Kingdom of God=Happiness

I'm definitely going to miss this man come March...

             So God is pretty cool. I'm up at the farm this weekend with my awesome in-laws, and great husband and I'm just amazed at the people that God brings into our lives to change us and mold us in one way or another.  The past two weeks I've been digging into parts of the Bible that seem more fairy tale than real. I don't want to explain it all right now, but I will eventually as I'm still connecting the dots to everything but I'm just flabbergasted at how real and magical God is. 
          As Jeremy prepares to leave for BASIC on March 20th, I'm forced to come to a crossroads: mope, or strive towards God and his plan for my life.  As I gear up towards the latter I'm finding a craving for God and his joy that I didn't know I could have.  It's crazy cool.  I discovered this week something that will forever change my life:
Romans 14:17 For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

This might be heaven...

           So often, I have found myself at odds with parts in the Bible that say if you lie, or cheat or (fill in sin here) you will NOT inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, I lived in fear that my actions would cross out Jesus' death on the cross for me. I try to live a life that honors God, but you know what? I fail. I fail an awful lot.

  It's not me being humble, it's me just telling the truth; but the fact of the matter is that the Kingdom of Heaven/God is not actually a place, (although Heaven itself is) but the KINGDOM of God is a state of blessing.  It is what happens when you walk with God; you will find an immense joy, and peace, and happiness.

But the Kingdom of God is JOY

 Yeah, you'll still struggle and all that jazz, but you know when you've been spending your quiet time, and reading your Bible and writing in your journal (I love to journal, it's nice to look back over my walk with God and see my ups and downs and discoveries), and you just feel so happy it feels like your smile could peel off?  
THIS is what that verse is talking about, your sin does NOT cancel out Jesus' payment, but when you walk with God and follow his path then you have an extra measure of happiness; like edible glitter on a cupcake.  It just makes everything a little bit better. 

Glitter on Cupcakes?  Yes God
would say these cupcakes are
bringing massive amounts of joy.

Today the sermon was about hearing God's voice from the Word. 

 How often do we (especially I) pray, and expect God to come down or have a hand appear and say or write: "Aj, go to Florida and spend a month there". No, doesn't happen, well, then again it did in the Bible (Check out Daniel 5...kind of creepy).  

Um...which one God?...

But so often in today's culture we expect God to manifest, this happens in big churches, and in our own lives, that if we don't see a sign or loud voice then God isn't leading us.  The truth is, that if we would just dig into the Word, usually God will press the answer on our hearts, and we'll know what to do.  How can we pretend to have a conversation with God, and know his heart, if we don't read his game plan, and his story?
Luke 11:2 And he said to them, When you say your prayers, say, Father, may your name be kept holy and your kingdom come
Let's pray that when we walk with God we receive his blessing and that he is honored. Lord knows, we (I) need all the help we (I) can get!
I have this problem; of reading the Bible for a bit, and then not, and then digging in and then not.

A love story from God to us, how cool.

  But I challenge you this week, anybody who is reading this, dig in, find something new, and see what God speaks to you, you never know.  God might just show you a fairy tale, where the prince who rescues us is truly a white knight; here to save our hearts.


Love,
Am


PS.  Bought a dozen scratch cupcakes to share this weekend...only five were ate...guess who is in Scratch Cupcake heaven!!?? (This girl)

New hobby and tickets!!

Good morning everyone! Hope you are having a fantastic morning.  I think I've figured out that my life will always be an adventure.  Different
I just bought my tickets for my trip coming up here in March.  I'm really excited, and kind of nervous. It is official now, no going back.  I'm glad though. I need it. I need to go.  Can't wait to see everyone, it'll be wonderful.  I'm excited because the weekend after Jeremy leaves my girlfriends agreed to have a weekend girl date and hang out at the house with me.  I am so so blessed with amazing friends.

This is how I feel :-)

 I just feel so happy lately.  God delights in us.  I feel closer to God and my call in life.  I feel like I have this all around joy, there is a verse, Song of Solomon 4:10  NLT "Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices."  God delights in us. How cool is that.



Have you ever watched Eat, Pray, Love?  The medicine man talks about smiling from your heart and smiling from your liver.  I feel like the past few days I've been smiling from my toes.  I also started working at the daycare with 3 and 4 year olds, and I just love it. I have so much fun, love it.


Other really awesome thing that happened, I got my first set of Poi balls last night, and then made some soft poi out of socks to practice with.  It's like spinning string with weights on the end. If you don't know what Poi is watch this. http://youtu.be/2IjdnMvBW_A  Of course, I'm not practicing with fire, but I figure this is going to be a great thing that I can learn and do for the future, and can do in any place, and will also give me something to do while I'm in Colorado and Florida and people are at work.
I'm pretty darn stoked,
Bought my tickets,
Have a hobby,
Have a fantastic job,
God delights in me,
and I am one happy camper.
Love,
Aj

Doing things that make you happy...

Be strong women!

       I've come to realize that I love what I do.  Everything that I have my hand in, I enjoy.  Except for emptying the dishwasher, I have never really enjoyed or have ever liked doing that task.  
I love helping women becoming strong passionate women by building them up and encouraging.
I love being involved in the theatre and performing on stage.
I love giving hugs, and playing games, and baking with friends staying up till the wee hours of the morning chatting (although the 5 am bedtime this morning was a little rough)

Although no piercings happen at our girls nights, just cupcakes...

My heart has been so overjoyed lately, being able to be in this show, has made my heart so happy, to work with fellow cast members and people I never thought I'd be able to work with again.  To work side by side with such amazing people that are passionate about what they do and believe in pushing for the 'best show on Earth' is such a blessing and a blast.  Not to mention I've lost like 6 pounds in the past two weeks.  

Oh, it feels good to dance again!

We had a girl drop out of the show, and because of that I had to learn most of the entire dance show in 3 days, not to mention back up vocals and a song solo (I wasn't going to be in it because I was in Africa). This was scary at first, but I was welcomed in with open arms, and it's given me a chance to be with those that I love again, and also to be a part of this show that I've been a part of for the past 5 years.  
Pretty soon I'll be helping my mom out at church working with kids again, and I love helping them understand concepts and laughing out loud as we sing the silliest songs.  God works in great and mysterious ways.
I'm in a spot of transition, as many of you know it's a hard place for me to be at.  I don't really know what's coming up, my two plans for the spring fell through (too many people applied and I was too late), and the other had a time overlap, so now I'm living at my parents house with the hubby, and we're making it work as we're all getting used to having each other in the house again. It's really great to be around my family and my parents as after March I will be gone for a long time working at the YMCA Camp this summer (so so excited) and then Jeremy and I will be placed at some Air Force base somewhere in the world.   

Where are my socks?

God always has a plan, but lately although I am crazy nervous about what is or will be happening I feel peace that it will all work out.  I'm thankful for my husband, my friends, and my family.  I think my heart sends out a signal when I'm down, because I've been getting majorly loved on lately, and my heart has been so happy and all this love has just beamed the socks off of me (literally-I can't find any of my socks anywhere).

My dad told me the other day, that if I feel passionate about something, and my heart is in the right spot then I am doing the right thing.  He told me to follow my heart and love God. Thank you dad.  I love my dad so much, so thank you all for accepting the me that I am and am becoming.  
Thanks for giving me wide open hugs though my red glasses, tattoos, shows, and blonde hair.  I've needed the extra love lately, and my heart is overflowing with gratefulness for the love I have received.

Thank you for listening,
Aj