How to run in your weakness.

The past few weeks have been messy... and beautiful.

Here is some catch up over the last week:

1. We had dinner with Lamar and Althea. It was wonderful--so lovely getting to know them, not to mention the fact that the food was amazing. They told us a really ridiculously funny about one of our neighborhood cats... one of which can ring doorbells.
2. I went on a retreat with the Freshman ministry and was honored to witness so much freedom in students' lives--community and an unplanned 5-hour worship set. But more than that, the Lord planted seeds and something really started there.
3. Eric and I are really knowing each other more and more. We are in the process of learning what it means to lay our lives down for each other and have hearts of compassion toward each other.
4. We are truly witnessing God's work here at Wesley. There is a lot of inner healing going on in the Body right now. The Lord in His grace and love is showing the wounds we have ignored and hidden from ourselves, and with His hands He is spreading his salve of love on those wounds. I am learning that in my deepest weakness, I don't have to muster up strength; but He is truly strong in my weakness. I have been so used to this "fix-it" mentality where everything has to be in one piece, not trusting it's the Father's job to heal and mend and form me.
5. God is converting our hearts!

WISDOM:

• You can stand in the strength of God and still be broken. IT'S OKAY. There's a reason why God says that He is "near to the broken-hearted." Brokenness is only a temporary place; it is not a dwelling place.
• In the place of deepest trouble, He establishes a door of hope (Hosea 2:12-14).
• When Scripture says to "Love your neighbor as yourself," it means that you honor both your neighbor and yourself.
• He will turn your wounds into wells if you let Him. Instead of just filling the holes in your soul, He will overflow them. Your deepest areas of hurt are your deepest areas of ministry.
• Knowing the truth is not the same as knowing all the right answers.
• God is not Santa Claus; He's actually better.
• He prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies (Psalm 23). This means that Jesus does not wait until all your problems and issues to go away before he invites you to dine with Him and feast in His abundance. But if you do accept His invitation in the middle of all the lies and all the mess, your "enemies" will be repulsed by your intimacy and will flee.
• If you have opened a door in your life that you were not supposed to open, ask God to show you those doors, and He will help you close them.
• You can know your inheritance and your authority, yet still ask for things.
• Love is both zealous and gentle. He is.

Pray that we would experience a deeper revelation of His goodness.

We love you guys so much! Thank you notes are coming!