Dear Lucifer,

Dear Lucifer,

I'm writing to you because you and I both know that I'm terrible at  verbal communication. I guess I haven't made myself clear enough so this letter is to clarify why we've been feeling so distant lately. Let's be honest, I don't owe you anything but to be nice I thought I would bring you some closure. We need to make this as clean of a break as possible, so don't fuss; there's no use.

It's been a long time coming. Don't sit there and pretend like you didn't see it coming. We both knew this time would come. There was a time that we both rejoiced in each other's presence, but the love is gone... in fact, I'm sure that it was never there to begin with. Usually in this case I might say, "It's not you, it's me," but that would be a lie. It was all you and I need to do what's best for me.

When we first began in our relationship you gave me promises of things that I could ever want. You did give me what I wanted but soon you became all possessive, mentally and physically abusive, and told me I could never get anyone better. Every day since the day I met you, you have done nothing but lie to me so soon I actually believed what you said to be true. Remember that time you went out of town after allowing me to fall so deep in a depression that I never thought I would get out? Well, I guess I should tell you that I met someone else and we've been seeing each other ever since. You should know him, his name is "Jesus." Isn't that the name of your brother? Small world, right?

Jesus and I are getting very serious.... marriage serious. Yesterday, we were talking and he brought up how I've not been completely faithful to him. It's true though, I thought I could do some double dipping because I admit... you do have your sweet side, you give me some things that give me a moment's pleasure. Jesus, bless his heart, has been gracious to me time and time again... Did you know that he ACTUALLY died for me and then came back to life 3 days later? He did give me the ultimatum though; it's either you or him and I choose him.

As I said before is we need to make this as clean of a break as possible. This means I am setting up boundaries that you absolutely must respect because if you don't I will be forced to send Jesus over to conquer you again... you do remember last time, right?? How embarrassing... Anyways, here are the rules.
1. No more sending me gifts; I don't want or need them anymore.
2. No more sending me messages saying how much you miss me and begging me to come back.
3.No, we can not still be friends.

For what it's worth, I'm sorry that your first girl didn't work out... but then again... she was a married woman... so yeah... you are cordially invited to shove it.

Faithfully Jesus',
Roseann

Yet another RIDICULOUS story to God's Glory

Yesterday was probably the best day I've had in a year. I started off by attending an interview for a Full time Nanny position. (On the way I find a choral piece of music by Ben Roya Hall called "Adam Lay Ybounden"... very pretty piece thanking God for the fall.)This was amazing because it turns out that this is a Christian Family who holds the same beliefs that I do. Then the baby automatically took to me. All I had to do was smile at him and gently say, "Hi Jonah!" and in reply he smiles the most incredible smile I've seen in a while. I left the interview very confident that I was going to get the position and praying that my feeling was correct.

Next, I decided to do some busking on 1st and Pike. I hadn't been busking in a while but I was still expecting it to be the same as usual... play for an hour and get maybe 10 bucks if I'm lucky (it's the slow season). Oh boy, was I wrong. I was singing "how great is our God" when all the sudden someone chimes in harmonizing. Come to find out, this person was the head worship leader at "Christian Faith Center."

I play for a bit longer, someone pays me a couple bucks to record me performing, "Our God" by Chris Tomlin and I got to share with him a little bit of the Gospel.

Then someone, puts a present in my money can without me seeing...

Inside this present included $10

 this encouraging letter:

Also included was a prayer cloth scented with Frankincense

So, to say the least my mind was BLOWN to BITS!... TO BITS!

Later, my roommate and I jammed out to a Jesus Culture song, "See His Love" she played the piano and I played my guitar... (I'm telling you that we mesh together SO well that it must be God who orchestrated it!)

Then a couple hours after that(9pm... which was the exact time my last shift ended at Target a year ago yesterday), The family calls me back with an official job offer! YES!!!! I am no longer unemployed! My roommate and I  hugged, jumped around, and screamed with joy! I have been a bottle of excitement ever since.

And to finish the night off we went to an Episcopal church to hear the bible being chanted and a pipe organ being played... I forgot exactly what this event is called but it was amazing to sit in God's presence after such an amazing day. 

God is SO GOOD!

MANNA FELL FROM THE SKY!!!

Disapointment; the story of my life. This whole week I was pumped for my interview at the Pacific Science Center. I was going to conquer the interview and walk away their newest employee. Unfortunately, things never turn out how I plan. I didn't eve n make it TO the interview. Friday night I was so excited for the interview that I woke up every hour ending in not having a very productive sleep. So Saturday morning, my alarm goes off and I quickly turn it off thinking it's time to get out of bed without actually doing it. I ended up waking up again a couple minutes before I needed to catch the bus to get to the interview on time. This was a huge disappointment to me because I REALLY wanted this job! The whole day I was on the vurge of tears and actually did cry a few times because I was so disappointed. I went to Church that night, took the time to forgive myself before taking communion (so I don't drink judgement on myself), and a good friend gave me a ride home.

This good friend always leaves me with great food for thought, interesting ideas or solutions to problems I am dealing with. Often these answers or ideas are things that (*face palm*) I wonder why I never thought of in the first place. Upon the car ride home, I was reflecting on the final sermon in the series, "God's work, our witness," Which was basically testimonies of what God has been doing in Seattle. Then comes my ungreatfulness... I start complaining about how I am annoyed that God provides at the last possible minute for me. My friend interrupts my complaining and asks, "have you written down every way God has provided the things you needed?" In otherwords... "you've been given some incredible gifts... Why are you complaining about the method these are recieved?" I blame this on not wanting to be inconvienienced (major sin that I'm confessing here... one that I think a lot of Americans struggle with). I want miracles so long as it's convienient.

I think by far my favorite story in the bible is Exodus. God's people, Israel have been freed from the hand of Phaeroe, are given evident signs of God dwelling amoung them, a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night. They are given exactly what they need to survive in the desert; MANA FALLING FROM THE SKY???? Yet the heart of man is exposed. They complained because they had been inconvienienced. They had to leave the familiure and pursue the unfamiliure (the promised land), Don't forget some of these slaves were serving some of the richest families even though a huge amount had been working their rear end off on achitechture, ect they still had what they needed to survive (America in the biblical times). When they left they were much richer than whence they came. Once they were in the desert EVERYTHING was uncertain except for one thing, Jehovah Jireh (the Lord will provide). God provided in some pretty ridiculous ways... I mean... SERIOUSLY? MANNA FALLING FROM THE SKY?!?!?!  It is bewildering to me how we are easy to forget MANNA FELL FROM THE SKY!!!

The Untold Story

I am soo good at hiding. Night before last I attended "creative Night" at my new church, "Mars Hill" in downtown Seattle. An art teacher spoke about the process being what true art is and not so much the finished product. She also spoke about how the process can be worshipful. That the things you worship, struggling with, ect will be reflected in the process of your art piece as well as the finished product.

 One thing that she talked about that struck me is how important the process is. You can begin a project then finish it quickly, but what is that story that lead you to where you ended up? I am terrible at communicating what I am going through because I am ashamed of the process. I think we all innately want to be perfect or even just appear to be so. The trend for me is that whenever a life changing even happens. I might tell a couple people what happened. Tell absolutely no one about the struggles involved (this is when I appear to drop off the face of the earth). Then when the trial is over, I will tell everyone,"well, it's all better now." leaving them dumbfounded that they had no idea what was going on. Can you imagine the testimony it would be to people about how our God works in mighty ways if people were aware of the "process" it took you to get to the final product?

I have seen God provide in Ridiculous ways! The place that I currently live can only be a God thing. It was literally down to HOURS before I needed to move and I hadn't found a place yet. Then Irene, my roommate, calls about an apartment in Magnolia... which happens to be one of the nicest neighborhoods in the Seattle area.  Not only that, but she also is a Christian and I think we mesh incredibly well. That in itself is a miracle but the story of how that miracle came to be is even better.

 I was given a week to move out. After posting an ad on Craigslist, I had been given 5 different options before Irene called. 1. Tacoma 2.Federal Way 3. Everette 4. Shoreline (lady got cold feet at the last minute) 5. Redmond. With these options I had absolutely no peace . The problem with all those places was this: I know God wants me in Seattle right now. I made a concious decision that I am going to stay in Seattle. I need to find a place to plant my feet solidly in the ground which means commiting to a good church, building relationships with Godly people, and finding a stable and good job, and stop moving from place to place. With all these things in mind, I prayed and fasted. There where a couple days in a row that I refused to eat anything at all (definitely drank water) because I was determined that God answer this prayer. To make matters worse, I only had access to a computer 30 minutes a day at the library so I literally had to wait for someone to contact me. The night before the move I made the decision to compromise and move to Everette because it seemed like the only legitamately viable option. Though I didn't have much peace about that decision, I made steps to make it happen. That night I still prayed in my heart that God would provide even at the last minute for me to stay in Seattle. In the morning, Irene called me within a few hours I met her and a couple hours more I moved into her apartment....

You see what I'm talking about? THAT is the story that people need to witness! It's like watching a good movie. If you just saw the beginning and the end, it wouldn't be a very good movie at all. You'd miss out on all the emotional ups and downs, and trials that made the character the person they became in the end. So with that said, I am going to try to make more of an effort to tell people my story as it unfolds so just maybe God will be revealed in a greater way.