At the end of the service, the preacher broke us up into smaller groups around the building.  She had us take a LARGE sheet of paper and write as many description names of God and Jesus that we could think of.  Randomly throughout the paper we just wrote down the names of our God.  After about 5 minutes or so, she asked the worship minister to begin playing softly and as he did, she asked for the congregation to begin saying aloud all the names we had written on the papers.  Immediately, I had a vision of what Heaven will be like.  For ten minutes across the entire building you heard instruments and the Body of Christ saying.. “Lord you are…. Wonderful, Counselor, The Almighty, Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, The Way the Truth and The Light, I AM, the Everlasting Father, The Great Shepherd, Jehovah… and on and on….  How amazing it was!

I wondered to myself if this may be a taste of what heaven will be like.  Against the popular belief of my childhood denomination, I do not believe the focus of heaven will be streets of gold and pearly gates.. The focus of heaven will be the lifelong ability to sing and shout words of Praise and Adoration to our King!  Can you imagine it? 

It was a very teachable moment for me as well.  Too many times, I focus too much on the doctrine and theology part of finding a church and God used that moment as a gentle reminder of the common ground we do share.  He reminded me that we will be hand and hand with people that may not line up where we do doctrinally.  And while there are still some issues too major for me to join a church on, I do believe that we have a DUTY to love and fellowship across denominational lines.  After all, when we see our Savior face to face, all those earthly doctrinal issues will fade away, and we will stand, with hearts of devotion, bound by the Blood of Calvary and spend eternity in worship of our REDEEMER!  Oh what a day it will be!

a state of mind in which one’s desires are confined to his lot whatever it may be (1 Tim. 6:6; 2 Cor. 9:8). It is opposed to envy (James 3:16), avarice (H eb. 13:5), ambition (Prov. 13:10), anxiety (Matt. 6:25, 34), and repining (1 Cor. 10:10). It arises from the inward disposi tion, and is the offspring of humility, and of an intelligent consideration of the rectitude and benignity of divine providence (Ps. 96:1, 2; 145), the greatness of the divine promises (2 Pet. 1:4), and our own unworthiness (Gen. 32:10); as well as from the view the gospel opens up to us of rest and peace hereafter (Rom. 5:2).

“We may pass voilets looking for roses.  We may pass contentment looking for victory.” unknown

I must admit my failure in the area of contentment since coming to England.  And it has only been within the last few months that God has really done a work in my spirit regarding this.  I have spent so much time missing what I had, searching something similar, and reaching for the comfort and security I cherished in America that I was missing what God has in store for me in England.  Is it hard.. YES!  Is it hard to let go of what I loved for so long.. YES!  But this I know.. If I do not learn to be content with where he has me that I will never find joy and happiness while I am here.  I HAVE to trust that his plan far exceeds what I could create for myself.   I need to stop seeking and stop creating what I had and instead I need to rest in HIM and in the knowledge that he has something beautiful for me here!

Lord, forgive my UNBELIEF!  Forgive my planning and my making and my longing for the past.  Thank you for allowing me the years at Barksdale that you used to transform my life but help me today to remember that you are still HERE and you are still working in me just in different ways.  Calm my soul Father and guide me into peaceful pastures that are growing flowers of contentment.  Envelope me with YOU God and surround me with your presence!  Lord, may I seek only to bloom where you have planted me and not seek to grow elsewhere.  I want to grow under your nourishment and your sun.  Thank you Lord for showing me my lack of contentment.  I repent where I have hoped for anything other than being in your presence where I am.. right now.. in this moment.  May I long to bloom and sway and bask in the rays of your goodness!  Amen!

The definition of transparent is to be see-through.  In fact, one of the definitions I found said this, “The more transparent a piece of paper, then the more the writing on the back or following pages shows through.”  So, tonight, I pose the question… Are you transparent?  Is the light of Christ showing through you?  Are we opening ourselves up clearly for everyone to see who we profess we are?  I just wonder how many times we act one way in public and another way at home.  I think before all the Christians get into an uproar over the transparency of the President and our government that maybe we should try calling for a transparent walk with Christ.  One in which Christ can be seen through us.  If he truly is the essence of our being as we claim vocally, is he being seen through us in our actions in our daily lives?  If not, do we really think we are fooling anyone?  Oh, we may fool those around us but guess what.  Psalms 139:13 says, “For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”  You may be able to lack transparency with the people around you but the bottom line… Your creator is not fooled by your “behind closed doors” behavior.  The Bible says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked…” (Gal 6:7)  If we, as Christians, want to take a stand for something, this is what we should be standing for.  We need to hold one another accountable that our words and our deeds would be transparent with the light of Christ!  Let’s check our own hearts before we run off at the mouth about the sins of everyone in the government.  I get passionate, I get heated when it comes to these drastic, terrible things that are happening in Washington, but I am more passionate about the fact that we have a lack of transparency in Christianity.  A bunch of people in “campaign” mode making promises of a life they do not lead and meanwhile they are cheapening and tarnishing the Cross that set me free.

So let’s talk about transparency…. Let’s talk about you and me!

How often do we set out on our journey with the car facing the road in the direction of Christ.  We keep our eyes peeled on the road (Christ) driving defensively but optimistically in our perfect driving conditions under his umbrella of protection.  Then the weather starts to change and our perfect little trip starts to get threatened.  As the clouds loom overhead, we start looking around us to see if the other cars are affected.  We start trying to drive like the others and make sure we are keeping up with the traffic and not standing out as a poor driver.  Then, the snow and the ice come.  We get a little nervous and we place our eyes directly on the road (Christ) in order for him to protect us.  We think that if we have our eyes on the road we will be safe.  But sometimes, no matter how well we are watching the road, we hit a patch of black ice.  Something we could not see coming.  The car begins to spin out of our control and we are helpless to correct the situation.  We make excuses about our careful driving and focus all of our attention on what we were doing right and how this should NOT have happened.  We even turn to pop pscyhology and we wonder if the tires or the brakes were loved enough by the owner of the car.  What could have prevented this.  In all actuality, Nothing could have.  No amount of fretting over weather conditions or measuring your driving to the other people on the road or preparation of the vehicle could have prevented this small patch of black ice which is now spinning your trip out of control.  And then, as the car begins to slow and you start to face the road once again, you realize that the entire time you were spinning, you were still ON THE ROAD (in Christ).  Just because you hit a patch of ice does not mean that he forsake you or that the enemy has taken hold.  You see, the journey has already been planned and the road has been carefully built.  There is no black ice or potholes that were not placed there purposefully-in order to make you focus harder on the road.

^{Matthew 7:  13-14} “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I— / I took the one less traveled by,
/ And that has made all the difference.
–”The Road Not Taken”
Robert Frost, 1920

I must admit it so different to do all these holidays alone but God has been so good.  Thanksgiving was great and we had a wonderful family time with just us.  Although, it was really hard when as we sat down to eat, Aaron took a bite of turkey and with tears streaming down his face said, “I wish I was eating this at Grammy’s house.”  So we all had our moment of tears and then the day continued.   We have so much to be thankful for that it is hard to focus on the other things.

Now it is December and we are marching toward Christmas.  I must admit that part of me is enjoying less holiday hullabaloo.  The opportunity to keep the focus where it should be has been a great blessing for me.  I must also say, though, that it has been great to get a new package every couple of days in the mail.  The kid in me will never stop liking that.

I just thought I would put some pictures up for some of you that are not on Facebook.  These are just random shots that I thought you would enjoy.  If you are wondering why I have not been exploring England lately then the answer is… SICKNESS and WEATHER.  It is cold and rainy pretty much every day.  I am going to have to get over it and get out anyway but having to walk everywhere here, is not condusive to exploring in the rain.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures.