TRUE Love!

I am just loving Jesus SO MUCH right now, and so I wanted to have a place to remember for myself this time of intimacy and love He is stirring in my heart.  The past few weeks have been so full of joy, and a content rooted in peace & delight in my relationship with Him. I can't remember the last time I walked through weeks on end with such a light heart, half expecting people to physically see a deep, warm light radiating from me. The fire from the last one and a half years is still burning, still purging the impurities (as it will be until I come into the fullness of His Kingdom), but I can tell I'm shinier than I was before coming to Israel. And that "shiny-ness" is such an encouraging time to be living in right now!  And then, each time I think about it, I just get butterflys and want to shout out in joy "I LOVE YOU, JESUS". Mmmm. He is my life. My being has never been so inseparable from His, my heart conforming to His heart: and it is right and it is True.

My senior year I met regularly with a dear friend of mine in our campus dining hall. During one of our times together we shared Colossians 4:2-6:

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Though I've a long way to go, and my spirit is still teetering between "fear and timidity" and "fiery boldness" (2 Timothy 1:7), for the first time since praying over that passage for years, I can taste the salt. It's a beautiful, blessed thing to be living in that watchfulness, grace and willingness.  It has opened my heart to medical school in new ways, to global health in new ways, to Israel in new ways, to relationships in new ways, to my current singleness in new ways, and most especially to Jesus and the message of the Gospel for Jews and Gentiles in new ways. Praise the Lord, Oh my soul!  

--------------------------------
Now I'm off to bed for an early morning start to my weekend playing with adorable refugee children who are awaiting heart operations at the Tel Aviv Save a Child's Heart house (similar to World Pediatric Project/International Hospital for Children that I worked with my senior year at UR). I adore children more now that I'm in medical school than I ever did before - the Lord continues to increase His love and compassion for their precious lives!

A photo I came across from a while ago in Barcelona

Love the green blanket of grass and clover!