Five Minute Friday: True

I could take the word "True" in so many different directions: what it means for means to speak truth, what being true is, etc.

Instead I think I will spend the next 5 minutes telling you some random "true" facts about me. :)

1. I have been "missing in action" for the past week because I just started a new job as a speech therapy assistant at a clinic! It has been an overwhelming yet amazing week. God is filling me with a love and patience for each of the clients. And I am starting to bond with my co-workers. It is a new step in my journey...and while I'm tired, I am also at peace and full of excitement.

2. Recently I have been greatly excited by aquariums and fish! It is a new found passion I suppose. When I saw that two of my co-workers had betta fish in their rooms, I was almost giddy with excitement. I'd love to have a couple bigger aquariums in my apartment, but for now I am loving my 5-gallon aquarium with some neon tetras. P.S. This picture is from my first attempt at an aquarium that didn't go so well...and lasted only a month... Poor fishies.

3. I have the hardest time keeping my apartment clean! There are no children in this apartment. Only 4 single adult women. So WHY is it still SO messy?! My goal is to get on top of it soon...before I start any other projects...but unfortunately that is stopping progress in every area... Hmmm. Ideas???

This week's Five-Minute Friday!! Last week my blog post just didn't happen...lol. So here's this week's! Brought to you by: http://lisajobaker.com/

Thank You

Jesus,

Thank You for taking the penalty for my sin. I do not thank You enough for the sacrifice that my salvation took. You gave up your life, so that I could live. All too often I forget the cost. And all too often I say thank you with my lips, but my heart does not understand the gravity of the words. So humbly I come, with tears in my eyes, and say "thank you" for coming to my rescue. Thank You for giving me the gift of continual access to You and Your Father through prayer. Thank You for paying with Your blood for my "ticket to Heaven" which gives me hope and security in a world full of pain. Thank You for dying, even though you knew I would continue to mess up and have times of stubbornness and rebellion. I take the time to write my family and friends thank you notes, yet I have never written You one. Forgive me.

Thank You for never giving up on me. Thank You for loving me where I am, yet always calling me to becoming closer to You. Thank You for who I am through You.

Most of all, thank You for giving me what I could not give myself: salvation, freedom, redemption.

Thank You for the life I have because of Your sacrifice.

I could go on for a long time...thanking You for all that You have done in my life...

I offer instead my life. And these simple words: Thank You.

Your adopted and forgiven daughter,
Nicole

Five Minute Friday: Mercy

Mercy.

It's a code name I gave someone during one of the darkest times of my life.

Yet it is also the word that resonates with the rescue from that same time. I had come from a place where I walked with God, yet I viewed Him as a God who I could control. A God smaller than the Great I AM. A vending machine God.

Even now typing those words is difficult. To admit how far away from truth I had slipped because of the influence of "friends."

Yet God, in His abundant mercy, disciplined me. He showed me HIS great power in ways that I could not deny. He brought conviction and heart ache. The people I had called friends were taken away.

So how is this mercy? It is mercy because God showed me who He was...and through doing so who I am. He created something beautiful from the mess that I had made. He showed me mercy. God gave me Himself, a gift I do not deserve. By revealing Himself to me, God also gave me a new chance at life. An abundant life.

That is mercy.

I am embarking on a new adventure on this blog with something called "Five Minute Fridays" which you can learn more about here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/  Feel free to join me!! :)

Vienne

Ever have those stories that you hear and hit you to the core? You can't just sit by and let it pass you by?  One of those stories came my way today. <3

I was laying in bed stressing out about my job search. I won't go into details on that one as there are so many unknowns right now. I'll wait until I know more... Anyway, I was looking at my Facebook, thinking how I should really do something else. Then I noticed a common story popping up in various places on my newsfeed.

Today is the one year anniversary of little Vienne going to Heaven. <3 She died suddenly with essentially no warning. Tears filled my eyes. Suddenly, my situation went to the back burner. As you know from previous posts, I often follow blogs of cancer kids, so death of children is sadly not something all that unusual on my newsfeed (as I follow a cancer awareness/encouragement foundation). Something about this story hit me in a way I don't even understand. As I write this tears fall down my cheeks. My only explanation is that God has stirred my heart because this family needs me to weep with them and to show them that they are not alone. <3 <3 <3

LORD, encourage this family in their darkness. Bring to them rays of hope during this seemingly hopeless time. Use my broken heart for you glory. Amen.

I hope my older brother who was brought to Heaven before birth is with Vienne today...and perhaps welcomed her there... To both of you, I cannot wait to meet you in Heaven. Vienne, you are greatly missed by many. You made more of a difference in this world than you could ever know.

The Bible tells us to weep with those who weep.

So, yes, today I weep for a girl I never knew. I wear blue and/or green in her memory.