Celebrating my Beautiful Friend

I wish I could be with my beautiful friend, Brittany, today...give her a hug & tell her in person how blessed I & countless others are by her being born this day! God has so graciously allowed me to do life with this amazing young woman...only He could know exactly what I needed when He gifted my life with Brittany Ficek. Who knew several years ago, after meeting & a simple drop-in to Coldstone Creamery that she would become one of my dearest & closest sisters & friends! Her faith is fresh & steadfast...she is wise & mature beyond her years...she absolutely BEAUTIFUL...her heart is genuine & soft...she is compassionate & kind...she is confident...she stands on God's Truth for her identity & foundation...while she has known the Lord basically all her life, she is the walking testimony of faithfulness...she is an amazing, loving, & adoring wife...she is a servant to the core...she loves her family...she prays & worships passionately...she is a light shining brightly...she is fun & has a great sense of humor...she is so gifted & talented...she is reliable & loyal...she loves God's Word & seeks out ways to grow...she loves Christ with all that she is. She is such a wonderful friend to me...one of the best a girl could ever ask for! She knows me well & loves me anyways :) We have travelled the world together & then some...we have some of the most wonderful memories. She encourages me to be more like Christ in all areas of my life. She says the hard things in love & showers me with love & encouragement. She is this & so much more! Happy Birthday Britt--I love you--you are truly an amazing creation & daughter of the King!

19

Today--Christina Jewell turns 19--seems like she was just in middle school, when I met her! But now today, she is not a little middle schooler anymore, but stands as a beautiful young woman of God. I have had the blessing of knowing Chris for 6 years, but I love that it feels longer. Since she is 19 today, here are 19 things I love about Christina:

1-She loves Jesus. She wants to please Him & do His will above all else.

2-She is beautiful...her smile is amazing, lights up the place & brings joy!

3-She loves & wears flip-flops just as much as I do!
4-Her sense of humor...she shares my random, dry, sarcastic ways & can be goofy & silly, which is highly respectable to me.

5-She is faithful & consistent...it's my favorite part of her testimony, that she has stayed true to the Lord & who He has made her to be.

6-She knows her Bible...I admire her memorization skills & how she has God's Word in her heart.

7-She is a great big sister, daughter...she loves her family.

8-She has a wonderful voice & uses it to worship the Lord.

9-She is an encourager...I cannot tell you how much her words have affirmed me over the years...her cheerleading has spurred me on & kept me going many times.

10-She is a servant...she likes to stay quiet, behind the scenes, but she will serve however she can, even if it means getting out of her comfort zone.

11-She is smart!

12-She has grown up & matured in awesome ways, especially this last year with going to college.

13-She is great with kids--truly gifted in this area.

14-She seriously remembers EVERYTHING!

15-She reminds me of myself in ways when I was her age...we can relate well.

16-She is sweet & has a soft heart.

17-She is an amazing friend--she cares deeply for the people around her. She is sensitive & compassionate, a great listener.

18-She is not high maintenance at all...LOVE this.

19-She is strong & I admire her for it.

Happy Birthday dear Christina--may God bless you immeasurably this year!

Leslie Lou!

Today I celebrate my beautiful friend Leslie~even if I have to celebrate her from a distance~she is so worth celebrating! Her birthday not only reminds me that I am glad she was born, but even more, that God saw fit to weave our lives together, to serve Him together, to be sisters, & dear friends. I always liken Leslie to a miracle in my life...the fact that God always has a hold of His children & woo's them back to Himself, even after we have gone astray. Leslie's testimony inspires me. It always reminds me that God is relentlessly pursuing us & He has a specific plan for us. I had to let Lou "go" for a while, but the Lord faithfully brought her "back" in more ways that one. Now...now, you should see her! It is the power of a life renewed & committed to Christ & serving Him, making Him known & loving Him fearlessly. She has been an awesome friend to me...she loves well, prays hard, seeks diligently, works heartily, has a huge heart, is beautiful inside & out, & above all wants the Lord's will to be done in her life. She displays the power of a transformed life & lives it out. While I so miss her, I know God has a plan for her in KC--she has been brave & is working hard at what God has called her to do. I guess for now, I am OK with sharing her :) And I know that just as much as she has had a huge impact on me, it is likewise with so many other people. Leslie is the kind of woman you want in your life, that's for sure! Happy Birthday Lou--sending you lots of love & praying for you--not just today, but all the time. May God bless you richly this year, may He become more real to you than ever before, & that He would lavish joy & peace on you! Love you!

Celebrating Julie

I remember meeting her when we were here for Jim's interview, before he was even hired for sure at Emmanuel. I remember being in her home for a committee meeting & feeling welcomed. I can remember her from day 1 of being in Billings & at Emmanuel...now almost 6 years later, I cannot imagine my life without her! She has always been such a light, love, & laugh to me. She & I...we've seen some life together. Some joyful. Some sorrowful. Some confusing. Some encouraging. She is the kind of friend & sister I want by my side. She is wonderful to serve with. I love laughing with her. We cry together. We rejoice together. She is so encouraging to me. She faces hardship & still trusts God in ways that spur me on & inspire me. She leads me to Christ. She loves her husband & family. She is strong. She is beautiful. She teaches God's Word with passion. She is hilarious. She worships in spite of her circumstances. She is real. And I am overly blessed to count her as a close friend & sister. Oh I really could go on & on! But today, I celebrate Julie Lortz! Thank You, Lord, for creating such an amazing woman after Your heart & allowing me to be a part of her life!

Dating

I am not a huge Valentine's Day person. I love love...a lot. But I am just not into the 'day' becoming so commercialized & becoming the ONE DAY you show love. I am all about living love every day, especially to those I truly love, singly to the one God has given me to love on earth. But, Valentine's Day is a special day for Jim & I...this year it marked 11 years since our first date...ELEVEN YEARS!!! And I am more in love & like with him now more than on February 14, 2000. I know that sounds cliche, but it's true. I have grown to respect & love Jim more & more as God uses him in my life to love me, teach me, challenge me, bring me joy, set me towards Christ, make me laugh, & ultimately to make me into the kind of wife that he deserves & pleases the Lord. We just did a Young Adults Retreat this last weekend & we had the blessing of taking 40 from our OverFlo group...& our speaker talked about being marriagable--what better to talk about when 130 20-somethings are in the room with that very thing on their mind?! It was very good, very challenging, & a fresh perspective...all straight from God's Word. Marriage is a big deal...an amazing blessing...but not for the faint-hearted & definitely not for those that don't want to work & pray hard. But as for me, I have loved dating my husband for the last 11 years...love gets better every day. Thank you, Jim Taber, for changing my life...which ultimately, I have Christ to thank every day for love, for Jim (that God saw me being marriagable for him), & making my life something I never expected, but wouldn't have any other way.

Proud of My Heritage

So, this is part of my family heritage that most people don't know about...I am very proud of it, so thought I would share it! The above is the article from 1978, the Butte paper. I love the smell of old newspapers, by the way! Well, the type is small but basically, the community voted on the best "street machine" from 22 contestants. The winner, as you can read, was one Danette Beuthien, 17 years old. Beuthien is my maiden name...this is my sister! I have showed this to a few people this week & they ask if it is me! This makes me very proud. The older I get, the more I look like her. Also, the older I get, the more I miss her, even though I was never that close to her to begin with. (We did not grow up together & she passed away when I was in the 6th grade.) But nonetheless, I am proud of this part of my heritage!

Hastening the face-to-Face

*disclaimer--the following is not a result of finding myself in horrible estate, just simply some things the Lord has put on my heart through faithful teaching & reading of Truth*

I want the Lord to come & come faster. I pray for that more than I ever have before. More mindful of it than previous years. I know much work has to be done until that time & I am excited the Lord has called me to do His work. I am praying for myself & others that this year would be a year of boldness for more people to hear about Christ & come to know Him. No more timidity. He is my greatest treasure. Biggest passion. And in the end, I get to see Him. No gift more glorious. I want others to have the same.

"...but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away (the things we only know in part)...but then, face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, & love abide, these 3; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:10, 12-13

Some of these lyrics hit me like none other from one of my favorite hymns:

"But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,The sky, not the grave, is our goal...
...and Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend...even so, it is well with my soul."

Hope. When our faith appears before us face to face. Because of His love for me. A lowly, undeserving sinner, yet grateful recipient of His grace. In that, it is my prayer that I reflect His love for me in the love I show Him & others this year. Love bigger. Deeper. More selfslessly. Passionately. More pleasing to Him. More focused.

Whatever He does, I am simply asking Him tochange me, inside out...& not leave me the same.

"...Who is & Who was & Who is to come...to Him who loves us & HAS freed us from our sins by His blood & made us a kingdom of priests to His God & Father....behold, He is coming."

He loved me then. He loves me now. He loves me for what I will become. There is not a moment I breathe without Jesus in it. He is presently happening...& He is HUGE. Even if I cannot 'see' Him now--I will see him face to face one day. Lord, show me what I can do to have that day come more quickly.