All I Want for Christmas, is YOU...

I am in this weird transition season in my life right now, where I feel the ending of something and the beginning of something else, with zero idea when this shift will happen or what it will look like. I have felt these sort of transitions ever since I became a Christian. Sometimes it feels like what most people experience over several years, I am experiencing every few months--growing pangs in my spirit, questioning my every move in life to make sure it aligns with God, seeking His plan and will for me, asking the "why am I here's" and the "where do I go's"...it is unsatisfying, frustrating, and a very, very hard time for me right now.

Still, I have to remind myself to trust God and rest assured He not only has a plan for my life, but for every moment of my life. He has His mighty hand in every moment of my life....even the times, like now, that I do not have a clue what I am supposed to be doing. So, I simply must wait...and learn to hang on to the things that bring me JOY. One of those things being, DREAMING!!!

There is no better time to dream, in my opinion, than CHRISTMAS time! Tonight I bought the Michael Buble Christmas cd (the best investment I have made ALL year hands down) and instantly, I was thrust into a world of enchantment. His soothing voice, jazzy instruments, and magical versions of my very favorite Christmas songs sent my spirit twirling into it's own little world. A world where I am dancing in the snow, catching snowflakes on my tongue. A world where I am ice skating in a Thomas Kincaid portrait. A world where I am in my childhood home, decorating my house for Santa with my daddy and my sister. A world where everything is MAGIC. This world, for me, is CHRISTMAS time. (And by Christmas time, I mean basically starting now and lasting until after New Year's--although, I wish the magic of Christmas could last year round!)

While lost in my own little whimsical world, I was able to DREAM---dream like I haven't in a very long time. And it was wonderful. I feel closest to God and most like He created me to be when I am dreaming big dreams. My dreams looked like this--a Christmas Time Bucket List. And although silly, and highly unlikely that NONE of it will happen...I figure, hey, if all we have in this world is our dreams then I might as well give it a try. Who knows....maybe the magic of Christmas Time will sweep into my dreams and grant me the deepest desires of my heart!! So...here it goes:

1. I wish to dance in the snow with someone I love.

2. I wish to have full days where I do not have to work and all I am responsible for is watching Christmas movies with my sister, drinking hot cocoa, laughing hard, crying some, and loving every minute.

3. I wish to shop with my family in the horrific chaos that is Black Friday-for there are no better Christmas memories than tackling this feat!

4. I wish to listen to the best Christmas music, while decorating a house/tree, singing at the top of my lungs, and dancing in Christmas pajamas.

5. I wish to read a Christmas story to a precious child, and watch as the magic I feel for this wonderful time spreads to their heart, too.

6. I wish to be driving home on a very cold, enchanted winter night, turn on Delilah and hear my favorite Christmas song!

7. I wish to give a very special and meaningful gift to someone who needs it.

8. I wish to sing with my church family at our Southwest Family Christmas and continue spreading the Christmas cheer.

9. I wish to carol beautifully in the downtown park during the Christmas parade, joined by those in the crowd, wishing to send the enchanted melodies high into the crisp night air.

10. I wish to have an enchanted experience with community during the community production of "A Christmas Carol"--maybe even getting to share Jesus with people I am serving alongside, who might not truly understand why this holiday is so important.

11. I wish to see someone accept Jesus Christ and take Him on as Lord and Savior.

12. I want to witness a God-encounter (whether my own, or someone else's)

13. I wish to fall in love...and I wish for the very first time in my life to be truly kissed under a mistletoe, or when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.

14. I wish to make snowmen and snow angels with all 3 of my sisters.

15. I wish to drive around looking at Christmas lights with my family, listening to the Veggie Tales Christmas album (because they tell me it's so amazing!)

16. I wish to come out of this holiday season with more patience, more love, more compassion, and more of what will make me more like my Love, Jesus Christ.

17. I truly wish that after the holiday season I will be more at peace accepting the things I do not know, and live each day serving and loving the best I can, while waiting on the Lord to tell me what to do next.

18. I wish to hold hands with the man I know I will spend the rest of my life with.

19. I wish to laugh so hard I cry.

20. I wish to ring in the new year in love, with love, and learning learn. For love is the human project, and the ONLY thing in this world that truly matters.

Dreaming is good for the soul. Some of these things will happen, and many of them won't. But regardless, this is in my deepest heart of hearts--an enchanted and magical capsule that my truest self lies. People always ask me about being so creative all the time, or if it gets tiring using my imagination all of the time...and honestly, this is the person I was created to be. And when I am magical, whimsical, enchanted, creative, imaginative Meg-I am being as true to myself as I can be. And in that truth, I get closer and closer to the heart of God-for, He formed me after His own heart. I encourage you all to DREAM this holiday season. Recognize that sure, some of those dreams might not come true, but the dream is worth it either way.

Dream a little dream for me....

In Him,

Meg

The Power of 20 !!!

So....it is 2am and I am very ready to go to bed. But I try to be a good steward of the gifts God has given me, one if which is this ability to connect to people via my blogs. He asks me to write what I write (when I fully surrender and let Him speak through me that is...hey, I am human!) so this blog is going to be short and sweet and hopefully to His point.

As I was driving in my car this afternoon listening to kLove, I heard about Michelle Duggar being pregnant with her 20th child. The hosts of the show (Christians on a Christian network) were very excited for them! And I found myself being happy for them as well. I didn't think anything more of it, until coming home late tonight and looking on Facebook at all the negative comments and statuses about this very issue.

I was shocked that so many people seemed so very aggressive about this story! The thing is, say, 2 years ago-when I wasn't a Christian-I was probably one of those people. I probably judged Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar thinking things like, they are only doing this for money, they are endangering each new child's life by putting Michelle's body through this, they are robbing the other kids of a better family experience-blah, blah, blah. (Much like the statuses and comments I was reading from others tonight.)

I have watched the show, as often as I can, and what I see is a kind-hearted, loving and compassionate family who seek to be many lights in this very dark world. They are always looking for ways to love, ways to serve, people to connect with, experiences to have, and new ways to enjoy one another's company as well as enjoying the life and talents given to them by God. I have heard Michelle and Jim Bob speak several times via television and radio and internet, and I have absolutely NOTHING but amazing things to say about the heart that is behind this couple. They believe in marriage and family, and are leading such a Christ-like life that it is producing children that are growing up leading lives as similar. Children who will also grow up believing in the power and sanctity of marriage! The Duggars are being raised the way children should be raised. I say that without one single ounce of doubt or discernment in my heart to tell me otherwise.

The way I look at it is this. Babies are miracles and gifts from God. The Duggars are VERY careful in protecting and teaching and loving the miracles they have been given-all 20 of them. And THAT means that when those 20 miracles grow up and have their own miracles, they will continue a cycle not of brokenness (like most today)....but of LOVE. Having 20 more Duggars on this planet means 20 more marriages that are most likely to succeed, 20 more missionaries fighting locally and internationally to bring the kingdom of Heaven here on earth, 20 PLUS more children who will then grow up that same way, and so on and so forth.

I have been learning about this business of MLM...Multi-level Marketing. This is where you are not only responsible for the sales you generate but for the people that you sponsor into being responsible for their sales and the people they recruit or sponsor, and so on and so forth. I have recently been introduced to this magic number of 5. You get 5 serious people, they each get 5 serious people, and those people each get 5 people and BOOM!! (credit to Taylor Nelson) Before you know it you have hundreds of people under you. Where I am still skeptical (as any adult would be) of this business strategy for my own financial gain, I am CERTAIN that in the Duggar world (and for this particular blog and example) it WORKS!!

You send 20 Duggars out who all love Jesus, who believe in living their life to truly follow him by loving others and showing compassion in today's world, who also all have been shown the work it takes to run a household, and the time/energy it takes in being a successful partner in a marriage---You then duplicate that by...ALOT when you consider their spouses, their in-laws, their children, their friends, their children's children, their grandkids, etc etc! They are making an ETERNAL IMPACT on this world.

Michelle Duggar has said many times., "we always have room for one more." And she is right. I think it would be a different story if they were producing satan loving heathens into a society that is already demented, then I could see where the world is a little hesitant on being released another Duggar. But that isn't the case here. And we should all be so lucky I think to be blessed to have another one in our lives...whether we know them personally, or are just observing their lives from far away. It's Multi-level Duggaring people and it WORKS!!!

Besides....it's really nobody's business what they do with their lives :)

In Him,

Meg

As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem.....

So the Lord surrounds his people.

I took a trip to Idaho last week to visit some amazing people there who are starting a new church. I have never been to that part of the country before, so it was my very first time getting to see God's beauty like that. From the plane I noticed the amazing mountains, and then little to my surprise, where I stayed was surrounded by those same mountains. One of the little girl's that I met while visiting the church said "the mountains protect us"....interesting. Of course my brain was in "blog-mode" as I was leaving Boise, so naturally I noticed one of the most amazing things on my flight out, that I feel compelled to share with you this morning.

My first flight left Boise about 6:30 am and flew to Salt Lake City (about 45 minutes) and then from there I headed home. During my first short flight, it was still pitch black dark outside-too early for the sun. As we were in the air, the light of the sun (not the sun itself) decided to make an appearance. I didn't think anything of it at all. All I really had on my mind was the extreme turbulence we had been experiencing the whole time. We were flying through nothing but thick could coverage. Clouds that made a line it seemed like. At the top of the line, where we were as I noticed this, it was light and you could see the amazing view of the tips of the mountains. It was so serene and beautiful that I thought to myself "this must be what Heaven is like!" But every now and then our small plane would fly just below the clouded line, where it was still pitch black dark, and all you could see were the bottoms of the mountains. "WHOA!" I thought to myself as I looked out the window, "did I just see that?"

Back up we went for a few minutes, in the light, near the tops of the mountains, and then the captain came on to announce our descent. "Surely, it will be light when we land." And it wasn't. We descended from light and from beauty and from the tops of the mountains....to darkness, the bottom of a valley, to the bustling and waking up of the busy busy world.

I can't help but think this is what our walk with God looks like so often. One season we are flying above the clouds, at the top of a mountain or spiritual high, covered in light. And the next we are surrounded by darkness because we made a descent that leaves us wondering "how did we get here?" and we seem as far away from the top of the mountain as ever. I think, though, that the most important part of this picture God showed me on the plane ride, is the TURBULENCE.

We had to cross a line of clouds that shook us and jumbled us in order to go down. This is awareness. Recognizing the things in your life that you are doing or surrounding yourself with that are shaking you to your core, and ultimately leading you to your descent. Turbulence is inevitable for the way down. Those who are in tune with living the lifestyle God wants you to live, should recognize the turbulence when things get off kilter-those things shake us so that we straighten back up and fly above the clouds. But just like there is turbulence on the way down, there is also turbulence on the way up. A presence of spirits who do not want you to successfully be at the top of that mountain. They are shaking us, tempting us, taunting us, mocking us, and most importantly, deceiving us. Turbulence. You feel it on the way up, and you feel it on the way down.

During that short 45 minute flight, was one of the only times as a plane riding passenger I really remember feeling such turbulence. And in the safety and comfort of this metaphor God was placing in my head I remember thinking "this pilot is trained and knows exactly what to do. I trust him.".....and after that, the shaking and the bumps and the jerking, didn't really bother me as much. If God is in control, true control, of our lives...then shouldn't we trust him during our turbulence? Shouldn't we take into account that He knows what He is doing, and even though we can't see Him, if we surrender to Him, He will successfully guide our plane to it's rightful destination?

Don't let the turbulence throw you this week. I encourage you to take a look at the things shaking up your life, and pray about them. Figure out if it's the enemy trying to get you to descend into the valley using your own weaknesses against you. Or maybe it is simply you getting in your own way. Whatever it happens to be, rest assured that you are a child of God and He is flying your plane, preparing you for a life of kingdom serving until one day He can take you home.