blessed.

The greek word translated "blessed" in Matthew 5:4 beautifully expresses the essence of the blessed life.

"Biblically, one is pronounced blessed when God is present and involved in his life. The hand of God is at work directing all his affairs for a divine purpose, and thus, in a sense, such a person lived coram Deo, before the face of God."

Blessedness describes the condition of a person who reveres God, steeps her life in Him, and follows His ways. She doesn't just look to God in spiritual or religious matters. She looks to Him in every matter. He's not just the most important part of her life. He IS her life. The result of this divine invasion is that the life operates overall at optimum earth-satisfaction, joy, and purpose and without the crushing burdens of self-glory and sin. In other words, her life actually works.

-I took this idea from one of Beth Moore's studies. This is something I've been dwelling on a lot the past few days.

Mondays have turned into my favorite day of the week! I get to hang with Erin in Wailea, and we make coffee and talk and watch Gilmore Girls. She is so precious to me. Then the past couple weeks I've wandered to the ocean on my own for a couple hours. I'm starting to treasure that time. I get to pray and meditate and read my Bible. I tend to think my weekend is a break from the week, but in reality I end up doing more on the weekends than during the week! So Monday is a great day to rest and reflect on the past week and what is to come this week. I met Joy for smoothies/Starbucks around 1 and we had some great conversation. Joy works part time as a volunteer secretary at Hope so I have chatted with her a bit just during work when she is in but after yesterday I am hoping we can meet weekly! She is a sweet heart.

I served on the worship team on Sunday. It was a humbling but enjoyable experience! There is so much that goes into every service that I never even knew about. The team was absolutely full of amazing and talented singers and musicians so I had a blast learning from them and singing together.

Last night at Alpha we talked about why we tell others about Christ. One of the questions our table discussed was what each person thought was the best way to share the gospel. If we wanted someone older, our age to tell us, or if we wanted it to be straight up, direct, or relationally shared through a testimony. I shared that I like things clear and precise, drawn out really simply (since I'm a blonde and all ha) and told them about the bridge illustration based off of Romans 6:23. It's an illustration I'm very familiar with since it's the tool we used for beach evangelism in Jax a couple summers ago. I briefly explained what it was and my table still seemed slightly confused so I just dove in and walked through the whole thing. I prayed before I started sharing, because I know that the members at my table (the picture) are seeking the Lord, but I am not sure if they have made that decision and accepted Jesus. So, at the end of it, I just prayed that it would be taken to heart and hopefully clarify or sharpen what they already knew. All of them thought it was a really awesome way to present the gospel and Jessie ended up keeping it. All in all, it went well!

Christmas season is here! And busy!

Love you all,

Risa