Trying to take it all in...

I was the recipient of a gift today that has overwhelmed me. Grateful, deeply grateful and shocked are the only words that come to mind so far. I'm hoping that at least one of you is a blog reading friend and can pass this message on to all who participated. Thank you. From the deepest place in my heart - thank you.

Last week I spent a lot of time resisting a walk of faith in matters related to His provision. I had a break through with all that last Friday night and I have been walking in a deeper place of trust since that time. God and His people have totally surprised me twice in the last ten days. I think I'm close to being able to call the lawyer to get True Hearts set up as a Not for Profit Corporation. I'm praying for wisdom.

I understand the pluses of anonymous gifts. The down side is I don't get to look you in the eye, say thank you and give you a hug. So I'm asking the Lord to do that for me.

Crying tenderhearted tears and singing...

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost.

A John Wesley Prayer

Some one offered me a written pray last Thursday. I didn't read it till today. Needed to read it today.

I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen

Hope

Expectations - My expectations have been a cruel master. One I regret surrendering so much of my life to.

Hope is patient. Hope is willing to put up with a lot. Hope remains... always remains. Hope inspires courage. Hope has been a prophet. Hope knows. Hope has been my deliverer.

God is Hope. Hope is God.

I hope in the future I will be ruled less by expectations and instead walk surrendered into Faith, Hope and Love.

Tuesdays in Ft. Worth

Yesterday I traveled down to meet with urban high school female students in Ft. Worth. I'm a bit conflicted as to how much I can say about my time with these girls. Their privacy matters to me a lot. Them trusting me matters to me a lot. Because we spend the majority of our time in very different places there could be lots of reasons for them not to trust me.

So instead of talking about the girls, which I enjoyed being with very much by the way, I'm going to talk about my reaction to being with them. I have missed being hands on in an urban environment since returning to Texas. I wish I could adequately express how much good this type of environment is for me. It invites and sometimes screams for outside my box thinking. Frankly, I suffer with being bored with my box. This helps with that. It also goes a long way towards putting things into perspective. When you discover your paradigm isn't the only one out there. And you have to reconcile the two to one another so you can cope with the differences. It forces me to think biblically rather than culturally. Last but not least, I deal with fear. The fears I have related to all this help me to be dependent on the Lord. I acknowledge the fears. I ask God to give me courage and to make a way for me where I don't necessarily see the way. I can say that God has been incredibly faithful in answering those prayers for me.

The symbol of a bridge has become very important in my life. I think one of the things I am is a bridge builder. I like looking for ways to bring people together and I like looking for ways to highlight what we have in common. Discovering what we can learn from each others strengths is a highlight for me.

What I hope for the girls is that this will be a time to talk about the Lord, to pray about the challenges they are facing and an encouragement to walk with the Lord at school. Most of all I hope they feel loved.

I will be doing this each Tuesday. I will be leaving my house at 10:00am and returning to the Flowerplex by 2:00pm. I am there for two lunch hours. I am praying for and would love to have a partner to go with me. If your interested in doing this together please give me a call.

A word of caution on this commitment. I have waited this long to get involved because I didn't want to do it until I knew I could be faithful to these kids for an entire year. Many of them have experienced adults bailing on them. So don't hesitate to visit a few times with me but if you commit to being involved it will be very important that barring some life changing event in your life that you are faithful to come weekly.

I would also appreciate your prayers for me, for these girls and that God would draw girls to this lunch that could benefit from it the most.