March 30 So blessed

Monday:  After such a lovely weekend, I just have to journal what's in my heart about all of it. 

Deuteronomy 30.6 NLT:  "The LORD your God will cleanse your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul, so that you may live."

God gave me this verse last Mother's Day (May 2025) and I have prayed this for my family almost every day since. 

I am seeing the Lord answer this prayer, and it gives me great hope that He will continue to work in my heart and those that I love. A CLEAN heart! Free from the chains of sin, doubt, shame, condemnation, self-righteousness, unbelief ... to truly love the Lord, and truly find the life that is TRULY life.

Chris and Ella stopped by Saturday night and ended up hanging out here for three hours. We didn't play any games, we just sat and talked. It was a very encouraging conversation--why? Because I see the Lord working in their lives! Some of our conversation was very sad and some of it was quite "dark" ... because of questions that they asked about my "history", but I am going to trust that the Lord will only have them remember what would be beneficial for them in the future. It was good to have an honest conversation and some "confession" on my part. I'm not proud of many of the decisions I made in my life, and I won't make excuses for those decisions. I'm just thankful that the Lord has taken all of our sins upon Himself, crucified them, and since He rose again from the dead, He can give us new life where we are CLEAN and WHOLE and of service in His great kingdom.

To add more to my joy from the weekend--starting with the nice overnight I had with Aidan Paul, guess who sat with me in church yesterday morning? Emma! There are no words for me to express how happy I was all throughout the worship service listening to her voice sing praise to our Lord, watching as she took careful notes throughout the sermon, and then visiting for an hour after the service with her. I love her so much. I am so thankful the Lord has given her a true hunger for Him and for the teaching of His Word. God is so wonderfully good, isn't He? Emma told me that she hopes to attend the Good Friday service with Dakota coming too--AND Easter Sunday morning. 

"Lord--please heal Dakota of the deep wounds in his heart from people's abuse, some too dark to even disclose (but not his fault). Only YOU can meet the deep needs of our hearts. Only YOU can take away the shame of abuse and give us new life. Please, by Your Spirit, give new and eternal life to Kota."

I also went to the PRAISE Palm Sunday service last night at Calvary. WOW. The rafters nearly blew off the church from the sincere praise that arose. What a wonderful way to close out a super-blessed weekend. Thank you so much, Lord.