Bucket List

I have heart problems. Sometimes that gets me thinking about death - or about life, really. Here is my Bucket List (not ordered).

1. Love God well.

2. Be married and have a family.

3. Be a woman of noble character.

4. Live with conviction, passion, and purpose.

5. Be a best friend; have a best friend.

6. Impact a million high school girls.

7. Make God the only occupier of my heart so good things from Him are the only things that can come out of me, and people get a glimpse of Him when they see me.

8. Learn how to dance. (And do so in a field in a warm, summer rain.)

9. Be different - - look more like Christ than the world.

10. Own a house, and make it a place of community where anyone is welcome.

11. Learn how to cook well (I'll need it for #10).

12. Write a book. Don't know what it will be yet, but with all the journaling I do, I think writing a book is only appropriate.

13. Visit India. India has been on my heart since I was a little child. I would like to go there and meet it's people.

14. Own and train a horse start to finish.

15. Grow a red rose bush.

To the man to whom I'll walk down the aisle and join at the altar . . .

I'm praying for you. I pray that you stay strong, that you hold out, that you don't settle. I pray that God guards your heart and delivers you from every evil. I pray that He raises you up to be a leader for me and for our household one day.

I pray that God raises me up to be a wife of noble character for you, that I would only honor your name.

I pray that you are full of passion and vision as you obey God and follow His call. I pray that you cling to Him, and fix your eyes on our Savior, that nothing comes before Him, and that He is truly your everything.

I pray that God blesses you today as you seek Him, that He speaks to your heart, and encourages your faith.

Be blessed, Beloved.

Going Jogging

I've planned to go jogging multiple times over the last month since the last time I went to the gym. It hasn't happened yet. Tomorrow morning a friend is going jogging with me bright and early before work, and tomorrow there won't be the option of hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock one more time, or an excuse of tiredness or better things to do. I will simply get up and go jogging. All the days I've thought about going to the gym or purposed to go, but let it fall through, and now one person to hold me accountable and encourage me and it's going to happen for real this time. I've been thinking lately about community. How important it is for me to have the church to encourage my faith, to spur me on, to hold me accountable, to push me further than I would have gone alone. No more only thinking about pursuing God; no more excuses of little time to serve; no more passionless moments in prayer. I'm a part of the Body of Christ. “. . . Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)