2 Chronicles 31:21

In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

Christ loved the church.

Ephesians 5:25-26 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word."

Daddy Dave's Integrity Lessons

I just found this email in a binder that was getting sold in the garage sale. One of the customers brought it to me. It was printed off my Dad's email and it said,

"Dave, in pastor's sermon Sunday morning he quoted a statement that made me think of you. It went something like this:

Consistent faithfulness acted out results in integrity.
Integrity often results in influence.
And influence is a divine gift.

Dave, you have lived your life before those of us that work with you in a consistent faithful manner and have earned a high level of integrity. Your integrity has resulted in a great deal of influence as well."



I'm glad she found that. That was so nice and so true. I have had good role models in life to look up to and in whose tangible footsteps of integrity, in my own way, I can also follow.

Thanks Daddy Dave for the integrity lessons! ;-)

Love,
Your daughter.

.......Brilliant light shining from within!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness,

that frightens us most.

We ask ourselves,

'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented, and famous?'

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;

it's in all of us.

And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others."

often credited to Nelson Mandela for parts of this quote that showed up in his 1994 inauguration speech, this quote was actually penned by Marianne Williamson in her book A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course In Miracles.

The Holocaust: How it really was.

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

Little Wonders--Rob Thomas

let it go,
let it roll right off your shoulder
don't you know
the hardest part is over
let it in,
let your clarity define you
in the end
we will only just remember how it feels

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain

let it slide,
let your troubles fall behind you
let it shine
until you feel it all around you
and i don't mind
if it's me you need to turn to
we?ll get by,
it's the heart that really matters in the end

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain

all of my regret
will wash away some how
but i can not forget
the way i feel right now

in these small hours
these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away but these small hours
these small hours, still remain,
still remain
these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away
but these small hours
these little wonders still remain

Theme Songs: Love is All Around

("Love is All Around" by Paul Williams) - Mary Tyler Moore Show Lyrics

Who can turn the world on with her smile?

Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Well it's you girl, and you should know it.

With each glance and every little movement you show it.

Love is all around, no need to waste it.

You can have a town, why don't you take it.

You're gonna make it after all.

You're gonna make it after all.

How will you make it on your own?

This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone.

But it's time you started living.

It's time you let someone else do some giving.

Love is all around, no need to waste it.

You can have a town, why don't you take it.

You're gonna make it after all .

You're gonna make it after all.

Truth

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your task. --Phillips

Top 20 for local culture:

Okay, so here is my top twenty list for local culture in Grand Rapids.
I am going to TRULY miss it when I am away!!!!

1. great local hangouts--I could give anyone the coffeehouse tour
2. the Grand River
3. the local parks (including our backyard!)
4. the local people (treasures and jewels, folk--they don't come better than this.)
5. East town.
6. East Grand Rapids and Rose's restaurant
7. the Ontario House and women!
8. the amazing fathers and mothers and families at the churches just down the street
9. my neighbors
10. the local restaurant culture
11. the farmer's market
12. my favorite hairstylist (who just moved back, thank God, I've been without her for the year!)
13. my family and friends for years
14. the underground
15. college town
16. book clubs
17. locally owned businesses
18. Lake Michigan (though techically this is a Michigan gem--not just Grand Rapids)
19. downtown
20. did I mention the restaurants here are amazing! (more amazing than anywhere else--though midtown in KC does have a pretty nice local restaurant culture.... but in LA I have found nothing like this!)
21. Heartside
22. the anointing for healing and training in this city is incredible!
23.

My top 10 just doubled to 20 and counting. Feel free to add your own! :-)

Put your hands to the plow!

Yesterday as I was praying I saw a picture of wings with feet on them.
Putting feet on my dreams. Yes, yes, yes.


It is time soon to get the move on! Blessings, blessings! My time in Michigan is almost done now!

God bless Michigan! God, thank you for the Ontario House! God bless these women! Bless Grand Rapids. I love this local culture.

God bless Los Angeles, Kansas City, and Myanmar. God bless this humble home. Thank you for the simple joys of being here. Yesterday I was reminded that this time is supposed to be fun! I actually didn't intend on staying this long! But praise God I am steeping in my local culture. I will surely miss it when I am away.

Earlier in the year friends of mine told me that while praying they saw pictures of my coming down the stairs and descending a staircase and then not being able to turn around and go back up. It was only meant for going down. Similarly another picture of putting my feet on the ground. But... I like this picture the best because it had angel wings with feet. And I get it. :-)

Time to move on from here. Oh Lord. You are so good. In your mercy You make a way.

Conversations with Love (Ruth Senter)

So, then, enter my presence--not to pay the mortgage but to savor My love. Come to me as though the slate is clear. It is. Come and enjoy My love. Leave your sense of indebtedness at the door.

As you come to Me released from the bondage of debt, hold your head high. Look Me in the eyes. Sit quietly, without lengthly explanations, without apologies, without promises to try harder or be more punctual with the payments. you do not have to hurry off to get back to work. you have nothing to pay. You are debt-free.

When it gets right down to it, My child, you can do nothing for Me; I've done it all for you. I do not need your service. My work will get done with or without you. I am before all things, and in Me all things hold together. Everything held together before you came on the scene, and everything will hold together when you leave the scene. You need not work so hard at control.

I also know how hard you work to make Me look good, how conscientious your efforts before the watching world. True, they do watch. Your reproduction of Me is important. But I am not tarnished because what you do may blur My image sometimes.

Yours is not the only picture others have of Me. I paint Myself in the sunsets, write Myself on the ocean floor, print My footsteps in the clouds, plant My name among the redwoods. I imprint Myself on people near and far. I am beyond your meager picture frame that houses My image. If you fail in your PR efforts, I am not without witness. Even the rocks cry out.

...Come spend time with Me, and others will notice. "Here is one who is loved. She has nothing to prove. See how relaxed, how unpretentious. No tooting horn, waving banners, proclaimed accomplishments. She's comfortable to be around. Love is written all over her face." People who don't need to prove anything are My best representatives.

You want to know how to motivate others to do love? It isn't by doing more love so you can be their model. It's by coming close to Me, letting My love soak into you like water saturating a sponge. Others will know when you are full. When their lives touch yours, love will seep out. Then it will be My love that motivates them, not your deeds.

Choose one thing: to come near.

Philippians 4:6-8

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Above All Else

Jesus, my passion in life is to know You
May all other goals bow down to
This journey of loving You more

Jesus, You’ve showered Your goodness on me
Given Your gifts so freely
But there’s one thing I’m longing for

Hear my heart’s cry
And my prayer for this life--

Above all else
Above all else
Above all else
Give me Yourself

Savior, the more that I see Your beauty
The more that I glimpse Your glory
My heart is captured by You

Jesus, You are my greatest treasure
Nothing this world can offer
Could ever compare to You

So, hear my heart’s cry
And my prayer for this life

Above all else
Above all else
Above all else
Give me yourself.

~Vicki Beeching