In a Nutshell

"We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly...

...Nevertheless He saved them (me) for His names sake (Why?) that He might make His mighty power to be known." (Proverbs 106:6, 8)

Blonde Moment in Action

Isn't He wonderful?

How does God do it? How does He know exactly what I need, when I need it? Somehow He always seems to know when I need a verse of comfort, a message of conviction, or a word of encouragement from a friend.

Tonight...He sent the encouragement through my best friend Katherine Elizabeth Hefflefinger (aka: Katie ;) So thankful for someone who is often struggling with the same things I am and who knows how to point me back to God and to the place of help- prayer. Katie and I know how to laugh and tease each other but mostly we learn together... and that is the most valuable trait I could ever wish for in a friend. I needed that phone call tonight. God knew it and He chose to send it. He never ceases to amaze me with how He cares about even my smallest of struggles.

"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." (Psalms 104:33)

I have that childrens song running through my head right now " Isn't He wonderful, wonderful, wonderful? Isn't Jesus, my Lord, wonderful? Eyes have seen, ears have heard, its recorded in God's Word, isn't Jesus my Lord Wonderful!"

Convicting...

"I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer." - Martin Luther

His Eye is on the Sparrow (and Cardinal! ;)

"But ask now...the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth and it shall tell thee:...who knoweth not in all these things that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." (Job 11:7-10)

These pictures were taken this morning out of our windows. The birds have been coming right up against the windows and into the shelter of the porch to get out of the wind. It was just another one of God's little reminders to me of how He cares for me and of how He wants me to seek Him as my shelter through every storm. His protection and power are seen through the birds, the snow and the wind, for they are a constant reminder that He is in control of them all.

The Rewards of the Relationship

Psalms 103-
"Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits."

He....
1. Forgives all thine iniquities
2. Heals all thy diseases
3. Redeems thy life from destruction
4. Crowns thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies
5. Satisfies thy mouth with good things
6. Renews thy youth like the eagles
7. Executeth righteousness and judgement
8. Makes known His ways
9. Removed our transgressions from us. (and hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities)
10. Pities us like a father does his children
11. Knows our frame and remembers that we are dust.

"My Meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord." (Psalms 104:34)

I sat and watched the people around me...

I sat in a booth by myself and watched the people around me. I had finished my lunch and still had time before my break was over. My thoughts were wandering....

Many different people had sat here and eaten their meals. They had laughed, talked, and made memories. Kids had eagerly ended their meals in anticipation of the wooden nickel they'd receive that would enable them to get a 'free cookie', young couples had come with their squirming kids and food-throwing babies in hopes for a relaxing evening, overweight middle-aged people had come with plans of eating a healthy meal (only to find themselves ordering bacon cheeseburgers and the 'out of this world' fries), Grandmas had treated their grandchildren to hot fudge sundaes, and an elderly group of Retirees had come with their wheelchairs and walkers to talk about 'old times'. People in all different stages of life had come and visited; had worn down the booths and chairs as they stopped to pause for a bite to eat, before rushing on with their busy lives.

I sat and watched the people around me. Some had experienced a lot of adventures in their lifetimes, while still others were just beginning theirs. As I watched the people around me, all caught up in their meals and conversations, laughing and talking as if there were a million tomorrows, I couldn't help but wonder, "How many of these people secretly live with a deep , knowing impression that there must be something more to life?"

In talking to people at work, I've come across so many different questions, so many different hurts, so many different views of Who God really is (and what He really expects from us) and so many different and confusing discussions that have led me to seek out answers for myself. I've spent time studying God's Word, seeking advice and asking God to show me how to be the right kind of 'mirror', reflecting Him, yet I still often find myself at a loss for words. How do you respond to someone who tells you they believe God is real but have given up on Him because He let their Grandpa die? Or how about someone who bitterly pours out the trials of their life, details which would include raising themselves since they were twelve years years old, a teenage pregnancy and as an adult, not talking to their mom for more than three times in the last three years. What do you say when you hear of how a woman had to raise her two sons by herself because as she lay in the hospital giving birth to her second son, her husband walked in and informed her he was leaving her for someone else? What DO you say? Not to be at all sacrilegious, but when people tell you these things and then stand there looking at you, expecting you to say the right thing, to simply say "God is in control. He knows what He is doing, and He's doing all this for your good", just seems so...lame?...so hard to explain?

I know its true...I've experienced His grace through many different struggles and hard times. Yes, I've experienced it through deaths, through bitter disappointments and through things I just couldn't understand...but to try and explain that to someone whose struggling to understand, has just seemed so impossible to me. I tell them about God's peace, about how His companionship is there in the hard times so that eventually the circumstances don't really matter...just so long as you know He is there. They listen patiently, smile and nod. But they don't grasp what I'm saying. How can they? They've never experienced it and don't have a clue as to what they're missing out on. They have blinded.

I've felt so frustrated recently. I WANT them to know and to understand but I have absolutely no power to open their eyes. My words don't come out right and often times I just stand there and repeat the same sentences over and over. As I drove home today I had the thought "Chrystal, how can you help them when so often you don't even live your own life like you care the least little bit about God or like you believe one smidgen of the things you tell them?" I constantly mess up, get my focus off God, trust in my own strength and care not about how much I'm hurting Him. How can I expect to properly portray my Savior when I so often live my life as if I don't need Him?

I want to know God more! I need His love. I need His protection. I need His forgiveness. I need to remember that its not about anything I do anyways....its all about His grace.

"Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Galatians 3

"For Thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?" Psalms 56:13

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."
I Cor. 1:27

I guess what I've come to conclude is that God doesn't need me to understand and to know all the answers. He doesn't expect me to always be able to set the perfect example. He's constantly reminding me that I'm human and He's God. He simply wants me to follow Him; surrender, submit and seek. My relationship with Him needs to come first. When I fall; get back up. When I get too proud; get back down. God knows my needs better than I do and He's promised that He can use me even when I feel like I'm failing. Besides....its not like He really needs me in order to bring souls to Him. "We love Him, because He first loved us!" and that's all there is to it!

So as I sat and watched the people around me, some of those thoughts went through my mind...and God taught/reminded of a very important lesson about Him.

Question: Do they get any cuter than this?

Ethan Jeremiah Dierking

Josiah Glanz Dierking

Cara Renee Cheek

Answer: I would submit to you that, quite obviously, they do not!

Missing them tonight...