Honor

Greetings, faithful followers!
It is I, again, Helena.
Surprised? I hope not. I'm feeling a bit kooky tonight, hence my random babble. Ahem.
I wanted to write a serious blog about the situaysh here in El Salvador.
It is official that I'm pretty much the translator all the time. My brain doth hurteth from thinking so hard... all the time. I did consider having a jibber jabber day where I just translate nonsensical words, but I figured since I'm constantly translating sermons and testimonies, it wouldn't fly. It would be funny to take a main repetitive word out of the sermon, and just sub it with "pupusa" and see how it goes. "The Lord wants to have a pupusa with you. You don't have to work for this, God loves you and wants you to have a pupusa with Him." ahh sacrilege smackrilege. I realize that in a room full of people, nobody would understand how funny that would be unless they spoke both English AND Spanish... so I'd be laughing alone... as always.

A pupusa, by the way, is a tortilla filled with beans and cheese, and sometimes meat. It is pretty much what is eaten in El Salvador for breakfast and dinner. Funny fact: it is considered crazy and very weird to eat pupusas for LUNCH. They're okay for breakfast and dinner, but lunch? Not a chance. What are we, obsessed with them or something? What message would that send to the children? El Salvador believes in balance and moderation. Pupusas are good for 2/3 meals only.


Another thing I feel special and odd about, which is the original intent of this blog (ahh now I'm gettin' round to it!) is the missionary table.
This thing happens to us, and it's humbling and odd in equal parts.
We are received as special honored guests everywhere we go. We go to preach somewhere, or to do kids ministry, or to share testimonies, and after we do so.... people clear out, chairs get moved and stacked, and out of nowhere 2 tables show up, and we are served a meal right then and there where we were just preaching. Often literally where we were preaching. The meal is prepared especially for us. We are the only ones eating that food while everybody else kinda watches. They pour us beverages and assorted juices (today's juice was cantaloupe, delicious) and serve us either different food (better food) than everyone else gets, or we are the only ones fed, right in the middle of the action.

perfect example... notice the children bystanders

To them it is an HONOR to feed us. An HONOR to host us. They fill us to the brim, then somebody announces they'd like the honor of having us in their home for coffee and cookies. So we go, and sing praise songs in their home and pray over them, and get fed cookies and coffee with so much affection. It's like they see Jesus when they look at us, and they want to bless us as much as possible. God is watching all this, with a huge smile on His face. They get it. They really get it. "Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me." and they do... they do a lot. They seize the blessing to serve us. 

We had a lady lead us into the woods with a machete, chopping down HUGE wild flowers and giving them to us. She led us through her corn fields and to a place we could swim. She then fed us corn with lime and salt (best new way to eat corn, sorry butter) and gave us little chubby bananas.... which I must admit tasted really really good.

<<sidenote: I hate bananas. I know, I know, how can I call myself Brazilian and hate bananas? That's preposterous... so I took on a challenge: eat a banana in every country, see if I can conquer this tastebud debacle... El Salvador bananas are... gooey but good.>> 


I hope that if I can take anything from this month it is this: what an HONOR to serve those who serve the Lord. To open up a home, to serve a meal, to encourage them. What an HONOR that is to these people, and to God's people. It humbles me every single day. Their kids give us candy. Are you serious?!!! I was raised pretty well, but you couldn't get me to give any candy to strangers. No way, Jose! Even their kiddos know that giving is a blessing to seize. What an HONOR to be in El Salvador, serving them and being served even more.

Little Update

Hey yall :)
Here's a short update on my life!

I'm still in El Salvador!
Thus far I've preached twice, shared bits of my testimony to a church a couple of times, and done some major crazy dancing to amuse the kiddos here. I learned how to make a balloon dog, and I'm excited to attempt more random balloon artistry (insert dry humor here).
I'm finishing Acts tomorrow, and praying about what God wants me to read next.

Be in prayer for me and my heart. I've been feeling more confident with ministry, yet feeling really insecure in my personal life. I honestly wish God would just tell me the plan, but that's not how He works most of the time. Lord knows I gotta work on my patience and just trust Him, and that's exactly what's happening right now. Also pray for me to be more perceptive of my team and their needs.
I praise God for these character-building situations, but prayer is appreciated :)

Love and miss you guys!
Blessings,

Helena

Anxiously Confident

I'm a jumbly mess of awesome feelings.
Today we got to do ministry with kiddos and it was precious. I wouldn't have minded taking 3 or 4 of them with me for good. I got to watch them destroy a pinata and chase after our truck. I made my first balloon animal, and it looked nearly unrecognizable but little Avi seemed pleased with the dog balloon. Let's just say there is room for improvement ;]
Here's a pic from this morning, with a few kiddos!

Then we went to do door-to-door ministry, and it was tough. Hands-down everybody's favorite.... pause NOT! I don't mind speaking Spanish, but today it felt like my brain was fighting it. I was fishing for words like craaaazy, couldn't seem to get my words right. I kept speaking Portuguese.... kinda funny thinking back to it :) but not at the time! The lady we went with would say "hello brother/sister, this here is a missionary and she has a word for you!" and then everyone would turn and look at me expectantly. No pressure! It's aight, I mean God put me here and if I weren't ready for this, it wouldn't have happened. From my teammate's perspective, I did well. His encouragement really perked me up. Thank the Lord that our translator isn't sick anymore, so I can back off the Spanish crash course a little tiny bit! Phew!

Worked with the youth tonight, and they are so sweet. We sat around for  a while and talked, mostly about movies. We did a lot of quoting Monty Python... well Caitlin and I quoted Monty Python, while everybody else stared awkwardly hahaha oh well majority of people either haven't seen the movies or don't get why they're funny. I praise the Lord for my random crazy sense of humor. I refuse to compromise it lol.

After much troubleshooting, the youth group watched a super random movie in Spanish about a guy who falls away from the Lord and into a life of debauchery and illicit drug usage... then, when a drug deal goes bad (don't they always?!), he gets shot, then paralyzed, then he rehabs his way into walking again and renounces his old sinful ways, and shares a pitcher of koolaid with his younger sibling! Outstanding acting and cinematography for a late 80's movie, let me tell you! Very touching, despite the overdose of acid wash jeans/jeggings. My teammate appreciated my random English dubbing skills, she was laughing pretty hard. "No, I'm sorry, your hair is too big!" "but I'm a great influence on you!" "okay, I'll date you...but I'm not buying you jewelry!" "deal."

We climbed back in the van and I successfully smashed my left big toe with a metal folding seat. It's no longer numb but it is swelling. I'm glad my nail polish is purple, because I don't want to know what it looks like underneath my nail. I'm happy to report I took it like a man.

We went to a pizzeria and ate a ton. We even made a song for Travis, who is like a bottomless pit when it comes to eating. We took a JDH song that goes "You are an endless ocean, a bottomless sea.... there's no end to the affection You have for me" and turned it into "you have an endless stomach, a bottomless pit, there's no end to your intestines, travis lee!" haha just appreciate that. Really. Appreciate that, because it's humor at its best.

Then..... we got home and there was an iguana stuck in the pastor's truck's dashboard. Yes, iguana #2. Here's a pic of iguana #1, rip, ex-boyfriend!

Totally normal and predictable World Race business. I mean, who has a normal life anymore? So I got to film the retrieval of tomorrow's lunch meat, and then hold the thing by the tail. CRAY CRAY! I will hopefully get to eat iguana for lunch tomorrow...

I got to kill lots of bugs today, also, which makes me happy.



I got to see my D squad girls on Skype tonight! Amanda and Brittany just bring joy to my heart. It was therapeutic to see their smiling faces and hear their voices. I am so encouraged.

I'm making my way through Acts. I started yesterday and I'm hoping to finish tomorrow. It just sheds new light to be on a mission trip, reading Acts all the way through. I'm pumped for all the growth in the Word this year. Epic growth.

So that's my day... my crazy Saturday... I find myself anxiously confident, bringing my requests to my Daddy in Heaven and finding an overwhelming peace within me about the plans He has for me. His timing and His sovereignty are perfect. His mercies are new every morning.

Out of Control

Hey Helena, wanna preach tomorrow? Yeah, okay!
That's what I was told yesterday :)

I spent the remainder of the day yesterday praying about what it is that the Lord wanted me to say to this church here in El Salvador.
I even dared to ask that God would show me in a dream or something cray cray what it is that He needed me to share.

It didn't come to me in a dream (the only dream I had in El Salvador was about a really bad date? I went on a date with somebody... don't even know who! And I didn't have time to shower, and I wore a dress fished out of the dirty laundry basket, and I arrived late, and turns out it was some kind of nightmare setting because another girl showed up and they both walked ahead of me the whole time.............. I even dream awkward situations)

So I kept praying that the Lord would show me what He needed me to say and it became very simple, all of a sudden: preach the gospel.
Boom.
Just the gospel. Simple. Yeah okay, can do.

One little problem: my spanish is like a one-way street.
I hear it, understand it, I can mimic it like a little parrot.
Speaking it, however, is REALLY HARD!

I give full glory to God for the events of this evening. I wrote the sermon, had about 4 pages in my journal filled up with my terrible handwriting, bordering the previous doodles that occupied the page. Cartoon lion: check!

I had about 6 places in the Bible to read scripture from, so all the people who love to flip through the Bible as quickly as possible could get something from the sermon. (I'm one of those people hahaha)

I focused on baby food. No, that wasn't my topic AT ALL, but I wanted to make my message as "beginner friendly" as possible. You see, Christians get a lot of sermons. Mature Christians love church, and they come to church, and they understand the stuff. I wanted to preach the good news to the people who don't know what church is all about.

I started out talking about how this trip is kinda dangerous, and there are risks coming to these countries and diseases we could acquire. I talked about how people thought I was crazy when I told them about all this, and that they're right: I'm crazy :) I'm crazy about Jesus.
I told them I wasn't afraid of dying. I shared with them scripture in Hebrews about being free from the fear of death. I told them that the message of Jesus Christ is more important than my life. I told them that I'd rather die than not try to share the message with them and their children. I shared the gospel. I told them about the lies that Satan tells us, and overwhelmed them in TRUTH. I listed some scripture that had to do with truth, and to constantly encourage one another in truth. I had them turn to the person on the right and the left and tell them "you are precious, powerful, and loved" :) it was awesome to see them do it. I asked them to take some time to think about what the cross means to them.
It was beautiful to see the truth in the church. Their faces when I said that they are free in Christ. To watch their faces go from the concern that the lies brought to the smiles that the truth brought. I told them that the truth is so nice to hear, and we should say it more often, remind each other each day, like scripture says.
Animense! I said, over and over until they smiled :) Laughing. I saw laughter in the church. People who worshiped with serious faces were laughing.
I told them that they needed to believe the word of God over satan's lies.
I closed my sermon with 2 Cor 5:7-6:2...... I told them the gospel, again. Then I quoted Romans 10 and led them through a salvation prayer and an altar call. I turned off my microphone and went to stand by my team. The pastor prayed, and asked if anybody would like to come forth to make their decision public, and to my astonishment a young man walked up to the front.

no... seriously....... I preached the words that God gave me..... and a young man came to know the Lord tonight.

Praise be to my Father in Heaven, who used me tonight to bring a son to eternal life. Only God knows if there were others who prayed silently in their hearts, but I am just so humbled that my broken Spanish made sense to someone enough to bring them to the cross. My Daddy in Heaven LOVES me so much. It felt like my birthday today, with my hands raised in worship, standing aside watching the young man pray a salvation prayer.

My teammate said I spoke for about 30 minutes. With no translator. In Spanish.

My first sermon!

I received some amazing feedback from my team, just encouraging me and speaking life into me, telling me I did a good job. The pastor told me it was a good sermon, and I had several people in the church come tell me how blessed they were. One lady laid hands on me and prayed blessings over me, and, in tears, told me that she will remember this message in her heart. I am humbled beyond humbled.

God is so good to me. He used me for His Kingdom.
I am living to give Him glory, and my Daddy was glorified tonight.
I praise Him for the opportunity to do this crazy awesome trip. To be in a bunk bed right now, in a room with 4 other people, sharing a bed with another night owl, living out of a backpack in El Salvador, writing this run-on sentence in my blog. My life is anything but boring or average.
My God is out of control :)

Alive Alive Alive

I could write a psalm right now about how I feel.

Here I hold a mug of sweetened black coffee in my hands. The clothes hanging on the line sway gently to the breeze. I’m sitting on an air mattress in the pastor’s living room, surrounded by shoes (the family business), listening to my team leader play the guitar and sing praises to God. The birds are chirping loudly. I hear a few shutter clicks as a teammate attempts to capture these moments in pictures, and now I add to the noise with my best effort, to capture this in words.

I close my eyes and remember riding in the back of the pickup truck, standing up, holding the rails. I remember the wind on my face. The people here are beautiful. Hard lives, but they smile. I can relate to that.

Let everything that has breath praise You, Lord.

I have never felt so alive as I do in this moment.

Most people thought I was crazy to take this trip, at least at first. Here I am, in El Salvador, receiving affirmation from the Lord that He’s proud of me. This is exactly where He wants me. There is nowhere else I’d rather be. There’s no face I’d rather see than God’s face. No voice I’d rather hear but His. No words I’d rather read but His. He pursues me with unfailing love. I’m in love today.

I’m in love, and He loves me more than I’ll ever understand.

I used to ask God if there was anything left in me that was any good, anything left to give to anybody.

I realize I have more today than I ever had before.

I’ve been restored. I’ve been pursued. I’m worthy.

I am truly loved.

HOW TO ELEVATE ELEVATOR AWKWARDNESS

I am nodding fiercely. This post has been brewing, boiling within me and it's finally here.
Enjoy the complimentary elevator music whilst you read, courtesy of authentic Brazilian jazz.

Ladies and Non-ladies,
I present to you a masterpiece. Thorough research conducted by me (I'm a scientist, I can do that) has led me to the threshold of awkwardness and personal discomfort.


WHY? WHY BE WEIRD IN AN ELEVATOR?
Elevators are ALWAYS weird. Gandhi said "Be the change you wish to see in the world"... I say "Be the awkwardness you wish to see in the elevator."

DON'T WAIT FOR IT
You don't have to wait until you're inside the elevator. Turn the awkwardness on before you're ever inside it.

Go for the same button, at the same time, but hang back a little, so they go for it and then you really go for it, like you're competing.

 - If you win... congratulations. You should say something along the lines of "yeah I always have to push the button." or "oh you'll get it next time"
- If you lose, you gotta congratulate your opponent. "Wow. I've never not pushed the button before, I guess congratulations" and look really shocked. Then ask what floor they're going to and if you can push their floor button for them once inside the elevator. Say "it's only fair."

Button Bonus - if you're in a middle floor, push the up and the down. Double winning.

One elevator - STARE STRAIGHT AT THE DOORS!!!!

Multiple elevators - Stare at every elevator door, in paranoia, and ask them "WHICH ONE IS IT GONNA BE? WHICH ONE?"

Ask people if they're lost while they're waiting for an elevator. That NEVER gets old.

IT'S HERE!!
This is when you really gotta move quickly.

STAND RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOORS. Your nose should practically be touching the doors. It'll not only be super awkward for the people you're waiting with, it'll also make for a really weird moment for the people trying to exit.

YOU'RE IN
Okay there are a lot of avenues you can take here. Consider these options.

Pushing every button is overdone, but that's up to you (or down to you). You can say that it minimizes the risk of getting stuck between floors. You can say your aunt had a baby in an elevator when it was stuck. Then ask if anybody in the elevator is pregnant.

Be Nicolas Cage. You guard the doors and you guard the buttons, as if it was a national emergency. "Everybody stay calm, have no fear, I am here. What floor do you need? I will get you there as safely as possible"  And really really overdo it when you're guarding the door open while people are exiting. Stand in front of the doors, and hug them. Say things like "you're safe now! Go go go!"


Be the fickle floor person. Ask someone to push a button, but then go "ahhh wait that's not it. Um let me think" and milk it for all it's worth. Then be fickle getting out of the elevator!  Get out then go "oh no no that's not the right floor, I'm sorry!" and run back into the elevator. Everybody's done it before, but not on purpose :) Repeat as needed.

Sharing is caring. Share a lot of personal details with the complete strangers in your elevator. Talk about relationships, or your morning routine. Ask for advice, as quickly as possible. Great way to max out the awkward factor.

Now, for inspiration, here are some funny awkward elevator pictures! Enjoy!

11 Perks of Being Single

Okay okay okay okay.... here it is. Goofy blog has been requested. This was the original intent a while back, but it turned into all-out seriousness. We've covered how serious it is, now it's time to have a bit of fun with it, eh?

11 PERKS OF BEING SINGLE

1) eating my weight in candy without the "oh no, she's gonna let herself go" flash of panic in the eyes of my beholder. I run marathons, come on!

2) don't have to share my candy

3) I can still cuddle! With pets! 

4) watching chick flicks and kid movies without protest

5) it's fun to analyze cryptic comments from the opposite sex about my organs... it's like trying to understand batman language
 









6) no false expectations of flowers on my birthday

7) nobody is being ditched when the girls hang out and get crazy.

8) having "Someone Like You" moments is totally okay

9) I have a weird sense of humor, so no sense of humor disagreements. ie this to me is hilarious, most people don't get it.

 
10) skype dates wif mah TwitterTwin... well that ain't gonna change regardless, but it's a current perk!

11) trusting God with everything and being refined for what's to come.

Ninjas don't get manicures

I haven't gotten a manicure in months. I said goodbye to my nail guy, Tom (that's his american name) back in August. I miss Tom. He always gave me the cousin discount, because he said my last name was just Dao, like his, and we were cousins. I learned how to say "God bless you" "hi" "goodbye" "how are you? I'm fine" in Vietnamese :) I got to share about Christ with Tom, and Tom would encourage me by saying sweet things like "you have boyfriend? no? then I'm lucky man to hold your hand" and he would write random symbols on my hand with oil to bless me after he did my nails. It was a great, wholesome experience. 

I said bye to Tom because God opened my eyes about how super duper selfish I was being with my money. I spent easily over $150 monthly with things that were related to my outside upkeep, when others didn't even have food. I repented.


Fast forward 4 months, and I'm in Brazil. Here it costs roughly 7 American bucks to get a mani and a pedi. My sweet cousin decided to give me a treat. It was more of a family intervention. I have a typical Brazilian family, with very great-looking ladies. They all have their nails done, and they all look 15 years younger than they are :)


So my cousin sent me to the beauty parlor and paid for me to get a mani and pedi. 
The nail lady kept making "tut tut tut tut tut" sounds when she was cutting my cuticles, and cried out "ohhh mercy" when she saw my feet. I had to laugh. It's so not that big of a deal to me anymore. My feet are still so cute and clean and little, yet "oh mercy!" was all the lady could say.


Here's the hardest part:
I look down and I have a really cute manicure. It's stressful trying not to completely ruin it. It seems inevitable. I am really rough. I lift heavy things with eagerness. I fish for keys with cat-like reflexes. I like to bring down the fist of justice when I see a bug trespassing in a 2-foot radius. I become a small hurricane of orderly chaos when doing house chores. Judo chopping is part of my daily moves. I get dressed very efficiently and quickly, zipping, snapping, pulling what I need to.

My nails will get ruined in a matter of hours. They're doomed.


It's awesome to see how different I already am in 4 months. I have forgotten how to not destroy a manicure. Something that was part of me now feels foreign. I am so unattached to these things that used to define me. I thought it was just an inner stumbling block, having only to do with how I'm perceived by others, but there's more! I didn't realize how much they hindered my agility and ninja moves.

I used to think that my worth, beauty, and identity had partially to do with my nails. I've been assured, during this time of abounding growth, that the only nails that define me are the ones which held my Savior to the cross.


I still feel lovely without all the frills, and I'm practically a ninja.


Thank You, Jesus, for Your nails, and for the freedom.

Tightrope

"a time to be silent and a time to speak" Ecc 3:7b

I'm learning to balance my words. Truthfully, the best thing I've ever done was open up when I was falling apart. Like open-heart surgery, I was all busted open. You could see me being rebuilt. Good days: more work got done. Bad days: construction was delayed. The last thing I wanted to do was share the grueling pain I was going through, but it was God-glorifying. How do I know? People came to Christ because of it. I got to baptize my friend because of it. A muslim asked me to tell her about Jesus. A friend joined a church and told me I made him reconsider fellowship despite past church wounds.  That's just a drop in the bucket of examples. Jesus' name was proclaimed. Healer. Comforter. Hope. Joy. He got all the credit for the simple fact I was still holding together. 

Good things coming from bad things. Glory. Fruit.
The easy thing to do would have been to withdraw, to go straight home from work, skip social activities, and take lots and lots of naps. I fought really hard though! It broke my pride to be visibly weak. I thank God for that, because I learned a huge lesson in humility.


Little miss sunshine, who used to cry at every Bible study, now encourages. I help to build. I proclaim the power of God and His presence. I tell my war stories in animated ways, and the girls I mentor light up and giggle. "Eat your vegetables!" "Wait for your limo!" "Don't settle for McDonald's when you can have gourmet!" hahaha they call them Helena-isms. 

All I did was open up. Open book. My story revealed. But my Daddy in Heaven is transitioning me to a brand new season. 10-10 is over! 11-11 is here. [[Ask me someday to tell you about 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9... big chapters of my life, all marked. It took me all the way to 9-9 to see it too, haha! You'd think I'd notice a pattern...]] New beginnings. My surgery is done. My guts are back inside, and it's time that I hold still and wait patiently. 11-11, a season of harvest and patience. 12-12 is when I get back (gotta shake my head, it's a little bit creepy... and awesome). No idea what 12-12 is gonna hold for me, but here I am, at 11-11. 


I'm walking a tightrope of discernment: what to say, what to hold back. 
Pray for boldness to speak when I need to, and for the bold trust to be silent. Pray that my words are encouragement, and that I use my voice to make others heard. To raise up the silent ones into boldness. To hear voices that have been quiet for way too long. Instilling confidence. Empowering. Pray I become a much better listener. Pray I hear the voice of God!



Like a hardy water lily at night, I'm closing up.

If you've never seen a water lily garden at night, you need to.
Some are open at night, but the closed ones make you think.
They hold within them the most beautiful blooms, yet they reserve them only for the light.

That's a lesson to learn.

Grace > Resolutions

I like to exercise. I don’t run to lose weight. It’s not a chore or a punishment to me. I delight in it. In college, January was always a little obnoxious to me. I would go to the Rec Center (UNT’s gym) and all the machines would be taken up. These machines were empty in November and December, but January brings out all the individuals who made resolutions. 

 

In February, however, the media would bombard the resolved people with chocolate and romantic comedies, and the gym was nice and empty again.

My organic chemistry professor in college said on the first day of class, “Lunacy is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a new result each time.” 

Why would people expect to receive change on their terms? Resolutions seem like a yearly tradition rooted deeply in the realization of inadequacy. Wholly embraced, the making of resolutions depends on a temporary conviction that, from one year to the next, there will be a change. This change will then yield a desired accomplishment.

This really bugs me.

 

The cause of my aggravation is this: what will fuel this change? Where is this newfound, theoretical dedication coming from? Will it spring up from the ground? Will it arrive in the mail with the new calendar? Is it going to manifest when the clock strikes midnight? Will it appear in the air as the fireworks burst and fade?

We push through the whole 12 months, and yet take one day of the year to self-examine and set goals. Next year, we’ll look away from the previous resolves and set new ones. Making uncommitted resolutions, like blowing bubbles, is fun and short-lived. 

Our insufficiency is a year-long concern. We do not meet the mark. We fail. We stumble. We are gluttons. We are unfaithful, lazy, selfish, angry, unwise, and impatient. We say hurtful things. We are obviously imperfect. We are sinners.

Yet here we are, acknowledging all this (yes!) then resolving to fix it ourselves! (noooo!!)

That’s why there are so many empty gyms in February!

You’re washing the outside of the cup, when we know the inside is the dirty part.

Let’s do something different.

Reality is, you can’t do it by yourself. You want to, but maybe you’re realizing it's gonna take more to fulfill you than hitting the gym more. Looking a certain way won't solve your problems. Neither will learning a new language, or running a marathon, or watching less tv. You’re still the same person who woke up yesterday. Today may be 2012, but you’re the same.

There is something missing that a resolution isn’t going to fix.

It's a change on the inside.
It's a different point of view.
There is a fulfillment that we can only have in Christ.

There is a bridge extended to us, from inadequacy to wholeness.

You are deeply loved by your Creator. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and loving. You have a Father in Heaven. Your Maker has a purpose for you, and a plan to give you a hope and a future.

His son Jesus came to earth. We sang the Christmas songs for the last what, 2 months? He is the hope and the solution to the hopeless resolutions.

Incarnate God, who became flesh so you could be acceptable.
He took your insufficiencies to the cross, and declared that you are forgiven not only for what you have done, but also what you will do or fail to do. You are innocent and without blame. You are a child of God. Worthy. Good. Righteous. You’re enough. You have a Savior.
 
He was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven, where He reigns in glory and power.
He’s alive! We serve a living God!

He bears our burdens. He comforts. He encourages. He strengthens. He heals. He listens. He speaks. He guides.

Jesus makes us brand new. Unrecognizably new.

Jesus changes the heart. That's the gospel: good news of great joy!

The best resolution couldn’t hold a candle to a new heart.

You have every reason to look forward to 2012, but don’t preach to yourself that it’s because you’ll be more disciplined to do this or that. 

Let’s wager 2012 not on our performance, but our dependency. 

Let 2012 be the year of your ever-increasing awareness of God’s grace.

Grace to cover all your imperfections. 

Grace to reconcile you to God. 

Grace to give you strength as you strive forward. 

Grace to open up and confess your mess instead of hiding it. 

Grace to heal. 

Grace to receive purpose. 

Grace to trust in God, who never fails. 

Grace to embrace humility and seek out community. 

Grace to put others ahead of yourself. 

Grace to love unconditionally.
Grace to stand fearless.
Grace to be patient.
Grace to listen.
Grace to be more discerning.

Grace to forgive 7x70 times. 

Grace to seek God’s face. 

Grace to be bold and speak out what’s in your heart. 

Grace to bow down as you are, and honor the King.
Grace to be made new.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”  -2 Cor 5:16-6:2

Have a blessed 2012!