spoken, each sight, sound, and taste. i would love to share every detail with you but some things will leave my mind, others will be between just me and God, and others will met your eyes on this computer screen. i pray God gives me the right stories to share. that one of you may be touched by something special God is doing here in new york. He is so in love with each of us! how blessed are we that God loves us so much he gave everything for us in order that we may come to know Him? obedience to God is easy when its done out of love. if we see our "yes" to god as a love offering rather than an obligation, it is simply delightful and so fulfilling to obey Him. He is good! Hallelujah!"

...i wrote this in my journal on friday and wanted to share it with you too. with that, here is what God's been doing with my love offering this past week...

.monday, june 21, 2010.

#21. volunteer my time for someone/something.

pastor todd crews is the man i have to thank for the majority of my involvement at the brooklyn tabernacle. it was all God how i got connected to him, and he has been blessing me with opportunities and behind the scenes stuff at the brooklyn tab since i have been here. on monday, i took some time to visit him and his wife, nicole in their office at the church building. we were able to visit for a while, and i offered to help them with anything that was weighing them down. i ended up making some spreadsheets on the computer to help them get organized! if any of you know me, i like to have my ministry stuff as organized as possible (even if the intern office doesn't always look that way...it's organized to me!) so this was a huge blessing to help them out with this. even though it was making spreadsheets on excel, it was worship. i sat there smiling and i knew God was too. it is so fulfilling to do something to help another person, no matter how big or small the task is. on top of that, it was really cool to work up in the offices of the brooklyn tab with some of their staff ;)

after a pit stop at atlantic ave/pacific st to grab a bite with katie, i was off to bryant park for the famous movies in the park night! when i arrived, my friends had front row lawn seats staked out with snacks and fellowship flowing out of them! we sat in the park in the midst of hundreds of others, snacked, talked, and laughed together. as large as the city is, there are events like this that brings a sense of community and connection between people and it was evident when everyone got up and started dancing when the "special song" came on, cheered as they played a classic loony tunes cartoon (!), and clapped and whistled when the feature flick appeared...(the classic 007 movie, goldfinger!). as i laid under the stars and gigantic 5th ave. buildings, i whispered a word of praise to God for indescribable moments such as this. you don't have to be in a church building or singing a worship song to feel God's presence. it is always all around us and if we allow ourselves to be open to it, we find ourselves praising Him for the beauty of all things. :)

.tuesday, june 22, 2010.

as i was walking to the subway in the mid-afternoon, texted a distressed friend, "rejoice in the Lord always". she was going through a difficult time, and little did i know that i, too, would need to hear rejoice in the Lord always later this day. i met katie in brooklyn for the prayer meeting at the brooklyn tab and just before doing so, i received an unfortunate phone call. the salon that i work for informed me that the previous receptionist (that i replaced) wanted her job back and thus no longer needed me to work there. as the words came through over the phone, i digested them slowly making sure i heard everything correctly. just as soon as this job came to me, boom...it was gone. i knew it was for a reason, and instantly the enemy wanted me to believe that i was not good enough or i was unwanted...not true!!! so many thoughts flooded my mind, but now i think of the david crowder song that i loooove...

and i will worship, you Lord, only you Lord

and i will bow down before you

take my friends take my fears, all i have and leave them here

be all my hopes, be all my dreams

you're my delight, sweet, my everything

and it's just You and me here now, only You and me...

and that's the heart of it all. it's just me and God here in new york city, and if He wants to take away this job, then i will worship Him, and only Him. He is all my hopes and my dreams and I am living them right now. i need to praise God for taking things away so i have more time to dedicate to Him and bringing glory to His name. so as much as i enjoyed my job at the salon, i am ever so grateful that i have more time now to give to God while i am in new york city.

.prayer meeting.

so as i have a wealth of emotions flowing through me, katie and i get to the prayer meeting just in time and the first worship song begins. they sing...

rejoice in the Lord always, and again i say rejoice!

well how about that! just as i sent those words to my sister earlier, God gave them to me, and i knew it was from Him saying, no matter what emotions you are feeling...rejoice in Me!

pastor cymbala gave an awesome word from 1 kings 3:4-15. he discussed how after solomon (son of david) was made king, the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "ask for whatever you want me to give you". solomon gave the Lord words of praise, and then asked for the Lord to give him a discerning heart to govern the people. the Lord was so pleased that solomon asked not for something selfish such as wealth or a long life, but for discernment in administering justice that would glorify God more. so with that, God gave him not only what solomon asked, moreover what he did not ask, riches and honor! we see throughout scripture that solomon had just that, and he was the wisest man to live until Jesus came to earth. how pleased is God when we are unselfish in our prayers. it was such a challenging and awe-inspiring message to hear! every week at these prayer meetings, God so beautifully reveals Himself and shows me something i can grow in.

on my way home from the prayer meeting, i was thinking about how i take the subway to get everywhere...or walk. but i was thinking the subway is like God in some ways :) like God, the subway carries us through our path in life. similar to the Lord, it stops and meets us where we are at. and as we stand there and wait on the platform (like when we wait on the Lord), it opens its doors to let us in, we simply have to say yes, step in, and let it carry us.

.wednesday, june 23, 2010.

after a morning/afternoon of not feeling the best (maybe the new york germs were finally hitting me?!) i pulled myself together to adventure into the city. i decided to ride the subway to the last stop in lower manhattan and ride across the river on the staton island ferry. it was a beautiful, warm and breezy day, perfect for a boat ride. i found a spot on the outer part of the ferry and hung our the side letting the wind blow my hair. going further away from manhattan, the beautiful skyline becomes more visible and and the statue of liberty is greener than ever up close! i closed my eyes as the breeze blew past and the sun (or Son!) shone down i hummed,

consuming fire, fan into flame

a passion for your name

spirit of God fall in this place

Lord have your way, have your way in me

come like a rushing wind...

this was my prayer as i embarked on a new journey. a journey that now i was more dependant on God than ever for how to spend my time and days. it can be easy to become complacent without a packed schedule all the time, but God has called me to operate on His schedule and His timing, which is anything but complacent and boring!

.choir practice.

as i sat at choir practice once again to observe (thanks Tood!) i listened to carol cymbala (pastors wife and the lovely choir director) read colossians 3:12-17. "we can never limit God", she said, "we must clothe ourselves and walk in love. real faith is where the rubber meets the road. it's hard, but God can help us to be stronger". from her mouth, those words are so powerful. carol was once a quiet, shy girl who was terrified to speak in public and be in front of large groups of people. she has never been musically trained and cannot read a not of music. yet, today only by God, she leads the 285 member choir, has won 6 grammy's (and has made acceptance speeches at the awards!!) and has performed in places like radio city music hall and madison square gardens. we must believe that God has the power to equip us with all we need to achieve His plan and purpose for our lives. it may not look normal to the world, but that's when our faith in God is visible to others...when things don't make sense or are not rational. the choir sounded just as beautiful as ever, and as i watched carol direct her amazing singers, i praised God for how she has let Him work in her life and for her continuing faithfulness in the Lord.

.thursday, june 24, 2010.

after an afternoon of pages and books at the new york public library (i found the one you can rent books from...across the street from the museum-type one!) and barnes and noble, i met kadie in greenwich village for a night at the neighborhood church. this group of young adults and college students (mainly from nyu) come together to share a meal, pray, worship, and hear the word of God. kadie and i have met some great people at this church. personally, it has been awesome to see how another campus ministry shares Christ on campus. many of the students that come have similar hearts to students at his house and are so eager to share the love of God with people at nyu. the message was from acts 4 and being bold in your witness for Christ. how important it is to remember the necessity of boldness and that the power of boldness comes from the Holy Spirit (acts 4:8, 13, 29-31). the night ended as kadie and i walked through the park to the subway and stumbled upon a trombone player! he was joyfully playing music for all that cared to listen. there are so many creative people in the city wanting to share their gifts with whomever is willing to take it in. we smiled as this man's music gave us a smile and skip in our step.

.friday, june 25, 2010.

#6. pray in the 24 hour prayer room at brooklyn tabernacle.

the prayer band is a integral part of the ministry at the brooklyn tabernacle. the prayer band is a group of people dedicated to praying over the thousands of prayer requests that flood in through hand written, emailed, or over the phone requests. i had the privilege of joining the prayer band and meeting one of the leaders, dorthea. dorthea was a woman just by her appearance showed she had great faith. her eyes were wide from all she has seen and her heart was big from all the stories and people it held. she spoke with grace and confidence. her gift and ministry is prayer and has been on staff at the brooklyn tab for 17 years! sometimes for 7 hours at a time she will be in the prayer band room interceding and fasting for people and requests. if someone comes to the church from the street needing prayer, dorthea is the one to go upstairs and pray over them. we had an opportunity to do this together and not done without action, she was firm and challenged the woman to step out in faith. she is a woman who truly knows who her God is. she told the woman all she needed to do is call on God and He is listening. what a simple truth we often forget. we look to all these other things and people for our help when we really only need to ask God first . when she spoke to God, she used the different names of God according to what we were asking for. it was such an intimate time to approach the throne of God together for people who needed it an might be able to even pray for themselves. it was such an honor when dorthea extended her hand and prayed over me. she let God speak to her about my needs and spoke directly to my heart. i am so blessed to be around people who are here to encourage me and love me in my journey.

my day concluded with lunch and reading at the brooklyn promenade, a nap on the park bench (i'm turning into a real new yorker now!!), and a girls movie night at anna's apartment.

.saturday, june 26 and sunday, june 27, 2010.

.a typical weekend in new york. i met up with katie in union square and we had adventures in the city and a sleepover at my apartment! sunday we woke up earrrrrly, had delicious astoria bagel shop bagel's and worshiped at the brooklyn tabernacle. i was blessed to have brunch with my girlfriends and we laughed so hard we were crying at the drama put on in the afternoon at the brooklyn tabernacle. this church does nothing short of excellent and the drama presented a hilarious but convicting message from 1 peter 3:15,

"but in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. but do this with gentleness and respect..."

it is so important to keep this in mind, remembering always to set apart Christ as Lord. it was challenging to ask myself, "do i know why i believe what i believe?" it was a great reminder to always be ready to share our faith!

it has been revolutionary in my life to put my "yes" on the table and to submit to whatever God calls me to do. i pray that if God is calling you to do something, no matter how big or small it may be, say yes to His leading and walk in love!

.besos y abrazos. .camine en amor.