I will love You, O Lord, with my heart. I will love You with my mind. I will love You with my strength and I will love You with all that is within me.

I have been thinking about how love as our culture understands it is not love at all according to Jesus. This is perhaps one of the greatest deceptions. We think if we feel some feeling toward God that we are loving Him. While loving Him may be accompanied by a feeling, that feeling is not in and of itself fulfilling His command to love Him.

So what is love by God's standards? I don't know yet. I know it has to do with laying down one's life for one's friends. It is kind, unselfish, patient, not rude, and not boastful. It delights with the truth and does not count another's wrongs. Love always hopes, always believes, and love endures all things. Love never fails.

Jesus said if we love Him we will obey His commands.

This got me thinking... what are His commands? Love God and love your neighbor. Does this mean to pray and worship a little and be nice to people around you? Yes, but that's not the whole. There are so many commandments! And I am learning to love each one and hold myself to its standard. This draws me away from the world in thought and action and pushes me closer to holiness. I want to see the Lord. Without holiness, no one will see Him. Yet, Jesus does not take us out of the world, but wants us to be salt and light in it. For that, we need power- the kingdom of God is not in word, but in POWER. Help me, Lord.

Praise You, Lord! Help me to truly love, You. Teach me Your ways, O Lord.

Prayer Request for a Car

Here goes Crazy Love- round #2! For more information, go to Linny's wonderful blog at aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com...

My prayer request is for a car for my family. We are currently carless... my husband has a motorcycle we bought used and salvaged last year which he uses to get to work. The Lord has shown me to pray for a car, so I thought I would invite anyone reading this to agree with me for this in the Spirit before the throne of our awesome God.

Praise You, Father!

Our loving heavenly Father cares about our every need and He is able. I was thinking about how Linny would say, "Lord, You own the cattle on a thousand hills- could you sell one for me?" :) Right about now, I am looking heavenward, praying something similar...

Brittany

Love Your Neighbor (literally)

The second greatest commandment is loving your neighbor as yourself. We know from the story of the good Samaritan that Jesus is saying that everyone is our neighbor. We are to love everyone- yes, even our enemies.

Yet, tonight, the story is not about my enemies. It is about being invited next door for a simple outdoor, spring-weather, evening barbecue. So, my husband and I walked over, carrying our little Zuzu, and joined the crew on the deck. It was a time of light chatter, sharing our daily goings-on with one another and just enjoying the meal. We don't really know our neighbors, but they have been kind to us and we'd like to get to know them more. In fact, I wasn't really sure they believed in Jesus- did we have that foundational thing in common? I had sent them a thank-you card a week or two earlier for the beautiful crib they had given Zuzu and in it, I wrote about Jesus and what He did for them. So I was pretty sure they knew where we stood. How they received it was another matter.

As dinner was wrapping up, my neighbor states that she has to get her granddaughters bathed before bed and I signaled my husband that it was probably time to go for our evening walk around the block. We all got up and went into the house and just as we were saying goodbye, all of a sudden, something broke in the spirit realm. Something in the atmosphere just opened up and hearts were shared. Pain, deep pain, was spoken and hugs were given. Prayer was sought and encouragement given. Wow! The Lord just broke in and we were trusted with the sensitive issues of personal lives- I am honored. I now have the privilege of praying for these neighbors and loving them in a more specific way. Thank You, Lord! You are good.

Crazy Love: Debts Demolished

In response to Linny's post at aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com, I am writing on behalf of my (Brittany's) family and Francesca's family (we share this blog).

First off, we do tithe to our local church. :) My husband is working hard to pay off our school loans so we can"let no debt remain outstanding" and... so we can adopt! Soon. Our original plan would have taken 10 years. We revamped so it would take only five years... then three. Now, our goal is to have our debts paid in full by May of next year. That way, we can get on to important things like adopting!! We have one daughter almost five months old and I have the privilege of staying home with her. We are longing to be a forever family to one... two... however many little ones! Adoption cannot happen until we get out of debt! If anyone would like to help, I thank you and the Lord bless you. Thank you so much. Please email whitewings61@gmail.com for the address.

This is my daughter, Zuzu, at about 3 months old. Looks like she wants a hug!

Francesca's family of four could use a love gift as well. Her husband is an anointed worship leader and their 3rd baby is due in a couple weeks! The Lord knows their needs and I do not feel free to share specific things on here, but if you send a check for them made out to them, I will send it on. Thank you! Or you can email for their new address (they just moved).

Bless you in Jesus' name,

Brittany