God's Highest Calling

Recently, God has been nudging me, "Strive to reach the highest calling in your life." 

What is my highest calling? How can I live it out? So often I am reminded, you only have ONE life to live, so live it to the fullest . . . live it sold out COMPLETELY for God. But what does this look like? 

God has been speaking to me about simplicity. If I live a simple lifestyle in what I own, then I can have more time for God. I desire to hold all that I own with an open hand - to have less and to give more. Because it's only going to be mine for a short time. And instead, I want to live a life SOO opposite of simplicity in my walk with God -- I desire it to be rich, full, and inviting . . . 

I think of my Opa (Grandpa). He is living his life sold out for God. As a young boy, he felt called to live his life in missions. And to this day, that is where he is. For over fifty years Opa has been faithfully living in the north, serving God. I often think Opa and Oma have more energy then me, and they're almost EIGHTY! But they just keep going. They are following God's highest calling in their lives, and they plan to until the day they die. Opa is leaving a legacy behind of faithfulness. He's faithful to God's highest calling in his life. I am inspired to live my life in the same way. Eric and I desire to give our lives to serve God in the mission field -- following HIM wherever He calls us.

I'm not sure where God is taking Eric and I. But there is one thing I know, I don't want to live my life any less than striving to reach God's highest calling and standard. This life is too short to be wasted. It's so easy to be caught up in the distractions of life - especially technology. But God calls us to a higher standard than the distractions of this world. And my heart's cry is to have less and less of the distractions of this world, and more and more of God.

God has been bringing to me over and over again this song that speaks into my heart so deeply. As I read the words to the following song, I'm often brought to tears, and chills run up and down my spine. This is the highest calling God is calling me to. This is the life He is calling me to live. I am made for much, much, MUCH more than this, and God is trying to awake the kingdom seed in me!

Build Your Kingdom Here

Come, set Your rule and reign

In our hearts again

Increase in us we pray

Unveil why we're made

Come, set our hearts ABLAZE with hope

Like wildfire in our very souls

Holy Spirt come invade us now

We are Your church

We need Your power in us

We seek Your kingdom first

 We hunger and we thirst

REFUSE to waste our lives

For You're our joy and prize

To see the captives hearts released

The hurt, the sick, the poor at peace

We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause

We are Your church

We pray: REVIVE this earth

Build Your kingdom here

Let the darkness fear

Show Your mighty hand

HEAL our streets and land

Set Your church on fire

Win the nation back

Change the atmostphere

Build Your kingdom here

We pray

Unleash Your kingdom power

Reaching the near and far

No force of Hell can stop

YOUR BEAUTY CHANGING HEARTS
YOU MADE US FOR MUCH MORE THAN THIS

Awake the kingdom seed in us

Fill us with the strength and love of Christ

We are Your church

We are the HOPE on earth

In my devotions this morning, God brought these words to me, "I am confident in WHO I am in Christ! And I am confident in WHERE I am going!" My desire is to follow God's highest calling in my life, and to live it no less. I only have one short life to live, and with God's help, I desire to live it to the fullest.

~Clarissa

Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone . . . and with it such lovely times with friends & family. Instead of saying too many words this time -- I thought I'd share some pictures of my wonderful Christmas memories. 

Christmas candy making 

& wonderful talks with this dear friend.

 Our husbands joined us after work for . . .

supper & games :-)

the gifts . . . piled.

we celebrated Christmas with the Bylers

the weekend before Christmas . .. 

my sweet niece . . .

 and then Christmas eve . . .

we started our own Christmas traditions . . .

our VERY first Christmas married.

Yahhh!!

reading the Christmas story . . .

 then we made a last minute decision . . .

to head up to my family Christmas eve . . . 

and surprise them :-)

(they were expecting us for brunch Christmas morning).

It was FUN!

preparing Christmas day brunch.

ALL together again <3

 opening gifts . . .

snowmobiling :-) 

Christmas supper with my family.

my padre with Eddie.

boot hockey Christmas evening . . .

and then Saturday it was off to Dryden . . .

to be with the Schnupps!

And that's all . . . I hope you all had a blessed Christmas! 

Instead of Asking, "Why?"

Can I say, "Your will be done, LORD." 
Instead of asking, "Why?"

I was challenged with this thought from the pastor at a local church yesterday. It's so easy to say, "Why me?" or "Why did you put THIS into my life, God?" or "Why do I have to face another big thing?" Why? Why? Why? But is that how God wants me to respond? Does He want me to take every little and big struggle and trial in life and say, "Why, why, why?" Or is He calling me instead to say, "God, YOU'RE in control. YOU can see the big picture. I cannot. YOUR will be done."

The speaker asked the question, "Can you trust God with the ABNORMAL trials in life?" Can I? Isn't that scary sometimes? Isn't it easier for me to take it into my own hands, to try to find the answers to the "why's" without God? Because if I have control of my world, than it's safe. Right? But, NO! That's exactly opposite of what God wants. He doesn't want me to have the answers, to make my little world feel safe, to take the abnormal trials and try to make them right on my own. He wants me to trust HIM! He wants me to humbly, yes, HUMBLY give it all to Him. Why is that, so often, SO hard?

Can I let El Shaddai--God Almighty--take care of the abnormal trials in life? Because to Him they are not abnormal, they are NORMAL! He can handle them.

The speaker spoke on Job. He had so many big and abnormal trials in life. His wife told him to "curse God and die." But did he? No. Instead, He humbly came before God . . . can I do as Job did?

I am encouraged by the verse in Isaiah 40:31:

But those who hope in the LORD shall renew their
strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they
will run and not grow weary, they will walk and
not be faint.

Can I hope in El Shaddai--God Almighty--and trust Him in the abnormal trials and situations in my life? For then He shall renew my strength. 

Instead of asking, "Why," can I instead say, "Your will be done."

[photo taken in August 2015 in Bemidji, MN].

~Clarissa

Gratitude

Recently I was listening to a sermon online, as the speaker spoke on the subject, "Be Anxious for Nothing." As a woman, my thoughts can so often swing to worry rather than trust. As the speaker brought out in his message, take your worries and anxieties to Jesus in prayer, and in turn you will have peace . . . the peace OF God. He closed his message with a verse in I Peter 5, "Cast your anxieties (cares) on the LORD." He went on to say that this "cast" was the same word that was used for the action of the sailors in the book of Acts when Paul was aboard the ship and a storm came up. In order to lighten the ship, they threw (cast) their cargo overboard. The speaker ended with these words, "We can't simply throw our cares away unless we have a God who can shoulder them for us. And we do." What power behind those words! Wow.

But an overall point of the message that really stood out to me was the word gratitude. The speaker discussed how your prayers should be overflowing with gratitude--begin with gratitude, have gratitude throughout the prayer, and end with gratitude. 

Is gratitude a big part of my prayers?

I need more gratitude in my life. I need more gratitude in my prayer life. Gratitude for who God is, gratitude for the attributes of God, gratitude for what God does for me and what God has given me. I am grateful for each breath that I take, each moment that I am alive. I am grateful for each opportunity God places in my life to bless others. And I am grateful for my family.

We had a wonderful weekend with my family in Kenora. On the way home my husband said to me, "I love being with your family. Feelings are just out there and everyone is in tune with their feelings and it allows me to feel more in tune with the group as a whole. No one is stuffing something inside. It's so freeing to be yourself. It makes weekends together enjoyable, fun, and easy. It's a safe place to be because hurts never get big before they are talked about." As Eric spoke, his words hit me. It can be so easy to just take my family for granted. Yet, God's calling me to be grateful. And so my heart is overflowing with gratitude today towards my God who has blessed me with such a close-knit, wonderful family. I'm grateful for the "safe place" my family provides. I'm grateful for parents who love me, who put so much time and energy into me as I grew up, and who still invest so much into my life. I'm grateful for siblings who are my best friends. I'm grateful for my husband's insight and words that so often help me to see things in life and in my family that I tend to take for granted. And most of all I'm thankful I have a God who deserves ALL my gratitude!

Today I'm grateful for the gift of family.

tennis matches . . .

The building of another tree stand . . .

Back yard disc golf 

[hey, you gotta do what you gotta do when . . . 

Kenora doesn't have a course :-)]

an early thanksgiving supper . . .

missing kayla . . .

wathching the brother & husband . . . 

play late night hockey . . . 

a surprise party for . . .

my "grandpa" [neighbour] Merv.

and the only picture of US this weekend!

Love this man!!