God, Oklahoma City, and a Cab

I'm sitting in the airport in Oklahoma city. It has been an interesting four days. I really can't say that I am ready to go home. It's not that there is so much to do here in Oklahoma; because there isn't. It's the fact that I'm away. Oklahoma city is eerily quiet. When my coworker and I were walking to the building in which our training was held, I was taken aback at the fact that I could actually hear birds. I looked up and saw a group of birds flying amongst the branches, chirping. The sky was so blue and the air smelled so fresh. It's totally different from the DC area. I would love to wake up to that every morning. It was different not hearing car horns honking, seeing people running to catch trains, smelling the burning of the metro trains as they pulled off, or having to fight to push my way through the crowd just to walk across the street. It reminded me of Alabama. Half of me was weirded out by the quietness and the other half was comfortable with it.

I will miss the serenity and friendliness of Oklahoma. Everyone, and I am not exaggerating, smiled and spoke. I didn't run into one person who didn't acknowledge my presence. People in DC think you're crazy if you're too friendly. Even the homeless (well, I'm not so sure they were homeless. But the only other word I can think of to describe them is bum. That's not nice) were friendly! One guy told us that we were "beautiful, in the name of Jesus." LOL!

I had awesome food at Toby Keith's restaurant, watched Black Swan (this movie deserves a blog post by itself. It was CRAZY!!!), and visited the memorial for the Oklahoma City Bombing. But the best part of this trip was the last day.

On my way to the airport, God spoke to me through a cab driver. He gave me direction and instructions regarding two things that I have been in prayer about. I was sitting in the back of that cab in pure awe. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was one of those things where you know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is speaking to you. And to top it off, in order to give me confirmation that it was Him, this cab driver's daughter's name was ALMOST the exact same as mine. The only difference was our middle names. However, they both start with D. :) 

God is so awesome. He shows up when you least expect Him to and in the most unconventional ways. This is why it's important that we live. Go out and live your life. Talk to the Lord about everything and watch Him move. It's the only way. I used to believe that God would drop everything I needed into my life simply because I was a "good" Christian and went to church every other day of the week. But faith without works is dead. We can have all of the faith in the world. But how can God bless if He has nothing to work with? Would you invest in someone who sat on their butt all day only talking about what he wanted to do? Neither would I. 

Another thing that I'm learning is that God loves in spite of ______________. Fill in the blank. He loves you in spite of that mistake you made yesterday. He loves you in spite of that habit that you're trying desperately to break. He loves. He is love. The last thing I expected God to do was speak to me about my concerns. I hadn't even taken time out to talk to Him this morning. Yet in still, He loved me enough to use that opportunity to speak to me. 

I encourage you to never give up on God. It sounds cliche, but He NEVER gives up on us. He is always there, showering us with undeserved grace, mercy, blessings, and love. This path gets hard. This way of life sometimes feels impossible. But I've found that the easiest way to get through it is to simply walk. Mary Mary was on to something when they made that song. I'm walking, trusting, and believing. 

That's all we can do.

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I'm sitting in the airport in Oklahoma city. It has been an interesting four days. I really can't say that I am ready to go home. It's not that there is so much to do here in Oklahoma; because there isn't. It's the fact that I'm away. Oklahoma city is eerily quiet. When my coworker and I were walking to the building in which our training was held, I was taken aback at the fact that I could actually hear birds chirping. I looked up and say a group of birds flying amongst the branches, chirping. The sky was so blue and the air smelled so fresh. It's totally different from the DMV. I would love to wake up to that every morning. It was different not hearing car horns honking, people running to catch trains, smelling the burning of the metro trains as they pulled off, or having to fight to push my way through the crowd just to walk across the street. It reminded me of Alabama. Half of me was weirded out by the quietness and the other half was comfortable with it.

I will miss the serenity and friendliness of Oklahoma. Everyone, and I am not exaggerating smiled and spoke. I didn't run into one person who didn't acknowledge my presence. People in DC think you're crazy if you're too friendly. Even the homeless (well, I'm not so sure they were homeless. But the only other word I can think of to describe them is bumb. That's not nice) were friendly! One guy told us that we were beautiful, in the name of Jesus. LOL!

I had awesome food at Toby Keith's restaurant, watched Black Swan (this movie deserves a blog post by itself. It was CRAZY!!!), and visited the memorial for the Oklahoma City Bombing. But the best part of this trip was the last day.

On my way to the airport, God spoke to me through a cab driver. He gave me direction and instructions regarding two things that I have been in prayer about. I was sitting in the back of that cab in pure awe. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was one of those things where you know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is speaking to you. And to top it off, in order to give me confirmation that it was Him, this cab driver's daughter's name was ALMOST the exact same as mine. The only difference was our middle names. However, They both start with D. :) 

God is so awesome. He shows up when you least expect Him too and in the most unconventional ways. This is why it's important that we live. Go out and live your life. Talk to the Lord about everything and watch Him move. It's the only way. I used to believe that God would drop everything I needed into my life simplly because I was a "good" Christian and went to church every other day of the week. But faith without works is dead. We can have all of the faith in the world. But how can God bless if He has nothing to work with? Would you invest in someone who sat on their butt all day only talking about what he wanted to do? Neither would I. 

Another thing that I'm learning is that God loves in spite of ______________. Fill in the blank. He loves you in spite of that mistake you made yesterday. He loves you in spite of that habit that 

The Prodigal Daughter... That's Me

Hello world!!

I'm back for the 347th time. Haha! As usual, I retreat when life takes twists. Because I've allowed my blog to become so visible, and my identity is no secret, I've shied away from writing about the difficulties and mistakes that I've made which could become "gossip" for some people. Nevertheless, I'm back.

During my time away, I spent a little time back in Egypt. For those of you who can decipher what exactly that means, kudos to you! To those of you who can't, just know that Egypt is the land that God brought the children of Israel out of in order to bring them to the promised land. You following me now?

The Prodigal Daughter

I'm pretty sure that you've either read or heard the story of the prodigal son. If not, I'll give you an extremely brief synopsis:

There were two sons who lived with their father. Neither one of them lacked anything at their father's house. One day, the younger son decides that he wants to go out and do his own thing. So, he gathers up all of his inheritance from his father and leaves. He goes out into the world and does real big. The Bible says that he lived wildly and squandered all of his money. When things got real and he began to hunger, he realized that he had a father who had servants with food to spare. So, he set out to go to his father with the mindset of merely being treated like a servant. That was enough for him. But when his father saw him from a far, he ran upon him, loved on him, and rejoiced that he was home. He even threw a party for him.

This story sums up the relationship that I've created with God. Just recently, I naively decided to go down a road. I say that I did it naively because I half prayed about it; and I ignored the things that were previously told to me. It's always the case. But as soon as I'm burned and realize that I left my father's house for foolishness, I come running back.

And God opens His arms so wide for me every single time. As humans, we are natually selfish. Our first inclination is to think about ourselves: how does this situation benefit me? Every single day, I put my desires, my wants, and my will before God. I broke his heart everyday. I honestly believe that it hurts the Lord when we choose to go our own way despite the warnings and commands He has given.

Imagine your own child or someone you love with all of your being. You see where they are headed. You see the potential in them. And you tell them not to go down that road. But yet and still, that loved one ignores you and continues to walk down this path that leads to pain. That is heartbreaking. And it's heartbreaking for a God who is so in love with all of us.

The beauty in God, the reason that there is no one greater, is that He has this ability to simply forgive. He forgives and then loves on you - harder than He did before you even walked away.

I experienced that this weekend.

Happy New Year!

It's a brand new year!

I haven't blogged since November of 2010. I think it's time to start writing again. :)