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Friday, April 30, 2010

Credit

Dear readers,
Last night my mom, my sister and I stopped by a plave to listen to music. We didn't spend much time there but in the time we did spend a girl got up to sing a song and then afterwards she said that it was written by Joh Maher. But it wasn't, it was just covered by him. It also is an extremely famous song and the original was much more successful, and yet the credit was give to the guy who covered it. I feel like sometimes something similar happens in our lives. So much time people give credit to themselves for something that God did. But really they just helped it along or discovered it. SOmetimes when people say "That was great how did you do that?" About a testimony, or overcoming something or a huge number of other things we take the credit for ourselves. I am not saying that we never do anything but I think that so much of the time we give credit to humans for stuff that they didn't do. And that isn't bad in itself but it gets to the point we forget that all of the work was actually done by God! A weather man doesn't control the weather he just observes it and channels it to us. I guess that is a similar point. Let us remeber God in everything we do!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Storm

Dear readers,
Today in morning prayer we got the reading from Matthew 8 about where Jesus calmed the storm on the sea. The boat is swamping and the disciples run to Jesus who is asleep bellow deck. They wake him up, frightened for their lives, and he says "oh you of little faith." Wow. It seems that he should have said "oh my goodness! Let me help!" but no, just, you of little faith. It makes you wonder huh? After he says this he does go up and rebuke the waves and wind to calm the sea and they were amazed. But Jesus wanted them to be so filled with faith in him to not even worry. Jonathan, a missionary, commented that what would have happened if one of the disciples had gone down and napped with Jesus? They would have woken up a while later from a good nap, but instead they worried. It is just like us to, amidst a storm in our lives, to worry, be preoccupied about ourselves. Of course this is natural and not always a bad thing but Jesus wants us to have enough faith in him not to worry. He is God and he knew there was a storm and yet he chose to stay sleeping. If we could just trust that he has it under control, which he does, the worry would vanish. Since there would be no reason left to worry, that is only if we truly believe. I say I know that Jesus is in control but when the storm comes i get around to saying "hey Jesus, heads up I am not OK." And he already knows! What would happen if we went down under and napped with Jesus? Just perfectly content to be with him in full knowledge that with him we are alright? I can not answer that question, the reason being that I have never done it. But I think we should try!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sheep

Dear readers,
Something that the priest said in mass today really touched me. He was commenting on how Jesus calls us his sheep and he our shepard. I know this. My grandpa loves the image of Jesus as the good shepard and I do too. But he said something different. When we think of sheep we don't think strong, we don't thank smart or courageous. We think of something that is simple and docile something that is obedient and loving. And if you take a sheep away and let it roam it gets lost. It is helpless and it can't find it's way back alone. Unlike dogs and cats that can get lost and eventually wonder back a sheep wouldn't do that. Just because it couldn't. Not without help. And yet we are Jesus sheep, not his wolves or his super-powered warriors, just sheep. And I know I wouldn't want to be a sheep without a Shepard, but thankfully I don't need to be. Because Jesus is my shepperd! Praise God, huh? And even though we are his simple sheep, he loves us and knows us by name. He is our shepard and protector! Praise God!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Friday, April 23, 2010

At all costs

Dear readers,
I am reading through the acts of the apostles. I love it! To see how our church began and how valiant in preaching the gospel all of the saints were is truly inspiring. But, one thing in particular is sticking out to me throughout the whole thing and that is how fearless and unafraid they were to preach! St. Paul, knew it best of all because he himself used to persecute the Christians. And yet he preached and proclaimed valiantly. Reading about Martyrs always inspires me. I say I would die for Jesus, but would I? I don't think I will ever know unless I am confronted by the situation. Yeah, I am and have been persecuted but that is different. That consists of pride, my own concern with reputation, not my life. Would I, Alyse, die for Christ? I can only hope so. "For me life is Christ and death is gain." I want to live that. Of course I HIGHLY doubt that, I, or any of you will be martyred but there is always a possibility. And I guess my point is, like those before us, those who founded our faith they had something different. They were so unafraid! I want to be like that. I want when people to see me and hear me just to know that I am ready to die for Jesus because that is how strongly I believe in what I say and because, if that is necessary, that is the most I can do and I am willing to do it. Please pray that God gives me the courage to die for him if ever needed and to live for him every day!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Monday, April 19, 2010

Come and see

Dear readers,
Right now at FMC we are having what we call a "come and see". It is where people discerning to be missionaries can come and see Fmc and all that it is about. We have a family here with six kids, an engaged couple and one single guy. I am so blessed to see 2 familiar faces in the group! I am also blessed that everyone looks happy and blessed to be here! Please be praying that if God is calling them to be missionaries (or maybe you too) that they would answer his call! I am praying fo rall of ya'll daily! I need to go now but God bless!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Childlike

Dear readers,
A couple of days ago I went and helped my friend babysit a little missionary girl named Maria. When we tucked her in something she said truly touched me. She thanked God for all that she had that really spoke to me then she prayed for discernment in her vocation. Wow. This little girl of six years old is praying for her vocationa lready. Talk about being a step ahead. Even I don't always remember to pray for that and I just started doing it recently. The faith with which she asked God for her simple intentions and thanked him so sincerley made me know without a doubt that God was so proud. I could feel just a little bit of how precious she was in his sight. It made me understand why Jesus loved the little children! Of course I do too but it is just so amazing the way that she loves him. I am praying that I can be as trusting in God and as faith filled as Maria is! There is so much we can learn from children! There are so many things that we should turn to and resort to that children do naturally! I just wanted to share that with ya'll!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Real LIfe

Dear readers,
In morning prayer this morning we got a wonderful reading. I don't know exactly where it was from but it went something like this "the spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life." And I started to think. You cannot bring something that is alive to life, in order for something to be brought to life it must be dead. And if we need to be brought to life that means we are dead. But, if we have his spirit we can be brought to life, of course eternal life but also to be able to be alive on Earth. If you could be dead or alive which would it be? I highly doubt any of us would choose to be dead. We must live! If God has given us time on Earth let us use it instead of being put to waste. And if our spirit is alive than it doesn't matter if our bodies die because they will continue living. We must live our lives awake and alive and not the opposite because that is what we are made to do. Our souls are made to be as flexible and active and cared for as our bodies and even more! My sister made a wonderful point. Every morning we wake up and worry about what to wear, and sometimes we worry about what we will wear tomorrow or in a week or sometimes even more. But when our loved ones die we don't go to their grave every day and change their clothes! We don't say "I wonder what I will dress my husband in tomorrow." And yet our bodies are as good as dead and we don't worry about our spiritual welfare. Our souls may be suffocating inside of us and yet we worry whether green or yellow looks best with our skin tone or what we will eat or where we will sleep. I am praying for all of you! Thank you so much for reading.
Peace and Love in Christ Jesus,
Alyse

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Rainbows and wonder

Dear readers,
On my caming trip I was surounded with breathtaking beauty. I was totally blown away once more by God's love for us, so much and to the great extent that he created natuer not only to give us life, but to let it create moments that forever encrypt themselves into our memories and rock our worlds! One night I decided to go out to the end of our peninsula and sit on a wonderful rock overlooking the lake. I opened my Bible and read until the light was no longer bright enough to lend itself to that purpose. So I closed my Bible and decided to sit and be with God. After about 2 minutes one of th emost beautiful things I have ever seen happened. The lake turned rainbow, flooding out of the black tree line and creating layers of red, orange, green, blue, and violet. The water was painted in the most radiant beautiful colors that God created. Then, over the tree line, the sky was rainbow as well. The red touching the tree line and the other colors progressing up into the open sky and turning black where one single star glittered brilliantly in the sky. I was going to run for a camera but didn' because I might have missed this glorious scene and because I knew that a picture wouldn't do this justice! So I sat, the sky was held in this beautiful state for about 2 minutes then slowly drifted into a star filled night. I know with utmost certainty that I will remember this for as long as I live. And as I sat there I wondered how any one could look upon this and simply think "Oh what a lovely phenomenon of nature." And not feel deep in their heart the truth that God had painted that scene from the beging of time. As I sat on that rock and stared breathlessly at that lake I knew that, that was one of the most precious memories of my life. I walked away feeling as if I was floating and just writing about it again makes my heart swell.
Our heavenly father loves us! He doesn't love us with leftover love or his surplus, he loves us with his whole heart. And he is dying to show it to us. He is reaching out in every way possible to get that message through! Have a super blessed day!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Camping









Dear readers,
I had such an unbeleivably blessed time camping! I can truly say that is was a totally blessed time! I can say this in spite of catching popcorn on fire and almost burning our campsite, sleeping in the freezing cold, swiming in an icy yellowish lake and smelling of smoke the whole time. While I was there I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and love. I came to understand just a little bit better why God loves nature so much! I felt like our time was divinely arranged and was enjoyed to the absolute fullest. There are so many things I could write about, I could tell stories that fill pages or I could just try to capture a little bit of what I felt and fill novels. But since a picture is worth a thousand words I will share some of them with you! I do plan to post on my experience but I will have ot do that later! Have a super blessed day! God bless!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse

Thursday, April 8, 2010

You are all I want

Dear readers,
yesterday at mission formation we sang the song the goes "you are all I want, you are all I ever need..." and something jumped out at me for the first time ever. I have known that song for so many years and yet the line "you are all I want" never meant anything to me. As I was singing the song I was overwhelmed with the sense of truth, the truth that I was singing. And I realized, God is all I want. God has given us free will and hearts that can want and desire things. And the fact that God is all we want is true. In life, as humans our desire is for happiness, love, confidence, security and freedom. Now, with all of those things that we want and search for in so many different, and often times false, ways the thing we long for the most is ultimately God. We add superfluous fluff around the edges and lie to ourselves saying that God isn't complete satisfaction, that maybe if I get that shirt or that house or that car I will be satisfied. And yet we can receive all of these things and thousands more and be totally and utterly miserable. God is all we want, God is all we need! And guess what, he has given it to us! Love, freedom, satisfaction happiness and confidence is ours. Only maybe we have pushed the gift aside and let it gather dust. If you send a person a gift and they let is sit in their mailbox the gift is theirs it is just unused and undiscovered. Why don't you reach out for It? Reach out, receive and be satisfied.
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Oh I am sorry if I can't post for a couple of days I am going camping with my family!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter

Dear readers,
Yesterday was a truly blessed Easter! I love Easter, it is so blessed and wonderful. But something particularly struck out to me yesterday. As I heard the reading of the Resurrection for the second time I realized something I had known before but not always acknowledged. OK, so everyone is born. And of course we celebrate Jesus's birth on Christmas. But look at how few people rose from the dead. very few. And yet Jesus even one upped them because not only did he rise from the dead then he ascended into heaven! It is so beautiful. What a story huh? Easter Sunday isn't about stuffing yourself with pound of chocolate or wearing nice spring colored clothing it is about true joy! It is about the conquer of death, let me repeat that, the conquer of death! Because our God wasn't just hung on a cross to save us he descended into hell and then he rose from the dead! Our God is an awesome God! And Easter is a perfect time to come into perfect happiness and bliss with that knowledge! Praise God for his wondrous deeds alleluia!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse

Friday, April 2, 2010

Good Friday

Dear readers,
Today is good Friday. It always has struck me as strange as to why the saddest day of the year is called "good". Why no mournful or sorrowful? And then I thought, can't sad things be good as well? Are we in a world where sad=bad or good=happy? It seems so a lot of the time. But it is far from true. Going off into missions, leaving your family and friends is sad but it is also good! And the most generous, good, loving thing happened today about 2010 years ago. Christ died for us on a cross. Humiliated, beaten, bloody and torn to save us and allow us to dwell eternally with him! What is more good than that?
My family and I went to the living way of the cross. And even seeing a college aged student wearing clothes covered with red marker lines and a wooden crown made my heart wring. I am not one for anything cheesy, but yet that was not possibly an adjective that you could place on this. Rather, because I new it was real and it is my love story, everyone's love story, it broke my heart. Thinking about approaching Christ, Jesus, The messiah with whips and nails is beyond something my heart can take. Why have I ever sinned? Why have I let temptation nail my Lord to the cross? Why even though I am painfully aware will I fall into it again? And why, even though he by no means deserved it, did Jesus allow himself to get killed for me?
So many questions I can't truly answer, except the last one. And the answer is Love. Raw, overflowing, pressed down, unmeasurable love, of the purest kind. And in this case a big wooden cross is it's symbol.
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse