1 adventure, 2 truths: Thorns hurt and God is jealous for us!!!

So recently I took Baby Cooper for a walk and picked some wild flowers for my Mom. I wanted to have a bouquet for her when she arrived at the airport for her visit. (For some reason, I am all about having flowers when you arrive at your destination airport). There were these white flowers that I wanted for the bouquet, but they were covered with thorns and I could not cut the stem with the knife I brought (Yes, I brought a knife – this was a very planned flower-picking walk). I wound up getting cuts all over my pinky finger from the thorns and finally gave up because of these things. They certainly blocked me from messing with that flower! My pinky bled a bit and the scabs from the cuts were there for a bit. In a weird way I enjoyed my battle wounds. I usually do – it must be the little kid in me (you know how kids usually want to show you their bruises, etc. I like to show mine off – not for sympathy though…to impress people with whatever ridiculous thing I did to get the latest one). But this time I was excited by these battle wounds because they were a reminder to me from God. Hosea 2:6 says, “Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.” This sounds violent, but let me explain. Hosea is a man of God who married an adulterous wife – knowing that she would be unfaithful, because God told him to. God uses their marriage as a picture of God and His people – how faithful He is even with an unfaithful Bride. Here, Hosea’s wife keeps going after other lovers who do not satisfy her and instead, hurt her. He knows that he is the one who supplies her needs and that he truly cares for her, while these other lovers do not. He says this about blocking her as a way to keep her from these other lovers who really don’t satisfy. He desires to protect her through the use of these thorn bushes. Drastic measures seem necessary to protect her from herself and her propensity for these other destructive lovers. Hosea is jealous for His Bride and he knows that his love will heal and restore her and the love of these other lovers is not real love. I could go on about Hosea, but in keeping with the thoughts about this specific verse, we will turn our attention back to my thorn scabs. From these specific thorns piercing through my skin, I realized just how painful those little suckers are! I immediately thought of this verse and it came more alive to me. If you are blocked by thorn bushes, you really can’t get out without a fight…without bloody cuts everywhere. You either get even more hurt trying, or you give up in your pursuit to get away. Throughout the book of Hosea, Hosea is a picture of God and His ways with us. God is jealous for us to realize that He is our ultimate Lover – the only One who truly satisfies us and truly cares for us. He desires us so much. He desires our attention and affection. He doesn’t want us giving it to other lovers before we give it to Him. These other lovers wind up hurting us and leaving us empty. So, He will hedge us in with thorns all around to keep us to Himself and attempt to teach us that He really is the true Lover of our souls. Even if we do not see ourselves as a prostitute in our relationship with God, we all are like Gomer (Hosea's wife)in that we have other lovers that we chase after – other desires, activities, people, goals, thoughts, etc. that we focus on, pursue, and long for more than we are currently going after God and all that is of Him. Some of these things are even “good things”, but we have misplaced our priorities. We do this because we need a greater revelation of who He is and how much He loves us. In His mercy, He shows us what and who these other lovers are. His mercy and grace abounds even more as He will place us in times where He hedges us in with thorns all around us. He is that jealous for us. He does not want us to go after these lovers and be destroyed by them, so He puts little blockers to warn us and keep us away. I am in a season where the Lord has revealed a desire I have placed above my desire for His return. I hate admitting that, but it is true and in reality, I may have more than one desire I have placed before my desire for His return. Think about the things you would like to happen before Jesus comes back. If you don’t have any, you either need to pray and ask Him to reveal them (and He will) or you probably have a greater revelation of Jesus and of our absolute need for complete restoration that comes when He returns. I am wanting this revelation to HIT my heart and go so much deeper than any head knowledge. I am wanting to say with the Spririt, “COME!!!” I am wanting to desire Jesus’ return more than anything else. I am wanting to really act like a Betrothed woman and LONG for my wedding day with the One I am betrothed to. If you’ve ever been around a woman betrothed, she is counting the days till the day she will be one with her husband. Engagement just isn’t cutting it. There isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t think about plans about the wedding (preparing herself for the wedding and the marriage), or the marriage itself or at least something remotely related to the fact that she will be one with her bridegroom soon. I want the fact that Jesus is really coming back for a Bride who desires Him and the fact that there is really going to be a wedding – to be on the forefront of my mind – above all the other desires – even “good” ones. I am in a season of wanting to say no to my other lovers (in my case, desires) and yes to Him FIRST. He has called me into this season and there are times that I realize it is His sweet protection and an answer to my cry to long for Him and His return above any other longing I have. Sometimes I find my heart wandering, even if I am not wandering in actions and then I hit some of those thorns and my pinky starts bleeding and I decide it isn’t worth it and only He is worth it. The thorns sting for a moment, but they are there to prevent me from greater injury and from straying from being as close to God as I want to and need to be. It has been a sweet season, but I’ve had my encounters with thorns, which have been reminders to me of His amazing jealousy of my whole heart. I love that I got physical thorn wounds during this time that I have been experiencing a bit of this spiritually. I love how He speaks, even through thorn battle wounds. :) I am almost sad that my scabs have disappeared, but I know I will experience some more… if not physically, spiritually.

My Attempt at Story Time...

WOW! It is so amazing to me how much God has been teaching me. I just read my last update and it’s crazy how many cool stories I have to share within all of that and now even more since it has been a few months. I am bad at the updating thing. I think I want to just write stories of what God is doing on here and leave the update thing for my e-mail updates. If you do not get those for some reason, please e-mail me at Kelly@Kingdomforerunners.com. Okie dokie….here’s my attempt to write these stories. I pray that they bless and encourage you in your walk with Him.

Catch Up Time!

So, it has been about a year since I last wrote here. I would like to try to share some of what God has done in the past year as a way of rememberance. There really is something to that!! So in April, I went home shortly after being with Julie and Christina at Julie's brothers' house. God took me on a ministry trip to Lakeland. I thought I was going to receive, but He totally set it up as a great ministry trip and I received so much as I gave. Then Devin (my younger bro) prayed to receive Jesus as His Savior and Lord of his life!!! And then my Mom told me of a dream she had and how she prayed to receive more of the Holy Spirit. All these things happened in 3 days!! So God was really reminding me of the wisdom of prayer and that sitting in a prayer room for 3 months really was worth it. I loved what God was doing...yet I had the "what about me" feeling. As I prayed and poured out my heart to Him, He used 2 dolphins to remind me that He was with me and leading me well and we were making every jump together. Then May 1st, I was in Jax to walk at my graduation. I got to catch up with my beloved friends in Jax. I had a good weekend with my family, as they were also up for my graduation. Then I babysat for a dear family in Jax for 2 weeks, while helping my dear friend with wedding things and seeking the Lord about what possibly could be next. He kept stressing waiting. I have a cool story to share about waiting that I will write after this general catch up. :) So then the wedding was May 17th and I still was not certain about what was next. I had my car packed b/c the Lord made it clear I wouldn't be home for a bit, but that was all I knew. I planned to go back to Atlanta but I did not know how long I would be there and what I would be doing there. I was trusting the Lord, but some days were easier than others. The night of the wedding, I sat tired, with a pizza box of cold pizzas and juice boxes by the water. I was beginning to get frustrated and down and He had dolphins in the water again to remind me of how He spoke to me with the dolphins just weeks before. The next day, I went to a church service with the family of my friends who got married. I wound up talking to 2 families in particular. One was from Cameroon, Africa, but happened to live in Lawrenceville, GA. The other overheard me talking about my internship. I got in a converstaion with my friend's Aunt and Uncle from Birmingham, AL. As I talked with my friend's Aunt, Lucy Hughes... everything she said about their ministry in Birmingham spoke to my heart - prayer, college ministry, discipleship for young girls, heart for justice and inner city, ETC.!! They asked me what I was doing in the summer and I said I knew nothing about the future!! They invited me to join them in Kansas City for a ministry trip with the premise that I would be praying about joining their ministry in Birmingham. So...I was left with what I would be doing in Atlanta...PRAYING about this possibility. So, I did. I also wound up serving the family from Cameroon, as the husband had moved back there and left the wife and two young children to pack up all their stuff to move back as well. It was a treat for me, as they ate some similar food as I ate in Zambia and it was such a priviledge to serve this missionary family. After much prayer, I decided to join the Birmingham group in Kansas City. I drove to Birmingham, AL for the first time and met a girl who I would ride with to Kansas City. I stayed with her that night and then the next day, we picked up another girl and arrived late that night. It was a wonderful time there and Jesus spoke to me so much. While I was there, I was asked to join their ministry staff. So, I prayed more and looked for a plane ticket home to start raising support to join staff with Kingdom Forerunners. I had a difficult time raising support at first. I was reading a book, Red Moon Rising, by Pete Greig, and that was helpful for me to read at that time, esp. when i would question why I was doing what I was doing. Then August came and I went on vacation with my family and returned to my car in Birmingham, AL. I lived with a family I met on our KC trip during the month of August. Then I went to Washington DC for The Call - to pray for America with many other intercessors. Then we started our internship, which I was to help lead. I moved in to my Paul & Lucy Hughes' home in September. We started up with our girls' bible study and our prayer furnace events as well. We also had a conference for college students in September. I learned a lot my first few months here. The Lord led me to one of the dearest friendships I have ever had - Natalie Farber. I believe she is part of the reason the Lord has brought me to Birmingham and she played a key role in His ministering to me in my first few months here. I was learning a lot during these months - not the things I thought I would learn - but still necessary things. Then December came and I was thrilled to go home for the holidays. I was there from the 16th to the 26th. Then I went to Kansas City for a conference and shortly after we returned to Birmingham, I moved in with another family here. These were people the Hughes knew, but I had only met the wife once and had never met the husband. I was thankful for them opening their home, but I struggled with a lack of feeling settled. I have a sweet God-story to share about this later. :) I have since become more settled in their home and enjoy and appreciate them very much. In late January, we went to IHOP-ATL for a conference for leaders in houses of prayer. The Lord spoke SOOO much to me during this time! I might share more on that later, too. :) In february, I started babysitting for more income (b/c support raising has still been a challenge). I enjoy the baby very much. He was born December 16th and I love him SO much! I started a sweet season personally with the Lord on February 14th. :) I went to IHOP-ATL for that weekend to get away with Jesus and really start my season sweetly with Him. The week before I went, He was moving SOO much and leading me in really fun ways.... I will try to write on that, too. Then that weekend was AMAZING and He spoke so much to me about what this season is about. My first month of this season with the Lord, He had me in Song of Soloman almost every night. The first week was a chapter a night and then a verse each day. I will try to write on some revelation I received on that as well! This next month, starting March 14th, He has me studying and meditating on a character/ Name of God each day. It has been amazing so far and I will try to write on this as well. Well, that is a very general update on things from this past year. I will try to write more specifics on some of the neat things God is teaching me. Blessings to you all!!