It's Been A Long Time

Have you ever noticed how people (much like myself) start a blog and don't keep up with it?  Well, I've ventured back here to recommit to penning my thoughts and such in this space online.  So much has happened since I've last posted...I've got a new puppy, Parker.  He's fabulous. Slightly moody and has his on "dogality" but he's a perfect match for me.  I enjoy him so very much.  I'm also working on my MBA as well as working at the University of Rio Grande as an Admissions Rep.  I love my job!  Getting to travel, meet new families and help people go to college is a rewarding and fun job.  I LOVE the people I meet and actually find traveling some helps break up the mundane day in and day out office stuff.  

One day at a time I am learning that the Creator of the Universe loves me and wants to influence my life and I am always changing into a better me because of Him.  I plan on this next year being a good one... and just so you know I do that every year and it rarely disappoints. Be blessed and change the little world around you if you can.

Brooke  

A Rainbow of Promise

It isn't too often that I really believe God grants me a tangible sign of His presence and protection. Not that I don't believe He is always there it is just that this morning on my early morning drive to work He gave me a special reminder of His awesome interest in my life. He gave me a rainbow.
Ya know, I have seen rainbows before but this morning it was more of a gift for me. At least, I will take it that way. When I refreshed my memory of the first recorded time that God gave someone a rainbow I was blessed by the significance that this rainbow means to me this fall day in October. Noah received the first rainbow...He and his kids and God even told him it was a covenant with all of mankind...so that means you and me were on God's heart way back then as well.
In Genesis 9:15-16, God told Noah and his sons, “And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”
What a beautiful symbol of God's covenant with us and His promise of hope and protection. This is especially dear to me today because I am so grateful for the hope of newness and purpose in my life and you never know today could be the day of a covenant made between me and the God of the universe that will never be soon forgotten! I encourage you to look for Him in everything. I am sure that God has blessed me with many gifts over the years but how can we recognize them if we aren't looking for them. Look for Him in all you do...He is right there, I promise and He has a gift for you too!!

Did God REALLY say that?

Since the beginning of sin’s entrance into the perfect world the lie began as a simple question to Adam and Eve, “Did God really say that?” I can almost hear the whispered voice and the doubting thoughts that Eve and Adam started to entertain. I thought about how today my very hope filled- Christ centered life can often take me on a unfaithful detour with Satan himself as my tour guide as he whispers those very words that he used from the beginning to confuse and provoke mankind. See the more I become aware of his tactics (they aren’t anything new or modern by any means…I don’t believe Satan has used one ounce of his time and thoughts on reinventing the wheel…unlike many of us do) the more quickly I can respond and the better prepared I am to face him with the truth I know and the new person I am because of Christ blood and sacrifice.

We walk not as children of LIGHT and as over comers but rather we walk as defeated people…just like the world. We are no longer set apart or living lives of purpose. We become interested in what the world thinks of us and what their scale may say about our lives and our focus. We are to please ourselves and then make others happy and that should be enough. That is never enough. Christ is the only enough I can think of…

Everyday, at some point or another, I hear a whisper that says something along the lines of “Did God really say that, Brooke?” Did he REALLY say you were wonderfully made? You think He REALLY meant that you are called into ministry? You couldn’t possibly think He REALLY intended for you to be a leader right, you are more of a follower? See Satan doesn’t have to TELL me I am anything. He just plants a thought. A simple question is all he asks. And then I take it from there. Maybe I am not enough. Maybe He didn’t think I was wonderful…I mean I have changed from what He created me to be? I am not ENOUGH. I will NEVER BE ENOUGH.

My purpose seems so distant and unclear that just maybe Satan is onto something. I realized something Satan can’t deny. God didn’t have to say crap. He did (don’t get me wrong) but I have always been a big believer in “actions speak louder than words” and that is what I am talking about here. Romans 5:8 puts it this way “But God DEMONSTRATES his own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God DID something about this haunting question that Satan uses to distract and defeat and kill His people. Rather than just be a pansy like Satan and question humankind I will demonstrate and show them my love in such a form that they can’t refute. Even though these people can do nothing for me I will give them the biggest gift I can think of. I miss my people and want to have a relationship with them and yet while they are of no worth to me I want to provide them accessibility to me. I will give them the way to find me and in that search find life. The Message version puts that verse this way, “But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”

He didn’t have to do this. He wouldn’t and still hasn’t gained anything from this ordeal. He put His love, His all, everything that meant anything to Him on the line to only OFFER us something.