Beautiful Things

Hello,

Well, it's been a while since I last updated my blog. I don't even know if anyone is still reading it. A lot has happened recently, and I've been so busy preparing to move on to a mature stage of life--adulthood.

But I've been thinking, lately, of beautiful things. The news media and the world seem to portray an unbalanced picture heavily focused on the negative. This might, erroneously, lead one to think that there is not as much positive out there as there used to be. But there is! I've decided to remember that, and perhaps remind you.

Some things are beautiful because they are visually gorgeous. Others please any one of the other five senses or whatnot. Actually, I think beauty is determined by Yahweh. Anything pure and pleasing to Him is beautiful, including you and me! So I've listed a few beautiful things here, whether because they are silly or because they are pretty, in the end, I really listed them because they struck a chord in my spirit and reminded me how active Yahweh is in the world today through the simple, beautiful things.

1. Fireworks
2. Butterflies
3. Puppies
4. The Israeli cottage cheese boycott--the most searched thing on Yahoo!--and how it actually worked.
5. Air conditioning
6. Dogs having garlic breath after eating garlic butter and the fact that this is an improvement on the smell of their normal breath.
7. Scrappy, my new dog, having a purple tongue after sharing a grape popsicle with me.
8. A cool breeze on a Summer evening.
9. The water dance of a baby Hippo.
10. An iceberg blocking the harbor of a town.

And now for some pictures!

Graduation

Well, it's that time of year again: graduation. This will be my third time graduating! I am now the proud owner of a Masters of Arts in Teaching! Today was my last day in class, and, as always, it is bittersweet. On the one hand, I am proud of all that I've accomplished with Yahweh. On the other hand, I will miss the people I've come to know and love.

It's amazing. Some of it still does not seem real. It seems so...wow. It's just a lot. I've learned a lot in this past year. I think I've learned more in this one year than in the years before both of my other graduations.

I've learned:

How to wake up earlier than you have to so you can exercise before school.
How to attend classes daily, and regret going home sick because you WANT to do what you are doing with excellence for Yahweh.
How to socialize and interact with people I don't know very well. How to trust them.
How to be positive and optimistic instead of cynical and fearful.
How to glorify Yahweh in a place that is not centered on Him.
How to prioritize-to choose Holy Spirit's promptings, family, and love above assignments, ambition, or accolades.
How to do assignments with excellence for personal satisfaction and for Yahweh, even though the professors care less than I do about the assignment and the grade will not be higher because I put more effort into it.
How to enjoy a thirty minute commute in the car alone with Yahweh.
How to talk on the telephone with someone new.
How to have a Sabbath and do more in 6 days than I could have done in 7.
How to forgive.
How to fast food AND soda.
How to love.
How to give to Yahweh.
How important it is to choose Yahweh every moment.
How many people are hurting in the world and need Yahweh.
How I do not understand why someone would go out of their way to be mean to others, and how I would not want to understand this.
That I should not understand evil in order to combat it, but rather I should be filled with goodness so there is no more room for evil.
That I can make a difference.
How to respect authority.
How rare it is to respect authority.
That adults can be bullied, too.
That there are sweet people in the world, gems and treasures to be discovered.
How to identify with adults and not just children.
How to bridge the adult and child worlds.
How much more there is to learn.
That Holy Spirit will guide me and always help me learn what I need to learn, and forget what I need to forget.

Praise Yahweh! I could not have done any of this without Him. He is the Greatest Teacher, and the One who will teach me to teach. He is the greatest. He is give. He is love. HalleluYah!

And now, I grow. I go on. And I am not, this time, afraid to move forward, or unsure of my future. I will find employment...a place where Yahweh can use me to make a difference. And Yahweh will provide.

I am ready. I can do ALL things.

HalleluYah! Amen.

Matthew 27:51

"At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split" ~Matthew 27:51.

The curtain of the temple, which separated the Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies, from the rest of the unclean, defiled world, represented a separation of Yahweh, who IS Holiness, from the fallen world. This world, being dirty, could not coexist with Yahweh (Psalm 5:4). Cleanliness and filth cannot exist in the same place.

Yahshua cleansed us, and therefore, we can meet Yahweh! We are no longer dirty, and so we are no longer separate!

The battle is WON! We no longer have to be separated from Yahweh!

While this pertains to salvation, it also gives hope to the saved. We no longer have to worry about if we're connected with Yahweh. We are! He made sure of that! And now, we are free to be filled with Holy Spirit! The seven-fold Spirit of Yahweh dwells within, now!

So, HalleluYah! I no longer have to worry about whether or not I am "good" with Yahweh. I can just be. I can just flow. I can flow in Yahweh and Holy Spirit, and I live!

Yes!

I love Yahweh!!!!!!!

Much

How beautiful it is to be Yahweh's!

I feel inspired to write again, though I know now that words cannot convey Yahweh in His fullness. We must experience Yahweh to fully receive all we can from Him. Even then, though, I am grateful to know there is always even more to receive from Him and give to Him. There is so much. And Yahweh is always increasing. Can you imagine? Of the INCREASE of His government and peace there will be no end (Isaiah 7:9). It's wonderful!

It is also difficult to put into words. And I find I don't need to as much anymore. I used to live to be in fiction: to watch my favorite TV shows or read fiction books. But now I find that I don't want to...I almost can't... be sucked into a fictitious world as I used to. Not that I don't still love a good book, but I no longer become so immersed in the book. Indeed, many novels I used to read or novels similar to those now seem shallow and quite a bit less profound than they ever were before.

I've run across this quote before. It is attributed to Dr. Seuss: "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

I agree! I understand. For I am SO in love with Yahweh!

When I was first healed in February, 2010, I remember that I went from sleeping for twelve hours per day to five hours per day, because I was so...new. I saw the world anew for the first time. And each day, I grow more and more in Him. And so I can see that each day is new. Each moment is new. Why wait for a new day? He loves us each moment! It's awesome!

And there's so much more! So much I can't say. So much I would if I could, and so much I wouldn't, for the sweetness must roll around in my mouth just a little longer before I spit it out. So much...

Sometimes I am so full of Yahweh that I feel I will explode if I do not do something, but what could I do? I run around the ecclesia, I bash chairs and walls with my hands, I smile as if my face will crack in two, and I scream mightily. Sometimes, these things work, but sometimes, my breathing becomes ragged from just trying to hold myself together and not fly into a million pieces of Yahweh's joy. One day, I will stop trying to hold myself together, and just let Yahweh be.

I am so blessed to be with Yahweh. I am never alone. I know He loves me and is for me and will never leave me nor forsake me. But what's more, I know and !He knows! that I am for Him and I love Him and I will never leave Him nor forsake Him! He has promised me these things, too, so that I have finally, finally, learned to trust myself and the Him in me (for my Nature is His, now!), and let go of striving. I no longer fear choosing to not be His. I no longer fear disobeying (though I am not so proud to think I am perfect), but rather I know that He has been and is being formed in me and so He guides me! I will not be malicious, nor will I leave Him. Yahweh has given me Himself, and in so doing, He has given me myself, too. HalleluYah!

If anyone is still reading, congratulations! I could go on for pages and pages and forever and ever. But I know that praise and worship of Yahweh is meant to extend beyond the words on a page or the tune in a song. My life...and all eternity...is to praise and worship Him.

Our lives, if we so choose, can be love letters to Yahweh!
May it always be so.

Love,
Cassie

98 Pounds

Through Yahweh, I have lost 98 pounds since July.

98 pounds in 8 months.

I'm smaller than I've been in years.

But I'm also bigger than I've ever been.

I'm big enough for the Creator of the Universe, Yahweh,

To live in me.

I'm small.

Yet I'm huge!

And because I'm so huge,

I can be so small.

All glory to Yahweh!

I could never have done it without Him.

And I'm not stopping now!

Amen.

Concrete, Physical Gifts from Yahweh

The other night I took the dog to my room and let her sleep with me in my bed. This was a treat for me, as the dog usually sleeps in Mom's room with her, and after Mom goes to bed, we don't usually get to see the dogs until she wakes the next morning. So it is a very real treat for me to have this particular well-behaved warm, fuzzy critter in bed with me for the whole night.

Mom likes sleeping with Ellie (our dog), and she's used to it, having done it for as long as we've had Ellie. Mom usually doesn't want Ellie away from her at night, but she let me keep Ellie. She said Yahweh told her to do it.

Yahweh gave me a gift! The gift of a night with Ellie. And He used Mom to give me it.

About a year ago, Yahweh gave me roses through another person whom He told to do so.

I used to think Yahweh gave gifts that were Spiritual or maybe gifts of time or more abstract things. I did not realize He could also give physical gifts until I received the roses. Yahweh has given me real, concrete things. (Not that I'm discounting the Spiritual gifts. These beautiful things could never be discounted, and are beyond words but not beyond the Word.) But the point is that Yahweh also gives physical gifts! His gift-giving is unlimited! It's awesome!

While I'm sure Yahweh could give you a physical gift by dropping something into your lap out of thin air if He wanted to, I have yet to see this happen. Yahweh created an order in this universe, and this order means that Yahweh operates in the physical realm mostly through mankind. Both of the times Yahweh has given me a physical gift, it was when He told someone else to do it. Yahweh gives gifts to men! Yahweh gives gifts THROUGH men! It is awesome!

When Yahweh gives gifts through men, two people receive the gift: the end recipient of the gift, and the person through whom the gift was given.

But if the people who hear Yahweh telling them to give a gift do not obey, then no one receives the gift. :(

I am blessed that so many people around me choose to obey Yahweh's prompting to give gifts. Some people call it sowing. As in, one sows a seed and is thereby blessed. I am completely blessed to be a member of an ecclesia full of sowers. I am blessed to have my mom, a sower. I am blessed by all the people who obey Yahweh that surround me. And I am blessed by Yahweh.

I, too, have given gifts, though people may not realize it, and they are not monetary. I don't make money yet, but soon I will, and then I will be able to sow even this. I am blessed to be a blessing!

HalleluYah!

Facebook Deletion

While it has been hard for me, I am about to make the final Facebook decision and hit that delete button. I have posted a status telling my friends where to contact me if they so choose, and perhaps some of you are them, reading this blog now, given that I listed it as a place to contact me.

So why am I about to hit that "delete" button, instead of simply taking a break from Facebook or letting my account go inactive? Well, for one thing, I do not want to do things halfway. The Bible calls this "double-mindedness" and it is a bad thing. Secondly, once I take a step FORWARD in the Kingdom, I will NOT go back. Thirdly, I do not want the temptation.

So, why delete Facebook, though? Simple. A Word of Yahweh. Not a real specific word, like "Delete Facebook," but a more subtle Word. A forceful, powerful Word, but subtle nonetheless. For Yahweh speaks in thunder and lightning, but He also speaks in whispers.

And over the past few weeks, He has been whispering to me and I have begun to hate the things of babylon. The things that are not of Him. The impure things. And while my Facebook friends list is basically my biological family, friends of the family who have become family, or my Kingdom family, and thus not in itself impure, Facebook seems impure to me. It is obsession (which is not of Yahweh) and while a medium (like Facebook or the Internet or a book) is not impure in itself (it's what you do with it, usually), I feel, for me, that having Facebook is a little too much like the babylon world from which I desperately wish to distance myself.

But that is not the only point. The other point is this: I am joined to an ecclesia, and the head of that ecclesia is an Apostle. The Apostle who leads my ecclesia abhors Facebook. And as I submit to his authority given by Yahweh, I also submit to his abhorrence of Facebook. Now, he also likes golf, but I'm not sure I ever will. The point is, though, this is a Word, and so different. And while I've been told the Kingdom must come like a seed (be planted, tended, grow) and the Word must manifest after time, my seed has grown.

So, I have deleted Facebook and Twitter accounts I had. And it was HARD! And both of them made it even harder, making me type in password, explain leaving, and security codes. And OUCH! It hurt! But so did exercising and dieting, at first, and now I've lost 84 pounds and counting. So, once that "sorrowful soul" time ends, (and look! the feeling in the pit of my stomach of making some terrible mistake is already gone!), I know I will be blessed for this. For really, I need to disconnect in this way from the world. I cannot be IN but not OF the world if I am too much like the world. And now I have more time to spend with Yahweh!

Boy, I'm glad I deleted that tonight before I chickened out again!

And now, to spend some time with Yahweh, He who is much more than more!

<3
Cassie