60 minutes did a piece on Joel Osteen.

Check it out and give me some of your thoughts.

I must say, it is surprisingly difficult to blog when I don’t have internet at home.

Having said that, I’m so excited for Ivy and Will, whose wedding was last Saturday, September 29th! It was a beautiful day, a day of watching a woman who about a year ago said, “I hate men and I’m never getting married,” let her heart be healed from deep pain, allow herself to be vulnerable with a man she trusted and to let him love her in order to bring out her gentleness and softness once again.

And its wonderful to see a man who chased a girl for months finally watch her walk down the aisle to him on their wedding day.

(Ivy & Will the firefighter) (Ivy & Will at our wedding)

I didn’t take many pictures, but I hope to have them up soon.

I do, however, have a few pictures from the Tuesday night Bible Study, called the Vine, we do here at Mosaic Community Development. We have people from all walks of life come and share life together, building community and talking about the glory of God and how Jesus is truly our only hope and love. We have people from Coram Deo (my church), Creighton University, Grace University, and from the Siena Francis House, a place of shelter for those that are homeless, or recovering from addiction.

One great story from the Vine is that we had two folks from the Francis House come and join us, and we watched one of them fight his way out of addiction and into discipleship and a relationship with a woman also coming out of addiction. They recently got married, and although things aren’t perfect, its another amazing story of God working to redeem lives.

Thank you, thank you for your congratulations…yes, that’s correct. Tyler & I met one year ago….And we’ve been married for a month.

That’s sweet, isn’t it? We met on August 29, 2006, and got married 11 months later.

Tyler and I were talking about it a few nights ago, and as he said, we wouldn’t really recommend what we did. Not to say that we dislike it, but actually the opposite. However, we felt moved and directed by God clearly, that He was moving us quickly to marriage. There were plenty of bumps and bruises along the way, and it was INTENSE for a while there…but, God continued to affirm our direction repeatedly. There were times we questioned it for sure, times I got almost too scared to go forward, times we got really upset at each other, times our community really questioned us, but God continued to work all things to His glory. And we LOVE being married.

But, again, we might not recommend it unless you continue to believe that God is pushing you, past emotion, past idealism, past romanticism, and toward a true and realistic love for this person that God continues to affirm. Tyler was not a romanticized reality in my life, but quite the opposite, and that’s one of the ways I felt that God was leading me toward him.

I remember even praying something like, “Umm…God, are you sure? I don’t really know about this. Tyler isn’t exactly the world traveler I always thought you wanted for me. I’m not sure about this and I’m really scared…” (Isn’t it funny the plans we make and how God gives us something different, and yet amazingly better!)

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won’t. I hope that every man & woman’s story of how God leads them is just as precious to them and full of joy and peace and beauty and redemption.

Finally, I wanted to share some song lyrics that my good friend Anthony showed me. The artist is As Cities Burn, and their album is entitled, “Son, I loved you at your darkest.”

Let the dead bury their own dead

Will you still love me in famine, as when love began at the harvest? Or would you gain the whole world? Son, I love you at your darkest. But what good is the whole world when I promise no tomorrow? I only promise your tomorrow will never take you past my palm.

Love, what is love without trust? At my word, would you bring your Isaac?

Son, I loved you at your darkest.

How true that God loves us at our darkest.

“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:4-6

There are so many great things going on in life right now, I feel so loved by the Lord. Saturday night Tyler & I were hanging out at home (he had the flu) and I was working through some of the Sonship materials that our community goes through, and suddenly I was hit by this slap in the face from God.

I don’t love people.

I thought I did, but when you get down to it, I have no idea how to love people as Jesus loves us. No. Clue.

There is my confession for the week. I realized that I care about people, but I think I can honestly say that I love myself far and above anyone in the world.

This is why I need Jesus. Woo, do I. I am a sinner through and through and do believe that my heart is desperately sick and beyond cure, as the Bible speaks of in Jeremiah. This verse is quite eye-opening. I’d encourage you to spend some time thinking through this verse. Even our own hearts are deceitful, encouraging us to minimize our sin and self-manage instead of turning to Jesus in desperate hope for redemption in every way. And even though this sounds depressing and hopeless, it is the opposite! As my friend Brenda Whealy just emailed out this morning:

Let’s continue to help each other see the depth, ugliness, extent of our sin (our ruling idolatries) alongside the beauty, power, superiority, and glory of Christ! Remember that looking at idolatry without looking at the promises of the gospel produces hopelessness. But also, looking at the gospel without recognizing how easily we can become enslaved to sin/idols leads to pride and robs us of an awareness of our continuing need for the rescuing and restoring love of Christ!

Anyway, more on that later.

We saw Andrew Peterson in concert last night, along with my brother Jess & sis-in-law Jill. It was truly a moving and special night. I wish I could encapsulate it for you, but can only hope that you know what I mean when I say that it was truly beautiful. His song, “For the Love of God” pretty much made me realize that I was in love with Tyler :), and when I gave him the song to listen to…well, it was instrumental in our life and a lovely story that is precious to us. We had a chance to speak to Andrew and share this with him last night, and that we danced to it at our wedding. He is a gifted and humble man.

Another exciting piece of news is that our wedding pictures are online!!! Nathan & Barb Moseley are precious friends of ours, and they did an amazing job. Click here to see them! You may order them online or contact me with questions.

Preparing for marriage, learning about how I try to justify my decisions and life every single day through the most “routine” things (instead of trusting Christ for my value and righteousness), learning what it means to truly be a woman, and trying to keep up with life in general has provided me with a fountain of truth and teaching, which I am trying to soak up and to write upon my heart, in order that it may find a home there. I have quite a few thoughts, but will only share a small amount right now.

I was looking on the Acts 29 website (Coram Deo is affiliated with this network), and found an article written by Grace Driscoll in May of 2006. It is entitled, “Is the biblical view of women applicable in our culture today?” Here is an excerpt I especially liked:

In chapter three of Ruth we again see her pure faith in the provision of her God. She goes to Boaz and respectfully said she wanted him to redeem her. Since Boaz had initiated with Ruth throughout their relationship, it was her responsibility to ask for redemption and allow him to make the choice. Being an honest man, Boaz surprised Ruth with the words, “Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I…if he wants to redeem, good…but if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it” (3:12,13). Ruth’s whole future was in limbo with the possibility of being redeemed by a man that she didn’t even know, but was a closer relative to her late husband than Boaz. Did Ruth suddenly doubt God’s sovereignty? Did she try to rule Boaz and tell him that he had to be the one to redeem her? Did she try to do things her own way since God’s way wasn’t quite what she was expecting? No. Ruth went home, not knowing the future but trusting God and Boaz, and waited for Boaz to lead and protect her as he desired to do. Does this make us view Ruth as weak or strong? It makes her extremely vulnerable…but only to God’s sovereignty, which is the safest place we can be. Boaz saw Ruth as a woman of “noble character” and said he would do all that she asked (3:11).

The book ends in chapter 4 with Boaz following through with his commitment. The closer relative did not want to redeem Ruth so, in God’s sovereignty, Boaz did. In front of ten elders (like judges) of the town, Boaz put everything on the line as a man of standing to even associate himself with Ruth, let alone marry and redeem her. Boaz, like Christ, chose his bride, provided more than enough for her, served her, and loved her. She was a foreigner, blemished by her sin, unworthy of his grace and love, but a humble servant. What an unpredictable ending, but a beautiful foreshadow of our redemption through Jesus.

Not only did the elders witness the transaction, they offered blessings of numerous and distinguished offspring (4:11-12). Children were and are a blessing from the Lord. God used this faithful man and woman to bare a son, Obed (David’s grandfather), and be in the lineage of Christ. I am sure that Ruth never imagined that she would contribute to Christ’s lineage. She could have made some very different and seemingly “liberated” decisions, yet she faithfully in discernment walked the road that God laid out for her. Ruth is a true story of a life that began empty and ended full.

Though this story took place hundreds of years ago, it is a great parallel to today. During a dark, evil time God showed up and brought about a wonderful, yet unlikely love story. He demonstrated His power, His love and care for each of us, and His desire to see us walk in His righteousness. Will we trust His perfect ways or will we continue as His people to take our own path?

This last paragraph in particular brings up a swell of love for God’s mercy in me that I can’t quite explain. Why should our Redeemer love us so much that He breathes life into death, and gives beautiful newness to what was dying and decrepit? How merciful He is that He speaks our lives into existence, and through His own power, redeems His creation and holds it for all eternity.

Grace also writes,

Marriage was viewed as a place of rest and security for women. Do you view your marriage as rest or competition? Are you at peace with being a helpmate or, like Eve, do you desire to rule over your husband and switch the order of God’s perfect creation (I Cor. 11:8-9)? Do you try to take on your curse (Gen. 3:16) and your husband’s curse (Gen. 3:17-19) by ruling over domains that are not yours? The lie of the world is that women have to “be all things to all people” and “be superwoman.” If we allow this lie to rule us, we will live a very unfulfilled life.