Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A Layer Deeper

2011 is almost gone and I can still smell the cookies my family and I baked last January 1st! Where did my year go? He, he! Thankfully I feel like this has been one of the best years of my life. Filled with Papa's goodness, generous provision, dreams come true and hope for the future.

This year I've gotten the chance to do all kinds of things! From staffing a Worldview School with YWAM in Chile, to becoming the Coordinator of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministries DVD Curriculum translation. I'm such a privileged child of my most loving Father! This year He gave me the joy of spending the first half of the year in South America (getting to go to Buenos Aires and Santa Fe in Argentina, and Santiago, Viña del Mart and Valparaíso in Chile); to spending the second half of the year in the US (Alabama, Tennessee and now California). Yay God!!

My heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness... God is so good! He's good, He is so good!! not only that, but the "Christmas miracle" this year was being able to come home (to Monterrey, Mexico) for the holidays. Something that was not at all on my budget! He made it possible through a very generous offering that I got just for this purpose! ...(speechless, in awe).

"Just when you think you know how good God is, 
He takes you a layer deeper into His goodness" 
-Bill Johnson

That sums it up for me this year! Yay God!!

So on the verge of the new year my heart is filled with joy and expectation, of the next layer of more of Him, of getting to co-create and co-labor, to stick to Him through thick and thin; to see His kingdom come in and through me! I am blessed to be a blessing; I ask for His blessings that the Nations may know just how incredibly GOOD my God is;

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us —so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
Psalm 67:1-5

That's my prayer for you and I, have a great 2012!


Saturday, December 3, 2011

♫ ♪ Mi Padre Me Ama Tanto ♪

For the last week I've had an ongoing song in my head! It's a song by Dominican salsa singer Juan Luis Guerra. For many years he has been an icon of salsa music, and then a few years ago he was radically saved. The song in my head is from his first album after his conversion and the lyrics that keep going through my head go kind of like this:

Mi padre me ama tanto que
Su Hijo dio por mí
Por siempre las gracias le daré...

Mi Padre me ama tanto
Su amor es eterno y santo
Tan grande que no puedo entender


Me viste de ropa fina
Me anhela y me dio Su vida
Gloria, aleluya, Padre fiel


Mi Padre me ama tanto que
Soy su heredero
Me ha dado Su nombre y Su poder
Me viste de gloria y de bondad,
Bendito mi Señor
A mi Dios por siempre exaltaré
Y cantaré...


Which means:


My Father loves me so much that
He gave His Son for me 
I will always be thankful...

My Father loves me so much
His love is eternal and holy
So great that I cannot understand it

He clothes me in a fine robe
He longs for me and gave me life
Glory, halleluja, faithful Father

Mi Father loves me so much that 
I am His heir 
He's given me His name and His Power
He clothes me with glory and kindness
My blessed Lord
I will always exalt Him
and I will sing...

Pretty powerful lyrics! There's actually more to the song (and it's all very good), but those are the words that have kept going through my head... over and over. I'm soaking them in, getting them deeper, singing to Him, hearing Him sing over me! 

So in this season where meaning can run through the cracks of shopping madness, end of the year anxiety, and a loss of true meaning; I'm reminded of this extravagant, indescribable, unfathomable, wild love that my Papa loves me with. He is, in deed the reason for the season... it is all about His love, for He is LOVE!