half.com

for starters, this is not a review for half.com. if you popped in for that, i'm very, very sorry and i hope you forgive me for my semi-false advertisement.  to make you feel better, i have had great success with selling my books! you should do it too!

ok...on to the real reason.

a month ago, i put a handful of my unused nursing books up on half.com to get rid of some clutter. this weekend, i received an email letting me know that one had sold.

hooray! so i threw the book (not really. it's still in perfect condition per description!) in the car yesterday and had every single intention of stopping by the post office on my way home from clinical yesterday afternoon. when i walked up the steps to my house, exhausted, i stopped halfway up the stairs and remembered that book.

darn it!  i pivoted and looked at my car, then pivoted one more time and looked at my door. door to the house won! i had until tuesday [today!] to ship it.

i stopped by the post office after leaving school today, and was greeted by a friendly man with an australian accent. he saw me put the book into the padded envelope and asked if i had success with the experience. "sure!  i have more money now than when i woke up this morning!" he told me that my optimism was infectious, and that he wished he had it. "you can," i said.  "just take it!" he told me that he could never be like that and that he had already made up his opinions. "everyone is a work in progress," i smiled back at him.

"listen to you..." he said, "what is that that you have?"

"it's jesus," i smiled.

"i thought that might be what it was..." he trailed off.

"T, i am going to pray for you," i told him.

"you will!?" he lit up.

pause. this smile that was on my face was literally stretched from ear-to-ear. it was taking every ounce in my body not to leap for joy at the divine intervention that was occurring.

"of course!" i told him. he went on to tell me that he doesn't think anyone but his "mum" has ever said that to him...and he thought she had said it because she was worried about him. i thanked him, and smiled some more as he made more comments about how i was just standing there and "jesus-ing" him". hmm...he can say whatever he needs to understand it, i suppose! he told me he just wasn't sure, that he had so much that had happened to him. "everyone has stories!  trust me, i've got plenty," i reassured him."i guess you're right," he commented.

i smiled even bigger at the amazingness that was unfolding in front of me. he and i both probably had no idea that one could smile so big. i waved goodbye and thanked him, and scooted on my way, thanking God for redirecting my paths today from my exhaustion yesterday.

The Lord is so purposeful with His work. every rejection is a redirection.  every crooked path is to divert you to something better. and you just never know who He is going to place in your life each day.

that postman said he had never had anyone (other than mom) tell him they would pray for him. he had to have been at least 50. in fifty years, just one person. but he needed to be here, in my city, and at work today! so that i could tell him that even he was a work in progress.

NOTHING is pointless with God. every single moment, time, and meeting has a purpose! He is working for our good and His glory.  we just don't know what that looks like when it's right in front of us...only when we are able to take a step back and see why everything had to fall in place the way it did are we able to get even a glimpse of His plans! even still, we must learn to trust in His plans for our lives and allow Him to write our stories, and be intentional with the time He has given us on earth!

Proverbs 19:20 - 21 says, "Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.  Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

thank you, half.com!

how [un]sweet it is.

have you ever forced yourself to like something? 

i have.

it's called a grapefruit.

i grew up thinking they were the nastiest things.

they're so bitter, so tart, so un-orange-like.

i remember accidentally pouring myself a heaping glass of 

"orange juice," only to find out that it was 

grapefruit juice.

ick!

not a good surprise.

but lately, i've been really trying to like it.

reason being?

it has a ton of health benefits.

1 grapefruit has:

73% of your daily vitamin C 

[helps in healing & strengthens your immune system]

23 % of your daily vitamin A 

[necessary for vision]

lycopene 

[fights free-radicals - hello, anti-tumor activity!]

liminoids

[more anti-tumor activity!]

lowers cholesterol

prevents kidney stones

protects against colon cancer

---

it's amazing how something so bitter

can be so good for you.

before i bought one to give it another spin, 

i considered looking up recipes to make it taste better.

i decided against that, but i do believe that eating one like this wouldn't hurt:

i can't imagine having any hesitation in eating this each morning.

unlike forcing myself to like grapefruits,

God never has to force himself to like me.

He just does.

He doesn't imagine what he can add to me to make me better,

and He doesn't think i'm bitterly-awful.

Genesis 1:27 says, "God created man in his own image..."

and Jeremiah 31:3 says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with loving-kindness."

God drew man in his image.

perfectly created.

but because of temptation and sinful desires,

we screwed everything up!

that slithery-snake, Satan, encouraged Eve to doubt God's goodness,

and to take a bite.

it was her lack of willpower,

and her husband, Adam, and his decision to keep mum & not stop her,

that led to our downfall.

yes, they were a team.  no more pointing fingers at Eve!

i look to Him in amazement and wonder each day:

how could someone love us so much?

how could He see us in all our filth and still want to spend time with us?

we who have all of the fears,

all of the complaining, arguing, boasting, resentfulness;

all of the attitudes that would make us turn our noses up.

how?

because His son died for every single one of our sins, that's how.

He just does.

before taking his last breath,

Jesus said, "it is finished."

not "I am finished,"

IT.

the cleansing of our sins.

the forgiveness we don't deserve.

the grace that we need to get into heaven.

God looked at him and saw every awful thing we've done or will do,

and wiped it clean.

so when we choose to love Jesus,

and choose to accept his love,

God declares us innocent,

justifying us, by grace through faith in Christ.

Romans 3:23 - 25 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." 

so i look at my grapefruit with a new perspective.

i see it in its purest form:

God created that fruit for me.

He made it for my well-being and health.

and i will attempt to look at it similar to how he sees me: 

perfect, and beneficial to multiplying his kingdom.

how amazing, and what grace.

love is a choice.

"My command is this:

Love each other as I have loved you.  

Greater love has no love than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 

You are my friends if you do what I command.  

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.  

Instead, I call you friends, 

for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 

You did not choose me,

but I chose you

and appointed you to go bear fruit -- fruit that will last. 

Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  

This is my command: 

Love each other." 

- John 15:12-17

FACTS:

we are called to love just as he loved us.

what his love looks like:

he laid down his life for us.

what he calls us:

his friends


friend (frend) - n
a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty; 
an intimate

friendship (frend-ship) - n

1. the state of being a friend; association as friends

2. a friendly relation or intimacy

what it all means:

love like him.

love our friends like he loves us.

lay down our lives for our friends

he is our friend.
what do you do with your friends?
do you spend time with them?
do you talk to them?
do you ask them for advice? 
do you laugh with them?
perfect! 
Jesus is exactly what you've been looking for!


we are to spend time with him like the friend he is.
with liking, affection, and loyalty.


this gives devotion a new meaning to me.
my morning devotions are literally that. 
i am devoting my time to uncover more about my friend.
i want to devote myself wholly to him,
 giving him the attention he deserves.
just like any friend i have on earth.
daily
hourly
thinking of him F I R S T before acting.
are my actions going to be detrimental to our friendship?

we are to lay down our lives for him.
because he did it for us,
and because
that's what's friends do when they love you!


putting it all together:

put aside selfish desire and want.

and serve him out of love.

serve him by sitting by someone you don’t want to.

someone that you know doesn’t know him.

serve him by reaching out to someone in need.

serve him by shining,

even when a lost person tries to put your light out.

they want that light.

and eventually their darkness will crack.

love is a choice. 

he chose us. 

and we must choose to love others. 

love must be learned again and again; there is NO end to it!

just like His love for us. 

unending and everlasting.

be blessed & keep shining!

all the good promises.

i sit here reading my bible study and praise God for His provision.

He provides me with words that i need to read on His timing.

it's interesting to reflect back on my life and see what i've been given and how i've handled it.

i am reading joshua and learning about how radically obedient he was.

joshua marched around jericho for 7 days.

seven days.

when is the last time you did anything for seven straight days?

and on the seventh day, he circled that city seven times.

we're not talking a mile here.

jericho was one of the biggest cities at the time.

that's dedication.

on the seventh day,

God saw joshua's faith and made the walls come tumbling down.

after He gave them the city,

the Israelites acted foolishly in regard to devoted things.

ie: they stole & got a bit greedy.

this led them to experience their first defeat.

God said "I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you

is devoted to destruction." (7:12)

in other words, before they could be victorious again,

the hidden sin would need to be exposed, and be removed.

the same is true for us.

if we don't deal with the underlying issues of our sin,

we will never be free.

that bondage that has a stronghold on us will never let go.

we sin.

we feel guilty.

our feelings of condemnation make us want to cower.

and we have two options:

depend on ourselves and never be satisfied.

or depend on God's grace,

aka the only answer to our selfishness.

further in the story,

joshua tells the Israelites:

"You know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises

the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been

fulfilled; not one has failed." (23:14).

you read that right.

not one.

and joshua said it twice.

that means He's super faithful.

when we allow God to give us the desires of our heart on His timing,

we quit testing Him.

and we allow his promises and His timing to prevail.

it's never easy to relinquish control

and let someone else write the story.

but I can promise you one thing,

His ending is 1000 times better than anything you could ever pen.

let Him write the story, and walk away from what holds you back.

grace.

one year ago today I bought my house.

and one year ago today I had a not so fun breakup.

but today I am able to look at how God has truly blessed me over the past year.

He picked me up and put all the little pieces of my broken heart back together.

and He continues to remind me that He will do it again if He has to.

because He loves me.

He has given me so much grace

and I don't understand how I am worthy to be His child.

but I am.

and I love to share.

grace in Aramaic - the language Jesus spoke.

justice is getting what you deserve.

mercy is not getting what you deserve.

and grace is getting what you absolutely don't deserve.

- cathleen falsani