New eyes for Christmas

Here is my journal entry the day after my family celebrated Christmas.

We did our Christmas last night. It was pretty cool. I appreciate so much that we read the Christmas story before opening presents. It is an awesome Christmas tradition! I feel really blessed by everything I received! I feel like these are all things I will use! I love them all! I think this Christmas has been one of the best! I think it is mostly because of a change of heart. I would rather give and bless people then receive. Don't get me wrong I like to receive and honestly every time someone has given me something I have been extremely blessed. But to bless people is lots of fun.
For the first time in my life it is not about receiving but about giving.

I am so blessed! Everyone in my family has supported me in going to Thailand. How lucky am I to have a family who supports me in fallowing my dreams and God's calling!

I just wanted to share this with everyone. I can only say that I love Christmas. This year God showed me how to love and be loved! Isn't this so cool! God gave us the best blessing of all! It is just a plus that he came as a baby. Lets think about our savior and reflect him to others. Blessings and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

That Terribly Awkward Wonderful Day

Ever have one of those days where everything seems to go wrong and it just keeps getting worse and you just want to go to bed and cry but you still have one more thing to do. And that thing just blesses you beyond imagine? Well a couple of weeks ago I had one of those days.
Here is the short of it.
I went to work. Work was ok. I found out one of my ear piercings was infected. I simply look up. Great, I think to my self. I go home. I check my email. I find out that there was a technological issue and i still need to raise 60% of my funds. I was literary in shock. What? That means that I have a long road ahead of me to raise funds. Great. I have already told a bunch of people i am almost done fundraising. Awkward. On top of all that I had nothing to care the infection. And now I have to go hang out with a friend, when I would rather be praying about all this stuff.

I can honestly say God was totally there with me in that time with my friend. She took me out to eat. It was free cookie night! And it was great to connect with her. She took me to the store to get stuff to care for my infection. That night God just loved on me.

After I told my support team the news they rallied to arms! My finical adviser looked into the paper work and within a couple of days I had a good bit less to raise.

Looking back on this day and time I could see that I was shaken. But I witnessed the love of God and his power! My ear is healed and money is coming in! During this time Psalm 23 was a great comfort. I want to live and trust in this psalm.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

May we choose to live and believe these verses! They are truth!

Listening Prayer

Listening prayer is the practice of listening to God's voice. Here are some things that have helped me.

Thoughts of truth and love are always form Jesus. He will never condemn or hate on you.

The more truth you see or read from the bible the more you will hear.

God speaks to people in a variety of ways. Through pictures, words, feelings, and thoughts.

Everyone can hear God. It is just a matter of learning to recognize his voice. This takes time, just like learning how to hit a ball sometimes you will hit it right on and sometimes you will miss.

God uses your passion to speak to you.

God repeats himself.

Talk to God all day.

Blocks to Gods voice can be a wall in your heart. This can happen by wrongs you have done to others or wrongs done to you. Ask God. He will reveal the issue.

God does not give us guilt or condemnation. He corrects us lovingly.

Here are 3 ways t check what you heard:
- Is there any scripture contrary to what you have heard?
- Peace (is there a bunch of worrying, doubting, or anxiety?)
- check it out with some one else

God can speak through anything. He has used anything from the bible to the wind to a dog to speak to me.

Just try it! God loves to speak to us! He loves us! He wants to speak to us!

Rainy Days

Here are some Rainy day stories! By rainy day I mean how God rains blessings on us!

One of the things I want to do when I go to Thailand is to bring children into the presence of God. I have no idea of how to do this. The other week my roommate told me her church is looking for Sunday teachers for the children, and that their curriculum is on learning on how to hear the voice of God. It is a paid position and there is training for the teachers! After thinking about it i sent in my resume.
Latter that week they sent me an email asking when I could go in for an interview. I prayed about it and asked God when. He said Tuesday at 11. Well I can't do that. I usually have to work then. I told them some times that would work for me. They then asked me if Tuesday would work because that is when most of the interviews are. I said I would check my schedule and let them know.
The next morning I prayed to God and asked him to make a way. I went in to work and found out that Tuesday I had completely off! Praise God! He loves to arrange are days and cares abut the details!

It has been amazing to watch the money come in for my trip. Here is how God is working!
On June 30 some made a donating to me of $130. July I received the official acceptance letter and was commissioned. At end of August I had received $3500. By the end of September it had doubled and by the end of October it had tripled!

During October I was also able to start a online program called TEFL. This program will and is teaching me how to teach English.

I also received the official amount I am supposed to raise. It is a little over $27,500.00.

On November 11 I found out that I only needed to raise a little over $5000. And just 3 weeks latter I found out I only need to raise a little over $4600! In a little over 6 months God has given me almost $23000! God is so amazing!

Thank you all who have given! Praise God for he is good! I love rainy days!

Are you in love?

A thought from God and me:
Live your life like a much loved child.
How does a much loved child live?
A much loved child walks in the authority of that love. A much loved child walks in the power of that love. A much loved child is full of joy from that love. A much loved child is confident. A much loved child is bold. A much loved child worships freely. A much loved child can only give out of that love. Do you live like a much loved child?

In my mind I know I am loved, but not in my heart. Of course God loves me. I love God. But maybe I am not letting the full love of God fall on me....

1 John 4:16

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

I AM: Word Up!

I Am says:

There is a light inside of each of you burning brightly. I love that light. I love to tend that light making it burn brighter still. It brings me great Joy to see your light to take care of it.

Beloved, come into a deeper place with we, come and walk with me. Here, sit and rest, and let me tell you of my wonders. You see this tree? I love it with all my being, because I created it. I hear every whisper and giggle it utters. I hear it's sorrows and it's cries. You see the sun? I created it to.

I love the sun. It shines brightly just to praise me. Every ray is a song of praise to me. And the stars, well if you could hear their praise to me, even you would not be able to keep quiet.

My dear, with all these things I have relationship with. I walk with each thing. I listen to them. I hear their stories and laugh with them. I cry with them. I love them. They are each my favorite. I pour love in to each thing, giving it all time with me. How I love to walk among nature and the joyous praise she gives to me.

My dear, I walk with you to, you know. I am there with you everyday. And I talk to you. I talk to you everyday. Do you hear me? Are you listening?

Beloved, I desire to be with you day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, second to second. Do you know I am there? I want to be more then a mindful presence, I want to be a physical presence. I want you to hear my voice, feel my touch, and know me.

Beloved I have so much for you and I take much delight in you. I love you. My friend come and walk with me, be with me, hear me. I take such delight in you. You make me laugh. I rejoice in you! Come be with me.

I Am a real presence. I Am here with you. I Am. I AM.

A Bubble Bath For My Soul!

Have you ever had a bubble bath? The warm water is flowing. You poor some bubbles in the water and watch them foam up. Then you light some candles and play some soothing music for atmosphere. You climb in and Ahhhhhh you let the warm water run over you and just relax.

Last night I had a bubble bath for my soul. My room mate and I turned down all the lights, lit some candles, and soaked in God's words to us. We listened to a Cd called Prophetic Soaking by Graham Cooke. This Guy was supposed to teach on this, but instead he spent his whole time prophesying! It was so awesome! I want to share what the Lord spoke to me. May it speak to you also!

Look to me, I give you Favor, Ask, Knock

I will teach you how to make requests to get yes.

I want you to dream, dream about your significance, I am dreaming about you.

You will want what I want for you.

I am intentional. My intentionality will be come your identity.

Be transformed.

You will inherit through your dreams.

I will teach you how to work hand in hand with the Holy Spirit.

You will know who you are in me for I shall proclaim your identity.

Be at peace.

Let the weight be washed away.

This is for you for you are my delight.

I am confident in my ability in myself about you that I take pleasure in what you are not. I have designs on you. I can and will change you from one degree of glory to another.

I will push you into my spirit, I will teach you take your problems into a deep place of rest, and drown them!

You are the beloved of God.

I want you to learn to depend on me to bless you. I bless you because it delights me.

Occasionally I laugh at you because you are funny.

I love your life. I love who you are and I love your struggles.

Learn to live like a much loved child.

Enjoy the journey.

I am going to please myself in your life.

You will come to a new place of prayer and requesting.

The Enemy will fight. He is like a sheep dog, though he does not see it, driving you to a deeper place.

The Prince of this world has NOTHING on me!

My God loves me. He can not move me. I am highly favored.

You must think form your heart, not your head.

You are my Great love, My beloved! See your self like that!

Expect my favor and desire. You are the one.

Be astonished, marvel, and wonder. Expect Favor.

I will train you to receive fullness.

I will prove my desire for you.

Refuse negativity, Stand in your problems and find my desire.

Seek, Ask, Knock, Find

You are Deeply deeply loved! My heart is full towards you!

Do not be governed by the past, this is a new day.

It is time to live a life overwhelmed by me. Increase your response, say yes!

It is about me pleasing my self in your life!

You are the seed of heaven, I will plant you. I am training you for heaven.

You enter by my permission, not by your performance!

This is so sweet! God has been leading me more and more in to soaking time with him. What a relief this is all about him and that he wants to please himself! Eash, that is so good! May these words bless and free you. May the inspire and bring you closer to the Lord Almighty who is now and forever!

A Blast for the Past!

This is Lueng, Geat, Faa, and Dow! My Thai Family!

So as most of you know I went to Thailand for 9 months around a year ago. While I was there I met a family. This Family became my family away form home. While I was there we were able to invite them to some bible studies. Geat, the mom, showed real interest in the Bible. It was awesome. I had high dreams for her. Unfortunately we had to leave much too soon. Then the next team went to Thailand. They continued the relationship with them and studied the Bible alot. Now I have just heard this exciting news! This is form a lady on the field.

Yesterday our Bible study was really informal (TV going, kids running in and out, Geat cooking :)... she wanted to know more about the woman caught in adultery. She really seemed impressed by the words of Jesus. Tom also told her about the verse about removing a speck from some one eles's eye with a plank in your own eye. She really seemed to get it!

Geat also recently asked a friend about baptism and how often we do it!

Praise God! When I was over in Thailand I received a vision of Geat running to Jesus laughing! And now I am beginning to see it fulfilled! This is so cool! God is so good! May God's will be done in Thailand and the family's hearts!

The hobbit party

Ale All Around!!!

To make us feel smaller most of us ate with big bowels and spoons or baby spoons and bowels!

Mrs. Tweedy!

Here is the party scene as a reporter saw it.

The party scene was quite homey and cozy, typical of all hobbit's homes. The honerable Mrs. Tweedy (myself) hosted this jolly afair. Mrs. Tweedy out did herself this time. The table held a schrumpous lental soup. Fresh bread and a finely aged cheese accoumpied the soup. And of course the party was nicly rounded off with the finest Ginger Ale you could find! The mood was set with nice hobbity music. There was much laughter and plenty of Ale to be had! Speeches were made and songs were sung! Indeed this was a jolly time.

Not For Sale!

Hello all!

A Thought:

An Archbishop once said "God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us."

Lately God has been teaching me this lesson. When I think of people of God, I tend to only see their strengths. When I look at my self I tend to only see my weaknesses. Over the past month I had been struggling with not feeling worthy of this calling on my life. I have all these flaws. Why would God want to send me? What can he do through me?

When I expressed this to some one close to me, they simply said, "You are a daughter of God."

Wow! There is so much truth in those six words. I am worthy simply because I am a daughter of God. As for my flaws......well God used a man in the bible to show me that it is not about being perfect but about making God our all.

The man's name is Daniel. We all have heard about this guy. When I used to think about him I always thought he was this big super hero! But now my view of him has changed.

I decided to read through the whole book of Daniel, asking God to show me what he wanted me to learn. As I began to read, it was as if God was revealing to me what was betweeen the lines.

First God showed me how humble Daniel was. He did not want the glory but always gave the glory to God. As I begin to see the humbleness in Daniel's life, a thought entered my mind. It was that Daniel became humble through lessons learned. That just blew me away. I always thought that Daniel was Daniel his whole life. That he never went through any tough times, but was just perfect. Not true, or else we would all be perfect. To me that was so freeing.

Another thing I noticed was that Daniel prayed three times a day, every day. I often wish that I could have that dedication. And it is possible. Daniel made God a priority and so must I. I just need to figure out how that looks in my life.

The third thing that stuck out to me was that Daniel was highly esteemed in heaven. Words can not even describe the wonder or the awesomeness of that! Am I esteemed in heaven? I don't know that I will ever know that answer to that question, but my desire is to be esteemed by the Lord. I know I can rest in the knowledge that I am esteemed by my father in heaven and so are you!

Life:

Our Father has blessed me with a wonderful job! I love it! My managers have really affirmed me there and from time to time tell me i am doing a good job! I can honestly say that if I leave here in a bad mood, it is like God lifts it when am there.

I have officially been commissioned and have sent out letters of support. God has really blessed me with wonderful people at home who are working on fundraising. On top of that people in my simple church group are also planning to do a fundraiser! When I look at the big number I need to raise I feel overwhelmed and then I remember how faithful God is. I have never been in want.

Once when I needed some money, God not only gave me what I needed, but 4 times that! Lets praise his name! God bless!

Dani

Kite Flying

Kite flying is alot like life. You need a strong and heavy wind to get the kite up there. Sometimes the way up is ruff. There are unexpected twists and turns and sometimes crashes into the ground. But then there is that random time where you get it just right and the kite is flying high and smooth. Everything is perfect, you see what God is doing.

Yesterday was alot like that for me. I went to RMM (Rosedale Mennonite Missions), the program I am going with, to get my picture taken for some prayer cards. When I arrived I was told that my social security number had three other names under it. So I was like Great just another thing I need to worry about! Really God? Come on!

My Kite was out of control.

Then my mom called. We talked some and she said she had good news. She said that several were donating money to me. (I am not disclosing names cause this is the Internet.) A brother in Christ is giving me the funds of a chair that is going to be auctioned off and the puppet team at my home church is going to give their tithe money to me! Praise God!

At first my kite was struggling to reach that perfect sailing point. But then suddenly I was there flying high and smooth.

God showed me through that wonderful news, that nothing was going to keep me from Thailand. Nothing! This Social Security number problem is simply a wrinkle in the sheet! Nothing will keep me from completing Gods plan, his story!

The crazy thing about this all, is that I don't have any credit to steal, and none of my money is missing! God is keeping everything safe! Man do we serve a good God or what!

Kite flying is Awesome! It can be hard, and all I can say is that we will all go through hard times, but God's plan will never fail!

I leave you with Jeremiah 29:11.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord," plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Each one of you are part of God's story and his story would not be complete with any of you. My this truth set you alive with confidence and boldness. May You grow to love the writer of this story. Amen.

Silent As the Grave

This weekend I did a 24 Hour silent retreat. 24 hours devoted to God. I got home from work and gathered my self in the carriage house. The Lord and I were going to have a party and I was bringing the dip! I started off my time writing a letter to God telling him about my day and nonchalantly stating what I wanted to get out of this time. I then waited for a time and asked God what his reply was. Simply put REST was his response.

Well OK I thought. We will talk latter. So I began to read.

Now silence for me is a funny thing. As I read I begun to notice the silence. Silent as a grave was an understatement. So I decided to move into the upstairs prayer room. It is not as quiet and it has a balcony.

After i moved every thing I attempted to chat with the lord, and while he was patient I firmly got the feeling I was not going to hear much. So I began to talk. I bet I was a sight, out on the balcony having a conversation with who appeared to be me!

It was a great time to state out loud to God what I believed about certain things. I also shared some dreams wit him! It was awesome, especially as I got to watch a storm come in.

As it begun to darken I lit several candles and begun to read. Soon it was time for bed. After I said a quick prayer I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up at 7:15 (I think) and got ready to go out for breakfast with God. Noe that was an experience! I realized that God loves dinner dates! I choose Bob Evens. As I looked at the two sunny side up eggs, bacon, biscuits, and one good lookin strawberry crepe, I asked God what he got. He replied with a chuckle "The Fisherman's Catch". "Really? What is that?" I asked.

He replied, "A couple of fish and some gooood company!" I had to laugh at that!

The whole time God was laughing and sitting across the table with me.

Then I remembered that I needed to get a card for a friend. So Off we went to Myer. This card run ended up being a shopping trip. I bought a dress and a card and honestly I really felt like God was there.

So I went home and took a nap. Before I fell asleep I saw God as this old man with a really long beard. He was sitting on a chair reading a book and looked at me and said, "Rest. I will protect you." So I woke up and thus my silent retreat ended.

After the retreat my soul was still feeling heavy. I still did not feel as though I had heard God. That night Meridith, Sara, and I went to see the movie Soul Suffer. It was a really good movie. One of the verses it talks about was Jeremiah 29:11

"For I Know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, " plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

That really just fed my soul. Then Latter that night we wanted some chez sticks. So we went to Arbys. As we were going there we were talking in a accent. So when we pulled up to the order box the accent continued. But by now I was laughing so hard that I could not speak! So Meridith ordered in her accent. The box was silent when suddenly some one asked, "Are you from Britain?" We laughed and Meridith replied, "Yea." Silence. "Cool!" the box replied. We burst out laughing! When we pulled up to the window we not only got out food, but also a Arbys VIP free combo card. When we saw that w burst out laughing! It was awesome.

The next day was Sunday. I met with Mim (my coach for calibrate) and as I was waiting I heard a man on the radio say "When you don't do something because of fear, you are really being selfish. we have to realize that this is God's story and he is writing. Once we realize that we don't need to fear!" That really spoke with me.

As I met with Mim I told her about my struggles with work. It is really heavy there. They constantly are talking about and making sexual jokes. Sometimes they tease me cause of innocence. There is also alot of negativity. Friday, before I left work one of the guys who is married asked me if he was single would I have dated him. That really made me sad and disappointed in him. Then God gave her this picture. It was of a child playing in the mud in the farm yard. Well in the farm yard there is more then just mud. Anyway, The child was me and the mud was Donatos. And she said this silent retreat was a time for God to wash off the mud. But by this time some of the mud had dried on and so it required a bit more scrubbing. So God is cleaning me. Also That maybe the heaviness is a way of God asking me to Intercede for the people there.

So Monday morning I asked God how do I intercede for these people? Several things came to mind but the one that spoke to me the most was when Jesus interceded for humankind on the cross. Jesus simply said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." This is how we should intercede for people. We have the power to "snatch them form the fire and save them" (Jude vs. 22-23). That is what I believe God is asking me to do. I ask all of you to please join me.

Praise report: I am officially appointed to RMM as an intern to Thailand! So God willing This time next year I will be on my way to Thailand!

I leave you with Zeph. 3:14-20!

My this ring true in your lives as I know it will in mine!

God bless!

Danielle

Deep Fried Doughnuts

Deep Fried Doughnuts. Yummy! You know the saying "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"? Well I think the saying should be changed to "The way to people's hearts is over a good meal!"

Here in Columbus one thing we at the Oikos have been trying to figure out is how to connect with our neighbors. Today in Old Town East (my neighborhood) is yard sale day. So I decided to make doughnuts. This morning I rushed around the house trying to mix them together. I had to run to two different stores to get the ingredients. I was stressed out and wondered if it was worth all the trouble.

Finally, everything was put together, the oil was hot and ready to go. I dropped the first spoon of batter in to the hot oil. As I watched the dough cook, I noticed that it began to form odd shapes. I turned it over and the pulled it out to drain. After rolling it in Cinnamon and sugar, one of the girls here at the house tried it. She loved it! People really seemed to like them! I even made a tip! It was awesome!

I got to meet some interesting people! One old guy stood some distance away looking at the doughnuts. I offered him one which he gladly took. Latter on he snuck back and got another one! Hehehe, I knew he was just waiting to be invited to partake. Another Girl had just moved around the corner a month ago and seemed to be looking for a good Friend! She questioned me all about living on a farm.

Jesus really knew what he was doing when he called himself the bread of life! No wonder his followers loved to be with him! Free food! hehee, but really looking back through the new testament he really had something going with eating food! He met Zac (the short guy) and went to his home to eat! He fed 9000 people! We celebrate the last meal! Food is important to live just like Jesus is important to having eternal life.

I love our God!

This week I thank God for providing the hours at work. We had been really slow, and I usually get sent home early, but I prayed and he helped me get my hours!

Signing off!

Dani