Respect

Well here I am again. Not being able to sleep. You would think after going straight from 7 am to midnight yesterday and working a 10 hour shift today I would be tired, but no I lie awake my mind going crazy.

I tell you folks, working in the mall so much this summer has opened my eyes to the blatant evil in this world. People no longer have respect for their neighbor or for anyone period. I witnessed a few things today that just make my heart ache.

I was kindly helping a two customers, a husband and a wife. After explaining something to them about candles, the husband didnt really understand what I was saying. Before I was able to explain it a little better to him, the wife cut me off and practically yelling at her husband said, "Did you not just hear what she said to us, Gosh! apparently not!!" >>>> I mean call me crazy but who wants to be called out like that in public, especially a man. Wives are called to respect their husbands. And I do not know anything about this family's situation, but I just cant stand it when I see these crazy mall-shoppers embarassing their husbands and ordering them around like they are their dogs.

Tonight as I Was leaving the mall at close, I was walking out and all of the sudden I heard a ton of yelling and not to mention the yelling of profanities. On my way out of the mall is a nail salon. I approach it to find three angry ladies yelling and screaming at a sweet little Asian man. Please tell me, what in the world could this sweet man have done to have cause such harassment. By the looks of it he was standing between these ladies and another asian lady behind the counter who was frozen with fear. I walked over to another store and asked if someone would call security, but instead everyone just looked at me like I was a dummy. So, I walked out to my car and called my store, got the # for security and called them myself. They were already aware of the situation and were on it... kinda.

After all of this I found myself circling the mall crying my eyes out. It just kills me to see innocent people being harassed like this man was. I am not over-reacting these ladies were literally screaming at the top of their lungs in this mans face. After circling the mall once I came to the area outside of where these ladies were and spoke to an officer as a witness.

I know this is an evil world, and I am so thankful that I have the Lord to lean on and to protect. But not everyone knows this. Its our jobs to display the love of the Lord to those who have no clue. How can we do this? By the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you think of it. Think and pray about the people you encounter in your life who may not know what the love of the Lord looks like, and pray for them and allow the Holy Spirit to empower you to show them that love.

That is all. Sorry for the semi-depressing posts lately.

peace. LOVE. joy.

It's not O.K.

I have been a horrible blogger. I was prideful in the fact that I started out my summer by consistently blogging. Well thats not happening anymore. The Lord blessed me with 2 jobs that keep me on my toes.

Im gunna go ahead and cut to the chase for the purpose of this late night post.

Last week at work I witnessed something that I believe has changed my life in a sense. My job at the mall requires me to be in the back "authorized personal only" access walls that weave throughout the mall. I was back there with a co-worker when we saw what looked like average mall shoppers. First thing that went through my head was, what are these ladies doing back here? It appeared to be a mother and a daughter, the daughter looking about 10 or 11 years old. My co-worker and I started down the hall back to our store. On our way back I noticed that this "mother" had hand-cuffed her "daughter." I thought to myself why on earth would she need to do this. I proceeded to ask them if I could help them find anything. She answered without looking at me that they were taking a short cut to get to the mall because she had a bad ankle. Yet, this girl was hand-cuffed with metal hand-cuffs. At the point I was determined to find a mall security officer and inform him. Due to business at the store I wasnt able to speak to one until about 2 hours later. I informed him of everything I saw and walked him through the scenario. After thinking about this alot it came to my knowledge that Toledo is one of the largest homes of the sex trade business. This is primarily because we have 2 main intersecting highways and several outlets to the Ohio turnpike. Suddenly it hit me.. it is very possible this young girl was passed off into the sex trade. Since then I have been praying for this girl. I wish I would have done more, or followed them or something. Today I spoke to another mall officer and asked him to follow up on the situation. Now all I can do is pray and keep my eyes out for suspicious behavior at the mall. It is a perfect, busy place where these innocent girls can be discretely passed off in the illegal sex trade.

I would ask that those of you reading this would pray for this girl that I saw. My heart aches for her. Also if you think of it to pray for the city of Toledo. There is currently a ministry that is actively trying to get this problem under control. However, I believe it is still being built up so it is not that known yet.

I am completely shocked and amazed that the town I call my home is one of the largest cities known for sex trade. I feel that the Lord is planting a seed in my heart for my future to possible come back here and devote my degree to teaching these women who are being rescued from the sex trade. However, my life is His and I will do whatever he has for me. I will close this post with some sex trade statistics from the website of the ministry here in town:

Trafficking for labor & sexual exploitation is probably the second most profitable activity in the world for organized crime

• Toledo, Ohio has been cited by the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as a top U.S. recruitment city for trafficking children into commercial sexual exploitation.
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported that there are only 4 recovery homes in the entire country and combined, they are able to provide services for only 45 victims.

Each day is a gift.

lately I haven been beside myself with the hours I have been working. Im like... ok this is supposed to be summer break.. resting etc etc. Nope not here...

However, when I came across this pic on someones blog, my trailing thoughts wound up to the fact every day is a gift.

No matter what the day holds.. whether its raining on a wedding day, grumpy ladies at work, or a bright sunny day with a cool summer breeze. Each one is a gift, and its totally my job to make it a good one.

Im not that excited to wake up and go to work tomorrow, BUT at least Im not sleeping the day away, right?

Ive come to realize that the days of "breaks" are over. I mean I will have breaks and I will def. rest. But life is way to valuable and short to waste all my time sitting around, thinking about how much I need a break. I want to start my career and have a family someday SOON! and I dont believe having a couple, few, alot, of children will include having many breaks.

SO, the moral of the story is: Keep it coming!!!! Ill take my breaks when the sun goes down!

Peace> LOVE> joy

Me and Him

I dont feel as though I have anything exciting to share tonight.

I def. do not want to bore my very few readers with the events of my day. Instead I would love to bring you a word of encouragement or something of such.

tonight while i was delving into to Gods Word, I fell in love with Pauls writing style or perhaps the style of those who translated the Word into our language. I was reading 1 Corinthians 12.. Paul was speaking of the different spiritual gifts and how we ought to work together as a corporate body where everyone has his or her part and we all work as a machine, have you.

The last verse of the chapter reads, "But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all."

I thought 1 Corinthians 13 is next, the love chapter!!! Which is by far one of my favorites parts of scripture, it is simply beautiful. So anyhow, my point here is, I just love the cliff hanger Paul leaves us on! I could be totally off guard, I am no Bible scholar and I have not spent hours studying the meaning of this word or the origin of that word. But, is he not right in saying LOVE is the best way of life!! Yes! I decided not to read on... I am going to wait until tomorrow to read 1 Cor. 13 and let my excitement build throughout the next day!

I do believe the Lord is drawing me closer to Him in a personal way. I have not found myself being around people very much on this particular break. It mostly is because of my work schedule and what not. I believe is he drawing me back to Him. A place I have always been aware of but have not always felt the need to acknowledge. He is all I need, and He is reminding me of that, and I like it, wait, actually I LOVE it.

peace. LOVE. joy.

Pineapple gummy bears

Hello blogging world,

So since working about 48 hours last week, 2o of those being friday and saturday, the beginning of this week I have been somewhat of a zombie... I worked this morning then came home at 3 and ate some lunch then headed out to the porch swing in the back yard to indulge in a good book.. About 15 min later I was out!!! Since then I have gone on walk with the fam and now havent left my bed and the bowl of gummy bears on the table.

I am not usually one who likes to sit around all the time. I like to stay busy and doing things. However I have just been to tired to stand on my feet since I am constantly on them and moving at work. BUT! Let me tell when I'm sitting around my mind is ALIVE!!! I have big plans for my day off on wednesday! I am going to make a coffee table book out of starbucks quotes, and go shopping at Hobby Lobby, and make some coffee on my espresso maker! Also, I am going to begin the preparations for the girls night I am planning at church! I cant wait!!

Isn't nice to know the Lord never gives us more then we can take? I mean I know I am going to be ok, when it comes to all this working and not as much resting as I was planning on it. But I am going to be ok... The Lord's got me

Ok! Just a side note! I just saw a "Cotton" commercial starring Colbie Caliajkdfsio (however you spell it) she is so great! I LOVE her music!

Tornados, Work, and LOVE

Ya I still havent taken many pictures lately... However this one I had saved on my computer.

These past few days I have just been amazed at what a smile and a positive attitude can do. Starting my new job has been hard, I just seem to have several negative thoughts and feelings towards most of my co-workers due to their horrible attitudes. I was challenged by a bible study group that witnessing to those around us is not always accomplished my throwing lofty words and phrases at them. The seed can simply be planted with a smile, a simply and cheerful, "Good Morning! " These past two days at work have been great! the Lord has been reminding of the real reason I have been at this job, and has been sneaking in little blessings here and there.

Tonight there were some severe tornado warnings by our house. After our family in Arkansas were part of a severe tornado a few years back, we take tornado warnings very seriously. So off we headed to the safest place of house, which really isnt that safe since we live in a one level ranch. Cramped up together on the floor my family lay, mom, dad, me, athisi and max and lola. Meanwhile, Athisi is freaking out asking mom if we are going to die. Everytime a tornado came on the TV screen she would scream. So 20 minutes pass and we decide it is safe to head back to bed. So currently I have a precious sleeping Haitian tightly attached to the right side of my body. Which is my cue its time to bring this blog to a close.

Peace. LOVE. joy.

Bad Picture Blogger

So I am a really horrible picture blogger, however at least I am blogging right?

Ok, everyone I am ecstatic right now. Heres a little background on one of my goals this summer. I am trying to read through the majority of the New Testament. I have been kinda skipping around, and I am no trying to read to fast because I want to understand fully what I am reading. Sooooooooo, tonight I read 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. Check this out friends, did you know that we have full access to the wisdom of the all-powerful, mighty, glorious, amazing God!!! I know you are probably like ya Duh Rach. But I think this may be something we forget, or at least I do, or something that we dont fully grasp because are constantly in awe of our God. Which is totally ok to be in awe of Him, how can we not. The cool thing I'm feeling right now is that I can obtain and get in on the wisdom my God has. He trusts us with that. Whoa! Check this out... (These are all in the Message version)

The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13

Isn't that so totally cool. Paul begins the chapter by saying that when he first started sharing the Word he didnt know what to say or how to articulate his words, but the Spirit did it for him.

I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God's Spirit and God's power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God's power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else. 2:3-5

I know ya'll are probably like ok Rach chill out. Ya this is stuff I have know,but our stupid insecurities make it so easy to forget. Friends, know that you have the power to move mountains, to speak into peoples lives, whether its with words of with just a bright smile. Tonight, I was at a Bible Study and we were talking about how in order to reach people for Christ we have to go about it differently nowadays. Everyone it seems like has been to church and not everyone is going to want to set foot in a church, but it is up to us to be the church for them, and to simply just listen to them and relate with them as best as possible. And how will we do this? With God-given and spirit-enacted wisdom. This isnt just temporary or flimsy wisdom,

God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don't find it lying around on the surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven't a clue about what this eternal plan is. 2:7-9ish

woohoo!!! So cool! Sorry this is totally me just talking to myself, and maybe it will touch someone else out there. Thanks to those who read for reading.

Be blessed.

peace. LOVE. joy.

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.I Corinthians 2:9 NLT