Did I Just Get Married?

It's official: my computer has dust on it.
When I'm not on it everyday for classes and whatnot, I just don't really use it...and I hate to admit it, but I start to neglect this pretty little blog that I have.

But, fear not. I have things to share!
For those of you that are frantically searching this post to see if I actually tied the knot, look no further:
No. I did not run off and get hitched. 

But, boy, somedays it sure feels like it.
Except, my new "groom" is a six foot tall, beautiful woman who loves to cook, make her own clothes (she's literally doing that as we speak), and talk about Jesus all. the. time. 

I know this is a strange analogy, but in these last two weeks I've gotten a crash course in what I presume marriage would be like.

I'd just like to preface this blog entry with this: this was tough to write, simply because it's exposing a real struggle that Liv and I are facing. I was very intentional about her being a part of this entry so that we both approved of what was being shared. So, just know that this is not me whining or taking jabs at her, but rather our mutual assessment of what's been going on and who we each are.

I'm sure marriage is a wonderful thing, but I know the first year is one of the hardest for a lot of couples. It's a blending of two worlds and all that mushy-sappy-tough stuff.
But imagine this: my "courting" period was about five months.
We met.
We went to St. Louis to an awesome conference.
We fell in love with God.
God started to unveil a friendship.
We started pursuing Him and ministering together.
And God has been growing our friendship ever since.
And then we got a house and moved in together...

....and we realized how little we really knew about each other....

It has been a blending of two completely different worlds, mindsets, personalities, and backgrounds. In our spiritual walks, Liv and I are so similar and understand each other so well.

But in the earthly realm she's whimsical and I'm calculated.
She naturally makes messes and doesn't mind them, whereas I can't stand them, try to avoid them, and will clean up every small ounce of one if one happens to be made.
She can bounce from topic to topic and I like to process one thing at a time.
I love to think and she loves to verbalize.
She loves to start ten things at once and doesn't mind if some of them don't get done and I have to do one or two things until they are finished.
She gets her rest from an empty house and I can't stand one.
I'm intentional and careful with my words and she says things freely and without much thought.
She's black and white and I'm grey.
And the list goes on...

That's how we would each describe our personalities.
Obviously, they're very different.

God carefully and specifically designed each of us exactly to his liking, knowing just how he would use each of our traits and quirks for His Kingdom. But, we are not perfect. Neither of us has reached a place of Christ-likeness, and we have some serious flaws that God is working on. And sometimes that's hard to remember.
Really hard.

I'll be humbly honest, there are so many moments where I get caught up in the way I'm doing things that I refuse to accept that there are other ways. I get annoyed because we can't communicate effectively. Or I get frustrated because she isn't doing something "right" (which I narrow-mindly define as my way).
For the last week or so the two of us got so caught up in making our lives work and mesh that we kind of forgot the fact that we are supposed to be operating in and for a different, much less stressful realm called the Kingdom.

So today we went out to have some coffee and DTR.

(For those that don't know what a DTR is, it means Define the Relationship. It usually occurs at some point in one's dating relationship and is pretty self explanatory. You sit down and talk about where your relationship is headed. Obviously, that's not really what we intended for our coffee date to be, but it seemed a lot like one.)

As we sat and talked today, we realized how much we had lost the vision. The day to day things had affected our attitudes to the point that neither of us was really putting in much effort. Here God has entrusted us with a house and a summer full of plans and we were selfishly caught up with ourselves and what we each wanted or didn't want, liked or disliked.
Needless to say, our talk was long and full of repentance, apologies, and reassessing. And honestly, I think God's plan looks a lot different than I originally thought, but He is God and He gets to plan whatever He wants. It's my job to follow, not to make the plans and sometimes not even to understand them.

So here we are.
Two really strange and unlikely "newlyweds" who are now at a point that they have gotten over themselves and realized that they are not enough to make this thing work. If this summer is about us, then it's not worth it.
We are ready for God to step in and take control, pulling each of us into something far greater than we could have ever imagined.
As we live in the natural, it's not always the easiest of times...but God didn't call us to live in the natural. He called us to live in the supernatural. He called us to live in His Kingdom, relying on Him rather than ourselves.

Lord, help us as we learn how to do that.

And now, a goofy picture...just because. 

Two Girls and a Lake House...

It's hard to believe that these past nine months are done and I'm now standing in front of three months of summer. I look back on the person I was nine months ago and I chuckle.
She had no idea what God was about to do in and through her.
She had no idea how much God was going to change her and reveal himself to her.

And as I look past these next three months and try to put myself at the end of them I hear those exact same things rolling through my mind.
God isn't done here.
In fact, He is just getting started.

At the beginning of the year-when all I wanted to do was move home, go to community college, and live on the same road as the rest of my family- a lady across the road from my parents passed away and her children put her house up for sale.
I had always adored this cute, yellow lake house and I specifically remember walking past it one day and saying, "God, I want that house. That's all I want. I thought I wanted to go to school, travel and serve you, but really all I want is to live right there in that house."
To which I heard God clearly speak and tell me, "I can give you that, but that's not where you will stop. I have much greater plans for you and that is not where you will stay."
So, obviously, I brushed that off and continued going to school.

Of course at that point, I had no idea what lay ahead of me in the next eight months.
I had no idea that in April I would go to a conference with my friend Liv and that we would both get a vision for us to become interns at my church, get a place together, work, and be active in ministry over the summer.
But that's exactly what happened.
So, as she and I stared at this huge and daunting vision for our summer we started to chip off little pieces.
See if an internship is possible, find a place for her to work, find a place to stay, figure out if we can afford this, figure out if this is rational....and the list goes on....
As things started to fall into place, the only thing that still felt unbearably daunting was finding a place to live. Apartments were incredibly expensive and most wouldn't do a three month lease. People within the church offered to lend an extra room, but we held tight to the vision that God had given us for living in a place of our own.

And then I remembered my conversation with God earlier in the year about the little, yellow lake house. He said "...that's not where you will stop." But, before that He said "I can give you that."
"I can give you that."
"I can give you that."
"I can give you that."

I don't know if you heard me when I said that apartments were expensive and way out of our budget, but I will say it again. Apartments were expensive and way out of our budget.
So the prospect of an entire, furnished house was basically a joke.

I prayed about it for a few days and it continued to rest at the forefront of my mind, so rather than praying about it, we started praying for it. For two weeks Liv and I prayed and fasted for the yellow, lake house. With about a week before we had to move, we decided it would probably be best if we called the owners to see if they would want to rent it, even though it was on the market for sale. And also to see if it was something we could fathomably afford.

So I called.
I never mentioned a price, but we talked for a while and she said she would get back to me. I expected it to take several days before she called back with a decision, but within a few hours I got a call back and we had the house....for half the price of what an apartment would have cost, might I add.
How God did that, I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

So here I am-
sitting in a beautiful, little lake house and waiting for Liv to move in this evening.
All I have is oatmeal, popcorn, tea and about 3,000 spices in my cupboards, but I somehow had enough to feed myself and guests last night. I leave the room when I find a spider because no one is here to kill it for me. I am overly protective of all the antique breakables and I have a mini-panic attack when my sisters daycare kids come storming through the house. I barricade myself in the bathroom when I hear a strange noise, because I'm convinced that a murderer has just broken in.
Honestly, I'm not sure how this is going to go. I'm in some new territory and I have no idea what this summer holds, but I do know that it hasn't even begun and God has poured out His blessing and favor upon us in an incredible way.
These next three months are going to be an adventure, for sure! But I'm pretty confidant in the man behind the wheel.

Now sit back and enjoy this view with me.....

Miracles, Signs, and Wonders...

A few weeks ago my friend Liv and I got this great idea to go to a conference called Miracles, Signs, and Wonders.
You'd think that going into this conference I would be expecting huge, extravagant, miraculous things being performed by wild, Spirit-filled believers....but I wasn't. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was expecting.
Something a little more normal I suppose.
Something subdued and peaceful where everyone just loved Jesus and when they bumped into each other they'd be miraculously healed and pixie dust would sprinkle over them and they'd giggle and lift their hands in soft, quiet, meditative worship.

Okay, maybe not quite that extreme, but you get the picture....
And as I walked into the church on the first day and took my seat I slowly began to realize I was pretty far off base with my expectations.
I come from a fairly charismatic church, so I'm used to a pretty expressive worship.  But then Kevin Dedmon came out and spoke about the power of laughing over desperate situations.
Laughing?
Yes, laughing.
I was oh-so-confused.

I watched as people were doubled over in laughter at seemingly nothing.  "Amen!" "Come on!"and "WOAH!" were flying around the church every few seconds. People would stand, jump, scream, shake, fall....and the list goes on.
Needless to say, I was a little out of my comfort zone.

The first day came and went and I left quite a skeptic.
I knew the Spirit was powerful!
I knew He encountered people!
But this?
Making people act drunk and, for lack of a better and nicer term, CRAZY!?
Was that the Spirit? The same Spirit that was living in me on a daily basis???
I just wasn't so sold.

I'm pretty sure this was the point that God smirked and said, "Challenge accepted."

Day 2 came and Patricia King spoke an amazing message that brought no clarity whatsoever.
They moved into a time of worship and then they did an alter call for something or another. I watched as people flooded to alter and were slain in the spirit (for those of you that are like I was and don't know what that is...it means being toppled over and pinned to the ground under God's power).
This "being slain in the Spirit" was one of the things I questioned the most. I watched as people fell to the ground and I couldn't help but doubt.
They are doing it just for show. 
They think that's what they're supposed to do. 
It's all a mind game. 

And as I sat in my chair and doubted what I was seeing I heard God give me a little challenge, "If it's all just a show and a mind game, then go down there and stand."
Challenge accepted.
We now had me challenging God and God challenging me...obviously, we all know who is going to win here.

I walked down the aisles and made it to the alter and I stood there.
Ha.
I'm standing.
I win.

Ha.

Boom.
Down I went.
Into a row of chairs.
And eventually onto the ground.
And, judging by the massive scuffs on my boots, apparently everywhere else.

People continuously came and prayed over me and I have never in my life felt such power coursing through me. My entire body felt like it had electricity running through it.
My mind ran in and out of visions and reality.
God spoke so deeply and clearly to my soul that I could hardly hold myself still.
Some incredible things happened as I laid there on that floor, slain under God's mighty power.

I tried to get up a few times, but to no avail.
So, I just laid there and let the Spirit wash over me.
Eventually, people stopped praying...and the alter got quiet except for the rolls of laughter coming from a lady laying on the ground beside me.
I tried to get up, but couldn't.
So, I just laid there some more.
....and then some more....
....and then a little more....

After almost two hours of laying on that floor I was finally able to sit up.
The church was pretty much empty.
People had all left for lunch.
Liv sat next to me on my left and this laughing lady was rolling around on my right.
She'd been belly laughing for two hours.
TWO. HOURS! Ummm...OW!
Nonetheless, her laugh was incredibly irresistible and contagious and before long we had joined in.

So, there the three of us sat.
One a stranger and the two of us blissfully bewildered at her laughter.
I'm sure it was quite a beautifully strange scene.

From that point on, God changed me.
That Spirit, the one that threw me on the floor and sent electricity through my veins for two hours, is the one that is living in me at this very moment. It is the same Spirit that is living in me as I check out at the grocery store or sit in class. It is the same Spirit that fills me during worship, even in this traditional and conservative environment.
That Spirit's power is in me on a daily basis and I have been given authority to use it to advance the Kingdom.

Woah.

Texas Sized Footprints...

For spring break this year I journeyed to the wonderful state of Texas with my beautiful cousin Alesha.
My great aunt and uncle (basically my third set of grandparents) moved down there this last fall and it was time for me to make good on my promise to come visit them.

I wish I could describe to you how incredible they are.
I don't have enough time or space to do that, though.
So, take my word for it...they are incredible. 
These last few years they have seen some rough times...some really rough times to be exact.
And yet, through it all they have praised God and allowed Him to be their rock and strength.
I can not even begin to tell you what incredible role models and mentors they are in my life!

You could say I was a little excited to go spend a week with them!

Leading up to Texas (and all throughout this year, really) I've been struggling with trusting in God's provision. It's not that I didn't trust Him per se ...but I just never felt fully provided for in this earthly realm. I felt like God's calling carried a bigger price tag than I was going to be able to come up with.
And I think that was kind of His point.

As a result of my skeptical trust, I rarely found myself giving freely of my money...if at all.
And for weeks before my trip I kept hearing God tell me to prepare myself for a lesson in His provision and giving.

Great! I am already feeling a huge financial burden, God! The last thing I need is for you to ask me to give all my money away to someone on this trip. Please just don't ask me to give away all my money. PLEASE. 

So, I budgeted. And I use that term loosely...because it's really hard to budget when you don't really have any money to work with.
But, I budgeted anyways. And I set aside so much for gas and so much for meals....and so on.

Our first meal of the trip was payed for by my lovely mother who came down to Huntington to say farewell. Alesha and I left the tip and chalked it up to a nice start to our vacation.

And then we began the journey.
After twenty hours of driving, we hit a little speed bump and had to make an unforeseen pitstop at a hotel. That's not in the budget God! We can't afford this! 
So, we found the cheapest motel we could find (note to self: saving money on a hotel is not always worth it) and we crashed...or at least we tried to. With the fighting out back, the dirty sheets, and the broken heater, it was all we could do to get a few hours of shut eye that night!
The next day we had a meal with a friend who lived nearby...once again, the tab was picked up and we were left with the tip.


And then we drove some more….and some more….and some more.Eventually, we made it! Safe and sound.

We went out for dinner…ironically enough, to Texas Roadhouse…in Texas. As we got ready to leave I went to pay for my meal, only to find my wonderful Papa had already payed. Our conversation went a little something like this.“Papa! No, please. I can get it!”“It’s already done, Lauren. You’re taken care of.”“Well at least let me leave the tip.”“Nope. It’s already done.”“Well, you’re not going to pay for things this the whole trip!”“Okay, maybe you can pay tomorrow…”“Okay.” 
Silly me. So naive!

The next day we had the same conversation…and once again, he won. Day in and day out, he continued to pay for meals, tickets, gas…everything. From that first night to the moment we left I don’t think I payed for a single thing. Not. One. Single. Thing.

Of course, their financial provision was an incredible blessing…but it also revealed to me that lesson God had promised me. Through their generous giving God simply reminded me: I will provide. If He has called me to it, He has a plan to see it through.

And as I’m piling up a mountain of school debt, struggling to pay off the last of my car, and feeling called to take a trip this summer that my part-time job simply hasn’t given me enough money for I hear God saying the same words of my Papa,“It’s already done, Lauren. You’re taken care of.”

There He is, standing at the end of my life, knowing exactly how He is going to provide in this tiny, minute little situation. He’s already payed the whole bill, tip and all. No amount of “speed bumps” or pitstops are unforeseen to Him, nor do they throw Him off. He knows exactly how He is going to provide.

So, I’m going to praise Him for the provision He has already planned…whatever that may be!

Broken, but Rejoicing...

Almost one year ago I walked into Loving Hearts Babies Home in Uganda, Africa. It was maybe my third or fourth day in the country and I had met my fair share of adorable and lovable babies, children, and orphans.
But, I will never forget walking into Loving Hearts and laying eyes on this little man, Jonathon. Something about those big, brown eyes hit me and screamed for me to come pick him up....which, of course, I DID!
I've never fallen so in love, so quickly. Every free moment of my time at the orphanage was spent rocking, feeding, and cuddling this precious little guy.
He couldn't talk, walk, or sit up by himself. He hardly ever smiled or expressed emotion.
And yet, he taught me so much about the orphaned heart, and, in turn, my own heart and the Father's love for His children.
For a little over two weeks I bonded with Jonathon.
I honestly can't think of words that would accurately express how in love I was with this boy.

And then...it was time to go.
Back to the states.
Back to "normal" life in which I didn't get to share the love of the Father with sweet, little orphans every day.

To be honest, it was hard....but not as hard as I thought it would be.
I said goodbye to all the little kiddos, saving Jonathon until the last.
I rocked him, snuggled him, kissed him.
And I whispered my love and the love of His Father in his ear.
Then I tucked a cute little teddy bear I had brought as a gift into his bed with him and I said goodbye.

The end.
...but, it wasn't.
Secretly, I had a continuation of this story already played out in my mind.

Me adopting him was out of the question because Uganda has pretty strict adoption laws, but trust me I thought of trying.

BUT, some incredible friends from my church were adopting, specifically a little boy from that very orphanage. They had yet to be matched with their boy, but I had already planned it all out in my head.
Jonathon was theirs.
He was the one they were going to be matched with.
I just knew it!

So, goodbye wasn't that hard.
It was more like a smirky, "see ya' later..."
...because I thought I had it all figured out.

But, let me tell you....I did not.

Since leaving I have continued to pray and have firmly believed that somehow Jonathon would be matched with this family and that I'd be able to watch him grow up in their loving, wonderful, and Christ-filled home.
I was positive that was God's plan.
In fact, just Thursday night, I sat and talked with a missionary who had just spent time in Africa and she shared about a little boy she grew so close to while she was there. Her story reminded me so much of Jonathon and I. But, unlike Jonathon, her little boy was reunited with his parents, so the likelihood of her seeing him again was slim.
I prayed that God would somehow work a miracle and unite this perfect family from my church with Jonathon.

But, God's ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts...and He had a different plan.

Friday, I was sitting in a class when I felt my phone go off.
Usually I don't check my phone during class, but for some reason I did...maybe out of boredom (it was a particularly dry day in perspectives on literature) or maybe, subconsciously I knew I needed to.

So, I peeked at my phone to find a picture message.
I couldn't see the picture, but I could see the message was from this beautiful momma of this "perfect" family for Jonathon, and the message read: So sad. I'm fighting tears. Do you follow ARM (the ministry that Loving Hearts is under) on Facebook?

My heart sunk.
Something had happened.
Something bad.

I wanted to look at the picture to see what it was, but  I waited to get back to my room to open the message...just in case...

Please, Lord, just not Jonathon. 

I walked into my room and skipped looking at the message all together.
I got on ARM's Facebook page, going straight to the source.

And there before my eyes, was exactly what I dreaded.

A week ago Jonathon had fallen and hit his head pretty hard.
The orphanage thought he was okay, but Thursday night around 10:00 o'clock, Jonathon passed away.

Just like that.
Gone.
From bumping his head.
His sweet, little, precious brown head....

Needless to say, I had a mini breakdown...(and by mini, I really mean full blown sob-fest.)
I was crying and praying and crying some more...

How could this be Your plan, God? 
This wasn't the way things were supposed to happen!
From bumping his head? Really? Did anyone even take him to the doctor? Was he in pain and no one knew? 
How is that even possible? If that happened in the states, he never would have died!
It something like that happened, there would be lawsuits of all kinds! 
God, I was supposed to see him again! 
He was supposed to be adopted into this perfect family!

And then, in the midst of my tears, I heard what words were coming out of my mouth.
"Lord, You are still sovereign. Even now, You are still holy."

Woah.
My own words hit me full force.
Yes, even now...even when I just want to scream and yell at God and question His plans...even now, no matter the circumstance, He is still so Holy and so incredibly Sovereign.

God has a much bigger plan in place here- one that is far greater than the one I had played out in my mind.
And now, just as I had asked, Jonathon is dancing in the presence of his perfect family...because there's really no more perfect family than the family of the Father.
So, even though my heart is broken, and my plans and dreams did not play out the way I hoped, I will rejoice in knowing that sweet little Jonathon has made it home to his Daddy and is no longer living as an orphan of this world.

God is Gold...literally. (Part II)

Click here for Part I

WHOA. 

That's the God I serve. 

That's the God that loves ME! 

My worship of Him is not so that I get tingly feelings, but to praise Him for His unimaginable holiness.
I don't come to Him to get things, feelings, or supernatural experiences.
I come to Him to get Him.

I don't come to him based on whether or not He is showing up in cool ways.

I come to Him to worship. 

I come to Him to simply stand in awe of His presence. 

He is Holy, Holy, Holy. 

A Holy I can't even fathom or explain.

Duh, Lauren! 

So, as I sat in reverence of God I just prayed to enter into His presence and worship.
No strings attached.
No expectations or limits.
Just worship.
Because He's WORTHY.

And after quite a while I put away my books and decided to go to bed.
I walked to the bathroom and took out my contacts and I got what I thought was a head rush.
Gold sparkles started falling all around me and I blinked several times to clear my vision thinking I was seeing things.

But the gold continued to fall.
I jumped back from the counter and started looking around the bathroom.
Gold sparkles were falling everywhere.

WHAT?!  Who does that?! Who shows up in gold dust?!
God. That's who.

I stretched out my hands thinking some would land in my palms, but it just fell through.
So, I just stood there...completely unsure of what to do.
I honestly wish you could have seen this scene play out. I'm sure it was pretty entertaining!

And after maybe thirty seconds or so, the gold dust stopped falling and not a drop of it was left.
....and I just kept standing there....still totally unsure of what had just happened.
I walked out of the bathroom and had a conversation with my roommate that went something like this:

Me: "Clarissa..."
Clarissa: "Yea?"
Me: Uhmm...
Clarissa: "Yea?"
Me:..........................
Clarissa: "Lauren?"
I tried to come up with some words that didn't make me sound absolutely crazy, but nothing came to mind, so I just turned around and walked back into the bathroom.
Clarissa: "Okay. Nice chat!"

I was literally dumbstruck.
I had no words.
God just showed up as sparkly gold dust....
....after I had just told Him that I wanted to worship Him for who He was, not the things, feelings, or experiences that He could give me.
What would you say??

Moral of this story: God does what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants.
He is Holy, Holy, Holy and He deserves my absolute adoration every second of every day.

If you're looking to experience God's supernatural abilities, my best advice for you is this: STOP.
Stop looking for what God can do for you and start worshipping him- simply worshipping who He is, how holy and deserving and wonderful He is.
In the words of one of the incredible speakers at Urbana, David Platt, "We don't come to Jesus to get things, we come to Jesus to get Jesus."

God is Gold...literally. (Part I)

Lately I've been on a journey of pursuing God in the supernatural.
The more I read the bible, the less I understand Him...and I LOVE it!
I want a God that I can't explain, define, or limit, and, for so long I have been able to do all of those things.

Like I said, I have been pursuing God in His realm instead of mine, but for the last few weeks I felt like I wasn't seeing much of Him.

I was also struggling with busyness.
School, work, and my social personality had taken me into a level of busyness that was distracting me from the King.
Yes, I lived my life for His glory and I adored Him with every breath I took, but I was failing to have intimate time with Him in prayer and in the Word.
I wasn't retreating and allowing Him to fill me because I had so many other things to do.

And then last weekend I was talking with Ruth Ann, an incredible woman of faith who is leading a small group for me and some other incredible women.
I was talking with her about wanting God to reveal Himself to me supernaturally. I didn't mention the fact that I had been struggling to spend intimate time with Him, but God gave her the perfect words to share with me.

"I think we'll start to see more of God in the supernatural when we start to develop an intimate relationship with Him that says, 'God, I know you can do whatever you want, whenever you want  to, and however you'd like and I just want to meet with you however you choose to reveal yourself."

Sometimes He might not show up with fire from Heaven or big booming words, but I assure you that He shows up.
He wants daily, intimate communion with you and me, even though we are all completely unworthy.

Through Ruth Ann's words I realized that the two strongest desires in my spiritual walk, intimacy with God and revelation of His supernatural power, were connected.

So, last week I refocused my goal.
Rather than pursuing God's supernatural power and revelation, I pursued Him....just Him...however He chose to reveal himself.

I grabbed my bible and the book I'm reading, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and I intentionally sat down just to be intimate with God and to spend time with Him.
I've read the first few chapters of Crazy Love a million times, but I kept feeling God direct me back to chapter one.
So, I obeyed and the words of that chapter hit me with a fresh revelation.

Chapter one is focused on the fact that we can not and will not ever understand God.
We can not exaggerate Him.
We can not define Him.
He is beyond Holy.
Our words can't even describe Him because He is so Holy.

For the first time in my life I read Revelation four and it hit me.
That chapter in the bible describes the throne room of God.
If you need a good reality (or supernatural) check, here it is!

 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.  And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures,each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

    who was and is and is to come!”

¹¹ 

    to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

    and by your will they existed and were created.”

 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

    and by your will they existed and were created.”

This blog entry is getting impossibly long...and I know how much everyone enjoys a good cliff hanger, so marinate on this verse and I will be back with more soon. 

Trust me, this story is just getting good.