grateful.

and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. and be thankful. let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - colossians 3:15-16 also, 1timothy112.tumblr.com

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cuando llego al final y no existe nada mas, yo te alabare...

...por la eternidad ante tu truno de poder, yo te alabare solo a ti.

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i am grateful (for youthworks weeks).

i am grateful for boys (who are really men) praising God with their talents. for teenagers who are nice to each other. for people who apologize sincerely and look each other in the eye. for encouragements and good words.

i am grateful for people's stories and how they touch, challenge, and grow us. i am grateful for the word of God and how it works its way down into our hearts and pours itself back out on others. for selflessness. for thinking of others. for grace. and second, third, fourth, and fifth chances. i am grateful for men who have been in prison and are now preaching the truth of the gospel in word and deed.

they tell of the power of your awesome works - and i will proclaim your great deeds. - psalm 145:6

i am grateful for all the ways we worship. i am grateful for how You are not done with us yet. and how You use us as we are - broken and sometimes really dumb, but moving forward. i am grateful for oh, how He loves us so and singing it loudly alongside people i've known for four days and feeling like there's nobody else i'd rather be beside when i sing this song. i'm grateful for how He loves us. for how He loves me and them and you. i am grateful for how i can love because of His great love.

...if grace is an ocean we're all sinking...

i am grateful for girls who like who they are and are brave enough to be who they are in front of people. out loud and bold and beautiful. i am grateful for the bravery and courage that come from being secure in an identity as a daughter or son of the Almighty King.

let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord. - psalm 45:11

i am grateful for people who know more than i do and who teach me and answer my questions. i am grateful for the responsibility i've been given to answer others' questions - for the empowerment that accompanies restoration. 

i am grateful for brokenness and tears and sobbing on a cold tile floor on a mission trip to indianapolis. i am grateful for the way God moves us to tears, to feeling something. i am grateful for the growth that takes root only after we've been completely destroyed.

then He said to them all: "whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." - luke 9:23

i am grateful that through everything, through everything, You are good. never tame, never fully known, always bigger than me, but always good.

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i am grateful (for the body).

i am grateful for sermons preached by pastors in suits and ties heard by congregants sitting in dresses in pews. i am grateful for sister friends who preach about hearing God's voice with no shoes on while i listen from my spot on the floor. i am grateful for dread locks and the men and women who don them as they share what God is doing in their lives, what He desires to do in our lives, and as they lead us in worshipping the Only One deserving of worship. i am grateful for people who speak spanish and english and french and turkish and german and the God who hears and understands and loves them all.

just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. for we were all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body - whether jews or gentiles, slave or free - and we were all given the one spirit to drink. even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. - 1 corinthians 12:12-14

i am grateful for hands and feet. for toes and fingers. i am grateful for chins and elbows and wrists and knees. i am grateful for heads and hearts. for eyes and ears. i am grateful for this body and my place in it.

the eye cannot say to the hand, "i don't need you!" and the head cannot say to the feet, "i don't need you!" on the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor... - 1 corinthians 12:21-23

i am grateful for communion. for coming together as a body of believers to remember a God that came to serve us. to remember a God that came to give his life for us. i am grateful for grape juice in little plastic cups and wine in big goblets. i am grateful for hunks of bread and small wafers. i am grateful for passing plates and for getting up to receive. i am grateful for prayers prayed. i am grateful for forgiveness received. i am grateful for community.

God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. - 1 corinthians 12:24-26

i am grateful for jeans and flip flops, for slacks and dress shoes, for skirts and dresses and shorts and t-shirts. i am grateful for guitars and banjos and drums and pianos and organs, for hymns, and not-hymns. for hand raisers, swayers, and stand-stillers. i am grateful for those who have to step out into the aisle when they praise because they need their space to commune with their Lord. i am grateful for those who worship in the stillness and quietness of their hearts and minds. i am grateful for the God who hears and sees and understands and loves them all.

now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. and God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.. and yet i will show you the most excellent way. - 1 corithians 12:27-28, 31

i am grateful to be part of this body and to get to know God as he reveals himself through his children.

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i'm grateful (for grace).

thank you Lord for grace, grace, and more grace. thank you for giving me grace. thank you for helping me give grace to myself. i am grateful for the ability to give grace to others. i am grateful for the grace you give while i am practicing giving grace to myself and others. i am grateful for the blessings that come when we obey. i am grateful for the blessings that come even when we stray.

grace, grace, God's grace, grace sufficient for all my sins...

i am grateful for the promised forgiveness that comes when we confess our sins. i am grateful for sovereign conversations, for divine appointments, for stories that heal and point to the work you did on the cross. 

i am grateful for the way we learn from each other, from our mistakes, and from your word. i am grateful for the new day, full of promise and more grace.

praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. - 1 peter 1:3

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grateful.

i am grateful for colmados that deliver when it´s 8:30pm and i´ve just started making my dinner and i´m hot and i´m sweaty and just realized that  don´t have milk, which is necessary when macaroni and cheese in a box is your dinner. i am grateful for a box of macaroni and cheese that cost 23 pesos. i am grateful for neighbors. neighbors who are kind and friendly. neighbors who got your back. i am grateful for friends who show up asking for help and end up dropping everything to help you while you lose your mind because you thought you lost your keys. i am grateful for friends who are constantly teaching me (by showing me) what it means to highly esteem others before yourself.

do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. - philippians 4:3-4

i am grateful for the phrase ¨a la orden¨ because i think that´s the kind of attitude God meant when he told us to love each other and share our things. i am grateful for the phrase ¨a la orden¨ because it reeks of the early church,

all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. - acts 4:32

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i am grateful (for a sovereign God).

God is big. God is good. God is sovereign. God is big. God is good. God is sovereign.

this is one of my chants, something i recite over and over in my head (or out loud) when i feel like i´m falling, when i feel like life is reeling out of control. when i want to scream. when i want to complain. when i´m in pain - physical, emotional, or spiritual. i have these anchors for my soul.

God is big. God is good. God is sovereign.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Your will. Your way. Your will. Your way.

anchors for my soul.

thank you, God, for broken laptops that mean more time with you! i am grateful for the grace that comes each day as i learn more about what it means to be suzanne, what it means to be your daughter, what it means to be a part of your Bride, what it means to be a teacher, what it means to always be learning and never having it all together. what it means to humble myself. what it means to teach. what it means to discipline. what it means to love the people around me. what it means to do this thing called missions. what it means to do this thing called ministry. what it means to do this thing call write.

i am grateful for your perfect timing even though i´m impatient and anxious. thank you for the rest that comes in knowing you. for trust and faith i learned from you.

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i am grateful (for life).

i am grateful to have enough good things and hard things and fun things and relationship things to fill two lives. i am grateful for who i am and who God is helping me become. i am grateful for my slew of friends and homes. i am grateful for the struggle to reconcile youthworks and daystar because it all just means i am so so blessed.

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i am grateful (for trips and friends).

i am grateful for nights when i finally get into bed after a long full day and my tired body can rest. i am grateful for long, full days. for a healthy body that allows me to be outside. for gorgeous, walking-around weather. i am grateful for pizza-eating, monopoly-playing, birthday-celebrating, motorcycle-riding, conversation-having, and friends.

i am grateful for sleepovers and bosom buddies and just plain pals. i am grateful for His good and perfect plans, which are so good and so perfect that even if He told us the plans ahead of time i doubt we'd believe Him. i'm grateful for laughter. for sarai's laughter when God told her the plans. and for her laughter when His plans indeed came true. i am grateful for change, for growth, for looking back on how things were and knowing without a doubt that it is ONLY by the grace of God that we are anything good at all. i am grateful for all the good in me and for the King who created and  sustains me. i am grateful for hurt and pain, even when i want to teleport back in time and save the day, avoid the hurt, and take the burdens of friends before they even know them. even then i am thankful for hurt and pain. 

count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may by perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. - james 1:2-3

i am grateful for a God that lacks nothing. i am grateful for steps toward Jesus, toward righteousness, toward who You intended us to be. i am grateful for look backs that lead us to the cross and remind us how dependent we are on Your grace.

i am grateful for my cat, i really am. my the always-friend that a pet can be and for the way God provided, even a cat.

i am grateful for bravery and courage and Spanish-speaking-on-the-phone. i am grateful for junior high guys that are strong and courageous as they learn a new language. that use that language they are learning to talk about the only important thing-our God and how to make this place look more like heaven.

have i not commanded you? be strong and courageous. do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. - joshua 1:9

i am grateful for context. for full stories. for background information. i am grateful for the lessons that these things bring. i am grateful for truths to wrap your heart around, more than i am grateful for quotes to print on a t-shirt or hang on a wall. 

i am grateful for this feeling. for being excited to go but sad to leave. i am grateful for both/ands. for excited and sad. for ready and praying hard. for having grown and still growing. for american and dominican. for secure in salvation and in daily need of grace. for Jesus and more Jesus. for ocean and mountains. for heaven and earth. for now and not yet.

pray then like this: "our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." - matthew 6:9-10

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i am grateful (for women of valor).

Lord, thank You so so much for the group of women that came here to serve this past weekend. i am grateful for the way they jumped right in. i am grateful for women who sweated through making lion masks from yarn and sweated through reading the same book twelve times in a row to kids who weren't always the most interested. i am grateful for women who showed up with only your agenda, ready to serve, instruments in hand, ready to praise, ready to use all that you have given them for your glory and for your people.

i am grateful for run around town time with tracy and for her crazy musical talent and for her joy joy joy. i am grateful for words of wisdom revealed to reba through your word and shared with us over really good pizza. i am thankful for bible studies on the stinking beach with sand on our toes and the sea breeze at our backs.

i am grateful for a leader who constantly points back to You and to who You are and to what You are doing. who refuses to take any credit and who is tireless in Your redeeming work. i am grateful for family reunions and friendship sleepovers. i am grateful for grace grace grace.

i am grateful for el refugio, for what that place is, for what gets done there. i am grateful for the hard and beautiful work of the women of mercy jewelry for the money You provided through the hands of your servants. i am grateful for pretty things, for getting dressed up, for wearing six necklaces at a time knowing that the hands that made those necklaces belong to Your daughter.

i am grateful for the pieces of heaven that are raining down on us all the time and i am grateful for the way You allow us to glimpse eternity right here in our mosquito-infested, stinking hot city. i am beyond grateful for how the women who showed up this weekend showed up to sing in our language. what a blessing. what a message. what a way to say, "hey we're here to hang out with you, to learn from you, to do life with you, to laugh with you and praise with you." i'm grateful for a group of women who did all of those things and more without a single complaint.

she rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. she considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. she perceives that her merchandise is profitable. her lamp does not go out at night. she puts her hand to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy... "many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. - proverbs 31:15-20, 29-31

i am grateful to know and be known by so many women of valor.

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do you not fear me? declares the Lord. do you not tremble before me? i placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. - jeremiah 5:22

i am grateful for creation, for boundaries, and for God's faithfulness. i'm grateful that even when i stumble and slip up, He is still the God that set the oceans in places and knit together my soul. and even though He is big enough to place the sand as a boundary for each sea, He is intimate enough to call me by name.

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i am grateful for bus rides through the mountains, for laughing with new friends, for abandoning pride in order to not-so-gracefully mount a horse. i am grateful for simple living. for simple pleasures. for waterfalls and bike rides and green grass and tall trees. for bilingual helper-outers and taxi drivers. i am grateful for air conditioned buses and down comforters. i am grateful for ice cream, ice cream, ice cream and sitting on a log getting to know a sister.

i am grateful for friendships that span continents and friendships that send sisters and brothers on wild goose chase bus rides looking for a hug from a beloved. i am grateful for rest and getting to know God better. i am grateful for making plans and anticipating reunions.

i am grateful for today. for people who like having me around even though i'm pretty bad at speaking their language. i'm grateful for the humility that accompanies the inability to be witty in my second language. i'm grateful for small libraries created with the sole purpose to study the only book worth studying.

i am grateful for this easter weekend, my favorite weekend of the year. i miss my family, Lord, but i'm grateful for all of the promises that were fulfilled and embodied in your death and resurrection. i'm grateful for grace. for forgiveness. for intimacy that looks like a veil torn down. i'm grateful for hope and hugeness and power and might that raises people from the dead! that raises God from the dead.

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i am grateful (for rams in the bush).

You provide! You provide! You provide! and You get all the glory because our plans were so different.

but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "abraham, abraham!" and he said, "here i am." he said, "do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now i know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." and abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. and abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. so abraham called the name of that place, "the Lord will provide"; as it is said to this day, "on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." - genesis 22:11-14

You only call us to be faithful, to be willing, to be wholly Yours and the outcome is so unknown to us and sometimes so unexpected. and i still have so much to learn and so far to go and my heart is still so rough in so many areas but still You're using me. and i'm so grateful to be called Yours. to be included in Your work. to point people to You and Your Word and Your Truth and what You've called us and asked us to do. it's a blessing and a privilege.

and it's a blessing and a privilege to watch how You provide! almost out of thin air comes the money for a plane ticket. but we know it's not out of thin air but out of the hearts of Your people. because there is more than enough to go around, we just forget that You are the Provider and we start to hog and hoard and miss out on the blessings of giving. forgive us, Lord. forgive me! for being stingy and selfish with something as stupid as money. You are my everything, not my bank statement. and glory, hallelujah for that because sometimes my bank statement is a disappointment.

but i'm learning, i'm learning, i'm training myself and my heart is being shaped by You into a heart of gratefulness and i'm learning how to say, "praise be to God!" and "glory to God!" every time i look at my bank statement because - oh the bliss of this glorious thought! - i have a bank account. with money in it. MORE than enough money to get me through this day, this month, this year. MORE than enough money to fly home to the states, to buy a couch, to buy a TV. MORE than enough money to buy mcdonalds and m&m cookies in the same day!

praise God from whom all blessings flow! praise Him all creatures here below. praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. amen.

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i am grateful (for life).

dear Lord thank you so much for the way You are providing for my dear sister friend, a woman of valor. thank You for waiting patiently while we wade through the muck we put ourselves in and also for wading through that muck with us. thank You for Your perfect plans that are always there when we are ready. thank You for loving us enough to let us make our own decisions, even though sometimes those decisions are not good for us. thank You for taking out stupid decisions and redeeming them, making all things good.

i am grateful for brand new babies, new jobs, new opportunities and just general do-overs. i am grateful for forgiveness and fresh starts. for hope and joy. i am grateful that after these: "i am drowning." "i don't know what to do." "i'm alone." comes a deep breath that says, "i can do this." i am grateful for deep breaths. for jumping off cliffs with faith and trust. for little steps that are really big steps. for progress. for change. for putting one foot in front of the other. for life.

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i am grateful (for renewal).

i am grateful for the giant study kings james version bible my mom got me for christmas in 2006. i remember opening up this beautiful black leather bible with my name on the cover in pretty gold letters and just wanting to hold it and read every single page. i am grateful for that thirst to know God and to know His word and i pray that it would return with even more fervency.

i am grateful for how refreshing it is to my soul to hear God's word preached prought on sunday morning or on tuesday afternoon or on friday evening and to sit and soak in His goodness and His truth and His instructions for our lives. i am grateful for the feeling of safety and security that comes from this, for knowing that i am taken care of, my hope and my future are secure.

whom shall i fear?

i am grateful for His mercies on which i have been leaning so heavily this past week. i am grateful for a mandated day of rest to relax, to untense my shoulders, to strip away the manic need to be perfect, to be praised, and to just sit at His feet and soak it all in. to feel the roots of my soul and my body and my self sink deeper and deeper into the soil of Who He is.

for this cause i bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. that He would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. amen. - ephesians 3:14-21

thou vistest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof. thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. - psalm 65:9-11

i am grateful for grace, for understanding, for the complexities of people and culture even though those complexities frustrate me at times. i'm grateful for friends and beautiful weather and for students who for some crazy reason love me. i am grateful for second and third and fifty seventh chances to get it right. i am grateful for the God who hears and the God who sees.

and the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur... and she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, "Thou God seest me:" for she said, "have i also here looked after him that seeth me?" - genesis 15:7, 13

i am grateful that we are all part of the same story - Your story - and that makes sharing my story just a little less scary and a little less hard. i am grateful for the other story tellers of the world. i'm grateful for ears to listen and eyes to read. i'm grateful for fearless leaders and fearless followers. i'm grateful for all You've made us to be and grateful for the promise of continuing restoration.

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i am grateful (for laughter).

edison just untucked his uniform shirt and his pencil case fell out. it was hilarious.

i am thankful for these boys i get to spend life with, for the way You are coaxing them out of their shells and breathing life into them in two languages. i am thankful for what they teach me, for how they love me, for the crazy faces they make when they can't remember what the letter e is called. i am grateful for the way they are growing and improving, that i get to be part of their lives.

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i'm grateful (for women).

i'm grateful for friends. for women who are wiser and funnier and smarter and braver because of Jesus. for things we have in common and the things we can teach each other. i'm thankful for love stories and funny stories and stories about when we messed up but You came through. i'm thankful for all of our stories and how they brought us together, even if just for a little while. i'm thankful that in Your sovereign plan i got to be a part of each of these ladies' stories. that for this little part of eternity we got to pour into each other, love on each other, and grow together. i'm grateful for lessons learned, hearts broken, and tears cried. i'm grateful for words spoken and prayers whispered. i'm grateful for beds shared, bowls of ice cream shared, secrets shared, dreams shared in sleepover goodness. i'm thankful for sunday afternoons together with homework and naps and cute-boy-talk and dreams of what Jesus had in store. i'm thankful for sunday afternoons of reflection and writing and dreaming about what else Jesus has in store. i'm thankful for sleepovers as a 23 year old. for insight and care. for laughing together at something silly.

then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "the Lord has done great things for us; we are glad." - psalm 126:2

i'm grateful for the reminder that  You are good just because of who You are and that we are wonderful just because of who You are and that we have been made worthy by what You did just because You love us so. for being reminded that husbands are wonderful and a gift and marriages are a blessing. for being reminded that singleness is wonderful and a gift and a blessing.  a time to learn and grow together with You. a time for single-mindedness. for passion. for exploring dreams and desires from You. for being fearless. for being made ready to step into wife and mother shoes. thank You for real live women of valor looking back at me from across the dining room table. i am SO grateful that valor does not equal perfect. that holy doesn't mean never making a mistake. that righteous  doesn't mean done growing. i am so grateful that we are created and called to do this journey together. i can't do it alone and i don't want to.

it is right for me to feel this way about you all, because i hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace... - philippians 1:7

i am blessed to be called their friend.

she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. she perceives that her merchandise is profitable. her lamp does not go out at night. she puts her hand to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. she is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet... strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. she opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness... charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. - proverbs 31:17-31

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i am so grateful for this nina! i am so grateful that i can be a part of her amazing life. i'm so grateful her new baby sister is here! and well. i am grateful for her mama's strength and desire to be there for her daughters. i am grateful for el refugio, and the refuge it has been to this girl and her mama. i am grateful for the blessing it was to play house with her for the past few days while other awesome women took care of her mama in the hospital.

i am so grateful for the things God taught me this week through His precious child. i am so grateful for the BLESSING it is to be given the responsibility to care for His babies. who am i that You would use me? thank You so much for making me worthy of Your work, even when i fail so much. thank You for flor's laugh - the very best sound!! - and her smile and snuggles. thank You for community! i'm so grateful for the people i get to live this life with. i am learning from them every day and i pray that i would be teaching them some things too as YOU make yourself known through me.

i thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly i was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. but i received mercy because i had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom i am the foremost. - 1 timothy 1:12-15