Or So They Say

Society is messed up. It has a way of twisting the truth and deceiving people. It drills principles and ideas into us at an early age, causing us to live the rest of our lives maintaining ourselves with those standards guiding us.-whether they are accurate or not.

I happen to have an issue with this.

Sure, not every single standard that society imposes is bad.  BUT:

1) Society no longer looks out for our children. It has no respect for future generations or (more importantly) the Lord. Since we want to raise our children to be like Jesus and to love and serve Him, wouldn't we want to try to protect them from a world that teaches them to do the opposite? 

2) Society shouldn't be teaching our children. Yes, they will learn from it.-its inevitable. However, God didn't give them to society. He gave them to a mom and a dad that should teach them what is right and what is wrong. That is a parental obligation. Teach them about the Lord and the things that are pleasing to Him.

Anyway, there is one phrase thrown around a lot in today's world that I definitely have an issue with.

I was in the office of a coworker (John) along with another young coworker (Polly). They were talking and John was trying to play matchmaker for Polly because she wants to get married. They began talking about 'qualifications' which pretty much consisted of: 1) Under 50 years old 2) No more than 2 children 3) Currently Unmarried. I added to the conversation by stating that those qualifications are pretty low standards and they may want to rethink that. John responded with the phrase "Love is Blind".

This is something that I do not like at all. Love is, by no means, blind. In fact, true love has the clearest vision of all. Why do I say that?

When you love someone, you should make them better. You don't act like they are perfect. Let's be honest. We are human flesh; we have problems. That isn't to say that we should constantly hound one another over everything and demand perfection. Nor should you try to change who they are.

You work on things together and grow.

Love is not blind.

Jesus died on the cross for us because he loves us and we needed an escape from sin. If love was truly blind, we wouldn't have a God of justice. If love was blind, God would sit back and watch us destroy ourselves and do nothing to try to help us. He would overlook our sin and defy who He really is in doing so. Yes God will look past our faults, but He also demands change. He doesn't allow us to live in sin and cater to our issues because He 'loves' us. He makes us better and helps us because He loves us.
Perhaps the world's false sense of love is blind, but thank God true love is not blind! His love reaches out and saves us from the miry clay.

They say love is blind, but I know the truth. Love has 20/20.

A Super Rambling-y Catch Up; You've been warned.

It's been a while since I've posted!-Things have been so busy! I've got to say, getting off work at five is for the birds. Its generally 5:30-6:00 before I get home and then I am back out the door again. Whew!
We recently drew our revival services to a conclusion. I'm a bit sad because I miss being in church every night and also because our good evangelist and his wife (Evangelist Andrew Howard and Sis. Jessica Howard) are no longer with us, but at the same time, it's a bit of a break. After nearly 8 weeks of working by day and 'churching' by night, we were pretty worn out and my housework was getting out of hand...I'm still trying to catch up, actually. Revival has been amazing and God has done so much for us! It is wonderful to look around and see all the new faces and hear the unfamiliar voices lifted up in prayer. I love it! I'm so thankful that even though we have ended the revival services, revival continues. Hungry hearts are everywhere, even in Tulsa with 10 churches on every corner. (We really do have a lot of churches if you haven't ever visited. -Definitely the buckle of the 'Bible Belt'!) The preaching around here has been incredible and anointed (as per usual), I must admit however that I have missed hearing Pastor Howard preach. We heard an amazing message last night that challenged us to change (I'll have more on that in a bit!).
On Monday nights, I have Bible College at the Apostolic College of Biblical Studies. It is a college founded and ran by The Lighthouse Church. I am taking Christian Ethics and Old Testament Overview right now. I have so enjoyed both of these classes! I've found so many interesting things in the Old Testament that I've never noticed before. Whoever said that the Old Testament was boring has never really dug into it before.-It isn't! As for Christian Ethics...that class has resulted in long discussions, much prayer and meditating, and some studying. Every single class has challenged me to look at God's word a little closer and know what I believe on so many different controversial topics.-Things like Capital Punishment, Self Defense, War, Abortion, Euthanasia, etc. I've learned that some things may seem to be a little less black and white, when they may or may not be. For instance, is it okay to lie when it you are lying to save the life of someone, even someone that is not saved? How do you 'rate' the evils? It's been thought provoking for sure!
Life has definitely been busy around here and to add to the little pile, for the first time in eleven years, I had an asthma attack. It was completely random and I was very unprepared for it. I threw away all my inhalers long ago, thinking that I would never need them again. *cue the sad trombone* So we called the doctor and made an appointment so that I could go get an emergency inhaler in case it happened again. Of course, they made me take the breathing tests again (you breath through a little tube for as hard and as long as you can and it calculates your airflow). Those things are killer! I think I took the test about 8 times on my first visit and failed every single one. All of them. I should be around an 8.5 on the graph and I was almost a 2 (no wonder I tire so easily!-No oxygen.). So of course they gave me a breathing treatment and had me take some more tests. The results were worse. This resulted in a trip over to Saint Francis South (a nearby hospital) to get x-rays to make sure I didn't have something on my lungs. I figured that I would go over there and get the x-rays done and then hurry myself on home so that I could get to church. Not quite what happened. Apparently they had strict orders to not release me until they had all looked over the x-rays and made sure that I wasn't in any eminent danger. After waiting for a while they came back and said that I could leave because they couldn't see anything on my lungs that looked too serious. So we booked it to the house to change and we finally made it to the church...in the middle of song service. We had great church! I was exhausted from all the nonsense of the evening (the doctor's office and the hospital combined took about 4 hours!) and then a church service so by the time we left, I was ready to curl up in a ball and sleep for a long time! Ha!
Three weeks later I was at the doctor's again to monitor my progress. My test results were pretty much the same and I had used my emergency inhaler about 6 times in a three week period.-not good! The doctor put me on a steroid and told me to use it twice a day. I didn't, to be perfectly honest. I didn't want to be on a medicine twice a day and especially a steroid. So during the next two weeks, I think I used it 2-4 times. It made me feel horrible. Then we realized why. For the first time in my life, I found something that I am allergic to. Fail. So I stopped using it altogether. In the meantime, we were hearing some powerful preaching at church. We had several services where it was evident that God wanted to perform signs and wonders in our midst and we were told that it may not happen immediately, but if we worship Him like He has already done it, we would see the miracles begin to take place. Pastor and Evangelist Howard admonished us to quite worrying about how God was going to do it and to start looking for signs. Pastor told us several different times to start preparing for a miracle.-to make plans about what we were going to do when we received our answer. So I did. I went to a lady in our church and said 'When I get my healing, I am going to do thus and so. Would you join me in preparing for my miracle?' and she said that she absolutely would.
Well, I went to the doctor on Tuesday. My test results went from a 2 to a 5.5 and my doctor said that my lungs sounded good. He went ahead and put me on another steroid (that I haven't taken yet) but he didn't want to see me again for two months. I know I still have a ways to go, but I am so encouraged by this report. I know God is doing the work! I can't wait to see the look on the doctor's face when my breathing is at a 9 or a 10 and is above my goal. I'm preparing for my miracle!

All in all, it has been a great couple of months and I honestly am so excited to see what all God is going to do!-Not just for me but in our church as a whole!

And I am soooo happy that my friend Liz got the Holy Ghost! I met her one day at camp when I was 12. She literally just came by with her sister and they chatted for a little bit during the day and then they left. Several years later I met two sisters at church. I introduced myself and tried to talk to them and get them involved. They didn't act like they wanted to talk and while we exchanged phone numbers, they never responded. They slowly got a little more talkative and then one day during altar service, Pastor announced that Liz wanted to get baptized. I was shocked and utterly thrilled! Ever so slowly she cam around and then randomly started doing things with the college and career. We continued to talk and our friendship has grown. Then one day I was hostessing at church and she came in late. I told her that she should sit with me because I was about to be going into the service. She agreed (though I may have agreed for her with the whole 'Oh I could tell you were excited and wanted to. I knew you'd say yes!' line.-I didn't force her.-You'd just have to know her to know that she is hilarious but won't be forced or obligated to do anything.) and we went into the service. That night she really started seeking God and both that service and the next service she spent a long time standing in front of the pulpit praying. The next service, however, she got the gift of the Holy Ghost! She later commented to me "You know, I've never liked skirts. Ever. But lately, I've really been buying a lot of them. Like I randomly think that they are pretty and I want to wear them. Its so weird!" I may or may not have lit up like a candle and explained that the Holy Ghost changes you! Another instance she told me and another girl in our church that she didn't know why but she heard a song by Kanye that she, at one point, like to listen to, and got upset because she didn't like the way that it made her feel. She said it felt 'demonic like devil music'. I've loved seeing her come alive in church (after a year of coming!) and we always have a lot of fun together. Getting to experience the work of God through the eyes of a newly saved soul is always so refreshing!

This was an incredibly long and rambling post but I think I've caught up on some of the major events. Woohoo! I'll be posting again hopefully today or tomorrow so stay tuned. :)

Labor Day Weekend; A series. Soon to come to blogs near you!

UPDATE: For those of you that are wondering, The Chase is an amazing book. It is SO real and down to earth that it almost feels like you are having a conversation with a friend, rather than reading a book. It is definitely something that I would recommend!-In fact, I already have and am about to pass it on to some of the other young ladies in our church. They are excited to read it. I am excited for them. Seriously. Its good!

Labor Day was great fun.-Rather, Labor Day weekend was great fun! The Popsicle and I went camping in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. It was hot, full of bugs and wildlife, exhausting, and a blast! I must admit that I was a little nervous going into this situation. Most, if not all of you, know that I've dealt with a lot of infirmity this year. (My parents are probably about ready to send me to a nursing home.) I wasn't sure if I was physically well enough to handle such a draining adventure. Add that to the fact that I haven't been camping in about 12 years...I wasn't quite sure what to expect because I wasn't quite sure how accurate my memory was, you know? Well, it was very similar to what I recalled so I was a little prepared. Thankfully.
Anyway, we had several memorable moments and I thought about doing a normal blog post about it...
But then I got inspired.

Why not make it more fun and tell it in story format?!

So I will write our adventure out, day by day, and share it with you. I may exaggerate a few things, simply for the sake of showing just how hilarious some of the so called 'memorable' moments were. But it will be true, and I'll not exaggerate too much.-if I do, I'll add a disclaimer or something. ;) At any rate, be prepared for these posts.-They will be covering three days of living terrified near a creek fearlessly in the wilderness.

**By reading these posts, you are agreeing that Lauren Nicole; the blog, Lauren Nicole; the person, and the staff working with and for Lauren Nicole, nor any other affiliated parties will be held responsible for any and all injuries that occur from laughing too hard. You understand that you will be reading at your own risk and the decision to read could result in difficulty breathing, sore, cracked, and/or broken ribs, various knee and back injuries, and any amount of cuts, scratches, and bruises that may or may not be a result of rolling around in the floor, along with others not mentioned in the above. Lauren Nicole; the blog, Lauren Nicole; the person, the staff working with and for Lauren Nicole, and any other affiliated parties will also not be held responsible for any and all damage to property or properties of the consented individual or otherwise. These stories are not tested on animals, grandparents, or regular household objects. Paid for by Lauren Nicole.

"Hi, I'm Lauren Nicole, and I approve this message."

(It's late ya'll. Don't be haters.😜)