Funfetti Cake Makes People Crazy

I'm having a kinda crappy morning, so I thought I'd get on here and blog. Maybe that will get me back on track.

Yesterday I had an "A HA / God must think we're crazy" moment.

Since yesterday was Valentines Day, I made a cake and brought it to work. I put the cake out in our kitchen with a note next to it that said "Enjoy the funfetti cake. Remember: You Are Loved." I didn't put my name on the note because I didn't want to make a big deal about it. What I didn't expect was my co-workers make it a big deal. The only thing that would talk about ALL DAY was "who made the cake?" They went around asking everyone (actually, they never really asked me directly...lol). They even accused a few people of making it. At first it was kinda funny to me. But as the day went by, they got crazier and crazier. People were really frustrated that they didn't know. Then, about 5 people practically attacked this one poor lady because they were convinced that she made it (ironically, she was the only one who knew that I had made it). And it wasn't even in a friendly way. They were raising their voices. At that point, I finally told them it was me.

OMG - I couldn't believe that my coworkers pretty much lost their minds cuz they didn't know who made a cake and told them they were loved!

Then I realized that many of us do that all the time. God - where is my husband? Where is my new job? When am I going to buy a house/car? Will he ever ask me to marry him? Will she ever know that I'm alive? When will I get a promotion? When we don't get an answer in the time that we think it should come, we start to lose our minds. We end up doing stupid stuff to try to manufacture the answer or outcome that we want. Buy a new, revealing waredrobe to make him notice you...Go into debt that you'll never be able to get out of to buy a house or car you can't afford...Wear yourself out trying too hard to get that promotion...Yes, sometimes we have to be proactive to get what we want or feel we deserve. But sometimes we really don't have control over the situation and we just need to wait.

The lesson: Sometimes you won't get the answer. In some situations, you'll never know why. That is NO excuse to get stupid. Learn the difference between proactive and being desparate.

Remember, you really ARE loved. God loves us and doesn't want us to settle for manufactured blessings. He wants to do exceeding abundantly all that we can ask or think. But sometimes you just have to wait on him to see that promise fufilled.

Community Part 2

Hello,

I was going to post a few quick bullet point updates, but then I remembered that a few days ago I decided I need to do a Part 2 to the Community post (originally published in November or December).

In the past few months, I've become more immersed in my church community and God keeps speaking to me on the subject of the importance of a Christian community.

I'm a big fan of community for different reasons: opportunity to be around people who have the same foundational beliefs, ability to share your struggles in walking like Christ, corporate worship, ability to get/offer prayer when it's needed, and the list goes on.

Now I have a new reason to love community. ENCOURAGEMENT & AFFIRMATION. Someone said that 4 is the number of "creative vision" and I believe it. My church is in its 4th year of ministry and the air is thick w/ new ideas, new businesses, new songs, new friendships, new plays/skits, etc. There is so much talent around me that I can't believe it sometimes. But all that talent, all those gifts would go to waste if we didn't create an environment that encouraged people to share their ideas and gifts. Christian community should be able showing people how to hope, how to dream.

Personally, I've seen this play out w/ "This is Who I Am," with my worship leading, with my album that's in the works and with the encouragement I've received about leading the Spiritual Disciplines study at USC. Wow! I don't think I've ever been so affirmed, so encouraged, so challenged and pushed in my life to be what God has called me to be. You just won't find that outside of Christian community.

I LOVE HOPE's HOUSE! I hope you love your community too!

Of course, I understand that not everyone feels that way, so here are some pointers:

• Deal w/ any insecurities that you have (ask God to intervene). If you don't understand who you are in Christ and what He wants to do in your life, you might not ever do anything. Might not ever challenge yourself or try new things. Trust me!
• Find a Christian group that will encourage you, that you can learn from, that you can serve in. I'm not telling you to leave your church if you know you're supposed to be there! That's not my place. But I'm encouraging all to supplement what you already have w/ what you need.
• Try new things. Brainstorm new ideas and TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THEM. Accountability is a beautiful thing.
• Start asking your friends what they think your gifts are. What do they see in you?
• DREAM
• Don't let your fears/doubts/insecurities talk you out of things. As P. Chuck says: "If not you, then who? If not now, then when?"

Try it!

Out of the Box

I'm so chatty this week! So many posts lately.

Lots going on for me. New challenges at work. Disciplines Study at USC met for the first time this week. I ate fruits and veggies all week for this silly detox. Planning a trip to the Bay for next weekend. Slowly planning for this album. And, I'm leading worship on Sunday.

Pray for me if you read this before Sunday (I'm sure no one will) as I step out of my comfort zone and do a really upbeat, more gospel style song. I love the song and I've wanted to lead it for months, but I'll need to be a little less conservative in order to stay true to the integrity of the song and that makes me a little uneasy. Guess I'll be practicing in the mirror....lol...Of course, I'll give the update next week...