Open Letter to my nieces and nephews

Where I'm at: In my backyard
Weather: Beautiful! Warm evening- 70 degrees
Noises: Lots of crickets! A little traffic
Sights: the blinking red lights fromKLOK
Mood: A little nervous

If you are reading this, than you've received my email inviting you to my blog world.

Welcome!<:

You may be wondering why I'm doing this - especially after reading a few of my blogs. Why am I willing to expose some of my deepest thoughts, hurts, sin, fears, etc. to the younger generation in my family...I've been struggling with this for several days. As you will note: my "Decision" entry was made on August 20th, and the date I'm actually posting this is Thursday, August, 23rd! I've been nervous all week, and have asked God several times -- are you sure about this?!<: And yet, the direction I heard from God remains the same - allow your nieces and nephews in - let them read of your struggles, your sin, your joy, your celebrations, your day to day walk with Me.

So, here we are...

For several months, all of you have been on my mind and little stirrings have been moving around in my heart - all about you. What can I leave my nieces and nephews that will be life-changing? How can I really invest in their lives? What really matters, what's really important, and how can we talk about stuff - real stuff that we face every day and speak into each other's lives - God's way.

And with that said, you may be asking - "So, Aunt Lisa, what is God's way?" Well - sometimes, I think I know - and others times I'm not so sure, but as I have purposed in my heart to seek it out - I trust God enough to reveal it to us - together. I'm willing to be vulnerable to you - all of you - through this blog site. It doesn't matter where you live, in today's Internet world, you can know what's happening in my life - and my hope is that even when you read about my bad decisions, poor judgements...sin - that, more importantly, you will read that I turn back to God. I may be face down in crap- covered from head to do with sticky, gooey, messy filth, but I want you to see beyond that - I want you to see my face turning, upward. I want you to see my hand reaching for His hand. Not after I've cleaned up - but while I"m still dirty, wounded, ashamed, exhausted, angry...because that is the when God will change me. Too many times, I have drug myself out of the mess - and then I put clean clothes on, perfume, make-up, fix my hair, etc. - but I'm still dirty, broken, wounded, ashamed, bleeding inside. But hey! I look pretty on the outside - and as long as I can hide it, no one will know. And yet - I know and God knows - and if we're going to be real here - other people know too, right? We know when things aren't right with another person, someone we know and love. We see it in their eyes, on their face, their body language...and we say nothing, we do nothing. We allow them space, we don't want to intrude, we don't' want to confront. Why? Because we know how we would react - it's none of your business, I'm doing nothing wrong - what about when you did...?, you don't understand, I don't want to talk about it.......... we all know - we've all done that, right?

What exactly did Jesus have in mind when He said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. " John 10:10?

Who is the thief? What is he stealing, killing and destroying? What is "abundant life"? Can we really have it here? If so, how? And I don't mean, a 3 point list of dos and don't on how to have an abundant life. I mean - what does it mean when all hell is breaking loose in your life? These are things I think about. Things I wonder - because, like you, I do believe God's Word - I'm just trying to figure out how to apply it to my life day to day, in real time.

So, I invite you to watch (read). See what God teaches me. Join in - reply to my posts, give me feedback, reply via email, call me - let's do this life stuff together - help each other out.

I love you! And again - welcome!<: